Project Prepared By: Sushruta Dey XII A Roll Number :46 Boards Roll Number: Kendriya Vidyalaya Fort

William

AIM
To study and

understand the working of a semiconductor.

CERTIFICATE
It is hereby to certify that, the original and genuine project work has been carried out to study about the subject matter and the related data collection and investigation has been completed solely, sincerely and satisfactorily by Sushruta Dey of CLASS XII A, Kendriya Vidyalaya Fort William , regarding his project titled N type ,P Type and working theory of

semiconductors.

Teachers Signature

Acknowledgement
It would be my utmost pleasure to express my sincere thanks to My Physics Teacher Mrs. J Sahoo and our dearest Mr. A.K Das Sir in providing a helping hand in this project. Their valuable guidance, support and supervision all through this project titled N type ,P Type and working theory of

semiconductors. are responsible for

attaining its present form.

Sushruta Dey XII A

PURPOSE
In recent days, Semiconductors are the most used things which are used in electronics, so I wanted to know its working. Another fact which inspired me to do this project is that I am in touch with qualitative analysis whose knowledge with other factors helped me to do so.

CONTENTS
Introduction Theory and Definition Effect of temperature on conductivity of Semiconductor Intrinsic Semiconductors N-type Semiconductor P-type Semiconductor Electrical Semiconductors Resistivity of

INTRODUCTION
Most of the solids can be placed in one of the two classes: Metals and insulators. Metals are those through

which electric charge can easily flow, while insulators are those through which electric charge is difficult to flow. This distinction between the metals and the insulators can be explained on the basis of the number of free electrons in them. Metals have a large number of free electrons which act as charge carriers, while insulators have practically no free electrons. There whose are however, certain solids is

electrical

conductivity

intermediate insulators. germanium

between They are

metals are of

and called semi-

Semiconductors.

Carbon, silicon and examples

conductors. In semiconductors the outer most electrons are neither so rigidly bound with the atom as in an insulator, nor so loosely bound as in metal. an ideal insulator. At absolute zero a semiconductor becomes

Theory and Definition

Semiconductors whose between energy electrical metals band are the materials lies of to is in The the the much In

conductivity and is insulator. similar gap structure

semiconductors the forbidden

insulators but in their case, the size of energy smaller than that of the insulator.

this class of crystals, the forbidden gap is of the order of about 1ev, and the two energy bands are distinctly separate with no overlapping. At absolute o0, no electron has any energy even to jump the forbidden gap and reach the the conduction band. Therefore

substance is an insulator.

But when we

heat the crystal and thus provide some energy to the atoms and their electrons, it becomes an easy matter for some electrons to jump the small ( 1 ev) energy gap and go to conduction band. Thus at higher temperatures, the crystal becomes a conductors. This is the specific property of the crystal which is known as a semiconductor.

Effect of temperature on conductivity of Semiconductor

At 0K, all semiconductors are

insulators. The valence band at absolute zero is completely filled and there are no free electrons in conduction band. At room temperature the electrons jump to the conduction band due to the thermal energy. When the temperature increases, a large number of electrons cross over the forbidden gap and jump from valence to conduction band. Hence conductivity of semiconductor increases with temperature.

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
Pure semiconductors are called

intrinsic semi-conductors.

In a pure

semiconductor, each atom behaves as if there are 8 electrons in its valence shell and therefore as an the entire material at low behaves insulator

temperatures. A semiconductor atom needs energy of the order of 1.1ev to shake off the valence electron. available to it temperature. This energy becomes even at room

Due to thermal agitation The bond

of crystal structure, electrons from a few covalent bonds come out. from which electron is freed, a vacancy

is created there.

The vacancy in the

covalent bond is called a hole. This hole can be filled by some other electron in a covalent bond. As an electron from covalent bond moves to fill the hole, the hole is created in the covalent bond from which the electron has moved. Since the direction of movement of the hole is opposite to that of the negative electron, a hole behaves as a positive charge carrier. room temperature, a Thus, at pure

semiconductor will have electrons and holes wandering in random directions. These electrons and holes are called intrinsic carriers.

