MULTIVALUED DISTRIBUTIONS OF ELECTRONS BETWEEN EQUIVALENT VALLEYS OF SILICON IN A MAGNETIC FIELD.

Multivalued distributions of electrons between three equivalent valleys in n-type Si subjected to a magnetic field are considered in the case when the direction of flow of the current is rotated slightly away from left bracket 111 right bracket toward left bracket 110 right bracket . Experimental and numerical evidence is given for the first time that multivalued electron distributions appear near theoretically predicted loop-like sections of the current-voltage characteristics. Such sections appear in the absence of a magnetic field for the currents flowing along the left bracket 111 right bracket direction; in the presence of a magnetic field when the total (Hall and longitudinal) electric field heats identically all three pairs of valleys these multivalued distributions give rise to strong electric fields transverse to the current and the dependences of the current on the magnetic field then exhibit abrupt changes of the current.