PHYSICS AND MODELING OF

MICROELECTRONIC DEVICES
MEL G631
Lecture -7
28-08-2023
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
Thus, intrinsic electron and hole concentrations are equal since the carriers
are created in pairs : ni = pi : n0 p0 = ni ni = N C N V e
2 − E / 2 kT g

Thus, intrinsic concentration :

Also,
Note: ni of Si at RT = 1.5 x 1010 cm-3 & EC – Ei = Eg/2 if NC = NV

Two convenient expressions :

− ( E C −E F ) / kT − ( EC −Ei ) / kT ( E F −Ei ) / kT ( E F −Ei ) / kT
n 0 = NCe = NCe e = nie
Thus,
− ( E F −E V ) / kT − ( Ei −E V ) / kT ( Ei −E F ) / kT ( Ei −E F ) / kT
p0 = N V e = NVe e = nie
n0 = ni e ( EF − Ei ) / kT
p0 = ni e ( Ei − EF ) / kT

2023-08-28 2
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Find the equilibrium electron and hole concentrations and the location of the Fermi level (with
respect to the intrinsic Fermi level Ei) in silicon at 300K if the silicon contains 8  1016 cm-3
Arsenic (As) and 2  1016 cm-3 boron (B) atoms.

n = 6 1016 cm-3
n0 = ni e ( EF − Ei ) / kT
ni2 ( Ei − EF ) / kT
p= = 3.5 10 3 cm-3 p0 = ni e
n
E f − Ei = kT ln( n / ni ) = 0.393eV
Ec − E f = kT ln( N c / n) = 0.0258 ln( 2.8 1019 / 6 1016 )
= 0.159 eV

3
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Temperature Dependence of Carrier Concentrations

− E g / 2 kT
ni = N C NV e
3/ 2
 2m kT  *
N C = 2 n
2
 h 
 2kT 
3/ 2
− E / 2 kT
 2m kT * 3/ 2
ni (T ) = 2 2  (m n* m *p ) 3 / 4 e g
= 2   h 
p
NV
 h 2 
 

Take ni to calculate n0 and p0 in the following equations:

n0 = ni e ( E F − Ei ) / kT
p0 = ni e ( Ei − EF ) / kT

2023-08-28 4
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
Temperature dependence of carrier concentrations

Figure 3—17
Intrinsic carrier concentration for Ge, Si, and GaAs as a function of
2023-08-28 inverse temperature. The room temperature values are marked for 5
reference.
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
Carrier Concentration vs. Inverse Temperature

Device operation region

100K

Figure 3—18
2023-08-28 Carrier concentration vs. inverse temperature for Si doped with 6
1015 donors/cm3.
BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
Conductivity and Hall effect

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 Materials out of Equilibrium

✓ Until now we have considered materials in

equilibrium.

✓ Let’s apply an electric field.

✓ A material can be characterized electrically using its

conductivity or its resistivity.

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 Drift and Mobility

The reaction of a conductor material in the

presence of an external applied electric field

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 Conductivity and Resistivity

• We can measure the resistivity, but how do we relate it to the

physics of motion of electrons?

• We have said that through the introduction of the band

structure we have created a model for a new equivalent “free
space” where the “quasi-particles” electrons and holes follow a
new energy-momentum law 𝐸 𝑘 .
• But inside a solid we also need to consider the collisions
(scatterings) experienced by particles.

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 Scattering

• What kind of collision events scatter the particles?

• The most important ones are:
– Vibrations of crystal atoms (phonons)
• scattering increases with temperature
– Ionized impurity scattering (Coulomb interaction)
• scattering increases with carrier concentration
– Electron-electron interaction (Coulomb interaction)
• scattering increases with doping concentration

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Electrons in crystal in equilibrium

• Electrons behave like a “gas” and obey the Boltzmann

distribution at a specific temperature (this is our initial
condition)

Average kinetic energy

thermal velocity

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 𝑣𝑡ℎ in Si at 300K forelectrons

conductivity mass

• This can be interpreted as the root-mean-square

of the total speed in 3D.
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 Scattering

• For a given field there is going to be a random distribution of

“times between collisions” and a corresponding “mean free
path”.

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Thank You

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