Semiconductor

Materials
• Si used in Ics
• GaAs and GaP used in LEDs
( Light Emitting Diode)
• CdS, CdSe,InSb used in LDRs
(Light dependent Resistors)
• GaAs InP in Gunn diode used in microwave
• ZnS in Fluorescent material used in TV
screen
Both electrons and holes contribute to
current flow in intrinsic semiconductors.
The direction of hole current is always
opposite to the direction of electron current
In a metal current is conducted only by the
flow of electron for this reason we say that a
metal is unipolar
a semiconductor such as Si is said to
be bipolar since current can be conducted
by both –ve charges (electron) and +ve
charges (holes).
Under an electric field,electrons move in
conduction band ,
holes move in valence band
Both the conduction
band electrons and
the valence band
holes contribute to
electrical conductivity.
.
Movement of electrons in
conduction band constitutes
Electron current
Movement of holes in valence
band constitutes
Hole current
Current density in metal
J= n μ q E
Where
n is electron concentration
μ is electron mobility constant
q is charge on electron
E is electric field

In semiconductors ,flow of current is due to

both positive (hole) and negative charges
(electrons),therefore they are Bipolar
Therefore Current density in semiconductor
Is given by-

J= (n μn + p μP)qE

n is electron concentration
p is the hole concentration
μn is electron mobility constant
μp is hole mobility constant
q is charge on electron ; q = 1.6 * 10-19 C.
E is electric field,
 Relating with conductivity
J= (n µn + p µp ) q ξ =σ ξ
ξ is the electric field (V/m) ,
µ is a constant called electron/hole mobility(m2/Vs).

semiconductor conductivity is
therefore
σ =(n µn + p µp ) q
 SEMICONDUCTORS
Semiconductors are of two types

Intrinsic

Extrinsic
Extrinsic Semiconductors

Concentrations of free electron and holes is

small in an intrinsic semiconductor, so small
currents are possible

Impurities can be added to semiconductor to

increase the concentration of free electrons
and holes
An intrinsic semiconductor can
be made extrinsic by
adding small amounts of suitable
impurities (doping)
• One of the main reasons
that semiconductors are
useful in electronics is that
their electronic properties
can be greatly altered in a
controllable way by adding
small amounts of impurities.
These impurities are called
dopants.
Heavily doping a Semiconductor
can increase its conductivity by
a factor greater than a billion.

In modern integrated circuits, for

instance,
heavily-doped polycrystalline
silicon is often used as a
replacement for metals.
• A semiconductor which is
doped to such high levels that
the dopant atoms are an
appreciable fraction of the
semiconductor atoms is called
degenerate.
A degenerate semiconductor
acts more like a conductor
than a semiconductor.
 Doping
• Impurities are added to pure Silicon –
elements with either an extra valence
electron or short a valence electron

– n-type uses pentavalent impurity

– p-type uses trivalent impurity

• Doping produces a large number of

carriers which are called the
“majority carriers”
 n-type
• Pentavalent (5 valence electron)
impurities are added, e.g., Arsenic (As),
Antimony (Sb), Phosphor (P)

• Majority carrier: Electrons

• Minority Carriers :Holes
The Pentavalent impurity forms 4
covalent bonds with Si or Ge.

The impurity has 5 valence electrons

and only 4 of them are bonded with the
semiconductor atom,
There is 1 excess free electron donated by
each impurity atom.
Such an impurity is called a
donor impurity &
the impure semiconductor is called
n-type semiconductor.

n signifies donor or negative.

Donor atoms are shown with a
+ve charge.
This is because they have
donated a electron.
• Trivalent impurity like B(Boron) or
Ga(Gallium) (group 3) is added to a crystal of
Si or Ge.
• Only 3 valence electrons in the impurity atom
each impurity atom produces a excess hole
( one electron less).
• Each hole thus formed can accept an electron.
Acceptor atoms are shown with a -ve charge.
Each hole is associated with a
nearby negative-charged dopant
ion, and the

semiconductor remains electrically

neutral as a whole.
Trivalent impurity is called
acceptor impurity & the
impure semiconductor is called
p-type semiconductor.

