Semiconductor Fundamentals

Session 3

Team
 Lecture 3

OUTLINE
• Semiconductor Fundamentals (cont’d)
– Thermal equilibrium
– Fermi-Dirac distribution
• Boltzmann approximation
– Relationship between EF and n, p
– Degenerately doped semiconductor

Reading: Pierret 2.4-2.5; Hu 1.7-1.10

 Fluid Analogy

Conduction
Band

Valence
Band
 Thermal Equilibrium
• No external forces are applied:
– electric field = 0, magnetic field = 0
– mechanical stress = 0
– no light

• Dynamic situation in which every process is balanced by

its inverse process
Electron-hole pair (EHP) generation rate = EHP recombination rate

• Thermal agitation  electrons and holes exchange

energy with the crystal lattice and each other
 Every energy state in the conduction band and valence band
has a certain probability of being occupied by an electron
 Analogy for Thermal Equilibrium

Sand particles

C. C. Hu, Modern Semiconductor Devices for Integrated Circuits, Figure 1-17

• There is a certain probability for the electrons in the

conduction band to occupy high-energy states under
the agitation of thermal energy (vibrating atoms).
 Fermi Function
• Probability that an available state at energy E is occupied:
1
f (E)  ( E  E F ) / kT
1 e
• EF is called the Fermi energy or the Fermi level

There is only one Fermi level in a system at equilibrium.

If E >> EF :
If E << EF :
If E = EF :
Effect of Temperature on f(E)
R. F. Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, p. 46
 Boltzmann Approximation
( E  EF ) / kT
If E  EF  3kT, f ( E)  e

( E  E F ) / kT
If E F  E  3kT , f ( E )  1  e

Probability that a state is empty (i.e. occupied by a hole):

( E  E F ) / kT  ( E F  E ) / kT
1  f (E)  e e
 Equilibrium Distribution of Carriers
• Obtain n(E) by multiplying gc(E) and f(E)
cnx.org/content/m13458/latest

Energy band
diagram
Density of
States, gc(E) × Probability of
occupancy, f(E) = Carrier
distribution, n(E)

R. F. Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Figure 2.16

 cnx.org/content/m13458/latest

• Obtain p(E) by multiplying gv(E) and 1-f(E)

Energy band
diagram
Density of
States, gv(E) × Probability of
occupancy, 1-f(E) = Carrier
distribution, p(E)

R. F. Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Figure 2.16

Equilibrium Carrier Concentrations
• Integrate n(E) over all the energies in the conduction
band to obtain n:
top of conductionband
n gc(E)f(E)dE
Ec

• By using the Boltzmann approximation, and

extending the integration limit to , we obtain
3/ 2
 2m *
n , DOS kT

n  N ce  ( E c  E F ) / kT
where N c  2 2


 h 
• Integrate p(E) over all the energies in the valence
band to obtain p:
gv(E)1  f(E)dE
Ev
p
bottomof valenceband

• By using the Boltzmann approximation, and

extending the integration limit to -, we obtain
3/ 2
 2m *
kT 
p  Nve  ( E F  Ev ) / kT
where N v  2 p , DOS

 h 2 
 
 Intrinsic Carrier Concentration


np  N c e  ( Ec  E F ) / kT
N e
v
 ( E F  Ev ) / kT

 ( Ec  Ev ) / kT  EG / kT
 Nc Nve  Nc Nve n
2
i

 EG / 2 kT
ni  N c N v e
Effective Densities of States at the Band Edges (@ 300K)
Si Ge GaAs
Nc (cm-3) 2.82 × 1019 1.05 × 1019 4.37 × 1017
Nv (cm-3) 1.83 × 1019 3.92 × 1018 8.12 × 1018
 n(ni, Ei) and p(ni, Ei)
• In an intrinsic semiconductor, n = p = ni and EF = Ei

n  ni  N c e  ( Ec  Ei ) / kT p  ni  N v e  ( Ei  Ev ) / kT

( Ec  Ei ) / kT
 N c  ni e  N v  ni e ( Ei  Ev ) / kT

( E F  Ei ) / kT ( Ei  E F ) / kT
n  ni e p  ni e
 Intrinsic Fermi Level, Ei
• To find EF for an intrinsic semiconductor, use the fact that n = p:
( Ec EF ) / kT ( EF Ev ) / kT
Nce  Nve

