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4.73 104 T 2
Eg (T ) = 1.17 for Si (1)
T + 636
5.4 104 T 2
Eg (T ) = 1.52 for GaAs (2)
T + 204
as seen in figure 1, where the temperature T is expressed in Kelvin. At room
temperature (300 K) and under normal atmosphere, the values of the bangap
are 1.12 eV for Si and 1.42 eV for gallium arsenide.
In conductors such as metals, the conduction band is either partially filled
Figure 1: Bandgaps of Si and GaAs as a function of temperature.
(the Fermi energy level EF is located in the middle of the conduction band)
or overlaps the valence band so that there is no bandgap. As a consequence,
the uppermost electrons in the partially filled band or electrons at the top of
the valence band can move to the next-higher available energy level when they
gain kinetic energy (e.g. from an applied electric field). Therefore, current
conduction can readily occur in conductors.
p2
E= (3)
2mn
where p2 is the crystal momentum and mn is the electron effective mass. The
crystal momentum is analogous to the particle momentum, i.e. the particle
momentum along a given crystal direction as defined previously by the Miller
index.
For both Si and GaAs the maximum valence band energy of an electron occurs
at p = 0. The minimum energy of the conduction band electron in GaAs also
occurs for p = 0, hence a transition across the bandgap only requires an Eg
energy absorbtion or emission. Because of this, GaAs is called a direct semi-
conductor. Si, on the other hand has its minimum conduction band electron
energy along the [100] direction where p 6= 0, and hence an electron transition
across the bandgap not only requires the exchange of the energy quantum Eg ,
but also a change in the crystal momentum. Therefore Si is called an indirect
semiconductor. As mentioned earlier, Si is not a suitable material for building
light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers, and the reason is that these
devices require direct semiconductors for efficient generation of photons.
With a known E p relationship, one can obtain the effective mass from the
second derivative of E with respect to p from equation (3):
!1
d2 E
mn = (4)
p2
d
Values for the effective mass are 0.19m0 for Si and 0.07m0 for GaAs, where
m0 is the free electron mass. The effective-mass approximation is useful, since
the electrons and holes then may be treated essentially as classical charged
particles.
Because of the mutual attraction between the negative electron and the positive
atom nucleus, the potential energy of an electron increases as the distance
increases. Therefore, if a hole is treated as a classical charged particle, it has a
potential energy oppositely directed to that of an electron due to its opposite
electric charge.
It can be shown by using equation (3) that the density of allowed energy states
per unit energy in the phase space is:
3/2
2mn
N (E) = 4 E 1/2 (6)
h2
where h is Plancks constant. Furthermore F (E) is given by the Fermi-Dirac
distribution function:
1
F (E) = (7)
1 + e(EEF )/kT
where k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the absolute temperature, and EF is
the Fermi energy level. The Fermi level is the energy at which the probability
of occupation by an electron is exactly one half. By assuming that F (E) '
exp[(E EF )/kT ] for (E EF ) > 3kT , the electron density of the conduction
band in equation (5) can be shown to be:
EC EF
!3/2
kT 2mn kT
n = NC e where NC 2 (8)
h2
where NV is the effective density of states in the valence band and mp is the
hole effective mass. For an undoped semiconductor, the number of electrons
per unit volume in the conduction band equals the number of holes per unit
volume in the valence band, i.e. n = p = ni , where ni is the intrinsic carrier
density (intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors are defined below). The Fermi
level for an intrinsic semiconductor is obtained by equating equations 8 and 9:
EC + EV 3kT mp
EF = Ei = + ln (10)
2 4 mn
At room temperature, the second term is much smaller than the bandgap.
Hence the intrinsic Fermilevel Ei of a semiconductor generally lies very close
to the middle of the bandgap. The intrinsic carrier density ni is also obtained
directly from equations 8 and 9:
np = n2i (11)
E E
VkT C
n2i = NC NV e
E g
2kT
q
ni = NC NV e (12)
The relation in equation (11) is called the mass action law, and is independent
of the Fermi energy. The relation is valid for both intrinsic and extrinsic (to be
explained in section 3) semiconductors under a thermal equilibrium condition,
and therefore central for studying the generation and recombination currents
in section 4.5 where the increase of one type of carrier tends to reduce the
number of the other.
3 Doping of semiconductors
Pure semiconductors, such as a Si crystal without any impurities, are called
intrinsic semiconductors. When a semiconductor is doped with impurities,
it becomes extrinsic and impurity energy levels are introduced. The doping
occurs when some atoms in the lattice are replaced with foreign atoms, altering
the lattice structure.
