Semiconductor Devices

Lecture - 2
Introduction to Semiconductors
Dr. Debarun Sengupta
Assistant Professor

Contact: [email protected]

Department of Electrical Engineering

School of Engineering

Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence (Deemed to be University), Delhi-NCR

 Classification of Solids
Solids can be classified based on their crystalline structure into the following categories,
determined by how their constituent particles (atoms, ions, or molecules) are arranged in space:

• Monocrystalline solids

• Amorphous solids

• Polycrystalline solids

• *Quasicrystals

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Classification of Solids

Ref:NTPL
Monocrystalline solids

Ref:NTPL
Polycrystalline solids

Ref:NTPL
Amorphous solids

Ref:NTPL
Polycrystalline and amorphous materials: comparison

Polycrystalline Amorophous
Crystalline – periodic arrangement of atoms: definite repetitive pattern

Non-crystalline or Amorphous – random arrangement of atoms.

The periodicity of atoms in crystalline solids can be described by a

network of points in space called lattice.

Ref: Franssila: Introduction to Microfabrication

 Classification of Solids: Summary
Solids can be classified based on their crystalline structure into the following categories,
determined by how their constituent particles (atoms, ions, or molecules) are arranged in space:
• Monocrystalline solids:
• well-defined, long-range periodic arrangement of constituent atoms.
• Bond length remains the same throughout the periodic arrangement.
• Any variation in periodicity is called as defect.
• Examples: Diamond, gold, Tin, Sulphur, Zinc, etc.
• Amorphous solids:
• lack regular periodic arrangement of constituent atoms.
• No long-range order, though short-range order may exist (~few atoms).
• No periodicity in arrangement.
• Variation in bond length and angles.
• Examples: Glass, Rubber, Plastic, carbon black, etc.
• Polycrystalline solids:
• Intermediate form between crystalline and amorphous solids.
• Composed of many small crystalline regions called grains, separated by grain boundaries.
• Grains oriented randomly, so they appear isotropic on a macroscopic scale.
• Examples: Metals like steel, aluminium, copper, ceramics.
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 Classification of Solids: Summmary
Solids can be classified based on their crystalline structure into the following categories,
determined by how their constituent particles (atoms, ions, or molecules) are arranged in space:
• Quasicrystals:
• exhibit long-range order but lack periodicity.
• Non-repeating patterns with long-range order.
• Examples: Aluminium-manganese alloys.

Comparison table:
Type Order Properties Examples
Diamond, gold, Tin,
Anisotropic, sharp
Crystalline Solids Long-range periodic Sulphur, NaCl,
melting point
Diamond, Quartz
Isotropic, no sharp
Amorphous Solids No long-range order Glass, Rubber, Plastic
melting point
Isotropic
Polycrystalline Solids Grains with order Metals, Ceramics
(macroscopically)
Unique symmetries and
Quasicrystals Long-range aperiodic Al-Mn alloys
properties
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Types of silicon materials

Ref:NTPL
 Single Crystal Silicon
Also know as monocrystalline Silicon.

All atoms arranged in pattern, one single crystal of silicon <100> silicon

Montana State University: Solar Cells Lecture 6: Solar Cells 11

Ref: Franssila: Introduction to Microfabrication
 Poly-crystalline Silicon

Grain Grains
Boundary

Regions of single crystalline silicon separated by grain boundaries with irregular bonds
12
Montana State University: Solar Cells Lecture 6: Solar Cells
 Amorphous Silicon

Hydrogen Passivation

Dangling Bond

Less regular arrangement of atoms leading to dangling bonds and

passivation by hydrogen

Montana State University: Solar Cells Lecture 6: Solar Cells 13

 Crystal Structure
Crystal lattice and unit cell
 Crystal Structure
• Crystals are characterized by a unit cell which repeats in the x, y, z directions.
• Planes and directions are defined using x, y, z coordinates.
• Lattice plane: a flat, two-dimensional surface that passes through points in a crystal lattice.
• So, just like geometrical coordinate system, the 3D crystal lattice can be defined by a set of 3 basis
vectors (x, y, z).
• Any point on the lattice can be represented with the help of basis vectors.
• [111] direction is defined by a vector of 1 unit in x, y and z

