In
physics, a Charge carrier denotes a free (mobile, unbound) particle carrying an
electric charge. Examples are
electrons and
ions. In
semiconductor physics, the travelling vacancies in the valence-band electron population (
holes) are treated as charge carriers.In ionic solutions, the charge carriers are the dissolved
cations and
anions. Similarly, cations and anions of the dissociated liquid serve as charge carriers in liquids and melted ionic solids (see eg. the
Hall-Heroult process for an example of electrolysis of a melt).In
plasma, such as an
electric arc, the electrons and cations of ionized gas and vaporized material of electrodes act as charge carriers. (The electrode vaporization occurs in vacuum too, but then the arc is not technically occurring in vacuum, but in low-pressure electrode vapors.)
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the carrier type in the minority. For a doped semiconductor, one type of carrier either holes or electrons is present in much smaller concentrations than the other type of carrier, this is called a minority carrier.