ELL211: Physical Electronics

Madhusudan Singh

IIT Delhi

Winter 2022

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 1 / 10

 Lecture 5: Bandgap and doping in semiconductors

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 1 / 10

Recap
Class problem with solved example.
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Classical gas of electrons. Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. Equipartition theorem.
Fermi-Dirac statistics. Pauli exclusion principle: allowed spin states. Impact on
filling of energy levels. References to easy optional statistical mechanics texts.
Fermi-Dirac distribution. Behavior of the distribution at common cryogenic
temperatures. Nature of the Fermi level at absolute zero, and probabilistic
interpretation at non-zero temperatures.
Mathematical statement of the Pauli exclusion principle in terms of spatial and
spin parts of carrier wavefunctions.
Intrinsic energy level in semiconductors. Discussion on the possible location of the
Fermi level in terms of the probabilistic interpretation of Fermi-Dirac statistics.
Calculation of carrier concentrations: density of states and the statistical
distribution and energy dependence of the product. Density of states at the band
edge. Conduction band edge e↵ective density of states. The 3kBT approximation.
Calculation of approximate carrier concentrations.
Intrinsic carrier concentration. Value for Si at 300K. Nature of units used in
semiconductor electronics. The importance of doing practice problems with
numerical examples to develop an intuition. Cost of intrinsic Si.
Location of the intrinsic energy level.
Thermal excitation of carriers in intrinsic semiconductors at non-zero
temperatures.
ELL211 Arrhenius interpretation:
Instructors (IIT Delhi) the bandgap energy as Winter
ELL211 the energy
2022 barrier.2 / 10
Class problem
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Question: Estimate the conduction band edge density of states in Si at 300K.
⇣ ⌘3/2
mn⇤ kB T
From last lecture, we can write the expression: p1 .
2 ⇡~2

Since we are dealing with density of states, we should use the density of states
e↵ective mass for the calculation. From the table of material properties provided in a
⇤
previous lecture, we have mn,dos = 62/3 (0.98 ⇥ 0.19 ⇥ 0.19)1/3 m0 =
3.301 ⇥ 0.328m0 = 1.08m0 .
34
Reduced Planck’s constant: ~ ⌘ h
2⇡
= 1.055 ⇥ 10 J s.
23 1 21
Further, kB T = 1.38 ⇥ 10 JK ⇥ 300 K = 4.14 ⇥ 10 J.
Hence, we can write,
✓ ◆3/2
1 1.08 ⇥ 9.11 ⇥ 10 31 kg ⇥ 4.14 ⇥ 10 21 J
NC = p ⇥ 2
2 3.14159 ⇥ (1.055 ⇥ 10 34 J s)
✓ ◆3/2
1 4.073 ⇥ 10 51 J kg
= ⇥ = 2.927 ⇥ 1019 cm 3
1.4142 3.14159 ⇥ 1.11 ⇥ 10 68 J2 s2

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 3 / 10

Conductivity: metals, semiconductors and insulators
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- - -

- - - - - - -

Eg
Eg

+ + + + + + + + + +

Metal Semiconductor Insulator

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Bandgap: temperature dependence
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Bandgaps are dependent on lattice

constants. Increase in temperature
1.6
changes mean positions (thermal Eg (eV) Ge
expansion, etc.). 1.4 Si
GaAs
Bandgap temperature dependence
1.2
(empirical):
1
↵T 2
Eg (T ) = Eg (0)
T+ 0.8

0.6

Ge Si GaAs 100 200 300 400 500

Eg (eV, 0 K) 0.74 1.17 1.52 T (K)

↵ (meV K 1 ) 0.48 0.47 0.54
(K) 235 636 204

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Chemical modification of semiconductors
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q
3⇥1.38⇥10 23 J K 1 ⇥300 K
Thermal velocity of electrons ⇠ 9.11⇥10 31 kg
⇡ 1.17 ⇥ 107 cm s 1
.
Intrinsic Si can’t provide much current:

J ⇠ nev
= 1.45 ⇥ 1010 cm 3
⇥ 1.602 ⇥ 10 19
C ⇥ 1.17 ⇥ 107 cm s 1
⇡ 0.03 A cm 2

Example: An SDM02M30LP3 Schottky diode provides an maximum reverse

current of 0.4 µA and typical forward current of 10 mA in a maximal device area of
0.18 mm2 . Reverse current density = 2.22 ⇥ 10 4 A cm 2 . Forward current density
= 5.56 A cm 2 . Need more carriers even if electrons have relativistic speeds.
Two methods:
Alloying: compound semiconductors. Large scale replacement of atoms.
Doping: elemental and compound semiconductors. Very small number of atoms
replaced.

