Unit-I Electron Ballistics & Intrinsic Semiconductors

Introduction Semiconductors Conductivity in between those of metals and insulators. Conductivity can be varied over orders of magnitude by changes in temperature, optical excitation, and impurity content (doping). Generally found in column IV and neighboring columns of the periodic table. lemental semiconductors! "i, Ge. Compound semiconductors! #inary! Ga$s, $l$s, Ga%, etc. (III&V). 'n", 'n(e, Cd"e (II& VI). "iC, "iGe (IV compounds). (ernary! Ga$s%. )uaternary! InGa$s%. "i widely used for rectifiers, transistors, and ICs. III&V compounds widely used in optoelectronic and high&speed applications.

Applications Integrated circuits (ICs) ""I, *"I, +"I, and V+"I. ,luorescent materials used in (V screens II&VI ('n"). +ight detectors In"b, Cd"e, %b(e, -gCd(e. Infrared and nuclear radiation detectors "i and Ge. Gunn diode (microwave device) Ga$s, In%. "emiconductor + .s Ga$s, Ga%. "emiconductor +$" /s Ga$s, $lGa$s. Energy Gap .istinguishing feature among metals, insulators, and semiconductors. .etermines the absorption0emission spectra, the lea1age current, and the intrinsic conductivity. 2ni3ue value for each semiconductor (e.g. 4.45 eV for "i, 4.65 eV for Ga$s) function of temperature. Impurities Can be added in precisely controlled amounts. Can change the electronic and optical properties. 2sed to vary conductivity over wide ranges. Can even change conduction process from conduction by negative charge carriers to positive charge carriers and vice versa.

Controlled addition of impurities doping.

Crystal Lattices "emiconductor properties can be strongly affected by crystal structure. Types of Solids #asically, there are three types of solids! crystalline, amorphous, and polycrystalline. Crystalline Solids $toms ma1ing up the solid arranged in a periodic fashion, repeated throughout. -ave long&range order. 2sed for IC fabrication. Amorphous Solids -ave no periodic structure at all. Interatomic distance and bond angles are almost the same as in the crystalline material of the same substance, however, a long&range order is missing. "aid to have short&range order. a&"i (alloy of amorphous "i with and other similar amorphous alloys) has found important applications in photovoltaic technology and in large&area ICs used in flat displays, printers, copiers, scanners, and imagers.

olycrystalline Solids Composed of many small regions of single&crystal material of irregular si7e, separated by grain boundaries. Lattice 8&. periodic arrangement of atoms in a crystal. .efined by primitive basis vectors , which are three independent shortest vectors connecting lattice sites. (he coordinates of all points belonging to the crystal lattice are given by vectors , where 1, l, and m are integers. %roperties of the periodic crystal determine the allowed energies of electrons that participate in the conduction process. (hus, the lattice not only determines the mechanical properties of the crystal, but also its electrical properties.

Unit Cell /epresentative of the entire crystal and regularly repeated throughout the crystal. (he crystal can be analy7ed as a whole by investigating a representative volume. Can find! i) the distances between nearest atoms and next nearest atoms, ii) the fraction of the unit cell volume filled by atoms, and iii) the density of the solid (related to the atomic arrangement). rimiti!e Cell "mallest unit cell that can be repeated to form the lattice.

Cu"ic Lattices "implest 8&. lattice, where the unit cell is a cube. (hree types! i) simple cubic (sc) (e.g., Ga), ii) body&centered cubic (bcc) (e.g., 9a, :), and iii) face&centered cubic (fcc) (e.g., $l, $u). +attice constant! the length of each side of the cube. The #iamond Lattice (wo interpenetrating fcc sub lattices spaced 406th along the body diagonal. :hen the constituent atoms of the two sub lattices are different, then the structure is 'incblende (e.g. Ga$s).

.iamond and 'incblende are the two most common crystal structures for cubic semiconductors. ach atom in diamond and 7incblende lattice is surrounded by four nearest neighbors. (etrahedral configuration. #y varying the atomic compositions of these two sub lattices, one can grow ternary (e.g. ) and 3uaternary (e.g., ) compounds.

lanes and #irections $iller Indices ,ound by ta1ing the reciprocal of the intercepts of the plane with the coordinate axes, and converting these to integers. .efine a set of parallel planes. (h1l) a particular plane. ;h1l< e3uivalent (h1l) planes. =h1l> a particular direction, perpendicular to the (h1l) plane for cubic crystals. ?h1l@ e3uivalent =h1l> directions. 9egative intercepts0directions are denoted by placing bars above the integers, e.g. . (hree main indices (4AA), (44A), and (444). $tom densities different for different planes different electronic properties.