physics.muni.cz
 Crystal Structure: Miller Indices
• Miller indices: a set of three integers (h, k, l) that describe the orientation of a crystal plane in a crystal lattice.
• Commonly used in crystallography to identify and represent specific planes within a crystalline material.
• Determined by taking the reciprocals of the intercepts that a crystal plane makes with the crystallographic axes (x,
y, and z) and then reducing them to the smallest set of integers.
• The Miller indices are written as (h k l), where:
• ℎ: The reciprocal of the intercept along the x-axis.
• 𝑘: The reciprocal of the intercept along the y-axis.
• 𝑙: The reciprocal of the intercept along the z-axis.

physics.muni.cz
 Crystal Structure: Miller Indices
• Steps to determine miller indices:
• Identify where the plane intersects the crystal axes.
• Take the reciprocals of these intercepts.
• Clear fractions by multiplying through by the least common multiple (LCM) to get integers.
• Enclose the result in parentheses (h k l).
• Note: If a plane is parallel to an axis, its intercept is considered infinity (∞), and its reciprocal is
zero.

physics.muni.cz
 Crystal Structure
Miller Indices of Crystal Planes: Let’s try determining the miller indices of the
following planes.
Z Z Z

Y Y Y

X X X
(100) (110) (111)

physics.muni.cz
 Crystal Structure
Miller Indices of Crystal Planes: Try determining the miller indices of the following
plane.

physics.muni.cz
 Crystal Systems
There are 7 crystal systems, classified based on the symmetry of the unit cell:
1.Cubic (or Isometric)
2.Tetragonal
3.Orthorhombic
4.Hexagonal
5.Trigonal (or Rhombohedral)
6.Monoclinic
7.Triclinic

When combining these crystal systems with lattice centering types (primitive, body-centered, face-centered,
and base-centered), there are 14 Bravais lattices:
1. Cubic: Primitive (P); Body-centered (I); Face-centered (F)
2. Tetragonal: Primitive (P); Body-centered (I)
3. Orthorhombic: Primitive (P); Body-centered (I); Face-centered (F); Base-centered (C)
4. Hexagonal: Primitive (P)
5. Rhombohedral (Trigonal): Primitive (P)
6. Monoclinic: Primitive (P); Base-centered (C)
7. Triclinic: Primitive (P)

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 Crystal Systems

Primitive (Simple) Lattice:

• A primitive lattice (often abbreviated as "P") has lattice points only at the corners of the unit cell.
• A primitive lattice is the same as a simple lattice.
• A type of unit cell that contains only lattice points at the corners of the cell
1
• Each corner lattice point is shared among multiple unit cells, so only a fraction (typically 8) of each corner point
belongs to a given unit cell.

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 Crystal Systems
7 crystal systems and 14 bravais lattices

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 Crystal Systems
7 crystal systems and 14 bravais lattices

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 Crystal Systems
7 crystal systems and 14 bravais lattices

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FCC Crystal Structure
 FCC Crystal Structure

1/19/2025 26
BCC Crystal Structure
Understanding BCC and FCC Crystal Structures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwf8FHlvWKA
 Atomic packing factor (APF)
Atomic packing factor (APF) or packing efficiency
 Atomic packing factor (APF)

• APF for a simple cubic structure = 0.52

Adapted from Fig. 3.19,

Callister 6e. A.G.P Kottapalli, NMIE Course, Univ. Gron. 6
 APF: SC
• Rare due to poor packing (only Po has this structure)
• Close-packed directions are cube edges.

• Coordination # = 6
(# nearest neighbors)

(Courtesy P.M. Anderson)

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APF: BCC
 APF: FCC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoyzZUJfo-Y
APF: FCC
Planar Density
 Drawing silicon unit cell structure

The atoms touch along the body diagonal, where two atoms are one
quarter of the body diagonal apart

 Silicon has a total of --- atoms in each unit cell

 a of silicon is 5.14 Angstrom units
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks8SC9DY6v0