SOLIDS AND SEMI CONDUCTORS

Energy bands in solids

Valence Band: the energy band occupied by valance electrons.

Conduction Band: It is the energy band of higher energy levels which is empty or partially filled with
electrons above the valance band. The electrons in the conduction band are known as conduction
electrons.

Forbidden Energy Gap: It is the separation between valence band and conduction band. Electrons
do not have energy corresponding to this energy gap. It is denoted by E g.

Classification of solids on the basis of energy bands

Metals or Conductors: A solid in which valence band and conduction band are partially filled or
overlap. Since there is no forbidden energy gap between valance band and conduction band,
conduction band is partially filled. Electrons in the filled energy level require a very small amount of
energy (by thermal excitation) to move to the unfilled energy levels in the conduction band.

Insulators: in insulators, the valence band is completely filled with electrons and the conduction band
is empty and both bands are separated by a forbidden energy gap > 3 eV. In room temperature
energy gained by the electrons in the valence band is very small compared to the energy of the
forbidden energy gap. Therefore, the electrons in the valence band cannot go to the conduction band
and hence insulator is a bad conductor of electricity.
Semiconductor: They are the materials in which the forbidden energy gap between the valence band
and conduction band is very small <3 eV .E.g.: germanium and silicon. At 0K electrons in the valence
band do not have sufficient energy to jump to conduction band and hence semiconductor behaves as
insulator at 0K. At room temperature some electrons of the valence band easily get thermally excited
to the conduction band and can conduct electricity.

Intrinsic semiconductors: A pure semiconductor in which the current carriers are created due to
thermal excitation only across the forbidden energy gap. Vacancy created in the valence bond due to
the release of electron is called Hole. In intrinsic semiconductor ne = nh = ni, where ne is the number
density of free electrons (number of free electrons per unit volume), nh number density of holes and n i
number density of intrinsic carriers or intrinsic carrier concentration. Total current in the semiconductor
is the sum of electron current and hole current. I.e., I = Ie + Ih.

Doping: The process of adding desirable impurities in the intrinsic semiconductor. The
semiconductor obtained after doping is called extrinsic semiconductor. There are two types of
impurities

(a) Pentavalent impurity: The dopant having valency 5. E.g. Arsenic (As), Antimony (Sb),
Phosphorus (P). They are also known as donor impurities, as they donate extra free electrons to
intrinsic semiconductor.

(b) Trivalent impurity: the dopant having valency 3. E.g. Indium (In), gallium (Ga), aluminium (Al),
boron (B) etc. They are also known as acceptor impurities as they accept electrons from covalent
bonds of the intrinsic semiconductor.

Types of extrinsic semiconductors: Depending upon the type of impurity added extrinsic
semiconductors are classified in two categories p-type and n-type.

P- Type semiconductor: When suitable trivalent impurity is added to pure germanium or silicon
crystal, we get extrinsic semiconductor known as P- type semiconductor.
Trivalent impurity atom has three valance electrons. When it is added to a semiconductor crystal, this
atom replaces one of the semiconductor atoms and settles in the lattice site. This trivalent atom forms
three covalent bonds with the neighboring three semiconductor atoms. The forth bond remains
incomplete which has a deficiency of one electron i.e., a Hole. This behaves like a positively charged
particle. In this way more holes will be formed by adding more trivalent atoms. In this type of
semiconductor majority charge carriers are holes and minority carriers are electrons (which are
thermally generated). Energy band diagram of p- type semiconductor is as shown in the fig. The
energy level corresponding to the holes in the p- type semiconductor lies just above the valence band
which is known as acceptor level.

N- Type semiconductor: When a suitable pentavalent impurity is added to pure germanium or silicon
crystal we get an extrinsic semiconductor known as n-type semiconductor.
Pentavalent impurity atom has five valence electrons. When a Pentavalent atom is added to a
semiconductor crystal, it replaces one of the semiconductor atoms and settles in the lattice site. This
Pentavalent atom forms four covalent bonds by sharing four electrons with neighboring four
semiconductor atoms. The fifth valence electron of pentavalent atom remains un-accommodated. This
electron is loosely bound to its parent nucleus is detached easily even at room temperature. It
becomes a free electron and move randomly through the crystal. In this way more electrons will be
formed by adding more pentavalent atoms. In this type of semiconductor majority charge carriers are
electrons and minority carriers are holes (which are thermally generated). Energy band diagram of n-
type semiconductor is as shown in the fig. The fifth free electron in n-type semiconductor occupies a
desecrate energy level known as donor level just below the conduction band.

