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    Conductor, Semiconductor, Insulator

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    Nishit Parmar
    The document discusses electrical conductors and how they conduct electricity. It explains that conductors allow electrons to flow through their conduction bands with minimal resistance. The conduction bands contain loosely bound "free electrons" that drift when an electric field is applied. Common conductors include metals like copper and silver which have overlapping valence and conduction bands. Semiconductors also conduct but require thermal or other excitation for electrons to reach their conduction bands.

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    Conductor, Semiconductor, Insulator

    Uploaded by

    Nishit Parmar
    923 views22 pages
    The document discusses electrical conductors and how they conduct electricity. It explains that conductors allow electrons to flow through their conduction bands with minimal resistance. The conduction bands contain loosely bound "free electrons" that drift when an electric field is applied. Common conductors include metals like copper and silver which have overlapping valence and conduction bands. Semiconductors also conduct but require thermal or other excitation for electrons to reach their conduction bands.

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    The document discusses electrical conductors and how they conduct electricity. It explains that conductors allow electrons to flow through their conduction bands with minimal resistance. The conduction bands contain loosely bound "free electrons" that drift when an electric field is applied. Common conductors include metals like copper and silver which have overlapping valence and conduction bands. Semiconductors also conduct but require thermal or other excitation for electrons to reach their conduction bands.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    923 views22 pages

    Conductor, Semiconductor, Insulator

    Uploaded by

    Nishit Parmar
    The document discusses electrical conductors and how they conduct electricity. It explains that conductors allow electrons to flow through their conduction bands with minimal resistance. The conduction bands contain loosely bound "free electrons" that drift when an electric field is applied. Common conductors include metals like copper and silver which have overlapping valence and conduction bands. Semiconductors also conduct but require thermal or other excitation for electrons to reach their conduction bands.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 22

    Electrical Conductor

    Electrical conductor is a substance or material that allows electrons to flow


    atom to atom of that material with drift velocity in the conduction band
    against a small resistance offered by that substance.

    How a Conductor Conducts Current?


    • The substance of the electrical conductor atom must have no energy gap
    between its valence band and conduction band. In fact valence and
    conduction bands overlap each other.
    • The outer electrons in the valence band are loosely attached to the atom.
    When an electron gets excited due to electromotive force or thermal
    effect, it becomes free & moves from its valence band to conduction band.
    • This electron is known as free electron.
    • Conduction band is the band where this free electron moves anywhere in
    the conductor.
    • The conductor is formed of atoms. Thus as a whole, the conduction band
    is in abundance of free electrons.
    Concept of Drift Velocity

    • The free electrons move in a conductor(within the conduction band) with


    random velocities and random directions.
    • When we apply an electric field/potential difference across the conductor,
    the randomly moving electrons experience an electrical force in the
    direction of the field.
    • Due to this field, the electrons do not give up their randomness of motion,
    but they will shift towards higher potential with their random motion. That
    means the electrons will drift towards higher potential along with their
    random motions.
    • Thus, every electron will have a net velocity towards the higher potential
    end of the conductor, and we refer this net velocity as the drift velocity of
    electrons.
    • The copper strip has a large number of free electrons. When electric pressure or
    voltage is applied, then free electrons, being negatively charged, will start moving
    towards the positive terminal around the circuit as shown in Fig 1.1.

    • This directed flow of electrons is called electric current.

    Note:- The actual direction of current (i.e. flow of electrons) is from negative
    terminal (lower potential) to the positive terminal (higher potential) through
    that part of the circuit external to the cell. However, prior to Electron theory, it
    was assumed that current flowed from positive terminal to the negative
    terminal of the cell via the circuit. This convention is so firmly established
    that it is still in use. This assumed direction of current is now called
    conventional current.
    Type of the Conductors
    Generally conductors can be classified based on Ohmic Response. They are

    1. Ohmic Conductors
    This type of conductors always follow Ohm’s Law (V ∝ I) V vs. I graph gives
    a straight line always. Example Aluminum, Silver, Copper etc.
    2. Non Ohmic Conductors
    This type of conductors never follow the Ohm’s Law (V ∝ I) V vs. I graph does
    not give a straight line i.e. non linear graph. Example Diode, Filament of Bulb
    etc.
    The examples of conductors are given below

    Solid Conductor
    Metallic Conductor: Silver, Copper, Aluminum, Gold etc.
    Non Metallic Conductor: Graphite
    Alloy Conductor: Brass, Bronze etc.

