Topic 13

Chemicals Electronic
Industry
Examples of Chemicals for Electronic Industries
1. Bulk gases, including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, helium, and hydrogen;

2. Dopants gases, including arsine, phosphine, boron trichloride, boron trifluoride, and
dibo-rane;

3. Etchant gases, including boron trichloride, chlorine, chlorine trifluoride, hydrogen

chlo-ride, hydrogen fluoride, nitrogen trifluoride, silicon tetrafluoride, sulfur
hexafluoride, tetra-fluoromethane, trifluoromethane, difluoromethane, fluoromethane,
hexafluoroethane, pentafluoroethane, octafluoropropane, and octafluorocyclobutane;

3. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) chemicals, including silane, dichlorosilane,

trichlorosi-lane, silicon tetrachloride, disilane, tetraethylorthosilicate, silicon
tetrafluoride, methyl-silane, germane, ammonia, nitrous oxide, and tungsten
hexafluoride; and

4. Wet chemicals, including acetic acid, acetone, ammonium fluoride, ammonium

hydrox-ide, hydrochloric acid, hydrofluoric acid, hydrogen peroxide, isopropyl alcohol,
nitric acid, phosphoric acid, and sulfuric acid.
The Principles of Semiconductor

• Semiconductors are materials with electrical conductivity between good conductors

such as metal (eg. Cu, Al, W etc) and good insulators such as rubber, plastic and dry
wood.

•The most commonly used semiconductor materials are silicon (Si) and germanium
(Ge), both of which are located in column IV A or the periodic table of elements.

•Other semiconductor : gallium arsenate (GaAs), silicon carbide (SiC), and silicon
germanium (SiGe).

•One of the most important properties of a semiconductor is that its conductivity can
be controlled by intentionally adding certain impurities, a process called doping, and by
applying an electric field.
Bandgap

• The fundamental difference between a semiconductor and an insulator or a

conductor is the bandgap.
•The outermost shell of an atom is called a valence shell.
•Electrons in a valence shell cannot conduct an electric current.
•When an electron escapes the constriction of the nucleus and leaves the valence
shell, it becomes a free electron and can conduct an electric current.
• When many atoms bond together to make solid materials, their orbits overlap an form
bands, as shown in Figure3.2(b).
• Electrons in conducting bands can move relatively freely inside solid materials and can
conduct electric currents when an electric field is applied to the solid material.
• Electrons in the valence band are bound with the nuclei and cannot move freely.
Therefore, they cannot conduct electric currents.
• Valence band has lower electric potential, electrons always tend to stay in the valence
band.
• Resistivity is the ability of a material to resist an electric current.
• A good conductor has a very low resistivity, and a good insulator (or dielectric) has a very
high resistivity.
• The most commonly used unit of resistivity is micro-ohm times centimeter (µΩ. Cm).
• At room temperature, the resistivity of Al is 2.7 µΩ. cm, Na is 4.7 µΩ. cm, intrisic silicon is
about 1011 µΩ. cm and SiO2 is > 1018 µΩ. cm.

Figure 3.3 (a) Energy bands and

bandgap of Al, (b) Na, (c) Si, and
(d) SiO2.
• For most metals, the conducting band and valence band overlap or have a very small
bandgap, so small that electrons with thermal energy at room temperature can jump
across it.
• Therefore, a conducting band has many electrons, explaining why metals are always
good electrical conductors.
• For insulator such a glass and plastic, the bandgap is so large that electrons cannot
jump across it from the valence band, so the conducting band has very few electrons
to conduct electric currents.
• For semiconductors, the bandgap is somewhere between that of conductors and
insulators. There are some electrons can jump into the conducting band from valence
band and conduct electric current.
• For example, intrinsic silicon at room temperature (300 K), there are about 1.5 x 1010
per cm3 electrons in the conducting band. Thus, at room temperature, only one in ten
trillion electrons is in the conducting band, while the majority electrons remain in the
valence band.
• Therefore, intrinsic semiconductors can conduct electric currents at room
temperature better than dielectric, but not as well as conductors.
Doping Semiconductor
• By intentionally adding dopants into pure single-crystal semiconductor materials such as
silicon, conductivity can be improved.
• There are two kinds of dopants:
- p-type such as boron (B) from group IIIA and
- n-type such as phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), and antimony (Sb) from group VA.
• P, As and Sb provide an electron in semiconductor materials, they are called donors.
• Boron provides a hole, which allows other electrons to jump in and create a hole
elsewhere, it is called an acceptor.

