Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology

Unit – IV

5
Direct and indirect band gap semiconductor
In a direct bandgap semiconductor, the top of the valence band and
the bottom of the conduction band appear with the same value of
momentum, as in the diagram below. In an indirect bandgap
semiconductor, the maximum energy of the valence band occurs at
a momentum value other than.
What do you mean by direct band gap?
In a direct bandgap semiconductor, the top of the valence band and
the bottom of the conduction band appear with the same value of
momentum, as in the diagram below.

Is compound semiconductors are also known as direct band gap

semiconductors?
Solution: In compound semiconductors, recombination occurs
directly and the energy difference is emitted in the form of photons
in the visible or infrared range. Therefore, the compound
semiconductors are also known as direct bandgap semiconductors.
Which of the following is known as direct band gap
semiconductor?
Gallium arsenide is an example of a direct bandgap semiconductor.
Is an example of direct band gap semiconductors?
Examples of direct bandgap semiconductor materials are gallium
arsenide (GaAs), indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs), gallium nitride
(GaN), aluminum nitride (AlN), cadmium sulfide (CdS), cadmium
selenide (CdSe), cadmium tellurite (CdTe), zinc sulfide (ZnS), lead
sulfide (PbS ) and lead selenide (PbSe).

What is a direct band gap semiconductor?

A direct band gap (DBG) semiconductor is one in which the
maximum energy level of the valence band is aligned with the
minimum energy level of the conduction band with respect to
momentum.
What is difference between direct and indirect band gap?
In a direct bandgap semiconductor, the top of the valence band (VB)
and the bottom of the conduction band (CB) appear with the same
value of momentum. In an indirect bandgap semiconductor, the
maximum energy of the valence band (VB) occurs at a different
value of momentum to the minimum in the conduction band energy
(CB).
Is silicon a direct bandgap semiconductor?
It is well known that Si is an indirect band gap semiconductor with
a large energy difference between the direct gap (3.5 eV) and the
indirect gap (1.1 eV).

Semiconductors
Semiconductors are formed using different materials with
different properties. So, the materials used in semiconductors are
intrinsic & extrinsic. The intrinsic semiconductor material is very
pure chemically, possesses less conductivity & includes less
number of charge carriers whereas extrinsic material has less
purity and uses doping to make an extra or a shortage of
electrons. An intrinsic semiconductor is known as P-type whereas
an extrinsic semiconductor is known as an N-type semiconductor.
So, the electrons in N-type semiconductors are excess whereas P-
type have a shortage. This article discusses an overview of
semiconductor material, a list of materials, and its applications.

What Are Semiconductor Materials?

The materials which have conductivity between conductors and
insulators are known as semiconductor materials. These are pure
elements like silicon (Si) or germanium (Ga), or compounds like
gallium arsenide (GaAs) or cadmium selenide (CdSe). In the
doping process of pure semiconductors, small amounts of
impurities can be added to make huge changes within the
material’s conductivity.
Semiconductor Materials
The materials conductivity mainly lies in between the conductivity
of insulators & conductors. Semiconductors materials have some
useful properties which are used in the designing of solid-state
devices like transistors, diodes, etc.

Semiconductor Materials in Periodic Table

In the periodic table of chemical elements, semiconductor
materials are available in different groups. So the properties of
these materials are associated with their atomic characteristics &
also vary from one group to another group. Designers &
researchers utilize the benefits of these dissimilarities to enhance
the design & select the best material for a required application.
The semiconductor materials are atoms within a semiconductor
that are available from different groups in a periodic table as a
combination of group III & V or either group IV or combinations
of group II & VI. In the periodic table, different semiconductors
are designed with different materials from several groups, but
their properties vary between different semiconductors.

In the periodic table, Silicon (Si) material is a group IV element

and it is the most frequently used semiconductor material because
it forms the base for ICs or integrated circuits. So, most of the
solar cells are Si (Silicon) based. The diagram of semiconductor
materials in the periodic table is shown below.
In a periodic table section, common semiconductor materials are
indicated in the above figure.

PCBWay
Generally, a semiconductor is a single element like silicon,
germanium, a compound like GaAs, CdTe/ InP, or an alloy like
AlxGa(1-x)As/SixGe(1-x), where ‘x in these materials are the part of the
specific element that ranges from zero to one.

