Pre-Exam2

recitation 3.23 FA17

Semiconductors
Can Onur Avci
7 November 2017
 Distinction btw Metal, semiconductor, insulator

• Metals: at least one band is partially filled à carries current

• Insulators/SCs: all bands either completely filled or empty
• Indication of SC behavior?
• Resistivity orders of magnitude:
• semiconductors: r ~ 10-3 – 109 ohm-cm
• metals: r ~ 10-6 ohm-cm
• Insulators: r ~ 1022 ohm-cm
• s=1/r
• Electrons excited across Eg ~exp(-Eg/2kBT) à Fermi-Dirac distribution function
• E.g. insulators ~ 4 eV and SC ~ 0.25 eV. (kBT=0.025)
• Strong I and T dependence of SCs.
• Metals s = ne2t/m (t à relaxation time, T dependent)
 What the band structure looks like
Simplified representation Silicon band structure

No gap Eg < 2 eV Eg > 4 eV

Si is an indirect band gap semiconductor
 Direct vs. indirect band gap

Direct hopping of electrons, leaving a hole behind Additional momentum is supplied by phonons to
no phonon released or annihilated compensate for the shift in the momentum space

The band gap is T-dep, 10% variation between zero-T and RT

By ignoring the T-dep, Eg can be found by plotting -ln(s) vs. 1/2kBT
Recognizing direct and indirect gap
absorption, the Ge case
direct transitions àhigher
photon energy

More phonons available at higher T,

thereby more absorption

direct transitions àlower

photon energy
 Law of mass action

Effective number of conduction band states for

electrons n0(T) and holes p0(T)

This holds considering that Eg >> kBT, a condition satisfied almost in all
semiconductors at RT and below
Position of the chemical potential
There is a difference between the Fermi energy and
the chemical potential.
EF = µ(0 K)
At higher T à EF ≈ µ(0 K)

At T = 0 the Eg sits exactly in the middle of the gap

 Effective mass and band parabolicity
The effective mass can be qualitatively evaluated by the parabolicity of the bands. A
shallow band means heavier effective mass and vice versa…
Problem solving - general semiconductors
 Problem solving – thermoelectricity
Thermoelectric materials can convert heat into electricity and vice versa. Their applications range from solid-state,
long term power generation to precise temperature control. For a given material, thermoelectric efficiency is
optimized by maximizing the thermoelectric figure of merit, zT, which is defined:
𝜎𝛼 ' 𝑇
𝑧𝑇 =
𝜅
where 𝜎 is the electronic conductivity of the material, 𝛼 is the Seebeck coefficient, and 𝜅 is the thermal conductivity.
For metals or degenerate semiconductors (parabolic band under the energy-independent scattering approximation)
the Seebeck coefficient’s dependence on T is given by:
8𝜋 ' 𝑘,' ∗ 𝜋 '/4
𝛼= 𝑚 𝑇
3𝑒ℎ' 3𝑛
where m* is the effective mass of the charge carrier, n is the carrier density, and e, h, and kB are the electron charge,
Planck’s constant, and Boltzmann’s constant, respectively.

a) Explain how maximizing the conductivity of this material conflicts with maximizing the Seebeck coefficient.

b) A paradigm of thermoelectrics research is the search for a ‘phonon glass, electron crystal’. Explain the meaning
of this term in light of the figure of merit zT, and explain why this is a difficult problem in terms of maximizing 𝜎
while minimizing 𝜅. Note that the thermal conductivity 𝜅 can be broken into two components; the ‘electronic’
thermal conductivity 𝜅5 , which arises from heat carried by charge carriers, and the ‘lattice’ thermal conductivity 𝜅6 ,
which arises from heat carried by phonons.
 Thermoelectricity - continued
Below are provided the electronic band structures of two materials, (i) Ca5Al2Sb6, and (ii) Si0.8Ge0.2. When these
materials are optimally p-type doped, they have comparable zT of ~0.6. The speed of sound in material (i) is 2660
m/s, while in material (ii) the speed of sound is 7830 m/s. The phonon band structure of Si is also shown; it is
expected that the alloy (ii) will have a very similar phonon band structure.
• Describe one way that you would expect the phonon band structure of (ii) to differ from the
shown structure of Si. Given that material (i) has an 13-atom basis with orthorhombic
symmetry, describe some of the features you would expect to see in the phonon band structure
for (i).
• When optimized for maximum zT, these materials have very similar p-type dopant
concentrations. Qualitatively explain how you think the values of 𝜎, 𝜅, and 𝛼 compare in these
materials. What strategy do you think was used to optimize zT?
• For each material, do you think an n-type version would have higher or lower zT? Explain.
• For each material, state whether you would use a tight-binding approach or a nearly-free-
electron approach to model the electronic structure near the band gap. Explain your choice. If
you would prefer a mixed approach, explain how you would implement it based on the band
structures.
• One common way to improve the thermoelectric performance of materials is to introduce
substitutional defects (alloying). Why is this an effective strategy in achieving the ‘phonon glass,
electron crystal’ paradigm?
• You can see from the band structures that these are both semiconductors; why do
semiconductors make better thermoelectrics than metals or insulators?
Thermoelectricity question
 Extrinsic semiconductors
• Donor impurity à excess electron, µ moves up in energy (n-type)
• Acceptor impurity à electron deficiency, µ moves down in energy (p-type)
 Finding µ in the presence of dopants
• The law of mass action still applies but n ≠ p
• n – p = ND – NA
• Ionization of donors depends on temperature (see graph below)

• Useful relations for the behavior or µ (non-degenerate SCs)

n-type SC p-type SC
 What if you connect n- and p-type SC

n-type SC p-type SC
What if you connect n- and p-type SC

n-type SC p-type SC
 Interface between n- and p-type SC
à PN junction

• At the junction of p-type and n-type SC there is a

potential (built-in potential).
• This is the region in which the carrier densities are
non-uniform à depletion layer (10-1000 nm).
• E-field from n- to p-type opposing the charge
movement
• E=dV/dx
• The DL extends further in the less doped side
(why?)
 The effect applying bias voltage
The average length an electron travels through the p-type material before
recombining is called the diffusion length, and it is typically on the order
of micrometers
No bias voltage
I-V characteristics
à Effective diode, useful for applications

Forward bias

Reverse bias
Problem solving p-n junction