Semiconductor Phyics in

PHYSICS OF
SEMICONDUCTORS
PN JUNCTION DIODES AND

RESISTORS
OVERVIEW
 Semiconductor fundamentals
 Doping
http://speakingtechnology.blogspot.com
 PN Junction
 Diode Equation
 Zener Diodes
 LEDs
SEMICONDUCTOR: AN
INTRODUCTION
 Conductors: Allow Electric
current to flow through them
 Insulators: Do not Allow Electric current to flow
through them
 Semiconductors: Materials whose conductivity

lies in between of Conductors and Semiconductor
SEMICONDUCTORS
 A material whose properties are such that it is
not quite a conductor, not quite an insulator
 Some common semiconductors
 elemental
 Si - Silicon (most common)
 Ge - Germanium
 compound
 GaAs - Gallium arsenide
 GaP - Gallium phosphide
 AlAs - Aluminum arsenide
 AlP - Aluminum phosphide
 InP - Indium Phosphide

CRYSTALLINE SOLIDS
 In a crystalline solid, the periodic arrangement of
atoms is repeated over the entire crystal
 Silicon crystal has a diamond lattice
CRYSTALLINE NATURE OF SILICON
 Silicon as utilized in integrated circuits is
crystalline in nature
 As with all crystalline material, silicon consists
of a repeating basic unit structure called a unit
cell
 For silicon, the unit cell consists of an atom
surrounded by four equidistant nearest neighbors
which lie at the corners of the tetrahedron
INTRINSIC NATURE OF SILICON
 Silicon that is free of doping impurities is called
intrinsic
 Silicon has a valence of 4 and forms covalent
bonds with four other neighboring silicon atoms
CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE OF
SEMICONDUCTOR
 Semiconductors have a regular crystalline structure
 for monocrystal, extends through entire structure
 for polycrystal, structure is interrupted at irregular
boundaries
 Monocrystal has uniform 3-dimensional structure
 Atoms occupy fixed positions relative to one another,
but
are in constant vibration about equilibrium
CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE OF
SEMICONDUCTOR
 Silicon atoms have 4 electrons in outer shell
 inner electrons are very closely bound to atom
These electrons are shared with neighbor atoms

on both sides to “fill” the shell
 resulting structure is very stable
 electrons are fairly tightly bound
 no “loose” electrons
 at room temperature, if battery applied, very

little electric current flows
CONDUCTION IN CRYSTAL
LATTICES
 Semiconductors (Si and Ge) have 4 electrons in
their outer shell
 2 in the s subshell
 2 in the p subshell
 As the distance between atoms decreases the
discrete subshells spread out into bands
 As the distance decreases further, the bands
overlap and then separate
 the subshell model doesn’t hold anymore, and
the electrons can be thought of as being part
of the crystal, not part of the atom
 4 possible electrons in the lower band (valence
band)
 4 possible electrons in the upper band
(conduction band)
ENERGY BANDS IN
SEMICONDUCTORS
 The space between the bands is the energy gap,
or forbidden band
INSULATORS, SEMICONDUCTORS,
AND METALS: COMPARISON
 This separation of the valence and conduction
bands determines the electrical properties of the
material
 Insulators have a large energy gap
 electrons can’t jump from valence to
conduction bands
 no current flows
 Conductors (metals) have a very small (or
nonexistent) energy gap
 electrons easily jump to conduction bands due
to thermal excitation
 current flows easily
 Semiconductors have a moderate energy gap
 only a few electrons can jump to the
conduction band
 leaving “holes”
 only a little current can flow
INSULATORS, SEMICONDUCTORS,
AND METALS (CONTINUED)
Conduction
Band
Overlap Band More Band
Gap Gap
Valence
Band
Conductor Semiconductor Insulator

