ECE-656: Fall 2011

Introduction
to
Carrier Transport
Professor Mark Lundstrom
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN USA
EE-310 / 765-494-3515
lundstro@purdue.edu
8/21/11
Lundstrom
ECE-656 F11

copyright 2011
This material is copyrighted by Mark Lundstrom under
the following Creative Commons license:

Conditions for using these materials is described at

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/
Lundstrom ECE-656 F11

the drift-diffusion equation

=
J p pq pE qDnp
Where does the DD equation come from?
How are B-fields and temperature gradients included?
How is mobility related to material parameters?
How are the mobility and diffusion coefficient related?
When does the DD equation fail? How?
What do we do then?
Lundstrom ECE-656 F11

course objectives
To introduce students to the fundamentals of charge
carrier transport in semiconductor materials and
devices.
To give students a foundation so that they can learn
what they need to when confronted with a new problem.
designed for students interested in building, designing,
analyzing, and/or simulating electronic devices.

Lundstrom ECE-656 F11

course outline
Course Introduction
Preliminaries
bandstructure, quantum confinement, density-of-states

1 week

Part 1: Near-equilibrium transport:

general model, conductance, thermoelectric effects
intro to scattering, Boltzmann Transport Eq. (BTE),
measurements

6 weeks

Part 2: Carrier scattering

scattering and the BTE, Fermis Golden Rule
II and phonon scattering
scattering in common semiconductors and graphene

4 weeks

Part 3: Far from equilibrium transport

moments of the BTE, Monte Carlo and quantum transport
hot carrier transport in bulk semiconductors
transport in devices

4 weeks

carrier transport in bulk semiconductors

high-field or hot
carrier transport

I = GV

low-field or near-equilibrium
or linear transport

Lundstrom ECE-656 F11

near-equilibrium, diffusive transport

1) random walk with a small
bias from left to right

ideal contacts
cross-sectional
area, A

uniform n-type
semiconductor

2) electric field

V
dV
Ex =
=
L
dx
3) force on an electron

Fe = qE x

V +

4) average velocity:
Lundstrom ECE-656 F11

d = nE x

conductance (resistance)
I = Q tt

ideal contacts
cross-sectional
area, A

Q = nqAL

tt = L d
I = nq d A = nq nE x A

n-type semiconductor

d = nE x

V +

I = nq n

A
A
G = nq n = n
L
L
G = n

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A
V
L

A
L

n = nq n
8

more generally
How do we understand
conductance in 1D, 2D, or
3D and from the ballistic to
diffusive limits?

How do we understand
any small conductor?
A

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thermoelectric effects
T2 > T1

T1

V = ST
S is the Seebeck
coefficient in V/K

n-type semiconductor

I =0

V = ?

10

S < 0 for n-type conduction

S is also called the
thermopower

The Seebeck effect was discovered in 1821 by Thomas Seebeck. It

also occurs between the junction of two dissimilar metals at different
temperatures. It is the basis for temperature measurement with
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thermocouples and for thermoelectric
power generation.

hot carrier transport

high-field or hot
carrier transport

( )(A L)?

G = n E x

( )

G = n A L

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Velocity (cm/s)

semi-classical carrier transport in devices

(m )

SAT

(m )

D. Frank, S. Laux, and M. Fischetti, Int. Electron Dev. Mtg., Dec., 1992.
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quantum transport in devices

L = 10 nm, double gate, Si N-MOSFET

EC (x)

n (x, E )

nanoMOS (www.nanoHUB.org)
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course prerequisites
Introductory level understanding of semiconductor
physics and devices (ECE 606 at Purdue).

Fundamentals of Nanoelectronics (Datta

Purdue) and a course on solid-state physics (e.g.
Phys. 545 at Purdue) are helpful, but not
essential.

Lundstrom ECE-656 F11

14

course texts
1) Fundamentals of
Carrier Transport, 2nd Ed.
Mark Lundstrom

Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000

www.cup.cam.ac.uk/

2) Near-equilibrium Transport:
Fundamentals and Applications
Mark Lundstrom and Changwook Jeong
World Scientific, 2011
(a pre-release draft will be provided to ECE-656 students.

15

lecture format

~50 minute (PowerPoint) lectures. Please

interrupt with questions.

Posted on the course webpage shortly before

class.

Recorded and deployed online soon after.

Office hours immediately after class.

Online discussion on the course webpage.

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course grading
Homework: 25%
assigned and collected, but not graded
solutions posted
(will grade only to decide borderline final grades)
Exam 1:

25% (near-equilibrium transport)

Exam 2:

25% (BTE, B-fields, measurements, scattering)

Final Exam: 25% (comprehensive)

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course web page

https://nanohub.org/groups/ece656

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some suggestions
1) Do the reading before class.
2) Review lectures after class.
3) Do the homework!
4) Keep up with the field (TED, EDL, APL, JAP, etc. and
local seminars.
5) Ask questions.
6) Monitor the course homepage for announcements,
handouts, etc.
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19

next steps
1) Send an e-mail to Vicki Johnson
(vicki@ecn.purdue.edu) requesting membership in
the ECE656 group.
You will need to supply your nanoHUB login.
2) Familiarize yourself with the course web site and
download HW1
https://nanohub.org/groups/ece656
3) View Bandstructure Review (L1 ECE 656 F2009)
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20

questions

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