Bhuvanesh Srini, 19050263

Semiconductors beyond Silicon

“A material which has electrical conductivities intermediate between those of metals
and insulators” (Turton, 2000). Semiconductors are a vital part of the technology world we
live in today. They have a wide range of usage in electronic products, with them being
better conductors than glass and other insulators and less compared to pure conductors like
metals such as copper, and silver. While Silicon is predominantly used in manufacturing
semiconductors, is there any possible successor to the element found?

Semiconductors, what are they?

Semiconductors have bands like metals and insulators. They have both conduction
and valence band with electrons occupying the valence band in the ground state. With
external factors like changes in temperature or intensity of the light falling on the metal, the
electrons move to the conduction band facilitating electrical conductivity. If the energy
gained from the change in heat or light is equal to or more than the band gap, electrons
move across the bands and enable electrical conductivity. Due to this, a semiconductor can
display a wide range of functions like variable resistance, altering the direction of current
flow or light and heat sensors.
Silicon dominates the semiconductor industry, roughly 95% of all semiconductors are made
of Silicon and alloys of silicon. “Until 1960 most design engineers preferred germanium to
silicon for computer logic circuits, when, suddenly, germanium was out, and silicon was in.”,
(Philip Seidenberg, 1997). Germanium was then replaced with Silicon, and it continues to
dominate the industry. For various reasons the change took place, and it remains valid to
date for people to rely on silicon. Future progress in the transistor industry has slowed down
and there is not much progress with silicon as the basic material. It leads to the discussion,
‘Should silicon be continued, or should new material be looked for replacement?’

Silicon as a semiconductor, why?

Silicon is used to manufacture semiconductors, and it is due to several reasons. Firstly, brief
information about silicon:
Atomic Electronic State at Valence
Name Symbol Number Configuration RTP Group Electrons
Silicon Si 14 [Ne]3s2 3p2 Solid 14 4
Table 0.1, containing the data about Silicon

Silicon is the second most abundant element found on earth after oxygen. Silicon is found in
sand and clay commonly. It is not only used in manufacturing semiconductors but also in
bricks, concrete, and glass production. Its production process is quite complicated, but its
abundance makes up for it. It is more stable compared to Germanium, with minimal current

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leakage. Silicon’s band gap is also 1.12eV is higher compared to Germanium (0.74eV) at 0K
making it more preferred for its applications with LEDs.
Though it is still far from being the ideal semiconductor, silicon is the preferred material for
manufacturing semiconductors. Silicon is hard and brittle at the same time, solid blue-
greyish in nature. With its abundance, silicon and silicon compounds have become cheap
raw materials. Modifying silicon with dopants is easier. The possibility to engineer (called
doping) the crystal makes p-n junction diodes, transistors, and other electronic devices on
the same wafer
Silicon is stable with its oxides, making it a suitable material for an interface between
insulators and semiconductors. Silicon also has high thermal stability and electron mobility.
Yet it is not good to accommodate the ‘holes’-electron positive counterpart. Silicon is poor
in the mobility of holes, thereby Germanium is used as an alloy with silicon for the mobility
of holes.

Image 0.1 depicts bands with electrons and holes.[1.1]

The Silicon lattice (image on the left) has free electrons

knocked loose from its position (due to thermal energy).
The gap or deficiency left behind by the free electrons is
called a hole. The free electron is available for
conduction till it finds a hole. The electron-dominant
and electron-deficient regions form the basis for p and
n-type junctions used in transistors.

Image 0.2, depicting Si lattice with free electrons and holes.[1.2]

Silicon is doped with small quantities of gallium or boron to make a p-type junction while
arsenic or phosphorous is used for the n-type junction. When silicon is doped with arsenic
the free electron not involved in bonding is free to move around the electric circuit and
when doped with gallium holes are formed in the valence band of silicon atoms. Electrons
and holes are mobile and move in opposite directions, but the dopants are fixed thereby
only the holes are mobile. Diodes are formed from combining p-n type silicon and are the
simplest example of a semiconductor device. Diodes behave as conductors when the
current flow in a specific direction and as insulators when it’s in the opposite direction.

