Electrical Sciences

EEE F111

Dr. A. Amalin Prince

BITS - Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Lecture – 22,23
Basics of Semiconductors: Intrinsic and doped semiconductors, PN junction

EEE F111 2
Part 1. Semiconductors and Physical
operation of diodes
Linear and Nonlinear Devices

 So far, almost all the devices we have learnt are linear

 Many signal-processing functions, however, are
implemented by nonlinear devices

Linear amplifier Nonlinear amplifier

Diode and its physical structure

 The diode is the simplest and most fundamental

nonlinear circuit element
 The most important region is the boundary between
n-type and p-type semiconductor, which is called pn
junction

pn junction
Symbol and characteristic for the ideal
Symbol and characteristic for the ideal diode
diode
i

Anode Cathode
i ---Reverse bias--- ---Forward bias---

+ v -
0 v
(a) diode circuit symbol (b) i–v characteristic

i i
+ v - + v -
v < 0  i=0 i > 0  v =0

(c) equivalent circuit (d) equivalent circuit

in the reverse direction in the forward direction
How does it happen?

 To answer the question, we need to know:

 Material, structure and the related features (crystal
and semiconductor in particular)
 New particles to carry charge in addition to electrons
 New mechanism(s) of conduction in addition to what
we have known
 Techniques to manufacture the devices (not included
in this course)
Basic semiconductor concepts

 Intrinsic Semiconductor
 Doped Semiconductor
 Carriers
 Diffusion, Drift
Elements and material
 Periodic table
Mobility and Conductivity

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Intrinsic semiconductor

 Pure semiconductor
 At 0 K, all bonds are intact and no free electrons
are available for current conduction

Ec

Eg = Ec - Ev @ T  0( K )
Ev
The energy bands and the states of electrons
in Si/Ge at T= 0 K
Thermal ionization

 At room temperature, some of the covalent

bonds are broken by thermal ionization

 Each broken bond gives rise to a

free electron and a hole, both of
which become available for
current conduction
 Thermal ionization
Carriers

 Free electron ---produced by thermal ionization. It can

move freely in the lattice structure so as to form
current
 Hole---empty position in broken covalent bond. It can
also “move” freely to form current
Carriers

 The free electron is a negative charge and the hole is

a positive charge
 Both of them can move in the crystal structure, so as
to form electric current.
Recombination & thermal equilibrium

 Recombination
 A free electron may fill into a hole, resulting in the
disappearance of a pair of carriers ( a free electron and a
hole).
 Thermal equilibrium
 At a steady temperature, the recombination rate is equal to
the ionization rate  thermal equilibrium
 The concentration of the carriers at thermal equilibrium
does not change and can be calculated.
Carrier concentration

 Carrier concentration in thermal equilibrium

n  p  ni
where
3  EG kT (k: Boltzmann constant)
ni  BT e
2

 At room temperature (T=300K) for Si,

3
ni  1.5 10 m 16

n is electron concentration
p is hole concentration
ni intrinsic carrier concentration
Important notes

 ni strongly depends on temperature. The high the

temperature is, the dramatically great the carrier
concentration is
At room temperature only one of every billion atoms
is ionized
Silicon’s conductivity is between that of conductors
and insulators. Actually the characteristic of intrinsic
silicon approaches to insulators
Doped semiconductor

 Conductivity of the semiconductor can be significantly

changed by doping.
 There are two types of doped semiconductors: n type and
p type.
 They are used to form pn junction.
Doped semiconductor——n type

Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Free E
Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

P Donor
Si Si Si +
Si Si Si Si

bound charge
Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si Si
n type semiconductor

 Donor--- pentavalent impurity provides free electrons

(usually entirely ionized at room temperature)
 Positive bound charge---impurity atom donating electron
gives rise to positive bound charge
 Majority carriers---free electrons (mostly generated by
ionized donor and a very tiny portion by thermal
ionization) .
 Minority carriers---holes (only generated by thermal
ionization) .
Carrier concentration for n type

 Thermal equilibrium equation

nn 0  pn 0  ni
2

 Electric neutral equation

nn0  pn0  N D

where ND is the donor concentration

Carrier concentration for n type

 In a n type Si, the following relationships hold (at

room temperature):

nn 0  ni  pn 0
nn 0  pn 0  ni
 and

nn 0  N D

 pn 0  ni / N D
2
Doped semiconductor——p type

Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Al Hole Acceptor
Si Si Si -
Si Si Si Si

bound charge
Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si Si
p type semiconductor

