17‐08‐2021

Properties of
semiconductors-preview

Vivek Dixit
Electronics and Electrical communication Engineering
Indian Institute of technology Kharagpur

Silicon Unit Cell

http://lampx.tugraz.at/~hadley/ss1/crystalstructure/crystalstructure.php

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Lattice Vectors
Simple cubic lattice

a = (1,0,0)a
b = (0,1,0)a
c = (0,0,1)a

Three primitive vectors are ‘coordinates’ in terms of

which all lattice coordinates R can be expressed

R = ma + nb + pc (m,n,p: integers)

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Body-centered cube

a = a(½, ½, ½ )
b = a(-½,-½, ½ )

c = a(½,-½,-½ )

8x1/8 corner atom + 1 center atom gives

2 atoms per cell

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Face-centered cube

a = a(0, ½, ½)
b = a(½, 0, ½)
c = a(½, ½, 0)

6 face center atoms shared by 2 cubes each, 8 corners

shared by 8 cubes each, giving a total of
8 x 1/8 + 6 x 1/2 = 4 atoms/cell
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Silicon Unit Cell

%basis vectors %lattice vectors
%% remove column outside the cube
v1=[0,0,0]; b1=[0.5,0.5,0];
[m,n]=size(A); B=[];
v2=[1,1,1]/4; b2=[0.5,0,0.5];
for i =1:n
V=[v1' v2']; b3=[0,0.5,0.5];
if max(A(:,i))<=1
A=[v1' v2'];
B=[B A(:,i)];
%% create full unit cell end
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b1'); end
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b2'); x=B(1,:); y=B(2,:); z=B(3,:);
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b3'); scatter3(x,y,z,200,mod(x+y+z,1),'filled');
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,2*b1'); axis([ 0  1    0  1    0  1])
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,2*b2');
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,2*b3');
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b1'+b2');
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b2'+b3'); function A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b)
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b3'+b1'); %% fn add a column b to each column of matrix A
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b1'+b2'‐b3'); [m,n]=size(V);
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b2'+b3'‐b1'); for i = 1:n,     A=[A V(:,i)+b]; end
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b3'+b1'‐b2');
A=add_matrix_row(A,V,b1'+b2'+b3');

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Silicon Unit Cell

Bulk Crystal Growth

• IC today owe to growth of pure, single‐crystal Si
• Starting material = SiO2 is reduced at 1800 0C with coke in an arc 
furnace: SiO2 + 2C = Si (MGS) +2CO
• Metallurgical grade Si has ~1 ppm Fe, Al and heavy metal impurities.
• Fractional distillation is used to obtain electronic grade Si (EGS)~1ppb.
• Si(MGS) + 3HCl = SiHCl3 + H2, and chloride of impurities are formed
• 2SiHCl3 +2H2 = 2Si (EGS) + 6 HCl
• Different impurity chlorides condense at different temperatures.

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Czochralski method

• Heat EGS to melting point (1412°C) in a quartz‐lined 
graphite container 
• A seed crystal provide a template for growth
• it is lowered into the molten material and then is 
raised and rotated slowly
• To slightly stir the melt and average out temperature 
variations for homogeneous solidification.
• Doping: distribution coefficient, kd = (impurity 
concentration in the solid Cs / impurity concentration 
in the liquid CL) at equilibrium
• Kd is a function of the material, impurity, temperature, 
and growth rate. 

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Epitaxial Growth
• Epitaxy: technique of growing single crystal 
layer on a substrate wafer
• Epitaxy types: 
• Homoepitaxy: substrate and grown layer are of the 
same material 
• Heteroepitaxy: different material with a similar 
lattice structure
• Epitaxy methods: chemical vapor deposition 
(CVD), liquid‐phase epitaxy (LPE), molecular 
beam epitaxy (MBE)
• pseudomorphic: substrate and layer are not 
lattice‐matched without strain
• critical layer thickness, tc: a function of lattice 
mismatch, the strain energy leads to formation 
of defects called misfit dislocation
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Periodic Table

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Bandgap and Intrinsic carrier density

At 300K
EC n=ni Semicondu Band gap intrinsic
ctor (eV) density (ni)
EG
Si 1.1 eV 1010 cm-3
Ge 0.66 eV 2X013 cm-3
EV p=ni
/ GaAs 1.42 eV 106 cm-3
𝑛 ∝𝑒

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Recombination
EC n=ni
Direct gap– emit light (GaAs)
EG
Indirect gap– emit heat (Si)
EV p=ni

What are the properties of electrons in the conduction band?

