Electronic Devices- Theory of SOlids

August 10, 2017

Crystal Lattice structures

Crystal lattices exhibit regularity in space and are

completely periodid in nature. Hence it can be uniquely
represented by a small vestige of its lattice
The smallest unit of a crystal lattice which can be used to
generate the entire crystal by a periodic arrangement of
the unit is called as Unit cell
In crystal unit cells occur in many geometries, tetrahedral,
rhombic, hexagonal and cubic. Most semicondutors have a
cubic lattice hence. Hence we will focus on cubic lattices in
our discussion
Crystal Lattice structures-Lattice constant

The dimension of the cube, or the side of the cubic unit cell
is referred to as lattice constant a
Lattice constant determines how closely the atoms are
arranged in a lattice.

a
Simple Cubic Lattice
Atoms are arranged at the edges of a cube. Each atom
contributes 1/8 th of it inside a unit cell. The total number
1
of atoms inside a simple cubic unit cell is N = · 8 = 1.
8
Thus the atomic density of SC unit cell of lattice constant a
is given by
no. atoms in a cell N 1
= 3 = 3
volume of cell a a

a
Simple Cubic Lattice
The nearest neighbour in a SC lattice to each atom is a.
Each atom has six nearest neighbours at a distance of a
units.

a
Body Centered Cubic Lattice
Atoms are arranged at the edges of a cube and one atom
at the center. Each edge atom contributes 1/8 th of it inside
a unit cell and the center atom is wholly inside the cube.
N = (1/8) · 8 + 1 = 2. Thus the atomic density of BCC unit
cell of lattice constant a is
no. atoms in a cell N 2
= 3 = 3
volume of cell a a

a
Body Centered Cubic Lattice

In a BCC lattice each atom has 8 nearest neighbours.

Each center atom sees the eight nearest neighbour edge
atoms. SImilarly, each edge atom sees eight nearest
neighbour center atoms from the 8-unit cells it is part of.
√
The distance between the nearest neighbours is 3a/2

a
Face Centered Cubic Lattice
Atoms are arranged at the 8 edges of a cube and at center
of six faces/sides of the cube. Each edge atom contributes
1/8 th of it inside a unit cell and each face atom contributes
to half of it to the cell. N = (1/8) · 8 + (1/2) · 6 = 4. Thus
the atomic density of BCC unit cell of lattice constant a is
no. atoms in a cell N 4
= 3 = 3
volume of cell a a

a
Face Centered Cubic Lattice
In a FCC lattice each atom has 12 nearest neighbours.
Each edge atom sees 4 nearest neighbour face atoms in
each of three perpendicular planes.

a
Face Centered Cubic Lattice

Each edge atom sees 4 nearest neighbour face atoms in

each of three perpendicular planes. Thus it sees a total of
12 face atoms in all three a,b,c planes.
√
The distance between the nearest neighbours is a/ 2

a a
Atomic packing factor
Fraction of the volume occupied by the atom in a crystal
lattice. Atoms are assumed to be perfect spheres and APF
is a measure of how densely packed are these sphere in a
given volume
NVA
APF =
VUC
N is the number of atoms per unit cell. VA is the volume of
the atom and VUC is the volume of the unit cell.

a
Atomic packing factor-SC
A SC unit-cell with four atoms in the figure below
From the figure it can be seen that a = 2r . Therefore
1(4/3)πr 3 π
APF = 3
= = 0.523
8r 6

r
Atomic packing factor-BCC
A BCC unit-cell and its diagonal place shown below
√
From the figure it can be seen that 3a = 4r . Therefore
√
2(4/3)πr 3 3π
APF = √ = = 0.68
64r 3 /3 3 8

3a
r

a
2r
a
r
2a
Atomic packing factor-FCC
A FCC unit-cell and its face place shown below
√
From the figure it can be seen that 2a = 4r . Therefore

