BASICS OF SEMICONDUCTOR

MATERIALS
 Energy Band Model
• There are energy bands in semiconductors – how do they originate? (Pauli’s
exclusion principle)
• Two of the most important ones are the Conduction Band(CB) and the Valence
Band(VB)
• At absolute zero (0K) one band is completely filled and is called valence band (no
conduction).
• Other is completely empty (at 0K) and is called conduction band (no conduction).
• The region between conduction and valence band edges is called forbidden
energy gap.
• At room temperature valence band is partially empty and conduction band is
partially filled and contribute in current conduction .
• For current conduction, not only you need free carriers but also vacant space to
move through – this is important to understand.
Classification of solids :
Semiconductors in periodic table
Types of semiconductors
• In terms of purity:

• Intrinsic (pure) Semiconductors

• Silicon,Germanium,Gallium Arsenide with no doping

• Extrinsic (impure or doped) semiconductor

• N-type: dopants are Phosphorus and Arsenic
• P-type: Boron is the most commonly used dopant
Energy band diagram with donors and acceptors
Types of semiconductors (contd.)
• In terms of composition:
- binary: GaAs, ZnO, etc
- ternary: AlGaAs, ZnMgO, etc
- quaternary: InAlGaAs, GaInAsP, etc
• What will be dopants for n- and p-type GaAs?
• What kind of dopant will Silicon be for GaAs?
Types of semiconductors (contd.)
• Can also be categorized in terms of the magnitude of the bandgap:
high bandgap (GaN, ZnO), low bandgap (InSb), etc.

• Can also be categorized in terms of the nature of the bandgap:

indirect bandgap (Si, Ge) and direct bandgap(GaAs)
• Can predict which materials will be suitable for LEDs, Lasers, etc.
 Planes within a crystal

[100] direction
x (1,0,0) plane
Direct and Indirect Bandgap Semiconductors
Band diagram of Ge, Si and GaAs

11
Bandgap vs lattice constant

https://www.batop.de/information/Eg_AlGaAs.html
Variation of bandgap of GaAs/AlGaAs material system with composition

Band structure AlxGa1-x for x<0.41-0.45.

Important minima of the condition band
and maxima of the valence band

Band structure AlxGa1-x for

x>0.45. Important minima of the
condition band and maxima of
the valence band

Energy separation between Γ-, X-, and L- conduction band

minima and top of the valence band versus composition.
Variation of bandgap of GaAs/AlGaAs material system with composition
Bandgap vs lattice constant
Bandgap vs lattice constant vs emission wavelength
Types of semiconductors

Indirect band Direct band gap

gap
Photon absorption and emission
Spontaneous and Stimulated Emission
Energy levels created within the bandgap
(other than the donor or acceptor levels)
Semiconductor Defects are categorized as

Localized Defects
Semiconductor Defects:
i) point defects; ii) line defects; iii) planar defects and iv) volume defects
LINE DEFECT
 Take home message
• Any action which disrupts the normal crystal structure (arrangement
of atoms) will result in the creation of additional energy level/s within
the bandgap.
• These energy levels may be called defect or trap levels.
• The defect or traps levels may be called shallow or deep, depending
on the relative position of this level w.r.t. the CB or VB edges.
Electron movement inside a crystal with periodic potential
Electron with mass “me” moving under the influence of a periodic
potential; me: free electron mass

Electron, with a “mass” m*, moving as a free particle (no influence of

potential); m*: effective mass, determined by the periodic potential of
atomic configuration
We can apply Newtonian mechanics!!

25
 Electrons and Holes
• The effective mass is a quantity that is used to simplify band structures by
constructing an analogy to the behavior of a free particle with that mass. The
motion of the particles in varying potential scenario is taken care off by
introducing the concept of effective mass.The effective mass can be considered to
be a simple constant of a material.
• Effective mass of electrons and holes depend upon E-k relation and is
inversely proportional to the curvature of the E-k curve.
• Each semiconductor material has a unique E–k relationship for its conduction
band and for its valence band. Therefore, each semiconductor material has its
unique 𝑚𝑛 and 𝑚𝑝
• When an electric field E is applied, an electron or a hole will accelerate according
to
−𝑞𝐸
𝑎𝑛 = for electrons
𝑚𝑛
−𝑞𝐸
𝑎𝑝 = for holes
𝑚𝑝
Where 𝑚 and 𝑚 are electron and hole effective masses
 Carrier Concentration
• Fermi –Dirac statistics

• f(E) is called Fermi-Dirac distribution function and it is the probability of a state at

energy E being occupied by an electron
• 𝐸𝐹 is called the Fermi energy or Fermi level.
Fermi Level with doping

Intrinsic n-type p-type

semiconductor semiconductor
Temperature dependence of carrier concentration

Plot showing variation of electron concentration with temperature

Charge neutrality of a semiconductor
• For uniformly doped semiconductor: Charge must be balanced under
equilibrium conditions otherwise charge would flow

− +
𝑞𝑝 − 𝑞𝑛 − 𝑞𝑁𝐴 + 𝑞𝑁𝐷 = 0

• first 2 terms are thermally generated carriers and last 2 terms

consider ionised dopants
Mechanisms for carrier transport in semiconductors

• Drift
• due to external electric field

• Diffusion
• due to concentration gradient
Mobility of electrons and holes

• At low electric field the drift velocity of charge carriers is directly

proportional to the electric field and the proportionality constant is
called as the mobility of that carrier.
Note : Mobility is a material property and gives us an idea of the speed
of carriers (in devices).
𝑐𝑚2
Units of μ :
𝑉𝑠
𝑣𝑑 = μ𝐸
What is Drift?
• It is the flow of current due to an externally applied electric field

