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EE304 2023 Spring. Introduction to Semiconductor Physics

Chapter 6.

Nonequilibrium Excess Carriers

in Semiconductors

Prof. Jaehong Lee

Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, DGIST
email: jaelee@dgist.ac.kr
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Carrier Generation and Recombination

In thermal equilibrium

Generation rates for electron-hole

=
Recombination rates for electron-hole

: thermal-generation rate of electrons

: thermal-generation rate of holes
(#/cm3・s)
: recombination rate of electrons
: recombination rate of holes

No change over time

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Carrier Generation and Recombination

Deviation from thermal equilibrium
1. Temperature increase
Thermal generation of e- and h+

2. External excitation (light; a flux of photons)

Generation of e- and h+

Excess electrons & Excess holes

Disappears from the recombination

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Carrier Generation and Recombination

Generation of excess electron-hole pair (Excess carrier)

When high energy photons are incident,

Total electron concentration

Total hole concentration

Excess carrier concentration

Thermal equilibrium concentration

No longer in thermal equilibrium

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Carrier Generation and Recombination

Low-level injection
The excess carrier concentration is much less than the thermal-equilibrium majority carrier
concentration.

ex) in p-type material (𝑝0 ≫ 𝑛0) -> low-level injection: (𝛿𝑛(𝑡) ≫ 𝑝0)

High-level injection
The excess carrier concentration becomes comparable to or greater than the thermal-
equilibrium majority carrier concentrations.

ex) in p-type material (𝑝0 ≫ 𝑛0) -> high-level injection: (𝛿𝑛 𝑡 ~ 𝑝0)

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Carrier Generation and Recombination

Recombination of excess electron-hole pair (Excess carrier)
The recombination occurs spontaneously

recombination rate recombination rate

for excess electrons for excess holes

• For p-type extrinsic semiconductors,

Excess minority carrier

Lifetime (constant)

• For n-type extrinsic semiconductors,

Excess minority carrier

Lifetime (constant)

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Characteristics of Excess Carriers

Continuity Equation

How will the excess electrons and holes behave

under E-field and density gradients??

for electrons for holes

𝑛: 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑝: ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝐹"# : 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝐹%& : ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥
𝑔" : 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑔% : 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑠𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝜏"$ : 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝜏%$ : 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
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Characteristics of Excess Carriers

Time-Dependent Diffusion Equations

for electrons

for holes

Diffusion coefficient Mobility Excess carrier External Total

concentration electrical potential carrier concentration

Carrier generation rate Excess carrier lifetime

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Ambipolar Transport
External E-field & Induced Internal E-field

Eapp Eapp

−−−− Ec −−−− Ec

External Eint
excitation

++++ Ev ++++ Ev

Enet = Eapp + Eint

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Ambipolar Transport
External E-field & Induced Internal E-field

Ambipolar Transport Eapp

−−−− Ec
The internal E-field holds the excess
electrons and holes together
Eint

Move together
++++ Ev
with a single effective mobility or diffusion coefficient

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Ambipolar Transport
Ambipolar Transport Equation: intrinsic semiconductors
Ambipolar transport equation (for intrinsic)

Ambipolar mobility

Ambipolar diffusion coefficient

Ambipolar transport
: excess carrier generation rate
: excess carrier recombination rate

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Ambipolar Transport
Ambipolar Transport Equation: extrinsic semiconductors

For p-type semiconductor (under low injection) For n-type semiconductor (under low injection)

: excees minority carrier electron concentration under low injection : excees minority carrier hole concentration under low injection
: minority carrier lifetime under low injection : minority carrier hole lifetime under low injection
: excess carrier holegeneration rate : excess carrier generation rate

For an extrinsic semiconductor under low injection,

the effective diffusion coefficient & mobility for excess carriers are those of the minority carrier!

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Ambipolar Transport
Ambipolar Transport Equation: Application

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Ambipolar Transport
Example 6.2: for time variation

1. a uniform concentration of excess carriers

2. g’ = 0
solution
3. low injection: is constant

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Ambipolar Transport
Example 6.4: for spatial variation

1.
2.

3. Minority carrier electron diffusion length

solution

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Ambipolar Transport
Example 6.4: for spatial variation

Steady-state electron and hole

concentrations for the case
∴ when excess electrons and
holes are generated at x = 0.

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Quasi-Fermi Energy Levels

Thermal-Equilibrium electron & hole concentrations

Thermal-equilibrium energy-band diagrams Thermal-equilibrium energy-band diagrams

for n-type semiconductor for p-type semiconductor

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Quasi-Fermi Energy Levels

Nonequilibrium electron & hole concentrations

: Quasi-Fermi Energy Level for electrons

: Quasi-Fermi Energy Level for holes

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Excess Carrier Lifetime

Trap / Recombination center
In a real crystal
In a perfect single-crystal

No electronic energy states

within the forbidden-energy band

Defects create discrete electronic energy states

within the forbidden-energy band

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Surface Effects
Surface States

The abrupt termination of the periodic potential at the surface results in a distribution of
allowed energy states within the bandgap

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