6.

012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-1

Lecture 2 - Semiconductor Physics (I)

September 13, 2005

Contents:

1. Silicon bond model: electrons and holes

2. Generation and recombination
3. Thermal equilibrium
4. Intrinsic semiconductor
5. Doping; extrinsic semiconductor

Reading assignment:

Howe and Sodini, Ch. 2, 2.1-2.3

6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-2

Key questions

How do semiconductors conduct electricity?

What is a hole?
How many electrons and holes are there in a semicon-
ductor in thermal equilibrium at a certain tempera-
ture?
How can one engineer the conductivity of semicon-
ductors?
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-3

1. Silicon bond model: electrons and holes

Si is in Column IV of periodic table:

IIIA IVA VA VIA

5 6 7 8

B C N O
13 14 15 16

IIB Al Si P S
30 31 32 33 34

Zn Ga Ge As Se
48 49 50 51 52

Cd In Sn Sb Te

Electronic structure of Si atom:

10 core electrons (tightly bound)
4 valence electrons (loosely bound, responsible for most
chemical properties)

Other semiconductors:
Ge, C (diamond form), SiGe

GaAs, InP, InGaAs, InGaAsP, ZnSe, CdTe

(on average, 4 valence electrons per atom)

6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-4

Silicon crystal structure:

5.43 A

2.35A

3sp tetrahedral bond

Silicon is a crystalline material:

long range atomic arrangement
Diamond lattice:
atoms tetrahedrally bonded by sharing valence elec-
trons (covalent bonding)
Each atom shares 8 electrons:
low energy and stable situation
Si atomic density: 5 1022 cm3
density:
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-5

Simple attened model of Si crystal:

4 valence electrons ( 4 q),

contributed by each ion

silicon ion (+ 4 q)

two electrons in bond

At 0K:

all bonds satised all valence electrons engaged in

bonding
no free electrons

6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-6

At nite temperature:

+ mobile electron

incomplete bond (mobile hole)

nite thermal energy

some bonds are broken
6110
free electrons (mobile negative charge, 1.6
1.610 19
19
C
C)
free holes (mobile positive charge, 1.6 10019
1
C)

Free electrons and holes are called carriers:

mobile charged particles

Beware: picture is misleading!

electrons and holes in semiconductors are fuzzier:

they span many atomic sites.
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-7

A few denitions:

in 6.012, electron means free electron

not concerned with bonding electrons or core electrons

dene:

n (free) electron concentration [cm3 ]

p hole concentration [cm3 ]

6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-8

2. Generation and Recombination

Generation = break up of covalent bond to form elec-

tron and hole

requires energy from thermal or optical sources (or

other external sources)

generation rate: G = Gth + Gopt + ... [cm3 s
1]
in general, atomic density  n, p

G = f (n, p)
supply of breakable bonds virtually inexhaustible

Recombination = formation of bond by bringing to-

gether electron and hole

releases energy in thermal or optical form

recombination rate: R [cm3 s1 ]

a recombination event requires 1 electron + 1 hole

R n p

Generation and recombination most likely at surfaces where

periodic crystalline structure is broken.
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-9

3. Thermal equilibrium

Thermal equilibrium =
steady state + absence of external energy sources
h

<>
=0
t

Generation rate in thermal equilibrium: Go = f (T )

Recombination rate in thermal equilibrium: Ro no po

In thermal equilibrium:

Go = Ro no po = f (T ) n2i (T )

Important consequence:

In thermal equilibrium and for a given semiconduc-

tor, np product is a constant that depends only on
temperature!
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-10

Electron-hole formation can be seen as chemical reaction:

 e + h+
bond

similar to water decomposition reaction:

 H + + OH
H2 O

Law-of-mass action relates concentration of reactants

and reaction products. For water:

[H +][OH ]
K=
[H2 O]

Since:

[H2O]  [H +], [OH ]

Then:

[H2 O]  constant

Hence:

[H +][OH ]  constant
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-11

4. Intrinsic semiconductor

Question: In a perfectly pure semiconductor in thermal

equilibrium at nite temperature, how many electrons
and holes are there?