 Acceptor--- trivalent impurity provides holes (usually entirely ionized)

 Negative bound charge --- impurity atom accepting hole give rise to
negative bound charge
 Majority carriers---holes (mostly generated by ionized acceptor and
a tiny small portion by thermal ionization)
 Minority carriers--- free electrons (only generated by thermal
ionization.)
Carrier concentration for p type

 Thermal equilibrium equation

p p 0  n p 0  ni 2

 Electric neutral equation

p p0  np0  N A
where NA is the acceptor concentration
Carrier concentration for p type

 In a p type Si, the following relationships hold (at

room temperature):
p p 0  ni  n p 0
p p 0  n p 0  ni
 and

 p p 0  N A

n p 0  ni / N A
2
Conclusion on the doped semiconductor

 Majority carrier is only determined by the impurity. It is

independent of temperature.
 Minority carrier is strongly affected by temperature.
 If the temperature is high enough, the characteristic of
doped semiconductor will decline to that of intrinsic
semiconductor
Doping compensation

 On p type semiconductor (substrate), n type

semiconductor can be formed by injecting
donors with N D  N A into the specific area.
 or reversely.
ND+ NA+

NA ND
Doping compensation

 The boundary between n and p type

semiconductor is the pn junction.
 This is the basic step for VLSI fabrication
technology.
The impurities

 Doping should not change the lattice structure!

 Hence neighbor elements are usually used as
dopants.
Carriers movement

 There are two mechanisms for holes and free electrons

to move in the silicon crystal.
 Drift
 The carrier motion is generated by the electrical field across a
piece of silicon. This motion will produce drift current.
 Diffusion
 The carrier motion is generated by the different concentration
of carrier in a piece of silicon. The diffused motion of carriers
from higher concentration to lower one will give rise to
diffusion current
Drift and drift current

 Drift
 Drift velocities
where  p ,  n are the
vdrift   p E
 constants called mobility of

vdrift    n E
 holes and electrons, respectively

 Drift current densities

J ndrift  (  qn)  (  n E )  qn n E

J p drift  qp   p E
Drift and drift current

 Total drift current density

J drift  q（nn＋p p ) E
 Resistivity

  1 q(n ＋p )
n p
Resistivity for intrinsic semiconductor

 Resistivity for intrinsic semiconductor

  1 q(n  p )  1 qn (    )
n p i n p

* Resistivity is inversely proportional to the carrier concentration

of intrinsic semiconductor
 Temperature coefficient (TC) for resistivity of intrinsic
semiconductor is negative due to positive TC of ni
Resistivities for doped semiconductor

 Resistivities for doped semiconductor

1
 qN D  n For n type
  q ( n  p )  
1
n p
 1 qN  For p type
 A p

* Resistivities are inversely proportional to the concentration of doped

impurities.
 Temperature coefficient for resistivity of doped
semiconductor is positive due to negative TC of mobility
Diffusion and diffusion current

 diffusion

A bar of intrinsic silicon (a) in which the hole concentration profile

shown in (b) has been created along the x-axis by some unspecified
mechanism.
Diffusion and diffusion current

dp( x)
J p  qDp 
dx
dn( x)
J n  qDn 
dx
where D p , Dn are the diffusion constants or diffusivities
for hole and electron, respectively
 The diffusion current density is proportional to the slope
of the the concentration curve, or the concentration
gradient.
Einstein relationship

 Einstein relationship exists between the carrier diffusivity

and mobility:
Dn Dp kT
  VT 
n  p q

where VT is thermal voltage, At room temperature，

𝑉𝑇 = 26 mV, at room temperature (300 K)

Total Current

 Potential gradient (drift current)

 Concentration gradient (diffusion current)

dp ( x )
J p  qp  p E  qD p
dx
dn( x )
J n  qn n E  qDn
dx

EEE F111 39
pn Junction

 The pn junction under open-circuit condition

 I-V characteristic of pn junction
 Terminal characteristic of junction diode.
 Physical operation of diode.
 Junction capacitance
pn Junction

 Usually the pn junction is asymmetric, p+n or pn+

 The superscript “+” denotes the region of more
heavily doped in comparison with the other region
The carriers movement in a pn junction

