Experiment 6: Hall Effect in Semiconductor

Objective:
To study room temperature resistivity, carrier concentration and carrier mobility of a p-ty
and/or n-type semiconductor having a majority carrier, either electrons or holes (using Hall
measurement setup).

Theory:
Hall Effect was named after Edwin Hall, its discoverer. This is somewhat like Fleming’s right
hand rule. When a current carrying conductor, I is placed in a transverse magnetic field B, an
electric field E is induced in the conductor perpendicular to both I and B. This phenomenon
is called as Hall Effect.

Explanation
When a current carrying conductor is placed in a transverse magnetic field, then the magnetic
field exerts some force on the charge carriers (i.e., electrons and holes) and due to this force
these charge carriers get separated; which forms a deviation from straight path or we can say
a curvature of charge carriers is formed on the surface of the crystal. The conductor with
current, force direction and magnetic fields are shown.

As electrons travel through the

conductor that lies in a magnetic field B, the electrons will experience a magnetic force. This
magnetic force will cause the electrons to travel close to one side than the other. This creates
a negative charge on one side and positive charge on the other, as shown in the following
figure.
This separation of charge will create a voltage difference which is known as Hall Voltage or
Hall EMF. The voltage builds up until the electric field produces an electric force on the
charge that is equal and opposite of the magnetic force. This effect is known as Hall Effect.

Hall Effect (Setup)

Step-I (Measurement of EM intensity with current)

First of all connect the electromagnet to the constant current source (CCS) (but don’t the CCS
now).

Now switch on the Gauss meter and check whether the reading is zero or not (without
inserting in between the gap of EM). If not, then adjust the knob to get zero reading.
Now bring the Gauss probe and place it in the wooden stand.

Now gently open the Gauss probe and insert in between the gap of EM.
Now you will get the reading in Gauss meter, which basically indicates the intensity of the
magnetic field.

Now switch on the CCS. Now, get the reading in the Gauss meter with increasing the CCS
such as 0.25, 0.5, 1.00, 1.25 and so on (you can take as per your requirement) up to 3.5 A.
After 0.75 A you won’t be able to get reading from Gauss meter, because you need to
increase the range. So, change the range to 10X.

Observation Table:

Table 1: Constant current source (CCS) and corresponding magnetic field

(G)
 Sl.No. CCS(A) Magnetic Field
1 0.25 192
2 0.5 420
3 0.75 653
4 1 897
5 1.25 1154
6 1.5 1385
7 1.75 1624
8 2 1365
9 2.25 2111
10 2.5 2345

Table 2: Hall voltage measurements at constant magnetic field of 1385

gauss.

Sl.No Probe Hall Voltage (mV) Mean(|a|

Current Current (A) Magnetic Field +|b|+|c|+|d|)/4
One Other One One
direction(a) direction(b) direction(c) direction(d)
1 1 2.7 -2.5 -2.2 2.3 2.425
2 1.5 3.1 -3.2 -3.5 4.2 3.5
3 2 4.5 -4.4 -4.9 5.4 4.8
4 2.5 5.5 -5.1 -6.3 6.3 5.8
5 3 6.5 -6.3 -7.3 8.4 7.125
6 3.5 6.6 -6.4 -9.5 10.1 8.15
7 4 7.3 -7.2 -9.7 10.6 8.7
8 4.5 8.2 -8.2 -10.2 11.1 9.425
9 5 9.6 -9.3 -10.3 11.4 10.15
10 5.5 11.2 -10.8 -11.7 12.1 11.45
11 6 11.3 -10.9 -12.2 12.3 11.675
 Hall Voltage(V) vs Current(A)
0.014

0.012

0.01

0.008

0.006 y = 0.0009x + 0.001

0.004

0.002

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

R=(VH/I)*(Z/H), H= 1385 gauss, Z=0.5×10-3 m

Slope of the curve =0.0009 = (R×H)/Z => R=Hall Co-efficient = 5.86×10-4

Step-III

We will study the effect of Magnetic field on Hall voltage at a particular Hall Current.
(a) Here you must fix the Hall Current at a particular value (say 2 mA). Then you just
change the CCS current. By constant current we will get a particular magnetic field
according to our earlier table (Current and Magnetic field strength using Gauss
meter). Now just write the magnetic field strength with each current changing through
CCS and correspondingly note down the voltage reading (a).

(b) Now change the green wires (red into black and black into red) and measure the
corresponding voltage (It will be nearly same but with opposite sign).

(c) Before (c) and (d) measurement make sure wires are connected perfectly (red into red
and black into black).
Now to get the magnetic field just change the crystal orientation direction inside the
gap of the EM (i.e., the opposite side of the crystal). At a particular current just
measure the corresponding voltage (same as earlier).

(d) For (d) again change the wires (red into black and black into red) and get the Hall
voltage reading at a particular current.

(e) Now take the mean as Hall Voltage without the actual algebraic sign i.e., neglect sign
just get the mean value.

(f) Plot the graph Hall voltage vs. Current (Hall Voltage on Y-axis and current on Xaxis).

Table 3: Hall voltage measurements at constant probe current of 6 mA

Sl.No CCS Hall Voltage (mV)

 Current (A) Magnetic Field Mean(|a|
One Other One One +|b|+|c|+|d|)/4
direction(a) direction(b) direction(c) direction(d)
1 0.25 0.05 -0.03 -3.7 4.1 1.97
2 0.5 1.8 -1.3 -5.9 6.2 3.8
3 0.75 3.4 -2.9 -7.3 7.7 5.325
4 1 5.5 -5.2 -9.1 10.2 7.5
5 1.25 6.7 -6.6 -10.8 11.1 8.8
6 1.5 9.1 -8.9 -12.2 12.6 10.7
7 1.75 10.3 -9.9 -13.7 14.3 12.05
8 2 11.9 -11.5 -15.8 16.3 13.875
9 2.25 12.8 -12.3 -16.9 17.4 14.85
10 2.5 13.7 -13.3 -18.7 18.9 16.15

Hall Voltage(in mV) vs CCS

0.018
0.016
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008 y = 0.0064x + 0.0007
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3

R=(VH/H)*(Z/I), H= 1385 gauss, Z=0.5×10-3 m

Slope of the curve =0.0064 = (R×I)/Z => R=Hall Co-efficient = 5.33×10-4

Ravg = (5.33×10-4 + 5.86×10-4)/2 = (5.595×10-4 )

Carrier Density=(1/e.Ravg) = (1/(1.6*10-19 *5.595 * 10-5))= 1.117 * 1023 m-3

We know,
σ = neµe => Carrier Mobility µe = 0.0064 m2v-1s-1

Precautions:
1) The gauss probe should be gently opened and inserted in between the gap
of EM.
2) We shouldn’t go beyond 3.5A in CCS to measure the intensity of the
magnetic field.