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Applied Electronics I. Handout

This document provides an overview of the basics of electronics and conduction in semiconductors covered in the Applied Electronics I course. It defines electronics as dealing with electron flow through vacuum, gas or semiconductors. It describes atomic structure and the formation of positive and negative ions. It also explains valence electrons, free electrons, and energy bands including the valence band and conduction band separated by a forbidden gap. Materials are classified as conductors, insulators or semiconductors based on their energy band structure and width of the forbidden gap. Conduction in solids occurs due to electron or hole motion when a voltage is applied.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
112 views

Applied Electronics I. Handout

This document provides an overview of the basics of electronics and conduction in semiconductors covered in the Applied Electronics I course. It defines electronics as dealing with electron flow through vacuum, gas or semiconductors. It describes atomic structure and the formation of positive and negative ions. It also explains valence electrons, free electrons, and energy bands including the valence band and conduction band separated by a forbidden gap. Materials are classified as conductors, insulators or semiconductors based on their energy band structure and width of the forbidden gap. Conduction in solids occurs due to electron or hole motion when a voltage is applied.

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zemichael
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You are on page 1/ 18

APPLIED ELECTRONICS I

Course Code: EENG-2201

CHAPTER 1

BASICS OF ELECTRONICS:
CONDUCTION IN SEMICONDUCTORS

Electrons and holes in an intrinsic semiconductors, conductivity of a semiconductor, carrier


concentrations in an intrinsic semiconductor, donor and acceptor impurities, charge densities in a
semiconductor, Fermi level in a semiconductor having impurities, diffusion, carrier life time,
Hall effect.

The branch of engineering which deals with the flow of Electrons through vacuum, gas or
semiconductor is called Electronics.

Electronics essentially deals with electronic devices and their utilization.

Atomic Structure

 Atom is the basic building block of all the elements. It consists of the central nucleus of
positive charge around which small negatively charged particles called electrons revolve
in different paths or orbits.

 An Electrostatic force of attraction between electrons and the nucleus holds up electrons
in different orbits.

Electrostatic force.

+
Centrifugal force.

Figure1.1. Atomic structure


 Nucleus is the central part of an atom and contains protons and neutrons. A proton is
positively charged particle, while the neutron has the same mass as the proton, but has no
charge. Therefore, nucleus of an atom is positively charged.

 atomic weight = no. of protons + no. of neutrons

 An electron is a negatively charged particle having negligible mass. The charge on an


electron is equal but opposite to that on a proton. Also the number of electrons is equal to
the number of protons in an atom under ordinary conditions. Therefore an atom is neutral
as a whole.

 atomic number = no. of protons or electrons in an atom

 The number of electrons in any orbit is given by 2n2 where n is the number of the orbit.

For example, I orbit contains 2x12 =2 electrons

II orbit contains 2x22 = 8 electrons

III orbit contains 2x32 = 18 electrons and so on

 The last orbit cannot have more than 8 electrons.

 The last but one orbit cannot have more than 18 electrons.

Positive and negative ions

 Protons and electrons are equal in number hence if an atom loses an electron it has lost
negative charge therefore it becomes positively charged and is referred as positive ion.

 If an atom gains an electron it becomes negatively charged and is referred to as negative


ion.

Valence electrons

The electrons in the outermost orbit of an atom are known as valence electrons.

 The outermost orbit can have a maximum of 8 electrons.

 The valence electrons determine the physical and chemical properties of a material.

 When the number of valence electrons of an atom is less than 4, the material is usually a
metal and a conductor. Examples are sodium, magnesium and aluminum, which have 1,2
and 3 valence electrons respectively.
 When the number of valence electrons of an atom is more than 4, the material is usually a
non-metal and an insulator. Examples are nitrogen, sulphur and neon, which have 5,6 and
8 valence electrons respectively.

 When the number of valence electrons of an atom is 4 the material has both metal and
non-metal properties and is usually a semi-conductor. Examples are carbon, silicon and
germanium.

