Electronic Devices

Lecture 10
20-09-2022
Prof. Ramesha C K

BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus

 Scattering

• For a given field there is going to be a random distribution of

“times between collisions” and a corresponding “mean free
path”.

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Electron drift under a field

• The individual path of the electron is apparently

chaotic, but it will tend to “drift” on the average
in the direction opposite to the field.

scattering event

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 Energy balance

• The applied field tries to direct and accelerate the

individual velocities along a given direction, thus
increasing the energy of the system.
– Scattering randomizes the direction of individual
electron velocities.
– Phonon scattering exchanges energy between gas of
electrons and vibrating lattice atoms.
– Scattering with ionized impurities only changes
directions, does not exchange energy.
– Electron-electron interaction redistributes energy
among electrons (important in contact regions).
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Conductivity and Resistivity

• A current density is induced in the material by

applying an Electric Field
Force on electron

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Momentum change

Consider a group of n electrons

• Rate of change of momentum due to Field in x-
direction is given by

• Rate of change of momentum due to scattering

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Steady-state = constant current

Average momentum
per electron

Drift velocity Similarly for holes

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Mobility

units

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Define Drift Current Density

𝑰
+ –

J = Charge per unit time per unit area

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Drift Velocity
• Thus when an electric field is applied, the
electron drift velocity is given by
• 𝑣𝑑 = 𝜇 𝐸
• Where 𝜇 is called mobility and is a
proportionality constant which depends
upon the semiconductor material
properties.
𝑐𝑚2
• Unit of mobility is
𝑉−𝑠𝑒𝑐

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 Low Field Mobility

𝜇 is the slope of the curve at E=0 and is usually called low-field mobility
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Semiconductor Material Properties

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Drift current density
• Thus we have 𝐽 = 𝑝𝑞𝜇𝑝 𝐸 +
𝑛 −𝑞 −𝜇𝑛 𝐸 = 𝑞 𝑝𝜇𝑝 + 𝑛𝜇𝑛 𝐸
• The term q 𝑝𝜇𝑝 + 𝑛𝜇𝑛 is called as the
electrical conductivity 𝜎.
– It is a measure of how well a material conducts
electric current under the application of an
external electric field
1
• 𝜎 = 𝑞(𝑝𝜇𝑝 + 𝑛𝜇𝑛 ) or =
𝑞(𝑝𝜇𝑝 +𝑛𝜇𝑛 )

Resistivity
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Electrical conductivity
• 𝜎𝑖 = 𝑞𝑛𝑖 (𝜇𝑛 + 𝜇𝑝 ) is the intrinsic
conductivity of a semiconductor material
• For extrinsic semiconductors assuming
complete ionization, 𝑁𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑁𝑎 ≫ 𝑛𝑖
• Hence the conductivity reduces to
𝜎𝑛 ≈ 𝑞𝑁𝑑 𝜇𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝜎𝑝 ≈ 𝑞 𝑁𝑎 𝜇𝑝
Thus the conductivity is purely dependent on
the majority carrier concentration

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Electrical resistance
𝑉
• 𝐽 = 𝜎𝐸 = 𝜎 where L is the length of the SC material
𝐿
𝜎𝑉
• 𝐼 = 𝐽. 𝐴 = A and the elctrical resistance is given by
𝐿
𝑉 1𝐿 𝜌𝐿
• 𝑅= = =
𝐼 𝜎𝐴 𝐴

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Electrical resistivity
1 1
• 𝜌= = is the electrical
𝜎 𝑞 𝑛𝜇𝑛 +𝑝𝜇𝑝
resistivity
• Resistance, conductance, resistivity and
conductivity, depend only on the majority
carrier concentration and not on the
minority carrier concentration

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Hall effect

• Hall Effect was discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879.

• An important experiment to measure the carrier
concentration and mobility of semiconductor devices

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Hall experiment
The magnetic field deflects the positive charges due to Lorentz
force as shown below
𝐹𝑦 = 𝑞𝑣 𝑥 𝐵 = 𝑒𝑣𝑥𝐵𝑧 where 𝑣𝑥 is the drift velocity of the charge
carriers in the +x direction

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Hall experiment

• The charges are driven in the –y direction, thus the

positive charges accumulate on one side of the
material
• This results in producing an electric field across the
+y direction called Hall field 𝐸𝐻
– This hall field is measured by measuring the voltage
across the width of the semiconductor material
– 𝑉𝐻 = 𝐸𝑦𝑊 is called as the Hall voltage

