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project __________________________ in
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candidate
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practical examination of the Central
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year 2009. It is further certified that
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank the staff of the Chemistry

department for the help And
guidance
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INDEX

ENERGY BANDS IN SOLIDS

Energy band theory in solids

In a single isolated atom, the electrons in

each orbit have definite energy
associated with it. But in case of solids all
the atoms are close to each other, so the
energy levels of outermost orbit electrons
are affected by the neighboring atoms.
When two single or isolated atoms are
bring close to each other then the
outermost orbit electrons of two atoms
are interact or shared with each other. i.e,
the electrons in the outermost orbit of
one atom experience a attractive force
from the nearest or neighboring atomic
nucleus. Due to this the energies of the
electrons will not be in same level, the
energy levels of electrons are changed to
a value which is higher or lower than that
of the original energy level of the
electron.
The electrons in same orbit exhibits
different energy levels. The grouping of

this different energy levels is called

energy band. However, the energy levels
of inner orbit electrons are not much
affected by the presence of neighboring
atoms.
Important energy bands in solids
There are number of energy bands in
solids but three of them are very
important. These three energy bands are
important to understand the behavior of
solids. These energy bands are
Valence band, Conduction band
,Forbidden band or forbidden gap
Energy band theory in solids

VALENCE BAND
The energy band which is formed by grouping
the range of energy levels of the valence
electrons or outermost orbit electrons is called
as valence band Valence band is present
below the conduction band as shown in figure.
Electrons in the valence band have lower
energy than the electrons in conduction band.
The electrons present in the valence band are
loosely bound to the nucleus of atom.

CONDUCTION BAND

The energy band which is formed by grouping

the range of energy levels of the free
electrons is called as conduction band.
Generally, the conduction band is empty but
when external energy is applied the electrons
in the valence band jumps in to the
conduction band and becomes free electrons.
Electrons in the conduction band have higher
energy than the electrons in valence band.
The conduction band electrons are not bound
to the nucleus of atom.

FORBIDDEN GAP
The energy gap which is present between the
valence band and conduction band by
separating these two energy bands is called
as forbidden band or forbidden gap. In solids,
electrons cannot stay in forbidden gap
because there is no allowed energy state in
this region. Forbidden gap is the major factor
for determining the electrical conductivity of a
solid. The classification of materials as
insulators, conductors and semiconductors is
mainly depends on forbidden gap. The energy

associated with forbidden band is called

energy gap and it is measured in unit electron
volt (eV). 1 eV = 1.6 10-19 J The applied
external energy in the form of heat or light
must be equal to to the forbidden gap in order
to push an electron from valence band to the
conduction band.

FOR SEMICONDUCTORS,THE ENERGY GAP IS

NEGLIGIBLE AND CAN BE ERRADICATED BY
PROVIDING ENERGY VIA HEAT ETC.

A semiconductor is a material with a

small but non-zero band gap that behaves
as an insulator at absolute zero but allows
thermal excitation of electrons into its
conduction band at temperatures that are
below its melting point. In contrast, a
material with a large band gap is an

insulator. In conductors, the valence and

conduction bands may overlap, so they
may not have a band gap.The
conductivity of intrinsic semiconductors is
strongly dependent on the band gap. The
only available charge carriers for
conduction are the electrons that have
enough thermal energy to be excited
across the band gap and the electron
holes that are left off when such an
excitation occurs. Band-gap engineering
is the process of controlling or altering
the band gap of a material by controlling
the composition of certain semiconductor
alloys, such as GaAlAs, InGaAs, and
InAlAs. It is also possible to construct
layered materials with alternating
compositions by techniques like
molecular-beam epitaxy. These methods
are exploited in the design of
heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs),
laser diodes and solar cells.

TYPES OF SEMI CONDUCTORS

An intrinsic semiconductor, also called an

undoped semiconductor or i-type
semiconductor, is a pure semiconductor
without any significant dopant species
present. The number of charge carriers is
therefore determined by the properties of
the material itself instead of the amount
of impurities. In intrinsic semiconductors
the number of excited electrons and the

number of holes are equal: n = p.the key

concept is "n = p". If the semiconductor is
doped by both donor and acceptor
equally, then "n = p "still holds, then it is
still intrinsic. however, it is not "undoped
semiconductor".The electrical
conductivity of intrinsic semiconductors
can be due to crystallographic defects or
electron excitation. In an intrinsic
semiconductor the number of electrons in
the conduction band is equal to the
number of holes in the valence band. An
example is Hg
0.2Te at room temperatureAn indirect
band gap intrinsic semiconductor is one in
which the maximum energy of the
valence band occurs at a different k (kspace wave vector) than the minimum
energy of the conduction band. Examples
include silicon and germanium. A direct
band gap intrinsic semiconductor is one

