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Electronic Devices
(KEC-301)

Introduction to Semiconductor Physics

(Unit-1)

Presented By:
Devesh Singh
Assoc. Professor, ECE Department
Ajay Kumar Garg Engineering College
Ghaziabad (U.P.)

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Electronic Materials
• The goal of electronic materials is to generate and control
the flow of an electrical current.
• Electronic materials include:
1. Conductors: huge number of e-, low resistance, Large current
flow
2. Insulators: No carrier, have high resistance, almost zero current
flow
3. Semiconductors: limited carriers, limited current, fine control
over current

Conductors
• Good conductors have low resistance so electrons flow
through them with ease.
• Best element conductors include:
– Copper, silver, gold, aluminum, & nickel
• Alloys are also good conductors:
– Brass & steel
• Good conductors can also be liquid:
– Salt water

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Conductor Atomic Structure

• The atomic structure of good
conductors usually includes only one
electron in their outer shell.
– It is called a valence electron.
– It is easily striped away from the atom,
producing current flow. (metallic Copper Atom
bonding)

Metallic Bonding: each Na surrounded by 7 Na atoms. All try to fill outer shell but
remains incapable. Thus ample of electrons available

Insulators
• Insulators have a high resistance so current does not flow in them.
• Good insulators include: Glass, ceramic, plastics, & wood
• Most insulators are compounds of several elements.
• Ionic Bonding: example NaCl, strong bonding, No free carrier.

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Semiconductors
• Semiconductors are materials that can be provide large variation in
current starting from zero ( as insulators)
• Common elements such as silicon, and germanium are Semiconductors.
• Silicon (IV group) element is one of widely used semiconductor.
• More about semiconductor in next lecture.

Semiconductor Valence Orbit

• The main characteristic of a
semiconductor element is that it
has four electrons in its outer or
valence orbit.

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Si Atom

Semiconductor (SC) –covalent bonding

• 4 e- of outer shell are shared with
4 atoms.
• These links are called covalent
bonds.

2D Crystal Lattice Structure

Semicondor is Insuator at OK as no electron is
available for current flow. Because of low
thermal enegy, All e- are confined in bonds.

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Intrinsic----Pure SC
Type of SC
extrinsic ----Doped SC
• For dominace of one type of carrier, doping is required
• “Impurities” are different elements.
• This process is called doping.
• Pure SC is called Intrinsic while doped is called extrinsic.
• Both categories behaves like insulator at ZERO K.

N-type SC
• Pentavalent impurity like are P
{[Ne]3s23p3}, As {[Ar]4s23d104p3},
has 5 valence electrons.
• Adding arsenic (doping) will allow
four of the arsenic valence electrons
to bond with the neighboring silicon
atoms.
• The one electron left over for each
arsenic atom becomes available to
conduct current flow.
• Each pentavalent impurity is called
donor impurity as it donates an e- to
SC crystal
• It is called N-type doping

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• You can also dope a semiconductor

material with an atom such as boron
that has only 3 valence electrons (Tri-
P-type
valent Impurity)
• 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.
• Missing position (i.e., vacant state) of
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. (to be discussed latter)
• Holes become a type of current carrier
like the electron to support current flow.
• Each Trivalent impurity is called Acceptor
type impurity as it create vacant
position (hole), which could be occupied
by electron.

Types of Semiconductor Materials

• The silicon doped with extra electrons is called an “N type”
semiconductor.
– “N” is for negative, which is the charge of an electron.
• 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.

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Semiconductor Materials
Two general classifications:
Elemental semiconductor materials, found in group IV of the periodic table,
crytal composed of single species of atoms
compound semiconductor- more than one atom type, made up of group (III- V) & (II-VI) elements.

Application
Silicon is now used for the majority of rectifiers, transistors, and integrated circuits.
Compound SC:
widely used in high-speed devices because of its higher electron mobility
Devices requiring the emission or absorption of light.
The two-element (binary) III-V compounds such as GaN, GaP, and GaAs are common in
light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Three-element (ternary) compounds such as GaAsP and four-element (quaternary)
compounds such as InGaAsP can be grown to provide added flexibility in choosing materials
properties.
Fluorescent materials such as those used in television screens are usually II-VI compound
semiconductors such as ZnS.
 Light detectors are commonly made with InSb, CdSe, or other compounds such as PbTe
and HgCdTe. Si and Ge are also widely used as infrared and nuclear radiation detectors.
An important microwave device, the Gunn diode, is usually made of GaAs or InP.
Semiconductor lasers are made using GaAs, AlGaAs, and other ternary and quaternary
compounds.