Majority Carriers: Holes

Minority Carriers :Electrons
A doped semiconductor
has more conductivity
because of the formation of
holes or free electron .
 In a doped semiconductor the
current will be predominantly
carried by either of the mobile
charge carriers
(electrons or holes).
In an n -type
semiconductor electrons are
the majority charge carriers
and holes are the minority
charge carriers
The converse is true for a
p- type semiconductor.
If ND is the concentration of
donor atoms ,
the concentration of immobile
+ve ions will be ND.
If NA is the concentration of
acceptor atoms,
the concentration of immobile -ve
ions will be NA.
 Semiconductors doped
with n-type and p-type
impurities
NA = concentration of acceptor atoms
=concentration of immobile negative ions
ND = concentration of donor atoms
 = concentration of immobile positive ions
p is hole concentration,
n is free electron concentration

Charge Neutrality Condition

ND + p = NA + n
ND = 5, n = 5 , NA = 2, p = 2
n is the free electron concentration,
p is the hole concentration of the semiconductor.
ni is the intrinsic conc. of the semiconductor
Under thermal equilibrium

n.p = ni 2

This law is called the LAW OF MASS ACTION

An intrinsic semiconductor at certain
temperature has carrier concentration
(hole and electron) : 1013 /cm3 (ni)

If this is n-doped to 1016 /cm3, (=n)

then
from n. p = ni2
hole concentration(p) will be 1010 /cm3.
When a semiconductor is
doped, its majority carrier
concentration exceeds the
intrinsic carrier concentration
by a factor that is dependent
on the doping level.
However, the product of
the majority and minority
carrier concentrations
continues to be equal to the
square of the intrinsic
carrier concentration.
For n-type

NA = 0 and n >> p,
n ≃ ND

from Law of mass action

p = ni2 /ND

σ (n type) ≈ n*μn *q
For p-type

ND = 0 and p >> n,
p ≃ NA
from Law of mass action

n = ni2 /NA

σ ( p type) ≈ p *μp *q
 SEMICONDUCTOR CONATINING BOTH
DONOR AND ACCEPTOR IMPURITIES

NA – concentration of acceptor impurity

ND - concentration of donor impurity.
Holes and electrons concentration in2p side
ni
pp ≈NA np 
NA
Holes and electrons concentration in n side
ni2
nn ≈ND pn 
ND
Suffix p –indicates p side and n indicates n side
 If one side of the semiconductor is p-type and
the other half n-type ,
the semi-conductor is step graded
The boundary between two sides of the
semiconductor is called the pn junction.
*The motion of electric charges from a
region of higher concentration to a region of
lower concentration is called diffusion.

*For diffusion to take place there must be a

Concentration gradient
*The movement of charge carriers under
the influence of electric field at the
junction is called drift.

*electrons drift in a direction opposite to

the field.
Holes drift in the direction of the field
( +→ - )
 Because of concentration gradient across the
junction
holes diffuse to the right and free e- diffuse to the
left.
When they meet in the vicinity of the junction, holes
and free electrons combine and are neutralized
( recombination).
• Holes from the p-side diffuse into n-side
where they recombine with free electrons.
• Free electrons from n-side diffuse into
p-side where they recombine with free
holes.
• .
• The diffusion of electrons and holes is
due to the fact that large no of electrons are
concentrated in one area and large no of
holes are concentrated in another area.
• When these electrons and holes begin
to diffuse across the junction then they
collide each other and negative
charge in the electrons cancels the
positive charge of the hole and both
will lose their charges.
• The diffusion of holes and
electrons is an electric
current referred to as a
recombination current.
The recombination process decay
exponentially with both

• time &
• distance from the junction.

Thus most of the recombination

occurs just after the junction is
made and very near to junction.
• A measure of the rate of
recombination is the lifetime defined
as the time required for the density of
carriers to decrease to 37% to the
original concentration
• the atom that produced the
electron now lack an electron
and so becomes charged
positively,
• whereas the atoms that
produced the hole now lacks a
positive charge and becomes
negative.
• The electrically charged atoms
are called ions since they are
no longer neutral. These ions
produce an electric field as
shown
A space charge builds up, creating a “depletion
region” which inhibits the further transfer of
electrons and holes across the junction
“depletion region” is free from mobile
carriers(holes and free electrons)
“depletion region” is also referred as “space
charge region” and “transition region”
This separation of charges causes an electric
field to extend across the depletion layer. A
potential difference must therefore exist across
the depletion layer
The significance of this built-in potential is that it
opposes the flow of holes and electrons across the
junction.

For this reason, the built-in potential is called a

potential barrier or potential hill.
 In a pn junction there exists a junction potential
or barrier potential or built in voltage v0 given
by
 p p ( holesin p side)   nn ( electronis in n side) 
v0  VT ln   VT ln 
 p   np 
 n ( holes in n side )   ( electronsin p side) 
 NA   ND 
 VT ln 2   VT ln 2 
 ni N D   ni N A 
 N AND 
 VT ln 2


 ni  VT ,the volt equivalent of temperature

Suffix p –indicates p side and n indicates n side

This barrier potential cannot cause any external current.
VT ,the volt equivalent of temperature
kT T
VT  
q 11,586
k = 1.38x10-23 J/K is the Boltzman’s constant

T is temperature in K

q = 1.6x10-19 C