E84 Lecture 3/26/14 K.

Candler

Agenda
o Semiconductor Materials
o Crystal Growth
o Intrinsic Semiconductors
o Extrinsic Semiconductors

Introduction
– A semiconductor is a material that has electrical conductivity to a degree that is
between that of a conductor (such as copper, silver, gold) and an insulator (such as
glass).

– Semiconductors are the foundation of modern electronics, e.g.,

o Transistors
o Solar cells
o Light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
o Photodiodes
o Digital and analog ICs

Semiconductor Materials
– Si, Ge, GaAs, SiC
– The bonding model:

(Figure from Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Addison Wesley)

o 4 valence electrons
o Covalent bonds
o Si is a very poor conductor at room temperature…no free electrons

– Purity
o Purity of semiconductors needs to be very carefully controlled.
o Modern semiconductors are some of the purist solid materials that exist. In
silicon: Unintentional dopant atoms < 1 per 109 Si atoms (like finding 25
apple trees in a forest of pine trees planted coast to coast at 50 ft centers across
the U.S.)

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– Structure
Amorphous Polycrystalline Crystalline

(Figure from Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Addison Wesley)

o Amorphous: No recognizable long-range order
o Polycrystalline: Completely ordered in segments
o Crystalline: Entire solid is made up of atoms in orderly array

Crystal Growth
– Obtaining Ultrapure Polycrystalline Si

(Figure from Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Addison Wesley)

– Obtaining Single-Crystal Si
o Invented in 1916 by a Polish scientist, Jan Czochralski
o A seed crystal is dipped into a crucible of molten silicon and withdrawn
slowly, pulling a cylindrical single crystal as the silicon crystallizes on the
seed.
o Show video (up to 4 min mark):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWVywhzuHnQ

Intrinsic Semiconductors
– No impurities and lattice defects in its crystal structure
– If an electron gains enough energy (from thermal or optical excitation), it can break
the covalent bond and become a free carrier.
o E > Eg ; Eg = bandgap energy (the energy needed for an electron to break a
bond)
 Eg = 1.12 eV (Si)
 Eg = 1.42 eV (GaAs)

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  Eg = 0.66 eV (Ge)
 Eg (metal) << Eg (semiconductor) << Eg (insulator)

– When a bond is broken, two mobile charge carriers are created: electrons (negative
charge) and holes (positive charge)

(Figure from Howe & Sodini, Microelectronics, Prentice Hall)

– no = po ≡ ni (at thermal equilibrium)

o no = electron concentration at thermal equilibrium [cm-3]
o po = hole concentration at thermal equilibrium [cm-3]
o ni = intrinsic carrier concentration (ni = 1.5 x 1010 cm-3 in Si at T = 300 K)
– Exercise: How many bonds are broken in Si at room temperature? (Hint: silicon atom
density = 5 x 1022 Si atoms/cm3)
o Total possible bonds = 5 x 1022 Si atoms/cm-3 x 4 bonds/atom = 2 x 1023
bonds/cm-3
o # broken bonds at room temp = ni = 1.5 x 1010 cm-3
o # broken bonds/total possible bonds = 1.5 x 1010/2 x 1023 ~ 0.7 x 10-13  less
than one bond in 1013 is broken in Si at room temperature!
– Main point: At room temperature, relatively few electrons gain enough energy to
become free electrons, the overall conductivity of semiconductors is low, thereby
their name semiconductors.
– Increasing temperature leads to better or worse conductivity?

Extrinsic Semiconductors
– Contain impurity atoms, which contribute extra electrons and holes (improve
conductivity)
– Impurities are introduced through doping.
– Dopants are Group III (B, Ga, In, Al) or V (P, As, Sb).
– Doping with Group V Elements (Donors)

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 (Figure from Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Addison Wesley)
 Extra electrons: N-type semiconductor
 Majority carrier: electron
 Minority carrier: hole

– Doping with Group III Elements (Acceptors):

(Figure from Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Addison Wesley)

 Extra holes: P-type semiconductor
 Majority carrier: hole
 Minority carrier: electron

– How to calculate # electrons and holes (mobile carriers) in doped Si?

o Mass Action Law:
n o ⋅ po = n i
2

o rate of electron-hole pair generation = rate of recombination  no

charge buildup inside Si in thermal equilibrium (no heat flow)
o N-type case

no ≅ N d (one electron per donor)

ni2 ni2
po = =
no Nd

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o P-type case
po ≅ N a (one hole per donor)

ni2 ni2
no = =
po Na
o Example: A silicon sample is doped with 1017 As atoms per cm3. What are
the carrier concentrations in the Si sample at 300 K?
As is n-type, Nd = 1017 cm-3
- no = Nd = 1017 cm-3
- po = ni2/ no = 1020/1017 = 103 cm-3
o Main point: The majority carriers outnumber the minority carriers by many
orders of magnitude!