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TYPES OF SOLIDS
Crystalline, Amorphous and polycrystalline, and are the three general types of solids.

Crystalline solid: atoms making up the crystal are arranged in a periodic fashion. That is, there is some basic
arrangement of atoms that is repeated throughout the entire solid.

Amorphous solids: no periodic structure at all

Polycrystalline solids :composed of more than one single-crystal material called grains and are separated by
grain boundaries.

SPACE LATTICES
 The periodic arrangement of atoms in the crystal is called the lattice.
 Our primary concern will be the single crystal with its regular
geometric periodicity in the atomic arrangement.
Primitive and Unit Cell
 A unit cell is a small volume of the crystal that can be used to reproduce the entire
crystal.
 Primitive Unit cell is smallest group of atoms which has the overall symmetry of a
A generalized
crystal and from which the entire lattice and from which the entire lattice can be built up primitive unit
by repetition in three dimensions cell.
 The difference between primitive cell and unit cell is that, primitive cell allows atoms
only at corners of a cell, where, unit cell allows lattice
points at corners, face centres and body centre

Fig, shows translation of unit cell ODEF to

reproduce complete 2-dimentional Xtal.
Example: r = 3a + 2b

   
Generalized displacement vector is given by

r  p a  qb  s c
p, q and s are integers. a,b, c vectors need not
orthogonal.
A two-dimensional lattice showing translation of a unit cell by r = 3a + 2b.

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Basic unit cells
Simple cubic
Simple cubic: Here a, b,
and c are the basis
vectors along the edges
of the standard SC cell. It
consist of eight atoms at
all eight corners
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BCC FCC Diamond unit cell
Body Center Cubic, BCC- Face Center Cubic, FCC- Diamod cell-
consist of eight atoms at consist of eight corner (14 FCC +4 Displaced) atoms
corners and one atom at atoms and six face atoms =18 atoms
the center of cube
A Diamond lattice starts with a
FCC and then adds four
additional INTERAL atoms at
locations a/4 + b/4 + c/4, away
from each of the atoms.
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Packing fraction of FCC

Packing fraction is percentage contribution of atom volumes to unit cell
First of all maximum possible radius is calculated with the help of two nearest neighbor atoms.

In FCC corner atoms and face atom (at position a/2+b/2+c/2) are nearest neighbor.
2 2 2
 a    a   c 2  2 a  c  1 2a
   
 2  2 4 2
2
The radius of the spheres = a
4
atoms/cell:
Each corner contributes 1/8 of its volume => corner atom contribution=8X1/8= volume of 1 atom
Each face contributes ½ of its volume => face atom contribution=6X1/2= volume of 3 atom
Effective atoms contributing to volume= 8 X 1/8 (corner) + 6 X ½ (face)= 1 + 3=4

 4  2  3 2 3
4  a  4  2 a3
 3  4   3
PACKING fraction=effective atom volume/unit cell volume 
 

3 43 
 2
a3 a3 3 4

 2
  0.7404... 74%
6

Problem

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Diamond Unit cell

This is basic crystal structure for many important semiconductors.
For elemental SC e.g., Si; all 18 atoms are Si type.
For compound SC- eg, GaAs 14 FCC Ga atoms and 4 displaced atoms are As type.
Also in case compound SC are Diamond Unit cell is called Zincblende
structure.
The diamond structure can be thought of as an FCC lattice with an
extra atom placed at a/4 + b/4 + c/4 from each of the fee atoms.
Actual diamond cell consist of original FCC atoms and only those
displaced atoms which lies within the cell. (14 FCC +4 Displaced)
atoms =18 atoms

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Chosen orgin must be present over the direction to be decided.

Find the component of vectors along a,b,c
Reduce to minimum integer

Change of origin if origin not on the selected direction

Note orientation of axis once decided for given lattice cannot be changed. But origin can be shifted

For Blue direction

For Black direction (origin shifted)

Not the orientation of axis.

Bar ‘-’ shows negative intercept

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Equivalence of dirction:

For Cubic system, all six

noted directions are
All permutation of 100 equvivalent.
are equivalent
Parallel direction

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Note: reciprocal is taken to avoid notation of infinty, if a plane is parallel (i.e., intercept at infinity) to one of the axis. On
other hand if plane passes through origin, origin itsef is changed.

