BITS Pilani

presentation
BITS Pilani Prof. Kranthi Kumar Palavalasa
Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Pilani Campus
 BITS Pilani
Pilani Campus

MEL ZG512, Optoelectronic Devices,

Circuit & Systems
Lecture No-2.
Credits: NJIT ECE-271 Dr. S. Levkov
Chapter Goals
1. Characterize resistivity of insulators, semiconductors, and conductors.
2. Develop covalent bond and energy band models for semiconductors.
3. Understand band gap energy and intrinsic carrier concentration.
4. Explore the behavior of electrons and holes in semiconductors.
5. Discuss acceptor and donor impurities in semiconductors.
6. Learn to control the electron and hole populations using impurity doping.
7. Understand drift and diffusion currents in semiconductors.
8. Explore low-field mobility and velocity saturation.
9. Discuss the dependence of mobility on doping level.

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Solid-State Electronic
Materials
Electronic materials fall into three categories (WRT resistivity):
– Insulators  > 105 -cm (diamond  = 1016 )
– Semiconductors 10-3 <  < 105 -cm
– Conductors  < 10-3 -cm (copper  = 10-6 )

Elemental semiconductors are formed from a single type of atom of column IV,
typically Silicon.

Compound semiconductors are formed from combinations of elements of column III

and V or columns II and VI.

Germanium was used in many early devices.

Silicon quickly replaced germanium due to its higher bandgap energy, lower cost, and
ability to be easily oxidized to form silicon-dioxide insulating layers.

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Semiconductor Materials
Bandgap is an energy range in a solid where no electron states can exist. It
refers to the energy difference between the top of the valence band and
the bottom of the conduction band in insulators and semiconductors

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Semiconductor Materials
(cont.)
Bandgap
Semiconductor Energy EG (eV)
Carbon (diamond) 5.47
Silicon 1.12
Germanium 0.66
Tin 0.082
Gallium arsenide 1.42
Gallium nitride 3.49
Indium phosphide 1.35
Boron nitride 7.50
Silicon carbide 3.26
Cadmium selenide 1.70

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Covalent Bond Model
• Silicon has four electrons in the outer shell.
• Single crystal material is formed by the covalent bonding of each
silicon atom with its four nearest neighbors.

Silicon diamond lattice unit Corner of diamond lattice View of crystal

cell. showing four nearest lattice along a crystallographic
neighbor bonding. axis.

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Silicon Covalent Bond Model
(cont.)

Silicon atom

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Silicon Covalent Bond Model
(cont.)

Covalent bond

Silicon atom Silicon atom

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Silicon Covalent Bond Model
(cont.)

Silicon atom Covalent bonds in silicon

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Silicon Covalent Bond Model
(cont.)

• What happens as the temperature increases?

• Near absolute zero, all bonds are complete

• Each Si atom contributes one electron to

each of the four bond pairs
• The outer shell is full, no free electrons,
silicon crystal is an insulator

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Silicon Covalent Bond Model
(cont.)

• Near absolute zero, all bonds are complete • Increasing temperature adds energy to the
system and breaks bonds in the lattice,
• Each Si atom contributes one electron to generating electron-hole pairs.
each of the four bond pairs • The pairs move within the matter forming
• The outer shell is full, no free electrons, semiconductor
silicon crystal is an insulator • Some of the electrons can fall into the
holes – recombination.
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Intrinsic Carrier Concentration

The density of carriers in a semiconductor as a function of temperature and

material properties is:
2  EG 
3
n  BT exp  
i  cm -6
 kT 
EG = semiconductor bandgap energy in eV (electron volts)
k = Boltzmann’s constant, 8.62 x 10-5 eV/K
T = absolute termperature, K
B = material-dependent parameter, 1.08 x 1031 K-3 cm-6 for Si

Bandgap energy is the minimum energy needed to free an electron by

breaking a covalent bond in the semiconductor crystal.

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Intrinsic Carrier Concentration
(cont.)
Electron density is n (electrons/cm3)
and for intrinsic material n = ni.
Intrinsic refers to properties of pure
materials.
ni ≈ 1010 cm-3 for Si
The density of silicon atoms is na ≈
5x1022 cm-3
Thus at a room temperature one
bond per about 1013 is broken

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Electron-hole concentrations

• A vacancy is left when a covalent bond is broken.

• The vacancy is called a hole.
• A hole moves when the vacancy is filled by an electron from a nearby
broken bond (hole current).
• The electron density is n (ni for intrinsic material)
• Hole density is represented by p.
• For intrinsic silicon, n = ni = p.
• The product of electron and hole concentrations is pn = ni2.
• The pn product above holds when a semiconductor is in thermal
equilibrium (not with an external voltage applied).

