Semiconductor Physics

Conduction of Electricity in Solids

 In this chapter we focus on a goal of physics that has become
enormously important in the last half century. That goal is to
answer the question: What are the mechanisms by which a material
conducts, or does not conduct electricity?
 The answers are complex since they involve applying quantum
mechanics not just to individual particles and atoms, but to a
tremendous number of particles and atoms grouped together and
interacting.
 Scientists and engineers have made great strides in the quantum
physics of materials science, which is why we have computers,
calculators, cell phones, and many other types of solid-state devices.
 We begin by characterizing solids that conduct electricity and those
that do not.
 Face-centered cubic
Electrical Properties of Solids
Crystalline solid: solid whose atoms are arranged in a
repetitive three-dimensional structure (lattice). Basic
unit (unit cell) is repeated throughout the solid.
Basic Electrical Properties
copper
1. Resisivity ρ: relates how much current an applied
electric field produces in the solid (see Section 26-4). Diamond lattice
Units ohm meter (Ω m).
2. Temperature coefficient of resistivity α: defined as
α=(1/ρ)(dρ/dT). Characterizes how resistivity changes
with temperature. Units inverse Kelvin (K-1).
3. Number density of charge carriers n: the number of
charge carriers per unit volume. Can be determined from silicon or carbon
Hall measurements (Section 28-4). Units inverse cubic
meter (m-3) Figure 41-1 (a) The unit cell for copper is a cube. There is one copper atom (darker) at each corner
of the cube and one copper atom (lighter) at the center of each face of the cube.The arrangement is
called facecentered cubic. (b) The unit cell for either silicon or the carbon atoms in diamond is also
a cube, the atoms being arranged in what is called a diamond lattice.There is one atom (darkest) at
each corner of the cube and one atom (lightest) at the center of each cube face; in addition, four
atoms (medium color) lie within the cube. Every atom is bonded to its four nearest neighbors by a
two-electron covalent bond (only the four atoms within the cube show all four nearest neighbors).
 Electrical Properties of Solids, cont’d
Table 41-1 Some Electrical Properties of Two Materials

Material

Properties Unit Copper Silicon

Type of conductor Metal Semiconductor

Resistivity,  m 2x10-8 3x103

Temperature Coeff. Of resistivity,  K-1 +4x10-3 -70x10-3

Number density of charge carriers, n m-3 9x1028 1x1016
 Energy Levels in a Crystalline
Solid
Electronic configuration of copper atom:
1s2 2s22p6 3s23p63d10 4s1

xN

Pauli exclusion→
localized energy states
split to accommodate
all electrons, e.g., not
allowed to have 4
electrons in 1s state.
New states are
extended throughout
material.
Fig. 41-3
Figure 41-2 (a) Two copper atoms separated by a large distance; their electron distributions are represented by dot plots. (b) Each copper atom
has 29 electrons distributed among a set of subshells. In the neutral atom in its ground state, all subshells up through the 3d level are filled, the
4s subshell contains one electron (it can hold two), and higher subshells are empty. For simplicity, the subshells are shown as being evenly
spaced in energy.
 Insulators and Metals
 To create a current that moves charge in a given direction, one must be able to
excite electrons to higher energy states. If there are no unoccupied higher energy
states close to the topmost electrons, no current can flow.
 In metals, electrons in the highest occupied band can readily jump to higher
unoccupied levels. These conduction electrons can move freely throughout the
sample, like molecules of gas in a closed container (see free electron model-
Section 26-6).

Unoccupied States

Fermi Energy

Occupied States

Figure 41-4 The band–gap pattern for an insulator; filled levels

are shown in red and empty levels in blue.
How Many Conduction Electrons Are There?
 Not all electrons in a solid carry current. Low energy electrons that are deeply
buried in filled bands have no unoccupied states nearby into which they can
jump, so they cannot readily increase their kinetic energy. Therefore, only the
electrons at the outermost occupied shells (near the Fermi energy) will conduct
current. These are called valence electrons, which also play a critical role in
chemical bonding by determining the “valence” of an atom.