Plane should not pass through origin

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Miller Indices

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The surface density of atoms may be important, for example, in determining how another
material, such as an insulator, will “fit” on the surface of a semiconductor material.

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Replace by ‘+4’
Displaced atoms

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Review of quantum mechanics

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A special problem arises when students first encounter the theory of quantum mechanics.
The problem is that quantum concepts are largely mathematical in nature and do not
involve the “common sense” quality associated with classical mechanics. At first, many
students find quantum concepts difficult, not so much because of the mathematics
involved, but because they feel the concepts are somehow divorced from “reality.” This is
a reasonable reaction, since ideas which we consider to be real or intuitively satisfying are
usually based on our own observation. Thus the classical laws of motion are easy to
understand because we observe bodies in motion every day.
On the other hand, we observe the effects of atoms and electrons only indirectly, and
naturally we have very little feeling for what is happening on the atomic scale.
It is necessary, therefore, to depend on the facility of the theory to predict experimental
results rather than to attempt to force classical analogs onto the non-classical phenomena
of atoms and electrons.

Ref. Ben G Streetman, Chapter-2, pp-53, Para-4

• Before quantum mechanics. there are

• three principles we need to consider:
 The principle of energy quanta
 The wave-puticle duality principle
 The uncertainty principle.
Energy Quanta:
One experiment that demonstrates an inconsistency between experimental results and the
classical theory of light is called the photoelectric effect.
photoelectric effect
Let us suppose that monochromatic light is incident on the surface of a metal plate in a vacuum.
The electrons in the metal absorb energy from the light, and some of the electrons receive
enough energy to be ejected from the metal surface (called Photoelectron) into the vacuum.
This phenomenon is called the photoelectric effect.
Outcome:
• No emission if incident frequency < v0
• If the incident light intensity varies at a constant frequency, the rate of photoelectron
emission changes proportionately, but the maximum kinetic energy remains the same.

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 Planck ( in1900) postulated light wave emission contains discrete packets of energy called
quanta having energy E = hv, where v is the frequency of radiation
h is a constant now known as Planck's constant ( h= 6.625 x 10-34 J-s)
 Einstein (in 1905) interpreted photoelectric result by suggesting that energy in a light wave is
also contained in discrete packets called a photons, whose energy is also given by E = hv.
 A photon with sufficient energy, then, can knock an electron from the surface of the material.
The minimum energy required to remove an electron is called the workfunction of the
material and any excess photon energy goes into the kinetic energy of the photoelectron.
 The maximum kinetic energy of the photoelectron can be written as

 where hv is the incident photon energy and φ =hvo is the minimum energy, or work function,
required to remove an electron from the surface.
 This experiment demonstrates clearly that Planck’s hypothesis was correct— light energy is contained in discrete
units rather than in a continuous distribution of energies.
 we find in quantum physics that a higher intensity light corresponds to a larger number of these photons, and
hence a larger number of photoelectrons. While as per classical mechanics higher amplitude or intensity wave
packs more energy, and should have increased the photoelectron energy.

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Wave particle duality:

 Photoelectric effect suggest that light wave behave as if they are particles.
 particle-like behavior of electromagnetic waves-copmton effect.
Based on the wave– particle duality of light, Louis de Broglie (1924) proposed that particles of
matter wave (such as electrons) similarly could manifest a wave character. (Later confirmed
by the diffraction of electrons by the periodic array of atoms in a crystal observed by Davisson and Germer in 1927)

 The momentum of a photon is given by

where λ is the wavelength of the light wave. Then, de Broglie hypothesized that the, wavelength
of a particle can be expressed as

Where, p is the momentum of the particle and A is known as the de Broglie wavelength of the
matter wave.

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The uncertainity principle*:

 The Heisenberg uncertainty principle (1927) states that we cannot describe with absolute
accuracy the behaviour of these subatomic particles.
 First statement of the uncertainty (Indeterminacy) principle
In any measurement of the position and momentum of a particle,
the uncertainties in the two measured quantities will be related by

Second statement- uncertainties in an energy measurement will be related to the uncertainty in

the time at which the measurement was made by

One consequence of the uncertainty principle is that we cannot determine the exact position of
an electron. Instead, determine the probability of finding an electron at a particular position.

*This is often called the principle of indeterminacy. This is a better term, since the parameters cannot be determined with better
accuracy than specified in these equations.

