FUTURE UNIVERSITY

Khartoum, Sudan

SEMICONDUCTOR PHYSICS AND DEVICES

SEMICONDUCTORS

Topics to be covered:
1. Conductors
2. Semiconductors
3. Silicon crystals
4. Intrinsic semiconductors
5. Two types of flow
6. Doping a semiconductor
7. Two types of extrinsic semiconductors
8. The unbiased diode
9. Forward bias
10. Reverse bias
11. Breakdown
12. Energy levels
13. The energy hill
14. Barrier potential and temperature
15. Reverse-biased diode

Conductor - A material that allows current to flow. Very little electric force is required
to cause electron flow in conductors. This is due to electrons called "free electrons",
which exist in the atoms of conductors. "Free electrons" are electrons that are very
weakly bonded to the atom. With very little force, they can be traded to other atoms, or
flow to create electricity

Examples: copper, silver, gold.

Copper (Cu) Silver (Ag) Gold (Au)

Insulators - have no free electrons, and it takes a great deal of electric force to get the
electrons of an insulator to flow. The flow of electrons in an insulator is relatively
uncommon, and when it does occur it tends to be accompanied by intense heat, loud
noise, melting or explosions, smoke and/or flame. Materials such as rubber and glass
are good insulators.

Semiconductor - An element with electrical properties between those of a conductor

and those of an insulator. They are insulators that lack commitment. The atoms of a
semi-conductor have no free electrons; however, they do have an electron that is
bonded rather loosely and can be shared with the application of a moderate electric
force. Semi-conductors can conduct electricity at a certain level without being damaged;
however, semi-conductors can be damaged with too much electric force.

Silicon is the most common semi-conductor. Good insulators, conductors, and semi-
conductors are usually refined materials.

Silicon (Si) Germanium (Ge)

Core Diagram for Copper and Silicon

Valence Electron

Copper
The Nucleus + the Inner Orbits
 Valence saturation: n = 8
Inside a silicon crystal
• Some free electrons and holes are created by thermal energy.
• Other free electrons and holes are recombining.
• Recombination varies from a few nanoseconds to several microseconds.
• The time between creation and recombination of a free electron and a hole is
called the life time.

Intrinsic Semiconductor

An intrinsic semiconductor is one that contains a negligibly small amount of impurities

compared with thermally generated electrons and holes. In other words, it is a pure
semiconductor. A silicon crystal is intrinsic if every atom in the crystal is a silicon atom.
Two types of current flow: electrons and holes

Doping

Doping refers to the process of introducing impurity atoms into a semiconductor region
in a controllable manner in order to define the electrical properties of this region. The
doping with donors and acceptors allows to modify the electron and hole concentration
in silicon in a very large range from 10 cm up to 10 cm . The carrier
concentration can also be varied spatially quite accurately which is used to produce pn-
junctions and built-in electric fields. All electronic and optical semiconductor devices
incorporate dopants as a crucial ingredient of their device structure.

Extrinsic Semiconductor
The electrical conductivity of a pure semiconductor is very small. To increase the
conductivity, impurities are added. The impurity added semiconductor is called extrinsic

semiconductor. The process of adding impurity is called doping. The added impurity is
called dopant. Usually one or two atoms of impurity is added per 106 atoms of a
semiconductor. There are two types (i) p-type and (ii) n-type semiconductors.
(i) n-type semiconductor

When an impurity, from V group elements like arsenic (As), antimony having 5 valence
electrons is added to Ge (or Si), the impurity atom donates one electron to Ge (or Si).
The 4 electrons of the impurity atom is engaged in covalent bonding with Si atom. The
fifth electron is free. This increases the conductivity. The impurities are called donors.
The impurity added semiconductor is called n-type semiconductor, because their
increased conductivity is due to the presence of the negatively charged electrons, which
are called the majority carriers.

The energy band of the electrons donated by the impurity atoms is (about 1.1 eV) just
below the conduction band, as shown in the figure. The electrons absorb thermal
energy and occupy the conduction band. Due to the breaking of covalent bond, there
will be a few holes in the valence band at this temperature. These holes in n-type are
called minority carriers.

p-type semiconductor.
If a III group element, like indium (In), boron (B), aluminium (AI) etc., having three
valence electrons, is added to a semiconductor say Si, the three electrons form covalent
bond. There is a deficiency of one electron to complete the 4th covalent bond and is
called a hole. The presence of the hole increases the conductivity because these holes
move to the nearby atom, at the same time the electrons move in the opposite direction.
The impurities added semiconductor is called p-type semiconductor, (p for + ve). The
impurities are called acceptors as they accept electrons from the semiconductor [see
Figure above]. Holes are the majority carriers and the electrons produced by the
breaking of bonds are the minority carriers.

