Edc
Edc
Edc
We have seen that every shell is associated with an energy level. An electron
orbiting very close to the nucleus in the first shell is very much tightly bound to the
nucleus and possesses only a small amount of energy. Hence first shell has lowest
energy level. Greater the distance of an electron from the nucleus, the greater is its
energy. Hence the energy level of the outermost shell is highest. Due to such high
energy, the valence electrons in the outermost shell can be easily extracted out and
hence such electrons take part in chemical reactions and in bonding the atoms
together. Now this discussion is related to the electrons and shells of one isolated
atom only.
In solids, atoms are brought close together. In such a case, outer shell electrons
are shared by more than one atom. So these electrons come under the influence of
forces from other atoms too. The valence electrons are shared by forming a bond
with the valence electrons of an adjacent atom. Such bonds are called covalent
bonds. Thus the valence electrons are not free under normal conditions, as they are
shared by the adjacent atoms.
Now the valence electrons possess highest energy level. When such electrons
from the covalent bonds, due to the coupling between the valence electrons, the
energy levels associated with the valence electrons merge into each other. This
merging forms an energy band.
Similarly the energy levels of various electrons present in the first orbit, second
orbit etc. also merge to form the various energy bands.
So instead of the presence of widely separated energy levels as that of the
isolated atoms, the closely spaced energy levels are present in a solid, which are
called energy bands.
Out of all the energy bands, three bands are most important to understand the
behaviour of solids. These bands are,
1) Valence band, 2) Conduction band, 3) Forbidden band or gap
Key Point : The energy band formed due to merging of energy levels associated
with the valence electrons i.e. electrons in the last shell, is called valence band.
As mentioned earlier in normal condition, valence electrons form the covalent
bonds and are not free. But when certain energy is imparted to them, they become
free.
Key Point : The energy band formed due to merging of energy levels associated
with the free electrons is called conduction band.
Under normal condition, the conduction band is empty and once energy is
imparted, the valence electrons jump from valence band to conduction band and
become free.
While jumping from valence band to conduction band, the electrons have to
cross an energy gap.
Key Point : The energy gap which is present separating the conduction band and the
valence band is called forbidden band or forbidden gap.
The energy imparted to the electrons must be greater than the electrons must be
greater than the energy associated with the forbidden gap, to extract the electrons
from valence band and transfer them to conduction band. The energy associated with
forbidden band is denoted as EG.
Key Point : The electrons can not exist in the forbidden gap.
The graphical representation of the energy bands in a solid is called energy band
diagram. Such an energy band diagram for a solid silicon is shown in the Fig. 1.
1.3 Semiconductors
Now let us come to an important category of materials, which are neither
insulators nor conductors. The forbidden gap in such materials is very narrow as
shown in Fig. 1(c). Such materials are called semiconductors. The forbidden gap is
about 1 eV. In such materials, the energy provided by the heat at room temperature
is sufficient to lift the electrons from the valence band to the conduction band.
Therefore at room temperature, semiconductors are capable of conduction. But a
0o K or absolute zero (-273o C), all the electrons of semiconductor materials find
themselves locked in the valence band. Hence at 0o K, the semiconductor materials
bahave as perfect insulators. In case of semiconductors, forbidden gap energy
depends on the temperature. For silicon and germanium, this energy is given by,
We can obtain the concentration of minority and majority carriers in n-type and p-
type materials using law of mass action.
n-type material :
For n-type material it is seen that, nn = ND.
At any fixed temperature, according to law of mass action,
n n x p n = n i2
where nn is electrons i.e. majority carriers concentration while pn is hole i.e.
minority carriers concentration. Using nn ≈ ND, we can write minority carrier
concentration as,
ND pn = ni2
... pn = ni2/ND .....................(1)
Note : Knowing ni and ND, the number of holes in n-type material i.e. minority
carrier concentration can be obtained.
p-type material :
For p-type material it is seen that, pp = NA.
According to law of mass action,
n p x p p = n i2
where np is electrons i.e. minority carrier concentration while is holes i.e.
majority carrier concentration. Using pp ≈ NA we can write.
... np = ni2/NA ............... (2)
Note : Knowing ni and NA, the number of electrons in p-type material i.e. minority
carrier concentration can be obtained.
v = Speed in m/s
w = Width of the strip in the direction of B
Equating (3) and (4),
I/(wd) = ρ v ............. (5)
Now VH = Ed = B v d ............. Using equation (1)
= B (I / (ρ w d)) . d ............... Using equation (5)
.