Thus one of the important results of quantum mechanics is that a probability density function
(PDF) can be obtained for a particle in a certain environment, and this function can be used
to find the expectation value of important quantities such as position, momentum, and
energy.
Given a probability density function P(x) for a one- dimensional problem, the probability of
finding the particle in a range from x to x+dx is P(x)dx. Since the particle will be
somewhere, this definition implies that

P(x) is normalized (i.e., the integral equals unity)

Average or expectation value of parameter f(x) is

If the probability density function is not normalized

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Schrodinger wave equation

Experimental results involving electromagnetic waves and sub atomic particles can not be
explained by classical laws of physics.
Schrodinger (in 1926) provided a revised formulation called wave mechanics (describing
motion of electrons ), which incorporated the principles of quanta introduced by Planck, and the
wave-particle duality principle introduced by de Broglie.
Derivation
Wave equation is derived by applying quantum concepts to various classical equations of
mechanics.

Time component
Spatial component

Ψ(x, t) is the wave function, V(x) is the potential function

assumed to be independent of time, m is the mass of the
particle. The wave function Ψ(x, t) will be used to
describe the behavior of the system and, mathematically,
Ψ(x, t) can be a complex quantity

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Once we find the Ψ wave-function for a particle, we can calculate its average position, energy,
and momentum, within the limits of the uncertainty principle.

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Boundary Conditions to solve Problems

However, them may be justified…………..

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APPLICATIONS OF SCHRODINGER’S WAVE EQUATION

1 Electron in Free Space
If there is no force acting on the particle, then the potential function V(x) will be constant and
we must have E > V(x). Assume, for simplicity, that the potential function V(x)= 0 for all x. Then,
the time-independent wave equation can be as

or

where Is called wave number.

time-dependent portion of the solution is

Then the total solution for the wave function is given by

wave function solution is a traveling wave, which means that a particle moving in free space
is represented by a traveling wave. The first term, with the coefficient A , is a wave traveling
in the x direction, while the second term, with the coefficient B , is a wave traveling in the x
direction. The value of these coefficients will be determined from boundary conditions.

A free particle with a well-defined energy will also have a well-defined λ and P.

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2 The Infinite Potential Well

It is classic example of a bounded particle.
Particle is assumed to exist in region II. Time-independent
Schrodinger’s wave equation

In region II, V=0, so eq. modifies as

when the potential function is finite everywhere

solution to this equation is

where
boundary condition is that the wave
function Ψ(x) must be continuous
potential function is infinite in some regions

boundary condition at x =0, results in A1=0. At x =a,

Negative n values Ignored as it yields
redundant solutions for the PDF

coefficient A2 can be calculated by

Thus, from we have

It yields
Finally, the time-independent wave solution is

solution represents the electron (bound) in the infinite potential have standing wave
solution. while free electron was represented by a traveling wave, and now the bound
particle is represented by a standing wave.

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Using and , we have

The total energy can then be written as

This implies energy of the particle is quantized (Discrete). The discrete energies lead to
quantum states. The integer n is called a quantum number; the particular wave-function Ψn
and corresponding energy state En describe the quantum state of the particle.
Thus, wave function of
particle is now given by

(a) Wavefunctions in the first

three quantum states; (L=a)
(b) Probability Density distribution
for the second state.

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assume that a flux of particles originated at x= -ꚙ

incident on the potential barrier. Also, total energy of
the particle is less than the barrier height, or E <V0
Using wave equation,

we have in region 1 (V=0 in region 1)

Travelling wave

general solution to this equation is (1)

incident wave Reflected wave

In +X direction In +X direction

K1 is given as

In region II, the potential is V =V0. If we assume

that E <V0, wave function in region II is

general solution is

Where

BC requires that Ψ2(x) must remain finite, thus B2 =0. The Ψ2 is given as
(2)

Continuity of wave function at x =0 requires (3)

(4)
Eq 1-3 provides condition

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Since the potential function is everywhere finite (in infinite case Ψ=0), the first derivative of the
wave function must also be continuous so that

(5)

(6)
Using 1,2,5; we have
Using 4,6; we have

Using 4,6; and

The reflected probability density function is given by

(7)

Defining a reflection coefficient, R , as the ratio of the reflected flux to the

incident flux, which is written as
Reflected flux

incident flux

where Vi and Vr are the incident and reflected velocities, respectively, of the particles. In region-
I, V =0 so that E =T , where T is the kinetic energy of the particle. The kinetic energy is given by

using

Thus incident velocity is given as

Similarly reflected velocity is given as

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Thus reflection coefficient is given as

