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Chang, Phillip
Liu, Guan
Quan
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lab section assignments
will be posted online on
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Park,
9/1.
Dwan, Kevin
Manjae
Li, Xuefor
Cong
Toriyama,
Paid position
videotaping
EE105 lectures is available
Yuta
Tran,
Anthony

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 1,
2, Slide 1

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Lecture 2
OUTLINE
Basic Semiconductor Physics
(contd)
Carrier drift and diffusion

PN Junction Diodes
Electrostatics
Capacitance

Reading: Chapter 2.1-2.2

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 1,
2, Slide 2

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Dopant Compensation
An N-type semiconductor can be
converted into P-type material by counterdoping it with acceptors such that NA > ND.
A compensated semiconductor
material has both acceptors and donors.
N-type
material
(ND > NA)

P-type material
(NA > ND)

n ND NA

p N A ND

ni
p
ND N A
EE105 Fall 2007

ni
n
N A ND
Lecture 2, Slide 3

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Types of Charge in a
Semiconductor
Negative charges:
Conduction electrons (density = n)
Ionized donor atoms (density = ND)

Positive charges:
Holes (density = p)
Ionized acceptor atoms (density = NA)

The net charge density (C/cm3) in a

semiconductor
qisp n N N
D

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 4

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Carrier Drift
The process in which charged particles
move because of an electric field is called
drift.
Charged particles within a semiconductor
move with an average velocity

proportional to the electric field.

Hole velocity vh p E
The proportionality constant is the carrier

mobility.
Electron velocity

EE105 Fall 2007

ve n E

Notation:
p hole mobility
(cm2/Vs)
n electron mobility
Lecture 2, Slide 5
Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley
(cm2/Vs)

Velocity Saturation
In reality, carrier velocities saturate at an
upper limit, called the saturation
velocity (vsat).
0

1 bE
0
vsat
b
0
v
E
0 E
1
vsat

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 6

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Drift Current
Drift current is proportional to the carrier
velocity and carrier concentration:

vh t A = volume from which all holes cross plane in time t

p vh t A = # of holes crossing plane in time t
q p vh t A = charge crossing plane in time t
q p vh A = charge crossing plane per unit time = hole current
Hole current per unit area (i.e. current density) Jp,drift = q p vh
EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 7

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Conductivity and
Resistivity
In a semiconductor, both electrons and
holes conduct current:

J p ,drift qp p E

J n ,drift qn( n E )

J tot ,drift J p ,drift J n ,drift qp p E qn n E

J tot ,drift q( p p n n ) E E
The conductivity of a semiconductor
qpis
p qn n
Unit: mho/cm

1
The resistivity of a semiconductor
is

Unit: ohm-cm
EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 8

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Resistivity Example
Estimate the resistivity of a Si sample doped with
phosphorus to a concentration of 1015 cm-3 and
boron to a concentration of 1017 cm-3. The
electron mobility and hole mobility are 800
cm2/Vs and 300 cm2/Vs, respectively.

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 9

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Electrical Resistance
I

t
homogeneously doped sample

V
L
Resistance R
I
Wt

(Unit: ohms)

where is the resistivity

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 10

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Carrier Diffusion
Due to thermally induced random motion,
mobile particles tend to move from a
region of high concentration to a region of
low concentration.
Analogy: ink droplet in water

Current flow due to mobile charge

diffusion is proportional to the carrier
concentration gradient.
dp
J p isqD
The proportionality constant
thep diffusion
dx
constant.

EE105 Fall 2007

Notation:
Dp hole diffusion constant
(cm2/s)
Dn 11
electron diffusion
constant
Lecture 2, Slide
Prof. Liu,
UC Berkeley
2
(cm /s)

Diffusion Examples
Linear concentration profile
constant diffusion current

Non-linear concentration profile

varying diffusion current

p N 1
L

J p ,diff

EE105 Fall 2007

dp
qD p
dx
N
qD p
L

p N exp

J p ,diff

Lecture 2, Slide 12

x
Ld

dp
qD p
dx
qD p N
x

exp
Ld
Ld
Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Diffusion Current
Diffusion current within a semiconductor
consists of hole and electron components:

dp
dn
J p ,diff qD p
J n ,diff qDn
dx
dx
dn
dp
J tot ,diff q ( Dn
Dp )
dx
dx
The total current flowing in a
semiconductor is the sum of drift current
and diffusion
J J current:
J
J
J
tot

EE105 Fall 2007

p , drift

n , drift

p , diff

Lecture 2, Slide 13

n , diff

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

The Einstein Relation

The characteristic constants for drift and
diffusion are related:

D kT

q
Note that kT
26mV
temperature
(300K)
q

at room

This is often referred to as the thermal voltage.

