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This document discusses different semiconductor materials including germanium, silicon, and carbon. It notes that germanium and silicon have similar properties as semiconductors with four valence electrons each, but germanium has higher conductivity at a given temperature. Silicon is more widely used in electronics due to its ability to operate at higher temperatures. Carbon also has four valence electrons but its energy gap is very small. While electricity can conduct through carbon, much energy is lost as heat. The crystal structures of carbon allotropes like diamond and graphite do not allow doping to significantly change conductivity.

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Denver Gabitan
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167 views1 page

Assign 2

This document discusses different semiconductor materials including germanium, silicon, and carbon. It notes that germanium and silicon have similar properties as semiconductors with four valence electrons each, but germanium has higher conductivity at a given temperature. Silicon is more widely used in electronics due to its ability to operate at higher temperatures. Carbon also has four valence electrons but its energy gap is very small. While electricity can conduct through carbon, much energy is lost as heat. The crystal structures of carbon allotropes like diamond and graphite do not allow doping to significantly change conductivity.

Uploaded by

Denver Gabitan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ECE 371

Gabitan, Denver J. BS-ECE 3rd yr/TF 10-11:30/Shp6

Germanium, Silicon and Carbon Semiconductors are silicon and germanium. They are like metals but their highest occupied electron shells/orbital does not overlap. They require a little energy to excite electrons into the conduction band. In solid state electronics, either pure silicon or germanium may be used as the intrinsic semiconductor which forms the starting point for fabrication. Each has four valence electrons, but germanium will at a given temperature have more free electrons and a higher conductivity. Silicon is by far the more widely used semiconductor for electronics, partly because it can be used at much higher temperatures than germanium. On the other hand, Carbon also has four valence electrons but the energy gap is very small unlike germanium and silicon. They have d orbits in the outer shell and they have greater mobility. Electricity can conduct through carbon, but carbon does have a significant resistance, and much of the electrical energy will be lost as heat energy when it passes through carbon and it forms diamond crystal structure so when we add impurity atoms it will not make any significant change. The structure of carbon allotropes, such as diamond and graphite, do not allow this. Diamond is a covalent network with no free electrons. Graphite is layers of hexagonal carbon networks with electrons allowed to flow in one direction only. Adding metal impurities, if it can be done easily, will not have the same effect.

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