4(4/3)πr 3 π
APF = √ = √ = 0.74
16 2r 3 3 2

2a
a
r
a

a
2r
a
r
a
Choice of Unit cell
The SC basic unit cell is a ’one atom basis’ unit cell
Figure below shows the possible one atom basis unit cells
for SC unit cell
Semi-conductor Lattices
Si and Ge form diamond like lattice with tetrahedron as it
basic unit.
Each unit cell contains four tetrahedrons and a total of 18
atoms are attached to it. Out of eighteen atoms, some
atoms (the edge and face atoms) are shared by adjacent
cell. Hence a total of 8 atoms belong to the unit cell

a/2
a/2
a/2
Semi-conductor Lattices-Silicon unit cell
The silicon unit cell with all its 18 atoms shown below.

a
a/2 a/2
Semi-conductor Lattices-Silicon unit cell
The silicon unit cell split into two halves and their top view
shown
Lower Half Upper Half

a/2
a/2 a/2 a/2
a/2
TOP VIEW TOP VIEW
Semi-conductor Lattices-Silicon unit cell
si unit cell has 8 edge (red) atoms, 6 (green) face atoms
and three atoms at the centers of smaller cubes forming a
tetrahedral bonding. A total of
N = (1/8) · 8 + (1/2) · 6 + 4 = 8 atoms per unit cell

a
a/2 a/2
Semi-conductor Lattices-Silicon unit cell
Each si atom
√ has four nearest neighbours and at a
distance of 3a/4. The lattice constant of si is
a = 5.43 A0 = 5.43x10−10 m = 5.43x10−8 cm. Hence the
nearest neighbour distance is
√
3a
= 2.35 A0 = 0.235 nm
4

a/2
3 a/4

a/2
a/2
Semi-conductor Lattices-Silicon atomic density

The atomic density of silicon can be found in a similar

manner as the other unit cells. Each si unit cell has 8
atoms.
The lattice constant of si is
a = 5.43 A0 = 5.43x10−10 m = 5.43x10−8 cm
Hence tha atomic density is given by

N 8
3
= 3
≈ 5x1022 cm−3
a (5.43x10 )
−8
Semi-conductor Lattices-Zinc blende lattice
The Zinc-blende lattice, with the atoms at the centers being
from other element. This lattice is common for compound
semiconductors like GaAs, GaP etc.,

a
a/2 a/2
Semi-conductor Lattices-Rock salt lattice
Some compund semiconductors like The Rocksalt lattice is
common for compound semiconductors like PbS (Lead
Sulphide), PbTe (Lead Telluride) and ZnO

a
Semi-conductor Lattices-Rock salt lattice

MOst of the semicondcutor lattices can be seen as

interpenetrating FCC lattices.
Diamond and Zinc-blende lattices are inteerpenetrating
FCC lattices with the atoms shifted by (a/4, a/4a/4)
Rocksalt lattice is also an interpenetrating structure of two
FCC lattices shifted by (a/2, 0, 0)
Semi-conductor Lattices-Rock salt lattice

Rocksalt lattice seen as two interepenetrating FCC lattices

a a
Proceduce for finding miller indices for planes

Setup a coordinate system and then mark the intercept

points of the plans on the axes. Ensure that the plane does
not pass through the origin.
Then invert the intercept points.
If the intercepts are greater than 1, then find the LCM of the
intercept points and multiply it with the inverted incercept
values. Enclose the resulting answer in closed brackets
Let a,b,c be the intercept points Then

111 111
( ) → X( ) → (j k l)
abc abc
where X is the LCM of the intercept points
X = LCM(a, b, c). j,k,l here represent the miller indices
which are always integers
Proceduce for finding miller indices for planes

If the intercepts are less than 1 of the form (1/j 1/k 1/l), then
their reciprocals will automatically be integers. Hence they
directly represent the miller indices without any way of
rounding them to nearest integers
For negative intercepts, a bar is placed over the miller
index.
Miller Indices and jkl planes