P-N junction Diode: A single piece of a semiconductor material with one portion doped with
pentavalent impurity and the other portion doped with trivalent impurity behaves as a p-n junction.

Concentration of holes is higher in p-side and concentration of electrons is higher in n-side. Holes will
diffuse through the junction to n-side and electrons will diffuse through the junction to the p-side. Due
to this diffusion, in the p-region of the p-n junction, there are negative ions (acceptor ions) fixed in their
positions in the crystal lattice. In the n-region of p-n junction, there are positive ions (donor ions) fixed
in their positions in the crystal lattice. This space charge region ion both side of the p-n junction taken
together is called depletion layer. The potential difference due to negative immobile ions in the p-
region and positive immobile ions on the n-side of the junction is called potential barrier. It prevents
the movement of electrons from n-region to p-region and that of holes from p-region to n-region. The
region around the p-n junction having no mobile charge carriers is known as depletion region or
depletion layer. The potential barrier is about 0.7V for silicon and 0.38V for germanium.

A semiconductor diode or p-n junction diode consist of a p-n junction having metallic contacts at
both the ends.

P-N junction diode under forward bias: When the positive terminal of a cell is connected to p-
region and negative terminal of the cell is connected to n-region of the junction then the p-n junction
diode is said to be forward biased. The direction of the applied potential is opposite to the direction of
the potential barrier (Vo). Then the effective barrier potential reduces to Vo-V and the thickness of the
potential barrier also decreases. The junction resistance becomes very low. The majority carriers in p-
region (holes) and n-region (electron) acquire sufficient energy to cross over the potential barrier
across the junction. The movement of holes and electrons constitute diffusion hole current and
diffusion electron current. The total current is the sum of these currents.

P-N junction diode under reverse bias: A p-n junction is aid to be reverse biased when the positive
of a cell is connected to the n-side and negative terminal is connected to p-side of the p-n junction
diode. When a reverse potential of V is applied across the diode, this potential difference adds to the
barrier potential Vo. The effective barrier potential difference increases to (Vo + V) and also the
thickness of the depletion layer increases. The junction resistance increases in reverse bias and the
majority carriers are drifted away from the junction. Thus flow of current in the diode is almost stopped.
There is a small saturation current due to sweep of minority carriers. If the reverse bias is increased to
a high value, the covalent bond near the junction break down and a large number of electron-hole
pairs are liberated. Thus the reverse current increases abruptly to very high value. This phenomenon
is called break down and this reverse voltage is called break down voltage which can damage the
diode due to overheating.

Characteristics of P-N junction diode:

(a) Forward bias: the circuit diagram to study forward bias is as shown in fig.

When battery voltage is zero, diode does not conduct and the diode current is zero. As the forward
battery voltage increases, the barrier potential starts decreasing and a small current starts flowing.
After a certain voltage forward current starts increasing rapidly. This voltage is known as knee voltage
or threshold voltage.
(b) Reverse bias: The circuit diagram to study reverse characteristics is as shown in the fig.

When a p-n junction is reverse biased there is a small current flow due to minority charge carriers. As
the reverse voltage is increased to a certain value, called break down voltage, a large amount of
covalent bonds are broken. As a result, large electron hole pairs are formed and hence a sudden rise
in reverse current.
Voltage ampere characteristics (V-I) of forward and reverse bias is as shown in fig.

Application of junction diode as rectifier: A device which converts alternating current (A.C) into
direct current (D.C). The process of converting a.c into d.c is known as rectification.
(a) Half wave rectifier: the rectifier which converts only one half of a.c into d.c is called half wave
rectifier. The circuit diagram of half wave rectifier is as shown in the fig.

