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Outline

Reading: Livingston, Chapter 15.1-15.3

A Review of Semiconductors
Intrinsic Semiconductors
Electrons in Conduction Band and Holes in Valence Band
Intrinsic carrier concentration
Fermi Energy
Extrinsic Semiconductors
Dopants
Complete ionization
NeNh product

Chapter 15

Semiconductors: Review

Semiconductors have electrical and optical properties between metals


and insulators.

Chapter 15

Intrinsic Semiconductors

Ze(E)
Zh(E)

Amend equations used for metals


Z e ( E ) Ce ( E E g )1/ 2
Z h ( E ) Ch ( E )1/ 2
4 (2me* ) 3 / 2
Ce
h3

4 (2mh* ) 3 / 2
Ch
h3

Chapter 15
Chapter 15

F (E)

1
1 e ( E E F ) / k BT

Total # of Electrons in Conduction Band


Ne NC e

( E g E F ) / k BT

N e Ce ( E E g )1/ 2 e ( E EF ) / k BT dE
Eg

2(2me*k BT ) 3 / 2
NC
h3

Total # of Hole in Valence Band


0

Nh

( E )[1 F ( E )]dE

N h NV e E F / k BT

2(2mh* k BT ) 3 / 2
NV
h3
Chapter 15

Eliminate EF from the Equation

Chapter 15

Intrinsic Carrier Concentration Bandgap and Temperature


1/ 2 E

N i N C NV e

/ 2 k BT

Chapter 15

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6

Example: Fermi Level in Intrinsic Semiconductor


Where is the Fermi level in intrinsic GaAs? How far is it from midgap? The
bandgap of GaAs is 1.42 eV.

Chapter 15
Chapter 15

Material

me*/mo

mh*/mo

Si

0.26

0.39

Ge

0.55

0.37

GaAs

0.068

7
7
0.54

Example: Intrinsic Carrier Concentration and Bandgap


Which semiconductor has the largest intrinsic carrier concentration?

Ec

Ec
Eg = 1 eV
Ev

Eg = 5 eV
Ev

Chapter 15

Example: Conductivity in Intrinsic Semiconductor


Calculate the conductivity of intrinsic silicon at room temperature for e = 0.15
m2V-1s-1 and h = 0.05 m2V-1s-1. Assume me* = 0.26mo, mh* = 0.39mo, and Eg =
1.1 eV.

Chapter 15

Extrinsic Semiconductors

Chapter 15

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Extrinsic Semiconductors (cont.)


Ze(E)
Zh(E)

Ze(E)
Zh(E)

Chapter 15

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Extrinsic Semiconductors (cont.)


For extrinsic semiconductors

Chapter 15

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Example: Carriers in an Extrinsic Semiconductor


If you add 1017 donor atoms/cm3 to a semiconductor with a 0.6 eV bandgap, what will be
the charge carrier concentrations in the valence and conduction bands at T = 300K?
Where is the Fermi level before and after doping? Assume that the donors are fully
ionized and that both the hole effective mass and electron effective mass have the mass
of a free electron.

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Chapter 15

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Example: Conductivity in Extrinsic Semiconductor


What is the conductivity of a silicon crystal doped with 5 x 1013 cm-3 atoms of As? ni =
1010 cm-3, e = 1350 cm2V-1s-1, and h = 450 cm2V-1s-1. Assume all dopants are ionized.

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Semiconductors: How to Get Electrons into Conduction Band


(and Holes in the Valence Band)

1. Thermal Excitation

2. Optical Excitation

3. Dopants

Chapter 15

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Review Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Define intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductor.


What is a hole?
Where is the Fermi energy in an intrinsic semiconductor?
If an intrinsic semiconductor has 1010 cm-3 holes, how many
electrons does it have?
What is the majority carrier in n-type material?
What is the minority carrier in p-type material?
Donors are added to ________ type material?
Where, in general, is the Fermi energy in a p-type semiconductor ,
above or below Eg/2? And a n-type semiconductor?
Assuming complete ionization, what is the electron concentration in
an n-type semiconductor with 1010 cm-3 donor atoms?
What does the product of NeNh equal? Does this apply to intrinsic
or extrinsic semiconductors?
List 3 ways to excite electrons into the conduction band.
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Important Equations
Z e ( E ) Ce ( E E g )1/ 2

Z h ( E ) Ch ( E )1/ 2

4 (2me* ) 3 / 2
Ce
h3

Ne NC e

4 (2mh* ) 3 / 2
Ch
h3

( E g E F ) / k BT

N i N C NV e

1
1 e ( E E F ) / k BT

N h NV e E F / k BT

2(2me*k BT ) 3 / 2
NC
h3
1/ 2

F (E)

2(2mh* k BT ) 3 / 2
NV
h3

E g / 2 k BT

N i2 N e N h
3k BT mh*
EF

ln *
me
2
4
Eg

N e e e N h e h

Chapter 15

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