Semiconductor Optoelectronics
Lecture 1: Semiconductor in Equilibrium
Dr. Ghusoon Mohsin Ali
4th year Electronics & Communication
Department of Electrical Engineering
College of Engineering
Mustansiriyah University
Text book
Semiconductor Physics
and Devices
Basic Principles
Third Edition
Donald A. Neamen
Chapter 4: Semiconductor in
Equilibrium
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Chapter 4: Semiconductor in
Equilibrium
Equilibrium; no external forces such as voltages, electrical
fields, magnetic fields, or temperature gradients are acting on
the semiconductor
T>0K
Conduction
e band
Ec
Ev
Valence
e band
carrier
Particles that can freely move and contribute to the current flow (conduction)
1. Electron in conduction band
2. Hole in valence band
How to count number of carriers,n?
Assumption; Pauli exclusion principle
If we know
1. No. of energy states Density of states (DOS)
2. Occupied energy states The probability that energy states is
occupied
“Fermi-Dirac distribution function”
n = DOS x “Fermi-Dirac distribution function”
Density of state
E
No of states (seats) above Ec for electron
4 (2m*)3 / 2
e Conduction g (E) E EC
band h3
Ec
Ev
Valence No of states (seats) below Ev for hole
e band
4 (2m*)3 / 2
g (E) Ev E
h3
g (E)
Fermi-Dirac distribution
Probability of electron having certain energy
E
Electron (blue line)
Electron
1
having energy e f F (E)
E EF
above Ec 1 exp
Ec kT
Fermi energy, EF
Ev hole (red line)
Hole having e 1
energy below 1
E EF
Ev 1 exp
kT
0.5 1
f (E)
EF; the energy below which all states are filled with electron and above
which all states are empty at 0K
No of carrier
E
e e
No of free electron Ec
free electron
Ec
Ev Ev free hole
No of free hole e
e
1
g(E) x f (E)
Thermal equilibrium concentration of electron, n o
no g ( E ) f ( E )dE
EC
4 (2m*)3 / 2
g (E) E EC
h3
1 ( E EF )
f F (E) exp Boltzmann approximation
E EF kT
1 exp
kT
3/ 2
2m kT *
( EC E F )
no 2
n
exp
2
h kT
( EC E F )
N C exp NC; effective density of states
kT function in conduction band
Ex. 1
Calculate the thermal equilibrium electron concentration in Si at T= 300K.
Assume that Fermi energy is 0.25 eV below the conduction band. The value of Nc for Si
at T=300 K is 2.8 x 1019 cm-3.
( EC EF )
Ec no N C exp
EF
0.25 eV kT
Eg-0.25 eV ( EC EC 0.25)
Ev
2.8 1019 exp
0.0259
1.8 1015 cm 3
Hole concentration
( EF Ev )
Eg=1.12 eV po N v exp
kT
(1.12 0.25)
1.04 10 exp
19
0.0259
2.68 10 4 cm 3
Thermal equilibrium concentration of hole, p o
Ev
po g ( E )1 f ( E )dE
4 (2m*)3 / 2
g (E) Ev E
h3
1 ( EF E )
1 f F (E) exp Boltzmann approximation
EF E kT
1 exp
kT
3/ 2
2m kT *
( E F Ev )
po 2 p
exp
h
2
kT
( EF Ev )
N v exp
Nv; effective density of states
kT function in valence band
Ex.2
Calculate the thermal equilibrium hole concentration in Si at T= 300K.
Assume that Fermi energy is 0.27 eV above the valence band. The value of Nv for Si at
T=300 K is 1.04 x 1019 cm-3.
Ec
EF
0.27 eV
Ev
3/ 2
2mn* kT ( EC EF ) ( EC EF )
no 2 exp N C exp
2
h kT kT
3/ 2
2m kT
*
( E F Ev ) ( E F Ev )
po 2
p
exp N exp
h 2 kT
v
kT
NC and Nv are constant for a given material (effective mass) and temperature
Position of Fermi energy is important
If EF is closer to EC than to Ev, n>p
If EF is closer to Ev than to EC, n<p
Intrinsic semiconductor; A pure semiconductor with no impurity atoms
and no lattice defects in crystal
1. Carrier concentration(ni, pi)
2. Position of EFi
1. Intrinsic carrier concentration
Concentration of electron in conduction band, ni
Concentration of hole in in valence band, pi
( EC EFi ) ( EFi Ev )
ni pi N C exp N v exp
kT kT
( EC Ev ) Eg
ni NC N v exp N c N v exp
2
kT kT
Independent of Fermi energy
Ex. 3; Calculate the intrinsic carrier concentration in gallium arsenide (GaAs)
at room temperature (T=300K). Energy gap, Eg, of GaAs is 1.42 eV. The
value of Nc and Nv at 300 K are 4.7 x 1017 cm-3 and 7.0 x 1018 cm-3,
respectively.