• J = σE ,
• σ is the conductivity of material
• J is the Current density
• σ= q p μp for holes , q n μn for electrons
• E is the electric field
• Total conductivity is σ= q n μ𝑛 +q p μ𝑝
Diffusion
• It is the flow of current due to concentration gradient
𝑑𝑝
• 𝐽𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑝 = −𝑞𝐷𝑝 for holes
𝑑𝑥
𝑑𝑛
• 𝐽𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑛 = 𝑞𝐷𝑛 for electrons
𝑑𝑥
𝐷𝑛 and 𝐷𝑝 = diffusivity of electrons and holes and can be related to
each other by a relation called Einstein's relation
𝐷𝑛 𝐷𝑝 𝑘𝑇
= =
μ𝑛 μ𝑝 𝑞
Scattering
• Lattice scattering
• When moving electrons get scattered by lattice vibrations
• Is dominant at higher temperature
• Mobility of carriers decrease because of lattice scattering
• μ α𝑇 −3/2 dependence

• Ionized Impurity scattering

• moving carriers get scattered by ionic impurities like ionized dopants
• More dominant at low temperature
• As temp is increased it effect becomes less prominent
• μ α𝑇 3/2 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒
Impact of Scattering on mobility
Spontaneous Emission from p-n junctions
The Uncertainty Principle
• For any particle

(x)( s ) = h m
where h is a fundamental constant of nature (“Planck’s constant”) and m is the
mass of the particle
• Strictly speaking, the above is h/m at a minimum; it can be larger
• What does this mean?
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle – the
uncertainties of the doped electrons position and
momentum

Px = h
P = hk/2
P = momentum E
Px = h
x = 2/k
Set x = 2/a (a= lattice parameter)

The position of electron is uncertain, when h

electron is at k=0 then recombination occurs, if
not then no recombination. The position and K
momentum of a particle cannot be
simultaneously measured with arbitrarily high
precision.
Gallium Phosphide (GaP) band structure

GaP, which is an indirect bandgap semiconductor, is isoelectronically

doped with nitrogen so as to fabricate LEDs out of the material
• Temperature dependence of Avalance and Zener breakdown
• What happens when you go on increasing reverse bias on an
asymmetric p-n junction?
• What is diffusion capacitance? How do you take care of the same?
Questions
• Given that a semiconductor is doped with donors having a
concentration of 1015 𝑐𝑚−3 ,the intrinsic carrier concentration is
2𝑥107 𝑐𝑚−3 .Assuming complete ionization at room temp find
electron amd hole concentrations . Take 𝑁𝑐 = 4.7 𝑥 1017 𝑐𝑚−3

• For the above given case find position of fermi level with repesct to
conduction band edge.

• Take μ𝑛 = 7000cm^2/V-sec and μ𝑝 =350 cm^2/V-sec and find the

conductivity of semiconductor.
Questions
• If it is given that at 300K the total mobility of electron is given by
𝑐𝑚2
5000 and mobility limited by lattice scattering is given by
𝑉−𝑠𝑒𝑐
𝑐𝑚2
8000 . Find out the ionic scattering limited mobility.
𝑉−𝑠𝑒𝑐

• Find out the diffusivity at room temperature for the data given
above.
Questions
• In doping of GaAs if silicon is introduced in the lattice and it occupies
a position Ga. So silicon will act as a donor or acceptor.

• Derive an expression for fermi level relating it with the energy band
gap. Calculate displacement of fermi level from 𝐸𝑔 for silicon at 300 K.
take effective masses for electrons and holes as 1.1𝑚0 and 0.56𝑚0
μ𝑝
• Show that min conductivity occurs when 𝑛0 = 𝑛𝑖 and find min
μ𝑛
conductivity.
Questions
• A Si sample contains 1016 𝑐𝑚−3 donor atoms and a 1015 𝑐𝑚−3 of
shallow acceptors . The donor level is 0.6eV below Ec at 300 K. find
fermi level and concentration of electrons and holes.
(use charge neutrality)

• Find the band gap of silicon at 300K 500K and 700K given bandgap at
0K is 0.742eV . Use varshni relation for temp dependence of
semiconductor band gaps.(α=4.8 x 10^-4T^2 and β= 235)
Questions
• For a Silicon bar of length 5um doped n type at 1015 𝑐𝑚−3 calculate
current density for an applied voltage of 2.5 V across its length. Take
1500𝑐𝑚2 500𝑐𝑚2
μ𝑛 = and μ𝑝 = . What will happen if V=2500V?
𝑉−𝑠𝑒𝑐 𝑉−𝑠𝑒𝑐

• A semiconductor has Nc=1019 𝑐𝑚−3 Nv=5𝑥1018 𝑐𝑚−3 Eg=2eV . It is

doped with 1017 𝑐𝑚−3 donors calculate n , p , ni at 627𝑜 𝐶 temp.
draw band diagram showing fermi level .
References
• S.M. Sze ‘Physics of Semiconductor Devices’
• Ben G. Streetman Sanjay Banerjee, ‘Solid State Electronic Devices’
• Images from wikipedia