Semiconductor Devices

Lecture 1
Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 1

 Course Introduction
• Instructor
– Dr. Mostafa El
El-Khamy
Khamy
• Teaching Assistants
– Tutorial:
T i l Yasmine
Y i El Ogail
O il
– Labs: Yasmine Sanad

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 2

 Course Information
• References
– Solid State Electronic Devices, Beng G.
Streetman and Sanjay Banerjee
– Semiconductor Devices,
Devices Physics and Technology
Technology,
S. M. Sze
– Semiconductor Lectures by Prof.
Prof Dr.
Dr Darek
Korzec, GUC

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 3

 Course Syllabus
I. Semiconductor Technology
I. Growth of Semiconductor
II.Excess Carriers in Semiconductors
III. P-N
P N Junctions
IV Metal Semiconductor Junctions
IV.
V. Field Effect Transistors Junction FET
(JFET)
VI. Metal Oxide Semiconductor
m FET
(MOSFET)
VII Bipolar Junction Transistors
VII.
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 4
 Course Components
• lecture: 2 h, Thursday, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. H1
• tutorial: 2h
• lab: 1h
• web page: http://eee.guc.edu.eg/

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 5

 Assessment System (tentative)

method
th d % di t ib ti
distribution
assignment
g 10%
quizzes 15% 2 x 7.5%
l b performance
lab f 15% 5 x 3%
midterm exam 20%
design project 15%
f
final exam 45%
%

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 6

 First Transistor

1947
Picture shows a point-contact
transistor structure comprising the
plate of n-type germanium and
two line-contacts of gold
supportedd on a plastic
l i wedge.
d
Source:
W Shockley,
W. Shockley
“The path to the conception of the
junction transistor”,
IEEE Tr.. oon Electron
ec o Devices
ev ces
ED-23, 597 (1976).

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 7

 first monolithic integrated circuit

1961
Picture shows a flip-flop
circuit containing 6
devices, produced in
planar technology
technology.
Source:
R. N. Neyce,
y , “Semiconductor
device-and-lead structure”,
U.S.Patent 2,981,877

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 8

 first microprocessor
1971
Picture shows a
four-bit microprocessor
Intel 4004.
• 10 μm technology
• 3 mm × 4 mm
• 2300 MOS-FETs
• 108 kHz
kH clock
l k frequency
f
Source:
Intel Corporation

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 9

 Pentium IV processor

2001
Picture shows a ULSI
chip with 32-bit processor
Intel Pentium 4.
0.18μm CMOS
technology
17.5 mm × 19 mm
42 000 000 components
1.6 GHz clock freuqncy
q y
Source:
Intel Corporation

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 10

 Moore’s Law

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 11

 I. Semiconductor Technology
• What
Wh t are semiconductors?
i d t ?
– Semiconductors are a group of materials having
electrical conductivities intermediate between
metals and insulators
– The conductivityy of semiconductors can be varied by
y
changes in
• Temperature
• Optical Excitation
• Impurity content (controlled addition of impurities is called
doping)
– O
One Element
El t (elementary)
( l t ) SC or more than
th one
element
• Ge was widely used in the early days
• Si is now widely used for transistors and integrated
circuits
• Two element semiconductors
semiconductors, ee.g.
g GaAs is used in LEDs

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 12

 Si Semiconductor Devices
• P
Process Flow
Fl for
f manufacturing
f t i
Semiconductor Devices from
S l con
Silicon
– Starting materials, silicon
dioxide for a silicon wafer are
chemically processed to form a
high-purity polycrystalline
semiconductor from which single
crystals are grown.
grown
– The single-crystal ingots are
p to define the diameter
shaped
of
f the
h materiali l and
d sawed
d into
i
wafers.
– These wafers are etched and
polished to provide smooth,
specular surfaces on which
devices will be made.
made

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 13

 Crystal Growth
• Density of Si: 5 × 1022 atoms/cm3
• Conditions for manufacturing a
semiconductor material
– Si atoms
t mustt be
b of
f very high
hi h purity:
it Electronic
El t i
Grade Silicon (EGS)
• Impurities are reduce to part per billion
– High Purity Si which is polycrystalline must be
converted to a single crystal
• Crystal Growth Process
Process:
– SiO2 → Poly-Chrystalline EG Si → Single Chrystal
EG Si
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 14
 EGS
• SiO2 → Metallurgical
M t ll i lG Grade
d Si
– SiO2 react with C in the form of coke in an arc furnace at 1800
oC

– SiO2 + 2C → Si + 2CO
– Not pure enough for electronic application, not single crystal

• Metallurgical Grade Si → Electronic Grade Si

– Reacting
g with dry
y HCL to form trichlorosilane

– Si + 3HCL → SiHCL3 + H2
– SiHCL3 is a liquid of boiling point 32 oC which is different than
chlorides of other impurities, such as FeCL3
– Fractional Distillation can be used to separate trichlorosilane
from the impurities
– Highly pure EGS is obtained by reaction with H2
–
– 2SiHCL3 + 2H2 = 2Si + 6 HCL