Bonding %orces and Energy Bands in Solids lectrons are restricted to sets of discrete energy levels within atoms, with large gaps among them where no energy state is available for the electron to occupy. lectrons in solids also are restricted to certain energies and are not allowed at other energies. .ifference in the solid, the electron has a range (or band) of available energies. (he discrete energy levels of the isolated atom spread into bands of energies in the solid because i) in the solid, the wave functions of electrons in neighboring atoms overlap, thus, it affects the potential energy term and the boundary conditions in the e3uation, and different energies are obtained in the solution, and ii) an electron is not necessarily locali7ed at a particular atom. (he influence of neighboring atoms on the energy levels of a particular atom can be treated as a small perturbation, giving rise to shifting and splitting of energy states into energy bands. Bonding %orces in Solids Ionic Bonding xample! 9aCl. 9a (' B 44) gives up its outermost shell electron to Cl ('B4C) atom, thus the crystal is made up of ions with the electronic structures of the inert atoms 9e and $r. 9ote! the ions have net electric charges after the electron exchange ion has a net positive charge, having lost an electron, and ion has a net negative charge, having ac3uired an electron. (hus, an electrostatic attractive force is established, and the balance is reached when this e3uals the net repulsive force. 9ote! all the electrons are tightly bound to the atom. "ince there are no loosely bound electrons to participate in current flow 9aCl is a good insulator. $etallic Bonding In metals, the outer shell is filled by no more than three electrons (loosely bound and given up easily) great chemical activity and high electrical conductivity. Duter electron(s) contributed to the crystal as a whole solid made up of ions with closed shells immersed in a sea of free electrons, which are free to move about the crystal under the influence of an electric field. Coulomb attraction force between the ions and the electrons hold the lattice together. Co!alent Bonding xhibited by the diamond lattice semiconductors. ach atom surrounded by four nearest neighbors, each having four electrons in the outermost orbit. ach atom shares its valence electrons with its four nearest neighbors. #onding forces arise from a 3uantum mechanical interaction between the shared electrons. #oth electrons belong to each bond, are indistinguishable, and have opposite spins. 9o free electrons available at A E, however, by thermal or optical excitation, electrons can be excited out of a covalent bond and can participate in current conduction important feature of semiconductors.

$i&ed Bonding "hown by III&V compounds bonding partly ionic and partly covalent. Ionic character of bonding becomes more prominent as the constituent atoms move further away in the periodic table, e.g., II&VI compounds. Energy Bands $s isolated atoms are brought together to form a solid, the electron wave functions begin to overlap. Various interactions occur, and, at the proper interatomic spacing for the crystal, the forces of attraction and repulsion find a balance. .ue to %auli exclusion principle, the discrete energy levels of individual atoms split into bands belonging to the pair instead of to individual atoms. In a solid, due to large number of atoms, the split energy levels for essentially continuous bands of energy.

,ig.5.4 "plitting of individual energy levels to energy bands as atoms are brought closer together. Imaginary formation of a diamond crystal from isolated carbon atoms . ach atom has two 4s states, two 5s states, six 5p states, and higher states. ,or 9 atoms, the numbers of states are 59, 59, and F9 of type 4s, 5s, and 5p respectively. :ith a reduction in the interatomic spacing, these energy levels split into bands, and the 5s and 5p bands merge into a single band having G9 available states. $s the interatomic spacing approaches the e3uilibrium spacing of diamond crystal, this band splits into two bands separated by an energy gap , where no allowed energy states for electrons exist forbidden gap. (he upper band (called the conduction band) and the lower band (called the valence band) contain 69 states each. (he lower 4s band is filled with 59 electrons, however, the 69 electrons residing in the original n B 5 state will now occupy states either in the valence band or in the conduction band. $t A E, the electrons will occupy the lowest energy states available to them thus, the 69 states in the valence band will be completely filled, and the 69 states in the conduction band will be completely empty.

