= Degenerate semiconductor
{wiki}
A <semiconductor> whose mobile <charge carrier> population requires <Fermi-Dirac statistics> rather than a dilute <Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution>. In a strongly degenerate <n-type semiconductor>, the <Fermi level> lies inside the <conduction band>; in a strongly degenerate <p-type semiconductor>, it lies inside the <valence band>. The occupied and empty <quantum states> on opposite sides of a <tunnel diode> can then overlap in <energy>. Heavy <semiconductor doping> both changes these occupations and narrows the <depletion region>; a narrow barrier and accessible final <quantum states> serve different roles.
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