Career Point University Kota

B. Tech. I Year – Field and Waves

Material Science and semiconductor physics

Dr. Vivek Kumar Jain

Associate Professor
Department of Physics

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 OUTLINE

Atomic energy levels-An Introduction

Band Theory of Solids

Classification of Solids (on the basis of band theory)

Semiconductors: Definition and Classification

Fermi Dirac Distribution Function (Fermi Energy)

Hall Effect
 ENERGY BAND IN SOLIDS-

In a single isolated atom, the electrons in each orbit have definite energy
associated with it. But in case of solids all the atoms are close to each other,
so the energy levels of outermost orbit electrons are affected by the
neighboring atoms.
When two single or isolated atoms are bring close to each other then the
outermost orbit electrons of two atoms interacts or shared with each other.
i.e, the electrons in the outermost orbit of one atom experience an attractive
force from the nearest or neighboring atomic nucleus. Due to this the
energies of the electrons will not be in same level, the energy levels of
electrons are changed to a value which is higher or lower than that of the
original energy level of the electron.
The electrons in same orbit exhibits different energy levels. The grouping
of this different energy levels is called energy band.
However, the energy levels of inner orbit electrons are not much affected
by the presence of neighboring atoms.
FORMATION OF ENERGY BAND….

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FORMATION OF ENERGY BAND…

6N energy states
(2N occupied &
4N vacant)

2N occupied
energy
states
 FORMATION OF ENERGY BAND…
 crd
There is no visible splitting 6N energy states
(2N occupied &
of energy levels but there 4N vacant)
develops a tendency for the
splitting of energy levels.
➤ r=c
2N occupied
energy
The interaction between the states
outermost shell electrons of
neighboring silicon atoms
becomes appreciable. The
energy of electrons of each
atom starts changing,
whereas the energy of
electrons in inner shell do
not change.
FORMATION OF ENERGY BAND…

6N energy states
(2N occupied &
4N vacant)

2N occupied
energy
states
 CLASSIFICATION OF SOLIDS
(BASIS OF BAND THEORY OF SOLIDS)

Insulators Semiconductors Conductors

These substances do not allow electricity to
pass through them e.g. Glass , wood

 They have high resistivity and very low

conductivity.
Conductivity σ ~ 10-11 – 10-19 mho/m
Resistivity ρ ~ 1011 – 1019 Ωm

So these material cannot conduct because the

movement of the electrons from the valence
band to the conduction band is not possible.

At very high temperature some electrons may

move from valance band to conduction band so
that conductivity increases and resistivity
decreases.
 PROPERTIES OF CONDUCTORS
There is no forbidden gap between the valence
band and conduction band (overlapping of bands)
e.g. Gold, Aluminium, Silver, Copper etc.

Large number of free electrons available at room

temperature.

They have very low resistivity or very high

conductivity. Conductivity
σ ~ 102 – 108 mho/m
Resistivity ρ ~ 10-2 – 10-8 Ωm

At normal temperature conductors have high

electrical conductivity but as the temperature
increases it’s conductivity decreases due to increase
in collision frequency of electrons.
In semiconductor the conduction band is empty and
the valence band is completely filled.

The forbidden gap between the two bands is very

small that is about 1eV. For Germanium, it is 0.72eV
and for Silicon, it is 1.1eV.

They have resistivity or conductivity values between

those of conductors and insulators.
Conductivity σ ~ 105 – 10-6 mho/m
Resistivity ρ ~ 10-5 – 106 Ωm

At 0K temperature Semiconductors behave like as

insulators but as temperature increase, due to
transition of electron from valance band to conduction
band it’s conductivity increases.
TYPES OF SEMICONDUCTOR

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INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR

Ge and Si are considered to be the basic semiconductors. Si has better

thermal stability. These have four valence electrons.

Silicon is the most commonly used to build semiconductor devices.

The lattice structure of Ge/Si is also known as the diamond-like structures.

Each atom is surrounded by four nearest neighbours. In its crystalline
structure, every Si or Ge atom tends to share one of its four valence electrons
with each of its four nearest neighbour atoms, and also to take share of one
electron from each such neighbour. These shared electron pairs are referred
to as forming a covalent bond or simply a valence bond.
As temperature increases, more thermal energy
becomes available to these electrons and some of
these electrons may break covalent bond (becoming
free electrons contributing to conduction). The
thermal energy effectively ionises only a few atoms
in the crystalline lattice and creates a vacancy in the
bond.
The neighbourhood, from which the free electron
(with charge –q) has come out leaves a vacancy with
an effective charge (+q ). This vacancy with the
effective positive electronic charge is called a hole.
The hole behaves as an apparent free particle with
effective positive charge.
In intrinsic semiconductors, the number of free
electrons, ne is equal to the number of holes, nh .
ne = nh =ni
where ni is called intrinsic carrier concentration.
 At T=0K At T>0K,
Semiconductor behave like an Thermally generated electron-
insulator hole

Note: The conductivity of intrinsic semiconductor is poor because of thermally

generated e-hole pair, which are less in number .
At room temperature the conductivity of intrinsic semiconductor is very low.