where the maximum energy of the

valence band occurs at the same k as the
minimum energy of the conduction band.
Examples include gallium arsenide.A
silicon crystal is different from an
insulator because at any temperature
above absolute zero, there is a finite
probability that an electron in the lattice
will be knocked loose from its position,
leaving behind an electron deficiency
called a "hole". If a voltage is applied,
then both the electron and the hole can
contribute to a small current flow. In an
intrinsic semiconductor such as silicon at
temperatures above absolute zero,
there will be some electrons which are
excited across the band gap into the
conduction band and which can support
charge flowing. When the electron in pure
silicon crosses the gap, it leaves behind

an electron vacancy or "hole" in the

regular silicon lattice. Under the influence
of an external voltage, both the electron
and the hole can move across the
material. In an n-type semiconductor, the
dopant contributes extra electrons,
dramatically increasing the conductivity.
In a p-type semiconductor, the dopant
produces extra vacancies or holes, which
likewise increase the conductivity. It is
however the behavior of the p-n junction
which is the key to the enormous variety
of solid-state electronic devices.

Extrinsic semiconductors

The conductivity of semiconductors may

easily be modified by introducing
impurities into their crystal lattice. The
process of adding controlled impurities to
a semiconductor is known as doping. The
amount of impurity, or dopant, added to
an intrinsic (pure) semiconductor varies
its level of conductivity. Doped
semiconductors are referred to as
extrinsic. By adding impurity to the
pursemiconductors, the electrical
conductivity may be varied by factors of
thousands or millions.A 1 cm3 specimen
of a metal or semiconductor has of the
order of 1022 atoms. In a metal, every
atom donates at least one free electron
for conduction, thus 1 cm3 of metal
contains on the order of 1022 free
electrons, whereas a 1 cm3 sample of
pure germanium at 20 C contains about
4.21022 atoms, but only 2.51013 free
electrons and 2.51013 holes. The

addition of 0.001% of arsenic (an

impurity) donates an extra 1017 free
electrons in the same volume and the
electrical conductivity is increased by a
factor of 10,000.
The materials chosen as suitable dopants
depend on the atomic properties of both
the dopant and the material to be doped.
In general, dopants that produce the
desired controlled changes are classified
as either electron acceptors or donors.
Semiconductors doped with donor
impurities are called n-type, while those
doped with acceptor impurities are known
as p-type. The n and p type designations
indicate which charge carrier acts as the
material's majority carrier. The opposite
carrier is called the minority carrier, which
exists due to thermal excitation at a much
lower concentration compared to the
majority carrier.

For example, the pure semiconductor

silicon has four valence electrons which
bond each silicon atom to its neighbors.
In silicon, the most common dopants are
group III and group V elements. Group III
elements all contain three valence
electrons, causing them to function as
acceptors when used to dope silicon.
When an acceptor atom replaces a silicon
atom in the crystal, a vacant state
electron "hole") is created that acts as
conductor.
These holes help in conduction across the
lattice.

N type semiconductor

P type semiconductor

the pure semiconductor silicon has four valence electrons which

bond each silicon atom to its neighbors. In silicon, the most
common dopants are group III and group V elements. Group III
elements all contain three valence electrons, causing them to
function as acceptors when used to dope silicon. When an
acceptor atom replaces a silicon atom in the crystal, a vacant
state ( an electron "hole") is created, which can move around the
lattice and functions as a charge carrier. Group V elements have
five valence electrons, which allows them to act as a donor;
substitution of these atoms for silicon creates an extra free
electron. Therefore, a silicon crystal doped with boron creates a p-

type semiconductor whereas one doped with phosphorus results

in an n-type material.

