Unit -3

Topic 1 :Semiconductor Basics

 Objective

Learn ....

v Semiconductor classification

v Bandstructure of a semiconductor - Conduction band , Valence band

v Instrinsic semiconductor: electrons and holes

v Concept of effective mass

Classification of materials based on Electrical Conductivity
 Semiconductors

Ø Semiconductors are a group of materials having electrical conductivities intermediate

between metals and insulators

Ø Semiconductors are materials having electrical conductivity between

103 to 10-8 S/m

Ø The conductivity of these materials can be varied over orders of magnitude by changes
in temperature, optical excitation, and impurity content

v Variability of electrical properties makes the semiconductor materials natural choices for
electronic device investigations.
 Semiconductors
Classification of semiconductors

There are different ways of classifying semiconductors depending on the property being
measured. One classification that is fairly straight forward is

1. Elemental semiconductors

composed of single species of atoms

2. Compound semiconductors

combining elements of different groups in periodic table

 Semiconductors
Classification of semiconductors

Elemental Si, Ge

Group III-V: GaAs, GaN, GaP, InGaN,

AlGaN ...

Compound Group II-VI: ZnO, ZnS, ZnTe, CdS...

Group IV-IV: SiC, SiGe

 Semiconductors
Classification of semiconductors

Elemental Si, Ge

Group III-V: GaAs, GaN, GaP, InGaN,

AlGaN ...

Compound Group II-VI: ZnO, ZnS, ZnTe, CdS...

Group IV-IV: SiC, SiGe

Many more combination possible....

 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

Intrinsic Semiconductors : mean an ideal perfect crystal that has no impurities or

crystal defects

They do contain electrons as well as holes.

Number of electrons  Number of holes

(we can see the concept of hole in the upcoming slides)

 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

Si has an atomic number of 14 and the electronic configuration is 1s22s22p63s23p2

q When Silicon atoms comes close to each other, the 3s and 3p energy levels are so close
that the interactions result in the four orbitals ψ(3s), ψ(3px), ψ(3py), and ψ(3pz) mixing
together to form four new hybrid orbitals called ψhyb
q Half filled ψhyb orbital of a silicon overlap with the ψhyb of its neighbouring atoms to
form covalent bonding can be expressed as bonding orbital ψB

q A 3D network formed by overalp of four neighbouring atoms leads to tetrahedral

arrangement of silicons
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

(a) A simplified two-dimensional illustration of a Si atom with four hybrid orbitals hyb.
Each orbital has one electron. (b) A simplified two-dimensional view of a region of the
Si crystal showing covalent bonds. (c) The energy band diagram at absolute zero of
temperature.
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

The valence band (VB) contains those electronic states that correspond to the
overlap of bonding orbitals (ψB). Since all the bonding orbitals (ψB) are full with
valence electrons in the crystal, the VB is also full with these valence electrons at a
temperature of absolute zero.
The conduction band (CB) contains electronic states that are at higher energies,
those corresponding to the overlap of antibonding orbitals. The CB is separated from
the VB by an energy gap Eg, called the bandgap
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

Electrons and Holes

There are essentially two types of charge carriers in semiconductors:

electrons and holes

A hole is effectively an empty electronic state in the VB that behaves as if it were a

positively charged “particle” free to respond to an applied electric field

By temperature effect or by optical excitation or application of electrical field ---

electrons - holes are created
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

Electrons and Holes

(a) A photon with an energy greater than Eg can excite an electron from the VB to
the CB. (b) When a photon breaks a Si-Si bond, a free electron and a hole in the Si-
Si bond is created.
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

A two dimensional pictorial view of the Si crystal showing covalent bonds as two lines
where each line is a valence electron
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

Electrons and Holes

Thermal vibrations of atoms can break bonds and thereby create electron-
holepairs.
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

Electrons and Holes

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

A pictorial illustration of a hole in the

valence band (VB) wandering around
the crystal due to the tunneling of
electrons from neighboring bonds;
and its eventual recombination with a
wandering electron in the conduction
band.
Ø A missing electron in a bond
represents a hole as in (a).
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS: Silicon

Ø An electron in a neighboring bond

can tunnel into this empty state and
thereby cause the hole to be displaced
as in (a) to (d).
Ø The hole is able to wander around
in the crystal as if it were free but
with a different effective mass than
the electron.
Ø A wandering electron in the CB
meets a hole in the VB in (e), which
results in the recombination and the
filling of the empty VB state as in (f)
 Effective mass Concept in semiconductor

Electron effective mass:

When an electric field is applied, the free electron will experience the field and
get accelerated. The acceleration of the electron will be different in vacuum and
inside a solid (crystal)

An external force Fext applied to

an electron in a vacuum results in
an acceleration
Fext
avac 
me
 Effective mass Concept in semiconductor

Electron effective mass:

When the same force Fext is applied to the electron

inside a crystal, the acceleration of the electron will
be different, because it will also experience internal
forces.

Fext  Fint
acrystal 
me
Fint is the sum of all the

The presence of the periodic potential, due to the atoms in the crystal changes the
properties of the electrons
 Effective mass Concept in semiconductor

Electron effective mass:

v The periodic potential in the lattice will affect the
motion of the electron

v To the outside agent applying the force Fext, the

electron will appear to be exhibiting a different
inertial mass, since its acceleration will be different.

v So inside a crystal, instead of the mass in vacuum

me, we must use the effective mass m*e of the
electron in that particular crystal

v The effects of all internal forces are incorporated

into effective mass m*e
 Effective mass Concept in semiconductor

Electron effective mass:

In a crystal,

Fext  Fint
acrystal 
me

Fext
acrystal  *
me