To increase their conductivity a small amount, only a few parts per million
(ppm), of a suitable impurity is added to the pure semiconductor, the conductivity
of the semiconductor is increased. Such materials are known as Extrinsic
Semiconductor. The deliberate addition of a desirable impurity is called doping
and the impurity atoms are called dopants.

The dopant has to be such that it does not distort the original pure
semiconductor lattice. A necessary condition to attain this is that the sizes of the
dopant and the semiconductor atoms should be nearly the same.
 Intrinsic Semiconductor N-type P-type

Intrinsic Semiconductor N-type P-type

Free
electron
In such semiconductor we dope Si or Ge with a pentavalent element (P, As, Sb) of
+5 valence element that occupies the position of an atom in the crystal lattice of Si,
four of its electrons bond with the four silicon neighbours while the fifth remains very
weakly bound to its parent atom. The ionisation energy required to set this electron
free is very small and even at room temperature it will be free to move in the lattice of
the semiconductor. For example, the energy required is ~ 0.01 eV for germanium, and
0.05 eV for silicon, to separate this electron from its atom.

Thus, the pentavalent dopant is donating one extra electron for conduction and
hence is known as donor impurity. The number of electrons made available for
conduction by dopant atoms depends strongly upon the doping level and is
independent of any increase in ambient temperature.
In such semiconductor, Si or Ge is doped with a trivalent impurity like Al, B, In, etc.
The dopant has one valence electron less than Si or Ge and, therefore, this atom can
form covalent bonds with neighbouring three Si atoms but does not have any
electron to offer to the fourth Si atom. So the bond between the fourth neighbour and
the trivalent atom has a vacancy or hole. Thus the hole is available for conduction.

 The dopant atom of p-type material can be treated as core of one negative charge
along with its associated hole. So that one acceptor atom gives one hole. These
holes are in addition to the intrinsically generated holes while the source of
conduction electrons is only intrinsic generation. Thus, for such a material, the
holes are the majority carriers and electrons are minority carriers.
 FERMI DIRAC DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION (FERMI FUNCTION)
➢Electrons are fermions (Fermi particles) . Fermi particles are those for which spin is half
integer particle and obeys Pauli exclusion principle.
➢This distribution function describes the occupation probability for fermi particles in a
quantum state of energy E at a temp T. This is expressed as:

This fermi function f(E) gives the probability of finding the

electron in a particular energy state of energy E at
temperature T, where
FERMI DIRAC DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION

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FERMI DIRAC DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION

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 HALL EFFECT
 In 1879, Hall discovered that, “ If a piece of current
carrying conductor/semiconductor is placed in a
transverse magnetic field, an electric field is
generated inside the conductor/semiconductor in
a direction perpendicular to both the current and
magnetic field.”
 This phenomenon is known as “Hall Effect” and the
induced electric field is known as the “Hall Field”.
 The Hall effect describes the behaviour of
the
free charge carriers in a sample when
applying
an electric as well as a magnetic field.
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 HALL EFFECT (THEORY)
 We consider a rectangular specimen of an
semiconductor/conductor material
carrying current ‘I’ in the positive x-
direction.
 Let a magnetic field of induction (Bz) be
applied along the positive z-direction.
 Due to the applied electric field (Ex) in x-
direction the electron will be drifting in the
negative x-direction and holes in (+x)
direction.

 Let q be the charge on carriers and vd be their

drift velocity.
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HALL EFFECT (THEORY)
 HALL EFFECT (THEORY)
This Hall field exerts an electric force (FE) on the electron in the (+)ve y
direction,   
i.e., FE qE  eE H
….(3)
 
In steady stateF  F
L E

...(4)
Putting the values
 inequation (4) from equation (2) & (3), we get
 evd  x Bz z   ( eEH )
   
EH  vd  x Bz z  vd Bz ( y )
…(5)

EH vd Bz
…(6)
HALL EFFECT (THEORY)
 HALL EFFECT (THEORY)
This Hall field exerts an electric force (FE) on the holes in the (+)ve y direction,
i.e.,   
FE qE eE H ...(8)

In steady state
 
FL  FE ...(9)
Putting the values in equation (9) from equation (7) & (8), we get
  
evd x Bz z   (eEH )
   
E H  vd x Bz z  vd Bz ( y )
HALL EFFECT (THEORY)

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 HALL EFFECT (THEORY)

This is known as negative Hall Effect.

For Holes Hall coefficient (RH)= 1/nhe This is known as positive Hall Effect.

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HALL EFFECT (THEORY)

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HALL EFFECT (THEORY)
Comparison of n-type and p-type
semiconductor

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APPLICATION OF HALL EFFECT

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