$etals' Semiconductors' and Insulators ,or electrons to move under an applied electric field, there must be states available to them. $ completely filled band cannot contribute to current transportH neither can a completely empty band. (hus, semiconductors at A E are perfect insulators. :ith thermal or optical excitation, some of these electrons can be excited from the valence band to the conduction band, and then they can contribute to the current transport process. $t temperatures other than A E, the magnitude of the band gap separates an insulator from a semiconductor, e.g., at 8AA E, (diamond) B I eV (insulator), and ("ilicon) B 4.45 eV (semiconductor). 9umber of electrons available for conduction can be increased greatly in semiconductors by reasonable amount of thermal or optical energy. In metals, the bands are either partially filled or they overlap thus, electrons and empty states coexist great electrical conductivity.

#irect and Indirect Semiconductors In a typical 3uantitative calculation of band structures, the wave function of a single electron traveling through a perfectly periodic lattice is assumed to be in the form of a plane wave moving in the x&direction (say) with propagation constant 1, also called a wave vector. In 3uantum mechanics, the electron momentum can be given by (he space dependent wave function for the electron is where the function lattice. (5.4) modulates the wave function according to the periodicity of the

$llowed values of energy, while plotted as a function of 1, gives the &1 diagram. "ince the periodicity of most lattices is different in various directions, the &1 diagram is a complex surface, which is to be visuali7ed in three dimensions.

,ig.5.5 .irect and indirect transition of electrons from the conduction band to the valence band! (a) direct & with accompanying photon emission, (b) indirect via defect level.

.irect band gap semiconductor! the minima of the conduction band and the maxima of the valence band occur at the same value of 1 an electron ma1ing the smallest energy transition from the conduction band to the valence band can do so without a change in 1 (and, the momentum). Indirect band gap semiconductor! the minima of the conduction band and the maxima of the valence band occur for different values of 1, thus, the smallest energy transition for an electron re3uires a change in momentum. lectron falling from conduction band to an empty state in valence band recombination. /ecombination probability for direct band gap semiconductors is much higher than that for indirect band gap semiconductors. .irect band gap semiconductors give up the energy released during this transition (B ) in the form of light used for optoelectronic applications (e.g., + .s and +$" /s). /ecombination in indirect band gap semiconductors occurs through some defect states within the band gap, and the energy is released in the form of heat given to the lattice.

(ariation of Energy Bands )ith Alloy Composition (he band structures of III&V ternary and 3uaternary compounds change as their composition is varied. (here are three valleys in the conduction band! (at 1 B A), +, and J. In Ga$s, the valley has the minimum energy (direct with B 4.68 eV) with very few electrons residing in + and J valleys (except for high field excitations). In $l$s, the J valley has minimum energy (indirect with B 5.4F eV).

,ig.5.8 (he &1 diagram of (a) Ga$s and (b) $l$s, showing the three valleys (+, conduction band. Charge Carriers in Semiconductors

, and J) in the

In a metal, the atoms are imbedded in a KseaK of free electrons, and these electrons can move as a group under the influence of an applied electric field. In semiconductors at A E, all states in the valence band are full, and all states in the conduction band are empty. $t ( @ A E, electrons get thermally excited from the valence band to the conduction band, and contribute to the conduction process in the conduction band. (he empty states left in the valence band can also contribute to current conduction. $lso, introduction of impurities has an important effect on the availability of the charge carriers. Considerable flexibility in controlling the electrical properties of semiconductors.

Electrons and *oles ,or (@ A E, there would be some electrons in the otherwise empty conduction band, and some empty states in the otherwise filled valence band. (he empty states in the valence band are referred to as holes. If the conduction band electron and the valence band hole are created by thermal excitation of a valence band electron to the conduction band, then they are called electron&hole pair ( -%). $fter excitation to the conduction band, an electron is surrounded by a large number of empty states, e.g., the e3uilibrium number of -%s at 8AA E in "i is , whereas the "i atom density is . (hus, the electrons in the conduction band are free to move about via the many available empty states. Corresponding problem of charge transport in the valence band is slightly more complex. Current transport in the valence band can be accounted for by 1eeping trac1 of the holes themselves. In a filled band, all available energy states are occupied. ,or every electron moving with a given velocity, there is an e3ual and opposite electron motion somewhere else in the band. 2nder an applied electric field, the net current is 7ero, since for every electron L moving with a velocity , there is a corresponding electron moving with a velocity & . In a unit volume, the current density M can be given by

(filled band) (5.5) where 9 is the number of

in the band, and 3 is the electronic charge.

