P-N Junction Currents

Semiconductor Devices and Circuits

(ECE 181302)
11th August 2023
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Syllabus

• Module 1: Overview of Semiconductor Physics

• Module 2: P-N Junction

• Module 3: Bipolar Junction Transistor

• Module 4: Field Effect Transistor

• Module 5: Special Semiconductor Devices

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Extrinsic Semiconductors

• Silicon crystals doped with pentavalent and trivalent elements changes energy band.
• Doping introduces allowed energy states within the band gap, but very close to the energy
band that corresponds to the dopant type.
• Provide permanent carriers. 3
n-Type and p-Type Semiconductor

A silicon crystal that is (a)

undoped, or pure,

(b) doped with phosphorus

to produce an n-type
material, and

(c) doped with boron to

produce a p-type material.

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Majority and Minority Carriers

• In a p-type material the hole is the majority carrier and the electron is the
minority carrier.
• In an n-type material the electron is the majority carrier and the hole the minority
carrier.
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P-N Junction
• A p-n junction forms by bringing a p-type semiconductor and an n-
type semiconductor together resulting in a p-n junction diode.

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Depletion Region

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 V0 = - E W

(a) The pn junction with no applied voltage (open-circuited terminals).

(b) The potential distribution along an axis perpendicular to the junction.
Hole and Electron Currents
• When an electrical field E
is created in a
semiconductor bar, holes
are accelerated in the
direction of E, and free
electrons are accelerated
in the direction opposite
to that of E.
• Both hole and electron
drift currents are in the
direction of E.

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• A bar of silicon (a) into
which holes are injected,
thus creating the hole
concentration profile
along the x axis, shown in
(b).

• The holes diffuse in the

positive direction of x and
give rise to a hole-
diffusion current in the
same direction.
• Electrons diffuse in the x direction, giving rise to an electron-diffusion current
in the negative -x direction.
Drift Current
• Holes acquire a drift velocity:

• Free electrons acquire a drift velocity:

• Where μp is the hole mobility, and μn is the electron mobility. They represent the
degree of ease by which holes and electrons move through the silicon crystal in
response to the electrical field E.
• For intrinsic silicon μp = 480 and μn = 1350
• μn is about 2.5 times μp, signifying that electrons move with much greater ease
through the silicon crystal than do holes.
• Why is νn-drift –ve?

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Current Due to Drift of Holes
• Drift current due to holes is due to hole charges that cross the plane
perpendicular to the x direction of the silicon bar.
• The concentration of holes is p and that of free electrons is n, A is the cross-
sectional area of the silicon bar and q is the magnitude of electron charge.
• In one second, the hole charge that crosses the perpendicular plane in the x
direction is Aqpνp-drift coulomb.
Or

• The current density Jp is the current per unit cross-sectional area:

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Current Due to Drift of Free Electrons

• Electrons drifting from right to left result in a current component

from left to right.
• The convention is to take the direction of current flow as the direction
of flow of positive charge and opposite to the direction of flow of
negative charge.
• The current density is Jn = In/A:

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Total Drift Current Density
• Total current density is sum of Jp and Jn:

Written as: Or

Where is the conductivity, and

is the resistivity

• Which reminds of Ohm’s law:

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Diffusion Current
• Carrier diffusion: If there is a concentration gradient of charge carriers (electrons/
holes), then the charge carriers will flow from region of higher concentration to
lower one.
• Carrier diffusion occurs when the density of charge carriers in a piece of
semiconductor is not uniform.
• This is similar to the law of diffusion in gases/liquids, and the flow or flux: Fn of
electrons resulting from the diffusion process is directly proportional to the
concentration gradient (Fick's law), and gives rise to a current density Jn.

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The metallurgical interface at the pn
junction creates a step junction in
which the doping concentration is
uniform in each region but there is
an abrupt change in doping at the
junction.

Majority carrier electrons in the n

region will begin diffusing into the p
region and majority carrier holes in
the p region will begin diffusing into
the n region due to the
concentration gradient.

