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    Describes the semiconductor properties

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    Describes the semiconductor properties

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    14 views22 pages

    Semiconductors in Nonequilibrium

    Uploaded by

    vitorjr
    Describes the semiconductor properties

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 22
    Physics of Semiconductors in Nonequilibrium Thermal equilibrium is characterized by the condition np = nf. When this relation holds, the equations in the previous handouts can be used to calculate Ey, n, p, etc. Injection: extra carriers provided (electrically or by light) np > n?. Extraction: carriers removed (electrically) np < n?. * Many important semiconductor devices depend for their operation on nonequilibrium con- ditions. ¢ Excess carriers will, given time, recombine to ze-establish thermal equilibrium. tier lifetime (Ins ~ 1ms) combination rate (carriers/cm?s) G=generation rate (carriers/em*s) « The manner in which thermal equilibrium is re-established is of fundamental importance to the operation of semiconductor devices. At any T > 0°K, some electrons gain enough en- E e oe ergy to jump into the conduction band. This leaves ce behind a hole so that & Ru Suppose we shine light on the semiconductor with E = hv > E, 60 that by absorbing a photon an elec- tron can be excited into the conduction band. is (intrinsic) n +An hv Ack, pamthp|( Injection Ey. np> nm o An=Ap A= Planeks Constant If we do the same thing for an extrinsic semiconductor (ie. n-type, Ny = 10cm), so. a a m 4 3| 10% tS 510m. B) 10 Z| 3] 10 5] 10" z Pu §| 10 4 102 4 (2) Egulibviom ——_@) Lome! nection Recombination Mechanisms: Low level: An < Ny High level: An> Ng {0 Hightcval injection. 1. Conduction band electrons and valence band holes mutually annihilate each other (band to band or direct recombination, e~ + A+ ~+ 0). (2) photons produced (radiative recombination) (b) only phonons produced (non-radiative recombination) 2. Conduction band electrons and valence band holes recombine by sequentially being trapped in an intermediate deep level (indirect recombination, e~-+Au” Au~, Au-+h+ — Au*), fe Photon I Ught) fy ° Direc or Band» Gawd Reombialin & Si, Ge ie Gils (Léps) Divect Gand Semconductors " Somuconductors* “Gudtiat Recombate “Cndivoct Benap 2 ‘The material responds to the generation of excess carriers by increasing the recombination tate, attempting to return the material to equilibrium (pn = n,*). In the case of carrier extraction (pn < n,*), the opposite phenomena takes place. Carriers are thermally generated faster than they recombine moving the material towards equilibrium (pn = n,?). Direct (Band to Band) Recombination oh eledvons L R= tate of recombination e Rocn (number of electrons in conduction band) Rox p (number of empty sites (holes) in valence band) f R=Kpn (K = constant) Q) © p bakes In thermal equilibrium, Gu, = Rex = Kpono (no,po are equilibrium values) (2) Suppose we generate excess carriers at a rate Gz, (due to incident light for example), then R= Kpn= K(p0 + Ap)(no + An) (3) where Ap = p— po and An =1—ng are the excess carrier concentrations and G=Gy=G, 4 In steady-state (not equilibrium) the time derivatives go to zero, G=Gr+Gn=R () U = R— Gu = net recombination rate = Gy. © Substituting (2) and (3) into (5) gives Gt = K(no + An)(po + Ap) — Kropo = K(noAp-+ Anpy + And). (7) But An = Ap (carriers are created in pairs) so Gx = KAp(no + po + Ap). @ For low level injection, the excess carrier concentration is much less than the majority carrier concentration (Ap < no + po) 50 s Gx = KAP(n9 + po). (9) ‘The excess carrier lifetime (7) which is the average time which a generated carrier remains free is defined as oe 2 e = me Fp) St ower injection (10) 50 Ap=7G,=7U = Fem in steady-state, Li. (1) Note that r = m_ = tp in direct recombination since a single phenomena eliminates an electron and a hole simultaneously. In summary, if we have a semiconductor undergoing low-level injection with equilibrium carrier concentrations no and po, then the steady-state carrier concentrations are: n=n+7Gy (12) P=po+TG, (13) with nopo = ni? and np > nj. High Level Injection Assume direct recombination with An = Ap ~ no,po U = Gy = KAp(no + po + Ap) eee K (no + po + Ap) The effective lifetime depends on the emount of injection. If the system with high level injection is not in steady-state (Ap # constant) the effective lifetime will not be constant. 1 Kn type) <1 Example: Consider a sample of n-type GaAs with a doping of Ny = 10"em™®. ng © Ny and Po = (n,?