Free electrons

 The valence electrons of different material possess different energies. The greater the
energy of a valence electron, the lesser it is bound to the nucleus.

 In certain substances, particularly metals, the valence electrons possess so much energy
that they are very loosely attached to the nucleus.

 The loosely attached valence electrons move at random within the material and are called
free electrons.

The valence electrons, which are loosely attached to the nucleus, are known as free electrons.
Energy bands

 In case of a single isolated atom an electron in any orbit has definite energy.

 When atoms are brought together as in solids, an atom is influenced by the forces from
other atoms. Hence an electron in any orbit can have a range of energies rather than
single energy. These ranges of energy levels are known as Energy bands.

 Within any material there are two distinct energy bands in which electrons may exist with
Valence band and conduction band.
Energy level Conduction band

Forbidden gap

Valence band

Figure1.2 Energy level diagram

 The range of energies possessed by valence electrons is called valence band.

 The range of energies possessed by free electrons is called conduction band.

 Valence band and conduction band are separated by an energy gap in which no
electrons normally exist this gap is called forbidden gap.

Electrons in conduction band are either escaped from their atoms (free electrons) or only weakly
held to the nucleus. Thereby by the electrons in conduction band may be easily moved around
within the material by applying relatively small amount of energy. (either by increasing the
temperature or by focusing light on the material etc. ) This is the reason why the conductivity of
the material increases with increase in temperature.

But much larger amount of energy must be applied in order to extract an electron from the
valence band because electrons in valence band are usually in the normal orbit around a nucleus.
For any given material, the forbidden gap may be large, small or non-existent.

Classification of materials based on Energy band theory

Based on the width of the forbidden gap, materials are broadly classified as conductors,
Insulators and semiconductors.
Conduction Conduction
Conduction band band
band
Forbidden
overlap Gap Forbidden
Gap EG =1eV
EG =6eV

Valence Valence Valence


band band band

(a) Conductor (b) Insulator (c) Semiconductor


Conductors

 Conductors are those substances, which allow electric current to pass through them.
Example: Copper, Al, salt solutions, etc.

 In terms of energy bands, conductors are those substances in which there is no forbidden
gap. Valence and conduction band overlap as shown in fig (a).

 For this reason, very large numbers of electrons are available for conduction even at
extremely low temperatures. Thus, conduction is possible even by a very weak electric
field.

Insulators

 Insulators are those substances, which do not allow electric current to pass through them.
Example: Rubber, glass, wood etc.

 In terms of energy bands, insulators are those substances in which the forbidden gap is
very large.

 Thus valence and conduction band are widely separated as shown in fig (b). Therefore
insulators do not conduct electricity even with the application of a large electric field or
by heating or at very high temperatures.

Semiconductors

 Semiconductors are those substances whose conductivity lies in between that of a


conductor and Insulator.
Example: Silicon, germanium, Selenium, Gallium, arsenide etc.

 In terms of energy bands, semiconductors are those substances in which the forbidden
gap is narrow.

 Thus valence and conduction bands are moderately separated as shown in fig(C).

 In semiconductors, the valence band is partially filled, the conduction band is also
partially filled, and the energy gap between conduction band and valence band is narrow.

 Therefore, comparatively smaller electric field is required to push the electrons from
valence band to conduction band. At low temperatures the valence band is completely
filled and conduction band is completely empty. Therefore, at very low temperature a
semi-conductor actually behaves as an insulator.

Conduction in solids
 Conduction in any given material occurs when a voltage of suitable magnitude is applied
to it, which causes the charge carriers within the material to move in a desired direction.

 This may be due to electron motion or hole transfer or both.

Electron motion

Free electrons in the conduction band are moved under the influence of the applied electric field.
Since electrons have negative charge they are repelled by the negative terminal of the applied
voltage and attracted towards the positive terminal.

Hole transfer

 Hole transfer involves the movement of holes.