    Liquid Conductor
    Metallic Conductor: Mercury
    Non Metallic Conductor: Saline Water, Acid Solution etc.
    Semi Conductor
    Introduction
    • We can classify materials by the energy gap between their valence band
    and the conduction band.
    • The valence band is the band consisting of the valence electron, and the
    conduction band remains empty.
    • Conduction takes place when an electron jumps from valence band to
    conduction band, and the gap between these two bands is forbidden
    energy gap.
    • Wider the gap between the valence and conduction bands, higher the
    energy it requires for shifting an electron from valence band to the
    conduction band.
    • In the case of conductors, this energy gap is absent or in other words
    conduction band, and valence band overlaps each other.
    • In insulators, this gap is vast.
    • Semiconductors, on the other hand, have an energy gap which is in
    between that of conductors and insulators.
    • This gap is typically more or less 1 eV (for silicon 1.1 eV and for germanium
    0.72 eV), and thus, one electron requires energy more than conductors but
    less than insulating materials for shifting valence band to conduction band.
    • At low temperature there are very less number of electrons in conduction
    band in a semiconductor crystal but when the temperature is increased
    more and more electrons get sufficient energy to migrate from valence band
    to conduction band.
    • Because of that, they don’t conduct electricity at low temperature but as the
    temperature increases the conductivity increases.
    • The most typical examples of the semiconductors are silicon and germanium
    because of their property to withstand high temperature. That means there
    will be no significant change in energy gap with changing temperature.

    Definition of Semiconductor
    • Thus, the definition of semiconductor can be as follows:-
    The materials that are neither conductor nor insulator with energy gap of
    about 1 eV (electron volt) are called semiconductors.
    • At room temperature resistivity of semiconductor is in between insulators
    and conductors.
    • Semiconductors show negative temperature coefficient of resistivity that
    means its resistance decreases with increase in temperature.
    • Both Si and Ge are elements of IV group, i.e. both elements have four
    valence electrons. Both form the covalent bond with the neighbouring
    atom.
    • At absolute zero temperature both behave like an insulator, i.e. the valence
    band is full while conduction band is empty but as the temperature is
    raised more and more covalent bonds break and electrons are set free and
    jump to the conduction band.
    Intrinsic Semiconductor
    • Semiconductor materials can be classified into two types viz., Intrinsic
    Semiconductors and Extrinsic Semiconductors.
    • Semiconductors which are chemically pure, meaning free of impurities, are
    called Intrinsic Semiconductors or Undoped Semiconductor or i-type
    Semiconductor.
    • The most common intrinsic semiconductors are Silicon (Si) and Germanium
    (Ge), which belong to Group IV of the periodic table. The atomic numbers
    of Si and Ge are 14 and 32 respectively.
    • Both Si and Ge have four electrons each in their outer-most i.e. valence
    shell. Each valence electron of a Si atom pair with the valence electron of
    the adjacent Si atom to form a covalent bond (it is the same even for
    Germanium).
    • After pairing, the intrinsic semiconductor becomes deprived of free
    charge carriers which are nothing but the valence electrons.
    • Hence, at 0K the valence band will be full of electrons while the
    conduction band will be empty.
    • At this stage, no electron in the valence band would gain enough energy
    to cross the forbidden energy gap of the semiconductor material.
    • Thus the intrinsic semiconductors act as insulators at 0K.
    • However, at room temperature the electrons present in the outermost
    orbit absorb thermal energy.
    • When the outermost orbit electrons get enough energy then they will
    break bonding with the nucleus of atom and jumps in to conduction band.
    • The electrons present in conduction band are not attached to the nucleus
    of an atom so they are free to move.
    • When the valence electron moves from valence band to the conduction
    band a vacancy is created in the valence band where electron left. Such
    vacancy is called hole.
    • Let’s take an example, as shown in fig there are three atoms atom A, atom B
    and atom C. At room temperature valence electron in an atom A gains enough
    energy and jumps in to conduction band as show in fig (1).
    • When it jumps in to conduction band a hole (vacancy) is created in the
    valence band at atom A as shown in fig (2).
    • Then the neighboring electron from atom B moves to atom A to fill the hole at
    atom A. This creates a hole at atom B as shown in fig (3).
    • Similarly neighboring electron from atom C moves to atom B to fill the hole at
    atom B. This creates a hole at atom C as shown in fig (4).
    • Likewise electrons moves from left side to right side and holes moves from
    right to left side.
    • Electrons will experience a attractive force from the positive terminal, so they
    move towards the positive terminal of the battery by carrying the electric
    current.
    • Similarly holes will experience a attractive force from the negative terminal,
    so they moves towards the negative terminal of the battery by carrying the
    electric current.
    • Thus, in a semiconductor electric current is carried by both electrons and
    holes.
    • In intrinsic semiconductor the number of free electrons in conduction band
    is equal to the number of holes in valence band. The current caused by
    electrons and holes is equal in magnitude.
    • The total current in intrinsic semiconductor is the sum of hole and electron
    current.

