ECE630: Physics and Models of Semiconductor Devices

Fall 2022
Assignment #1

Issued: September 21st, 2022

Due: September 30th, 2022 at 11:59pm (Waterloo Time)
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1. Crystal Structure (20 Points)

(a) Sketch the placement of Si atoms on the surface of a (110) wafer. Determine the number of atoms per cm^2 at
the surface of the wafer (4 points)
(b) Find the maximum fraction of the unit cell volume that can be filled by hard spheres in the sc, fcc, and diamond
lattices. (5 points)

(c) Identify two crystalline directions in a cubic crystal which are perpendicular to the [100], [010] and [111]
direction. (5 points)
- Answer: Two directions will be mutually perpendicular if their dot product is zero. Therefore, for a) [0xx]
where x is any number. b) [x0x] c) [011̅]
2. Intrinsic Energy Bands and Doping (20 Points)
(a) Used in next questions, derivation in the textbook.
(b) A semiconductor has Eg = 1.1ev, Nc = Nv and is doped with 1015 cm-3 donors at 0.2 eV below Ec. Given that the
Fermi Energy (EF) is 0.25 eV below Ec, calculate ni and the concentration of the electrons and holes in the
semiconductor at 300K. (4 points)

(c) A similar Si sample contains 1016 cm-3 boron is doped with an unknown amount of shallow donnors. If the In
acceptor level is 0.16 eV above Ev, and Ef is 0.26 eV above Ev at 300k, what is the donor concentration? (3 points)

(d) Given a 1014 cm-3 doped Si sample: (Please refer to the Matlab code provided at the end of this assignment)
a. Present a qualitative argument that leads to the approximate position of the Fermi level in the material
as T approaches 0K. (2 points)
b. Use the Matlab code provided to generate graphs. Add a title to the graph. (1 point)
c. As the temperature increases, what conclusions can be made about the general behaviour of the Fermi
level? (Where does it start, where does it go). (1 points)
d. Re-run the code with the number of donors increases by a factor of 10 from 1014 cm-3 to 1018 cm-3. What
trends do you observe? (4 points)
e. What trends would you see if the Si was doped with a donor instead of an acceptor? Either plot or sketch
the general trend. (2 point)
3. Current Flow (30 Points)

(a)A parallel series of resistivity questions:

i Calculate the intrinsic resistivity of a Si sample at 300K. (2 points)

ii This Si at 300K is doped with ND = 1016 cm-3. Calculate the resistivity. (2 points)
iii This same sample is “Compensated” by adding NA = 1016 cm-3. Calculate the resistivity. (2 points)
iv Given a bar with an area of 1mm x 1mm and length of 1cm, determine the doping to get a 500Ω resistor. (3
points)