SOLID STATE DEVICES

Ref: NPTEL videos of Dr.S.Karmalkar

1-Introduction
ty - Due to the growth of semiconductor devices ,we cant treat them only as blac

ation:
l signal devices and Power devices
frequency and low frequency devices
ete devices and Integrated Circuit devices

evices for example

gnal diodes and transistors modify and amplify electrical power

wer insulated gate bipolar transistors

les large amount of power
to dissipate large amount of power effeciently
to attach heat sink
aging is very important
er than small signal devices

ectron mobility transistor High frequency amplification

hic accelerometer
ed Circuit devices-Number of devices integrated on a single semiconductor subs

evices can be classified based on the frequency of the application they are used f
dio- Electromagnetic applications
M,FM/TV-Wireless applications
crowave Satellite
sible light Optoelectronic devices

Others- conversion one form of energy to other

Mems Devices micro electro mechanical system electrical energy to
mechanical energy and
vice versa
Laser diodes - Optoelectronic Devices electrical energy to optical energy
Devices can be broadly classified as
1. Energy Systems
Generation distribution and regulation of large amount of power
2 . Information Systems
Store process and communicate large amount of information with less power
and high speed
Devices enhance
1. Performance
2. Reliability
3. Cost effectiveness

Objective
To relate the terminal characteristics of devices to the material parameters

ode characteristics
Rectifing current vs voltage characteristics
In very high reverse bias the device breakdown
In breakdown it generates stable voltage independent of the current

ode applications
Rectifiers
Stable voltage sources

racteristics
erent base current ,different collector current as a function of collector to emitter

lication
ers

T characteristics
erent Gate-source voltage,different drain current as a function of drain to source

T application
ers

Properties of Semiconductors
1. Polarity of charge carrriers(+ve and -ve)
2. Concentration of charge carrriers
3. Transport(velocity) of charge carrriers
4. Interaction with electromagnetic field
Approximate values of carrier concentration
. Insulators
<106
. Semiconductors
106-1021
. Metals
>1021
Varying concentration by
1. Doping
2. Illumination
3. Temperature variation
Drift - When you apply electric field in metals ,current flows due to potential
gradient.
Usually drift velocity to electric field ratio(mobility) is constant
Piezo resistivity mobility changes inversely with pressure
In some compound semiconductor like GaAs, drift velocity reduces after
reaching a peak value.
Negative differential resistivity used to make oscillators.
Diffusion In semiconductors, charge carriers flow because of concentration

Resistivity of a 1cc sample

Metals
<10-3
Semiconductors
Insulators
>105

10-3-105

Resistivity change due to concentration and mobility

Some special effect with light:
Photoconductivity / Photovoltaic - when light falls on semiconductors,
electron hole pair generation and so there is a change in conductivity solar
cells
Electro luminescence electrical energy to light energy- Laser diodes
Photo luminescence combination of both

Lecture 2-Uniqueness and Evolution of semiconductor Technology

Ref Book: Transistors Fundamentals for the integrated circuit engineer
Author: R.M.Warner and B.L.Grung
Chapter : origin and personality of microelectronic devices
TECHNOLOGY processing of material, energy or information to develop a
useful product
High technology - the processing technology is very stringent and product
is highly reliability at low cost and better performance
Processing conditions in semiconductor technology
Perfect single crystal material
Ultra clean environment
Sophisticated equipment
Class10 clean room- no more than 10 particles of size more than 0.3
micron/cubic feet
Whereas in Open air- more than a million such particles
resistivity of Deionized water- resistivity should be around 20M ohm
Whereas for tap water 20k ohm/cm
High grade of equipment semiconductor grade and MOS grade
Sophisticated equipments like cleaner bench by maintaining high +ve
pressure using filters
Limitation High Initial capital investment
Advantage Price of the products id less

Lecture 3 Equilibrium Carrier Concentration(1/9)

Carrier concentration as a function of time

At temperature T=300K
ni of Ge > Si > GaAs

nn0 electron concentration in an N-type

semiconductor at equilibrium
Nd Doping concentration
pn0 = ni2 / nn0
Under equilibrium p0n0 = ni2

Two Classifications of semiconductors

1. Simple or elemental semiconductor
2. Compound semiconductor
3. Pure no impurity
4. Intrinsic contains impurities but concentration of electrons and holes are
same at equilibrium but no defects
5. Extrinsic electron hole concentration is may not same or may contains
defects

Thermal Equilibrium or thermodynamic equilibrium

It is an intense dynamic equilibrium
It is the convenient idealized condition which is amenable to simple
mathematical treatment
1. No external excitation other than temperature
2. No net motion of charge or energy
Principle of detailed balance:
. For every process thats going on there is an inverse process going on at
the same rate
. At every level of detail
Quasi Equilibrium model
. Slight Deviation from the idealized condition
. Used to model complex real life situation many situations of
semiconductor device
Steady state
. All process are constant as a function of time
. Its not necessary that every process needs to have an inverse process
. Transient analysis-> quasi steady state analysis
. Transient condition -> quasi steady state condition/quasi static condition-