Figure 2a shows a Si lattice where one of the atoms have been replaced by
a type-V atom, e.g. phosphor. Four of the phosphor valence electrons form
covalent bonds to the nearest neighbouring Si-atoms, while the fifth becomes
a conduction electron that is donated to the conduction band. Thus, the
material is called an n-type donator because of the additional negative charge
carrier, or simply an n-type material. A complementary situation is seen in
figure 2b, where a Si atom is replaced by a type-III atom, e.g. boron. Here the
local lattice deficiency of one electron can receive an electron from one of the
neighbouring atoms, or a free conduction band electron. Thus, the material is
called a p-type acceptor because of the positive charge released by accepting
an electron. The convention of viewing this occurrence as a movement of a
positive charge, rather than a negative electron, will become clear in section 4.
+4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4
Si Si Si Si Si Si
CONDUCTION
ELECTRON HOLE
-q
+q
+4 +5 +4 +4 +3 +4
Si P Si Si B Si
+4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4
Si Si Si Si Si Si
(a) (b)
11111111111111111111111
00000000000000000000000 11111111111111111111111
00000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111
00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111 00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111
00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111
CONDUCTION
EC ELECTRONS
ED
DONOR
IONS
Ei Ep En
Eg
ACCEPTOR
IONS
EA
11111111111111111111111
00000000000000000000000
EV
00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111 00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111
CONDUCTION
00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111
HOLES
00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111 00000000000000000000000
11111111111111111111111
Figure 3: Schematic picture of energies in doped lattices. A
donator is ionized by accepting a valence electron, thus injecting
a conduction hole to the valence band.
NC
EC EF = kT ln (14)
ND
Similarly for a p-doped material it is easily shown by combining equations 9
and 13 that:
NV
EF EV = kT ln (15)
NA
It is seen that for high donor concentrations, the difference (EC EF ) is
reduced, hence the Fermi level will move closer to the bottom of the conduction
band. Similarly, a high acceptor concentration will move the Fermi level closer
to the valence band. This means that for extrinsic semiconductors, the Fermi
level is different from the intrinsic Fermi level, i.e. EF 6= Ei .
1 2 3
mn vth = kT (16)
2 2
where mn is the effective electron mass, vth is the average thermal velocity,
k is the Boltzmanns constant and T is the absolute temperature. At room
temperature the thermal velocity in equaiton 16 is about 107 cm/s for Si and
GaAs. Without the presence of either an electric field, or a charge gradient
in the material, the random motion leads to a zero net displacement of an
electron over a sufficiently long period of time. The Drude model, introduced
in 1900 by P. Drude, assumes the conduction electrons to move around freely
in a static lattice of positive ions, forming a gas of conduction electrons which
is then treated using the method of kinetic theory.
When an electric field is applied, each electron is accelerated in the field direc-
tion until it undergoes a collision (considered by Drude to be a collision with
the lattice), after which its velocity is randomized again. But during the mean
free path, the momentum applied to an electron is given by qEc , and the
momentum gained is mn vn , where vn is called the drift velocity. We have:
qc
qEc = mn vn vn = E (17)
mn
which states the proportionality of the drift velocity to the applied electric
field. The proportionality factor is called the electron mobility n in units of
cm2 /Vs, or:
qc
n vn = n E (18)
mn
A similar expression can be written for holes in the valence band (with sign
inversion due to the positive charge):
v p = p E (19)
The mobility in equation (18) is related directly to the mean free time between
collisions, which in turn is determined by the various scattering mechanisms,
the two most important mechanisms being lattice scattering and impurity
scattering.
Lattice scattering results from thermal vibrations of the lattice atoms at any
temperature above zero. These vibrations disturb the lattice periodic poten-
tial and allow energy to be transferred between the carriers and the lattice.
Since lattice vibration increases with increasing temperature, lattice scattering
becomes dominating at high temperatures, hence the mobility decreases with
increasing temperature. Theoretical analysis shows that the mobility due to
lattice scattering L will decrease in proportion to T 3/2 .
Impurity scattering results when a charge carrier travels past an ionized dopant
impurity (donor or acceptor). The charge carrier path will be deflected due to
Coulomb force interaction. The probability of impurity scattering depends on
the total concentration of ionized impurities, i.e. the sum of the concentration
of the negatively and positively charged ions. However, impurity scatterting
becomes less significant at higher temperatures, since the carriers then remain
near the impurity atom for a shorter time due to higher carrier velocity. Hence,
they are less effectively scattered. The mobility due to impurity scattering I
can be shown to vary as T 3/2 /NT , where NT is the total impurity concentration.