9ow, if the electron is removed and a hole is created in the valence band, then the net current density

(hus, the current contribution of the empty state (hole), obtained by removing the Lth electron, is e3uivalent to that of a positively charged particle with velocity .

9ote that actually this transport is accounted for by the motion of the uncompensated electron having a charge of 3 and moving with a velocity . Its current contribution (& 3)(& ) is e3uivalent to that of a positively charged particle with velocity N . ,or simplicity, therefore, the empty states in the valence band are called holes, and they are assigned positive charge and positive mass. (he electron energy increases as one moves up the conduction band, and electrons gravitate downward towards the bottom of the conduction band. Dn the other hand, hole energy increases as one moves down the valence band (since holes have positive charges), and holes gravitate upwards towards the top of the valence band.

Effecti!e $ass (he Kwave&particleK motion of electrons in a lattice is not the same as that for a free electron, because of the interaction with the periodic potential of the lattice. (o still be able to treat these particles as KfreeK, the rest mass has to be altered to ta1e into account the influence of the lattice. (he calculation of effective mass ta1es into account the shape of the energy bands in three&dimensional 1&space, ta1ing appropriate averages over the various energy bands. (he effective mass of an electron in a band with a given ( ,1) relation is given by

Intrinsic $aterial $ perfect semiconductor crystal with no impurities or lattice defects. 9o carriers at A E, since the valence band is completely full and the conduction band is completely empty. ,or ( @ A E, electrons are thermally excited from the valence band to the conduction band ( -% generation). -% generation ta1es place due to brea1ing of covalent bonds re3uired energy B . (he excited electron becomes free and leaves behind an empty state (hole). "ince these carriers are created in pairs, the electron concentration ( ) is always e3ual to the hole concentration ( ), and each of these is commonly referred to as the intrinsic carrier concentration ( ). (hus, for intrinsic material n B p B . (hese carriers are not locali7ed in the latticeH instead they spread out over several lattice spacings, and are given by 3uantum mechanical probability distributions. 9ote! ni B f((). (o maintain a steady&state carrier concentration, the carriers must also recombine at the same rate at which they are generated. /ecombination occurs when an electron from the conduction band ma1es a transition (direct or indirect) to an empty state in the valence band, thus annihilating the pair. $t e3uilibrium, B , where and are the generation and recombination rates respectively, and both of these are temperature dependent. (() increases with temperature, and a new carrier concentration ni is established, such that the higher recombination rate (() Lust balances generation. $t any temperature, the rate of recombination is proportional to the e3uilibrium concentration of electrons and holes, and can be given by (5.I)

where is a constant of proportionality (depends on the mechanism by which recombination ta1es place). E&trinsic $aterial In addition to thermally generated carriers, it is possible to create carriers in the semiconductor by purposely introducing impurities into the crystal doping. *ost common techni3ue for varying the conductivity of semiconductors. #y doping, the crystal can be made to have predominantly electrons (n&type) or holes (p& type). :hen a crystal is doped such that the e3uilibrium concentrations of electrons (nA) and holes (pA) are different from the intrinsic carrier concentration (ni), the material is said to be extrinsic. .oping creates additional levels within the band gap. In "i, column V elements of the periodic table (e.g., %, $s, "b) introduce energy levels very near (typically A.A8&A.AF eV) the conduction band. $t A E, these levels are filled with electrons, and very little thermal energy (IA E to 4AA E) is re3uired for these electrons to get excited to the conduction band. "ince these levels donate electrons to the conduction band, they are referred to as the donor levels. (hus, "i doped with donor impurities can have a significant number of electrons in the conduction band even when the temperature is not sufficiently high enough for the intrinsic carriers to dominate, i.e., @@ , n&type material, with electrons as maLority carriers and holes as minority carriers. In "i, column III elements of the periodic table (e.g., #, $l, Ga, In) introduce energy levels very near (typically A.A8&A.AF eV) the valence band. $t A E, these levels are empty, and very little thermal energy (IA E to 4AA E) is re3uired for electrons in the valence band to get excited to these levels, and leave behind holes in the valence band. "ince these levels accept electrons from the valence band, they are referred to as the acceptor levels. (hus, "i doped with acceptor impurities can have a significant number of holes in the valence band even at a very low temperature, i.e., @@ , p&type material, with holes as maLority carriers and electrons as minority carriers. (he extra electron for column V elements is loosely bound and it can be liberated very easily ioni7ationH thus, it is free to participate in current conduction. "imilarly, column III elements create holes in the valence band, and they can also participate in current conduction. /ough calculation of the ioni7ation energy can be made based on the #ohrOs model for atoms, considering the loosely bound electron orbiting around the tightly bound core electrons. (hus,

