FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
COURSE CODE : MS60009
COURSE INSTRUCTOR : [Link] KOCHAT
SEMICONDUCTORS
Reference books
1. Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices by Safa O. Kasap, McGraw Hill
2. Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering - An Integrated Approach by William Callister Jr. and David Rethwisch, Wiley
3. Electronic Properties of Materials by Rolf Hummel, Springer
CARRIER CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
Ionization range Extrinsic range Intrinsic range
CARRIER CONCENTRATION TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
DRIFT MOBILITY: TEMPERATURE AND IMPURITY DEPENDENCE
High temperature
The electron drift mobility μ depends on the mean free time τ between scattering events via
Kinetic molecular theory for electrons in CB :
lattice vibration scattering limited mobility
DRIFT MOBILITY: TEMPERATURE AND IMPURITY DEPENDENCE
Low temperature At low temperatures, scattering of electrons by thermal vibrations of the
lattice will not be as strong as the electron scattering brought about by
ionized donor impurities.
DRIFT MOBILITY: TEMPERATURE AND IMPURITY DEPENDENCE
The overall temperature dependence of the drift mobility is then, simply, the
reciprocal additions of the μI and μL by virtue of Matthiessen’s rule, that is,
CONDUCTIVITY : TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
The conductivity of an extrinsic semiconductor doped
with donors depends on the electron concentration
and the drift mobility.
At the lowest temperatures in the ionization range,
the electron concentration depends exponentially
on the temperature by virtue of
which then also dominates the temperature
dependence of the conductivity.
In the intrinsic range at the highest temperatures,
the conductivity is dominated by the temperature
dependence of ni since
and ni is an exponential function of temperature
In the extrinsic temperature range, n = Nd and is
constant, so the conductivity follows the
temperature dependence of the drift mobility.
An n-type Si sample has been doped with 1015 phosphorus atoms cm−3. The donor energy level
for P in Si is 0.045 eV below the conduction band edge energy.
1. Calculate the room temperature conductivity of the sample.
2. Estimate the temperature above which the sample behaves as if intrinsic.
3. Estimate the lowest temperature above which most of the donors are ionized.
DEGENERATE AND NONDEGENERATE SEMICONDUCTORS
the number of states in the CB far exceeds the number of electrons
Boltzmann statistics
Those semiconductors for which n ≪ NC and p ≪ NV are termed nondegenerate semiconductors.
When the semiconductor has been excessively doped with donors, then n may be so large, typically
1019–1020 cm−3, that it may be comparable to or greater than Nc.
Fermi-Dirac statistics
semiconductor exhibits properties that are more metal-like than semiconductor-like : ρ ∝ Τ.
Semiconductors that have n > Nc or p > Nv are called degenerate semiconductors.
Degenerate semiconductors used in laser
diodes, zener diodes, and ohmic contacts in
ICs, and as metal gates in many
microelectronic MOS devices
COMPOUND SEMICONDUCTORS
Typical compound semiconductors
Group II-VI: ZnSe
Group III-V: GaAs, GaN, InP, InGaAlP, InGaN
Group IV-IV: SiC, SiGe
DIRECT AND INDIRECT RECOMBINATION
Conservation of linear momentum
during recombination requires
Typical recombination centers, besides the donor
and acceptor impurities, might be metallic impurities
and crystal defects such as dislocations, vacancies, or
interstitials.
OPTICAL ABSORPTION
Absorption co-efficient
When we integrate for illumination with a constant wavelength
light, we get the Beer–Lambert law, the transmitted intensity
decreases exponentially with the thickness.