 number of conduction   number of atoms  number of valence

   electrons per atom 
 electrons in sample   in sample
 
number of conduction electrons in sample
n
sample volume V
 number of atoms  sample mass M sam sample mass M sam
   
 in sample  atomic mass molar mass M  N A

material's densitysample volume V 
molar mass M  N A
 How Many Quantum States Are there?
Analogous to counting number of modes in a pipe organ→frequencies f (energies)
become more closely spaced at higher f→density (in interval df) of modes
increases with f.
Number of states per unit volume in energy range from E to E+dE:

8 2 m
1
2

N E   E 12 (density of states, m-3J-1 )

h3

Figure 41-6 The density of states N(E)—that is, the number of electron energy levels per unit energy interval per unit
volume— plotted as a function of electron energy. The density of states function simply counts the available states; it
says nothing about whether these states are occupied by electrons.
 Occupancy Probability P(E)
Ability to conduct depends on the probability P(E) that available vacant levels will be
occupied. At T = 0, the P(E < EF) = 1 and P(E > EF) = 0. At T > 0 the electrons
distribute themselves according to Fermi-Dirac statistics:

P E   1
(occupancy probability)
E  EF  kT
e 1
At T 0 : For E  E F , e E  E F  kT
 e  P E   1

For E  EF , e
E  EF  kT
 e  P E   0

Fermi energy of a material is the energy of a

quantum state that has the probability of 0.5 of
being occupied by an electron
Figure 41-7 The occupancy probability P(E) is the probability that an energy level
will be occupied by an electron. (a) At T 0 K, P(E) is unity for levels with energies E
up to the Fermi energy EF and zero for levels with higher energies. (b) At T 1000 K, a
few electrons whose energies were slightly less than the Fermi energy at T 0 K move
up to states with energies slightly greater than the Fermi energy.The dot on the curve
shows that, for E EF,P(E) 0.5.
 How Many Occupied States Are There?
Density of occupied states (per unit volume in energy range E to E+dE) is NO(E):
 density of occupied states  density of states  occupancy probability
 N E at energy E    N E at energy E  P E at energy E 
 O         
or N O E   N E  P E  (density of occupied states)
 Calculating the Fermi Energy

N O E dE   N E  P E dE   N E 1dE

EF EF EF
At T  0, n  0 0 0

Plugging in for N(E)

8 2 m 8 2 m 2 2E F2
3 3 3
2 EF
n  E dE 
1
2

h3 0 h3 3

 3  h 2 3 0.121h2 2 3
3 2
EF    mn  n
 16 2  m
 Semiconductors
Semiconductors are qualitatively similar to insulators but
with a much smaller (~1.1 eV for silicon compared to 5.5
for diamond) energy gap Eg between top of the valence band
and bottom of the conduction band
Number density of carriers n: thermal agitation excites
some electron at the top of the valence band across to the
conduction band, leaving behind unoccupied energy state
(holes). Holes behave as positive charges when electric
fields are applied.
nCu / nSi~1013.
Resistivity ρ: since ρ=m/e2nτ, the large difference in
charge carrier density mostly account for the large increase
(~1011) in ρ in semiconductors compared to metals.

Fig. 41-8
Temperature coefficient of Resistivity α: When increasing temperature, resistivity in
metals increases (more scattering off lattice vibrations) while it decrease in
semiconductors (more charge carriers excited across energy gap)
Semiconductor
materials
 Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductor
 Intrinsic: Pure semiconductor
 Extrinsic: Impure or doped semiconductors
 Possible Semiconductor Materials
1. Very Expensive
Carbon C 6 2. Band Gap Large: 6eV
3. Difficult to produce without high contamination
1. Cheap
Silicon Si 14 2. Ultra High Purity
3. Oxide is amazingly perfect for IC applications
1. High Mobility
Germanium Ge 32 2. High Purity Material
3. Oxide is porous to water/hydrogen (problematic)

1. Only “White Tin” is semiconductor

Tin Sn 50
2. Converts to metallic form under moderate heat

1. Only “White Lead” is semiconductor

Lead Pb 82
2. Converts to metallic form under moderate heat
 N-type and P-type semiconductor
 Semiconductor materials do not conduct current well and are of little value in
their intrinsic state.
 This is because of the limited number of free electrons in the conduction band
and holes in the valence band.
 Intrinsic silicon (or germanium) must be modified by increasing the free
electrons and holes to increase its conductivity and make it useful in electronic
devices. This is done by adding impurities to the intrinsic material.
 Two types of extrinsic (impure) semiconductor materials N-type and P-type, are
the key building block for all types of electronic devices.