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Hall experiment

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 Hall experiment

• A semiconductor device of Length L, width W and thickness

t is placed in a magnetic and electric field in x and z
direction respectively.
• Current 𝐼𝑥 flows in the +x direction, a magnetic field 𝐵𝑧 is
applied in the + z direction
• Assuming that material is p-type, holes are the majority
carriers and take place in electrical conduction
𝐼𝑥
• 𝐽𝑥 = Assuming that the current is set by applying a
𝐴
𝑉𝑥
Voltage 𝑉𝑥 , 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑉𝑥 = 𝐸𝑥 𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 =𝑅
𝐼𝑥 BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
Hall experiment

• The magnetic field deflects the positive charges due to Lorentz force
• The charges are driven in the –y direction, thus the positive charges accumulate on one side
of the material
• 𝐹𝑦 = 𝑞𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧 where 𝑣𝑥 is the drift velocity of the charge carriers in the +x direction

• Fy= qEy – q vxBz

• Fy=0 only when Ey=vxBz

• VAB=EyW → Hall Voltage

• Ey=(Jx/qp0)Bz=RH. JxBz

• RH=1/qp0 → Hall coefficient

•
P0=1/RH.q
𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝑉𝐻 𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧
• 𝑝= ( = )
𝑡𝑞𝑉𝐻 𝑤 𝑡𝑤𝑞𝑝
•
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Determination of parameters

• Carrier concentration
𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧
𝑝= for p-type SC, the hall voltage polarity is
𝑡𝑞𝑉𝐻
positive
• This is one of the major applications of the Hall
experiment as it helps in finding the material type by
just looking at the hall voltage polarity
• The Hall voltage is positive for p-type and negative
for n-type semiconductors

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Determination of parameters

• Carrier mobility
𝐼𝑥 𝑝𝜇𝑝 𝑞𝑉𝑥
• 𝐽𝑋 = = 𝑝𝜇𝑝 𝑞𝐸𝑥 =
𝐴 𝐿
𝐼𝑥 𝐿
• 𝜇𝑝 =
𝑞𝐴𝑝𝑉𝑥
• Similarly one repeat the same experiment for
n-type semiconductors
𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝐼𝑥 𝐿
• 𝑛= = and 𝜇𝑛 =
𝑡(−𝑞)(−𝑉𝐻 ) 𝑡𝑞𝑉𝐻 𝑞𝐴𝑛𝑉𝑥

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Mobility-second order effects

• The carrier mobility is assumed to be constant with

temperature. But in practice it changes with temperature
• The main variation with temperature is due to lattice scattering
as the crystal lattice vibrates at higher temperatures, causing
the periodic potentials to change. This in turn changes the
electron energies and movement in the crystal.
3
−2
• 𝜇𝛼𝑇 , increaring temperature reduces the mobility.

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Mobility and conductivity variation with T
in extrinsic and intrinsic SC

❑ Thus the mobility and conductivity of an extrinsic SC material

reduces with temperature (as the carrier concentration is
fixed after complete ionization)
❑ Thus resistance of an extrinsic semiconductor increases with
increasing temperature.
❑ However in an intrinsic semiconductor, the conductivity
increases with increasing temperature as the carrier
concentration increases with increasing temperature. Hence
resistance decreases with increasing temperature
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 Impurity & Lattice Scatterings

1 1 1
= +
 I 
The mechanism causing the lower
mobility value dominates !

Figure 3—21
Approximate temperature dependence of mobility with both lattice
2022-09-20 and impurity scattering. 27
Effect of temperature and doping on
mobility

  T-3/2 lattice scattering

  T3/2 impurity scattering

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 Mobility vs. doped impurity concentration

Figure 3—23
Variation of mobility with total doping impurity concentration (Na + Nd ) for Ge, Si, GaAs at 300 K.
2022-09-20 29
Mobility vs. doped impurity concentration

Mobility is a measure of ease of carrier drift:

• If c , longer time between collisions → 
• If m , “lighter” particle → 

• Low doping level,  limited by collision with lattice

• For medium and high doping level,  limited by collisions
with ionised impurities
• Holes “heavier” than electrons:
→ for same doping level , n > p

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High-Field Effects & Drift Velocity Saturation

For low electric fields, the Ohm’s law is valid in the carrier drift
process :
J = x  x (Usually valid for  x < 103 V/cm)

J x = −qnVd   f ( x )
For high electric fields, the drift velocity (Vd) (i.e., current density)
exhibits a sublinear dependence on the electric field.

Vd  107 cm/s (Usually valid for x > 103 V/cm)

 = f ( x )
2022-09-20 31
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Saturation of electron drift velocity at
high electric field
Velocity reaches a saturation value of the
mean thermal velocity.

vd = n

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