Impurity scattering not only predicts the mobility reduction for high temper-
atures, it also explains the fact that semiconductor mobility has a maximum
value for low doping concentrations. Increasing the doping concentration above
this limit will increase the concentration of ionized impurities and thus decrease
the mobility.
4.3.2 Resistivity
The transport of carriers under the influence of an applied electric field pro-
duces a current called drift current. Considering free electrons in a semicon-
ductor, they will experience a force qE which is equal to the negative gradient
of the potential energy:
n
In X
Jn = = (qvi ) = qnvn = qnn E (21)
A i=1
where In is the electron current, and equation (18) is used for the relationship
between vn and E. A similar argument applies to holes yielding Jp = qpp E,
thus the total current density due to the applied field may be written as:
1
' for an n-type semiconductor (24)
qnn
1
' for a p-type semiconductor (25)
qpp
1 l 1
F1 = n(l) = n(l) vth (26)
2 c 2
where n(x) is the electron density at x. Similarly, the average rate of electron
flow per unit area F2 from x = l is:
1
F1 = n(l) vth (27)
2
The net rate of carrier flow F from left to right (across x = 0) is then
1
F = F1 F2 = vth [n(l) n(l)] (28)
2
An approximation of n(x) at x = l by a first order Taylor series expansion
gives:
(" # " #)
1 dn dn
F = vth n(0) l n(0) + l
2 dx dx
dn dn
= vth l Dn (29)
dx dx
where Dn vth l is called the diffusivity. The flow of electrons results in a
current:
dn
Jn = qF = qDn (30)
dx
and it is seen that for an increasing electron concentration in positive x-
direction, there is a (positive) current in the same direction, i.e. the electrons
flow in the opposite direction. The same relations hold for diffusion of holes,
and the total drift and diffusion current for holes and electrons are simply
additive, giving the total conduction current density Jcond as:
dn
Jn = qn nE + qDn
dx
dp
Jp = qp pE qDp
dx
Jcond = Jn + Jp (31)
4.5 Generation and recombination currents
In thermal equilibrium the relationship (equation (11)) pn = n2i is valid. If
exess carriers are introduced to a semiconductor so that pn > n2i , we have a
nonequilibrium situation, and the process of introducing exess carriers is called
carrier injection. Excess carriers may be injected by various means, includ-
ing optical excitation and ionizing particles. Carrier injection by ionization
requires energies larger than the band gap Eg in order to inject electrons from
the valence to the conduction band.
Carrier injection by ionization produces an equal amount of excess electrons
and holes n = p. For extrinsic semiconductors, e.g. n-doped, the injected
electron density may be many orders of magnitude smaller than the ionized
donor concentration n ND , but the injected hole concentration may be
comparable or larger than the minority carrier concentration. This condition is
referred to as low-level injection. High-level injection is the situation where the
injected carrier concentration is comparable, or much larger than the majority
carrier concentration.
4.5.1 Direct semiconductors
G = Gth + GM (32)
R = nn pn = (nn0 + n)(pn0 + p) (33)
This shows that the net recombination rate is proportional to the excess minor-
ity carrier concentration. Also, because of this proportionality, an exponential
decay is expected. Considering a steady state nonequilibrium situation where
GM 6= 0 and then suddenly set to G = 0 at t = 0. The solution to the
differential equation dpn /dt = U = nn0 p is:
1
pn (t) = pn0 + p GM et/p where p (35)
nn0
where Ra and Rb are the electron capture and electron emission rates respec-
tively, and Et is the recombination energy level. However, by applying similar
assumtions as for the direct semiconductor case above, and also assuming that
the recombination centers are located near the middle of the bandgap, equation
36 may be reduced to:
vs
vn , v p = (38)
[1 + (E0 /E)]1/
where vs is the saturation velocity (107 cm/s for Si at 300 K), and E0 is a
constant equal to 7 103 V/cm for electrons and 2 104 V/cm for holes, and
is 2 for electrons and 1 for holes.
Another current component that may occur for high voltage operation of semi-
conductors results from an avalanche process. This is governed by conduction
electrons with sufficient energy to ionize atoms in the lattice. These electrons
gain kinetic energy from the strong electric field between each interaction with
the lattice, and the ionized electron-hole pair may gain sufficient kinetic energy
in the field to ionize other atoms. This chain reaction gives rise to a very large
current increase for a small increase of the electric field around a critical value.
