AL-IRAQIA UNIVERSITY

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
FIRST LEVEL
DR. RUAA ALMUSA
2024/2025
AL-IRAQIA UNIVERSITY ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
FIRST LEVEL
PHYSICAL ELECTRONICS

Lecture
Three
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 AL-IRAQIA UNIVERSITY ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
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PHYSICAL ELECTRONICS

2- Energy Bands in Solids

The electrons of a single atom revolve around the nucleus in certain orbits, each orbit
has a specific constant energy level and each level consists of several secondary
levels while in solids, which consist of a large number of close atoms, when these
atoms unite to form the crystal any electron does not affected by the charges in its
atom only but by the nuclei and the electrons in all other atoms forming the crystal
too; therefore, the energy levels of the outer electrons change as a result of the
interaction between atoms and instead of the specified energy levels of the single
atom, the crystal contains a band of large number of very close energy levels that
seems to be continuous, this band is called the valence band (V.B.).
The electrons in the valence band are restricted to the atom and do not participate in
the electrical conduction. When an electron in the valence band gains enough energy
so that it can be separated from the atom, it jumps to the next band which is the
conduction band (C.B.). The electrons in the conduction band participate in the
electrical conduction. Between the valence band and the conduction band there is a
forbidden region that the electron cannot exist in, this region is called the energy gap
(E.g.). The materials are classified depending on the amount of the energy gap into
three types: conductors, insulators and semiconductors.

Figure (2-1)
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The valence band is overlapped with the conduction band and thus there is no energy
gap (Figure (2-1)). The absence of the energy gap in the conductive crystals means
that any valence electron will be free to move in the crystal in temperature degrees
above the absolute zero as well as to move in response to the electric field if it exists.
At a temperature of absolute zero, the electrons cannot move through the crystal
because they are all strongly linked to their atoms. Thus, they fill the valence band
from the lowest energy level to the highest energy level or in other words, the
conduction band at a temperature of absolute zero is empty, this means that there is
no enough energy for the electrons to move to the conduction band.
When the temperature increases above the absolute zero, the thermal energy that will
be acquired by the electron will enable it to escape from its atom and to transport to
the conduction band. The movement of the electron in the conduction band will be
random and in all directions with a velocity called the thermal velocity.

2-1 The Mobility

When a potential difference is applied across the conductor, an electric field will be
created inside the conductor, this electric field works to accelerate the free electrons
in the conduction band due to the force experienced by them and that is equal to:
F=qE
But the acceleration of electrons in the crystal material will be impeded as a result
of the ongoing collision with the atoms vibrating around their positions in the crystal.
The electron velocity quickly reaches an average fixed value called the drift velocity
(vd):
Vd= µE

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2-2 Conductivity
If a metal object having a length ( L ) and a cross section area ( A ) is connected to
a voltage source (V ), then a current ( I ) will pass in the object (Figure (2-2)).

Figure (2-2)

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Example1: A small concentration of minority carriers are injected into a

semiconductor crystal at 1 point on electric field of 10V/cm is applied across the
crystal & this moves the minority carriers a distance of 1 cm in 20 µsec. Calculate
the mobility of the minority carriers?

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Example2: A specimen on a metal has a square cross – section area of 3mm X 3mm
& its length 5 cm. When a potential difference of 1V applied across its length gives
a current of 6 mA. (Assume µ=1300 cm2/v.sec), Calculate:
1- The Resistance R
2- Electron concentration (C)
3- Drift velocity Vd
4- Number of free electrons n

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Example3: An n type Si bar 0.1 cm long &100 µm2 cross sectional area has a
majority carrier concentration of 5X1020 /m3 & carrier mobility is 0.13m2/V sec. If
charge of an electron is 1.6 X10 -19C then find the resistance of bar?

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2-3 Insulators
The valence band is separated from the conduction band by a large energy gap
amounting to about (5 eV); therefore, the valence electrons cannot move to the
conduction band unless it receives the enough energy that equals the energy gap. At
normal temperatures, the valence electrons do not have the enough energy to move
to the conduction band; therefore, it can be said that the insulator crystal has the
following: large energy gap, valence band that is filled with electrons, and an empty
conduction band. This explains why there are no free charges in an insulator.
2-4 Semiconductors
The energy-band structure of semiconductors does not differ from that of insulators
except in the capacity of the energy gap which in semiconductors equals (1.1 eV) or
less. These materials behave like insulators at the absolute zero temperature. At this
temperature, the conduction band is empty which means that the electrons have no
enough energy to move to the conduction band. At high temperatures, these
materials behave as conductors. On the other hand, at room temperature (27oC,
300K) some electrons gain the enough energy to move to the conduction band but

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the resulting current is small and cannot be used in most applications; therefore, at
room temperature, the semiconductor is not a good insulator nor a good conductor
and this is why it is called a semiconductor. Semiconductors can be classified into
two types: intrinsic semiconductors and extrinsic semiconductors.
2-4-1 Intrinsic Semiconductors
Raising the temperature of the semiconductor will increase the energy of the valence
electrons, and then the number of the electrons reaching the conduction band will
increase. Hence, the conductivity (σ) of these materials will increase with
temperature increase. The elements of the fourth group (group IV) in the periodic
table have four valence electrons; the crystals that these elements form are called
covalent crystals (Figure (2-3)).

Figure (2-3)
If the covalent crystal is exposed to an electric potential or a radiation with sufficient
energy or a thermal energy, then this gained energy will break the covalent bonds
and transfer the electron to the conduction band to participate in the electrical
conduction.

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The energy required to break the covalent bonds is equal to the value of the energy
gap (Eg) or greater. The value of the energy gap equals (0.72 eV) for the germanium
crystal (Ge) and (1.1 eV) for the silicon crystal (Si). These two elements are of the
most important elements of the fourth group used in the electronics industries. (Si)
has (14) electrons while (Ge) has (32) electrons. The transfer of an electron from
the valence band to the conduction band leaves an empty place in the covalent
bond that is called the hole. The atom now becomes an ion. The hole appears as
a positive charge (+e) with an effective mass (mp) that does not equal the
electron mass.
The hole is defined as a place ready to receive the electron; therefore, it quickly
filled by the adjacent electron. Thus lead to the movement of charges. The motion
of the holes is random and in different directions but when an electric field is applied,
the holes will move in the same direction of the field and the opposite direction
relative to the electrons’ motion. The holes’ motion gives a separate current from
that resulting from the electrons’ motion and the total current equals the holes’
current plus the electrons’ current. The thermal energy is the main source in
generating the electron-hole pairs. The conduction process resulting from these
charge carriers’ motion (the electrons and the holes) is called intrinsic conduction.

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When an electric field is applied, the carries will move with a velocity that reaches
a constant value after a specific time, this constant value of the velocity is called the
drift velocity, where:

C in

In pure (intrinsic) semiconductors, the density of the electrons (n) in the

conduction band equals the density of the holes (p) in the valence band:

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Where:
T: The absolute temperature (in Kelvin (K)).
K: Boltzmann constant

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E: Energy gap (J).
Nc: The effective density of the energy levels in the conduction band given by:

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Example/A potential difference of 10 V is applied longitudinally to a rectangular
specimen of intrinsic Ge of length 2.5cm, width 0.4cm and thickness 0.15cm. For
given μn=0.38m2/Vs, μp=0.18m2/Vs, Calculate:
(i) electron and hole drift velocities
(ii) σ of Ge if intrinsic carrier density is 2.5×1019/ m3
(iii) The total current Density

Assignment

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