/no) = 8 x 10-Scm"*, Light is incident on the sample creating Gr, = 10 hole-electron pairs per cm? per second. The dark conductivity of this sample would be o = 9(njin + Pilp) © (nn) Assume that the low-level injection lifetime is known: 0.96 ( Qe)". to = Ins = 1/(Kno) K = 1fnom = 10cm /s U = Gy = 10cm"? = K(Ap* + (no + po) Ap) Gr Ap’ +nodp— = 0 Can solve this quadratic equation for Ap. Ap =2.7 x 10%cm-*. n= 3.7 x 10cm, p= 2.7 x 10%cm-*, = q(Mpin + Pit) & 3.7(Q-cm)"}, ee aia Klreseaieg ‘As expected the lifetime of the excess carriers is reduced under high level injection conditions since the number of majority carriers is increased resulting in more electrons for the holes to recombine with, ‘This is an example of a photoconductor. The conductance of the material depends on the intensity of the light shining on it. Transient Recombination Response Suppose light is shining on a semiconductor and is shut off at time t = 0, What is the time response of the excess carrier density? In general, te direct recombination (28) indirect recombination To simplify the math we will assume low level injection. If Gz, Ap = Ap(0) eol-2) ? We know that Ap(0-) = Grr, just before the light was turned off so Ap= Grrero-£) (14) r Note that both the electron and hole concentrations decay at the same rate. The excess minority carrier density is usually the important one in devices. ‘The excess carrier concentration de- cays to it equilibrium value of 0 (p = po) f with a time constant given by the life- time. The indirect recombination case is more complex but Equation (14) is & often a good approximation. Indirect Recombination (through trapping levels) In silicon and germanium, this is usually the dominant mechanism since they are “indirect band semiconductors”. Physically this means that the minima of the conduction band does not occur at the same point in momentum space (k-space) as the maxima of the valence band. FWi—A—Nooy FRI e Hoy Fire noa Ge s ans "Indirect Bandgap" “Direct “Bandgap Momentum as well es energy must be conserved in any energy level transition. Therefore, GaAs can easily make direct (band to band) transitions between the full states at the bottom of the conduction band (electrons) and the empty states at the top of the valence band (holes), which makes it useful for LEDs since these direct transitions are usually radiative with E, = hv = E,. This is not true for Si and Ge since, due to the momentum difference between electrons and holes, a direct transition must involve both a photon (large energy, small momentum) and a Phonon (small energy, large momentum). Since the probability of three body reactions are small, recombination in Si and Ge occurs predominately through intermediate trapping levels. Consider the following example, An impurity (Au, for example) is introduced which provides » “trapping level” or a set of allowed states at energy E,. Thislevel —C is assumed to be capable of trapping both holes and electrons, ie. to have both donor and acceptor char- acteristics. (In fact the donor and acceptor levels will different, but assuming a single trap level simplifies the analysis.) “1” = electron capture “2” = electron emission “3” = hole capture “4” = hole emission 143 or 3+1= recombination 2+40r44+2 ‘The probability of each of these events occuring depends on the numbers of occupied and unoccupied states in the different levels and therefore depends on Fermi-Dirac statistics (ie. the ion of the Fermi level). Note however that the Fermi level is only a valid concept under pot ‘equilibrium conditions (np = n,?). We will assume to begin then that system is in equilibrium. . 1 prob. that e~ occupies trap = —aa Iter 1— fa = prob. that trap level is unoccupied (or occupied by hole) Nf; = number of occupied centers (1 ~ 2) = number of empty centers ‘We will begin by assuming that the trapping processes are all first-order. For example, we assume that the rate of electron capture is Proportional to the number of electrons in the conduction band and to the number of empty trapping centers (just as in direct recombination). Bi = vanonnNi(1 ~ ft) (18) where ‘Y1thn = thermal velocity of electrons (~ 10"cm/s), nm = capture cross-section for electrons (~ 10-5em?). ‘The electron emission rate is proportional to the number of occupied trapping centers (the conduction band is nearly empty). Ri = eaNife (16) where en = emission probability. For holes we can write similar equations, Rs = vingoppNefe a7) Ry = epNi(1 — fi) (18) Under thermal equilibrium, forward and reverse reaction rates are equal so Ry = Ry and Rs = Ry. VeinFaNi(1 — fe) = enNefe (19) upsrP Nfs = egal — fi) (20) Recall that Therefore, B- snntamsexe EEF — f)= ealih a) :-£, sugeynsenp FEW, f, = egB(a ~ fi) (22) Also, exp HE he” ‘The emission rates can then be expressed as: ig weiner Boe cartiers/s (23) E carriers &9 = Pagers exp 4) # As Ey E., en increases and ¢p decreases as we would have predicted. # As Ey Ey, ep increases and en decreases. The relationship