Figure 3.4 Silicon’s 2D simplification.

 n-type doped semiconductors
•P and As have five electrons in their outermost shell. When P or As is doped into pure
single-crystal Si or Ge, there is an extra electron in the outermost shell.
•This extra electron can easily jump into the conducting band and become a free electron
to conduct an electric current.
• In this case, the majority carriers of electric currents are electrons, and the
semiconductor is an n-type dopant (n = negative) because electrons have negative
charges.
• The more n-type dopant atoms enter the semiconductor substrate, the more free
electrons they will provide to conduct electric current,. Therefore, the better conductivity
of the semiconductor.

Figure 3.5 (a) n-type

(arsenic) doped silicon
and
(b) its donor energy band.
 p-type doped semiconductors
• The empty slot (or hole) in the outermost shell left when boron is doped into pure single-
crystal silicon or germanium.
• Refer to figure 3.6(b), the electrons in the valence band can easily jump to the acceptor
energy band, creating holes in the valence band.
• In the electric field, other electrons in the valence band move and jump into these holes,
while creating new holes where these electrons originated, allowing other electrons to
jump in.
• The subsequent hole movement carriers and electric current just like the movement of
positive charges.
• A semiconductor with holes as majority carriers is a p-type dopant (p = positive).
• Boron is the main p-type dopant used in the IC industry.

Figure 3.6 (a) p-type (boron)

doped siricon, (b) its
acceptor energy band,
P-type Doped Silicon and Hole Movement

Figure 3.6(c), (d), and (e) illustrations of hole movement.

Solar Cell Panel (Photovoltaic Cell)

Photovoltaic systems convert sunlight directly into electricity, and are potentially one
of the most useful of the renewable energy technologies.
Materials for Solar cell

Solar cells are composed of various semiconducting materials

1. Crystalline silicon
2. Cadmium telluride
3. Copper indium diselenide
4. Gallium arsenide
5. Indium phosphide
6. Zinc sulphide
Working Principle of Photovoltaic (PV) cell
•The PV cell is the basic building block of a PV
system. Individual cells can vary in sizes from
about 1cm to about 10 cm across. Most cells are
made with silicon today. Silicon must be purified–
this is one of the biggest expenses in the
production of solar cells.

•A slab (or wafer) of pure silicon is used to make a

PV cell. The top of the slab is very thinly diffused
with an “n” dopant, such as phosphorous. On the
base of the slab, a small amount of a “p” dopant,
typically boron, is diffused. The boron side of the
slab is 1,000 times thicker than the phosphorous
side.

•Dopants are similar in atomic structure to the

primary material. The phosphorous has one more
electron in its outer shell than silicon, and the
boron has one less. These dopants help create the
electric field that motivates the energetic electrons
out of the cell created when light strikes the PV
cell.
•The phosphorous gives the wafer of silicon an excess of free electrons; it has a negative
character. This is called the n-type silicon (n = negative). The n-type silicon is not charged—it
has an equal number of protons and electrons—but some of the electrons are not held
tightly to the atoms. They are free to move to different locations within the layer.

•The boron gives the wafer of the silicon a positive character, which will cause electrons to
flow toward it. The base of the silicon is called p-type silicon (p = positive). The p-type silicon
has an equal number of protons and electrons; it has a positive character, but not a positive
charge.

•Where the n-type silicon and p-type silicon meet, free electrons from the n-type flow into
the p-type for a split second, then form a barrier to prevent more electrons from moving
between the two sides. This point of contact and barrier is called the p-n junction.

•When both sides of the silicon slab are doped, there is a negative charge in the p-type
section of the junction and a positive charge in the n-type section of the junction due to
movement of the electrons and “holes” at the junction of the two types of materials. This
imbalance in electrical charge at the p-n junction produces an electric field between the p-
type and n-type.

•If the PV cell is placed in the sun, photons of light strike the electrons in the p-n junction and
energize them, knocking them free of their atoms. These electrons are attracted to the
positive charge in the n-type silicon and repelled by the negative charge in the p-type silicon.
Most photon-electron collisions actually occur in the silicon base.
PV Array Components
-One PV cell only produces 1 or 2 watts of
electricity, which isn't enough power for most
applications.

-To increase power, groups of solar cells are

electrically connected and packaged into weather-
tight modules and arrays to provide useful output
voltages and currents for a specific power output.

-A PV System typically consists of 3 basic

components:

•PV cells - Electricity is generated by PV cells, the

smallest unit of a PV system

•Modules - PV cells are wired together to form

modules which are usually a sealed, or
encapsulated, unit of convenient size for handling.