As the crystal is neutral, the number of free electrons will be equal to the number of holes. In an intrinsic semiconductor, if ne denotes the electron number density in conduction band, nh the hole number density in valence band and ni the number density or concentration of charge carriers, then ne = nh = ni

Extrinsic semiconductors
As the conductivity of intrinsic semiconductors is poor, so intrinsic semiconductors importance. are of can, little practical be The conductivity of pure however

semi-conductor

enormously increased by addition of some pentavalent or a trivalent impurity in a very small amount (about 1 to of the semi-conductor). adding an impurity so as to semiconductor conductors conductors. i) ii) are to a parts pure its The process of improve

conductivity is called doping. Such semicalled extrinsic semiExtrinsic semiconductors are

of two types : n-type semiconductor p-type semiconductor

n-type semiconductor
When an impurity atom belonging to group V of the periodic table like Arsenic is added to the pure semi-conductor, then four of the five impurity electrons form covalent bonds by sharing one electron with each of the four nearest silicon atoms, and fifth electron from each impurity atom is almost free to conduct electricity. As the pentavalent impurity increases the number of free electrons, it is called donor impurity. The electrons so set free in the silicon crystal are called extrinsic carriers and the ntype Si-crystal is called n-type extrinsic semiconductor. Therefore n-type Sicrystal will have a large number of free

electrons (majority carriers) and have a small number of holes (minority carriers). In terms of valence and conduction band one can think that all such electrons create a donor energy level just below the conduction band as shown in figure. As the energy gap between donor energy level and the conduction band is very small, the electrons can easily raise themselves to conduction band even at room temperature. Hence, the conductivity of n-type extrinsic semiconductor is markedly increased. In a doped or extrinsic semiconductor, the number density of the conduction band (ne) and the number density of

holes in the valence band (nh) differ from that in a pure semiconductor. If ni is the number density of electrons is conduction band, then it is proved that ne.nh =

p-type semiconductor
If a trivalent impurity like indium is added valence in pure semi-conductor, for covalent the bond impurity atom can provide only three electrons formation. Thus a gap is left in one of The gap acts as a As atoms accept

the covalent bonds. the trivalent

hole that tends to accept electrons. impurity

electrons from the silicon crystal, it is called acceptor impurity. The holes so created are extrinsic carriers and the ptype Si-crystal so obtained is called ptype extrinsic semiconductor. Again, as the pure Si-crystal also possesses a few electrons and holes, therefore, the p-type

si-crystal will holes (majority

have a large number of carriers) and a small

number of electrons (minority carriers). It terms of valence and conduction band one can think that all such holes create an accepter energy level just above the top of the valance band as shown in figure. can The electrons from valence band themselves to the accepter raise

energy level by absorbing thermal energy at room temperature and in turn create holes in the valence band. Number density of valence band holes (nh) in p-type equal semiconductor to that of is the approximately

acceptor atoms (Na) and is very large as

compared

to

the

number

density

of

conduction band electrons (ne). Thus, nh>> Na > > ne

Electrical Resistivity of Semiconductors

Consider a block of semiconductor of length l1 area of cross-section A and having number density of electrons and holes as ne and nh respectively. Suppose that on applying a potential difference, say V, a current I flows through it as shown in figure. The electron current (Ic) and the hole current (Ih) constitute the current I flowing through the semi conductor i.e. I=Ie +Ih (i) It ne is the number density of conduction band electrons in the semiconductor and ve, the drift velocity of electrons then Ie = eneAve Similarly, the hole current, Ih = enhAvh From (i) I = eneAve + enhAvh I = eA(neve + nhvh) (ii) If is the resistivity of the material of the semiconductor, then the resistance offered by the semiconductor to the flow of current is given by : R = l/A (iii) Since V = RI, from equation (ii) and (iii) we have V = RI = l/A eA (neve + nh vh) V= le(neve +nhvh) (iv)

If E is the electric field set up across the semiconductor, then: E=V/l (v) from equation (iv) and (v), we have E = e (neve + nhvh) 1/ = e (ne ve/E + nh vh/E) On applying electric field, the drift velocity acquired by the electrons (or holes) per unit strength of electric field is called mobility of electrons (or holes). Therefore, mobility of electrons and holes is given by : e = ve/E and h = vh/E 1/ =e(ne e +nh h) (vi) Also, = 1/ is called conductivity of the material of semiconductor =e(ne e +nh h) (vii) The relation (vi) and (vii) show that the conductivity and resistivity of a semiconductor depend upon the electron and hole number densities and their mobilities. As ne and nh increases with rise in temperature, therefore, conductivity of semiconductor increases with rise in temperature and resistivity decreases with rise in temperature.