(5.F)where

is the relative permittivity of "i.

Carrier Concentrations ,or the calculation of semiconductor electrical properties and analy7ing device behavior, it is necessary to 1now the number of charge carriers0cm8 in the material. (he maLority carrier concentration in a heavily doped material is obvious, since for each impurity atom, one maLority carrier is obtained.

-owever, the minority carrier concentration and the dependence of carrier concentrations on temperature are not obvious. (o obtain the carrier concentrations, their distribution over the available energy states is re3uired. (hese distributions are calculated using statistical methods.

The %ermi Le!el lectrons in solids obey ,ermi&.irac (,.) statistics. (his statistics accounts for the indistinguishability of the electrons, their wave nature, and the %auli exclusion principle. (he ,ermi&.irac distribution function f( ) of electrons over a range of allowed energy levels at thermal e3uilibrium can be given by

(5.C)where 1 is #olt7mannOs constant (B G.F5 x

eV0E B 4.8G x

M0E). (his gives the probability that an available energy state at will be occupied by an electron at an absolute temperature (. is called the ,ermi level and is a measure of the average energy of the electrons in the lattice an extremely important 3uantity for analysis of device behavior. 9ote! for ( & ) @ 81( (1nown as #olt7mann approximation), f( ) exp= & ( & )01(> this is referred to as the *axwell&#olt7mann (*#) distribution (followed by gas atoms). (he probability that an energy state at will be occupied by an electron is 405 at all temperatures. $t A E, the distribution ta1es a simple rectangular form, with all states below occupied, and all states above empty. $t ( @ A E, there is a finite probability of states above to be occupied and states below to be empty. (he ,&. distribution function is highly symmetric, i.e., the probability f( N ) that a state above is filled is the same as the probability =4& f( & )> that a state below is empty. (his symmetry about , ma1es the ,ermi level a natural reference point for the calculation of electron and hole concentrations in the semiconductor. 9ote! f( ) is the probability of occupancy of an available state at energy , thus, if there is no available state at (e.g., within the band gap of a semiconductor), there is no possibility of finding an electron there. ,or intrinsic materials, the ,ermi level lies close to the middle of the band gap (the difference between the effective masses of electrons and holes accounts for this small deviation from the mid gap). In n&type material, the electrons in the conduction band outnumber the holes in the valence band, thus, the ,ermi level lies closer to the conduction band. "imilarly, in p&type material, the holes in the valence band outnumber the electrons in the conduction band, thus, the ,ermi level lies closer to the valence band. (he probability of occupation f( ) in the conduction band and the probability of vacancy =4& f( )> in the valence band are 3uite small, however, the densities of available states in these bands are very large, thus a small change in f( ) can cause large changes in the carrier concentrations.

,ig.5.6 (he density of states 9( ), the ,ermi&.irac distribution function f( ), and the carrier concentration as functions of energy for (a) intrinsic, (b) n&type, and (c) p&type semiconductors at thermal e3uilibrium. 9ote! since the function f( ) is symmetrical about , a large electron concentration implies a small hole concentration, and vice versa. In n&type material, the electron concentration in the conduction band increases as moves closer to H thus, ( & ) gives a measure of n. "imilarly, in p&type material, the hole concentration in the valence band increases as moves closer to H thus, ( & ) gives a measure of p.

