Department of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

EE 311 Home Assignment #6 Assigned: 9.2.23 Due: 17.2.23

1. A sufficiently extrinsic n-type bar of Si has length L and cross-sectional area A. Determine
the expression for the dark current flowing through the sample, i.e., the current without any
illumination falling on the sample. Now, the bar is illuminated with steady light that
generates gop EHPs/cm3-sec uniformly throughout the sample. Assuming low level injection,
and that the electron mobility is much greater than the hole mobility, show that the steady
state photocurrent Iphoto, i.e., the current over and above the dark current, flowing through the
bar can be written as Iphoto = qALgopn/t, where n and t are the lifetime and the transit time
of electrons. The transit time is an average time that an electron takes to cover the length L
of the bar.

2. A sample is doped with donors such that n0 = G exp(x/L), where G is a constant, L is the
length of the sample, and n0 is always >> ni. Assuming equilibrium, find the built-in electric
field in order to sustain this distribution, and clearly draw the band diagram. Also, plot the
potential V(x) as a function of position.

3. A 5 -cm n-type Si sample is illuminated uniformly at t = 0 to produce EHPs. Starting from

the continuity equation and assuming low-level injection and no current flow, determine the
expression for the build-up of excess holes as a function of time. If the excess conductivity at
t = 1 sec is 0.293 (k-cm)1; and after sufficiently long time, it is 2.93 (k-cm)1,
determine the optical generation rate gop and the excess hole lifetime p. Assume no trapping.

4. Following the case study of steady-state carrier injection discussed in class, write the general
solution of the diffusion equation with regard to the excess hole distribution p(x), and
applying the proper boundary conditions, show that for L  Lp, it is given by p(x) = p
exp(x/Lp); while for L  Lp, it can be expressed as p(x) = p(1  x/L), where p = p(0).

5. Show that the general expressions for electron and hole current densities Jn(x) and Jp(x)
respectively are given by Jn(x) = nn(x)[dFn/dx], and Jp(x) = pp(x)[dFp/dx]. Note that for
current flow, a gradient must exist in the Imref.