Since when a bond breaks, an electron and a hole are

produced:

no = po

Also:
nopo = n2i

Then:
no = po = ni

ni intrinsic carrier concentration [cm3 ]

11010 cm3
In Si at 300 K (room temperature): ni  11

ni very strong function of temperature: T ni

Note: an intrinsic semiconductor need not be perfectly

pure [see next]
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-12

5. Doping: introduction of foreign atoms to engineer

semiconductor electrical properties

A. Donors: introduce electrons to the semiconductor

(but not holes)

For Si, group-V atoms with 5 valence electrons (As,

P, Sb)

IIIA IVA VA VIA

5 6 7 8

B C N O
13 14 15 16

IIB Al Si P S
30 31 32 33 34

Zn Ga Ge As Se
48 49 50 51 52

Cd In Sn Sb Te
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-13

4 electrons of donor atom participate in bonding

5th electron easy to release

at room temperature, each donor releases 1 elec-
tron that is available for conduction
donor site become positively charged (xed charge)

As+

mobile electron

immobile ionized donor

Dene:
Nd donor concentration [cm3 ]

If Nd ni, doping irrelevant

(intrinsic semiconductor) no = po = ni
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-14

If Nd  ni, doping controls carrier concentrations

(extrinsic semiconductor)
n2i
no = Nd po =
Nd
Note: no  po: n
n-typ
-type
- e semiconductor

Example:
Nd = 1017 cm3 no = 1017 cm3 , po = 103 cm3 .

In general: Nd 1015 1020 cm3

log no

log po

electrons=
no majority carriers

ni

po holes=
minority carriers

ni
log Nd
intrinsic extrinsic

Chemical reaction analogy:

dissolve a bit of KOH into water [OH ] , [H +]
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-15

B. Acceptors: introduce holes to the semiconductor

(but not electrons)

For Si, group-III atoms with 3 valence electrons (B)

IIIA IVA VA VIA

5 6 7 8

B C N O
13 14 15 16

IIB Al Si P S
30 31 32 33 34

Zn Ga Ge As Se
48 49 50 51 52

Cd In Sn Sb Te
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-16

3 electrons used in bonding to neighboring Si atoms

1 bonding site unsatised:

easy to accept neighboring bonding electron to
complete all bonds
at room temperature, each acceptor releases 1 hole
that is available to conduction
acceptor site become negatively charged (xed charge)

mobile hole and later trajectory immobile negatively ionized acceptor

Dene:
Na acceptor concentration [cm3 ]

If Na ni , doping irrelevant
(intrinsic semiconductor) no = po = ni
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-17

If Na  ni , doping controls carrier concentrations

(extrinsic semiconductor)
n2i
po = Na no =
Na
Note: po  no: p-type
p-type semiconductor

Example:
Na = 1016 cm3 po = 1016 cm3 , no = 104 cm3 .

In general: Na 1015 1020 cm3

log no

log po

holes=
po majority carriers

ni

no electrons=
minority
ty carr
ccarriers
arriers

ni
log Na
intrinsic extrinsic

Chemical reaction analogy:

dissolve a bit of H2SO4 into water [H +] , [OH ]
6.012 - Microelectronic Devices and Circuits - Fall 2005 Lecture 2-18

Summary

In a semiconductor, there are two types of carriers:

electrons and holes
In thermal equilibrium and for a given semiconductor
nopo is a constant that only depends on temperature:

nopo = n2i

For Si at room temperature:

ni  1010 cm3
Intrinsic semiconductor: pure semiconductor.

no = po = ni
Carrier concentrations can be engineered by addition
of dopants (selected foreign atoms):
n-type semiconductor:

n2i

no = Nd, po =
Nd
p-type semiconductor:
n2i

po = Na, no =
Na