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Fick’s Law of Diffusion
• The flux/flow goes from regions of higher concentration to regions of lower
concentration, with a magnitude that is proportional to the concentration
gradient (spatial derivative), or in simplistic terms the concept that a solute will
move from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration
across a concentration gradient. In one (spatial) dimension:

Where:
• F is the diffusion flux/movement, of which the dimension is amount of substance per unit
area per unit time. F measures the amount of substance that will flow through a unit area
during a unit time interval.
• D is the diffusion coefficient or diffusivity. Its dimension is area per unit time.
• φ (for ideal mixtures) is the concentration, of which the dimension is amount of substance
per unit volume.
• x is position, the dimension of which is length.
• D is proportional to the squared velocity of the diffusing particles, which depends on the
temperature, viscosity of the fluid and the size of the particles according to the Stokes–
Einstein relation. In dilute aqueous solutions the diffusion coefficients of most ions are
similar and have values that at room temperature are in the range of (0.6–2)×10−9 m2/s.
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Key Diffusion Relationship (Fick’s first law)

• Diffusion flux is proportional to the concentration gradient

• Flux ≡ number of particles crossing unit area per unit time [cm−2 ·s-1]

• For electrons:

• For holes:

• ≡ electron diffusion coefficient [cm2/s]

• ≡ hole diffusion coefficient [cm2/s]
• D measures the ease of carrier diffusion in response to a concentration gradient
• D limited by vibrating lattice atoms and ionized dopants

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Diffusion Current Density
• Diffusion current density = charge × carrier flux

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Relationship between D and μ
• At the core of diffusion and drift is the same physics: collisions among particles
and medium atoms
⇒ there should be a relationship between D and μ.
• A simple but powerful relationship ties the diffusion constant with the mobility,

• Where VT = kT/q. The parameter VT is known as the thermal voltage.

• At room temperature, T = 300 K and VT = 25.9 mV.
• The relationship is known as the Einstein relationship.
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Hole Diffusion Current Density
• Holes injected by doping cause holes to diffuse from left to right along the silicon
bar, resulting in a hole current in the x direction.
• The magnitude of the current density at any point is proportional to the slope of
the concentration profile, or the concentration gradient, at that point,

• Where Jp is the hole-current density (A/cm2), q is the magnitude of electron

charge, Dp is a constant called the diffusion constant or diffusivity of holes; and
p(x) is the hole concentration at point x.
• Note that the gradient (dp(x)/dx) is negative, resulting in a positive current in the
x direction, as should be expected.
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Electron Concentration Profile and Electron Diffuse
Current

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Electron Diffusion Current Density
• Electron diffusion resulting from an electron concentration gradient gives the
electron-current density,

• Where Dn is the diffusion constant or diffusivity of electrons.

• A negative (dn(x)/dx) gives rise to a negative current, a result of the convention
that the positive direction of current is taken to be that of the flow of positive
charge (and opposite to that of the flow of negative charge).
• For holes and electrons diffusing in intrinsic silicon, typical values for the diffusion
constants are and

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Drift-Diffusion Equation
• Where both concentration gradients and electric fields are present the total
current is the sum of both drift and diffusion currents:

 dn dp 
I tot = eA n n E + p p E + Dn − Dp 
 dx dx 

• This equation is normally referred to as the drift-diffusion equation of carriers

and is the basic equation that describes carrier movement in semiconductor
devices.

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Total Current Density

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Microelectronic Circuits, Sixth Edition Sedra/Smith Copyright © 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc.
References/Books:
• G. Streetman, and S. K. Banerjee, “Solid State Electronic Devices,” 7th edition,
Pearson, 2014.
• D. Neamen, D. Biswas, "Semiconductor Physics and Devices," McGraw-Hill
Education.
• S. M. Sze and K. N. Kwok, “Physics of Semiconductor Devices,” 3rd edition, John
Wiley &Sons, 2006.
• A.S. Sedra and K.C. Smith, “Microelectronic Circuits”, Saunder's College
Publishing, 1991.
• Robert L. Boylestad and Louis Nashelsky, “Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory”,
7th edition, Prentice Hall.

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