Mobility

• Mobility is the essential property that characterizes the

Carrier Transport.
• The carrier Mobility(u) also characterizing the transport
co efficient in semiconductor devices.
• Mobility is defined as the drift velocity (Vo) per unit
electric field

• u=Vo/Eo

• u=drift Velocity/Applied Electric Field

• u=et/m (As per newton's 2nd law)

 Conductivity
• The expression betn. electrical conductivity(6) & the
current density (J) can be derived by considering a
cylinder of area of cross section(A*m2).
• Figure
• An electron having drift velocity V(m/s) travelling through
this cylinder from one endtraverses distance Vm in one
second.
• The volume of the cylinder consequently become
A*V*m3.
• if no is the no. of electrons per unit volume crossing this
cylinder with the velocity V.
• Then from the basic definition of current we can write
I=noAVe
 Conductivity (Cont.)
• From which the current density is the current per unit
area & is given by
• J=current / cross sectional area perpendicular to the
direction of flow (A)
• J= noAVe / A =noVe.........(2)
• The force generated on a carrier of charge e due to the
appn of the electric field Eo is eEo.
• The Appn. of newton's 2nd law leads to the result
that......eEo=m(Vo/t).........(3)
• Substituting the expression Vo from eqn (3) into eqn(2)..
• J=(no e2 t / m) Eo..............(4)
 Conductivity (Cont.)
• The electric conductivity(6) is defined as the current
density (J) per unit electric field (Eo) & can be written as..
• 6=J / Eo...................(5)
• Comparing eqn (4) & (5) we get..
• J= 6 Eo....................(6)
• where 6=(no e2 t / m)
• u=et/m so 6=no e u....(7)
• for n-type semiconductor conductivity & mobility is given
by..6n=no e un............(8)
• Current Density Jn= no e un Eo......(9)
• Similarly P-type semiconductor
6n=no e up & Jn= no e up Eo.........(10)
 Conductivity (Cont.)
• Total Current Density J in the Semiconductor is the sum
of Jn & Jp
• J=6Eo
J=Jn+Jp
=e(no un +po up)
• For intrinsic Semiconductor no=po=ni
• therefore conductivity for intrinsic semiconductor 6i is
given by
6i=e(un + up) ni
• Resistivity(p) is the reciprocal of conductivity
p=1/6= 1/e(no un +po up)
 Diffusion of Carrier
• Diffusion current is the net flow of the randomly moving
electrons & holes from a region of high carrier
concentration to region of lower carrier density.
• Figure.
• Diffusion current is the precence of non zero rate of
change of carrier concentration w.r.t the distance (known
as concentration gradient).
• The higher the magnitude of the concentration gradient,
the higher are the numerical values of diffusion current.
• For electron the Diffusion current density is given by
Jn=e Dn Vn........(1)
Vn=gradient of electron concentration
Dn=electron Diffusion constant
 Diffusion of Carrier
• The total current due to the motion of holes by drift &
diffusion is
Jp=e (up po Eo-Dp Vp)......(2)
• for electron
Jn=e (un no Eo-Dn Vn)......(3)
 Electrons & Holes in intrinsic
Semiconductor
• intrinsic semiconductor - pure mean no impurity atoms
• Extrinsic Semiconductor- impure mean impurity added in
its cystline structure- trivalent & Pentavalent Impurity-
increases theconductivity of the materials
• Conductivity of the material depends on the no. of atoms
in conduction band of the materials.
• for good conductor the electron concentration n (no. of
electrons/unit volume) is very large(1023 electrons/m3)
• for insulator it is very small(107)
• for semiconductor its lies between these two values.
• Si & Ge have 4 electrons in the valence shell.
• Figure
 Electrons & Holes in intrinsic
Semiconductor
• these electrons of each atom are shared by the
neighbouring four atoms to forms covalent bonds.
• e-h pair is formed- which is the covalent bond
• At 0K material behaves as an insulator- there is no free e.
• At room temp. the conduction of material is increase -
some e gain energy and sufficient to transferred from
valence to conduction band.
• the thermal energy is sufficient to break the covalent bond
and e gets released- this e is free and go any where in the
material- leaves behind empty space-that has positive
charged- referred as hole.
• breaking covalent bond-two carrier of current-charge
carrier-one electron and one hole.--current Direction.
 Donor &Acceptor Impurities
Donor Impurities:
• A pentavalent atom has five e in the valence shell
• so it is donate 1 e to the material
• Antimony, phosphours and arsenic- pentavalent
• donor atoms are doped to increase free e is known as n-
type material-mean n-type material have no of e is large.
• n>>p
Acceptor Impurities:
• A trivalent atoms has 3 e in the valence shell
• So it is accept 1 e from the material
• boron,gallium,indium- acceptor impurities
• Acceptor atoms increase no of holes
• p>>n
 Mass action Law
• By adding acceptor atoms the hole concentration is
increase and by adding donor atoms the e concentration
is increase in ssemiconductor material
• if n is e concentration and p is hole concentration in a
given type of material the mass action law states that
• np=ni2
• ni=intrinsic concentration and is function of temp.
• product of concentration of free e and concentration of h
is constant and is independent of the amount of doping
by donor and acceptor impurities.
 Minority & Majority carrier charge
• Electron
• Hole
 Electrical Properties of Ge And Si
•Intrinsic concentration
•energy gap
•mobility
•diffusion carrier
•cut in vtg
•Density
Refer Table......for Detail
Charge Density in Semiconductor
• semi. that doped with donor atoms of concentration
Nd and acceptor atoms of concentration Na.
• n is the e- concentration after doping and p is the
hole concentration.
• Nd no. of donor atoms are added per unit cubic
meter of the material, it releases Nd no. of free e-
per unit volume, this means that it is leaving
behind Nd positive ions in the system.
• the total positive charge available in the system is
no. of holes p + no. of positive ions added by
doping of donor atoms Nd,per unit volume.
• Similarly, if Na acceptor atoms are added per unit
volume, Na holes and Na negative ions per unit
volume are released into the material. thus n + Na
no of neg. charges in the material per unit volume.
Charge Density in Semiconductor
• To maintain the neutrality in the system, the no of
positive charges should be the same as the negative
charges
• Nd+p=Na+n..............(1)
• To make an N-type material-only donor atoms
Nd+p=n.....................(2)
• N-type material e- is very large than hole so n>>p
then neglect it
Nd=n.........................(3) e- concen=donor impurity