CARRIER CONCENTRATION IN SEMI

-CONDUCTORS

Thus,for intrinsic semi conductors.the

concentration is the property solely of
temperature however for extrinsic n and p
type semiconductors.the concentration can be

increased by doping levels.tempersture and

also by combining n-p semiconductors which
lead to diffusion and thus change the
concentration of semi conductoral
conductors.also in intrinsic semi
conductors.the concentrsation of holes is
equal t the concentration of electrons
whereas in extrinsic it is again dependent on
the type of semi concductor,if it is p
type,holes dominates and in the case oif n
type.the electron dominate.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC
SEMICONDUCTORS

DISTINCTION BETWEEN METALS

AND SEMICONDUCTORS

CONDUCTIVITY OF
SEMICONDUCTOR
It is well known to us that the
conductivity of a material depends on
the concentration of free electrons in it.
Good conductors consist large
concentration of free electrons whereas
insulators consist small concentration of
free electrons. The concentration level of
the free electron in semiconductors is in

between the values of density of free

electrons in conductor and insulator.
That is why the conductivity of the
semiconductor is moderate not very high
and not very low. The typicality of
semiconductor is that the valance
electrons in the semiconductor are not
free like metal instead they become
trapped in the bond between two
adjacent atoms. Germanium and Silicon
are two very popularly used
semiconductors. The crystal structure of
both semiconductors consists a regular
repetition of the three-dimensional unit.
Let us take the example of germanium
where there are 32 orbiting electrons
across the nucleus in each atom. Each
atom in the germanium contributes four
valence electrons to make the covalent
bond with four adjacent germanium
atoms in the crystal. So the atoms are
tetravalent.

The inert ionic core of the germanium

acts as a positive charge of + 4
electronic charges. The valance
electrons in germanium crystal serve to
bind one atom to the next. Hence, it can
be said that the valance electrons are
tightly bounded with the atoms in the
crystal. Because of that, although a
germanium atom has four valence
electrons in it germanium crystal as a
whole is not an excellent conductor of
electricity. At absolute zero
temperatures a semiconductor crystal
behaves just like an insulator as there
are no free carriers of electricity
available. However at room temperature
(300K), some of the covalent bonds in
the crystal are broken due to available
energy and this phenomenon makes the
availability of free electrons in the
crystal and hence conduction of
semiconductor may be some extent
possible at room temperature. The
energy required to break the covalent

bond is about 0.72 eV in germanium, and

that is 1.1 eV in silicon at room
temperature.
When one covalent bond breaks, the
either of electrons that previously
involved in the bond formation comes
out with keeping a vacant place behind
it on the bond. This vacancy is referred
as a hole. The significance of hole in the
semiconductor is that they can also be
referred as a carrier of electricity
compared to electrons. The mechanism
by which the holes carry electricity is
somewhat different from the mechanism
by which electrons carry electricity.
When there is an incomplete bond in a
semiconductor crystal, a hole exists in
the bond. It is a little bit easier for the
electron, to form a bond with
neighborhood atoms; hence, it leaves its
previous position for occupying the
newly created hole nearby. When an
electron moves to fill a hole from its

previous position in the bond, it leaves

another new hole behind it. When the
second hole is created, then electron of
any other neighborhood bond may come
out to fill up the second hole with
creating a new hole behind it. Hence, it
can be visualized that as such holes are
moving in the direction opposite to the
movement of electrons. In this way
semiconductor conducts electricity with
help of these two types of electricity or
charge carriers (electrons and holes).
From the above explanation if we
sincerely think we can visualize that
while a hole moves from one direction to
other direction at the same time electron
moves in just opposite direction of that.
It means whenever holes move in a
respective forward direction, the
negative charge moves in the opposite
or backward direction. Negative charge
moves in backward direction imply that
the positive charge was moving in
forward direction. Hence, it can be

concluded that the movement of a hole

involves

for carrying a positive charge in a

semiconductor crystal. In an ideal
semiconductor crystal number of holes
created per unit time is exactly equal to
the number of electrons becomes free
during this time. If the temperature
increases the rate of creation of
electron-hole pair increases and when
the temperature decreases, number
electron - hole pairs is reduced due to

recombination of electrons and holes in

the crystal.
When one electron-hole pair is created,
there are two charge carriers produced.
One is negative charge carrier
associated with the electron and other is
positive charge carrier associated to the
hole. Say the mobility of the hole in the
crystal is h and the mobility of electron
in the same crystal is e. These holes
and electrons move in opposite
direction. The electrons always tend to
move in opposite to the applied electric
field, the current density due to drift of
holes is given by,
The current density due to drift of
electrons is given by,
As the drifting of holes contributes
current in the same direction and
drifting of electrons provides current in
opposite direction, in both cases,
currents are in the same direction that is
in the direction of drifting of holes.

Hence, resultant current due to these

both charge carriers will be arithmetic
sum of two currents and hence resultant
current density would be,
Where 'n' is the magnitude of free
electron concentration, 'p' is the
magnitude of hole concentration and ''
is the Conductivity of Semiconductor..

THANK YOU