The Electrical Conductivity and Isothermal Hall Effect in Cuprous Oxide

Abstract

The electrical conductivity of cuprous oxide is studied from room temperature to 700°C. It is observed that whereas the conductivity may be represented by the formula $\sigma =A_e^{}{}_{}{}^{\frac{-\epsilon }{\mathrm{kT}}}$ at the higher temperatures, below 300°C the exponential law is not obeyed. The maxima and minima of the conductivity curves observed in the latter region are presumed to result from a combination of a saturation of clusters and a rapid decrease of mobility with temperature. Hall effect measurements up to 450°C show that the number of current carriers does not obey the exponential law of temperature dependence. An anomaly in the mobility is observed around 150°C where the mobility changes from a $T^{-5\mathrm{}}$ to a $T^{-7\mathrm{}}$ dependence.