 Holes may be thought of positive charged particles and as such they move through an
electric field in a direction opposite to that of electrons.

I I
+ +

V V

(a) Conductor (b) Semiconductor

Flow of electrons Flow of electrons

Flow of current Flow of holes


Flow of current
 In a good conductor (metal) as shown in fig (a) the current flow is due to free electrons
only.

 In a semiconductor as shown in fig (b). The current flow is due to both holes and
electrons moving in opposite directions.

 The unit of electric current is Ampere (A) and since the flow of electric current is
constituted by the movement of electrons in conduction band and holes in valence band,
electrons and holes are referred as charge carriers.

Classification of semiconductors

Semiconductors are classified into two types.


a) Intrinsic semiconductors.

b) Extrinsic semiconductors.

a) Intrinsic semiconductors

 A semiconductor in an extremely pure form is known as intrinsic semiconductor.

Example: Silicon, germanium.

 Both silicon and Germanium are tetravalent (having 4 valence electrons).

 Each atom forms a covalent bond or electron pair bond with the electrons of
neighboring atom. The structure is shown below.

Silicon or Germanium

Valence electron

Covalent bond

Figure1.3. Crystalline structure of Silicon (or Germanium)

At low temperature

 At low temperature, all the valence electrons are tightly bounded the nucleus hence no
free electrons are available for conduction.

 The semiconductor therefore behaves as an Insulator at absolute zero temperature.


At room temperature

Free electron

Valence electron

Holes

Figure 1.4. Crystalline structure of Silicon (or Germanium) at room temperature

 At room temperature, some of the valence electrons gain enough thermal energy to break
up the covalent bonds.

 These breakings up of covalent bonds sets the electrons free and are available for
conduction.

 When an electron escapes from a covalent bond and becomes free electrons a vacancy is
created in a covalent bond as shown in figure above. Such a vacancy is called Hole. It
carries positive charge and moves under the influence of an electric field in the direction
of the electric field applied.

 Numbers of holes are equal to the number of electrons since, a hole is nothing but an
absence of electrons.

Extrinsic Semiconductor

 When an impurity is added to an intrinsic semiconductor its conductivity changes.

 This process of adding impurity to a semiconductor is called Doping and the impure
semiconductor is called extrinsic semiconductor.

 Depending on the type of impurity added, extrinsic semiconductors are further classified
as n-type and p-type semiconductor.
N-type semiconductor

Si Si Si

free e-
Si As Si

Si Si Si

Figure 1.5 n-type semiconductors

Conduction band

Forbidden gap Fermi level

Valence band

Figure1.6 Energy band diagram for n-type semiconductor

 When a small current of pentavalent impurity is added to a pure semiconductor it is


called as n-type semiconductor.

 Addition of pentavalent impurity provides a large number of free electrons in a


semiconductor crystal.

 Typical examples for pentavalent impurities are Arsenic, Antimony and Phosphorus etc.
Such impurities which produce n-type semiconductors are known as Donor impurities
because they donate or provide free electrons to the semiconductor crystal.

 To understand the formation of n-type semiconductor, consider a pure silicon crystal with
impurity say arsenic added to it as shown in figure 1.5.
 We know that a silicon atom has 4 valence electrons and Arsenic has 5 valence
electrons. When Arsenic is added as impurity to silicon, the 4 valence electrons of silicon
make co-valentbond with 4 valence electrons of Arsenic.

 The 5th Valence electrons finds no place in the covalent bond thus, it becomes free and
travels to the conduction band as shown in figure. Therefore, for each arsenic atom
added, one free electron will be available in the silicon crystal. Though each arsenic atom
provides one free electrons yet an extremely small amount of arsenic impurity provides
enough atoms to supply millions of free electrons.

Due to thermal energy, still hole-electron pairs are generated but the numbers of free electrons
are very large in number when compared to holes. So in an n-type semiconductor electrons are
majority charge carriers and holes are minority charge carriers. Since the current conduction is
pre-dominantly by free electrons ( -vely charges) it is called as n-type semiconductor( n- means
–ve).

