Lecture-1

Review of Semi Conductor

Physics
NSS Sarath Chandra,
Asst.Prof, MVGRCE(A)
Contents
• Electrons & Holes in an Intrinsic Semiconductor
• Conductivity of a Semiconductor
• Carrier Concentrations in an Intrinsic Semiconductor
• Holes in Valence Band
• Fermi level in an Intrinsic Semiconductor
• Intrinsic Concentration- Mass Action Law
• Donor & Acceptor Impurities
• Charge Densities in a Semiconductor
• Fermi Level in a Semi Conductor having Impurities
 Electrons & Holes in
Intrinsic Semi Conductor

Germanium Crystal Structure Broken Covalent Bond in Ge Crystal

 • In a pure semiconductor, the number of holes is equal
to the number of free electrons.
• Thermal agitation continues to produce new hole-
Mechanism of Hole movement
electron pairs, whereas other hole-electron pairs
& Conductivity
disappear as a result of recombination.
• Hole behaves like a positive charge equal in magnitude to
the electronic charge.
Conductivity of a Semiconductor
•  Current density J is given by J = (nμn + pμp)eε = σ ε

• n = magnitude of free-electron (negative) concentration

• p = magnitude of hole (positive) concentration

• σ = conductivity, μn=mobility of electron ,μp=mobility of hole

• i.e σ = (nμn + pμp)e

• For the pure (called intrinsic) semiconductor considered here, n = p = n i, where ni is the
intrinsic concentration.

• ni varies with temperature in accordance with the relationship  

Carrier Concentrations in Intrinsic
Semiconductor

Density of States

Fermi function

Concentration of electrons in the conduction band

is given by
Fermi-Dirac distribution and energy-band
diagram for an intrinsic semiconductor.
(a) T = 0 K, and (b) T = 300 K and T = 1000 K
• Using

• We get

• Where

• Nc is called “Effective Density of states function in conduction band”

Number of holes in Valence band

• Fermi function for hole is  

• Now 

• Using  

• We get
• Nv is called the effective density of states function in the valence band.
 Fermi level in an Intrinsic
Semiconductor

• From this we get,

• Case1: if Nc=Nv (i.e if effective mass of hole and electrons are equal), then
• Case2: if T=0K then even if Nc not equal to Nv.
Intrinsic Concentration
•
• MASS-ACTION LAW
• Regardless of the individual magnitudes of n and p, the product is always a constant at a fixed
temperature .

• Since Nc & Nv are proportional to T3/2 , n*p is proportional to T3.

• Energy gap decreases linearly with temperature, so that

• Thus,
 Donor & Acceptor Impurities
• Four of the five valence electrons will occupy covalent bonds, and the fifth
will be nominally unbound and will be available as a carrier of current.
• The energy required to detach this fifth electron from the atom is of the order
of only 0.01 eV for Ge or 0.05 eV for Si.
• Pentavalent impurities such as antimony, phosphorous, and arsenic donate
excess (negative) electron carriers, and are therefore referred to as donor, or
n-type, impurities.

Crystal lattice with a

Ge atom displaced by
a pentavalent
impurity atom

Energy-band diagram of n-type semiconductor

• If a trivalent impurity (boron, gallium, or indium) is added to an intrinsic
semiconductor, only three of the covalent bonds can be filled, and the
vacancy that exists in the fourth bond constitutes a hole.

• These impurities are known as acceptor, or p-type impurities.

• if a donor-type impurity is added to the extent of 1 part in 108, the

conductivity of germanium at 30°C is multiplied by a factor of 12.

• In an n-type semiconductor, the

electrons are called the majority
carriers, and the holes are called
the minority carriers. Crystal lattice with a
• In a p-type material, the holes Ge atom displaced by
are the majority carriers, and the a trivalent impurity
Energy-band diagram of p-type electrons are the minority atom
semiconductor carriers.
Charge Densities in a Semiconductor
•

• Consider a n type material for which NA=0 and we have n>>p

• we can write ,
𝑛𝑛 ≈ 𝑁𝐷
• In an n-type material the free-electron concentration is approximately equal to the density of
donor atoms

• From Mass –Action Law, we can write

• Similarly for a P type material,
Fermi level in Impure Semicondcutor
• Fermi level EF depends on temperature and impurity
concentration

• For n type material

• Since the Fermi level is a measure of the probability of
occupancy of the allowed energy states, it is clear that
EF must move closer to the conduction band to indicate
that many of the energy states in that band are filled by
the donor electrons, and fewer holes exist in the valence Positions of Fermi level in
band. (a) n-type, and (b) p-type semiconductors
• if we substitute, in
we get

• On Solving we get for n type material ,

• For P type material
• We can substitute in
• On solving , we get

• In case ND=NA=N; then upon adding the equations for EF and solving we get again

• which is same as that for an intrinsic semiconductor.