Majority / minority carrier
Beginner
In a piece of silicon, whichever moving charge there is more of, electrons or holes. The rarer kind is the minority.
Novice
In n-type silicon electrons are the majority carriers and holes the minority; in p-type it’s the reverse. Their product stays fixed: .
Expert
Minority carriers dominate diode current: forward bias injects them, raising the minority density at the depletion edge by , and they diffuse and recombine over a diffusion length. An inverted MOS surface is a layer where the minority carrier has become the majority.
Explained in Bands, doping and the p-n junction (Transistors).