Drift
EC EC EC
EF
Diffusion
EC
EF E
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
00000000000
11111111111 000000000000
111111111111 F
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111 EF
EV 11111111111
00000000000
00000000000
11111111111 E111111111111
000000000000
000000000000
111111111111 0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
E
00000000000
11111111111
V
000000000000
111111111111 0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
V
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
00000000000
11111111111 Diffusion
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111 EV
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
Drift
0000000000000000000000
1111111111111111111111
(a) (b)
Jp = Jp (drift) + Jp (diffusion)
dp
= qp pE qDp
!dx
1 dEi dp
= qp p kT p =0 (39)
q dx dx
where equation (20) and the Einstein relation Dp = kT p /q have been used.
It can be verified from equation (9) that:
Inserted into equation (39) yields the net hole current density:
dEF dEF
J p = p p =0 or =0 (42)
dx dx
Thus, the Fermi level must be constant throughout the sample as illustrated
in figure 4b. Close to the junction on each side, there are now two regions
where all bound excited states are left uncompensated. Going outwards one
reaches the transition region where the ions are partially compensated by free
charge carriers. The region from the junction and outwards on both sides,
including the transition region, is called the space charge region, or depletion
region, since it is depleted for free charge carriers (see figure 5). Outside the
transition region charge neutrality is maintained.
The transition region is usually small compared to the total space charge re-
gion, thus the space charge distribution may be approximated by a rectangular
where the n-side depletion region extends uniformly up to xn , and at the p-side
up to xp .
The electrostatic potential is defined in order that its negative gradient equals
the electric field:
Depletion Region
ND -N A
Neutral n
Neutral p
111111111111
000000000000
region
000000000000
111111111111
region
000000000000
111111111111
000000000000
111111111111
xp
0000000000
1111111111000000000000
111111111111
Transition
0000000000
1111111111
0000000000
1111111111
0 x n x
Region 1111111111
0000000000
0000000000
1111111111
0000000000
1111111111
0000000000
1111111111
0000000000
1111111111
Figure 5: Space charge distribution of a p-n junction with
abrupt doping changes at the metallurgical junction.
d Ei
E = (43)
dx q
1 kT NA
p (Ei EF ) = ln (44)
q xx p q ni
where equation (40) has been used by first setting p = NA . This is valid since
Poissons equation yields (for the neutral region):
dE s q
= = (ND NA + p n) (45)
dx S S
assuming all donors and acceptors to be ionized. And due to the p-type ma-
terial; ND = 0 and p n. S is the permittivity of Si.
A similar expression may be obtained for the electrostatic potential at x > xn
in an n-type material with respect to the Fermi level:
1 ND
n (Ei EF ) = kT ln (46)
q xxn ni
Hence the total electrostatic potential difference between the p-side and the
n-side neutral regions at thermal equilibrium is called the built-in potential
Vbi :
kT NA ND
Vbi = n p = ln (47)
q n2i
ND -N A
Lightly doped
Neutral n
Neutral p n region
region 111111111111
000000000000
000000000000
111111111111
region
000000000000
111111111111
x 111111111111
000000000000
p
0
1000000000000
111111111111
0
1 0 x n x
0
1
0 Heavily
1 doped
0
1
0
1
p region
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
Figure 6: Space charge distribution of a highly doped abrupt p-n
junction with abrupt doping changes at the metallurgical junction.
NA x p = ND x n (48)
where the space charge regions are approximated by rectangular regions, also
called an abrupt junction, with xp and xn as the lower and upper limits
respectively. The total depletion region width d is then given by d = xn + xp .
d is easily found by first calculating the electric field of the space charge region
from Poissons equation:
E = qN
S
A
(xp + x) , xp x 0 (49)
qND
E= S
(x xn ) , 0 x xn (50)
Z xn Z 0 Z xn
Vbi = E(x) dx = E(x) dx E(x) dx
xp xp 0
qNA x2p qND x2n
= + (51)
2 + S 2S
and from this, the depletion width d is given by:
s
2S NA + ND
d= Vbi (52)
q NA ND
For approximate abrupt space charge regions where one impurity type is dom-
inant (as for the p+ n junction mentioned above), the depletion width will
almost entirely depend on the light dopant in accordance with the above equa-
tions. These junctions are called one-sided abrupt junctions, and equation (52)
may be approximated by:
s
2S Vbi
d (53)
qND
where Nef f is the effective doping concentration of the lightly doped bulk, and
V is positive for reverse bias voltages. A method for measuring this value is
outlined in a later section. The space charge region that results from a reverse
bias voltage is important when using the p-n junction as a particle detector,
as will be explained in a later chapter.