List of Semiconductor Materials

The list of semiconductor materials is discussed below.

Germanium (Ge)
The semiconductor material like germanium is from group IV in
the periodic table. This material was used in early devices which
range from diodes to early transistors. Diodes show a temperature
coefficient & higher reverse conductivity so that early transistors
could experience thermal runaway. It provides superior charge
carrier mobility as compared to silicon, so used in some RF-based
devices.
Silicon (S)
Silicon material is a group IV element in the periodic table of
chemical elements and it is the most frequently used
semiconductor material. These materials are very simple to
fabricate and offer the best mechanical & electrical properties.
When these materials are used in ICs, then it forms good quality
silicon dioxide for insulation layers In between various active
elements of the chip.

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)

After Si, the Gallium arsenide semiconductor is the most widely
used material and it is III-V group element in the periodic table. It
is broadly used in high-performance-based RF devices where the
high electron mobility of this element is used. In other III-V
semiconductors, it is also used as substrate-like GaInNAs &
InGaAs. This material has less hole mobility as compared to
Silicon. It is also quite complex to fabricate & also increases the
GaAs devices cost.

Silicon Carbide (SiC)

Silicon carbide material is an IV group element in the periodic
table. These elements are used in power devices wherever their
losses are considerably less & high operating temperatures as
compared to Si-based devices. This material has a breakdown
capacity as compared to silicon which is above ten times. The
silicon carbide material forms are used in blue and yellow color
LEDs.

Gallium Nitride (GaN)

Gallium Nitride or GaN material is an III-V group element in the
periodic table. It is most widely used in microwave transistors
wherever maximum powers & temperatures are required and also
used in microwave ICs. This semiconductor material is hard to
dope to provide p-type regions & also responsive to electrostatic
discharge however quite not sensitive to ionizing radiation. This
material has been used in blue color LEDs.
Gallium Phosphide (GaP)
Gallium Phosphide or GaP semiconductor material is an III-V
group element in the periodic table. This material is used in early
low brightness to medium based LEDs which generate different
colors based on the addition of dopants. Pure GaP generates green
light, nitrogen-doped emits yellow-green and ZnO doped emits red
color.

Cadmium Sulphide (CdS)

Cadmium Sulphide or CdS semiconductor material is an II-VI
group element in the periodic table. This material is used in solar
cells & photoresistors.

Lead Sulphide (PbS)

Lead Sulphide or PbS semiconductor material is an IV-VI group
element in the periodic table, used in early radio detectors called
as Cat’s Whiskers’ wherever a tip contact was designed by using
thin wire on the galena to give signals rectification.

Types of Semiconductor Material

There are two types of semiconductor material like the following.
An intrinsic semiconductor material is made chemically very pure
and it is one of the main features in it. Thus, it possesses less
conductivity level with a very less number of charge carriers like
electrons and holes in equal quantities.

In this semiconductor material, the number of charge carriers can

be determined through the material properties themselves as an
alternative to the impurities. So, the number of energized electrons
is equivalent to the number of holes (n = p) which are also called
undoped or i-type semiconductors.

The most commonly used intrinsic semiconductor materials are Si

& Ge and they include 4 electrons in their valence shell which are
known as tetravalent. These two materials are the IVth Group
elements in the periodic table & the atomic numbers of these
materials are 14 & 32 respectively.

Extrinsic Semiconductor Material

Extrinsic semiconductor materials can be formed by adding a
small amount of impurity to the basic intrinsic material. In this
material, the bandgap can be controlled by adding small
impurities to the material which is known as doping.

This ‘doping utilizes an element from a periodic table so that it will

have either less or more electrons within the valence band as
compared to the semiconductor itself. So this will create either
shortage or an excess of electrons.

Extrinsic semiconductor materials are classified into two types

based on the type of added impurity like P-Type extrinsic
semiconductor & N-type extrinsic semiconductor.

