SEMICONDUCTORS

Semiconductors have revolution the electronics industry. They are used to manufacture a wide
range of electronics devices from discrete diodes and transistors to integrated circuits.

Conductors, semiconductors and insulators

The ability of materials to conduct electricity can be explained using the Bohr’s model of an
atom.

According to this model an atom consists of a positively charged core on nucleus, surrounded
by a cloud of electrons. The electrons constantly move around the core at discrete precisely
specified, distances from the core. These distances are usually specified in terms of energy
levels. The positive charge of the nucleons is balanced by an equal charge of the electrons.

For multi-atom structures a band model of solid state matter should be used to explain the
engineering concept of current conduction. According to this model the energy of electrons
may only be included within some energy bands.

From the point of view of the material’s ability to conduct electric current only the outermost
energy band is important. This band is called the valence band. To make the material conduct
some valence electrons must break free, i.e. they have to increase their energy at least to the
bottom of the conduction band.

The difference of energy between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the
conduction band is called the energy gap.

The energy gap is used as a basis for the division of materials into conductors,
semiconductors and insulators.

To break free from the binding forces of atoms the electrons must acquire energy. One such
form of energy is heat.

In metals the energy gap is very narrow and at room temperature all valence electrons are free
for conduction.

In semiconductors, at room temperature (300K) there is sufficient energy to allow a

significant number of electrons to break free. When an external electric field is applied these
electrons move in the direction of the field.
Insulators require much higher temperatures (say, 1000oC) to become conductive.

Example values of resistivity at room temperature:

Copper – 2.10-6 Ω.cm
Silicon – 230 kΩ.cm

Silicon (Si) is the most commonly used semiconductor. Other elements or chemical
components often used as semiconductors include germanium (Ge), gallium arsenide
(GaAs) indium arsenide (InAs), gallium phosphide (GaP) and many others.

Semiconductors are divided into:

- intrinsic semiconductors (semiconductor of very high chemical purity)
- extrinsic semiconductors (by the addition (doping) of some impurities the properties of
intrinsic semiconductors can be dramatically changed).

Intrinsic semiconductors

Semiconductors are used in crystalline form – the atoms are precisely aligned with respect to
each other in a well-ordered pattern, which is called a crystal lattice.

Silicon has a quadravalent atom with four electrons in its outermost shell (valence band) and
they form covalent bands with adjacent atoms (see figure).

Two-dimensional representation of the silicon lattice

At O K all of valence electrons are bound to the atoms none is free for conduction and
intrinsic silicon is an insulator.
At a higher temperature an electron may break free from the silicon atom and the covalent
bound with the adjacent atom becomes broken. Such incomplete bonds represent the absence
of an electron – there is a hole.

In intrinsic silicon there are an equal number of negatively charged free electrons and
positively charged holes.
There is a continuous process of bands breaking (generation of the electron-hole pairs) and
forming back (recombination).

The lifetime of the electron-hole pair may reach hundreds of µs.

Both processes are in dynamic equilibrium and the concentration of these pairs is dependent
on temperature:

⎛ Eg ⎞
ni 2 = nipi = AT 3 exp⎜⎜ − ⎟⎟ni = pi
⎝ kT ⎠
A- material constant
k=1,38*10-23 J/K – Boltzman’s constant

At room temperature:
Silicon(E g = 1,1eV ) ni = 1 ⋅ 5 ⋅ 1010
1
cm 3

Germanium(E g = 0,72eV ) ni = 2 ⋅ 4 ⋅ 1013

1
cm 3

Now let us calculate the concentration of atoms:

Silicon
atoms 1mole g atoms
6.02 ⋅ 10 23 ⋅ ⋅ 2.33 3 = 5 ⋅ 10 22
mole 28.1g cm cm 3

Germanium

atoms 1mole g atoms

6.02 ⋅ 10 23 ⋅ ⋅ 5.32 3 = 4.4 ⋅ 10 22
mole 72.69 g cm cm 3

In silicon only 1 atom out of 3.1022 atoms is ionized.

When an electric field is applied to a bar of silicon, the free electrons will tend to move
towards the positive terminal and the holes will tend to move in the opposite direction.
The hole component of the current may be considered as a movement of valence electrons,
while the electron component means the movement of conduction (free) electrons.
Extrinsic semiconductors

The number of electrons and holes can be changed significantly by adding certain impurities.

When such impurities have been added (this process is often called doping) (at a
concentration of 10-5-10-3%) the semiconductor is referred to as extrinsic semiconductor.

The most commonly used impurities are trivalent elements (boron (B), aluminium(Al),
gallium (Ga), indium (In)) or pentavalent elements (arsenic (As), antimony (Sb),
phonosphorus (P)).

Depending on the type of impurity (dopant) (trivalent or pentavalent0 the semiconductor is

said to be p-type or n-type, respectively.

n- type (extrinsic) semiconductors

The dopant atoms replace some of the silicon atoms in the crystal lattice.

Four of the five outermost dopant atom are used to complete the covalent bonds with the
silicon, while the fifth electron can easily break free and move throughout the lattice.

At room temperature practically all dopant atoms are ionized. Thus, more electrons are
available for conduction.

The silicon is said to be n-type (n for negative).

The atoms of the pentavalent dopant are called donors.

p-type semiconductors

Similarly, the dopant atoms replace some of the silicon atoms in the lattice.
Because there are only three electrons available to form covalent bonds with the neighbouring
silicon atoms, one bond is incomplete and thus a hole is present.

The silicon is said to be p-type because additional positively charged holes are generated.

The atoms of the trivalent dopant are called acceptors.

By doping the resistivity of semiconductor can be considerably decreased.

For example, for silicon with

atoms
1 ⋅ 1019
cm 3

Of phosphorus the resistivity is about 160 Ω.cm.

Concentration of carriers for n-type and p-type semiconductors

It is assumed that at room temperature all dopant atoms (donors or acceptors) are jonized.
In addition, the relationship
Is also valid for doped semiconductors.

n-type

Nd – concentration of donors
nn – concentration of majority carriers (electrons)

pn – concentration of minority carriers (holes)

p-type

Na – concentration of acceptors
Pp – concentration of majority carriers (holes)

Np – concentration of minority carriers (electrons)

Example for silicon at room temperature

If Nd is 103 times greater than ni=1.5.1010 [cm-3]

Nn=Nd=1.5.1013 [cm-3]
pn=1.5.107 [cm-3]

The concentration of the majority carriers is 106 times greater than that of the minority ones
and 103 times higher than the concentration of carriers generated thermally.

The concentration of the thermally generated carriers rapidly increases with temperature”
About 14%/K for Si and 9%/K for Ge
Thus, at a sufficiently high temperature extrinsic semiconductors become intrinsic
semiconductors.

Flow of current in semiconductor

An electric field applied to a semiconductor will induce a drift on the charge carriers (like in
metals).
The drift velocities are proportional to the field strength E:

µn, µp – carrier mobility

µn µp [m2/V..s]
Si 0.15 0.048
Ge 0.39 0.19
GaAs 0.90 0.041
InAs 7.81 0.011

Thus, the densities of both currents are:

or jdrift=δE – ohm’s law

where

is the conductivity of the semiconductor.

In semiconductors local carrier concentration gradients may occur. These gradients cause a
current flow in addition to the normal flow by electric fields.

The current density for electrons or holes in a concentration gradient along the x axis is

∆n, ∆p – diffusion coeficients [m2.s-1]

Thus, in general, the electric current flowing in semiconductors may have four components:
 drift diffusion drift diffusion
electron current density hole current density