ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I,______________, am immensely grateful to my project guide,

_______________, for their invaluable guidance and unwavering
support throughout the duration of this project. Their expertise and
mentorship have been instrumental in shaping the project’s
direction and ensuring its successful completion. I would also like to
extend my heartfelt appreciation to my classmates who collaborated
with me on this project. Their contributions and collective effort have
greatly enriched the outcome.

Additionally, I would like to express my gratitude to the school

administration and faculty for providing us with the necessary
resources and opportunities to undertake this project. Their
encouragement and belief in our abilities have been a constant
source of motivation. Finally, I am indebted to my parents for their
continuous support and encouragement. Their unwavering faith in
me and their willingness to lend a helping hand whenever needed
have been crucial throughout this journey.
 CLASSIFICATION OF METALS,
CONDUCTORS AND SEMICONDUCTORS
Semiconductors: They have resistivity or conductivity intermediate to metals and insulators.

(i) Elemental semiconductors: Si and Ge

(ii) Compound semiconductors: Examples are:

· Inorganic: CdS, GaAs, CdSe, InP, etc.

· Organic: anthracene, doped pthalocyanines, etc.

· Organic polymers: polypyrrole, polyaniline, polythiophene, etc.

Most of the currently available semiconductor devices are based on elemental semiconductors Si or
Ge and compound inorganic semiconductors.

On the basis of energy bands

This situation is shown in Figure has a finite but small band gap (Eg < 3 eV) exists. Because of the
small band gap, at room temperature some electrons from valence band can acquire enough energy
to cross the energy gap and enter the conduction band. These electrons (though small in numbers)
can move in the conduction band. Hence, the resistance of semiconductors is not as high as that of
the insulators.

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
Si and Ge have four valence electrons. In its crystalline structure, every Si or Ge atom tends to share
one of its four valence electrons with each of its four nearest neighbour atoms, and also to take
share of one electron from each such neighbour. These shared electron pairs are referred to as
forming a covalent bond or simply a valence bond. The two shared electrons can be assumed to
shuttle back-and-forth between the associated atoms holding them together strongly. Figure
schematically shows the 2-dimensional representation of Si or Ge structure shown in Figure which
overemphasises the covalent bond. It shows an idealised picture in which no bonds are broken (all
bonds are intact). Such a situation arises at low temperatures. As the temperature increases, more
thermal energy becomes available to these electrons and some of these electrons may break–away
 (becoming free electrons contributing to conduction). The thermal energy effectively ionises only a
few atoms in the crystalline lattice and creates a vacancy in the bond as shown in Figure. The
neighbourhood, from which the free electron (with charge –q) has come out leaves a vacancy with
an effective charge (+q). This vacancy with the effective positive electronic charge is called a hole.
The hole behaves as an apparent free particle with effective positive charge. In intrinsic
semiconductors, the number of free electrons, ne is equal to the number of holes, N

. That is

Ne = nh = ni

where ni is called intrinsic carrier concentration. Semiconductors posses the unique property in
which, apart from electrons, the holes also move.

The total current, I is thus the sum of the electron current Ie and the hole current Ih

I = Ie+ Ih

An intrinsic semiconductor will behave like an insulator at T = 0 K as shown in Figure. It is the thermal
energy at higher temperatures (T > 0K), which excites some electrons from the valence band to the

conduction band. These thermally excited electrons at T > 0 K, partially occupy the conduction band.
Therefore, the energy-band diagram of an intrinsic semiconductor will be as shown in Figure. Here,
some electrons are shown in the conduction band. These have come from the valence band leaving
equal number of holes there.

