Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EC 102: Fundamentals
of Electronics
Name of Books/Authors Year of
publication
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory,
9
th
edition by R.L. Boylestad and L.
Nashelsky
Pearson
Education,
Asia, 2006
Integrated Electronics, 2
nd
ed. J.
Millman and C. Halkias, C. D. Parikh.
Tata McGraw-
Hill, 2010
Marks Distribution:
MTE 1: 15
MTE 2: 15
ETE: 40
CWS: 15 (10 + 5
*
)
PRS: 15 (10 + 5
*
)
*
Common Quiz
Lecture - 1
Introduction to
Semiconductor Theory
Introduction to Semiconductor Theory
Semiconductors, as the name implies, are a group of materials whose electrical
conductivity is greater than that of insulators but less than that of metals.
Semiconductor materials are found in Group IV and neighbouring columns of the
periodic table. The ones in group IV (C, Si, Ge) are called elemental semiconductors
because they are composed of the pure element.
Insulators
Metals
Semiconductors
Increasing conductance
II III IV V VI
B C N
Al Si P S
Zn Ga Ge As Se
Cd In Sb Te
Semiconductor Materials
These compounds are widely used in various electronic and optical applications.
Elemental IV compunds
Binary III-V
compounds
Binary II-VI
compunds
Ternary
compounds
Quaternary
compounds
Si SiC AlP ZnS GaAsP InGaAsP
Ge SiGe AlAs ZnSe AlGaAs
AlSb ZnTe
GaN CdS
GaP CdSe
GaAs CdTe
GaSb
InP
InAs
InSb
Covalent Bond Structure of Semiconductors
Charge Carriers and Energy Levels
Two types of charge carriers exist in semiconductors, namely: electrons and holes
A hole is the term used to describe an atom with a missing electron. An electron may be
shaken loose from a bond structure by lattice vibration caused from thermal heating. The
remaining atom (ion) now has a positive charge. The loose electron is usually called a free
electron.
The mechanism of conduction in semiconductors is best explained via energy level
diagrams
Specific energy levels are always associated with each shell of orbiting electrons in atomic
structures. While the energy of each shell is different, the further away an electron is from the
parent nucleus, the higher its energy state.
In order to break the covalent bond, a valence electron must gain a minimum energy, E
g
,
called the bandgap energy.
Notice that : E
g
(Ge) < E
g
(Si) < E
g
(GaAs)
Energy level diagrams
Types of Semiconductors: Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Intrinsic Semiconductors
This is the term given to near perfect semiconductors crystals with no
impurities or lattice defects.
At 0
0
Kelvin there are no free charge carriers, but as temp increases a few
electron-hole pairs (EHP) are generated due to valence electrons getting
thermally excited to have enough energy to jump over the bandgap into the
conduction band.
Since electron-holes are always created in pairs, then
n = p = n
i
where n and p are the electrons and holes concentration (per cm
3
),
respectively
Recombination occurs when an electron in the conduction band makes a
transition to the valence band to recreate a complete covalent bond structure
with the hole
At steady state, EHPs recombine at the same rate as they are generated
a o
N p
a
i
o
N
n
n
2
T is temp in Kelvin
k is Boltzman constant
0
dx
dE
f
Charge concentration in semiconductor
At absolute zero temperature,
E
f
is the maximum energy that an electron may possess at abs.
zero temperature.
'
>
<
f
f
f
E E
E E
E E
E f
, 0
, 5 . 0
, 1
) (
( )
( )
( ) ( )
2
3
3 27
2
3
19
2
3
3
2
1
2
1
10 82 . 6 10 6 . 1 2
4
) (
'
>
<
eV m m
h
E E E E
E E E E
E N
c c
V V
,
_
,
_
We can derive
( )
( )
3
2
3
2
3
21
per 10 82 . 4
) ( 1 ) (
m T
m
m
N
e N dE E f E N p
p
V
kT E E
V
E
V f
V
,
_
( )
np
N N
kT E E E
N
N kT
E E E
V c
V c G
V
c
V c f
ln
ln
2 2
1
+
Drift and Diffusion Currents
The two basic processes which cause electrons
and holes to move in a semiconductor are:
(b) diffusion, which is the flow caused by variations
in the concentration, that is, concentration gradients.
Such gradients can be caused by a non-
homogeneous doping distribution, or by the injection
of a quantity of electrons or holes into a region.
(a) drift, which is the movement caused by electric
fields; and
When a stedy electric field E is applied to a
semiconductor sample, each electrons will
experience a force qE from the field and will be
accelerated in the opposite direction of the field.
This is called the drift velocity and will
superimpose upon the usual random thermal
motion of the electrons.
Each Hole will also be similarly affected by the
field, but drift will occur along the direction of the
field.
Current Density
Current
Current density
( )
L
v Nq
I
L
Nqv
T
Nq
I
Ampere
E v
( )
( )
( )
ty conductivi ,
conc. charge ,
conc. electron ,
E E
v
n v nq
LA
v Nq
A
I
J
L
A
v
E
Current Density
Units
Mobility: m
2
/V-s
Conductivity: = Coulomb/m
3
m
2
/V-s = (Ohm-m)
1
Drift velocities for electrons and holes are:
E v
n n
E v
p p
where
n
is called the electron mobility and
p
is the hole
mobility, both with units of cm
2
/ V-s.
Drift Currents
When an electric field E is applied across a length of uniformly doped semiconductor,
of cross sectional area, A, the electron current density J
n
flowing in the sample can be
found by summing the product of the charge (-q) on each electron times the electron
velocity over all electrons per unit volume (n):
where I
n
is the electron current.
A similar argument applies to holes:
The total drift current may now be written as the sum
n
i
n n i
n
n
E qn qnv qv
A
I
J
0
) (
E qp qpv J
p p p
E qp qn J
p n
) ( +
Conductivity and Resistivity
The quantity in parenthesis from the previous equation is known as the conductivity:
The electron and hole contribution to conduction is simply additive. The
corresponding resistivity of the semiconductor is:
Because of the many orders of magnitude difference between the majority carriers in
extrinsic semiconductor, the resistivity reduces to
and
) (
p n
qp qn +
) (
1 1
p n
qp qn
+
) (
1
n
qn
) (
1
p
qp
for n-type for p-type
At room temperature (300
0
K), E
G
= 1.1 eV
For Germanium:
E
G
(T) = 0.785 2.23 10
4
T
At room temp E
G
(T) = 0.72 eV
For Si, m = 2.5 for electrons
= 2.7 for holes
For Ge, m = 1.66 for electrons
= 2.33 for holes
Diffusion Currents
As stated earlier, if there is a spatial variation of carrier concentration in the
semiconductor material, carriers will move from a region of high concentration to a
region of low concentration. This current component is called diffusion current. The
electron and hole diffusion current may be expressed as
where J
n
and J
p
are the electron and hole diffusion density in units of cm
2
/s, and D
n
and D
p
are the electron and hole diffusivity.
The Current Density Equation:
When E is present in addition to carrier concentration gradients, both drift and
diffusion currents will flow
dx
dn
qD J
n n
dx
dp
qD J
p p
p n cond
p p p
n n n
J J J
dx
dp
qD pE q J
dx
dn
qD nE q J
+
+