electron-hole droplets

electron-hole droplets

[i′lek‚trän ¦hōl ′dräp·ləts] (solid-state physics) A form of electronic excitation observed in germanium and silicon at sufficiently low cryogenic temperatures; it is associated with a liquid-gas phase transition of the charge carriers, and consists of regions of conducting electron-hole Fermi liquid coexisting with regions of insulating exciton gas.