PN - Drift and Diffusion

Current
 Electronic Materials
• The goal of electronic materials is to
generate and control the flow of an
electrical current.
• Electronic materials include:
1. Conductors: have low resistance which
allows electrical current flow
2. Insulators: have high resistance which
suppresses electrical current flow
3. Semiconductors: can allow or suppress
electrical current flow
 Conductors
• Good conductors have low resistance so
electrons flow through them with ease.
• Best element conductors include:
– Copper, silver, gold, aluminum, & nickel
• Alloys are also good conductors:
– Brass & steel
• Good conductors can also be liquid:
– Salt water
 Insulators
• Insulators have a high resistance so
current does not flow in them.
• Good insulators include:
– Glass, ceramic, plastics, & wood
• Most insulators are compounds of several
elements.
• The atoms are tightly bound to one
another so electrons are difficult to strip
away for current flow.
 Semiconductors
• Semiconductors are materials that essentially
can be conditioned to act as good
conductors, or good insulators, or any thing in
between.
• Common elements such as carbon, silicon,
and germanium are semiconductors.
• Silicon is the best and most widely used
semiconductor.
 Doping
• To make the semiconductor conduct

electricity, other atoms called impurities must

be added.
• “Impurities” are different elements.

• This process is called doping.

A presentation of eSyst.org
 Intrinsic Semiconductor (Si)
• Comment: Si is first purified to very high degree,
99.999999999%, before making devices in it.
Si Intrinsic : when
e-
no impurities are
h+ added to the
material

At the equilibrium
Recombination rate, ri = gi, Generation rate
(electron/cm3) n = p (hole / cm3)
7
Intrinsic carrier concentration
 Eg

ni  BT e kT
2 3

B – coefficient related to specific semiconductor = 5.4 ×

1030 for Si
T – temperature in Kelvin
Eg – semiconductor bandgap energy = 1.12 eV for Si
k – Boltzmann’s constant = 8.62 × 10-5 eV K-1

Ni =1.5 × 1010 carriers cm-3 for Si at 300K

 Doped Semiconductors

• p-type semiconductor • n-type semiconductor

– Silicon is doped with – Silicon is doped with
element having a element having a
valence of 3. valence of 5.
– To increase the – To increase the
concentration of concentration of free
holes (p). electrons (n).
– One example is – One example is
boron, which is an phosophorus, which
acceptor. is a donor.
Oxford University Publishing
Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
 Doped Semiconductors

• n-type doped semiconductor

– If ND is much greater than ni …
• concentration of donor atoms is ND
– Then the concentration of electrons in the n-type
is defined as below.
they will be equal...

(eq3.4) (nn )  (ND )

number number
free donor
e-trons atoms
in n -type
Oxford University Publishing
Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
 Doped Semiconductors

• p-type doped semiconductor

– If NA is much greater than ni …
• concentration of acceptor atoms is NA
– Then the concentration of holes in the p-type is
defined as below.
they will be equal...

(eq3.6) (pp )  (NA )

number number
holes acceptor
in atoms
Oxford University Publishing
p -type
Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
 Doped Semiconductors

action: combine this with equation

• p-type semiconductor on previous slide

– Q: How can one find pp  np  ni2

the concentration? number number number
of holes of free of free
• A: Use the in p -type electrons electrons
in p -type and holes
formula to right, in thermal
equil.
adapted for the p-
ni2
type (eq3.7) np 
semiconductor. nA

Oxford University Publishing

Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
 Doped Semiconductors

action: combine this with equation

• n-type semiconductor on previous slide

– Q: How can one find pn  nn  ni2

the concentration? number number number
of holes of free of free
• A: Use the in n-type electrons electrons
in n-type and holes
formula to right, in thermal
equil.
adapted for the n-
ni2
type (eq3.5) pn 
semiconductor. nD

Oxford University Publishing

Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
Drift and Diffusion Current
 Drift Current

Oxford University Publishing

Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
 Diffusion Current

• carrier diffusion – is the flow of charge carriers

from area of high concentration to low
concentration.
– It requires non-uniform distribution of carriers.
• diffusion current – is the current flow that results
from diffusion.

Oxford University Publishing

Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
  drift currentRelationship
3.3.3. density (Jdrift)
 effected by – an electric field (E).
Between D and m.?
 diffusion current density (Jdiff)
 effected by – concentration gradient in free electrons and
holes.
• Q: What is the
relationship between the relationship between diffusion constant
and mobility is defined by thermal voltage

A cross-sectional area of silicon, q  magnitude of the electron charge,J p

Dn Dpp
(eq3.21) p   VT
diffusion constant p concentration(D)of holes, n concentration of free electrons,J pmn m p
m  hole mobility, m  electron mobility, E  electric fieldJ p

and mobility (m)? p n p

drift current density : Jdrift  Jpdrift  Jndrift  q(pm p  nmn )E

– A: thermal voltage
dp(x) dn(x)
(VTcurre
diffusion ) nt density : Jdiff  Jpdiff  Jndiff  qDp
known as dx
 qDn
Einstein dx
• DQ: p
What
 diffusion isofthis
constant holes (12value?
c m / s for silicon), D  diffusion constantRelationship
2
n of electrons (35cm /s for silicon),J 2 p
p
p( x ) hole concentration at point x , n ( x ) free electron concentration at point x ,J p

– A:dpat / dx T = 300K,
gradient of hole concentVration,
T =dn / dx gradient of free electron concentrationJ
p
p
p

25.9mV
Oxford University Publishing
Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S. Sedra and
 3.3.2. Diffusion Current
• Q: How is diffusion current defined?

Jp  current flow density attributed to holesJpp

q  magnitude of the electron chargeJpp
Dp  diffusion constant of holes (12cm2 /s for silicon)Jpp
p ( x ) hole concentration at point xJpp
dp / dx  gradient of hole concentrationJpp

dp(x)
(eq3.19) hole diffusion current density : Jp  qDp
dx
dn(x)
(eq3.20) electron diffusion current density : Jn  qDn
dx
Jn  current flow density attributed to free electronsJpp
Dn  diffusion constant of electrons (35cm2 /s for silicon)Jpp
n( x ) free electron concentration at point xJpp
Oxford University Publishing dn / dx  gradient of free electron concentrationJpp
Microelectronic Circuits by Adel S.
 Relationship
Between D and m.?
• Q: What is the
relationship between
the relationship between diffusion constant
diffusion constant (D) and mobility is defined by thermal voltage
and mobility (m)? Dp
Dn
– A: thermal voltage (eq3.21)   VT
mn mp
(VT)
• Q: What is this value? known as Einstein
– A: at T = 300K, VT Relationship
= 25.9mV