    Total current = Electron current + Hole current


    I = Ihole+ Ielectron
    Extrinsic Semiconductors
    • The semiconductors with intentionally added impurities are called extrinsic
    semiconductors.
    • This process of adding impurities in minute quantities into the pure
    semiconductor material under controlled conditions is known as doping.
    • The process is undertaken with the intention of increasing the conductivity
    of the material.
    • Hence, the impurities are chosen in such a way that their addition into the
    pure semiconductor should increase the number of free charge carriers
    which can be either holes or electrons.
    • Extrinsic semi conductors are basically of two types:
    1. N-type semi conductors
    2. P-type semi conductors
    N-type semiconductor

    • When pentavalent impurity is added to an intrinsic or pure


    semiconductor (silicon or germanium), then it is said to be an n-type
    semiconductor.
    • Pentavalent impurities such as phosphorus, arsenic, antimony etc are
    called donor impurity.
    Let us consider, pentavalent impurity phosphorus is added to silicon.
    Phosphorus atom has 5 valence electrons and silicon has 4 valence
    electrons. Phosphorus atom has one excess valence electron than silicon.
    The four valence electrons of each phosphorus atom form 4 covalent
    bonds with the 4 neighboring silicon atoms.
    • The fifth valence electron of the phosphorus atom cannot able to form
    the covalent bond with the silicon atom because silicon atom does not
    have the fifth valence electron to form the covalent bond.
    • Thus, fifth valence electron of phosphorus atom does not involve in the
    formation of covalent bonds. Hence, it is free to move and not attached to
    the parent atom.
    • This shows that each phosphorus atom donates one free electron. Therefore, all the
    pentavalent impurities are called donors.
    • The number of free electrons are depends on the amount of impurity (phosphorus)
    added to the silicon.
    • In n-type semiconductor, the population of free electrons is more whereas the
    population of holes is less. Hence in n-type semiconductor free electrons are called
    majority carriers and holes are called minority carriers. Therefore, in a n-type
    semiconductor conduction is mainly because of motion of free electrons.
    P-type semiconductor
    • When the trivalent impurity is added to an intrinsic or pure
    semiconductor (silicon or germanium), then it is said to be an p-type
    semiconductor.
    • Trivalent impurities such as Boron (B), Gallium (G), Indium(In),
    Aluminium(Al) etc are called acceptor impurity.
    • Let us consider, trivalent impurity boron is added to silicon.
    • Boron atom has three valence electrons and silicon has four valence
    electrons. The three valence electrons of each boron atom form
    3 covalent bonds with the 3 neighboring silicon atoms.
    • In the fourth covalent bond, only silicon atom contributes one valence
    electron, while the boron atom has no valence electron to contribute.
    Thus, the fourth covalent bond is incomplete with shortage of one
    electron. This missing electron is called hole.
    • This shows each boron atom accept one electron to fill the hole.
    Therefore, all the trivalent impurities are called acceptors. A small
    addition of impurity (boron) provides millions of holes.
    • In p-type semiconductor, the population of holes in valence band is more,
    whereas the population of free electrons in conduction band is less.
    • So, current conduction is mainly because of holes in valence band. Free
    electrons in conduction band constitute little current.
    • Hence in p-type semiconductor, holes are called majority carriers and free
    electrons are called minority carriers.
    Electrical Insulator
    • Electrical insulation is the absence of electrical conduction.
    • Most solid materials are classified as insulators because they offer very large
    resistance to the flow of electric current.
    • Insulators are materials whose atoms have tightly bound electrons. These
    electrons are not free to roam around and be shared by neighboring atoms.
    • Also most insulators have a large band gap(more than 10ev).
    • Hence large energy is required to move the electrons in the valence band
    to move to the next band above it.
    • Hence the conduction band of these materials remains empty.
    • Having said that there is always some voltage (called the breakdown
    voltage) that gives electrons enough energy to be excited into this band.
    • Once this voltage is exceeded the material ceases being an insulator, and
    charge begins to pass through it.
    • However, it is usually accompanied by physical or chemical changes that
    permanently degrade the material's insulating properties.
    • Some common insulator materials are glass, plastic, rubber, air, and wood.

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