PN Junction electrostatics

Band bending
• The electron energy states (bands) in a material can curve up or down near
a junction. This effect is known as Band bending.
• It does not correspond to any physical (spatial) bending. Rather, band
bending refers to the local changes in the energy offset of a
semiconductor's band structure near a junction, due to space
charge effects.
• The primary principle underlying band bending inside a semiconductor is
space charge: a local imbalance in charge neutrality.
• Why is there charge imbalance? Although one expects a homogeneous
material to be charge neutral everywhere (since it must be charge neutral
on average) there is no such requirement for interfaces.
• Practically all types of interface develop a charge imbalance, though for
different reasons:

1. At the junction of two different types of the same semiconductor (e.g., p-n
junction) the bands vary continuously since the dopants are sparsely
distributed.

1. At the junction of two different semiconductors there is a sharp shift in band

energies from one material to the other; the band alignment at the junction
(e.g., the difference in conduction band energies) is fixed.

1. At the junction of a semiconductor and a metal, the bands of the

semiconductor are pinned to the metal's Fermi level.
Fermi level
• The probability of occupation of energy levels in valence band and
conduction band is called Fermi level.
• At absolute zero temperature intrinsic semiconductor acts as perfect
insulator. However as the temperature increases free electrons and
holes gets generated.
• In intrinsic or pure semiconductor, the number of holes in valence
band is equal to the number of electrons in the conduction band.
Hence, the probability of occupation of energy levels in conduction
band and valence band are equal. Therefore, the Fermi level for the
intrinsic semiconductor lies in the middle of forbidden band.
For P type material fermi level is relatively close to valence band and for n type material it is close to conduction
band as shown below.
 Equilibrium Energy Band Diagram

 pn-Junction diode
 Qualitative Electrostatics
 Equilibrium condition

Band diagram

1
V   ( Ec  Eref )
q

Electrostatic potential

V ( x)    Edx
 Qualitative Electrostatics
 Equilibrium condition

Electric field
dV
E
dx

E ( x)   x
KS 0

Charge density

E 

x K S 0
Formation of pn Junction and Charge Distribution

  q( p  n  N D  N A ) qNA– qND+
Metallurgical Junction
 Doping profile
 Poisson’s Equation
 Poisson’s equation is a well-known relationship in electricity and magnetism.
 It is now used because it often contains the starting point in obtaining quantitative
solutions for the electrostatic variables.

   D  v
E 
K S 0 D  E
  KS 0

 In one-dimensional problems, Poisson’s equation simplifies to:

E 
 Ks is semiconductor dielectric constant

x K S 0
Formation of pn Junction and Charge Distribution
Built-In Potential Vbi
• Vbi for several materials:
Ge ≤ 0.66 V
Si ≤ 1.12 V
GeAs ≤ 1.42 V

qVbi  ( EF  Ei )n side  ( Ei  EF )p side

 For non-degenerately doped material,

n  ND 
( EF  Ei )n-side  kT ln    kT ln  
 ni   ni   NA ND 
qVbi  kT ln  2 
 p  NA   i 
n
( Ei  EF )p-side  kT ln    kT ln  
 i
n  i 
n
The Depletion Approximation
 On the p-side, ρ = –qNA

dE qN A

dx S
qN A
E ( x)   x  c1
S
qN A
E ( x)   ( x  xp )
S
with boundary E(–xp)  0

 On the n-side, ρ = qND

qN D
E ( x)   ( xn  x)
S
with boundary E(xn)  0
Step Junction
 Solution for ρ
with VA 0
 qN A ,  xp  x  0

   qN D , 0  x  xn
 0, otherwise
 Solution for E
 qN A
  ( xp  x),  xp  x  0
E ( x)   S
qN
 D ( xn  x), 0  x  xn
  S
 Solution for V
 qN A
 ( x  x ) 2
,  xp  x  0
 2 S
p
V ( x)  
qN
Vbi  D ( xn  x)2 , 0  x  xn

 2 S
Relation between ρ(x), E(x), and V(x)
1. Find the profile of the built-in potential Vbi
2. Use the depletion approximation  ρ(x)
 With depletion-layer widths xp, xn unknown
3. Integrate ρ(x) to find E(x)
 Boundary conditions E(–xp)  0, E(xn)0
4. Integrate E(x) to obtain V(x)
 Boundary conditions V(–xp)  0, V(xn)  Vbi
5. For E(x) to be continuous at x  0, NAxp  NDxn
 Solve for xp, xn