Department of Photonics Engineering 2017/11/6

Yuan Ze University
Semiconductor Devices

Homework Problem set 1

Constants you might need :

Boltzmanns constant, k = 1.38 x 10-23 J/K
Thermal voltage at 300 K, kT/q = 0.0259V
Silicon band gap at 300 K, Eg = 1.12 eV
Intrinsic carrier density in Si, ni = 1010 cm-3 at 300K.

1. Electron density distribution, n(E)

The density of electron per unit energy in the conduction band at temperature T is given by
n(E) = g(E) f(E)
where g(E) and f(E) are the density of states and Fermi-Dirac distribution, respectively.
Determine the energy at which the electron density n(E) peaks. Assume that the material is
intrinsic and use the Maxwell-Boltzmann approximation for f(E).

2. Crystal lattices (Read Chapter 1 if you dont understand some of the terms.)
(a) How many lattice points per cell are there for BCC, FCC, and diamond
structure? (Here we choose the cubic unit cell.) Note that some lattice points are
shared by several adjacent cells.
(b) How many nearest neighbors per lattice point are there for BCC, FCC, and
diamond structure?
(c) Calculate the packing fraction for the following lattices: BCC, FCC, and
diamond structure.
(d) Show that the angle between two neighboring bonds in a diamond structure is
109.5o. This is the so-called tetrahedral bond angle.
(e) Calculate the density of atoms (atoms/cm3) in a Si crystal. The lattice constant of
Si is: a = 5.431 (for the cubic unit cell.)

3. Fermi-Dirac distribution function

(a) Plot the Fermi-Dirac distribution function f vs. (E-EF) for 4 different
temperatures: T = 0, 150, 300, 450 K. Use any software available, for example,
Excel, Origin, Matlab, Mathematica,...
(b) For T > 0, when f(E) = 0.2 and 0.8, what are the values of (E- EF) in units of kT?

4. Band structure
(a) Plot the E-k band diagrams for Si and GaAs separately. You must indicate clearly
on the plots the following details:
Department of Photonics Engineering 2017/11/6
Yuan Ze University
Semiconductor Devices

(1) The , X, and L points on the k-axis, and the positions for the minimum in
conduction band and the maximum in valence band.
(2) Band gap energy (Eg).
(3) The positions for the conduction electrons (e-) and holes (h).
(4) Draw the photon absorption processes on the band diagrams of Si and GaAs
when the photon energy is equal to, or very close to, Eg. (Note the difference
between direct and indirect band gaps!)
(b) Plot for Si and GaAs the optical absorption coefficient vs. photon energy E.
The vertical axis should be log . Please indicate where the band gap is.

5. Photons vs. phonons

It is often said that photons have large energy and small momentum, while
phonons have large momentum and small energy. Verify this statement as
follows:
(a) Calculate the k value for a 1-eV photon. (k is proportional to momentum.) Is it
significantly smaller than the maximum k on the band diagram? The maximum k
on the band diagram is about /a, where a is the lattice constant.
(b) Calculate the phonon energy when k = kmax. Is it much smaller than 1 eV?
Assume that the speed of sound in Si is ~ 6000 m/s.
(c) Calculate the values of E/k for a photon and for a phonon, and plot an E-k
diagram to show that an optical transition is vertical, while an acoustical
transition is nearly horizontal.

6. The position of Fermi level

At a temperature of 300K,
(a) show that as the Fermi level move upward, n will increase (p will decrease) at a
rate of ~ 60 meV/dec. (1 decade = 1 order of magnitude)
(b) Show that as the energy gap Eg open wider, n and p will both decrease at a rate
of ~ 60 meV/dec.
(c) The Arrhenius equation gives "the dependence of the rate constant k of
chemical reactions on the temperature T (in absolute temperature kelvins) and
activation energy Ea", as shown below:

Why do n and p also obey this Arrhenius equation?

E g / k BT
n p N C NV e