Lecture #3

OUTLINE
• Electrons and holes

• Energy-band model

Read: Chapter 2 (Section 2.1 ~ 2.2)

 Electronic Properties of Si
· Silicon is a semiconductor material.
– Pure Si has a relatively high electrical resistivity at room temperature.

· There are 2 types of mobile charge-carriers in Si:

– Conduction electrons are negatively charged;
– Holes are positively charged.

•The concentration [in the unit of #/cm3] of conduction electrons &

holes in a semiconductor can be modulated in several ways:
1.by adding special impurity atoms (i.e., dopants)
2.by applying an electric field
3.by changing the temperature
4.by irradiation

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 Bond Model of Electrons and Holes

Si Si Si

2-D representation: Si Si Si

Si Si Si

When an electron breaks Si Si Si

loose and becomes a
Si Si Si
conduction electron, a
hole is also created. Si Si Si

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 What is a Hole?
• Mobile positive charge associated with a half-filled
covalent bond
– Treat as positively charged mobile particle in the semiconductor

• Fluid analogy:

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The Hole as a Positive Mobile Charge

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 Pure Si

conduction

ni @ 1010 cm-3 at room temperature

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 Definition of Terms

n = number of electrons per cm3

p = number of holes per cm3
ni = intrinsic carrier concentration per cm3

In a pure semiconductor (i.e., without dopants),

n = p = ni

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 Si: From Atom to Crystal

Energy states in Si atom à energy bands in Si crystal

• The highest nearly-filled band is the valence band
• The lowest nearly-empty band is the conduction band

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 Energy Band Diagram

electron energy Ec

Ev

distance
Simplified version of energy band model, indicating
• bottom edge of the conduction band (Ec)
• top edge of the valence band (Ev)
Ø Ec and Ev are separated by the band gap energy EG

Prof. Changhwan Shin

 Summary
• In a pure Si crystal, conduction electrons and
holes are formed in pairs.
– Holes can be considered as positively charged mobile
particles which exist inside a semiconductor.
– Both holes and electrons can conduct current.

• Splitting of allowed atomic energy levels occurs

in a crystal
– Separation between energy levels is small, so we can
consider them as bands of continuous energy levels
• Highest nearly-filled band is the valence band
• Lowest nearly-empty band is the conduction band

Prof. Changhwan Shin

 Summary

– Energy-band diagram:
• Shows only bottom edge of conduction band Ec
and top edge of valence band Ev
• Ec and Ev are separated by the band-gap
energy EG
• Note that x-axis in the Energy-band diagram
indicates physical distance.

Prof. Changhwan Shin