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Intrinsic semiconductors
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Si Si Si Si Si

At any T > 0, there is a certain

amount of thermal energy available in Si Si Si Si Si
the material.
Electron-hole pairs form when a
valence shell bond between Si atoms Si Si Si Si Si
breaks and generates an e -h+ pair.
What happens next?
e -h+ pair recombines (e
Si Si Si Si Si
recapture), or
e and h+ di↵use / drift away,
giving rise to current.
Si Si Si Si Si
We can define a generation (g ) and
recombination (r ) rate.
Eg
r = g =↵ni2 ⌘ ↵NC NV e kB T

⌅
= (⌅) T 3 e T

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 7 / 10

Intrinsic semiconductors
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At any T > 0, there is a certain

amount of thermal energy available in
the material.
Electron-hole pairs form when a
valence shell bond between Si atoms
breaks and generates an e -h+ pair.
What happens next?
e -h+ pair recombines (e
recapture), or
e and h+ di↵use / drift away, Source: Streetman.
giving rise to current.
Eg
We can define a generation (g ) and r = g =↵ni2 ⌘ ↵NC NV e kB T
recombination (r ) rate.
⌅
= (⌅) T 3 e T

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 7 / 10

Extrinsic semiconductors
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Point defects in crystals. Doping: the
process of getting excess carriers. You do
not get both types with one doping.
Easily ionizable foreign atoms are
introduced into the bulk. For Si, common
dopants are B (group 3, acceptors) or
P/As (group 5, donors).
Two kinds of extrinsic point defects are
possible:
Interstitial: no Si bonds are broken, no
extra carrier is introduced. Contributes
to scattering.
Source: Wikimedia
Substitutional: foreign atom replaces
Si. An extra carrier is introduced.
Contributes to scattering.
Most initial defects are interstitial.
Dopant activation (anneal) converts some
into substitutional.

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 8 / 10

Extrinsic semiconductors
Materials used here are bound by Fair Use for educational purpose.
Point defects in crystals. Doping: the
process of getting excess carriers. You do
not get both types with one doping.
Easily ionizable foreign atoms are
introduced into the bulk. For Si, common
dopants are B (group 3, acceptors) or
P/As (group 5, donors).
Two kinds of extrinsic point defects are
possible:
Interstitial: no Si bonds are broken, no
extra carrier is introduced. Contributes
to scattering. Source: Streetman.
Substitutional: foreign atom replaces
Si. An extra carrier is introduced. m⇤ q 4
Contributes to scattering. E=
32⇡ 2 2 ✏20 ~2
Most initial defects are interstitial.
Dopant activation (anneal) converts some
into substitutional.
Ionization energies and defect levels..
ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 8 / 10
Fermi level and carrier populations in doped
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semiconductors
Intrinsic Si: Fermi level is close to midgap.
n-type (P/As) doping: Ionized donors are positively
charged. Fermi level moves close to CB.
✓ ◆
EC E D
ND+ = ND exp (1)
kB T

p-type (B) doping: Ionized acceptors are negatively

charged. Fermi level moves close to VB. Eg
✓ ◆
EA E V
NA = NA exp (2)
kB T

Net charge balance:

p + ND+ = n + NA (3)

Law of mass action still applies:

np = ni2 (4)
ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 9 / 10
Temperature dependence of net carrier populations
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To be extrinsic: one of the

carrier populations must ni2 .
What if we increase
temperature? Three regimes:
Ionization-limited
Extrinsic
Intrinsic
Device design aspects:
extrinsic.
Temperature-driven material
and device-design
considerations:
Lasers and power devices
operate at very high
injection levels.
Scaled FETs have very high
power densities. Source: Streetman.
Specifications, and cooling
strategies.

ELL211 Instructors (IIT Delhi) ELL211 Winter 2022 10 / 10