Electron and *ole Concentrations at E+uili"rium (he ,&. distribution function can be used to calculate the electron and hole concentrations in semiconductors, if the densities of available states in the conduction and valence bands are 1nown. In e3uilibrium, the concentration of electrons in the conduction band can be given by

(5.G) where 9( )d is the density of available states0cm8 in the energy range d . 9ote! the upper limit of is theoretically not proper, since the conduction band does not extend to infinite energiesH however, since f( ) decreases rapidly with increasing , the contribution to this integral for higher energies is negligible. 2sing the solution of Os wave e3uation under periodic boundary conditions, it can be shown that

(5.P) (hus, 9( ) increases with , however, f( ) decreases rapidly with , thus, the product f( )9( ) decreases rapidly with , and very few electrons occupy states far above the conduction band edge, i.e., most electrons occupy a narrow energy band near the conduction band edge. "imilarly, the probability of finding an empty state in the valence band =4 & f( )> decreases rapidly below , and most holes occupy states near the top of the valence band. (hus, a mathematical simplification can be made assuming that all available states in the conduction band can be represented by an effective density of states 9C located at the conduction band edge and using #olt7mann approximation. (hus, (5.4A)

where . 9ote! as ( & ) decreases, i.e., the ,ermi level moves closer to the conduction band, the electron concentration increases. #y similar arguments, (5.44) where is the effective density of states located at the valence band edge and .

9ote! the only terms separating the expressions for

are the effective masses of

electrons ( ) and holes ( ) respectively, and since , hence, . (hus, as ( & ) decreases, i.e., the ,ermi level moves closer to the valence band edge, and the hole concentration increases. (hese e3uations for and are valid in e3uilibrium, irrespective of the material being intrinsic or doped.

,or intrinsic material lies at an intrinsic level (very near the middle of the band gap), and the intrinsic electron and hole concentrations are given by and (5.45) 9ote! $t e3uilibrium, the product is a constant for a particular material and temperature, even though the doping is varied, i.e., (5.48) (his e3uation gives an expression for the intrinsic carrier concentration ni as a function of , , and temperature! (5.46) (hese relations are extremely important, and are fre3uently used for calculations. 9ote! if were to be e3ual to , then would have been exactly at mid gap (i.e., & B & B 05). -owever, since , is displaced slightly from mid gap (more for Ga$s than that for "i). $lternate expressions for and ! and (5.4I) 9ote! the electron concentration is e3ual to ni when is at , and nA increases

exponentially as moves away from towards the conduction band. "imilarly, the hole concentration varies from to larger values as moves from towards the valence band.

Temperature #ependence of Carrier Concentrations (he intrinsic carrier concentration has a strong temperature dependence, given by (5.4F) (hus, explicitly, ni is proportional to (805 and to e 40(, however, g also has a temperature dependence (decreasing with increasing temperature, since the interatomic spacing changes with temperature).

,ig.5.I (he intrinsic carrier concentration as a function of inverse temperature for "i, Ge, and Ga$s. $s changes with temperature, so do and . :ith and ( given, the un1nowns are the carrier concentrations and the ,ermi level position with respect to one of these 3uantities must be given in order to calculate the other. xample! "i doped with donors ( ). $t very low temperature, negligible intrinsic -%s exist, and all the donor electrons are bound to the donor atoms. $s temperature is raised, these electrons are gradually donated to the conduction band, and at about 4AA E (4AAA0( B 4A), almost all these electrons are donated this temperature range is called the ioni7ation region. , since for each donor

Dnce all the donor atoms are ioni7ed, the electron concentration atom, one electron is obtained.

,ig.5.F Variation of carrier concentration with inverse temperature clearly showing the three regions! ioni7ation, extrinsic, and intrinsic. (hus, remains virtually constant with temperature for a wide range of temperature (called the extrinsic region), until the intrinsic carrier concentration ni starts to become comparable to . ,or high temperatures, @@ , and the material loses its extrinsic property (called the intrinsic region). 9ote! in the intrinsic region, the device loses its usefulness B@ determines the maximum operable temperature range. Compensation and Space Charge ,eutrality "emiconductors can be doped with both donors ( $ssume a material doped with @ acceptor level a completely full, however, with cannot be e3ual to . *echanism! o o o o o

) and acceptors ( above

) simultaneously. lies above

predominantly n&type

, the hole concentration

lectrons are donated to the conduction band from the donor level $n acceptor state gets filled by a valence band electron, thus creating a hole in the valence band. $n electron from the conduction band recombines with this hole. xtending this logic, it is expected that the resultant concentration of electrons in the conduction band would be instead of (his process is called compensation. @ ). . B ) or even

#y compensation, an n&type material can be made intrinsic (by ma1ing p&type (for

,ote- a semiconductor is neutral to start with, and, even after doping, it remains neutral (since for all donated electrons, there are positively charged ions ( )H and for all accepted electrons (or holes in the valence band), there are negatively charged ions ( ). (herefore, the sum of positive charges must e3ual the sum of negative charges, and this governing relation,

given by neutrality.

