Semiconductors

• Materials that are neither metallic nor insulator.

• Elemental Semiconductors: Si, Ge
• Si dominates IC industry: >99% is Si based devices)
• Compound Semiconductors
– III-V semiconductors : GaAs (most widely used
compound semiconductor), InSb, InP
– II-VI semiconductors: CdS, ZnSe, ZnO
• Alloy Semiconductors: HgCdTe, AlxGa1-x, As, GaAsxP1-x
Semiconductors
 Semiconductor Models – Bonding Model

¾ Lines represent shared ¾ Visualization of a ¾ Breaking of an atom-

valence electron vacancy point defect to-atom bond and
¾ Circle represent the freeing of an electron
core of Semiconductor
(e.g., Si atom)

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Review: Molecular Orbitals by linear combination of atomic orbitals

Quantum mechanics
& Schrodinger’s eqn.
HΨ = EΨ

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 Semiconductor Models – Energy Band Model

¾ Energy states bunch up into “bands” and energy states are so close to each
other in energy that they are approximately continuous.
¾ Depending on the energy difference between the bonding and antobonding
orbitals a gap opens up between the bands corresponding to the bonding and
antibonding orbitals where there are no allowed energy levels

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Energy Band Model
Band gaps of common semiconductors
The difference between insulators, semiconductors,
and metals in the band theory framework
Eg

~e
−
Few electrons 2 kT
Thermal excitation
of electrons is easy

Gap is very wide thermal excitation is No or very narrow

~ 8 eV for SiO2 easy kT~0.026 eV gap
~ 5 eV for diamond ~ 1.12 eV for Si
 Charge carriers and intrinsic semiconductor

¾ Electrons are the charge

carriers in he conduction
band
¾ Holes are the charge
carriers in the valence
band
Doping and Dopants: Manipulating Charge Carrier
Densities in Semiconductors – n-type doping

Semiconductors that are doped

such that the majority charge
carriers are electrons are
called n-type semiconductors

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Doping and Dopants: Manipulating Charge Carrier
Densities in Semiconductors – p-type doping

Semiconductors that are

doped such that the majority
charge carriers are holes are
called p-type semiconductors

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Visualization of Doping using the energy band model
 Density of States
¾ We talked about formation of bands but did not yet analyze
how the allowed states are distributed in energy.
¾ From quantum mechanics, g(E)dE: # of states cm-3 in the
range E & E+dE; g(E) has units of cm-3 eV-1
Density of states in the conduction band
m*n
g c ( E ) = 2 3 2m*n ( E − Ec )
π h

Density of states in the valence band

m*h
g v ( E ) = 2 3 2m*h ( E − Ev )
π h
Fermi Distribution, Fermi Energy, and Fermi Level

¾ What is the probability that an electronic state with

energy E is occupied?
¾ Answer: Probability is given by Fermi-Dirac Distribution
1
F( E ) = ( E − E F ) / kT
1+ e
¾ EF is a parameter called the Fermi Energy. It is the
chemical potential (µ) of the electrons in the semiconductor.
¾ By definition if E=EF probability of occupation is ½.
¾ Comes from a statistical mechanics calculation. Assuming
Pauli exclusion principle, it is the most probable distribution
on the condition that the total system energy is given.
 Fermi-Dirac Distribution

1.0

T= 0 K

0.8

Increasing T
0.6
F(E)

0.4

0.2

0.0
1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
E F=1.65 eV
E (eV)
Fermi level in an intrinsic semiconductor at T= 0 K
is in the middle of the band gap

Etop

n= ∫ f ( E )g ( E )dE
Ec
c

Ev

p= ∫ ( 1 − f ( E ))g ( E )dE
Ebottom
v
Calculation of Charge Carrier Concentrations in
Semiconductors

2 (m*n kT )
3/ 2 ∞
η1 / 2 dη E − Ec
n=
π 2h3 ∫0 1 + eη −ηF where η = EF
2 (m kT )
3/ 2
* Fermi integral of order 1/2
n= n
F1 / 2 ( η F )
π h 2 3

2
n = Nc F1 / 2 ( η F )
π
3/ 2
 2πm kT 
*
“Effective” density of conduction band states
N c = 2 n
2

 h 
2 E − EF
p = Nv F1 / 2 ( η F ' ) where η F ' = v
π EF
 Charge Carrier Concentrations in
Semiconductors – Simplified Expressions

¾ When EF is away from the band edges (most cases)

Ev + 3kT < EF < Ec − 3kT
¾ the expressions for n and p simplify to
n = N c e( EF − Ec ) / kT
p = N v e( Ev − EF ) / kT
¾ For intrinsic semiconductor Ei, the Fermi level for
intrinsic semiconductor is close to the midgap and

n = p = ni = N c e( Ei − Ec ) / kT = N v e( Ev − Ei ) / kT
 Charge Carrier Concentrations in
Semiconductors – Simplified Expressions

¾ Intrinsic carrier concentration, ni

ni e − Ei / kT = N c e − Ec / kT
Ei / kT ( Ev ) / kT
ni e = Nve
2 −( Ec − Ev ) / kT − E g / 2 kT
n = Nv Nce
i ⇒ ni = N v N c e
¾ Simplified expressions for n and p in terms of ni and EF

n = ni e( EF − Ei ) / kT
⇒ np = ni2
p = ni e( Ei − EF ) / kT
Intrinsic carrier concentration vs T in Si, Ge, and GaAs

− E g / 2 kT
ni = N v N c e

Intrinsic carrier concentration

is a material property that
depends on temperature.
Carrier distributions as a function of EF position
 Carrier Concentration in doped Materials:
Manipulating EF and n and p by doping
¾ Consider a semiconductor with donor density ND.
¾ Since EC-ED is small almost all donors and acceptors will be
ionized at room T. Charge neutrality requires that
qp − qn + qN D+ = 0
p − n + qN D = 0
2
¾ np = n i and elimination of p results in a quadratic equation for n
ni2
− n + N D = 0 ⇒ n 2 − N D n − ni2 = 0
n
ND  ND 
2 ni2
n= +  2
 + ni ⇒ n ≅ ND p=
2  2  ND
N D ≈ 1013 − 10 21 cm −3 >> ni ≈ 1010 cm −3 ( at room T )
 Carrier Concentration in doped Materials:
Manipulating EF and n and p by doping
¾ Arguments are similar for a p-type semiconductor and
the result is
ni2
p ≅ N A and n =
NA
¾ “Power of doping”: We can manipulate carrier
concentrations by manipulating dopant concentrations.
¾ Processing implications: Need very pure material (ppb)

N Si ≈ 5 ×10 22 cm −3
N A or N D ≈ 1013 − 10 21 cm −3
 Intrinsic Fermi level Ei

n= p
N c e( Ei − Ec ) / kT = N v e( Ev − Ei ) / kT
3/ 2
Ec + Ev kT  N v  Ec + Ev kT  m 
*
p
Ei = + ln  = + ln
2 2  Nc  2 2  m  *
n

Ec + Ev 3  m *

+ kT ln * 
p
Ei =
2 4 m 
 n At room T this term
is 0.012 eV for Si

This term is 0.56 eV for Si

¾ In an intrinsic semiconductor EF=Ei is ~ @ midgap

 Dependence of EF on dopant concentration

n = N D = ni e( EF − Ei ) / kT
n-type  ND 
EF − Ei = kT ln 
 ni 

p = N A = ni e( Ei − EF ) / kT
p-type
 NA 
Ei − EF = kT ln 
 ni 
Dependence of EF on dopant concentration
T dependence of n and p