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Drift Current
Charged particles move or drift under the influence of the applied field.
The resulting current is called drift current.
Electrical resistivity  and its reciprocal, conductivity , characterize current flow in a
material when an electric field is applied.
Drift current density is
j = Qv [(C/cm3)(cm/s) = A/cm2]
j = current density, (Coulomb charge moving through a unit area)
Q = charge density, (Charge in a unit volume)
v = velocity of charge in an electric field.

Note that “density” may mean area or volumetric density, depending on the context.

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Mobility

At low fields, carrier drift velocity v (cm/s) is proportional to electric field E

(V/cm). The constant of proportionality is the mobility, :
vn = - nE and vp = pE , where
vn and vp - electron and hole velocity (cm/s),
n and p - electron and hole mobility (cm2/Vs)

n ≈ 1350 (cm2/Vs), p ≈ 500 (cm2/Vs),

Hole mobility is less than electron since hole current is the result of multiple
covalent bond disruptions, while electrons can move freely about the
crystal.

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Velocity Saturation
At high fields, carrier velocity saturates and places upper limits on the speed
of solid-state devices.

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Intrinsic Silicon Resistivity

Given drift current and mobility, we can calculate resistivity (Q is

the charge density) :
jndrift = Qnvn = (-qn)(- nE) = qn nE A/cm2
jpdrift = Qpvp = (+qp)(+ pE) = qp pE A/cm2

jTdrift = jn + jp = q(n n + p p)E = E

This defines electrical conductivity:

 = q(n n + p p) (cm)-1
 E V /cm 
  drift     cm
 jT A /cm 2 
Resistivity  is the reciprocal of conductivity:
 = 1/ (cm) Chap
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Example: Calculate the
resistivity of intrinsic silicon
Problem: Find the resistivity of intrinsic silicon at room temperature and classify it as
an insulator, semiconductor, or conductor.
Solution:
Need: Resistivity  and classification.
Assumptions: assume “room temperature” with ni = 1010/cm3.

Analysis: Charge density of electrons is Qn = -qni and for holes is Qp = +qni. Thus:

 = (1.60 x 10-10)[(1010)(1350) + (1010)(500)] (C)(cm-3)(cm2/Vs)

= 2.96 x 10-6 (cm)-1 --->  = 1/ = 3.38 x 105 cm  = q(n n + p p)

Recalling the classification in the beginning, intrinsic silicon is near the low end of
the insulator resistivity range

Conclusions: Resistivity has been found, and intrinsic silicon is a poor insulator.

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Semiconductor Doping

The interesting properties of semiconductors emerges when impurities are

introduced.
Doping is the process of adding very small well controlled amounts of
impurities into a semiconductor.
Doping enables the control of the resistivity and other properties over a wide
range of values.
For silicon, impurities are from columns III and V of the periodic table.

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Donor Impurities in Silicon

Phosphorous (or other column V element) atom replaces silicon atom in

crystal lattice.
Since phosphorous has five outer shell electrons, there is now an ‘extra’
electron in the structure.
Material is still charge neutral, but very little energy isrequired
q to free the
electron for conduction since it is not participating
q e in a bond.

A silicon crystal doped by a pentavalent element

(f. i. phosphorus). Each dopant atom donates a free
electron and is thus called a donor. The doped
semiconductor becomes n type.

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Acceptor Impurities in Silicon

Boron (column III element) has been added to silicon.

There is now an incomplete bond pair, creating a vacancy for an electron.
Little energy is required to move a nearby electron into the vacancy.
As the ‘hole’ propagates, charge is moved across the silicon.

q
e

Vacancy
q

A silicon crystal doped with a trivalent impurity (f.i.

boron). Each dopant atom gives rise to a hole, and the
semiconductor becomes p type.

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Acceptor Impurities – Hole
propagation

Hole is propagating through the silicon.

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Acceptor Impurities – Hole
propagation

Hole

Hole is propagating through the silicon.

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Acceptor Impurities – Hole
propagation

Hole

Hole is propagating through the silicon.

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Acceptor Impurities – Hole
propagation

Hole is propagating through the silicon.

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Doped Silicon Carrier Concentrations
(how to calculate)

In doped material, the electron and hole concentrations are no longer equal.
If n > p, the material is n-type.
If p > n, the material is p-type.
The carrier with the largest concentration is the majority carrier, the smaller
is the minority carrier.
ND = donor impurity concentration
NA = acceptor impurity concentration atoms/cm3
Charge neutrality requires q(ND + p - NA - n) = 0:
positive charge: p (holes) + ND (ionized donors)
negative charge: n (electrons) + ND (ionized acceptors)
It can also be shown that pn = ni2, even for doped semiconductors in thermal
equilibrium.

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 n-type Material

Substituting p = ni2/n into q(ND + p - NA - n) = 0 yields n2 - (ND - NA)n - ni2 = 0.