P-Type Extrinsic Semiconductor

A P-type extrinsic semiconductor can be formed by adding a small
amount of trivalent impurity to a pure semiconductor. The
impurity which is added mainly includes three valence electrons.
So, for instance; if an atom-like Boron (B) is added to the
germanium (Ge) atom, then three valence electrons will get
connected with the germanium atoms to form 3 covalent bonds.
However, another electron within the Ge atom will stay without
forming a bond. In an atom, when there is no electron to form a
covalent bond, then that space is called a hole.

N-Type Extrinsic Semiconductor

The N-type semiconductor can be formed by adding a small
amount of pentavalent impurity to a pure semiconductor. So, this
impurity includes five valence electrons.

For instance, if an atom-like Arsenic is added to the ‘Ge’ atom, then

four valence electrons will be connected through the germanium
atoms whereas one single remaining electron will stay free.

Latest Innovations of semiconductor Materials

At present, the silicon semiconductor material is reaching the
boundary of its value. So, the investigation into new
semiconductor materials is ongoing. Some of the latest
innovations of materials are listed below.

High-power gallium nitride material is used for quick power

conversions, more efficient electric grid systems because of its
maximum critical energy field.
The semiconductor materials like Antimonide & bismuthide are
used in enhanced IR sensors military & medical fields.
Graphene material can beat silicon like a universal semiconductor
material.
Pyrite element is used to change the earth element like cadmium
telluride to use in solar cells however they have limited supply. So,
the Pyrite element is inexpensive, nontoxic & abundant.
Semiconductor Material Parameters
While designing integrated circuits and electronic devices,
information about semiconductor materials must be available.
Before the fabrication process starts, the semiconductor material
has to be distinguished in terms of different parameters like
electrical, optical & thermal.

The essential parameters are the type of conductivity, mobility,

resistivity, concentration & lifetime of the carrier. Some other
additional parameters are the energy gap of semiconductors, light
absorption coefficient, impact ionization coefficient & refraction
index.

Advantages & Disadvantages

There are different semiconductor materials are available in the
market like silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, silicon carbide,
gallium nitride, etc. Each material has some advantages and
disadvantages. So here, some of the material’s advantages and
disadvantages are discussed below.

The advantages of silicon material are;

Silicon material cost is low

Silicon has high efficiency
In silicon, large wafers can be handled very securely without any
harm because of their hardness
Silicon is stable thermally upto 1100 degrees centigrade.
The disadvantages of a silicon material are;

It requires crystalline
Easily broken
Substrates are limited
It is costly to produce Si crystals.
Short life cycle
Toxic substances are generated
The advantages of a germanium material are;

Pure germanium is gray-white, hard, and brittle metalloid.

Its crystalline structure is like a diamond
Germanium is constant in water & air
It is not affected by acids & alkalis apart from nitric acid.
By using Germanium material, first, the transistor action was
observed. So it is one of the most essential semiconductor
materials.
High atomic number, so it enhances the gamma-ray interaction
probability.
Large crystals
The material used in this is grey metallic
The disadvantages of a germanium material are;

Its energy resolution is responsive to radiation damage

Less efficiency for higher energy-based gamma rays.
Applications
The applications of semiconductor materials include the following.

Semiconductor materials are used to manufacture different

electronic components in electronic devices.
These materials are mainly used for switching, energy conversion,
and amplification, sensors, etc.
The common components and products are made with
semiconductor materials like diodes, field-effect transistors,
integrated circuits, junction field-effect transistors, bipolar
transistors, LEDs (light-emitting diode), MOSFETs (metal-oxide-
semiconductor FETs), SCR (silicon-controlled rectifiers), etc.
Semiconductor materials are used for different components in
electronic devices which are used almost in major industries.
Different industrial sectors depend on semiconductor materials
like energy, artificial intelligence, communication, clean energy,
military, health care, computing & the Internet of Things.
Thus, this is all about an overview of semiconductor materials,
types, and their applications. We know that there are different
semiconductor materials are available but Silicon or Si is most
frequently used over Germanium in different electronics
manufacturing applications because, the energy band gap of Si is
0.7ev, generation of thermal pair is smaller, available easily in
nature, less noise, SiO2 formation is simple. So, Silicon material is
used to manufacture many electronic components to use in
different circuits like resistors, diodes, capacitors, transistors,
switches, etc.