What are the properties of holes in the valence band?
What is their mobility ?
What about thermal conductivity ?
Electric field that breaks down the bonds.
What is “Effective mass”? Vivek EC21205 13

Free electron vs crystal electron

F=-qE
v(t) m0  effective mass
F=ma m*

q = charge = 1.6 X 10-19 C Crystal potential

m0 = mass = 9.1 X 10-31 kg Effective mass electron hole
Si 1.18m0 0.81m0
GaAs 0.066m0 0.52m0
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Energy vs. momentum

(free electron) vs (crystal electron)

E F=dp/dt
E=(1/2)m0v2=p2/2m0
F=dp/dtd(ħK)/dt
E=(1/2)m*v2=p2/2m*

p=m0v
p=ħK
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ħ=h/2π, k=2π/λ 15

Band structure
E Indirect bandgap
direct bandgap
E = EC + p2/2mn*
Ec
Ec
E = EC + (p-p0)2/2mn*

Ev
ħK
E = EV - p2/2mp*

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Why Silicon

Surfaces  dangling bonds  defects

Silicon has a “native oxide” (SiO2) that ties up dangling bonds and 
“passivates” the surface.
 Silicon is the most commonly used semiconductor

Other semiconductors are used when Si isn’t suitable (e.g. to make 
light‐emitting devices).

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Summary

Electrons in the conduction band (“electrons”) and Holes in the

valence band (“holes”): Free to move about within the crystal. Can
often be treated as Newtonian particles with an effective mass.

Band structure is a plot of energy vs. crystal momentum (or k).

An energy band diagram is a plot of the bottom of the conduction
band and top of the valence band vs. position.

Discussed the concept of bandgap and intrinsic carrier

concentration
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Doping
Weakly bound electron P-type dopant
EB ~ 0.1 eV B, Ga

V III

N-type dopant
P, As

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Donor Binding energy

EB = ? Hydrogen atom:
𝑚 𝑞
𝐸 𝑒𝑉
2 4𝜋𝜀 ħ
= - 13.6 eV

V
Donor in Si:

ε = εrε0
=11.8X8.854X10-12 F/m

mn* = 0.26 m0

EB ~ - 0.025 eV
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Energy band diagram

What about p-doping?

ND=1017 cm-3

At 300 K

ND+=1017 cm-3
n ≈ ND+ = 1017 cm-3
P ≈ 103 cm-3

ni=1010 cm-3
Natoms ≈ 4.99 X 1022 cm-3
ni << ND << Natoms (X 10-2)
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Deep impurity levels

Deep donor

Deep acceptor

Deep Donors and

acceptors partially ionized
at room temperature.

“Shallow” donors and

acceptors are fully ionized
at room temperature
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Carrier concentration vs. Temperature

kT << EG kT << EG kT > EG A few extrinsic carriers
due to doping, but no
kT < ECD kT ~ ECD kT >> ECD intrinsic carriers due to
thermal excitation across
the band gap.

Many extrinsic carriers

due to doping, but very few
intrinsic carriers due to
thermal excitation across
the band gap.

Extrinsic carriers due to

doping, but also many
intrinsic carriers due to
thermal excitation across
the band gap. Also many
holes in the valence band
now.
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Summary Qns: si in GaAs is

n-type or p-type?

• By doping, we replace a few atoms of semiconductor with atoms from a 
different column of the periodic table.
• Ionized dopants produce electrons in the conduction band or holes in the 
valence band.
• High T  intrinsic carriers overwhelm the extrinsic carriers  device 
ceases to operate.
• Semiconductor devices for operation at high temperature should be made 
with materials with large band gaps, such as SiC and GaN.
• The carrier concentration vs. temperature characteristic has freeze out, 
extrinsic, and intrinsic regions.
• A low temperatures, semiconductors become insulators.

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