On the use of photoacoustic cell for investigating the electron-phonon interaction in semiconductors

By exploring the simple periodic heat-flow principle of the photoacoustic cell we demonstrate experimentally the usefulness of the acoustic cell for studying the transport properties of semiconductors. An interesting feature of this technique is that it allows us to separate the different sources of sound generation in a semiconductor. Specific application is made for the case of Si crystals submitted to rectangular voltage pulses.