Questions

1. As the temperature increases, the resistivity of the metal

(increases or decreases).
2. As the temperature increases, the resistivity of the
semiconductor (increases or decreases).
3. The band gap energy is the minimum energy required to
release an electron from its covalent bond (Yes or No)
4. To increase the number of free carriers, the semiconductors
are doped, but this is not the only way (Yes or No)
5. For doped semiconductors, np = ni2. However, this is not the
case for intrinsic semiconductors (Yes or No)

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 Lecture 3
OUTLINE
• Basic Semiconductor Physics
(cont’d)
– Carrier drift and diffusion

Reading: Chapter 2.1-2.2

2
 Dopant Compensation
• An N-type semiconductor can be converted into P-
type material by counter-doping it with acceptors
such that NA > ND.
• A compensated semiconductor material has both
acceptors and donors.
N-type material P-type material
(ND > NA) (NA > ND)
n N D  N A p N A  N D
2 2
ni ni
p n
ND  N A N A  ND
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Types of Charge in a Semiconductor
• Negative charges:
– Conduction electrons (density = n)
– Ionized acceptor atoms (density = NA)
• Positive charges:
– Holes (density = p)
– Ionized donor atoms (density = ND)

• The net charge density (C/cm3) in a semiconductor is

 qp  n  N D  N A 
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 Carrier Drift
• The process in which charged particles move because
of an electric field is called drift.
• Charged particles within a semiconductor move with
an average velocity proportional to the electric field.
– The proportionality constant is the carrier mobility.
 
Hole velocity v h  p E
 
Electron velocity ve   n E
Notation:
p  hole mobility (cm2/V·s)
n  electron mobility (cm2/V·s)
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 Velocity Saturation
• In reality, carrier velocities saturate at an upper limit,
called the saturation velocity (vsat).

0

1  bE
0
vsat 
b
0
v  E
0 E
1
vsat

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 Drift Current
• Drift current is proportional to the carrier velocity
and carrier concentration:

vh t A = volume from which all holes cross plane in time t

p vh t A = # of holes crossing plane in time t
q p vh t A = charge crossing plane in time t
q p vh A = charge crossing plane per unit time = hole current
 Hole current per unit area (i.e. current density) Jp,drift = q p vh
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 Conductivity and Resistivity
• In a semiconductor, both electrons and holes
conduct current:
J p ,drift qp p E J n ,drift  qn(  n E )
J tot ,drift  J p ,drift  J n ,drift qp p E  qn n E
J tot ,drift q ( p p  n n ) E E
• The conductivity of a semiconductor is  qp p  qn n
– Unit: mho/cm
1
• The resistivity of a semiconductor is  
– Unit: ohm-cm 
8
 Resistivity Example
• Estimate the resistivity of a Si sample doped with
phosphorus to a concentration of 1015 cm-3 and boron
to a concentration of 1017 cm-3. The electron mobility
and hole mobility are 700 cm2/Vs and 300 cm2/Vs,
respectively.

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 Electrical Resistance
I V
_
+
W
t
homogeneously doped sample

V L
Resistance R    (Unit: ohms)
I Wt
where  is the resistivity
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 Carrier Diffusion
• Due to thermally induced random motion, mobile
particles tend to move from a region of high
concentration to a region of low concentration.
– Analogy: ink droplet in water
• Current flow due to mobile charge diffusion is
proportional to the carrier concentration gradient.
– The proportionality constant is the diffusion constant.
dp
J p  qD p
dx
Notation:
Dp  hole diffusion constant (cm2/s)
Dn  electron diffusion constant (cm2/s)
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 Diffusion Examples
• Linear concentration profile • Non-linear concentration profile
 constant diffusion current  varying diffusion current
 x  x
p N  1   p  N exp
 L Ld

dp dp
J p ,diff  qD p J p ,diff  qD p
dx dx
N qD p N  x
qD p  exp
L Ld Ld
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 Diffusion Current
• Diffusion current within a semiconductor consists of
hole and electron components:
dp dn
J p ,diff  qD p J n ,diff qDn
dx dx
dn dp
J tot ,diff q ( Dn  Dp )
dx dx
• The total current flowing in a semiconductor is the
sum of drift current and diffusion current:
J tot  J p ,drift  J n ,drift  J p ,diff  J n ,diff
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 The Einstein Relation
• The characteristic constants for drift and diffusion are
related:
D kT

 q

kT
• Note that 26mV at room temperature (300K)
q
– This is often referred to as the “thermal voltage”.

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