The a.c input signal to be rectified is fed to the primary coil of a step down transformer. The
secondary is connected to the junction diode through a load resistance R L. The output signal is
obtained across RL. When positive half of a.c input signal flows through the primary coil, due to mutual
induction an induced e.m.f is setup in the secondary coil. The direction of the induced e.m.f is such
that the upper end of the secondary coil becomes positive and lower end becomes negative. So the
junction diode is forward biased during the positive half cycle. Of a.c. thus the junction diode conducts
and current starts flowing and an output is obtained across the load resistance R L. During the negative
half cycle the upper end of the secondary becomes negative and the lower end becomes positive. So
the junction diode is reverse biased, hence the junction diode does not conduct. Therefore no output is
obtained during the negative half cycle fig.

Since the output signal is discontinuous, efficiency of half wave rectifier is small.
The output is not pure d.c but it is fluctuating or pulsating which contains a.c component.
(b) Full wave rectifier: A rectifier which converts both halves of a.c input signal to d.c output. The
circuit diagram of full wave rectifier is as shown in the fig.

The a.c input signal is fed to the primary coil of the step down transformer. The p- regions of the both
the diodes are connected to the secondary. The load resistance is connected between the common
point of n-region and central tapping of the secondary coil. When the positive half of a.c flows through
the primary coil an induced e.m.f is setup in the secondary such that the upper end becomes positive
and the lower end becomes positive. Thus diode D1 is forward biased and D2 is reverse biased. The
output is obtained across the load resistance R L. During negative half cycle D2 is forward biased and
D1 is reverse biased and the output is obtained across load resistance R L. Since both the half of the
a.c are rectified, so the junction diode is called a full wave rectifier fig.
 In full wave rectifier output is continuous, so the efficiency is more that of
the half wave rectifier. The out is fluctuating or pulsating, which can be smoothened by using a filter
circuit.
Filter circuits: Filter circuit is used to smoothen the pulsating or fluctuating d.c out of a rectifier.
Capacitor can be used as a filter, which offers infinite opposition to dc and finite opposition to a.c.
therefore d.c component of the filter is completely blocked by the capacitor and it prefer to pass
through the load resistance.

Photo diode:

A reverse biased special p-n junction diode having transparent window. When it is illuminated with
light, the reverse diode current varies linearly with light flux.
 When a photo diode is reverse biased, then a constant saturation current due to thermally generated
minority carrier’s flows in the circuit Io (known as Dark current). When light energy more than energy
gap of semiconductor falls on the photo diode, additional electron-hole pairs are formed which is
proportional to intensity of incident light or number of photons. These electrons and holes diffuse
through the junction and hence a current flows (Is). Total current I = Io + Is. The circuit diagram used
for the measurement of I-V characteristics of a photo diode is as shown in the fig.

1. They are used as photo detectors to detect intensity of radiation.

2. They are used as light operated switches.
3. They are used in optical communication instruments.
Light emitting diode (LED)
A special heavily doped p-n junction diode which emits spontaneous light when forward biased. When
p-n junction diode is forward biased the electrons from conduction band falls to the valance band and
recombine with the holes in the valance band. Hence, energy is released in the process of
recombination of electron hole in the form of visible light. Advantages of LED are
1. They can be easily manufactured.
2. They have of low cost.
3. They work at low voltage as compared to incandescent lamps.
4. They have longer life compared to incandescent lamps.
5. No warm up time is taken by them.
6. They consume very less power compared to incandescent lamps.
Solar cell:
A special p-n junction diode which converts solar energy into electrical energy. It works on the
same principle as photo diode; it consists of thin n-region and thick p-region and the junction area is
kept much larger for solar radiation to be incident. When light energy falls on the solar cell, electron-
hole pairs are generated in both n-region and p-region of the junction. The electron from p-region
diffuses to n-region and the holes from n-region diffuse to p-region, thus electron and hole is
separated out under junction potential. If p-n junction diode is open circuited, then electrons and holes
will accumulate in two sides of the junction give rise to an open circuit voltage V0. When external
resistance is connected across the junction diode, electric current flows through the circuit. V-I
characteristics of a solar cell is as shown in the fig.
Here V0 is the open circuit voltage and ‘Isc ‘is the maximum current i.e. short circuit current which
can be drawn from the cell. The curve is in the 4 th quadrant because current is supplied by the cell and
not drawn by the cell. Material used for the manufacture a solar cell should have low cost, easy
available, desirable conductivity optical absorption as high as 14 4 per cm and forbidden energy gap
of 1 to 1.8eV. They are used in street lights, solar heaters, power supply of satellite and space
vehicles, and they are used in calculators.

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