PHYSICS

PROJECT
SEMICONDUCTORS
DEVI ACADEMY SENIOR SECONDARY
SCHOOL

-Ajayendra Singh
BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Name : Ajayendra Singh

REG. NO:

Certified to be the bonafide Physics project work of the student

during the academic year 2013-2014.
Signature of Principal:

(Mrs. Malathy Sreenivasan)

Signature of Subject Teacher:

(Mr. Prakash)
School Seal:

Submitted for ALL INDIA SENIOR SECONDARY RACTICAL

EXAMINATION
Held on 2013 at Devi Academy Senior Seconadry School, Chennai600087

Date:
External Examiner

INDEX
S. No
1

TOPIC
INTRODUCTION

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS

P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

APPLICATIONS OF SEMICONDUCTORS

BIBILIOGRAPHY

Introduction:
Semiconductor:
A semiconductor is a material which has electrical conductivity to a
degree between that of a conductors (such as copper) and that of
an insulator (such as glass). Semiconductors are the foundation of
modern electronics, including transistors, solar cells, light-emitting
diodes (LEDs), quantum dots and digital and analog integrated circuits.

A semiconductor may have a number of unique properties, one of

which is the ability to change conductivity by the addition of
impurities ("doping") or by interaction with another phenomenon,
such as an electric field or light; this ability makes a semiconductor
very useful for constructing a device that can amplify, switch, or
convert an energy input. The modern understanding of the
properties of a semiconductor relies on quantum physics to explain
the movement of electrons inside a lattice of atoms.

Carbon, silicon, germanium and tin are atoms in ascending order

of atomic number from column IV A of the period table. Each is

characterised by having four valence electrons in its outermost
shell of electrons, and requires a further four to make up the full
complement of the shell. All can solidify to form elemental,
covalently bonded crystals where the four valence electrons of
one atom are shared between its four nearest neighbours so that
every atom effectively gains eight electrons in its valence shell. A
group IV atom and its four nearest neighbours from a tetrahedron
as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram to show the orientation of
covalently bonded group 4 atoms. A tetrahedron is formed
by the nearest neighbours, with the principal atom located
at its centre.
Taking a larger scale perspective of the
arrangement of the atoms, or crystal lattice , it is
found that they organise themselves into two
interpenetrating face centred cubic (fcc) sublattices, one displaced from the other by 1/4(a 0 , a 0 , a 0 )
along a diagonal of the unit cell . a 0 is called the lattice
constant or lattice parameter and is a measure of the size of the
unit cell, often expressed in Angstrom (A) units (1A=0.1nm or
1x10 -10 m). It is determined by techniques such as X-ray
diffractometry. Figure 2 shows a complete unit cell for a group 4
crystal covalently bonded with the diamond structure.

Figure 2: Unit cell of a crystal such as silicon or germanium

This structure is of course difficult to visualise and draw, hence it
is usually represented by an equivalent 2-D, "square"
arrangement shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: 2-D representation of a covalently bonded crystal

at 0K, eg Si.
Note that the heavy lines between adjacent atoms depict
the covalent bonds which contain TWO electrons and
are all completely filled.

Extrinsic Semiconductors:
One of the key reasons why semiconductors are
technologically so useful is that their electrical, and to a
certain extent their optical properties can be dramatically
modified by the addition of trace concentrations of
impurities. This is true for a wide range of elemental and

compound semiconductors. Although the summary which

follows specifically addresses silicon, the general thrust of
the arguments may be applied to other group IV, III-V
and II-VI materials with due regard for the valency
of the host atoms and impurities.

P-Type semiconductors:
Neither pure silicon(Si) nor germanium(Ge) are great
conductors. They form a crystal lattice by having each
atom share all of its 4 valence electrons with neighbouring
atoms.
The total of eight electrons can not easily be jiggled out of
place by an incoming current. If the crystalline array is
doped(mixed with an impurity) with Boron, which has
five valence electrons, the behaviour of the lattice will
change. Three bonds will be be made and there will be a
deficiency of one, which makes the positive charge
wander through the crystal.
This is called a P-Type conductor, P meant for Positive.

N-Type Semiconductors:
If the crystalline array is doped with arsenic which has
five valence electrons, the behaviour of the lattice will
change. Four bonds will be still be made but there will be
a leftover electron that can wander through the crystal.
This is called N-Type Semiconductor, N for negative.

Intrinsic Semiconductors:
Returning now to silicon; it has been noted that it is an insulator
at 0K. This is because there is insufficient energy available from
the lattice to cause a covalent bond to break, so there are no free
charges. However, as the temperature of the crystal is raised,
there is a finite probability that a small concentration of bonds
will gain enough energy to break, releasing an electron to become
a free, conduction band electron, while at the same time leaving
behind an unfilled covalent bond (empty state in the valence
band ) which in turn can meander around the lattice. This unfilled
bonded is called a hole and mathematically is treated as
a positive charge (see figure below).

E g is the forbidden energy gap, or bond strength, of the semiconductor,

which on an energy band diagram is the energy separation between the
conduction and valence bands; k B is Boltzmann's constant. The equation
arises from rigorous derivations which take account of the quantum
mechanical or wave-like nature of the electrons;
and

Applications of Semiconductors
Semiconductors
are
of
enormous
technological
importance because of their special properties, which can
be modified by doping. Some applications include:

Thermistors
The
resistivity
of
semiconductors
varies
with
temperature. This enables semiconductors to be used as
thermometers.
Through
doping
the
appropriate
sensitivity in the required ranges can be obtained.

Hall Probes
These measure magnetic field strengths by using a small
piece of semiconductor with known properties. By
measuring the induced Hall voltage in an unknown
magnetic field we can find B using:

IR Sensors/Optoelectronic devices
Optoelectronic devices are capable of sensing or
responding to light of various wavelengths. This is due to

the phenomenon of photo-conductivity whereby a

semiconductor can greatly increase its electrical
conductivity if the radiation has sufficient energy to
promote electrons across the band gap. Many different
semiconductors are available with different band gaps to
suit particular applications.

Bibliography:
www.wikipedia.com

www.semiconductorfilms.com

www.compoundsemiconductors.net

www.google.com