DETERMINATION OF BAND GAP OF GIVEN SEMICONDUCTOR
USING FOUR-PROBE METHOD
Aim: To find the band gap of given semiconductor using four - probe
method.
Apparatus used:
1. Four probe arrangement, probes (coated with zinc at the tips) should
be equally spaced.
2. Intrinsic ‘Ge’ semiconductor crystal strip of dimension 10 10 0.5
mm3.
3. Oven for varying the temperature of semiconductor.
4. Constant current source 0-20 mA.
5. Millivoltmeter; range : 0 – 100 mV ( 1) and 0 – 2V ( 10)
6. Power supply for oven.
7. Thermometer (100 x 0.50).
Diagram:
Figure 1. Schematic representation of four probe measurement.
Revised by Dr. [Link], Department of Physics, NIT Rourkela
Figure 2 Determination of slope of the curve from the plot of log vs
1000 / T
Formula Used:
Resistivity of a semiconductor is given as
Eg 1000
A exp
2 k BT
Taking natural log on both sides and converting to the log10 ,
Eg 1000 1 Eg 1000
ln ln A log log A Y mX C
2k B T 2.303 2k B T
(eqn. of straight
line)
1 Eg 1000
where, Y log , C log A , m and X
2.303 2k B T
Hence energy band gap of a semiconductor:
Revised by Dr. [Link], Department of Physics, NIT Rourkela
Eg (in eV) 2 2.303 k B m
AB
where, m (from the graph)
BC
k B (Boltzmann constant) = 86 103 eV / K
is the resistivity of semiconductor crystal given as:
0 V
where 0 = 2 s
s
f w I
where f w s is a function whose value is given in table, ‘s’ is distance
between probes, ‘w’ is thickness of semiconductor. V and I are voltage and
current across the semiconductor as shown in the diagram.
Procedure:
1. Connect the circuit as shown in figure.
2. In the four probes connect the outer probe leads to the current source
in supply and inner probe leads to millivoltmeter.
3. Switch on the constant current source and adjust current I to a desired
value, 2 mA.
4. Place the four probe arrangement in the oven.
5. Place the thermometer close to the semiconductor crystal to measure
the variation of temperature of crystal.
6. Connect the oven power supply and start heating.
7. Measure the inner probe voltage V for various temperatures during
heating or cooling.
Revised by Dr. [Link], Department of Physics, NIT Rourkela
Observation:
i) Distance between the probes, ‘s’ = 2.00 mm (given).
ii) Thickness of the semiconductor crystal, ‘w’ = 0.5 mm
(given) ,
w/s = --------
iii) Constant current, ‘I’ = ------------- mA
iv) f(w/s) = (from Table 2)
Table 1:
S.N Temperature Voltage ([Link]) log
o. ‘V’
(in volts) Observed Corrected
0 = 2 s
V 0
in C 0 0
in K 1000/T I s
f w
in K-1
1
2
3
.
.
Calculations:
i) Find resistivity 0 of semiconductor for different values of V & I,
which give resistivity at various temperatures. This is the
resistivity of the crystal of infinite dimensions. As the dimensions
of the crystal used are finite we have to apply the correction by
dividing 0 by f(w/s), which is given in table – 2.
ii) Find w/s and then corresponding value of f(w/s) from the table 2.
Revised by Dr. [Link], Department of Physics, NIT Rourkela
iii) After choosing f(w/s) , calculate the value for resistivity for the
0
various 0 by using the formula
s .
f w
iv) Plot the graph between log along Y- axis and 1000/T along X-
axis.
v) Find the slop from the graph for calculation
AB log
BC 1000
T
So the energy band gap of the given semiconductor is
AB
Eg (in eV) 2 2.303 k B
BC
AB
2 2.303 86 103
BC
Error Eg : Using natural logarithm and partial differentiation of working
formula (as done in the manual of bar pendulum).
Result: Energy band gap for the given semiconductor obtained using four
probe method is = Eg Eg eV.
Reference: Eg (Ge) = 0.7 eV and Eg (Si) = 1.12 eV
Source of Error and Precautions:
1. The resistivity of the material should be uniform in the area of
measurement.
2. Surface of the semiconductor chip should be flat.
3. Tip of the probes should very small in diameter compared to the
distance between the probes.
Revised by Dr. [Link], Department of Physics, NIT Rourkela
Table 2:
w/s f(w/s)
0.100 13.863
0.141 9.704
0.200 6.931
0.250 5.620
0.333 4.159
0.500 2.780
1.000 1.504
1.414 1.223
2.000 1.094
3.333 1.0228
5.000 1.0070
10.000 1.00045
Revised by Dr. [Link], Department of Physics, NIT Rourkela