Pure Si n-type doped Si p-type doped Si

Si(14): 1s22s22p63s23p2
Sb(51e):
1s22s22p63s23p63d104s24p
64d105s25p3

B(5e): 1s22s22p1
 N- type semiconductor
 To increase the number of conduction-band electrons in intrinsic silicon,
pentavalent impurity atoms are added.
 These are atoms with five valence electrons such as arsenic (As), phosphorus (P),
bismuth (Bi), and antimony (Sb).
 Each pentavalent atom (antimony, in this case) forms covalent bonds with four
adjacent silicon atoms. Four of the antimony atom’s valence electrons are used to
form the covalent bonds with silicon atoms, leaving one extra electron. This extra
electron becomes a conduction electron because it is not attached to any atom.
Because the pentavalent atom gives up an electron, it is often called a donor atom.
 The number of conduction electrons can be carefully controlled by the number of
impurity atoms added to the silicon.
 N- type semiconductor
 Majority and Minority Carriers: Since most of the current carriers are
electrons, silicon (or germanium) doped with pentavalent atoms is an n-type
semiconductor material (the n stands for the negative charge on an electron).

 The electrons are called the majority carriers in n-type material.

 There are also a few holes that are created when electron-hole pairs are
thermally generated. These holes are not produced by the addition of the
pentavalent impurity atoms.

 Holes in an n-type material are called minority carriers.

 P-type Semiconductor
 To increase the number of holes in intrinsic silicon, trivalent impurity atoms are
added. These are atoms with three valence electrons such as aluminum (AI),
boron (B), indium (In) and gallium (Ga).

 Because the trivalent atom can take an electron, it is often referred to as an

acceptor atom.

 The number of holes can be carefully controlled by the number of trivalent

impurity atoms added to the silicon.

 A hole created by this doping process is not accompanied by a conduction (free)

electron.
 P-type Semiconductor Continue
 Majority and Minority Carriers. Since most of the current carriers are holes,
silicon (or germanium) doped with trivalent atoms is called a p-type
semiconductor material.
 Holes can be thought of as positive charges because the absence of an electron
leaves a net positive charge on the atom. The holes are the majority carriers in p-
type material.
 There are also a few free electrons that are created when electron-hole pairs are
thermally generated. These free electrons are not produced by the addition of the
trivalent impurity atoms.
 Electrons in p-type material are the minority carriers.
 Electron and Hole Current
 When a voltage is applied across a piece of intrinsic silicon, the
thermally generated free electrons in the conduction band, which are free
to move randomly in the crystal structure, are now easily attracted
toward the positive end.
 This movement of free electrons is one type of current in a
semiconductor material and is called electron current.
 A valence electron can move into a nearby hole, with little change in its
energy level, thus leaving another hole where it came from.
 Effectively the hole has moved from one place to another in the crystal
structure. This is called hold current.
 Doped Semiconductors, cont’d

Table 41-2
Properties of Two Doped Semiconductors
Type of Semiconductor
Property n p
Matrix material Silicon Silicon
Matrix nuclear charge +14e +14e
Matrix energy gap 1.2 eV 1.2 eV
Dopant Phosphorous Aluminum
Type of dopant Donor Acceptor
Majority carriers Electrons Holes
Minority carriers Holes Electrons
Dopant energy gap Ed=0.045 eV Ea=0.067 eV
Dopant valence 5 3
Dopant nuclear charge +15e +13e
Dopant net ion charge +e -e

Fig. 41-10
 Junction plane
The p-n Junction
 If you take a block of silicon and
dope half of it with a trivalent
impurity and the other half with a
pentavalent impurity, a boundary
called the pn junction is formed
Space charge between the resulting p-type and n-
type portions .
Depletion zone
 The pn junction is the feature that
allows diodes, transistors, and other
devices to work.
Contact potential difference
 If a piece of intrinsic silicon is
doped so that half is n-type and the
other half is p-type, a pn junction
forms between the two regions as
indicated.