P-type semiconductor

Si Si Si

hole

Si Ga Si

Si Si Si

Figure 1.7 p-type semiconductors

Conduction band

Forbidden gap Fermi level

Valence band
Figure 1.8 Energy band diagram for p-type semiconductor

 When a small amount of trivalent impurity is added to a pure semiconductor it is


called p-type semiconductor.

 The addition of trivalent impurity provides large number of holes in the semiconductor
crystals.

 Example: Gallium, Indium or Boron etc. Such impurities which produce p-type
semiconductors are known as acceptor impurities because the holes created can accept
the electrons in the semi conductor crystal.

To understand the formation of p-type semiconductor, consider a pure silicon crystal with an
impurity say gallium added to it as shown in figure 1.7.

 We know that silicon atom has 4 valence electrons and Gallium has 3 electrons. When
Gallium is added as impurity to silicon, the 3 valence electrons of gallium make 3
covalent bonds with 3 valence electrons of silicon.

 The 4th valence electrons of silicon cannot make a covalent bond with that of Gallium
because of short of one electron as shown above. This absence of electron is called a
hole. Therefore for each gallium atom added one hole is created, a small amount of
Gallium provides millions of holes.

Due to thermal energy, still hole-electron pairs are generated but the number of holes are very
large compared to the number of electrons. Therefore, in a p-type semiconductor holes are
majority carriers and electrons are minority carriers. Since the current conduction is
predominantly by hole( + charges) it is called as p-type semiconductor( p means +ve)
Drift and Diffusion current

The flow of current through a semiconductor material is normally referred to as one of the two
types.

Drift current
 If an electron is subjected to an electric field in free space it will accelerate in a straight
line form the –ve terminal to the + ve terminal of the applied voltage.

 However in the case of conductor or semiconductor at room temperature, a free electrons


under the influence of electric field will move towards the +ve terminal of the applied
voltage but will continuously collide with atoms all the ways as shown in figure 1.9.

Electron drift due to field

Conduction
When electric
Field is
Semiconductor
Present

+
Conduction
Applied voltage when no electric
Field is applied
Figure 1.9

 Each time, when the electron strikes an atom, it rebounds in a random direction but the
presence of electric field does not stop the collisions and random motion. As a result the
electrons drift in a direction of the applied electric field.

 The current produced in this way is called as Drift current and it is the usual kind of
current flow that occurs in a conductor.

Diffusion current

 The directional movement of charge carriers due to their concentration gradient


produces a component of current known as Diffusion current.

 The mechanism of transport of charges in a semiconductor when no electric field is


applied called diffusion. It is encountered only in semiconductors and is normally absent
in conductors.
Heavy concentration of less concentration
Electrons electrons

Diffusion current

Even distribution

Net diffusion current is zero

 With no applied voltage if the number of charge carriers (either holes or electrons) in one
region of a semiconductor is less compared to the rest of the region then there exist a
concentration gradient.

 Since the charge carriers are either all electrons or all holes they sine polarity of charge
and thus there is a force of repulsion between them.

 As a result, the carriers tend to move gradually or diffuse from the region of higher
concentration to the region of lower concentration. This process is called diffusion and
electric current produced due to this process is called diffusion current.

 This process continues until all the carriers are evenly distributed through the material.
Hence when there is no applied voltage, the net diffusion current will be zero.
Fermi-level

Fermi level indicates the level of energy in the forbidden gap.

1. Fermi-level for an Intrinsic semiconductor

Conduction band
Energy level
EC

Ef Fermilevel

Forbidden gap
EV
Valence band

EC Conduction band energy level

EV Valence band energy level

Ef fermi level

 We know that the Intrinsic semiconductor acts as an insulator at absolute zero


temperature because there are free electrons and holes available but as the temperature
increases electron hole pairs are generated and hence number of electrons will be equal to
number of holes.