 Recall of semiconductor characteristics:

 p-type: majority carriers (holes)+ very few amount of minority
carriers (free electrons) + negative bound charges
 n-type: majority carriers (free electrons)+ very few amount of
minority carriers (holes) + positive bound charges
 Carriee movement in pn junction
pn Junction under open-circuit condition

(a) the pn junction without

applied voltage (open-
circuited terminals)

(b) the potential distribution

along an axis perpendicular to
the junction.
Procedure of forming pn junction

The procedure of forming pn: the dynamic equilibrium of drift and

diffusion movements for carriers in the silicon:

Diffusion

Space charge

Drift

Equilibrium
Procedure of forming pn junction

Diffusion
 Both the majority carriers diffuse across the boundary
between p-type and n-type semiconductor.
 The direction of diffusion current is from p side to n side.
Procedure of forming pn junction

 Space charge region

 Recombining of electrons and holes results in the
disappearance of carriers (depletion)
 Bound charges are no longer neutralized by majority carriers
and are then uncovered.
 There is a region close to the junction where majority carriers
on both side are depleted and there are uncovered bound
charges of different polarity
 This region is called carrier-depletion region or space charge
region. It acts as a barrier preventing the majority carriers from
further diffusion
Procedure of forming pn junction

 Drift
 Electric field is established across the space charge
region.
 Direction of electronic field is from n side to p side.
 It helps minority carriers drift through the junction.
The direction of drift current is from n side to p side.
Procedure of forming pn junction

 Equilibrium
 Two opposite currents across the junction is equal in
magnitude.
 No net current flows across the pn junction.
 Equilibrium condition is maintained by the barrier
voltage.
Junction built-in voltage

 The junction built-in voltage

N AND
Vo  VT ln 2
ni
 It depends on doping concentration and temperature
 Its TC is negative.
I-V Characteristics

The diode i–v relationship with some scales expanded

and others compressed in order to reveal details
Terminal characteristic of junction diodes

 The Forward-Bias Region, determined by vo

 The Reverse-Bias Region, determined by  VZK  v  0
 The Breakdown Region, determined by v  VZK
The pn junction under forward-bias

The pn junction
excited by a constant-
current source
supplying a current I in
the forward direction.
The depletion layer
narrows and the barrier
voltage decreases by V
volts, which appears as
an external voltage in
the forward direction.
Carrier distribution under forward-bias

• Minority-carrier distribution in a forward-

biased pn junction.
• It is assumed that the p region is more
heavily doped than the n region; NA >>ND.
I-V characteristic equation

v
VT
i  I s (e  1)
Nonlinear (exponential relationship)
Is (saturation current) strongly depends on temperature
η=1 or 2, in general η =1
Turn-on voltage

 A conduction diode has approximately a constant voltage

drop across it. It’s called turn-on voltage.

VD (on )  0.5V
For silicon
VD (on )  0.2V For germanium

 Diodes with different current rating will exhibit the turn-on

voltage at different currents.
The pn junction under reverse-bias

 The pn junction excited by a

constant-current source I in the
reverse direction.
 To avoid breakdown, I is kept
smaller than IS.
 Note that the depletion layer
widens and the barrier voltage
increases by VR volts, which
appears between the terminals
as a reverse voltage.
Carrier distribution under reverse-bias

UR

p-type n-type
area area

pp0 nn0

np0 pn0 x
I-V characteristic equation

i  Is Independent of voltage

where Is is the saturation current. It is proportional to ni2, which

is a strong function of temperature.
The pn junction in the breakdown region

The pn junction excited by a reverse-current source I, where I > IS

•The junction breaks down, and a voltage VZ , with the

polarity indicated, develops across the junction.
Breakdown mechanisms

 Zener effect
 Occurs in heavily doping semiconductor
 Breakdown voltage is less than 5v.
 Carriers generated by electric field---field
ionization.
 TC is negative.
 Avalanche effect
 Occurs in slightly doping semiconductor
 Breakdown voltage is more than 7v.
 Carriers generated by collision.
 TC is positive.
Breakdown mechanisms

Remember:
pn junction breakdown is not a destructive process,
provided that the maximum specified power dissipation is
not exceeded.
Zener Diode

Circuit symbol

The diode i–v characteristic

with the breakdown region
shown in some detail.
Summary

 Si and Ge are IV elements with tetrahedron atomic

structure
 They can be used to manufacture various devices
 Si is dominant because
 better thermal stability due to large bandgap
 abundant (27 % in the Earth) and cheap
EEE F111 64