Find the miller indices of different planes shown below

z

a 4
1
x

z
2

-1 y

a
x 1
Miller Indices and jkl planes
i) The intercepts are 1, ∞, ∞. By inverting them we get
(1,0,0). Thus the miller indices is given by

(100)

ii) the intercepts are 1, 4, 2. The invertered intercepts are

1, 1/4, 1/2. The LCM is 4. Thus the miller indices are
given by
(412)
iii) The intercepts are 1, 1, ∞. The inverted intercepts are
1, 1, 0. Thus the miller indices are

(110)

The intercepts are 1, −1, 2. The inverted intercepts are

1, −1, 1/2. Thus the miller indices after multiplying by its
LCM is
(221)
Miller planes
Some commonly encountered miller planes

a a
(100) (110)

a a

(111) (1 1 0)
Miller planes- example
Find the miller indices for these planes

(b)
(a) 3
-2

0
a
3

(c) (d)

a a
Miller planes- example

(a), intercepts (-2,3,3), inverse of intercepts (-1/2,1/3,1/3).

The miller indices are
(322)
(b) choosing the diagonal point as the origin, the intercepts
are (-1,-1,-1). Thus the miller indices are

(111)

(c) choosing (0,0,1) as the origin, the intercepts are

(1,1,-1). The miller indices are

(111)

(d) choosing (1,1,0) as the origin,the intercepts are

(-1,∞,1), the miller indices are

(101)
Drawing miller planes from the Miller indices

let (hkl) be the miller indices, first divide the indices by their
LCM, X = LCM(h, k , l).

(h/X , k /X , l/X )

Then invert the points after dividing them by their LCM.

The resulting numbers are the intercepts of the planes
Draw the intercepts and then join them to form a plane.
An important point to note is that miller indices are not
unique. The same miller indices represent all the parallel
planes. Eg: Miller indices for the planes with intercepts
(1/2,1/3,1/4) and (6,4,3) are same and given by (234)
Miller planes-The {100} family of planes

There are total of 6 such planes in the {100} family. Each

intercept can be positive or negaitve thus there 2
orientations per plane, thus 2x3=6, total possible planes.

a a a
(100) (010) (001)

a a a
(1 0 0) (0 1 0) (0 0 1)
Miller planes-The {110} family of planes
There are total of 12 such planes in the {110} family. Each
intercept can be positive or negaitve thus there 2x2=4
orientiations per plane, thus 4x3=12, total possible planes.

a a a

(110) (011) (101)

a a a

(1 0 1 ) (1 1 0) (1 0 1 )
Miller planes-The {111} family of planes
A subset of the family of {111} planes. There are total of 8
such planes in the {111} family. Each intercept can be
positive or negaitve thus there 2x2x2=8 such possible
planes.

a a a

(111) (1 1 1) (1 1 1)

a a a

(1 1 1) (1 1 1) (1 1 1)
Miller planes with fractional lattice intercepts

Find the miller indices for the planes which intersect the
lattice at half the lattice point in this example.

a/2 a/2
a
a
(a) (b)

a
(c)
Miller planes with fractional lattice intercepts

(a). The interepts are (1/2,1/2,0). The inverse of the

intercepts are (2,2,0). Thus the miller indices are

(220)

(b) The intecept points are (1/2, ∞, ∞). The inverse of the
intercepts are (2, 0, 0). Thus the miller indices are

(200)

(c) The intercepts are (1/2, 1/2, 1/2). The inverse of the
intercepts are (2, 2, 2). Thus the miller indices are

(2, 2, 2)
Miller planes-shortest distance between (110) planes
The shortest distance between two (110) planes is the
normal distance between the two planes as shown below.
a
dmin = √
2

a
(110) a
2
Miller planes-shortest distance between (111) planes
The shortest distance between two (111) planes is the
normal distance between the two planes as shown below.
a
dmin = √
3