Fig. 41-11
 Formation of the Depletion Region
 When the pn junction is formed, the n region loses free electrons as they diffuse
across the junction.
 This creates a layer of positive charges (pentavalent ions) near the junction, as
the electrons move across the junction, the p region loses holes as the electrons
and holes combine.
 This creates a layer of negative charges (trivalent jons) near the junction.
 These two layers of positive and negative charges form the depletion region.
 After the initial surge of free electrons across the pn junction, the depletion
region has expanded to a point where equilibrium is established and there is no
further diffusion of electrons across the junction.
 Barrier Potential
 The forces between the opposite charges form a “field of forces” called an
electric field.
 This electric field is a barrier to the free electrons in the n region, and energy
most be expended to move an electron through the electric field. That is, external
energy must be applied to get the electrons to move across the barrier of the
electric field in the depletion region.

 The potential difference of the

electric field across the depletion
region is the amount of energy
required to move electrons through
the electric field.
 This potential difference is called the
barrier potential and is expressed in
volts.
 Barrier Potential
 The barrier potential of a pn junction depends on several factors,
including the type of semiconductor material, the amount of doping, and
the temperature.
 The typical barrier potential is approximately 0.7 V for silicon and 0.3 V
for germanium at 250C.
 Biasing The PN Junction
 In electronics, the term bias refers
to the use of a dc voltage to
establish certain operating
conditions for an electronic device.

 In relation to a pn junction, there

are two bias conditions: forward
and reverse..

 Either of these bias conditions is

established by connecting a
sufficient dc voltage of the proper
polarity across the pn junction.
 Forward Bias
 Forward Bias is the condition that allows current through a pn junction
a dc voltage source connected by conductive material (contacts and
wire) across a pn junction in the direction to produce forward bias. This
external bias voltage is designated as VBIAS.
 The negative side of VBIAS is connected to the n region of the pn junction
and the positive side is connected to the p region. A second requirement
is that the bias voltage, VBIAS, must be greater than the barrier potential.
 Forward Bias
 Because like charges repell, the negative side of the bias-voltage
source “pushes” the free electrons, which are the majority carriers in
the n region, toward the pn junction.

 This flow of free electrons is called electron current.

 The negative side of the source also provides a continuous flow of

electrons through the external connection (conductor) and into the n
region as shown.
 Reverse Bias
 Reverse bias is the condition that prevents current through the
pn junction a dc voltage source connected across a pn junction in
the direction to produce reverse bias.
 This external bias voltage is designated as VBIAS just as was for
forward bias. The positive side of VBIAS is connected to the n
region of the pn junction and the negative side is connected to the
p region.
 Reverse Bias
 What happens when a pn junction is reverse-biased. Because unlike charges
attract, the positive side of the bias-voltage source “pulls” the free electrons,
which are the majority carriers in the n region, away from the pn junction.
 Reverse Current The small number of free minority electrons in the p region are
“pushed” toward the pn junction by the negative bias voltage.
 When these electrons reach the wide depletion region, they “fall down the energy
hill” and combine with the minority holes in the n region as valence electrons and
flow toward the positive bias voltage, creating a small hole current.
 Therefore, the minority electrons easily pass through the depletion region because
they require no additional energy.
 The Junction Rectifier
Allows current to flow in only one direction

Fig. 41-12

Fig. 41-13
 The Junction Rectifier, cont’d
Forward-bias Back-bias

depletion region shrinks depletion region grows

Current flows No current flows,

Fig. 41-14
 Light Emitting Diode
At junction, electrons recombine with holes across Eg, emitting light in the process
c c hc
  
f Eg h Eg

Fig. 41-15

Fig. 41-16
 The Photo-Diode
Use a p-n junction to detect light. Light is absorbed at p-n
junction, producing electrons and holes, allowing a detectible
current to flow.

Junction Laser
p-n already has a population inversion. If the
junction is placed in an optical cavity (between
two mirrors), photons that reflect back to the
junction will cause stimulated emission, producing
more identical photons, which in term will cause
more stimulated emision.
 The Transistor
Transistor is a three terminal device where a small gate (G) voltage/current controls
the resistance between the source (S) and drain (D), allowing large currents to
flow→power amplification!
Field Effect Transistor: gate voltage depletes (dopes)
charge carriers in semiconductor, turning it into an
insulator (metal)

Fig. 41-18

metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-
effect-transistor (MOSFET)
Fig. 41-19
 Integrated Circuits
Thousands, even millions of transistors and other electronic components
(capacitors, resistors, etc) manufactured on a single chip to make complex devices
such as computer processors.
Fast, reliable, small, well-suited for mass-production.