KIE 1006 : Electronic Physics

Week 9
Carrier Transport
Lecturer : Dr. Sharifah Fatmadiana Wan Muhd Hatta

To arrange for appointments for small group discussions :

Email: sh_fatmadiana@um.edu.my
Or watsapp: 0176119960
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DOS function

Fermi-Dirac Dist. Function

Maxwell-Boltzman approximation of the Fermi-Dirac

(apply to Semiconductors since (E-EF) >> kT)

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 Charge carriers in intrinsic semiconductors

Distributions of
Electrons and Holes

Equilibrium Distribution of Electrons

Intrinsic carrier concentration (ni)
and Holes (no and po)

Intrinsic fermi-position (EFi)

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 The Probability Function of the donor and acceptor states
Thermal equilibrium concentrations in extrinsic
semiconductor:
Deri
v
discu ation no
ssed t

The probability function of hole occupying the acceptor state is:

Deri
v
discu ation no
ssed t

Relative no. of electrons in the donor state compared with total no. of
electrons (ie. Ratio of electrons in donor state to the total no. of Determining the position of the Fermi energy level
electrons in the CB + donor state) as a function of the doping concentrations and as a
function of temperature:

For holes,
Taki
n
of bo g the na
th si tu
des ral log 4
Contents
• Carrier Drift
Describe the mechanism of carrier drift and induced drift current due to an applied electric field
Drift Current density Remember this?
• Mobility
 Mobility effects
Scattering mechanisms

• Conductivity
• Resistivity
• Velocity Saturation

• Carrier Diffusion
 Describe the mechanism of carrier diffusion and induced diffusion current due to a gradient in
the carrier concentration.
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Diffusion Current density
 The net flow of the electrons and holes
in a semiconductor will generate
currents. The process by which these
charged particles move is called
transport.

 In this lesson, we will consider the two

basic transport mechanisms in a
semiconductor crystal:

Drift - movement of charge due to

electric fields, and

Diffusion- the flow of charge due to

density gradients.

 The carrier transport phenomena are

the foundation for finally determining the
current-voltage characteristics of
semiconductor devices.
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 Carrier Drift
An electric field applied to a semiconductor will produce a force on electrons and
holes so that they will experience a net acceleration and net movement, provided
there are available energy states in the conduction and valence bands.

This net movement of charge due to an electric field is called drift.

The net drift of charge gives rise to a drift current.

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Drift Current density

Note: Do not be confused

with resistivity,

= qE

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 As the hole accelerates in a crystal due to the electric field, the velocity increases.
 When the charged particle collides with an atom in the crystal, the particle loses energy.
 The particle will again begin to accelerate and gain energy until it is again involved in a
scattering process.
 Throughout this process, the particle will gain an average drift velocity which,
for low electric fields, is directly proportional to the electric field.

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Combine the drift current density due to holes with the average drift velocity due to holes:

Similarly, combine the drift current density due to electrons with the average drift velocity
due to electrons:

Since both electrons and holes contribute to the drift current, the total drift current density is:

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Example:

 We may note from this example that the drift

current will usually be due primarily to the
majority carrier in an extrinsic semiconductor. 11
Example: A drift current density of J drf=75 A/cm2 is required in a device using p-type
silicon when an electric field of E =120 V/cm is applied. Determine the required
Na impurity doping concentration to achieve this specification. Assume that
electron and hole mobilities given in Table 5.1 apply.

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 Mobility effects
From,

Ie. The acceleration of a hole to a force such as an electric field

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 p

mobility

If a small electric field is applied, there will be a net

drift of the hole in the direction of the E-field, and
the net drift velocity will be a small perturbation on
the random thermal velocity, so the time between
collisions will not be altered appreciably.

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Collision and Scattering Mechanism

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Since lattice scattering is related to the thermal motion of atoms, the rate at which the
scattering occurs is a function of temperature. If we denote as the mobility that would be
observed if only lattice scattering existed, then :

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 (Extrinsic semiconductor)

and the semiconductor characteristics are altered.

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(From slide no. 11)

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From slide before,

From slide before,

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BAND DIAGRAM

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• Figure 5.4 is a plot of resistivity as a function of impurity
concentration in silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide, and Why the graph is not linear?
gallium phosphide at T 300 K. Cuz mobility also one of the carrier concentration
• The curves are not linear functions of Nd or Na because of
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mobility effects.
Figure 5.6 shows the electron concentration and conductivity of
silicon as a function of inverse temperature for the case when
Nd 1015 cm-3.

