Unit I, Semiconductor

 Elemental and Compound Semiconductors

The elemental semiconductors are composed of single species of atoms, such as

silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), and tin (Sn) in column IV and selenium (Se) and tellurium
(Te) in column VI of the periodic table.
compound semiconductors are composed of two or more elements. There are
numerous compound semiconductors

Binary Ternary Quaternary

GaAs,GaP,GaN,AlSb GaAsP InGaAsP
Dr. M.M.K.
Elemental diodes, rectifier, transistors, ICs

Compound High Speed Devices

Devices requiring absorption and emission of lights (LED, Laser)
Fluorescent materials
Infra-red and nuclear radiation detectors
Microwave Devices (Gun diode)

Gun diode
Nuclear Radiation Detector Dr. M.M.K.
Energy Bands Energy bands consisting of a large number of closely spaced energy levels
exist in crystalline materials. The bands can be thought of as the collection
of the individual energy levels of electrons surrounding each atom.
In gaseous substances, the arrangement of molecules are spread apart and are not so close to
each other. In liquids, the molecules are closer to each other. But, in solids, the molecules are
closely arranged together, due to this the atoms of molecules tend to move into the orbitals of
neighbouring atoms. Hence, the electron orbitals overlap(wavefunctions of e overlap,
quantum mechanically) when atoms come together to form solids.
In solids, several bands of energy levels are formed due to the intermixing of atoms in solids.
We call these set of energy levels as energy bands.

Dr. M.M.K.
Energybonding < Energyantibonding

Dr. M.M.K.
 In an isolated atom, the electrons in each orbit possess definite energy. But, in the case
of solids, the energy level of the outermost orbit electrons are affected by
the neighboring atoms.

 When two isolated charges are brought close to each other, the electrons in the
outermost orbit experiences an attractive force from the nearest or neighbouring
atomic nucleus.

 Due to this reason, the energies of the electrons will not be at the same level, the energy
levels of electrons are changed to a value which is higher or lower than that of the
original energy level of the electron.

 The electrons in the same orbit exhibit different energy levels. The grouping of this
different energy levels is known as energy band.

 However, the energy of the inner orbit electrons are not much affected by the presence
of neighbouring atoms.

Dr. M.M.K.
Dr. M.M.K.
 Si(atomic number 14) 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p2

Pictorial imagination of band formation in Si as many atoms are brought close to each other

Dr. M.M.K.
Energy

Dr. M.M.K.
Dr. M.M.K.