(5.4C) is referred to as the e3uation for space charge )

(his e3uation, solved simultaneously with the law of mass action (given by gives the information about the carrier concentrations. ,ote! for ,

. #rift of Carriers in Electric and $agnetic %ields In addition to the 1nowledge of carrier concentrations, the collisions of the charge carriers with the lattice and with the impurity atoms (or ions) under electric and0or magnetic fields must be accounted for, in order to compute the current flow through the device. (hese processes will affect the ease (mobility) with which carriers move within a lattice. (hese collision and scattering processes depend on temperature, which affects the thermal motion of the lattice atoms and the velocity of the carriers. Conducti!ity and $o"ility ven at thermal e3uilibrium, the carriers are in a constant motion within the lattice. $t room temperature, the thermal motion of an individual electron may be visuali7ed as random scattering from lattice atoms, impurities, other electrons, and defects. (here is no net motion of the group of n electrons0cm8 over any period of time, since the scattering is random, and there is no preferred direction of motion for the group of electrons and no net current flow. -owever, for an individual electron, this is not true the probability of an electron returning to its starting point after time t is negligibly small. 9ow, if an electric field is applied in the x&direction, each electron experiences a net force 3 from the field. (his will create a net motion of group in the x&direction, even though the force may be insufficient to appreciably alter the random path of an individual electron. If is the x&component of the total momentum of the group, then the force of the field on the n is (5.4G) ,ote! this expression indicates a constant acceleration in the x&direction, which realistically cannot happen. In steady state, this acceleration is Lust balanced by the deceleration due to the collisions. (hus, while the steady field does produce a net momentum , for steady state current flow, the net rate of change of momentum must be 7ero when collisions are included. 9ote! the collision processes are totally random, thus, there is a constant probability of collision at any time for each electron. Consider a group of electrons at time t B A, and define 9(t) as the number of electrons that have not undergone a collision by time t

,ig.5.C (he random thermal motion of an individual electron, undergoing random scattering. (he rate of decrease of 9(t) at any time t is proportional to the number left unscattered at t, i.e.

(5.4P) where is the constant of proportionality. (he solution is an exponential function (5.5A) and represents the mean time between scattering events, called the mean free time. (he probability that any electron has a collision in time interval dt is dt0 , thus, the differential change in due to collisions in time dt is (5.54) (hus, the rate of change of

due to the decelerating effect of collisions is

(5.55) ,or steady state, the sum of acceleration and deceleration effects must be 7ero, thus, (5.58) (he average momentum per electron (averaged over the entire group of electrons) is (5.56) (hus, as expected for steady state, the electrons would have on the average a constant net velocity in the &x&direction (5.5I) (his speed is referred to as the drift speed, and, in general, it is usually much smaller than the random speed due to thermal motion (he current density resulting from this drift (5.5F) .

(his is the familiar DhmOs law with

being the conductivity of the sample, which

can also be written as , with is defined as the electron mobility (in ), and it describes the ease with which electrons drift in the material. (he mobility can also be expressed as the average drift velocity per unit electric field, thus with the negative sign denoting a positive value for mobility since electrons drift opposite to the direction of the electric field. (he total current density can be given by (5.5C) when both electrons and holes contribute to the current conductionH on the other hand, for predominantly n& type or p&type samples, respectively the first or the second term of the above e3uation dominates. ,ote! both electron and hole drift currents are in the same direction, since holes (with positive charges) move along the direction of the electric field, and electrons (with negative charges) drift opposite to the direction of the electric field. "ince Ga$s has a strong curvature of the &1 diagram at the bottom of the conduction band, the electron effective mass in Ga$s is very small the electron mobility in Ga$s is very high since is inversely proportional to . (he other parameter in the mobility expression, i.e., (the mean free time between collisions) is a function of temperature and the impurity concentration in the semiconductor. ,or a uniformly doped semiconductor bar of length +, width w, and thic1ness t, the resistance / of the bar can be given by where is the resistivity.

