hole

hole

1. an animal's hiding place or burrow

2. the cavity in various games into which the ball must be thrust

3. on a golf course

a. the cup on each of the greens

b. each of the divisions of a course (usually 18) represented by the distance between the tee and a green

c. the score made in striking the ball from the tee into the hole

4. Physics

a. a vacancy in a nearly full band of quantum states of electrons in a semiconductor or an insulator. Under the action of an electric field holes behave as carriers of positive charge

b. (as modifier): hole current

c. a vacancy in the nearly full continuum of quantum states of negative energy of fermions. A hole appears as the antiparticle of the fermion

5. in the hole Chiefly US

a. (of a card, the hole card, in stud poker) dealt face down in the first round

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hole [hōl]

(solid-state physics)

A vacant electron energy state near the top of an energy band in a solid; behaves as though it were a positively charged particle. Also known as electron hole.

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(electronics)

hole - The absence of an electron in a semiconductor material. In the electron model, a hole can be thought of as an incomplete outer electron shell in a doping substance. Holes can also be thought of as positive charge carriers; while this is in a sense a fiction, it is a useful abstraction.