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CH 1-Lecture 1 Electronics

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17 views18 pages

CH 1-Lecture 1 Electronics

Uploaded by

Sara Dabaja
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CHAPTER 1

SEMICONDUCTOR
MATERIALS
Chapter-1, Lecture-1
Classification of Materials
Classification according to the way materials react to the current
when a voltage is applied across them:
l Insulators
 Materials with very low conductivity - current can’t flow
(rubber)
l Conductors
 Materials with very high conductivity – current can flow easily
(copper)
l Semiconductors
 Neither good conductors nor insulators (silicon, germanium)
 Can be controlled to either insulators or conductors
Semiconductor Materials and
Properties
A portion of the periodic
table in which the most
common semiconductors
are found

● Elemental Semiconductors
Silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) are in group IV. Hence, they
have 4 electrons in their outer shells

A stable atoms need 8 electrons at its outermost shell


• Si have 4 electrons in their outer shells
• needs another 4 to become stable
• So, when there are 4 other Si nearby = 4 electrons:

Si

Sharing of electrons
occurred; and this bond is
known as the covalent
Si Si bond
Si

Si

The minimum energy required to break the bond is known as the bandgap
energy, Eg
ILLUSTRATION WHEN A VALENCE
ELECTRON IS FREE
1. Becomes free
electron

3. Electron moves to fill


space

5. Electron moves to fill


space

2. Becomes empty

4. Becomes empty
Intrinsic Semiconductor
● Intrinsic Semiconductor
 A single-crystal semiconductor material with no other types of
atoms within the crystal.
 The densities of electrons and holes are equal.
 The notation ni is used as intrinsic carrier concentration for the
concentration of the free electrons as well as that of the hole:

B = a coefficient related to the specific semiconductor material


Eg = the bandgap energy (eV)
T = the temperature (Kelvin) remember that K = °C + 273.15
k = Boltzmann’s constant (86 x 10-6 eV/K)
Intrinsic Semiconductor
● The values of B and Eg for several semiconductor materials:

Example:
Calculate the intrinsic carrier
concentration in silicon
at T = 300 K.
Extrinsic Semiconductor
• Since intrinsic concentration, ni is very small,
so, very small current is possible
• So, to increase the number of carriers,
impurities are added to the
Silicon/Germanium.
• The impurities will be from Group V and
Group III
Extra electron

• Group V – 5 electrons in the outer shell; Example,


Phosphorus, Arsenic
• The 5th electron are loosely bound to the Phosphorus atom
• Hence, even at room temperature, the electron has enough
energy to break away and becomes free electron.
• Atoms from Group V are known as donor impurity (because
it donates electrons)

Group V + Si = n-type semiconductor


Extra hole

• Group III – 3 electrons in the outer shell; Example, Boron


• The valence electron from outer shells are attracted to fill
the holes added by the insertion of Boron
• Hence, we have movement of holes
• Atoms from Group III are known as acceptor impurity
(because it accept electrons)

Group III + Si = p-type semiconductor


– The materials containing impurity atoms are
called extrinsic semiconductors, or doped
semiconductors.
– Effects of doping process
• controls the concentrations of free electrons and holes
• determines the conductivity and currents in the materials.
– The relation between the electron and hole
concentrations in thermal equilibrium:

no = the thermal equilibrium concentration of free electrons


po = the thermal equilibrium concentration of holes
ni = the intrinsic carrier concentration
For N-type – electrons are the
majority carriers
 At room temperature (T = 300 K), each donor atom donates a free
electron to the semiconductor.

• If the donor concentration Nd is much larger than the intrinsic


concentration, approximately:

• Then, the hole concentration:


For P-type – holes are the
majority carriers
 Similarly, at room temperature, each acceptor atom accepts a
valence electron, creating a hole.

• If the acceptor concentration Na is much larger than the


intrinsic concentration, approximately:

• Then, the electron concentration:


Example 1
Calculate the electron and hole concentrations.

Consider silicon at T = 300 K doped with phosphorous at a


concentration of Nd = 1016 cm-3 and ni = 1.5 x 1010 cm-3.
Example 2
Calculate the majority and minority carrier concentrations in silicon at T
= 300K if

a) Na = 1017cm-3
b) Nd = 5 x 1015cm-3

1. Calculate ni
2. For part (a) – it is p-type
3. For part (b) – it is n-type

Answer: a) majority = 1017cm-3 minority 2.25x 103 cm-3

b) Majority 5 x 1015cm-3, minority 4.5 x 104 cm-3


k = Boltzmann’s constant (86 x 10-6 eV/K)

• EXAMPLE 1 • EXAMPLE 2
Calculate the intrinsic A silicon is doped with 5 x 1016
carrier concentration arsenic atoms
of Silicon at T = 250K a) Is the material n-type or p-type?
b) Calculate the electrons and holes
concentration of the doped silicon
at T=300K
Answer: ni = 1.6 x 108 cm-3
Answer:
a) n-type
b) no = 5 x 1016 cm-3 and po = 4.5 x 103 cm-3
Resources
• Microelectronic Circuits Text by Sedra and
Smith Oxford Publishing

• Neamen D.A., (2007), Microelectronics Circuit


Analysis and Design, McGraw Hill.

• Internet resources

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