2. Intrinsic Fermi level position, EFi
If EF closer to Ec, n>p
If EF closer to Ev, n<p
Intrinsic; n=p
EF is located near the center of the forbidden bandgap
( EC EFi ) ( EFi Ev )
N C exp N v exp
kT kT
3 m*p Ec
EFi Emidgap kT ln *
4 m Emidgap
n
Ev
Mp = mn EFi = Emidgap
Mp ≠ mn EFi shifts slightly from Emidgap
no=po
Efi is located near the center of Eg
Dopant atoms and energy levels
adding small, controlled amounts of specific dopant, or impurity, atoms
Increase no. of carrier (either electron or hole)
Alter the conductivity of semiconductor
3 valence 5 valence
electrons electrons
III IV V
Consider Phosphorus (P) and boron (B) as
B C
Al Si P impurity atoms in Silicon (Si)
Ga Ge As
In Sb
1. P as substitutional impurity (group V element; 5 valence electron)
Donor electron
In intrinsic Si, all 4 valence electrons contribute to covalent bonding.
In Si doped with P, 4 valence electron of P contribute to covalent bonding
and 1 electron loosely bound to P atom (Donor electron).
can easily break the bond and freely moves
Energy to elevate the donor electron into conduction band is less than that for
the electron involved in covalent bonding
Ed(; energy state of the donor electron) is located near Ec
When small energy is added, donor electron is elevated to conduction band,
leaving behind positively charged P ion
P atoms donate electron to conduction band P; donor impurity atom
No. of electron > no. of hole n-type semiconductor (majority carrier is electron)
2. B as substitutional impurity (group III element; 3 valence electron)
In Si doped with B, all 3 valence electron of B contribute to covalent
bonding and one covalent bonding is empty
When small energy is added, electron that involved in covalent bond will
occupy the empty position leaving behind empty position that associated
with Si atom
Hole is created
Electron occupying the empty state associated with B atom does not have
sufficient energy to be in the conduction band no free electron is created
Ea (;acceptor energy state) is located near Ev
When electron from valence band elevate to Ea, hole and negatively
charged B are created
B accepts electron from valence band B; acceptor impurity atom
No. of hole > no. of electron p-type material (majority carrier is hole)
Pure single-crystal semiconductor; intrinsic semiconductor
Semiconductor with dopant atoms; extrinsic semiconductor
n-type p-type
Dopant atom; Donor impurity atom Acceptor impurity atom
Majority carrier; electron hole
Ionization Energy
The energy that required to elevate donor electron into the conduction (in
case of donor impurity atom) or to elevate valence electron into acceptor
state (in case of acceptor impurity atom).
III-V semiconductors
GaAs
Group III Group V
Dopant atoms;
Group II (beryllium, zinc and cadmium) replacing Ga; acceptor
Group VI (selenium, tellurium) replacing As; donor
Semiconductor Optoelectronics
Lecture 2: Semiconductor in Equilibrium
Asst. Prof. Dr. Ghusoon Mohsin Ali
4th year Electronics & Communication
Department of Electrical Engineering
College of Engineering
Mustansiriyah University
Text book
Semiconductor Physics
and Devices
Basic Principles
Third Edition
Donald A. Neamen
Chapter 4: Semiconductor in Equilibrium
Chapter 6: Nonequilibrium Excess Carriers
in Semiconductors
Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.
Carrier concentration of extrinsic semiconductor
When dopant atoms are added, Fermi energy and distribution of electron and hole
will change.
Electron> hole hole> electron
n-type p-type
EF>EFi EF<EFi
( EC EF )
no N C exp Thermal equilibrium concentration of electron
kT
( EF Ev )
po N v exp
Thermal equilibrium concentration of hole
kT
Ex. 4
Ec Band diagram of Si. At T= 300 K,
0.25 eV
EF Nc=2.8x1019cm-3 and Nv=1.04x1019cm-3.
Calculate no and po.