•Arrays – Groups of panels make up an array.

Advantages of Solar Energy
• Clean
• Sustainable
• Free
• Provide electricity to remote places

Disadvantages of Solar Energy

• Less efficient and costly equipment
• Part Time
• Reliability Depends On Location
• Environmental Impact of PV Cell Production
Electroluminescence : LCD and OLED
Principle of Liquid Crystal (LCD)
What is a Liquid Crystal?
Liquid Crystal – a stable phase of matter characterized by anisotropic properties
without the existence of a 3-dimensional crystal lattice – generally lying between the
solid and isotropic (“liquid”) phase.
•Liquid crystals exhibit
intermediate phases where
they flow like liquids, yet
possess some physical
properties characteristic of
crystals.

•Materials that exhibit such

unusual phases are often
called mesogens.
•Typical mesogens are
needle like or disk-like

•The various phases in

which they could exist are
termed mesophases.
Molecular structure and Chemical Composition

•A side chain R, two or more aromatic rings A and A’, connected by linkage groups X and Y,
and at the other end connected to a terminal group R’.
•Examples of side-chain and terminal groups are alkyl (CnH2n+1), alkoxy (CnH2n+1O),
acyloxyl alkylcarbonate, alkoxycarbonyl and the nitro and cyano groups.
•The X of the linkage groups are simple bonds or groups such as stilbene (-CH=CH-),
ester , tolane (-CΞC-), azoxy (-N=N-), Schiff base (-CH=N-).
•The names of liquid crystals are often fashioned after the linkage group (eg. Schiff-base
liquid crystal).
Examples :
 Physical and Optical Properties

• All the physical and optical properties of liquid crystals are governed by the
properties of these constituent groups and how they are chemically
synthesized together: Dielectric constants, elastic constants, viscosities,
absorption spectra, transition temperatures, existence of mesophases,
anisotropies, and optical nonlinearities

• Molecules are quite large and anisotropic, practically impossible to treat all
the possible variations in the molecular architecture and the resulting
changes in the physical properties.

• Some generally applicable observations on the dependence of the physical

properties on the molecular constituents.
Chemical stability

Depends on the central linkage group

• Schiff-base unstable
• Ester, azo, and azoxy stable, but are also quite susceptible to
moisture, temperature change, and ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
• Compounds without a central linkage group are among the most
stable liquid crystals ever synthesized.
• Other compounds such as pyrimide and phenylcyclohexane are
also quite stable.
Electronic Properties

• Decided by they constituent molecules

• Energy level structures rather complex
• Theories are still not sufficiently precise in relating the
molecular structures and the liquid crystal responses.
• Limit here to stating some of the well-established results,
mainly from molecular theory and experimental observations.
Lyotropic, Polymeric, and Thermotropic Liquid Crystals

• Lyotropic Liquid Crystals are obtained when an appropriate

concentration of a material is dissolved in some solvent; Ex:
Soap; Are of interest in biological studies.
• Polymeric Liquid Crystals are basically the polymer versions of
the monomers

Thermotropic Liquid Crystals

• Most widely used and extensively studied Liquid Crystals
• There are 3 basic phases : Nematics, Cholesterics, and Smectics
Liquid Crystal Phases

Nematic Smectic Cholesteric

•Anisotrpic substances may go through one or several Liquid Crystal Phases.

Nematic and Cholesteric

Nematic

Cholesteric
Smectic-A and Smectic-C
Smectic C* (ferroelectric) and unwounded Smectic C*
Mixtures and Composites

• Temperature ranges for pure liquid crystals are quite limited.

• Industrial applications employ mostly mixtures, composites, or
doped liquid crystals with tailor-made physical and optical
properties.
• The optical properties, dielectric anisotropies, and viscosities are
very different from those of the individual mixture constituents.
• Creating mixtures is an art, guided of course by some scientific
principles.
Polorizability Under An Electric Field
Examples of LCD Devices
What is OLED?
• An organic light emitting diode (OLED) is a light emitting diode
• In OLED the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds
• There are two main families of OLEDs: those based upon small molecules
and those employing polymers.
• Adding mobile ions to an OLED creates a Light-emitting Electrochemical Cell
or LEC, which has a slightly different mode of operation.
• An OLED display functions without a backlight. Thus, it can display deep black
levels and can be thinner and lighter than liquid crystal display (LCD).
Working Principle of OLED
 Molecules commonly used in OLEDs include organometallic chelates

chelate

Perylene

Alq3
Tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminium

Alq3 has been used as a green emitter, electron transport material and as a host for
yellow and red emitting dyes.