Solving for n
(N D  N A )  (N D  N A ) 2  4n i2 n i2
n and p 
2 n
For (ND - NA) >> 2ni, n  (ND - NA) .



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 p-type Material

Similar to the approach used with n-type material we find the following
equations:

(N A  N D )  (N A  N D ) 2  4n i2 n i2
p and n 
2 p

For (NA - ND) >> 2ni, p  (NA - ND) .


We find the majority carrier concentration from charge neutrality and find the
minority carrier concentration from the thermal equilibrium relationship.

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Practical Doping Levels

Majority carrier concentrations are established at manufacturing time and are

independent of temperature (over practical temp. ranges).

However, minority carrier concentrations are proportional to ni2, a highly

temperature dependent term.

For practical doping levels (dopant concentration usually is quite larger then
ni):
n  (ND - NA) for n-type material
p  (NA - ND) for p-type material.
Typical doping ranges are 1014/cm3 to 1021/cm3.

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Mobility and Resistivity in
Doped Semiconductors

• Impurities degrade mobility

(different size disrupt the lattice,
atoms ionized – electrons scatter
) – see on the left.
• However, doping vastly increases
the density of majority carriers
 dramatically decreases
resistivity despite the lower
mobility.
•  = qn (ND – NA) for n-type
•  = qp (NA – ND) for p-type

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Diffusion Current

In practical semiconductors, it is quite useful to create carrier concentration

gradients by varying the dopant concentration and/or the dopant type
across a region of semiconductor.

This gives rise to a diffusion current resulting from the natural tendency of
carriers to move from high concentration regions to low concentration
regions.

Diffusion current is analogous to a gas moving across a room to evenly

distribute itself across the volume.

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Diffusion Current (cont.)

A bar of silicon (a) into which holes are injected, thus If the electrons are injected and the electron-
creating the hole concentration profile along the x concentration profile shown is established in
axis, shown in (b). The holes diffuse in the positive a bar of silicon, electrons diffuse in the x
direction of x and give rise to a hole-diffusion current direction, giving rise to an electron-diffusion
in the same direction. current in the negative -x direction.

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Diffusion Current (cont.)

Carriers move toward regions of lower concentration, so diffusion current

densities are proportional to the negative of the carrier gradient.

 p  p
j pdiff  ( q) D p     qD p A/cm 2
 x  x
diff  n  n
jn  (q) Dn      qDn A/cm 2
 x  x

Diffusion current density equations Diffusion currents in the

presence of a concentration
gradient.

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Diffusion Current (cont.)

Dp and Dn are the hole and electron diffusivities with units cm2/s. Diffusivity
and mobility are related by Einsteins’s relationship:
Dn kT D p
   VT  Thermal voltage
n q p
Dn   n VT , D p   p VT

The thermal voltage, VT = kT/q, is approximately 25 mV at room

temperature. We will encounter VT many times throughout this course.


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Total Current in a Semiconductor
Total current is the sum of drift and diffusion current:
T n
j  q n nE  qDn
n
x
T p
j p  q  p pE  qD p
x
Rewriting using Einstein’s relationship (Dp = nVT),

T  1 n
j  q n n  E  VT
n  In the following sections, we will use
 n  x  these equations, combined with
Gauss’ law, (E)=Q, to calculate
T  1  p currents in a variety of
j  q  p p  E  VT
p  semiconductor devices.
 p  x 
Example here
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Semiconductor Energy Band
Model

What happens as
temperature increases?

Semiconductor energy Electron participating in

band model. EC and EV a covalent bond is in a
are energy levels at the lower energy state in the
edge of the conduction valence band. This
and valence bands. diagram represents 0 K.

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Semiconductor Energy Band
Model

Semiconductor energy Electron participating in Thermal energy breaks

band model. EC and EV a covalent bond is in a covalent bonds and
lower energy state in the moves the electrons up
are energy levels at the
valence band. This into the conduction
edge of the conduction
diagram represents 0 K. band.
and valence bands.

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Energy Band Model for a
Doped Semiconductor

Semiconductor with donor or n-type

dopants. The donor atoms have free
electrons with energy ED. Since ED is
close to EC, (about 0.045 eV for
phosphorous), it is easy for electrons
in an n-type material to move up into
the conduction band.

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Energy Band Model for a
Doped Semiconductor

Semiconductor with donor or n-type Semiconductor with acceptor or p-type

dopants. The donor atoms have free dopants. The aaacceptor atoms have
electrons with energy ED. Since ED is unfilled covalent bonds with energy
close to EC, (about 0.045 eV for state EA. Since EA is close to EV, (about
phosphorous), it is easy for electrons 0.044 eV for boron), it is easy for
in an n-type material to move up into electrons in the valence band to move
the conduction band and create up into the acceptor sites and complete
negative charge carriers. covalent bond pairs, and create holes –
positive charge carriers.
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