SEMICONDUCTOR

THEORY
- SOUMYA
 ATOMIC STRUCTURE
 Atoms consist of positive charged nucleus and electrons are revolving
around them in different permitted orbits.
 Each orbits have 2n2 number of electrons where 'n' is orbit number. 
 Electrons jump to higher orbit by gaining energy and fall back to lower orbit
by emitting light or heat.

EINESTINE’S RELATION:
 This is called as Einestine's relation where Vt is
called as thermal voltage and is given as 0.0259v
 ENERGY LEVEL & ENERGY BANDSgy band
 The range of energies possesed by electrons in an orbit in solids is known
as energy band.
 The range of energies possesed by valance electrons are known as Valance
energy band (V.B).
 The range of energy possesed by free/conduction electrons are known as
conduction energy band (C.B).
 The separation between conduction energy band and valance energy band
is known as forbiden energy band gap (Eg).
 INSULATOR
“Those materials which do not allow the flow of current through them”.
i. In this type of materials V.B are full and C.B is empty.
ii. Energy gap is very large (nearly 15 eV).
iii. In an insulator, the valence electrons are tightly held together. They do not
have free electrons to conduct electricity.
iv. Insulators have large dielectric strength.
v. Good insulators have a high air permeability (the ability of the material to allow
air to flow through its pores) since air itself is an insulator.
vi. Example: Glass,wood,paper etc
 CONDUCTOR
“Those substances which easily allow the flow of current through
them”.
i. A large number of free electrons are available in conduction band. 
ii. Conduction band and valance band are overllaped. 
iii. A slight potential difference across material cause the flow of carrier to
constitute current in it.
iv. Conductor shows positive temperature coefficient of resistance.
v. All points of a conductor are at the same potential.
vi. Example: Fe, Ag, Au etc.
 SEMICONDUCTOR
“Those substances which have conductivity lies between conductor and
insulator”.
i. The energy gap between C.B and V.B are very less. 
ii. Very small energy is required to move electrons from V.B to C.B. 
iii.Semiconductor shows negative temperature coefficient of resistance.
iv. The resistivity of a semiconductor is less than an insulator but higher than a
conductor.
v. At zero kelvin, semiconductors behave as insulators. As the temperature is
increased it works as a conductor
vi. Example: Si, Ge etc.
Differences by Diagram
 IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT SEMICONDUCTOR
 The unique capability of semiconductor atoms is their ability to link together to
form a physical structure called a crystal lattice.
 The resistivity level is in the range of 10 and 104 Ω-cm.
 The forbidden band gap is in the order of 1eV.
 The atoms link together with one another sharing their outer electrons. These
links are called covalent bonds.
 The band gap energy for Si, Ge and GaAs is 1.21, 0.785 and 1.42 eV.
 Si/Ge : It’s a Group 4 element which means it has 4 electrons in outer shell.
However, like all other elements it would prefer to have 8 electrons in its outer
shell.
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
“A pure semiconductor crystal with no impurities or lattice defects is
called an intrinsic semiconductor”.
At T=0 K
Valence band is full with electrons conduction band is empty so no
carriers available for conduction act as an insulator.
At T>0 K
Thermal fluctuations break electrons to free creating electron-hole
pairs. Electron-hole pairs (EHP) are generated.
Number of electrons=No. of holes.
 HOLES AND ELECTRONS IN SEMICONDUCTOR
 Holes (valence electrons) are the positively charged electric charge carrier
 Electrons are the negatively charged particles. Both electrons and holes are
equal in magnitude but opposite in polarity.
 If the conduction band electron and the hole are created by the excitation of a
valence band electron to the conduction band, they are called an electron-hole
pair (EHP).
 If a voltage is applied, then both the electron and the hole can contribute to a
small current flow.
 Current carried by valence electrons in valance band is called as hole current.
 Current carried by free electrons in conuction band is called as electron current.
 HOW TO INCREASE CONDUCTIVITY
CASE 1: The conductivity of the semiconductor material increases when the
temperature increases.
CASE 2: Another way to increase the number of charge carriers is to add them in
from an external source.
 Doping or implant is the term given to a process whereby one element is
injected with atoms of another element in order to change its properties.
 EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
“Extrinsic semiconductors are semiconductors that are doped with
specific impurities”.
 Doping (adding an impurity) can produce 2 types (P type & N type) of semi-
conductors depending upon the element added.
 Doping is the process of adding impurities to intrinsic semiconductors to change
their properties.
 When trivalent impurities(B,Al) are added to intrinsic semiconductor, then it is
called as p-type extrinsic semiconductor.
 When pentavalent impurities(P,As) are added to intrinsic semiconductor, then it is
called as n-type extrinsic semiconductor
DIFFERENCES BTW INTRINSIC & EXTRINSIC
 DIFFERENCES BTW P & N SEMICONDUCTOR
SUBJECT P TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR N TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
When a trivalent impurity is added to an When a pentavalent impurity is added to an
intrinsic semiconductor, the obtained intrinsic semiconductor, the obtained
DEFINATION semiconductor is known as P-type semiconductor is known as N-type
semiconductor. semiconductor.
TYPES OF To obtain the P-type semiconductor, a trivalent The pentavalent impurities such as P, Sb,
IMPURITY impurity such as aluminium, gallium, indium, As, Bi, etc. are added to pure semiconductor
ADDED etc. is added to the pure semiconductor. to obtain N-type semiconductor.
EFFECT OF In case of P-type semiconductor, the impurity In case of N-type semiconductor, the
IMPURITY OR added creates a vacancy of electron in the impurity added provides extra electrons in
DOPPING structure, known as hole. the structure.
In P-type semiconductor, the doping element
In N-type semiconductor, the pentavalent
ALTERNATE is a trivalent element, which can accept
atoms are used as impurity which provide
NAME OF electrons from the intrinsic semiconductor.
IMPURITY extra electrons. Hence, the doping element
Therefore, the doping element or impurity is
ADDED is also known as donor impurity.
also known as acceptor impurity.
MAJORITY
Holes are the majority charge carriers in a P- Electrons are the majority charge carriers in
CHARGE
CARRIERS type semiconductor. an N-type semiconductor.
 SUBJECT P TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR N TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR

Minority charge
Electrons are the minority charge carries in a Holes are the minority charge carriers in an N-
carriers
P-type semiconductor. type semiconductor.

In case of P-type semiconductor, the number In an N-type semiconductor, the number of

Charge density of holes are much more than number of
electrons, i.e. Nh >> Ne.
In a P-type semiconductor, the majority
Movement of charge carriers are holes (which are positive),
majority charge thus moves from higher potential to lower
carriers potential.
P-type semiconductor has acceptor energy
Energy levels levels very close to the valance band and
away from the conduction band.
When the temperature of P-type
Effect of semiconductor is increased, it can easily
temperature rise accept an electron from valance band to
acceptor energy level.
In P-type semiconductors, the conductivity is
Conductivity due to the presence of holes.
electrons are much more than the number of
holes, i.e. Ne >> Nh.
The majority charge carries in an N-type
semiconductor are electrons (which are
negative), thus moves from lower potential to
higher potential.
N-type semiconductor has donor energy levels
very close to the conduction band and away
from the valance band.
When the temperature of N-type
semiconductor is increased, it can easily
donate an electron from donor energy level to
the conduction band.
The conductivity in the N-type semiconductor
is due to the presence of electrons.
n type p type
 Mobility and conductivity
 The drift velocity is defined as the average velocity with which free electrons in a
conductor get drifted under the influence of an external electric field applied
across the conductor.
 Drift velocity is directly proportional to applied electric field.
 The constant of proportionality is called as mobility(μ).
 Mobility:The average drift velocity per unit electric field is called mobility.