.. VH = BI / ρ w ............. (6)
Note : Thus if VH , B, I and W are measured, the charge density can be determined.
1.1 Measurement of Mobility and Conductivity
If the polarity of VH is such that the surface 2 is positive then the carriers are the
electrons and we can write,
ρ = nq ............. (7)
where n = Electron concentration
While if the surface 1 is positive then the carriers are holes and we can write,
ρ=pq .............. (8)
where p = Hole concentration
Practically a constant RH called Hall coefficient is defined as,
RH = 1(n q) = 1/ρ ...............(9)
Substituting in the equation (6),
VH = ( RH B I)/w
.
.. RH = (VH w)/ (BI) ............. (10)
The conductivity for extrinsic semiconductor is given by,
σ = μ n q = μ/RH ................ (11)
where μ = Mobility of carriers in m /V-s
2
Note : If the specimen is n-type, μ gives μn which is mobility of electrons while for
p-type specimen is which μ is μp mobility of holes.
Thus Hall effect can be used to determine whether a semiconductor is n-type or
p-type, to find carrier concentration and also to calculate mobility, measuring
conductivity.
CONDUCTIVITY MODULATION
Where RT : Resistance at T oK
R1 : Resistance at known temperature T1 oK
and β = Characteristics temperature.
The thermistors are very sensitive and provide large change in resistance for
small change in temperature. Typically it can provide a change of 80 ohms per
degree celcius change in temperature.
In metals, as temperature increases, thermal vibrations of the ion increase. This
disturbs the mean free path of the free electrons. This decreases their mobility and
hence decreases the conductivity. Thus for the metals, the resistance increases by
approximately 0.4 % / oC increases in temperature. Thus the metals have positive
temperature coefficient. Hence by including a thermistor in a circuit, it is possible to
compensate the effects of increases in temperature on the metals, over a range as
wide as 100 oC.
Thermistors are available in a wide variety of shapes and sizes as shown in the
Fig. 2.
Smallest in size are the beads with a diameter of 0.15 mm to 1.25 mm. Beads
may be sealed in the tips of solid glass rods to form probes. Disks and washes are
made by pressing thermistor material under high pressure into flat cylindrical shapes.
Washers can be placed in series or in parallel to increase power dissipation rating.
1.1.1 Advantages of Thermistor
1. Small size and low cost.
2. Comparatively large change in resistance for a given change in temperature.
3. Fast response over a narrow temperature range.
4. Very much suitable for very precise temperature measurements and temperature
compensations due to their high resolution.
1.1.2 Limitation of Thermistor
1. The resistance versus temperature characteristic is highly nonlinear.
2. Not suitable over a wide temperature range.
3. Because of high resistance of thermistor, shielded cables have to be used to
minimize interference.
4. Requires Wheatstone bridge circuit and external power source for measurement.
1.1.3 Application of Thermistor
1. The thermistor's relatively large resistance change per degree change in
temperature {known as sensitivity}makes it useful as temperature transducer.
2. The high sensitivity, together with the relatively high thermistor resistance that
may be selected ( e.g. 100 kΩ), makes the thermistor ideal for remote measurement
or control. Thermistor control systems are inherently sensitive, stable, and fast
acting, and they require relatively simple circuitry.
3. Because thermistors have a negative temperature coefficient of resistance,
thermistors are widely used to compensate for the effects of temperature on circuits
performance.
4. Measurement of conductivity.
5. It is also used in thermometry, in the measurement of microwave- frequency
power and as a thermal relay.
1.1.4 Sensistors
If a semiconductor is heavily doped, then it consists of large number of charge
carriers. So it starts showing the properties of metal. Hence if temperature increases,
such a heavily doped semiconductor shows increase in resistance due to decrease in
the mobility of the change carriers. Such a device is called sensistor. Practically, the
temperature coefficient of resistance is about + 0.7% /oC change in temperature, over
the range from -60 oC to + 150 oC. The sensistors have positive temperature
coefficient.
In a pure semiconductor, the number of holes (p) is equal to the number of electrons
(n). Due to increase in temperature or due to light incident on the semiconductor, the
number of electron-hole pair increases. This is called generation of charges.
While few other electron-hole pairs disappear which is due to recombination of
charges. The recombination is a process of falling of a free electron into an empty
covalent bond, due to which the corresponding electron-hole pair gets disappeared.
