Variation of Fermi level with temperature and carrier concentration

in intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors

Consider an intrinsic semi-conductor in thermal equilibrium at temperature T K. Let n be the
number density of electron-hole pairs in the
semiconductor.
For the simplicity let us assume that
(i) all conduction electrons have energy equal to
E
C
and all valence electrons have energy
equal to E
V
(Fig.1)
(ii) the electrons in conduction band behaves as
free with an effective mass m
*
e
Fig.1


The electron concentration(number of electrons per unit volume) in the conduction band in thermal
equilibrium is given by
n
e
=2
2 / 3
2
*
2
(

h
T k m
e
t

kT
E E
C F
e
) (
-----------------------------(1)
:

Similarly, for hole concentration n
h
we assume that
(i) the holes near the top of valence band behave as if they are free particles with an effective mass
m
h
*
.
Then the density of holes in the valence band is given by
n
h
=2
2 / 3
2
*
2
(

h
T k m
h
t

kT
E E
F V
e
) (
--------------------------------------(2)
For an intrinsic semiconductor
n
e
=n
h
= n
i
(say) where n
i
is the density of electron hole pairs in an intrinsic semiconductor is
Multiplying eqn (1) and (2), we get
n
e
n
h
=4
2 / 3 * *
3
2
) (
2
h e
m m
h
T k
(

t

kT
E E
C V
e
) (

T k
E
3 2
g
e T A =

---------------------(3)
where E
g
= (E
C
E
V
) is the width of forbidden energy gap between conduction and valence bands.
A
2
=4
2 / 3 * *
6
3 3
2 / 3 * *
3
2
) (
32
) (
2
h e h e
m m
h
k
m m
h
k t t
=
(

-----------------------------(4)
Equation (3) shows that the product of hole and electron densities at thermal equilibrium is
independent of the position of Fermi level and depends on the forbidden energy gap E
g
and on the
absolute temperature.
n
i
= (n
e
n
h
)
1/2
=A T
3/2

T k
E
g
e
2

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------(5)
= 2
T 2k
E
4 / 3 * *
2 / 3
2
g
e ) (
2

(

h e
m m
h
T k t
----------------------------------------------------(6)
The experimental value of A is 9.64x10
15

As n
e
= n
h
Equating (1) and (2), we get
2
2 / 3
2
*
2
(

h
T k m
e
t

kT
E E
C F
e
) (
=2
2 / 3
2
*
2
(

T k m
h
t

kT
E E
F V
e
) (


kT
E E
kT
E E
F V
C F
e
e
) (
) (

=
2 / 3
*
*
(

e
h
m
m

kT
E E E
V C F
e
2
=
2 / 3
*
*
(

e
h
m
m

Taking log on both the sides, we get
e
V C F
kT
E E E
log
2
3 2
=

*
*
e
h
m
m

|
|
.
|

\
|
+
+
=
*
*
log
4
3
2
e
h
e
V C
F
m
m
T k
E E
E --------------------------------------------------(7)
This equation gives the Fermi level and its variation with temperature for intrinsic
semiconductor.
Case 1: At T=0K
2
V C
F
E E
E
+
=
Case 2: When m
e
*
= m
h
*
then
2
V C
F
E E
E
+
=
Case 3: When m
e
*
is not equal to m
h
*
and T0K then E
f
is slightly raised towards conduction
band.
Strictly speaking the effective mass of electron m
e
*
is different than that of a hole m
h
*
but to a
good approximation m
e
and m
h
*
may be assumed to be equal and so eqn. (7)
2
V C
F
E E
E
+
= -------------------------------------------------------------------------(8)
This shows that in an intrinsic semi-conductor, the Fermi-level essentially lies at the centre
of the forbidden energy gap E
g
.
Energy Band Diagram and Fermi-Level in N-type semiconductor
The impurity introduces new energy levels into the energy band picture. The location of this new
level, donor level is slightly below the bottom
of the conduction band.