 Therefore, the possibility of obtaining an electron in the conduction band will be equal to
the probability of obtaining a hole in the valence band.

 If Ec is the lowest energy level of Conduction band and Ev is the highest energy level of
the valence band then the Fermi level Ef is exactly at the center of these two levels as
shown above.
2. Fermi-level in a semiconductors having impurities (Extrinsic)-

a) Fermi-level for n-type Semiconductor

 Let a donor impurity be added to an Intrinsic semiconductor then the donar


energy level (ED) shown by the dotted lines is very close to conduction band
energy level (Ec).

 Therefore the unbounded valence electrons of the impurity atoms can very easily
jump into the conduction band and become free electros thus, at room temperature
almost all the extra electrons of pentavalent impurity will jump to the conduction
band.

 The donar energy level (ED) is just below conduction band level (Ec) as shown in
figure1.10(a). Due to a large number of free electrons, the probability of electrons
occupying the energy level towards the conduction band will be more hence,
Fermi level shifts towards the conduction band.

Conduction band

EC

ED
Moves Fermi level Ef
Upward

EV
Valence band

ED Energy level of donar impurity

Figure 1.10 (a) Energy level diagram for n-type semiconductor


b) Fermi-level for P-type semiconductor

 Let an acceptor impurity be added to an Intrinsic semiconductor then the acceptor energy
level (Ea) shown by dotted lines is very close to the valence band shown by dotted lines
is very close to the valence band energy level (Ev).

 Therefore the valence band electrons of the impurity atom can very easily jump into the
valence band there by creating holes in the valence band.

Conduction band
EC

Fermi level Ef
EA
EV
Valence band

EA Energy level of acceptor impurity

Figure 1.11 (b) Energy level diagram for P-type semiconductor

 The acceptor energy level (EA) is just above the valence band level as shown in figure
1.11 (b).

 Due to large number of holes the probability of holes occupying the energy level towards
the valence band will be more and hence, the fermi level gets shifted towards the valence
band.
HALL EFFECT

If a piece of metal or semiconductor carrying a current I is placed in a transverse magnetic field


B then an electric field E is induced in the direction perpendicular to both I and B. This
phenomenon is known as Hall Effect.

Y (+ve)
Surface-2

+ + + + + + + +
d
I VH
w
X (+ve)
B
Surface -1
Z (+ve)

Hall Effect is normally used to determine whether a semi-conductor is n-type or p-type.

To find whether the semiconductor is n-type or p-type

i) In the figure. above, If I is in the +ve X direction and B is in the +ve Z direction, then
a force will be exerted on the charge carriers (holes and electrons) in the –ve Y
direction.

ii) This force is independent of whether the charge carriers are electrons or holes. Due to
this force the charge carriers ( holes and electrons) will be forced downward towards
surface –1 as shown.

iii) If the semiconductor is N-type, then electrons will be the charge carriers and these
electrons will accumulate on surface –1 making that surface –vely charged with
respect to surface –2. Hence a potential called Hall voltage appears between the
surfaces 1 and 2.

iv) Similarly when surface –1 is positively charged with respect to surface –2, then the
semiconductor is of P-type. In this way, by seeing the polarity of Hall voltage we can
determine whether the semiconductor is of P-type or N-type.
Applications of Hall effect

Hall effect is used to determine,

 Carrier concentration, conductivity and mobility.


 The sign of the current carrying charge.
 Charge density.
 It is used as magnetic field meter.

Carrier lifetime (τ)

In a pure semiconductor, we know that numbers of holes are equal to the number of electrons.
Thermal agitation however, continues to produce new hole electron pairs while other hole-
electron pair disappear as a result of recombination.

On an average, a hole will exist for τpsecond and an electron will exist for τn second before
recombination. This time is called the carrier lifetime or Mean lifetime.

The average time an electron or hole can exist in the free state is called carrier lifetime.

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