Lecture 4- Equilibrium carrier concentration (2/9)

Wave particle Duality
Energy/matter propagates in the form of stream of particles or travelling
waves
E=h
P=h/
E(P) represents minimum energy(momentum) quantum that can propagate
E,P properties of particle in the stream
, properties of travelling wave
-variation w.r.t. time
-vatiation w.r.t. distance
1eV=hV/E=1.24 eV
Where V is velocity of photon

Travelling wave varies with space and time

Elastic wave circular wave disturbance of displaced particle
Standing wave Interference of two travelling wave

ond Model of Intrinsic semiconductor

ystal Structure
Atoms at 4 corners
Atoms at 6 face centres
Atoms near 4 corners A,B,C,D

At T= 0 K
No thermal agitation
No bond is broken
At T > 0 K
4 particles are created
Each atom vibrates with its mean position, so elastic waves (phonons)
are generated
Each travelling waves generated interfere with other travelling waves
Positively charged nucleus of an atom and the electron cloud move in
different directions
The displacement of these charges create an oscillating electric dipole
As per maxwells oscillating dipole will radiate electromagnetic
waves( photons)
Waves emenating from different atoms interfere . if the energy of
collision due to that is more than the bond energy, bond breaks and
gives rise to a free electron
The free electron leave behind a vacancy (holes) in an atom

Lecture 5- Equilibrium carrier concentration (3/9)

Detailed balance
Electron Hole pair Generation
<-> Recombination
Photo generation / Photo ionization <-> radioactive recombination
Impact ionization / Impact generation <-> Anger recombination
Phonon Ionization
<-> Phonon recombination
Recombination when electron and hole come nearer, they combine and
annihilation occurs
Scattering
when electron and hole come nearer, the direction of
motion changes
Hole concept
Current due to movement of = > free electrons + bound electron
Free electrons is faster than bound electrons because of the rate of
movement
Hall effect experiment is a direct demonstation of positively charged particles
Effective mass = constant x m0
m0 mass of electron in vacuum
mp - effective mass of holes
mn - effective mass of electron

ity of a particle collides, P = intrinsic carrier concentration, n i/ atomic concentrat

0K

energy of any particle at thermal equilibrium, E=kT=0.026 eV

ergy = 1.1eV
articles need to be converged to break a bond in Silicon atom = 1.1 / 0.026 = 42
bability that a free electron is created by collision(hit by a particle)

00K
energy of any particle at thermal equilibrium, E=kT=0.026 x 4 / 3 eV
ergy = 1.1eV
articles need to be converged to break a bond in Silicon atom = 1.1x3 / 0.026 x4
obability that a free electron is created by collision(hit by a particle)

p31.5

Lecture 6- Equilibrium carrier concentration (4/9)

3 Tenets of Energy Band model
I - Allowed states
only a certain energy states are available
Electron tend to occupy the lowest energy state which are available
Paulis Exclusion Principle: no two electrons can occupy same energy state
II Distribution of allowed states over E , N(E)
Derived from quantum mechanics
III at any T, under equilibrium condition , only a fraction of allowed states
are occupied, f(E,T)
Fermi- Dirac function
Derived from statistical mechanics

 Atomic separation for

a crystal is decided by
the lowest possible
energy at which the
attractive and
repulsive forces cancel
each other.
It is also called as the
interatomic distance

3s,3p orbitals 2N,6N states 2N,2N electrons

Energy levels of atoms of closer atomic separation , these bands are
divided and combined , then separates exactly into two equal bands
This is due to coupling and paulis exclusion principle

Simplified Energy Band diagram of Silicon

X- electron affinity (4.05eV for Si)

Eg - Energy band gap(1.1eV for Si)

Lecture 7 Equilibrium carrier concentration (5/9)

Fermi-Dirac Function Fraction of available

states occupied at
any energy and
temperature

Boltzman approximations

Physical Significance of Ef :
At T = 0K
Above Ef No allowed energy level is occupied
Below Ef all allowed energy level is occupied
At T > 0K
Ef is the energy at which exactly half of the available states are occupied
Number of available states = 4 x 5 x 1022 /cm3

Lecture 8 Equilibrium carrier concentration (6/9)

Boltzman approximation is true only if its assumption is true
By simple reasoning we can conclude that Ef has to be close to the middle
of the energy gap to make the electron and hole concentration equal.
So half of Eg is greater than 3kT where this approximation is true.
Expression for the intrinsic carrier concentration

Effective mass depends on the situation

Conductivity effective mass is the mass of the electrons and holes moving
in the conduction band
Mass of the free electron is lesser than holes since the rate of movement of
free electron is faster than the bound electrons

Lecture 9 Equilibrium carrier concentration (7/9)