Hall effect
Hall effect is a process in which a transverse electric field is
developed in a solid material when the material carrying an
electric current is placed in a magnetic field that is perpendicular
to the current. The Hall effect was discovered by Edwin Herbert
Hall in 1879. In this article, let us learn about the Hall effect in
detail.
Principle of Hall effect
The principle of the Hall effect states that when a current-carrying
conductor or a semiconductor is introduced to a perpendicular
magnetic field, a voltage can be measured at the right angle to the
current path. This effect of obtaining a measurable voltage is
known as the Hall effect.
Theory
When a conductive plate is connected to a circuit with a battery,
then a current starts flowing. The charge carriers will follow a
linear path from one end of the plate to the other end. The motion
of charge carriers results in the production of magnetic fields.
When a magnet is placed near the plate, the magnetic field of the
charge carriers is distorted. This upsets the straight flow of the
charge carriers. The force which upsets the direction of flow of
charge carriers is known as Lorentz force.
Due to the distortion in the magnetic field of the charge carriers,
the negatively charged electrons will be deflected to one side of the
plate and positively charged holes to the other side. A potential
difference, known as the Hall voltage will be generated between
both sides of the plate which can be measured using a metre.

The Hall voltage represented as VH is given by the formula:

Here,
I is the current flowing through the sensor
B is the magnetic field strength
q is the charge
n is the number of charge carriers per unit volume
d is the thickness of the sensor.
Hall Coefficient
The Hall coefficient RH is mathematically expressed as

Where j is the current density of the carrier electron, Ey is the

induced electric field and B is the magnetic strength. The hall
coefficient is positive if the number of positive charges is more
than the negative charges. Similarly, it is negative when electrons
are more than holes.
Applications of Hall Effect
Hall effect principle is employed in the following cases:
Magnetic field sensing equipment
For the measurement of direct current, Hall effect Tong Tester is
used.
It is used in phase angle measurement
Proximity detectors
Hall effect Sensors and Probes
Linear or Angular displacement transducers
For detecting wheel speed and accordingly assist the anti-lock
braking system.
The quantum Hall effect:
The quantum Hall effect (or integer quantum Hall effect)
is a quantized version of the Hall effect which is observed in two-
dimensional electron systems subjected to low temperatures and
strong magnetic fields, in which the Hall resistance Rxy exhibits
steps that take on the quantized values.

where VHall is the Hall voltage, Ichannel is the channel current, e is

the elementary charge and h is the Planck constant. The
divisor ν can take on either integer (ν = 1, 2, 3,...) or fractional
(ν = 1/3, 2/5, 3/7, 2/3, 3/5, 1/5, 2/9, 3/13, 5/2, 12/5,...) values.
Here, ν is roughly but not exactly equal to the filling factor
of Landau levels. The quantum Hall effect is referred to as the
integer or fractional quantum Hall effect depending on
whether ν is an integer or fraction, respectively.
The fractional quantum Hall effect is more complicated and still
considered an open research problem.[2] Its existence relies
fundamentally on electron–electron interactions. In 1988, it was
proposed that there was quantum Hall effect without Landau
levels.[3] This quantum Hall effect is referred to as the quantum
anomalous Hall (QAH) effect. There is also a new concept of
the quantum spin Hall effect which is an analogue of the quantum
Hall effect, where spin currents flow instead of charge currents. [4]
Applications[edit]
The quantization of the Hall conductance ( )
has the important property of being exceedingly precise. Actual
measurements of the Hall conductance have been found to be
integer or fractional multiples of e2/h to nearly one part in a
billion. It has allowed for the definition of a new
practical standard for electrical resistance, based on the
resistance quantum given by the von Klitzing constant RK. This
is named after Klaus von Klitzing, the discoverer of exact
quantization. The quantum Hall effect also provides an extremely
precise independent determination of the fine-structure constant,
a quantity of fundamental importance in quantum
electrodynamics.
In 1990, a fixed conventional value RK-90 = 25812.807 Ω was
defined for use in resistance calibrations worldwide. On 16
November 2018, the 26th meeting of the General Conference on
Weights and Measures decided to fix exact values of h (the Planck
constant) and e (the elementary charge), superseding the 1990
value with an exact permanent value RK = h/e2 = 25812.807