At 0 K all allowed energy levels in the valence
band are filled by electrons. All donor levels are
filled by unbound electrons. The conduction
band is free. So charge carriers do not exist, and
the semiconductor behaves as an insulator. At 0
K the Fermi level is between the donor levels
and the bottom of the conduction band as shown
below.

The energy required to move an electron from a
donor impurity level into the conduction band is of the order of 0.01eV and since at ambient
temperature the thermal energy is considered to be about 0.02eV, it is concluded that almost all
the electrons are detached from the donor atoms and have conduction band energies. If we
assume that all the donor atoms are ionised, the donor electrons will occupy the states near the
bottom of the conduction band.
Density of electrons in the conduction band will be approximately equal to the density of donor
atoms i.e., n
e
N
d
where N
d
is the density of donor atoms
N
d
= n
e
= 2
2 / 3
2
*
2
(

h
T k m
e
t

kT
E E
C F
e
) (
[from eqn. (1)]
= N
C

kT
E E
C F
e
) (
where N
C
=2
2 / 3
2
*
2
(

h
T k m
e
t

kT
E E
d
c
C F
e
N
N
) (
=

Taking logarithms on both the sides
kT
E E
N
N
C F
d
c
) (
ln

=

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
d
C
e C F
N
N
T k E E log

This shows that in N-type semiconductor the
Fermi-level lies below the bottom of the
conduction band.

As temperature rises, the Fermi level goes on
falling below E
C
. As temperature is
sufficiently raised, the electrons and holes
generated due to thermal agitation increase
significantly and at a stage intrinsic become fully dominant over the extrinsic carriers. Then the
Fermi level approaches the middle of forbidden energy gap.

Energy Band Diagram and Fermi-Level in P-type semiconductor
The energy band diagram of a P-type semiconductor is shown in Fig. The acceptor level is
shown by E
A
near the top of the valence band, the Fermi level by E
F
.
At absolute zero, all the holes are in acceptor
levels, but as the temperature rises, the electrons
from valence band jump into acceptor level on
the absorption of energy (E
A
-E
V
) by each
electron. As a result, these electrons are trapped
in the acceptor levels and an equal number of
holes are created in the valence band. These
holes provide conduction currents. At the room
temperature, almost all acceptor atoms trap
electrons and thus the number of holes available
in the valence band is almost equal to the number
of impurity atoms added.
In a P-type crystal the concentration of holes in
the valence band is more than the concentration
of electrons in the conduction band, therefore the Fermi level is shifted from the middle position
of forbidden gap towards the upper edge of the valence band by an amount of E.
If we assume that only acceptor atoms are present and all are ionised, we have
T k
E E
V
T k
E E
h
F V F V
e N e
h
T k m
) ( ) (
2 / 3
2
*
a h
2
2 = N = n

=
(

t

where N
V
=
2 / 3
2
*
2
2
(

h
T k m
h
t

T k
E E
a
V
F V
e
N
N
) (

=
Taking logarithms on both the sides
T k
E E
N
N
F V
a
V
) (
ln

=
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
a
V
e V F
N
N
T k E E log

This shows that Fermi level lies above
the top of the valence band. The position of Fermi level depends upon the temperature and the
number of impurity atoms. As the temperature is sufficiently increased, electrons from the
valence band are excited to the conduction band and finally the P-type crystal will start behaving
like an intrinsic semi-conductor when the number of electrons in the conduction band will be
nearly equal to the valence holes. Thus at extremely high temperatures the Fermi level shifts
towards the middle of forbidden energy gap.
Effect of Temperature
If we increase the temperature of an n-type semiconductor. Since all the donors have already
donated their free electrons at room
temperature, the additional thermal
energy will only increase the generation
of electron-hole pairs. A temperature is
ultimately reached when the number of
covalent bonds broken is very large such
that the number of holes and electrons is
almost equal. The extrinsic
semiconductor then behaves like an
intrinsic semiconductor, although its
conductivity is higher. This critical
temperature is 85
0
C for germanium and
20
0
C for silicon. The same arrangement can be put forward for the p-type semiconductor. Thus
with an increase in the temperature of an extrinsic semiconductor, it behaves almost intrinsically.