(111)
a a
3
Surface atomic density (SAD) in crystal planes–{100}
planes
The Surface atomic density of a (100) planes in SC,BCC
and FCC lattices all with same lattice constant a
1 2
SADBCC,SC = 2 & SADFCC = 2
a a
SC,BCC FCC

a a
Surface atomic density (SAD) in crystal planes–{110}
planes
The Surface atomic density of a (110) planes in SC,BCC
and FCC lattices all with same lattice constant a
√
1 2 2
SADSC = √ & SADBCC,FCC = √ = 2
2a 2 2a 2 a
SC BCC

a
a

2a 2a
2a

FCC

a
Surface atomic density (SAD) in crystal planes–{111}
planes

The Surface atomic density of a (111) planes in SC and

FCC lattices with same lattice constant a
1/2 1 1/2 + 3/2 4
SADSC = √ =√ & SADFCC = √ =√
2
3(2a )/4 3a 2 2
3(2a )/4 3a2

FCC
SC

2a 2a 2a

2a
Proceduce for finding miller indices for direction

Setup a coordinate system and then mark the beginning

point or tail of the direction vector with its corrdinates
(x1 , y1 , z1 and then mark the head of the vector (x2 , y2 , z2 ).
Then the direction vector is given by

[h, k , l]

, where h = x2 − x1 , k = y2 − y1 and l = z2 − z1 , If the

indices are fractions, round it off to the nearest integers by
multiplying it with the LCM of the deniminators. eg
[1/2,1/3,1/4] will be [6 4 3].
The miller indices for directions are enclosed in square
brackets.
Miller indices for directions

Some commonly encountered miller indices for directions

a a a
[100] [110] [111]

a a a

[1 1 0 ] [1 1 1 ] [110]
Miller indices for directions

A [hkl] director is always normal to the (hkl) plane.

The angle betweeh two directions can be found easily
using the dot product rule.
Let d1 = [h1 k1 l1 ] and d2 = [h2 k2 l2 ] be two miller direction
vectors, the
d1 · d2 = |d1 ||d2 | cos(θ)
h1 h2 + k1 k2 + l1 l2
cos(θ) = q q
2 2 2
h1 + k1 + l1 h2 2 + k2 2 + l2 2
Family of miller directions

Similar to planes, one can define a family of miller planes

which are equivalnet to each other upon rotation

< 100 >= [100] [100] [010] [010] [001] [001]

The family of such directions are reprpesented in < >

Crystal planes seen from the <100> direction

SC,BCC and FCC lattices seen from the <100> direction

SC

a
(100) FCC

BCC
SI lattice as seen from <100> direction

Si alttice as two interpenetrating FCC lattices. The unit cell

only has 4 of the second FCC lattice atoms inside it

As Seen
from <100>

a
a/2 a/2 Unit cell boundary
Atomic Packing factor of Silicon

All diamond lattice structures have similar APF. In a silicon

lattice there are N = 8√atoms per unit cell. The
√nearest
neighbour distance is 3a/4 = 2r → a = 8r / 3.

N(4/3)πr 3
APF =
a3
√
8(4/3)πr 3 3π
= √ 3 = 16 ≈ 0.34
(8r / 3)
Miller indices for directions- examples
FInd the miller indices for the directions shown below
(a) (b)

a
a 3a/4
a/2
a/2
(c) a/2 a/2

a/2
a
a/2 a a/2
(d) a
Miller indices for directions- examples

(a) [010], [001]

(b) [111]. The direction vector is (3/4,2/4,0). The miller
indices thus are [320]
(c) The direction vector is (0,1/2,1/2), thus the miller
indices are [011]. The direction vector is (-1/2,1/2,-1/2).
Thus the miller indies are [111]
(d) All the directions are parallel, hence they have same
miller indices [011]
Impurity in Silicon

Silicon is extraced from SiO2 , by heating it in a furnace

with carbon C, the reuslt gives CO and Si

SiO2 + 2C → Si + 2CO

SIlicon from this process is called as Metal Grade silicon

(MGS), which contains impurities like Iron fe, Al and
several heavy metals.
For electronic circuits, extremely pure versions are needed,
such versions are obtained by another process.

