Electronic Devices

EEE F214
Lecture 7-9
Dr. Navneet Gupta

Dr. Navneet Gupta

Intrinsic Concentration (ni)

ni

Nc Nv e

E g / 2 kT

Dr. Navneet Gupta

Lecture-7

Example:2
A Si sample is doped with 1017 As atoms/cm3. What is the
equilibrium hole concentration po at 300K? Where is EF relative
to Ei?

Why Si doped with 1014 cm-3 donors is n-type at

400K but Ge is not ??
Si crystal contains 10-4 %of arsenic. It then
receives a uniform doping of 3 x 1016 cm-3
Phosporous and 1018cm-3 Boron. Calculate
density of majority carriers.
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Ionization of Impurities

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Shallow impurities readily ionize so that the free carrier density

equals the impurity concentration:
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Dr. Navneet Gupta

Example-4
Consider a phosphorus-doped Si sample at 300K with ND =
1017 cm-3. What fraction of the donors are not ionized?
Answer: Suppose all of the donor atoms are ionized.

Nc
EF Ec kT ln
146meV
no
1
Probability of non-ionization
1 ( ED EF )/ kT
1 e
2
1

0.039 3.9%
1 (146 meV 45 meV )/26 meV
1 e
2
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Carrier Concentration at Extremely high and low temperatures

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Lecture-8

Compensated Semiconductor
A compensated semiconductor is one that contains both donor
and acceptor impurity atoms in the same region.
Can be formed, e.g, by diffusing acceptor impurities into an ntype material, or by diffusing donor impurities into a p-type
material.
N-type compensated sc: Nd>Na
P-type compensated sc: Na>Nd
If Na = Nd, compensated sc has characteristics of an intrinsic
material

Space Charge Neutrality

To remain electrostatically neutral:
holes + ionized donor atoms = electrons + ionized acceptor atoms
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p0 N d n0 N a

Nd Na
Nd Na
2
n0

ni
2
2

n0 N d N a

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Example:5
Determine the thermal equilibrium electron and hole
concentration in a compensated p-type semiconductor.
Consider Si at 300K doped in which doping concentrations
are Na = 2 x 1016 cm-3 and Nd = 5 x 1015 cm-3 .
Comment: This example illustrates the fact that if we
assume complete ionization and if Na - Nd >> ni, then
majority-carrier hole conc. is, to a very good approx., just
the difference between the acceptor and donor impurity
conc.

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Drift of carriers in Electric Field

force
Electric Field

Semiconductor

Electrons and holes

Net
movement

DRIFT
Random thermal motion

Well directed drift velocity with an applied EF

Because of scattering, electrons in a semiconductor do not achieve constant acceleration.

However, they can be viewed as quasi-classical particles moving at a constant average drift
velocity vd
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*
m
With every collision, the electron loses momentum =
n vd

Between collisions, the electron gains momentum = (-q)Etmn

(tmn is the average time between electron scattering events)

mn*vd = (-q)Etmn

|vd| = qEtmn / mn* = mn E

mn [qtmn / mn*] is the electron mobility

Similarly, for holes:

|vd| = qEtmp / mp* mp E

mp [qtmp / mp*] is the hole mobility

Electron and hole mobilities of selected intrinsic semiconductors (T=300K)

m n (cm2/Vs)
m p (cm2/Vs)

Si
1350

Ge
3900

GaAs
8500

InAs
30000

480

1900

400

500

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Current density:

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Example:4
At 300K a Si specimen of length 2 cm and cross section 2
mm2 is doped with 1017 atoms of As and 9 x 10 16 atoms of B.
Take n = 510 cm2/V-sec and p = 187 cm2/V-sec. Find the
resistance and the conductivity of the sample.
Answer= R = 122.55 ohms and = 0.816 per ohm cm

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Lecture-9

Effects of Temperature on Mobility

Scattering Mechanisms
Ionized Impurity scattering (Due to impurities in
semiconductors): I. m T 3/2
I
Lattice scattering (Carrier is scattered by the vibration of the
lattice due to temperature): L

m L T 3/2

1 1 1
......
m m1 m 2

The mobilities due to two or more

scattering mechanisms add inversely
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Effect of doping
on mobility

At 300K:
n (intrinsic Si) = 1350 cm2/V-sec

n (with 1017 cm-3 doping conc.) =

700 cm2/V-sec

Figure
Mobilities in Si and GaAs at 300
K as a function of impurity
concentration.
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Effect of High-Field on mobility

Large electric field (> 103 V/cm) can cause the drift velocity and
therefore the current J = -qnvd to exhibit a sublinear dependence
on Electric Field.(an example of hot carrier effect)

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Effect of electric and magnetic field: Hall Effect

Statement: When a semiconductor carrying a current I is
placed in a transverse magnetic field, a potential difference is
produced in the direction normal to both the current and
magnetic field directions
Importance:
To distinguish whether a
semiconductor is n-type or ptype
To measure the majoritycarrier concentration.
To calculate the majoritycarrier mobility.

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Dr. Navneet Gupta

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Example:7

EEE C381

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Example:8
A sample of Si is doped with 1017 phosphorous atoms/cm3.
What would you expect to measure for its resistivity? What
Hall voltage you expect in a sample 100m thick if Ix = 1 mA
and Bz=1kG
Answer: -62.5 V

EEE C381

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Invariance of the Fermi level at Equilibrium

Consider the junction between two materials: (which may be :)

At equilibrium: no discontinuity or gradient can arise in the equilibrium Fermi level

E

Consider two materials in intimate contact.

EF
Material
1

Material
2

N1(E)
N2(E)
At thermal equilibrium: no current
f1(E)
and therefore
no f2(E)
net charge
transport and no net transfer of
energy
EEE C381

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END OF

CHAPTER-3

EEE C381

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