Carrier Transport Phenomena

• Thermal motion
• Drift current
- Mobility
- Conductivity, resistivity
- Velocity saturation
• Diffusion current
• Graded impurity distribution
- Induced
I d d E field
fi ld
- Einstein relation
• Hall effect
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 Thermal Motion, Drift
• Thermal motion: randomly due to thermal energy,
carriers (e-, h+) collisions or scattering with
imperfections in the crystal, no steady state current
* vth : thermal velocityy  107 cm/s at T = 300 K
3 1
average e- , h+ kinetic energy  kT  m*vth2
2 2
• Drift: net movement of carriers due to E field

＋ －

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 Drift Current
• Drift current density: apply E
(A/cm2)
ρ: volume charge density (C-cm-3)
vd: average drift velocity (cm/s)

* for h+: ＋ －
p: h+ concentration (cm-3)
vdp : average drift velocity of h + (cm/s)
d -
, for low E field +
vdp
p: mobility of h+ (cm2/V-s)

Jn
vdn
3
 Drift Current vdn Jn

* for e-:
n: e- concentration (cm-3)
vdn: average drift velocity of e- (cm/s)

n: mobility of e- (cm2/V-s)

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 Drift Current
* Example: a GaAs sample at T = 300 K with doping with Na = 0
and Nd = 1016 cm-3, find Jdrf when E = 10 V/cm is applied
pp

(p << n)

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* for h+ :
Mobility
mcp*:
* conductivity ff ti mass off h+
d ti it effective
a: acceleration
p = mcp* × v = F × t ,
mean peak velocity
cp: mean time between collisions for h+

, ＋ －

* for e- : ,
cn: mean time between collisions for e-

• Collisions: As  e- + As+, P  e- + P+, B  h+ + B-

- ionized impurity: , NI = Nd+ + Na- , T 3 / 2  vth3

- lattice
l tti vibration
ib ti (lattice
(l tti scattering,
tt i phononh scattering):
tt i )
1 1
 phonon   phonon    T 3 / 2

phonon density  carrier thermal velocity T  T 1 / 2 6

Mobility
I: mean time between collisions due
to ionized impurity scattering
L: mean time between collisions
due to lattice scattering
: mean time between any scattering
1 11
0.5 1 1

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 Mobility ,

* Example: Si with Nd = 1016 cm-3 : at T = 25 oC, n  1200 cm2/V-s

T , , J  T = 100 oC, n  780 cm2/V-s 8
Conductivity, Resistivity

en n + p p)
: conductivity (Ω –cm)-1

ρ : resistivity (Ω –cm)

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 Conductivity,
y Resistivity
y
* for a bar of semiconductor:

V
E
L

Ohm’s law for semiconductor

for p-type semiconductor:

if complete ionization:

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 Conductivity, Resistivity
* for Si with a fixed Nd n-type:
n , n : all depends
p on T

Nd = 1015 cm-3

freeze-out

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 Conductivity, Resistivity
* Example: for a n-type Si at T = 300 K with  = 16 (Ω –cm)-1 and
Na = 1017 cm-3, find Nd and n

from the figure,

figure we can obtain

en n + p p)
if intrinsic semiconductor
i en + p)ni NI = Nd+ + Na- : ionized impurity
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 Velocity Saturation , for low E field
* E large enough, kinetic energy of carrier > a critical value (~ 40 meV) :
=> generates an optical phonon and loses kinetic energy => v is capped at vsat
=> limit the device speed * for Si: E > 5104 V/cm, vsat  107 cm/s

at T = 300 K,
K
vs = 107 cm/s
Eon = 7×103 V/cm
V/
Eop = 2×104 V/cm

* for low E field:

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 Drift Velocity vs. Effective Mass

* for GaAs: mn* , n 

lower valley,
valley mn* = 0.067
0 067 m0
upper valley, mn* = 0.55 m0
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 V(r)
Effective Mass F = Fint + Fext
• Effective mass: Fext = qE = m*a
• Density of states effective mass
• Conductivity effective mass

* see Appendix F for details

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 Diffusion Current
• Diffusion: e-, h+ diffuse from higher to lower concentration location
* Find diffusion current:
Fn: net rate of e- flow in the +x direction at x = 0

l < mean-free path of e-

Jn Fn (vth × cn)
dn

d
dx

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Diffusion Current

Dn : e- diffusion coefficient (cm2/s)

Dp : h+ diffusion coefficient
* Example: for a n-type GaAs, n vary
from 1018 to 7 × 1017cm-3 in 0.1 cm,
find Jn|diff if Dn = 225 cm2/s

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 Total Current Density
y
in 1D:

in 3D:
: divergence

* D ift n , p , n , p , E
Drift:
- e-
- h+

* Diffusion: Dn , Dp , dn/dx , dp/dx

- e-
- h+

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 Graded Impurity Distribution
• E field induced in a region with nonuniform impurity
Electric potential:
Electric field:

－
＋

=>

* Example: Nd(x) = 1016 – 1019 x (cm-33),

)
x in cm and 0  x  1 m. Find E at
x = 0 at T = 300 K.

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 Einstein Relation
* Consider a non-uniformly doped semiconductor
with no electrical connection:
at equilibrium: Jn = 0, Jp = 0

=>

similarly, Jp = 0 =>

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 Einstein Relation
Einstein relation

* Example: at T = 300 K, for a carrier with mobility 1000 cm2/V-s

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Energy
gy Band Diagram
g ((V, E Applied)
pp )
Nonuniform doping, no applied V Uniform doping, applied V
=> E is induced

* Ec (Ev) is higher where the potential is lower

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 Hall Effect
• Distinguish n-type or p-type apply B :
(majority carrier):

if place semiconductor
with Bz ⊥ Ix :
F in –y direction
* initial: charge buildup
* in steady state:

Ey: induced Hall field = EH

type (h+ majority)
* VH > 0 if pp-type
VH < 0 if n-type (e- majority) VH: Hall voltage
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 Hall Effect
• Find majority carrier concentration:

for p-type:

=>
for n-type:
=>
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 Hall Effect
• Find low-field majority carrier mobility:
for p-type:
p yp
,

=>

for n-type:

* Example: if L = 10-1 cm, W = 10-2 cm,

d = 10-3 cm, Ix = 1 mA, Vx = 12.5 V, Bz = 0.05 T, VH = -6.25 mV VH < 0, n-type

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