Si + 3HCl → SiHCl3 + H2

2SiHCl3 + 2H2 → 2Si + 6HCl

This produces Electronic Grade silicon (EGS) with high
purity level
Impurity in Silicon

ppma–parts per million atoms. One impurity atom in a

million atoms
ppba–parts per billion atoms, one impuroty in a billion atom
ppta–parts per trillion atoms, one impurity in a trillion atoms
EGS has high purity levels in ppba or ppta. For example
one ppba corresponds to an impurity level density or
impurity concentration of

5x1022 · (10−9 ) = 5x1013 cm−3

MGS has impurity levels of ≈ 1000 ppma

As we will see later, sometimes impurities are added on
purpose to alter the electrical behavior of the
semicondcutor. This process is known as doping
Lattice imperfections-Thermal Vibrations

Lattice is not a constant arrangement of atoms. The atoms

oscillate around their positions due to thermal energy
supplied by the ambient temperature in which they are
present
Due to the thermal energy, the atoms vibrate randomly
about their equilibrium lattice sites
This phenomenon is called as Lattice vibrations
Lattice vibrations affect some electrical behavior of the
semiconductor crystals, the details of which will be studied
later
Lattice imperfections-POint defects

A break in the ’regularity’ of the crystal lattice is referred to

as a defect. An atom missing from its lattice site in a
crystal is reffered to as Vacancy defect or vacancy.
An atom located in between the actual lattice sires of a
crystal is refered to as Interstitial defect
Vacancy Defect Interstitial defect
Lattice imperfections-Frenkel Defect

A vacancy and an interstitial defect present in close

proximity (mostly caused by the same atom moving out of
its lattice site to an interstitial point) is called as Frenkel
defect. This defect preserves mass and density

Frenkel defect
Crystal impurity-Substitutional impurity
A crystal impurity refers to a presence of a foreign atom in
the crystal. If the impurity atom prefectly substitutes the
atom at a lattice point, then such an impurity is called as
substitutional impurity.
Impurities are added on purpose to alter the electrical
properties of the semiconductor. This process is called as
doping
Crystal impurity-Interstitial impurity

If the impurity atom prefectly substitutes the atom is at a

different location than a lattice point, then such an impurity
is called as Interstitial impurity.
Vacancy Defect in a crystal

In a defective crystal with a FCC lattice structure and a

lattice constant of a units, 50% of the unit cells have a
missing atom in one of the six faces(or sides) as shown
below. Assume that the shape of the unit cell remains
intact inspite of the missing atom and the defective cells
are uniformly distributed in the lattice. Compute the volume
density of the crystal and compare it with the regular FCC
crystal lattice.

a
No. of atoms in a normal FCC crystal unit cell is 4 and its
corresponding atomic density is 4/a3
No. of atoms in the defective cell is 4-0.5=3.5. The
corresponding atomic density of the defective cell is 3.5/a3
Since both the unit cells are uniformly distributed in the
crystal, the atomic density is given by

4 3.5 15
0.5 · 3
+ 0.5 · 3 =
a a 4a3
Thus the vacancy defect changes tha atomic density of the
crystal
Interstitial impurity

In the unit cell shown below, the crystal is a BCC crystal

with a interstitial impurity. It has two atoms in centre (each
forming five covalent bonds as opposed to 8 in the normal
case). Compute the volume density of such a crystal. Also
compute the plane in which the surface density is
maximum.

a/3

a
No. of atoms in a normal BCC crystal unit cell is 2 and its
corresponding atomic density is 2/a3
No. of atoms in the presence of an impurity is 2+1=3. Thus
the atomic density is
3
a3
surface density is maximum in the 110 plane and it
contains 3 atoms in that plane and the surface density is
given by
3
√
2a2