• Similarly in P-type material

• Na=p.........................(4) h+ concen=acceptor
impurity
Charge Density in Semiconductor
• Applying Mass action law in N-type material
• nnpn=ni2.........................(5)
• nn is the e- concentration and pn is hole
concentration in an N-type material, But Nd=nn -->
Ndpn=ni2
--> pn=ni2/Nd...............(6)
• Similarly in a P-type material nppp=ni2-->
np=ni2/Nd..(7)
• Nd>>Na ------> ?
• Na>>Nd-------> ?
 Hall Effect
• when a specimen(metal or semiconductor) is placed in a
transverse magnetic field and a direct current is passed
through it, then an electric field is induced across its
edges in the perpendicular direction of current as well
as magnetic field..this phenomenon is called the Hall
Effect.
• A semiconductor bar carrying a current I in the
positive X-direction and placed in a magnetic field B
acting in the positive Z direction is shown in fig.
• now force is exerted on the charge carriers(e- or h+)
in the negative Y direction.
• If the semiconductor is of N-type so that the current
is carried by electrons,these e- will be forced downward
toward side 1 and side 1 becomes negatively charged w
r t side 2.
 Hall Effect
• thus a potential difference VH called the Hall voltage
is developed between surfaces 1 and 2.
• The polarity of Hall voltage enables us to determine
whether the semiconductor specimen is N-type or
P-type.
• In case of P-type semiconductor side 1 will become
positively charged w.r.t side 2.
 Conductivity Modulation
• conductivity of the semiconductor depends on the
no. of free e- and h+ available for conduction in a
material.
• no. of charge carriers depends on temp. in an
intrinsic material so conductivity of semi. depends on
temp.
• Temp. increase, e-h pair increases thus increasing
conductivity of semi.
• conductivity of the material can also be improved by
doping the intrinsic material with either trivalent or
pentavalent atoms forms p-type or n-type semi.
• the variation of conductivity of a material w.r.t
given parameter like temp or light intensity is known
as conductivity modulation.
 Conductivity Modulation
• conductivity increases by 6% per degree increase in
temp for Ge & 8% for Si.
• large variation in conductivity with temp is a
drawback in some ckt.bt this phenomenon is very
useful in some appn.
• a semi.that is designed for such an appn.is called
thermistor.
• thermistor is temp. sensitive resistor, exhibits a
resistance that decreases with increase in temp.-
negative co-efficient.
• appn. - microwave power measurement, thermal relay
and other thermally controlled devices
• in metal conductivity decrease with increase in temp.
• the conductivity of the metal is directly proportional
to the mobility and thus the conductivity decreases.
 Conductivity Modulation
• positive co-efficient of resistance.
• a very heavily doped semiconductor behaves as metal
thus semi.also exibits positive co-efficient of
resistance.
• another scheme is to achieve conduciviy modulation
by light intensity variations such a material referred
to as a photo conductor.
• radiated light- photons strike the bonds to breake -
releases to charge carriers- e-h.
• larger the intensity of the light larger is the
conductivity of the material - photo resistor.
• appn.light meter, sound track recording,on-off relay
etc.
Generation & recombination of charges
• in intrinsic semiconductor no. of free e- and h+ are
created by thermal energy.
• h+ is created only by removing an e- from the covalent
bond, thus the e- and h+ are created in pairs.
• the free e- and h+ move rendomly within the crystal
structure,there is a always possiblity of an e- meeting a
h+.
• this merging of a free e-and h+ called recombination, in
this process of recombination both the free e- and h+
disappeare and energy is released as a heat or light.
• the recombination rate is proportional to the product of
the concentration or densities of free e- and h+.
Generation & recombination of charges
• the amount of time between the creation and
disappearance of a free e- is called the lifetime, it varies
from a few ns. to several us.
• the rate of production of e-h pairs increase with the rising
temp.
• rate of generation of e-h pairs must be equal to the rate
of their recombination.