Ec  Ev kT  Nv 
EF   ln   Ei
2 2  Nc 
Ec  Ev 3kT  m  Ec  Ev
*

Ei   ln
p, DOS

2 4  m *
n, DOS

 2
 n-type Material
R. F. Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Figure 2.16

Energy band Density of Probability Carrier

diagram States of occupancy distributions
 Example: Energy-band diagram
Question: Where is EF for n = 1017 cm-3 (at 300 K) ?
 Example: Dopant Ionization
Consider a phosphorus-doped Si sample at 300K with ND = 1017 cm-3.
What fraction of the donors are not ionized?

Hint: Suppose at first that all of the donor atoms are ionized.
 Nc 
E F  Ec  kT ln   Ec  147 meV
 n 

1
Probability of non-ionization 
1  e( ED EF ) / kT
1
 (147meV 45meV ) / 26meV
 0.02
1 e
 p-type Material
R. F. Pierret, Semiconductor Device Fundamentals, Figure 2.16

Energy band Density of Probability Carrier

diagram States of occupancy distributions
Non-degenerately Doped Semiconductor
• Recall that the expressions for n and p were derived using
the Boltzmann approximation, i.e. we assumed

E v  3kT  E F  Ec  3kT

3kT Ec

EF in this range
3kT
Ev

The semiconductor is said to be non-degenerately doped in this case.

Degenerately Doped Semiconductor
• If a semiconductor is very heavily doped, the Boltzmann
approximation is not valid.

In Si at T=300K: Ec-EF < 3kBT if ND > 1.6x1018 cm-3

EF-Ev < 3kBT if NA > 9.1x1017 cm-3

The semiconductor is said to be degenerately doped in this case.

• Terminology:
“n+”  degenerately n-type doped. EF  Ec
“p+”  degenerately p-type doped. EF  Ev
 Band Gap Narrowing
• If the dopant concentration is a significant fraction of
the silicon atomic density, the energy-band structure
is perturbed  the band gap is reduced by DEG :
R. J. Van Overstraeten and R. P. Mertens,
Solid State Electronics vol. 30, 1987

8 300
EG  3.5 10 N 1/ 3

N = 1018 cm-3: DEG = 35 meV

N = 1019 cm-3: DEG = 75 meV
Dependence of EF on Temperature
C. C. Hu, Modern Semiconductor Devices for Integrated Circuits, Figure 1-21

n  N c e  ( Ec  EF ) / kT
 E F  Ec  kT lnN c n 

Net Dopant Concentration (cm-3)

 Summary
• Thermal equilibrium:
– Balance between internal processes with no external
stimulus (no electric field, no light, etc.)

1
– Fermi function f (E) 
1  e ( E  EF ) / kT
• Probability that a state at energy E is filled with an
electron, under equilibrium conditions.
• Boltzmann approximation:
For high E, i.e. E – EF > 3kT: f ( E )  e  ( E  E F ) / kT

For low E, i.e. EF – E > 3kT: 1  f ( E )  e  ( EF  E ) / kT

 Summary (cont’d)
• Relationship between EF and n, p :
 ( Ec  E F ) / kT ( E F  Ei ) / kT
n  Nce  ni e
 ( E F  Ev ) / kT ( Ei  E F ) / kT
p  Nve  ni e

• Intrinsic carrier concentration :

 EG / 2 kT
ni  N c N v e
• The intrinsic Fermi level, Ei, is located near midgap.
 Summary (cont’d)
• If the dopant concentration exceeds 1018 cm-3,
silicon is said to be degenerately doped.
– The simple formulas relating n and p exponentially to EF
are not valid in this case.
For degenerately doped n-type (n+) Si: EF  Ec
For degenerately doped p-type (p+) Si: EF  Ev