ELECTRON-HOLE PAIRS
 Sometimes thermal energy is enough to cause an
electron to jump from the valence band to the
conduction band
 Electrons also “fall” back out of the conduction
band into the valence band, combining with a
hole
pair elimination pair creation
hole electron
DOPING AND CONDUCTION
 To make semiconductors better conductors, add
impurities (dopants) to contribute extra electrons
or extra holes
 elements with 5 outer electrons contribute an
extra electron to the lattice (donor dopant)
 elements with 3 outer electrons accept an
electron from the silicon (acceptor dopant)
CONTINUED...
 Phosphorus and arsenic are donor dopants
 if phosphorus is introduced into the silicon lattice,
there is an extra electron “free” to move around and
contribute to electric current
 very loosely bound to atom and can easily jump to
conduction band
 produces n type silicon
 sometimes use + symbol to indicate heavier doping, so n+
silicon
 phosphorus becomes positive ion after giving up
electron
CONTINUED…
 Boron has 3 electrons in its outer shell, so it contributes a
hole if it displaces a silicon atom
 boron is an acceptor dopant
 yields p type silicon
 boron becomes negative ion after accepting an electron
DIFFUSION OF DOPANTS
Top
view
 It is also possible to introduce
dopants into silicon by heating
them so they diffuse into the silicon
 no new silicon is added
 high heat causes diffusion
 Can be done with constant
concentration in atmosphere
 close to straight line
concentration gradient
 Or with constant number of atoms
per unit area Side
 predeposition view
 bell-shaped gradient
 Diffusion causes spreading of doped
areas
DIFFUSION OF DOPANTS
(CONTINUED)
Concentration of dopant in
surrounding atmosphere kept Dopant deposited on
constant per unit volume surface - constant
amount per unit area
ION IMPLANTATION OF DOPANTS
 One way to reduce the spreading found with
diffusion is to use ion implantation
 also gives better uniformity of dopant
 yields faster devices
 lower temperature process
 Ions are accelerated from 5 Kev to 10 Mev and
directed at silicon
 higher energy gives greater depth penetration
 total dose is measured by flux
 number of ions per cm2
 typically 1012 per cm2 - 1016 per cm2
 Flux is over entire surface of silicon
 use masks to cover areas where implantation
is not wanted
 Heat afterward to work into crystal lattice
HOLE AND ELECTRON
CONCENTRATIONS
 To produce reasonable levels of conduction
doesn’t require much doping
 silicon has about 5 x 1022 atoms/cm3
 typical dopant levels are about 1015 atoms/
cm3
 In undoped (intrinsic) silicon, the number of
holes and number of free electrons is equal,
and their product equals a constant
 actually, ni increases with increasing
temperature
 This equation holds true for doped silicon as

well, so increasing the number of free
electrons decreases the number of holes
There are two types of doping
DOPING N-type and P-type.
The N in N-type stands for negative.
A column V ion is inserted.
The extra valence electron is free to
move about the lattice
The P in P-type stands for positive.

A column III ion is inserted.
Electrons from the surrounding
Silicon move to fill the “hole.”
ENERGY-BAND DIAGRAM
 A very important concept in the study of semiconductors

is the energy-band diagram
 It is used to represent the range of energy a valence
electron can have
 For semiconductors the electrons can have any one value
of a continuous range of energy levels while they occupy
the valence shell of the atom
 That band of energy levels is called the valence band
 Within the same valence shell, but at a slightly higher
energy level, is yet another band of continuously variable,
allowed energy levels
 This is the conduction band
BAND GAP
 Between the valence and the conduction band is a range
of energy levels where there are no allowed states for an
electron
EG
 This is the band gap
E G = 11
. eV
 In silicon at room temperature [in electron volts]:

 Electron volt is an atomic measurement unit, 1 eV
energy is necessary to decrease of the potential of the
electron with 1 V.
1eV = 1.602 ×10 −19 joule
COUNTER DOPING
Insert more than one type of Ion
The extra electron and the extra
hole cancel out
P-N JUNCTION
 Also known as a diode
 One of the basics of semiconductor technology -
 Created by placing n-type and p-type material in

close contact
 Diffusion - mobile charges (holes) in p-type combine
with mobile charges (electrons) in n-type
P-N JUNCTION
 Region of charges left behind (dopants fixed in

crystal lattice)
 Group III in p-type (one less proton than Si- negative
charge)
 Group IV in n-type (one more proton than Si - positive
charge)
 Region is totally depleted of mobile charges -
“depletion region”
 Electric field forms due to fixed charges in the depletion
region
 Depletion region has high resistance due to lack of
mobile charges
THE P-N JUNCTION
Direction of
Current
DEPLETION LAYER FORMATION

The “potential” or voltage across the silicon

changes in the depletion region and goes from
+ in the n region to – in the p region
DIODES CAN BE
CONSIDERED AS SWITCH
BIASING THE P-N DIODE
Forward Bias Reverse Bias
Applies - voltage Applies + voltage to
to the n region n region and –
and + voltage to voltage to p region
the p region
NO CURRENT
CURRENT!
P-N JUNCTION – REVERSE BIAS
 positive voltage placed on n-type material
 electrons in n-type move closer to positive terminal,
holes in p-type move closer to negative terminal
 width of depletion region increases
 allowed current is essentially zero (small “drift” current)
Depletion layer width

Increses
No current Flow
P-N JUNCTION – FORWARD BIAS
 positive voltage placed on p-type material
 holes in p-type move away from positive terminal, electrons in n-
type move further from negative terminal
 depletion region becomes smaller - resistance of device decreases
 voltage increased until critical voltage is reached, depletion
region disappears, current can flow freely
P-N JUNCTION - V-I
CHARACTERISTICS
Voltage-Current relationship for a p-n junction (diode)
CURRENT-VOLTAGE
CHARACTERISTICS
THE IDEAL DIODE
Positive voltage yields finite

current
Negative voltage yields zero
current REAL DIODE
THE IDEAL DIODE EQUATION
  qV  
I = I 0  exp  − 1 ,
  kT  
where
I 0 = diode current with reverse bias
q = 1602
. × 10 −19 coulomb , the electronic ch arg e
eV
k = 8.62 × 10 −5 , Boltzmann' s cons tan t
K
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE - OPENED
REGION
 The p-side is the cathode, the n-side is the anode
 The dropped voltage, VD is measured from the
cathode to the anode
 Opened: VD ≥ VF:
VD = V F
ID = circuit limited, in our model the VD cannot exceed
VF
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE - CUT-OFF
REGION
 Cut-off: 0 < VD < VF:

ID ≅ 0 mA
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE - CLOSED
REGION
 Closed: VF < VD ≤ 0:
 VD is determined by the circuit, ID = 0 mA
 Typical values of VF: 0.5 ¸ 0.7 V
ZENER EFFECT
 Zener break down: VD <= VZ:
VD = VZ, ID is determined by the circuit.
 In case of standard diode the typical values of the
break down voltage VZ of the Zener effect -20 ... -100
V
 Zener diode
 Utilization of the Zener effect
 Typical break down values of VZ : -4.5 ... -15 V
LED
 Light emitting diode, made from GaAs
 VF=1.6 V
 IF >= 6 mA

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PHYSICS OF

PN JUNCTION DIODES AND

 Semiconductors: Materials whose conductivity

 AlAs - Aluminum arsenide

 AlP - Aluminum phosphide

 InP - Indium Phosphide

 at room temperature, if battery applied, very

Conductor Semiconductor Insulator

 This equation holds true for doped silicon as

The N in N-type stands for negative.

The P in P-type stands for positive.

 A very important concept in the study of semiconductors

 This is the band gap

 In silicon at room temperature [in electron volts]:

 Also known as a diode

 Created by placing n-type and p-type material in

 Region of charges left behind (dopants fixed in

The “potential” or voltage across the silicon

Depletion layer width

Positive voltage yields finite

 Cut-off: 0 < VD < VF:

 Light emitting diode, made from GaAs

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