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 15

 Single Crystal Growth
• Czochralski
C h l ki Method
M th d
– Seed crystal needed for growth
– EGS is melted by resistive heating
– Seed Crystal is lowered into the
molten material and is raised slowly
( ith rotation)
(with t ti ) allowing
ll i th the crystal
t l
to grow onto the seed
– Meltingg point
p of Si is 1412 deg
gC
– Crystal is rotated slowly to average
out any temperature variations
that will cause inhomogenous
solidification
– Similar method is used for Si, Ge
and
d GaAs
G As Silicon crystal grown by the
– Si Cylinder is polished and sliced Czochralski method. This large single-
crystal ingot provides 300 mm (12-in.)
into individual wafers about 775 um diameter wafers when sliced usingg a
thick saw. The ingot is about 1.5 m long
(excluding the tapered regions), and
weighs about 275 kg.
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 16
Steps involved in manufacturing Si wafers: (a) A 300 mm Si cylindrical ingot
ingot, with a
notch on one side, being loaded into a wire saw to produce Si wafers; (b) a technician
holding a cassette of 300 mm wafers. (Photographs courtesy of MEMC Electronics Intl.)
 Crystal Growth
• Concentration Coefficient: kd = Cs / CL
– Ratio of Concentration of impurity
p y in growing
g g crystal
y
(Solid) to concentration of impurity in the melt
(Liquid)
– function of the material, the impurity, temperature
of the solid liquid interface, and growth rate

• Concentration of the P in the melt is 3 times

that of the crystal, crystal becomes doped
more heavily in the later stages of growth.
growth
• For uniform doping of the ingot, kd is varied by varying
the pull rate
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 18
 Crystal Growth
• Example: Si crystal grown by Czochralski
method,, desired doping
p g impurity
p y is 1016
phosphorus atoms cm-3 , For P in Si, kd=0.35
– What should be the initial concentration of P in the melt?
• CL = CS / kd;
• Initial
I iti l concentration
t ti off P in
i the lt = 1016/0.35
th melt 2 86 × 1016
/0 35 = 2.86
atoms/cm3

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 19

 Device Fabrication

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 20

 Device Fabrication
• Steps
1 Formation of protective oxide layer (SiO2)
1.
2. Selected removal of oxide layer :
Ph
Photomasking
ki -> Photolithography
Ph li h h andd
etching
g
3. Introducing dopant atoms in localized
regions: Impurity Diffusion or Ion
Implanting
4. Interconnection and assembly (metallization
and p
packaging)
g g)
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 21
 Question
• Why did Si replace Ge at the beginning of IC
Era?
– There is no convenient way for controlled doping
of impurities in small selected regions in Ge to
form localized P or N regions
– Eg|Si = 1.1
1 1 ev,
ev Eg|Ge =0.7
=0 7 ev,
ev
– ni is proportional to T^3 e^-Eg/KT
– ni|Si < ni|Ge, for same temp, Ge will still be
intrinsic compared to Si
– Si is easier than Ge in forming a stable oxide
SiO2
– Si devices can thus be much smaller
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 22
 Metals, Insulators and
S i d t
Semiconductors
•

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 23

 Insulators, Metals and
Semicond ctors
Semiconductors
• For electrons to experience acceleration in
applied
li d electric
l i fi
field
ld they
h must be
b able
bl to move
into new energy states: i.e. empty states must
b available
be il bl

• Insulators (Carbon Diamond):

– At T=0KK the valence band can be completely
mp y filled
f
with electrons and the conduction band is empty
• No charge transport in the valence band, since there are no
empty
t states
t t
• No charge transport in the conduction band since there are
no electrons

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 24

 Insulators, Metals and
Semicond ctors
Semiconductors
• Metals:
– Bands
B d overlap
l or are only
l partially
ti ll fill
filled,
d
• electrons and empty energy states are intermixed within the
bands, so electrons can move freely under influence of electric
field
• Metals have high electrical conductivity

• Semiconductors
d
– At 0K have the same structure as insulators: filled
valence band and empty conduction band separated by
energy band gap
– However, the energy band gap E_g in Semiconductors is
muchh smaller
s ll than
th in
i Insulators
I s l t s
• Electrons can be excited from the valence to the conduction band
by thermal or optical excitation
• The
Th numberb of f electrons
l for
f conduction
d i increase
i by
b thermal
h l or
optical excitation
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 25
 Intrinsic Semiconductor
• Electron-Hole Pairs in a semiconductor
– An Electron in the valence band, receive enough
thermal energy to be excited across the bandgap
to the conduction band to form an electron
electron-hole
hole
pair
– An empty state is the valence band is referred
to as a hole

8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 26

 Intrinsic Semiconductor
• n: concentration of electrons in the
conduction band
• p: concentration of holes in the valence band
• ni: intrinsic
i i i carrier
i concentrationi
• n = p =n
ni
Electron–hole
pairs in the
covalent
bonding model
of the Si
crystal.
8-Oct-09 ELCT 503, Semiconductors -- Dr. Mostafa El-Khamy 27