  A theory of spin-polarized electron transport in ferromagnet/semiconductor
heterostructures, based on a unified semiclassical description of ballistic and
diffusive transport in semiconductor structures, is developed. The aim is to
provide a framework for studying the interplay of spin relaxation and transport
mechanism in spintronic devices. A key element of the unified description of
transport inside a (nondegenerate) semiconductor is the thermoballistic current
consisting of electrons which move ballistically in the electric field arising
from internal and external electrostatic potentials, and which are thermalized
at randomly distributed equilibration points. The ballistic component in the
unified description gives rise to discontinuities in the chemical potential at
the boundaries of the semiconductor, which are related to the Sharvin interface
conductance. By allowing spin relaxation to occur during the ballistic motion
between the equilibration points, a thermoballistic spin-polarized current and
density are constructed in terms of a spin transport function. An integral
equation for this function is derived for arbitrary values of the momentum and
spin relaxation lengths. For field-driven transport in a homogeneous
semiconductor, the integral equation can be converted into a second-order
differential equation that generalizes the standard spin drift-diffusion
equation. The spin polarization in ferromagnet/semiconductor heterostructures
is obtained by invoking continuity of the current spin polarization and
matching the spin-resolved chemical potentials on the ferromagnet sides of the
interfaces. Allowance is made for spin-selective interface resistances.
Examples are considered which illustrate the effects of transport mechanism and
electric field.