between the capture and emission rates as expressed in Eqs. (23) and (24) do not depend on the Fermi level and are valid in nonequilibrium although they were derived using equilibrium assumptions. However, equations which include the probability of occupation depend on Ey and are only valid in equilibrium. Now consider the situation in which we shine light on the semiconductor to generate excess electrons and holes. In steady-state (not equilibrium), (Conduction band Gr=Ri~ Ra, Gr =Rs— Ry. ‘The numbers of electrons and holes in the conduction and valence bands are constant. Ry ~Ra=Rs— Ry. (25) Using our previous expressions for the capture and emission rates (Eqs. (15-18)), nna Ne(1 — fe) — en Nef = vergopPNife — epNi(1~ fe) (26) Using Eqs. (23) and (24) for the emission probabilities, anal [a(t ~ 4) —nveap BFE] = yo ffi For reasons which will become apparent, define Then, (27) 10 Using this result and U = R, ~ Ry = net recombination rate, (28) pra (23) +P + 2njcosh ‘This is an extremely important result, based on the work of Shockley, Read and Hall, and is known as SRH recombination. © The numerator is proportional to the restoring force. The net “| cosh(x recombination rate is always of the proper sign to move the system towards equ rium (pn = n;2). 1 = ¢ The net recombination rate U is maximum when the denominator is minimized. That occurs when E; = Ej. In other words, the trapping levels near midgap are the most efficient recombination centers. - ~ E, + E. makes electron capture more probable, but hole capture less probable. Elec- tron emission also increases as E; —» E, reducing net recombination rate. ~ E,— E, makes hole capture more probable, but electron capture less probable. Hole emission also increases as E, -» E, reducing net recombination rate, For trap levels at midgep (Ei = F,), pan? as 30 Tn + Tap + (Tm + 7) (0) UL Examples: Low-level injection in doped semiconductors, In n-type semiconductor, with trap level at midgap, n > p,nj. aan y=M oe 7 But nj? = myopao (equilibrium values) and n & nao (assume low-level injection) 60 Pino — Prong _ P— Pro _ Ap T.Tnd Tp 7 (31) just as for direct recombination with the lifetime equal to that for holes (the minority eazziez). In n-type material, there are lots of electrons available for capture, so the rate-limiting step in recombination is hole (minority) carrier capture and the lifetime for excess carriers (both holes and electrons) is the minority carrier lifetime 7». In p-type material, using the same analysis with p> nn; and p~ pyo, =A fr (32) —s Again the Limiting factor is the minority carrier lifetime. f « Netype i. ~ By near E, ~ E; filled with electrons — hole capture limits process yr SE) ~ 7 dominates ae Aedes © P-type material fy Type semiconductor - Ey near Ey : — E, empty of electrons E, — electron capture limits process acon E, ~ ™ dominates Er egg eee E, at Sey \ SE) +0 ee pType semiconductor 12 Surface Recombination So far, we have considered only bulk recombination. Recombination at surfaces is often enhanced relative to the bulk. ee tap cites 1 ' eee Se- Sk -Sir-Se t ' t { Seige ane casted for recombination. Cbutk Incompletely bonded silicon atoms at the surface can provide efficient traps By analogy with bulk recombination we can write the net recombination rate as U = vou [A0) ~ 7 (33) where Nw = surface density of recombination centers per area (0) ~ po = excess carrier density at surface ‘We can define =weN, (34) to be the surface recombination velocity (cm/sec). ‘Thus, U = s[p(0) — ro) (35) If the interface has these excess recombination sites, r then the excess carrier concentration will be lower at the surface than in the bulk. In that case, there is a net flow of carriers towards the surface (both ht and e~ for charge neutrality and no net current). 13 ‘The resulting differential equation is & _,dp P= Po a Pat Se % ae Oins-s diffusion S°eTHom tion ‘Two boundary conditions apply: Deep in the bulk the cartier concentration becomes independent of the surface. P(c0) = Po + Gx, At the surface, the diffusion flux into the surface must equal the surface recombination rate. q DBZ| =o-m ‘The solution to this differential equation is =(2)—po= — stele at, ale) = 2) ro = 96x (1- oe (28) where Ly = /Dpr is the minority carrier diffusion length. Pot tp G wurfee Lp but, iM ¢ The distance over which the surface disturbs the bulk carrier concentration depends on Ly (or D, and 7). « How strongly the surface affects the excess carrier concentration depends on s, Dp and tp. In the limit of s + 00 (infinite recombination velocity at the surface), p(0) + po and Ap(2) = 22) ~ po = 796s (1 - e-*/*) “4 Quasi Fermi Levels Under thermal equilibrium, we know that n= nex ( aT ) pamen (257) If we have injection (np > n) or extraction (np

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