 As temperature increases mobility decreases.

 n ≈ 1350 (cm2/V.s), p ≈ 500 (cm2/V.s)
 MASS ACTION LAW
“At a constant temperature, the product of the number of electrons in the conduction
band and the number of holes in the valence band remains constant, regardless of
the quantity of donor and acceptor impurities added.”
n.p = ni2
where
ni = intrinsic carrier concentration
n = no. of free electrons per unit volume
p = no. of holes per unit volume

EGo : energy band gap at 00 K in eV

k : Boltzmann’s constant in eV / 0K
T : Absolute temperature in K (Kelvin)
A0: constant independent of temperature
 Current in Semiconductor
Current in semiconductor are of two types:
 Drift current: : The current due to the drifting movement of charge carries by the
appliction of elecric field is called drift current.
i. Drift current density due to electron,
ii. Drift current density due to hole,
iii.

 Diffusion current: The current due to movement of charge carriers by the

concentration gridient is called diffusion current.
i. In practical semiconductors, it is quite useful to create carrier concentration
gradients by varying the dopant concentration and/or the dopant type across a
region of semiconductor.
ii. FORMULA::
 PN JUNCTION DIODE
“A P-N junction is formed by
doping on side of crystal with
acceptor (p type) and other side
donor (n type) atoms”.
 There are three possibilities depon of
voltage across the two terminals.
1. No Bias (V=0)
2. Forward Bias (V>0)
3. Reverse Bias (V<0)
 NO BIAS (V=0)
“When diode is not connected with bias voltage are claaed no bias
condition”.
 When P-type and N-type are joined,due to diffusion carreir movement starts.
 Electrons from N-side flows to P-side leaving behind +ve ions and holes from P-side
flow to N-side leaving behind -ve ions near the edge of junction.
 Due to depletion region a dipole is created and the direction of electric field is from
N-side to P-side and a built in potential (contact potential) is developed.
 Further movement of carriers are stopped by the developed electric field and
contact potential in the depletion region. 
 So, at equlibrium the net current across the junction is zero.
 No external voltage is applied to the P-N junction diode.
 FORWARD BIAS (V>0)
“Forward bias or biasing is where the external voltage is delivered across
the P-N junction diode. In a forward bias setup, the P-side of the diode is
attached to the positive terminal and N-side is fixed to the negative side
of the battery”.
 When the diode forward biased (F.B),the -ve potential force the electrons to
combine with +ve ions and +ve potential force the holes to combine with -ve ions.
 In response to that the depletion region width decreases so as contact potential.
 As we increase the applied voltage between diode,the majority carreir starts
flowing and current appears across junction.

 The minimum voltage from which the current starts increasing in diode is called
threshold voltage or knee voltage.
 REVERSE BIAS (V<0)
“In reversed bias the negative region is connected to the positive terminal
of the battery and the positive region is connected to the negative
terminal ”.
 When the diode reverse biased (R.B),the -ve potential force the electrons to create
more +ve ions and +ve potential force the holes to create more -ve ions. 
 In response to that the depletion region width increases so as contact potential.
 As we increase the applied voltage between diode,the majority carreir movement
stops and current appears across junction is zero due to majority carriers. 
 But due to the depletion region,the generated electric field drives the minoity
carriers to flow. 
 The minority carriers flow gives current opposite to conventional current i.e N-side
to P-side
 This current is called leakge current (Is).
 I-V Charecteristics of Diode
“The plot between current and voltage is called I-V
charecteristics of diode”.
 In F.B condition,VF < Vt current is very small. when,
VF > Vt current increases sharply.
 Generally the thresold voltage for Silicon is 0.7V and for
Germanium is 0.3V.
 At reverse bias voltage, after point 'P' shown in
figure,reverse current increases suddenly a almost
parallel to y-axis.
 This region 'PQ' shown in figure is called breakdown
region and diode may damage in this region.
 The maximum reverse voltage that can be applied to
the PN junction without damage to the diode is
called peak inverse voltage (PIV).
 The current and voltage relationship of a PN junction is
exponential in forward bias region, and relatively
constant in reverse bias region.
I-V Charecteristics of Diode