1.12 eV
Ev
0.25 3
no (2.8 1019 ) exp 1.8 10 cm
15
0.0259
N-type Si
(1.12 0.25) 3
po (1.04 1019 ) exp 2.7 10 cm
4
0.0259
Change of Fermi energy causes change of carrier concentration.
no and po equation as function of the change of Fermi energy
( EC EF ) EF EFi
no N C exp ni exp kT
kT
( EF Ev ) ( EF EFi )
po N v exp ni exp
kT kT
ni; intrinsic carrier concentration
Efi; intrinsic Fermi energy
The nopo product
( EC EF ) ( EF Ev )
no po N C N v exp exp
kT kT
Eg
N C N v exp
kT
ni2
no po ni2
Product of no and po is always a constant for a given material at a given
temperature.
Degenerate and Non degenerate semiconductors
Small amount of dopant atoms (impurity atoms)
No interaction between dopant atoms
Discrete, noninteracting energy state.
EF at the bandgap
EF
EF
donor acceptor
Nondegenerate semiconductor
Large amount of dopant atoms (~effective density of states)
Dopant atoms interact with each other
Band of dopant states widens and overlap the allowed band
(conduction @ valence band)
EF lies within conduction @ valence band
EF e e
Ec Filled states Ec
Ev empty states
Ev EF
e
Degenerate semiconductor
Position of Fermi Energy Level
As a function of doping concentration and temperature
Equations for position of Fermi level (n-type)
NC
EC EF kT ln
no
Compensated semiconductor, no=Nd-Na
NC
EC EF kT ln
Nd Na
no
EF EFi kT ln
ni
Equations for position of Fermi level (p-type)
Nv
EF EC kT ln
po
Compensated semiconductor, po=Na-Nd
Nv
EF Ev kT ln
Na Nd
po
EFi EF kT ln
ni
Example;
Silicon at T=300 K contains an acceptor impurity concentration of N a=1016 cm-3.
Determine the concentration of donor impurity atoms that must be added so that
the Silicon is n-type and Fermi energy is 0.20 eV below the conduction band
edge.
NC
EC EF kT ln
Nd Na
( EC E F )
N d N a N C exp
kT
0.2 3
2.8 10 exp
19
1. 24 1016
cm
0.0259
N d 1.24 1016 cm 3 N a 2.24 1016 cm 3
Position of EF as function of donor concentration (n-type) and acceptor
concentration (p-type)
Important terms
Intrinsic semiconductor; A pure semiconductor material with no impurity
atoms and no lattice defects in the crystal
Extrinsic semiconductor; A semiconductor in which controlled amounts
of donors and/or acceptors have been added so that the electron and hole
concentrations change from the intrinsic carrier concentration and a
preponderance of either electron (n-type) or hole (p-type) is created.
Acceptor atoms; Impurity atoms added to a semiconductor to create a p-
type material
Donor atoms; Impurity atoms added to a semiconductor to create n-type
material
Nonequilibrium Excess Carriers
in Semiconductors
In this chapter, we will discuss the behavior of nonequilibrium electron and hole concentrations as a
functions of time and space coordinates
Excess electrons in the conduction band and excess holes in the valence band
may exist in addition to the thermal-equilibrium concentrations if an external
excitation is applied to the semiconductor.
Excess electrons and excess holes do not move independently of each other.
They diffuse, drift, and recombine with the same effective diffusion coefficient, drift
mobility and life time.
This phenomenon is called ambipolar transport.
Carrier Generation & Recombination
• Generation is the process whereby electrons and holes are created.
• Recombination is the process whereby electrons and holes are
annihilated.
• In thermal equilibrium we have electrons breaking out of covalent
bonds due to the acquisition of enough thermal energy to hop from
the valence to the conduction band. This creates both a free electron
and a free hole (generation).
• For a specified period, there are free electrons that lose some of their
thermal energy when they encounter a hole and fall back into covalent
bond (recombination).
The Semiconductor in Equilibrium
Gn 0 G p 0
Given that thermally generated free electrons and holes must come in pairs
Gn 0 G p 0
and they will also recombine in pairs so
Rn 0 R p 0
The Semiconductor in Equilibrium
In thermal equilibrium the total number of free electrons
and holes is constant so the rates at which they are
being generated must be equal to the rates at which they
are recombining.
Gn 0 G p 0 Rn 0 R p 0
Excess Carriers
• External events, such as incident photons, can disrupt this equilibrium
though and create additional electron-hole pairs.
• These “excess” charge carriers would be generated at equal rates for
electrons and holes, so
g g
'
n
'
p
Excess Carriers
The number of actual excess electrons and holes though are
n and p. Thus the total number of free electrons and holes
in the semiconductor can now be written as:
n n0 n
p p0 p
Excess Carriers
The excess electrons and holes would also recombine in pairs
so we can write:
R R
'
n
'
p
