INTRODUCTION

TO
SEMICONDUCTORS
DEFINITION

Semiconductors are one of the broader classifications of materials based on conductivity.

They have a conductivity greater than insulators but less than that of conductors.

The difference in conductivity arises from the concept of band gap, the ease with which an electron can break free
from it’s parent atom.

Materials with higher band gap are likely to have high resistivity, or low conductivity.

In conductors, this band gap is non-existent as the valence band and conduction bands practically overlap each
other.

In the next slide, we will define and explain what exactly what valence and conduction bands are.
VALENCE AND CONDUCTION BANDS

In any material, when electrons gain energy and jump

from the valence to the conduction band, the amount of
energy that was binding them to the nucleus decreases.
This enables the electron to easily leave the parent atom
and engage in conduction activities like electric current or
contribute into the material’s thermal conductivity.

In an isolated atom at a temperature close to 0K, the bands

don’t exist, that is because the electrons are confined to
specific orbits, which are described in more detail in the
quantum mechanical model of the atom. But when these isolated atoms come in contact of
other atoms and the temperature increases, their fine atomic orbitals diffuse in energies because of the electrical
fields and thermal vibrations of the electrons and protons of the neighboring atoms interact with one another. So
we define bands, the energy range in which the electron is most likely to exist. In fact, fermi level is the energy of
the outermost electron when the atom is isolated and at 0K.
Now when an electron in the valence band is given a slight nudge, an energy greater than or equal to the band gap,
the electron will jump from the valence band to the conduction band almost instantaneously.
Fun fact: Sometimes the electron may jump from the valence band to the conduction band without having to
apply any energy! This weird phenomenon is called quantum tunneling, in which an electron basically teleports from
on position to another without having to traverse the whole path. But the probability of this occurring at larger distances
is very small. One of the biggest challenges modern computing faces is the size of transistors. Smaller these transistors get,
more likely will it experience quantum tunneling and report all kinds of errors in computing. Thus began the development of
quantum computers.

As seen from the figure, the energy gap is highest in

insulators. This explains their low conductivity and thermal
conductivity. Then comes the semiconductors. In metals, the
bands coincide to some extent, which means the outermost
electrons are already conducting.
As temperature increases, the difference between these two
bands decreases. So, conductivity increases in insulators and
semiconductors, which is not the case with metals because in
metals, the thermal vibrations cause the electrons to decrease
the length of their mean free path, now the same happens in the case of semiconductors and insulators, but this effect is
small compared to the increased number of charge carriers.
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF CONDUCTIVITY OF
SEMICONDUCTORS
17
Carrier Concentration vs Temp (in Si)
1 10
As the temperature increases, the number of charge 1 10
16
carriers increases, thereby increasing conductivity. 1 10
15

14
1 10
13
1 10

Intrinsic Concentration (cm^-3)

12
1 10
11
1 10
ni 1 1010
T
9
1 10
8
1 10
7
1 10
6
1 10
5
1 10
4
1 10
3
1 10

100
150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
T
Temperature (K)
CLASSIFICATION OF SEMICONDUCTORS

1.Intrinsic Semiconductors &,

2.Extrinsic Semiconductors.
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
• Intrinsic Semiconductors like silicon and germanium, are the simplest forms of semiconductors.
• They are simply pure substances.
• Let’s take silicon for example. In it’s valence shell,
there are 4 electrons. Since the band gap is small,
when given enough energy, in the form of
thermal excitations or external potential
difference, the electrons jump to the conduction
band and leave a hole behind.The electrons and
the holes are the charge carriers in this case.
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

❖ Extrinsic semiconductors are made to increase the conductivity of semiconductors.

❖ To understand this better, we first need to understand doping.

• To make the semiconductor conduct electricity, other atoms called impurities

must be added.
• “Impurities” are different elements.
• This process is called doping.
• Here, on the right we see that a silicon crystal has been doped
with arsenic. The reason we picked Arsenic is that doing so will
leave one electron free to move about. This increases the
conductivity of the whole crystal on average.
• You can also dope a
semiconductor material with an
atom such as boron that has only
3 valence electrons.
• The 3 electrons in the outer
orbit do form covalent bonds
with its neighboring
semiconductor atoms as before.
But one electron is missing from
the bond.
• This place where a fourth
electron should be is referred to
as a hole.
• The hole assumes a positive
charge so it can attract electrons
from some other source.
• Holes become a type of current
carrier like the electron to
support current flow.
CHARGE CONCENTRATION AND MASS ACTION LAW IN
SEMICONDUCTORS
• The law of mass action states that the product of number of electrons in the conduction band and the
number of holes in the valence band is constant at a fixed temperature and is independent of amount of
donor and acceptor impurity added.

• Mathematically it is represented as

𝑛 ∙ 𝑝 = 𝑛𝑖2
Where 𝑛𝑖 is the intrinsic carrier concentration,
𝑛 is number of electrons in conduction band and
𝑝 is number of holes in valence band

• The formula is true for both pure and doped semiconductors.

MATHEMATICAL EQUATION FOR CONDUCTIVITY

• Conductivity of a material depends closely on it’s mobility.

Mathematically, mobility is defined as follows.
𝑣 ∝ 𝐸 ⟹ 𝑣 = 𝜇𝐸
𝑣
∴𝜇=
𝐸

• Now, conductivity

𝜎 = 𝑛𝑒𝜇 (Ω ∙ 𝑐𝑚)−1

• It is clear from the equation that as the number of charge carriers increase, conductivity increases
RESISTANCE EFFECTS OF DOPING
• If you use lots of arsenic atoms for doping, there will be lots of extra electrons
so the resistance of the material will be low and current will flow freely.
• If you use only a few boron atoms, there will be fewer free electrons so the
resistance will be high and less current will flow.
• By controlling the doping amount, virtually any resistance can be achieved.
TYPES OF SEMICONDUCTORS

o The silicon doped with extra electrons is

called an “N type” semiconductor.
❑ “N” is for negative, which is the charge
of an electron.

o Silicon doped with material missing

electrons that produce locations called
holes is called “P type” semiconductor.
❑ “P” is for positive, which is the charge
of a hole.
 CURRENT FLOW IN N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS

• The DC voltage source has a positive terminal that attracts the free electrons in the
semiconductor and pulls them away from their atoms leaving the atoms charged
positively.
• Electrons from the negative terminal of the supply enter the semiconductor material
and are attracted by the positive charge of the atoms missing one of their electrons.
• Electrons of the semiconductor material move from –ve to +ve terminals.
CURRENT FLOW IN P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS
• Electrons from the negative supply terminal are attracted to the
positive holes and fill them.
• The positive terminal of the supply pulls the electrons from the holes
leaving the holes to attract more electrons.
• Current flows in the direction of the holes.
• Inside the semiconductor current flow is actually by the movement of
the holes from positive to negative.