In a recombination an electron moves from a conduction band to a valence band.
The carrier lifetime is defined as the mean time for which, a charge carrier exists
before recombination. After recombination the charge carriers vanish. For an
electron it is denoted as τn and for a hole it is denoted as τp.
Consider n type semiconductor bar having equilibrium concentrations of
electrons and holes as nnoand pno.
At t = t1 , the bar is illuminated by the light of proper frequency, then the new
electron-hole pairs are generated, uniformly throughout the bar.
The new concentrations of electrons and holes are n'no and p'no, when equilibrium
situation is reached. Then the excess charge carriers of holes and electrons are equal
and given by,
The rate of generation totally depends on the temperature and is constant for
constant temperature.
While the rate of recombination is decided by the mean life time of the holes
τp.
... Rate of recombination of holes = pn/τp
Under steady state condition, dpn/dt = 0 hence the hole concentration again
becomes pno.
Rate of generation of holes = pno/τp
But the excess carrier concentration is pn - pno and is a function of time denoted
as p'(t).
The equation (6) shows that as t → ∞, p'(t) → 0 and thus the excess charge
concentration reduces to zero exponentially, with a time constant equal to τp.
The important remarks are,
1. Measurement of τ is is important as it directly influence the characteristic of
diodes and transistors.
2. Usually the life time τ ranges between 1 to 1000 μs, but it depends on impurity
concentration and temperature of material.
3. Practically for manufacturing special devices, the recombination agent is used to
control the rate of recombination. The gold is popularly used as a recombination
agent.
DIFFUSION
It is seen that in conductor current flow is due to the free electrons. When conductor
is subjected to an external voltage, free electrons move from negative to positive
terminal with a steady velocity constituting a current. Such a current is called drift
current which is due to drifting of free electrons under the externally applied voltage.
In addition to the drift current, there may exist an additional current due to the
transport of charges in a semiconductor. Such an additional current is due to the
phenomenon called diffusion. This is the characteristic of semiconductor and can
not be observed in conductors. The current due to the diffusion is called diffusion
current. Basically it is due to nonuniform concentration of charged particles in a
semiconductor.
Note : Diffusion is observed in non uniformly doped semiconductors and not in the
conductors.
Consider a p-type semiconductor bar which is nonuniformly doped. Along its
length, in the direction of x as shown in Fig. 1(a), there exists a nonuniform doping.
As x increases, the doping concentration decreases.
To form p-type semiconductor, acceptor impurity is added which creates holes
as the majority charged particles. Let p be the concentration of holes. But due to
nonuniform doping it is not constant but is changing with respect to x.
Let concentration of holes at x = 0 is P = P(0) and is maximum as bar is heavily
doped at x = 0. As x increases, the concentration of holes decreases. The nature of
the variation in p against distance x is shown in the Fig. 1(b).
The slope of the graph can be observed from the Fig. 1(b) is the ratio of change
in concentration to change in distance. It is called rate of change of concentration or
concentration gradient.
... Slope of graph = Concentration gradient = dp/dx ................ (1)
Observe that the charge carriers whether it is hole or electron, always move from
high concentration area towards low concentration area. Hence direction of diffusion
is same in both the cases. But resulting current densities have opposite direction.
1.2 Total Current Density Due to Drift and Diffusion
We have seen that the drift current is due to the applied voltage while the
diffusion current is due to the concentration gradient. But in semiconductor it is very
much possible that both the types of currents may exist simultaneously. In practice
is such situation there exists four components of current as the drift current due to
electrons and due to holes, while the diffusion current due to electrons and due to
holes.
Drift current density due to the electrons and holes can be expressed from
equations (3) and (4) as,
Jn = n q E and Jp = p q E
Diffusion current density due to the electrons and holes can be expressed from
equations (3) and (4) as,
Jn = + q Dn dn/dx and Jp = - q Dp dp/dx
Total current density due to the electrons can be expressed as,
Jn = n q μn E + q Dn dn/dx .............. (5)
and Total current density due to the holes can be expressed as,
Jp = p q μp E + q Dp dp/dx .................. (6)
And hence the total current density due to the electrons and holes (drift +
diffusion) is,
J = Jn + Jp
................. (7)
EINSTEIN RELATIONSHIP
It is known that the drift current density is proportional to the mobility (μ) while
diffusion current density is proportional to the diffusion constant (D). There exists a
fixed relation between these two constant which is called Einsten's relation.