The energy levels of the holes created is a little above the (about 0.0046 eV for Si, 0.01
eV for Ge) valence band, as shown in the figure b above. The valence electrons can
reach the acceptor energy level, by absorbing a little thermal energy, thereby creating
holes in the valence band. Electrical conduction is possible by the migration of these
holes in the valence band.

Current Conduction in Semiconductors

The free electrons and the holes in a semiconductor are in random motion and hence
there is no flow of current. When a battery is connected the holes move towards the end
B, constituting the hole current and the electrons move towards the end A, constituting
the electron current. The direction of the electron current is opposite to its direction of
motion.

So the total current is the sum of hole current and the electron current. When the holes
move from A to B, the valence electrons will be moving in the opposite direction, as
shown. In the external connecting wire, the current flow is only due to the conduction
electrons.

In an intrinsic semiconductor, the number of free electrons and holes are equal. But the
electron current is greater, because the drift-velocity of free electrons is greater than
that of the holes
In summary:

 The most popular material is silicon.

 Pure crystals are intrinsic semiconductors.
 Doped crystals are extrinsic semiconductors.
 Crystals are doped to be n type or p type.
 An n type semiconductor will have a few minority carriers (holes).
 A p type semiconductor will have a few minority carriers (electrons).
 A semiconductor can be doped to have an excess of free electrons or holes
 The two types of doped semiconductors are n type and p type

Doping a crystal with both types of impurities forms a pn junction diode.

Junction
P N

Negative Positive
ion ion
 Some electrons will cross the junction and fill holes.
 A pair of ions is created each time this happens.
 As this ion charge builds up, it prevents further charge migration across the
junction.

Formation of the Depletion Region.

At the instant of the PN junction formation free electrons near the junction diffuse across
the junction into the P region and combine with holes.
  Filling a hole makes a negative ion and leaves behind a positive ion on the N
side.

 These two layers of positive and negative charges form the depletion region, as
the region near the junction is depleted of charge carriers.

 As electrons diffuse across the junction a point is reached where the negative
charge repels any further diffusion of electrons.

 The depletion region now acts as a barrier.

Barrier Potential.

 The electric field formed in the depletion region acts as a barrier.

 External energy must be applied to get the electrons to move across the barrier
of the electric field.

 The potential difference required to move the electrons through the electric field
is called the barrier potential.

 Barrier potential of a PN junction depends on the type of semiconductor material,

amount of doping and temperature.

 This is approximately 0.7V for silicon and 0.3V for germanium at room
temperature (25 oC).

Energy Diagrams of PN Junction.

 The valence band and conduction band in N-Type material are slightly lower than
that of P-Type material.
  As diffusion occurs the depletion region forms and the energy level of the N
region conduction band drops, causing alignment of the top of the N region
conduction band and the bottom of the P region conduction band. At this point
the energy bands are at equilibrium.

 There is an energy gradient across the depletion region that a N region electron
must climb to get to the P region.

Biasing the PN Junction.

Forward Bias.

 An external D.C. voltage is applied to a PN junction to bias it.

 Forward bias allows current through a PN junction.

 Bias voltage imparts sufficient energy to the free electrons so they overcome the
barrier potential and move into the P region.

 Conduction occurs with electron current in the N-Type material and hole current
in the P-Type material.
  As more electrons and holes flow in the depletion region the number of positive
and negative ions is reduced, causing the depletion region to narrow.

 The energy loss in overcoming the barrier potential results in a voltage drop
across the PN junction equal to the barrier potential.( 0.7V for Si, 0.3V for Ge.)

 When a PN junction is forward biased the N region conduction band is raised to a

higher level that overlaps with the P region conduction band.

Reverse Bias

 Reverse bias prevents current flow through a PN junction.

P N

 Reverse bias potential attracts the majority carriers away from the PN junction
widening the depletion region.

 The potential across the depletion region is equal to the bias voltage.

 Reverse current can flow through the PN junction due to minority carriers.

 When a PN junction is reverse biased the energy hill increases.

Junction temperature

 The junction temperature is the temperature inside the diode, right at the pn
junction.
 When a diode is conducting, its junction temperature is higher than the ambient.
 There is less barrier potential at elevated junction temperatures.
 The barrier potential decreases by 2 mV for each degree Celsius rise.

Reverse diode currents

 Transient current occurs when reverse voltage changes.
 IS, the saturation or minority-carrier current, doubles for each 10 degree Celsius
rise in temperature. It is not proportional to reverse voltage.
 The surface of a crystal does not have complete covalent bonds. The holes that
result produce a surface-leakage current that is directly proportional to reverse
voltage.