Effects of Temperature and #oping on $o"ility (he two main scattering events that influence electron and hole motion (and, thus, mobility) are the lattice scattering and the impurity scattering. $ll lattice atoms vibrate due to temperature and can scatter carriers due to collisions. (hese collective vibrations are called phonons, thus lattice scattering is also 1nown as phonon scattering. :ith increasing temperature, lattice vibrations increase, and the mean free time between collisions decreases mobility decreases (typical dependence ). "cattering from crystal defects and ioni7ed impurities dominate at low temperatures. "ince carriers moving with low velocity (at low temperature) can get scattered more easily by ioni7ed impurities, this 1ind of scattering causes a decrease in carrier mobility with decreasing temperature (typical dependence ). 9ote! the scattering probability is inversely proportional to the mean free time (and to mobility), hence, the mobilities due to two or more scattering events add inversely! (5.5G) (hus, the mechanism causing the lowest mobility value dominates. *obility also decreases with increasing doping, since the ioni7ed impurities scatter carriers more (e.g., for intrinsic "i is 48IA at 8AA E, whereas with a donor doping of , n drops to CAA ).

*igh %ield Effects

,or small electric fields, the drift current increases linearly with the electric field, since is a constant. -owever, for large electric fields (typically @ ), the current starts to show a sublinear dependence on the electric field and eventually saturates for very high fields. (hus, becomes a function of the electric field, and this is 1nown as the hot carrier effect, when the carrier drift velocity becomes comparable to its thermal velocity. (he maximum carrier drift velocity is limited to its mean thermal velocity (typically ), beyond which the added energy imparted by the electric field is absorbed by the lattice (thus generating heat) instead of a corresponding increase in the drift velocity.

./0/0 The *all Effect $n extremely important measurement procedure for determining the maLority carrier concentration and mobility.

,ig.5.G (he experimental setup for the -all ffect measurement. If a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the direction of carrier flow, the path of the carriers get deflected due to the +orent7 force experienced by the carriers, which can be given by , B 3( N v x #) (5.5P) (hus, the holes will get deflected towards the &y&direction, and establish an electric field along the y&direction, such that in steady state (he establishment of this electric field is 1nown as the -all effect, and the resulting voltage is called the -all voltage. 2sing the expression for the drift current, is called the -all coefficient. $ measurement of the -all voltage along with the information for magnetic field and current density gives the maLority carrier concentration $lso, the maLority carrier mobility can be obtained from a measurement of the resistivity (his experiment can be performed to obtain the variation of maLority carrier concentration and mobility as a function of temperature. ,or n&type samples, the -all voltage and the -all coefficient are negative a common diagnostic tool for obtaining the sample type.

9ote! caution should be exercised for near intrinsic samples.

+uili"rium Condition In e3uilibrium, there is no external excitation except a constant temperature, no net transfer of energy, no net carrier motion, and no net current transport. $n important condition for e3uilibrium is that no discontinuity or gradient can arise in the e3uilibrium ,ermi level ,. $ssume two materials 4 and 5 (e.g., n& and p&type regions, dissimilar semiconductors, metal and semiconductor, two adLacent regions in a nonuniformly doped semiconductor) in intimate contact such that electron can move between them. $ssume materials 4 and 5 have densities of state 94( ) and 95( ), and ,&. distribution functions f4( ) and f5( ) respectively at any energy .

(he rate of electron motion from 4 to 5 can be given byrate from 4 to 5 94( )f4( ) . 95( ) =4 f5( )> (5.8A)and the rate of electron motion from 5 to 4 can be given byrate from 5 to 4 95( )f5( ) . 94( )=4 f4( )> (5.84)K $t e3uilibrium, these two rates must be e3ual, which gives f4( ) B f5( ) B@ ,4 B ,5 B@ d ,0dx B AH thus, the ,ermi level is constant at e3uilibrium, or, in other words, there cannot be any discontinuity or gradient in the ,ermi level at e3uilibrium.