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Alternatives to Silicon
Why should silicon be replaced? Silicon is abundant, has a big market, is easy to process
(relatively), stable with its oxides (a good insulator). Still, it has drawbacks which have led
scientists to look for a replacement. Firstly, electron mobility. Silicon is good with electron
mobility but as moving to the future, improved speed is required for a faster IC process.
Gallium arsenide and indium arsenide are better options for this case compared to
silicon.[2] Overheating issues with silicon force manufacturers to use heat sinks and other
cooling systems in computers. Silicon’s performance degrades at high temperatures.
Modern systems are built with billions of transistors which results in a lot of heat produced.
Manufacturers overcome this by building the systems with fans and cooling systems which
are quite expensive and lead to additional costs in manufacturing. To avoid this, alternative
semiconductors which can cope with such high temperatures are required. Gallium nitride
and Silicon carbide are currently employed as a solution for this. Compound semiconductors
are also used in photonics as silicon is not good at transmitting light. LEDs and lasers are
manufactured with compound semiconductors and their usage in the modern world is
increasing. It has led to the discussion, of finding an alternative that can be used in both
kinds of semiconductors- photonics and Si-dependant semiconductors.
Future technology deals with miniaturisation, devices are getting thinner, and slim and it
require the transistors, chips and other electronics used also to adapt to the requirement-
reduction in size. But “Moore's Law states that the number of transistors on a microchip
doubles about every two years, though the cost of computers is halved”[3] which should
mean that chips become bulkier as time progress. This has not been an issue so far as it was
possible to shrink the circuits. Everything has its limits and for now, circuits are 7nm wide
the maximum it could be shrunk. This has already led to its oxide’s properties as insulators
being less effective. Silicon dioxide was used within transistors as insulators which won’t be
reliable with miniaturisation. Inorganic compounds designed to the requirements might be a
suitable alternative. A team of researchers at MIT, the University of Houston, and other
institutions[4] have been conducting research on this topic, conducting experiments for
alternatives. The current solution is found in a material known as cubic boron arsenide. It
can overcome the current limitations faced by Silicon as semiconductors. It shows better
performance at high temperatures and high mobility with both holes and electrons.

Conclusion
We cannot conclude that silicon has been dethroned from being the prime material
in semiconductor manufacturing. The newly experimented compound cubic boron arsenide
still has a lot to prove- production should be more on a practical scale, must be economic…
There are other alternatives also including alloys of indium arsenide or antimonide mixed
with germanium[3] can be used for high electron mobility other flavours of silicon by
blending with Group III-V can be used. The existing market for Silicon still makes it hard for
manufacturers to move on from silicon, thereby compound semiconductors of silicon can
also be used as alternatives. Many researchers are still experimenting and conducting

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research. The future is full of possibilities but for now, silicon still remains the basic raw
material in semiconductor manufacturing.

Bibliography
- Turton, R. (2000) “Semiconductors,” in Thephysics of Solids. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
p. 118.
- Philip Seidenberg, “From Germanium to Silicon, A History of Change in the Technology of the
Semiconductors,” in Facets: New Perspectivies on the History of Semiconductors, ed.
Andrew Goldstein & William Aspray (New Brunswick: IEEE Center for the History of Electrical
Engineering, 1997), 35-74.
- [1.1] Intrinsic semiconductor (no date) Intrinsic Semiconductors. Available at:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Solids/intrin.html (Accessed: December 16,
2022).
- [1.2] Intrinsic semiconductor (no date) Intrinsic Semiconductors. Available at:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Solids/intrin.html#c4 (Accessed: December 16,
2022).
- [2] Mark Hopkinson Professor of Semiconductor Materials (2022) With silicon pushed to its
limits, what Will Power The Next Electronics Revolution?, The Conversation. Available at:
https://theconversation.com/with-silicon-pushed-to-its-limits-what-will-power-the-next-
electronics-revolution-46287 (Accessed: December 16, 2022).

- [3] Turton, R. (2000) “Semiconductors,” in Thephysics of Solids. Oxford: Oxford University

Press, p. 118.

- [4] David L. Chandler | MIT News Office (no date) The Best Semiconductor of them all?, MIT
News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Available at:
https://news.mit.edu/2022/best-semiconductor-them-all-0721 (Accessed: December 16,
2022).