In the mid-temperature range, or extrinsic

range, as shown, we have complete ionization—the electron
concentration remains essentially constant. However, the
mobility is a function of temperature so the conductivity varies
with temperature in this range.

From last week’s

slide (Lecture 7):

At higher temperatures, the intrinsic carrier concentration

increases and begins to dominate the electron concentration as
well as the conductivity.

In the lower temperature range, freeze-out begins to occur;

the electron concentration and conductivity decrease with
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decreasing temperature.
 Electron mobility as function of
temperature for Si at varying donor
concentrations

 For lightly-doped (i.e. 1014 cm-3) lattice

scattering dominates and mobility
decreases as the temperature
increases.

 For heavily-doped (i.e. 1019cm-3) at low

temperature, impurity scattering is
more pronounced.

 For a given temp., mobility decreases

with increasing impurity concentration
(due to enhanced impurity scattering).

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When Temperature
increases and doping
increases, the
mobility will reduce

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25
 Velocity Saturation
The total velocity of a particle is the sum of the random thermal velocity and
drift velocity. At T 300 K, the average random thermal energy is given by :

• Under thermal equilibrium, the average thermal energy of a

conduction electron can be obtained from the theorem for
equipartition of energy, 1/2 kT units of energy per degree of
freedom, where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the absolute
temperature.
• The electrons in a semiconductor have three degrees of
freedom; they can move about in a 3-D space.
• Therefore, the kinetic energy of the electrons is given as above.
• This energy translates into a mean thermal velocity of
approximately 107cm/s for an electron in silicon

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 In Silicon:
The drift velocity of electrons in silicon
or differential mobility start to saturate to approximately 107 cm/s
at an electric field of approximately
30kV/cm (blue line)

In GaAs (a bit more complicated):

If the drift velocity of a charge
• The low-field electron mobility in carrier saturates, then the drift
gallium arsenide is much larger current density also saturates
than in silicon. and becomes independent of the
• As the field increases, the
electron drift velocity in gallium
applied electric field
arsenide reaches a peak and
then decreases.
• The negative slope of the drift
velocity versus electric field
represents a negative differential
mobility.
• The negative differential mobility
produces a negative differential
resistance; this characteristic is
used in the design of oscillators.

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 r a m
ia g
Negative Differential Mobility d
E-k
 The density of states effective mass of the electron in
the lower valley is m*n 0.067m0. The small effective mass
leads to a large mobility.

 As the E-field increases, the energy of the electron

increases and the electron can be scattered into the
upper valley, where the density of states effective mass
is 0.55m0. The larger effective mass in the upper valley
yields a smaller mobility.

 This intervalley transfer mechanism results in a

decreasing average drift velocity of electrons with
electric field, or the negative differential mobility
characteristic.

As E , mobility due to effective higher carrier mass, thus drift velocity

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 Carrier Diffusion
• Consider a classic physics example in which a container, as shown in
Figure below is divided into two parts by a membrane.
• The left side contains gas molecules at a particular temperature and the
right side is initially empty.
• The gas molecules are in continual random thermal motion so that, when
the membrane is broken, the gas molecules flow into the right side of the
container.
• Diffusion is the process whereby particles flow from a region of HIGH
concentration toward a region of LOW concentration.
• If the gas molecules were electrically charged, the net flow of charge
would result in a diffusion current.

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vth = thermal velocity

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 vth = thermal velocity
n= electron concentration
x=-l x=+l
• One half of the electrons at x = -I will be traveling to the right at any instant
of time and one half of the electrons at x = +I will be traveling to the left at
any given time.
• The net rate of electron flow, Fn in the +x direction at x=0 is:

Expand electron concentration in a

Taylor series about x=0

Each electron has a charge (-e),

so the current is:

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• The diffusion of electrons
from a region of high
concentration to a region of
low concentration produces
a flux of electrons flowing in
the negative x direction.
• Since electrons have a
negative charge, the
conventional current direction
is in the positive x direction.

Hence, we may write the

electron diffusion current
density in the form:

Dn is called the electron diffusion

coefficient and has units of cm2/s, 32
• The diffusion of holes,
from a region of high
concentration to a
region of low
concentration,
produces a flux of holes
in the negative x
direction.
• Since holes are
positively charged
particles, the
conventional diffusion
current density is also in
the negative x direction.
• We may write

DP is called the hole diffusion

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coefficient and has units of cm2/s
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Total Current Density

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Out of scope for KIE1006 (but good for
knowledge!)
I’ll post a separate
video on this

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Out of scope for KIE1006 (but good for
knowledge!)
I’ll post a separate
video on this

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 Number of electron
Number of holes concentration
concentration

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Example 1

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Example 2

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