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
The conductivity of an intrinsic semiconductor depends on its temperature, but at room temperature
its conductivity is very low. As such, no important electronic devices can be developed using these
semiconductors. Hence there is a necessity of improving their conductivity. This can be done by
making use of impurities. When a small amount, say, a few parts per million (ppm), of a suitable

impurity is added to the pure semiconductor, the conductivity of the semiconductor is increased
manifold. Such materials are known as extrinsic semiconductors or impurity semiconductors. The
deliberate addition of a desirable impurity is called doping and the impurity atoms are called
dopants. Such a material is also called a doped semiconductor. The dopant has to be such that it
does not distort the original pure semiconductor lattice. It occupies only a very few of the original

semiconductor atom sites in the crystal. A necessary condition to attain this is that the sizes of the
dopant and the semiconductor atoms should be nearly the same. There are two types of dopants
used in doping the tetravalent Si or Ge:

(i) Pentavalent (valency 5); like Arsenic (As), Antimony (Sb), Phosphorous (P), etc.
(ii) Trivalent (valency 3); like Indium (In), Boron (B), Aluminium (Al), etc.
 p-n JUNCTION
A p-n junction is the basic building block of many semiconductor devices like diodes, Transistor,etc.A
clear understanding of the junction behaviour is important to analyse the working of other
semiconductor devices. We will now try to understand how a junction is formed and how the
junction behaves under the influence of external applied voltage (also called bias).

Consider a thin p-type silicon (p-Si) semiconductor wafer. By adding precisely a small quantity of
pentavelent impurity, part of the p-Si wafer can be converted into n-Si. There are several processes
by which a semiconductor can be formed. The wafer now contains p-region and n-region and a
metallurgical junction between p-, and n- region. Two important processes occur during the
formation of a p-n junction: diffusion and drift. We know that in an n-type semiconductor, the
concentration of electrons (number of electrons per unit volume) is more compared to the
concentration of holes. Similarly, in a p-type semiconductor, the concentration of holes is more than
the concentration of electrons. During the formation of p-n junction, and due to the concentration
gradient across p-, and n- sides, holes diffuse from p-side to n-side (p ® n) and electrons diffuse from
n-side to p-side (n ® p). This motion of charge carries gives rise to diffusion current across the
junction. When an electron diffuses from n ® p, it leaves behind an ionised donor on n-side. This
ionised donor (positive charge) is immobile as it is bonded to the surrounding atoms. As the
electrons continue to diffuse from n ® p, a layer of positive charge (or positive space-charge region)
on n-side of the junction is developed. Similarly, when a hole diffuses from p ® n due to the
concentration gradient, it leaves behind an ionised acceptor (negative charge) which is immobile. As
the holes continue to diffuse, a layer of negative charge (or negative space-charge region) on the p-
side of the junction is developed. This space-charge region on either side of the junction together is
known as depletion region as the electrons and holes taking part in the initial movement across the
junction depleted the region of its free charges (Fig. 14.10). The thickness of depletion region is of
the order of one-tenth of a micrometre. Due to the positive space-charge region on n-side of the
junction and negative space charge region on p-side of the junction, an electric field directed from
positive charge towards negative charge develops. Due to this field, an electron on p-side of the
junction moves to n-side and a hole on n-side of the junction moves to p- side. The motion of charge
carriers due to the electric field is called drift. Thus a drift current, which is opposite in direction to
the diffusion current (Fig. 14.10) starts. Initially, diffusion current is large and drift current is small. As
the diffusion process continues, the space-charge regions on either side of the junction extend, thus
increasing the electric field strength and hence drift current. This process continues until the
diffusion current equals the drift current. Thus a p-n junction is formed. In a p-n junction under
equilibrium there is no net current. The loss of electrons from the n-region and the gain of electron
by the p-region causes a difference of potential across the junction of the two regions. The polarity of
this potential is such as to oppose further flow of carriers so that a condition of equilibrium exists.
Figure 14.11 shows the p-n junction at equilibrium and the potential across the junction. The n-
material has lost electrons, and p material has acquired electrons. The n material is thus positive
relative to the p material. Since this potential tends to prevent the movement of electron from the n
region into the p region, it is often called a barrier potential.