Using (7)

The result of R =1 implies that all of the particles incident on the potential barrier for E V
0 are eventually reflected. Particles are not absorbed or transmitted through the
potential barrier. This result is entirely consistent with classical physics!
Additional information due to quantum mechanics Mechanics:
Since A2≠0 => A2A2*=PDF ≠0
This result implies that there is a finite probability that the incident particle will penetrate
the potential barrier and exist in region II. The probability of a particle penetrating the
potential barrier is another difference between classical and quantum mechanics: The
quantum mechanical penetration is classically not allowed. Although there is a finite
probability that the particle may penetrate the barrier, since the reflection coefficient in
region I is unity, the injected particle in region II must eventually turn around and move
back into region I.

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solutions of the wave equation in regions I, II, and III are given

Where

B3=0, because Once a particle gets into region III,

there are no potential changes to cause a reflection
transmission coefficient

vt and vi are the velocities of the transmitted and

incident particles, respectively. Since the potential V=0
in both regions I and III, the incident and transmitted
velocities are equal

After solving, we have

Equation implies that there is a finite probability that a particle impinging a potential barrier
will penetrate the barrier and will appear in region III. This phenomenon is called tunneling
and it, too, contradicts classical mechanics.

Penetration of particle to region III is called Tunneling. Note as width of potential barrier
decreases tunneling probability increases.

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EXTENSIONS OF THE WAVE THEORY TO ATOMS The One-Electron Atom

The potential function is due to the coulomb attraction
between the proton and electron and is given by

Time-independent Schrodinger’s wave

equation in spherical coordinate is

Spherical coordinate

(1)

Using separation-of-variables technique

To be seen later

Using (1)

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second term in Equation is a function of φ only, whereas all the other terms are
functions of either r or φ . We may then write that

where ‘m’ is a separation of variables constant

Its solution is given as

Since the wave function must be single-valued, we impose the condition that m is an integer,

Similarly, two separate the variable constants ‘l’ and ‘n’ can be used to segregate ‘θ’ and ‘r’ The
separation-of-variables constants n, l, and m are known as quantum numbers .

The parameter n-principal quantum number,

l-azimuthal or angular quantum number, and
m- magnetic quantum number.

The quantum numbers are related by

Each set of quantum numbers corresponds to a quantum state that the electron may
occupy.
In addition to the three quantum numbers, there is an important quantization condition
on the “spin” of the electron.
The important point for our discussion is that each allowed energy state of the electron
in the hydrogen atom is uniquely described by four quantum numbers: n, l, m and s.
The number n, called the principal quantum number, specifies the “orbit” of the electron
in Bohr terminology. Of course, the concept of orbit is replaced by probability density
functions in quantum mechanical calculations.
The solution of the wave equation may be designated by Ψnlm, For the lowest energy
state, n =1, l=0 and m=0, and the wave function is given by

a0 is a constant, r=a0=bhor radius

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The electron energy may be written in the form

where again n is the principal quantum number. The negative energy

indicates that the electron is bound to the nucleus and we again see that
the energy of the bound electron is quantized. If the energy were to
become positive, then the electron would no longer be a bound particle From streetman
and the total energy would no longer be quantized.
Since the parameter n iis an integer, the total energy of the electron can
take on only discrete values. The quantized energy is again a result of the
particle being bound in a finite region of space.

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Electronic structure and energy levels in a Si atom: (a) the orbital model of a Si atom showing the 10 core electrons (n = 1
and 2), and the four valence electrons (n = 3);

Coulombic Potential well Since unlike charges attract each other, there is an attractive
potential between the negatively charged electrons and the positively charged nucleus.
As, a Coulomb potential varies as 1 /r as a function of distance from the charge, in this
case the Si nucleus. The potential energy gradually goes to zero when we approach infinity

Energy levels in the Columbic potential (well) of the nucleus are also shown schematically.

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Pauli exclusion principle:

States that no two electrons in an interacting system(whose wave function overlap) can have
the same set of quantum
numbers n, l, m, and s.

states that, in any given system (an atom, molecule, or crystal), no two electrons may occupy
the same quantum state. In an atom, the exclusion principle means that no two electrons
may have the same set of quantum numbers. We will see that the exclusion principle is also
an important factor in determining the distribution of electrons among available energy
states in a crystal.

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