Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi Physics Department

PHL 120 Physics of Materials Second Semester 2011-2012 Tutorial Sheet-5 (Semiconductors)
1.

4 (2me ) The density of states function for conduction band is given by g C ( E ) = h3 (EC EF ) 2 me kT n = N C exp where N C = 2 3 kT h
3/ 2

3/ 2

E EC ,

where me is the electron effective mass in the conduction band. Using Boltzmann approximation to the Fermi Dirac distribution, show that electron concentration in conduction band is given by is the effective density of states. (Note:

A similar expression can be obtained for hole concentration in valence band) 2. Calculate the probability that a state in the conduction band is occupied by electron and also calculate the thermal equilibrium electron concentration at 300 K. Given Fermi level is 0.25 eV below conduction band at 300 K and me = 1.08 m0. Calculate the intrinsic carrier concentration, ni in gallium arsenide at 300 K. The bandgap for GaAs is 1.42 eV and me = 0.067 m0 and mh = 0.48 m0. Calculate the position of Fermi level in Si at 300 K, given that the bandgap EG = 1.12 eV, me = 1.08 m0 and mh = 0.56 m0. Consider phosphorus doping (donor state at 0.045 eV below EC) in silicon with a concentration of 1016 cm-3. Calculate the fraction of total electrons still in the donor states at 300 K. Determine the temperature at which 90 percent of the acceptor atoms (boron acceptor state is 0.045 eV above EV) are ionized. The boron concentration in silicon is 1016 cm-3.( Note: It is generally assumed that ionization of donors/acceptors is 100 percent at 300K) Determine the concentration of donor impurity atoms that must be added so the Fermi level in silicon is 0.20 eV below conduction band at 300 K. NC = 2.80 x 1019 cm-3 A silicon sample is doped with a donor concentration of 1.0 x 1016 cm-3. Calculate the concentration of compensation acceptor doping required to yield a sample resistivity of 1.0 ohms-cm at 300 K. The electron and hole mobility is 0.14 m2/V-s and 0.04 m2/V-s, respectively for silicon at 300 K.(Note: actually the mobility of carriers drops due to increased ionized impurity concentration) For a semiconductor with a constant mobility ratio b = n /p > 1 independent of impurity concentration, find the maximum resistivity m , in terms of the intrinsic resistivity i and the mobility ratio. Minority carriers are injected into a homogenous n-type semiconductor sample at one point. An electric field of 50 V/cm is applied across the sample, and the field moves these minority carriers a distance of 1 cm in 100 s. find the drift velocity and the diffusivity of the minority carriers. The electron concentration in silicon is given by n( x ) =1015 exp

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x , where Ln = 10-4 cm is the Ln

carrier diffusion length. The electron diffusion coefficient is Dn = 25 cm2/s. Determine the electron diffusion current density at x = 0, x = 10-4 cm and x

12.

Show that the built-in potential in a step barrier is given by

Vbi =
13.

kT N A N D ln q ni2

Show that in an abrupt junction the depletion layer width is

N A + ND N N Vbi A D (Note: For one-sided abrupt junction N A N D or N A N D ) W= 2 S q

14. For one-sided abrupt junction show that the junction capacitance Cj follows

1 2(Vbi V ) , where NB is the concentration in the lightly doped side. = C2 q S NB j

15.

A Ge p-n diode has ND = 1017 cm-3, NA = 5 x 1017 cm-3 Calculate the built-in voltage at 300 K. At what temperature does the built-in voltage decreases by 1% For a silicon one sided abrupt junction with NA = 1019 cm-3 and ND = 1016 cm-3, calculate the depletion layer width and junction capacitance at zero bias and 300K. Consider a p-n diode with the following parameters: ND = 1017 cm-3, NA = 1017 cm-3, n = p = 10-7 s, Dn = 30 cm2/s, Dp = 10 cm2/s, diode area A = 10-4 cm2 and carrier lifetime in depletion region = 10-8 s. Assume that all the donors are ionized. Calculate the diode current at a forward bias of 0.5 V and 0.6 V at 300 K. Also calculate the ideality factor of the diode in this range. A p-n junction can act as a solar cell if the electron-hole pairs (generated by incident photons) are produced in the depletion region, where they are separated by the electric field resulting in a photocurrent IP. Use ideal I-V equation for the p-n junction along with the photocurrent to get the open circuit voltage, short circuit current and the maximum power point for this solar cell. Show that for a given semiconductor and for any metal the sum of the barrier heights on n-type and p-type substrates is expected to be equal to the bandgap. A schottky barrier contact is made between n-type silicon and tungsten. The work function for tungsten is 4.55 eV and the electron affinity for silicon is 4.01 eV. The doping concentration in silicon is ND = 1016 cm-3. Calculate the barrier height, the built-in potential and the maximum electric field at zero bias for the diode. --------------------------

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Constants: q = 1.602 x 10-19 C 0 = 8.85 x 10-14 F / cm. For silicon: Dielectric constant = 11.9 NC = 2.8 x 1019 cm-3(300 K) ni = 1.5 x 1010 cm-3 (300 K)

k = 1.38 x 10-23 J/K m0 = 9.109 x 10-31 kg. EG = 1.12 eV (300 K) NV = 1.04 x 1019 cm-3 (300 K)

kT/q = 0.0259 eV (T=300 K) h = 6.626 x 10-34 J s