It states that, at a fixed temperature, the ratio of diffusion constant to the mobility
is constant. This is Einstein's relation. Mathematically it is expressed as,
While let g is the rate at which electron hole pairs are generated by thermal
generation per unit volume. Due to this, number of coulombs per second increases
with the volume
Thus the total change in number of coulombs per second is because of three
factors as indicated by the equations (1), (2) and (3).
Total change in holes per unit volume per second is dp/dt. Hence the total change
in coulombs per second within the given volume
Note : The negative sign indicates decrease while positive indicates increase in
number of coulombs per second.
Similarly the continuity equation for the electrons in p-type material can be
written as,
Let us discuss the special cases for continuity equation under the condition of
zero electric field.
1.1 Concentration independent of Distance and E = 0
As concentration is not dependent on x and E =0, the last two terms on right
hand side of the continuity equation becomes zero. Hence equation reduces as,
This is a differential equation interms of pn and the solution of this equation is,
Now τp is mean life time but also time constant of the above equation.
Note : Thus can be defined as the time taken by the injected concentration to fall to
36.78 % of its initial value.
1.2 Concentration Independent of Time and E = 0
As concentration is not dependent on t and E = 0, the left hand side of continuity
equation is zero and last term on right hand side is zero.
For zero frequency (=0), the equation takes the form as obtained for special
case discussed (in sec 1.2)
Hence a.c. solution for 0 can be obtained from d.c. solution by replacing Lp by
Note : Thus continuity equation is the fundamental law governing the flow of
charge.
Assumption : It is assumed that the concentration p' is much smaller than the doping
level i.e. p' <<n. This condition stating that minority concentration is much smaller
than majority concentration and is called low level injection condiction.
It is known that J = (n μn + p μp ) q E, thus the drift current can be neglected
compared to electron drift current.
Now p = p' + po << n hence the hole drift current can be neglected compared to
electron drift current.
Note : It can be assumed that the hole current Ip is entirely because of diffusion.
According yo continuity equation, the controlling differential equation for
minority carrier concentration p is,
The equation (6) represents that the hoe concentration decreases exponentially
with the distance. This is shown in the Fig. 2.
This is the diffusion hole current which decreases exponentially with distance.
Note : This equation plays an important role in the derivation of diode current
equation.
Let In = Electron diffusion current = + A Jn
Note : All the equations derived are based on the assumption that hole drift current
is zero.
But hole drift current Ipd can be obtained as,
Jpd = p q μp E = Ipd/A
But as p << n, Ipd << Ip which justifies the assumption that hole drift current is
negligibly small and the entire injected minority carrier current is a diffusion current.
But as bar is open circuited, net current through it is zero. This means there
exists one more internal current which is equal to diffusion current but in opposite
direction to it. This is a drift current flowing in the bar in opposite direction to that
of diffusion current. The current density of this current is,
But drift current can not exist without a potential difference and applied voltage
to the bar is zero. So externally E is zero. This indicates that the E required for the
circulation of drift current gets generated internally.
This indicates that nonuniform doping of bar results in the induced voltage.
And as net current through the bar is zero we can write for open circuited bar,
Now E is the electric field intensity generated internally. From the definition of
electric field intensity we can write,
E = -dV/dx
Hence equation (5) modifies to,
To get the voltage generated between x1 and x2, integrate the equation (6),
where V21 is the potential difference between the two concentrations p1 and p2.
Note : The potential difference depends on the concentrations and not on the
distance between x1 and x2.
From the equation (7) we can write,
Similarly for n-type semiconductor bar which is nonuniformly doped, if and are
the concentrations of electrons at two different points, we can write,
Note : There is change of sign of exponential term in equation (9a) and (9b) as
compared to exponential term in equations (8a) and (8b). This is because diffusion
current density in n-type bar is q dn/dx which is positive.
Multiplying equations (8a) and (9a) we get,
The product of the concentrations of electrons and holes is always constant. This
proves the law of mass action.
where N(E) = Density of states in the conduction band (number of states per
eV per m3)
and f(E) = Probability that the quantum state with energy E is occupied by
an electron
The probability function f(E) is called Fermi-Dirac probability function.
1.1 Concentration of Electrons (n) in Conduction Band
In a semiconductor, the lowest energy level in the conduction band is EC. Then
N(E) is given by,
The Fermi-Dirac probability function for holes {1 - f(E)} and given by,
This integral gives the value of p as,