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 14

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

The PN Junction Diode

When a P-type semiconductor region and
an N-type semiconductor region are in
contact, a PN junction diode is formed.
V

ID

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 15

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Diode Operating Regions

In order to understand the operation of a
diode, it is necessary to study its behavior
in three operation regions: equilibrium,
reverse bias, and forward bias.
VD = 0

EE105 Fall 2007

VD < 0

Lecture 2, Slide 16

VD > 0

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Carrier Diffusion across

the Junction
Because of the difference in hole and
electron concentrations on each side of
the junction, carriers diffuse across the
junction:

EE105 Fall 2007

Notation:
nn electron concentration on N-type
side (cm-3)
pn hole concentration on N-type side
(cm-3)
pp hole concentration on P-type side
Lecture 2, Slide 17
(cm-3)

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Depletion Region
As conduction electrons and holes diffuse
across the junction, they leave behind
ionized dopants. Thus, a region that is
depleted of mobile carriers is formed.
The charge density in the depletion region is not
zero.
The carriers which diffuse across the junction
recombine with majority carriers, i.e. they are
annihilated.
quasiquasineutral
neutral
region width=Wdep region
EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 18

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Carrier Drift across the

Junction
Because charge density 0 in the
depletion region, an electric field exists,
hence there is drift current.

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 19

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

PN Junction in
Equilibrium
In equilibrium, the drift and diffusion
components of current are balanced;
therefore the net current flowing across
the junction is zero.

J p ,drift J p ,diff
J n ,drift J n ,diff

J tot J p ,drift J n ,drift J p ,diff J n ,diff 0

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 20

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Built-in Potential, V0
Because of the electric field in the
depletion region, there exists a potential
drop across
dp the junction:
dp
dV
qp p E qD p
x2

dx

p dV D p
x1

p p
Dp
dx
dx

pp

dp
p p
n

V ( x1 ) V ( x2 )

Dp

ln

pp
pn

kT
N
ln 2 A
q
ni / N D

kT N A N D
V0
ln
2
q
ni
EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 21

(Unit: Volts)
Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Built-In Potential
Example
Estimate the built-in potential for PN
junction below.
kT
ln(10) 26mV 2.3 60mV
Note that q

EE105 Fall 2007

ND = 1018 cm-3

NA = 1015 cm-3

Lecture 2, Slide 22

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

PN Junction under
Reverse Bias

A reverse bias increases the potential drop

across the junction. As a result, the
magnitude of the electric field increases and
the width
of the
depletion region widens.
2 1
1
Wdep

EE105 Fall 2007

si

q NA

V0 VR

ND

Lecture 2, Slide 23

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Diode Current under

Reverse Bias

In equilibrium, the built-in potential

effectively prevents carriers from diffusing
across the junction.
Under reverse bias, the potential drop
across the junction increases; therefore,
negligible diffusion current flows. A very
small drift current flows, limited by the
rate at which minority carriers diffuse from
the quasi-neutral regions into the depletion
region.
EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 24

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

PN Junction Capacitance
A reverse-biased PN junction can be
viewed as a capacitor. The depletion
width (Wdep) and hence the junction
capacitance (Cj) varies with VR.

si
Cj
Wdep

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 25

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Voltage-Dependent
Capacitance
Cj

VD

C j0
VR
1
V0

si q N A N D 1
C j0
2 N A N D V0

si 10-12 F/cm is the permittivity of silicon.

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 26

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Reverse-Biased Diode
Application
A very important application of a reversebiased PN junction is in a voltage
controlled oscillator (VCO), which uses an
LC tank. By changing VR, we can change
C, which changes the oscillation frequency.

f res

EE105 Fall 2007

Lecture 2, Slide 27

1
LC

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley

Summary
Current flowing in a semiconductor is comprised
dn
dp
of drift and diffusion components:
J tot qp p E qn n E qDn
qD p
dx
dx
A region depleted of mobile charge exists at the
junction between P-type and N-type materials.
A built-in potential drop (V0) across this region is
established by the charge density profile; it opposes
diffusion of carriers across the junction. A reverse
bias voltage serves to enhance the potential drop
across the depletion region, resulting in very little
(drift) current flowing across the junction.
The width of the depletion region (Wdep) is a function
of the bias voltage2(V
).
D 1
1
kT N N
Wdep

EE105 Fall 2007

si

q NA

V0 VD

ND

Lecture 2, Slide 28

V0

ln

ni

Prof. Liu, UC Berkeley