Lecture 18

Last lecture we learned

• Carrier transport phenomena

• Drift, drift current density, and mobility

• Factors affecting the mobility

• Phonon scattering
• Ionized impurity atom

• Conductivity & resistivity

Carrier diffusion
• Diffusion is the process whereby particles flow from a region of high
concentration toward a region of low concentration

t=0 t>0

• If the molecules are electrically charged, the net flow of charge would result in
a diffusion current
Diffusion current density
• Assume that an e- concentration varies in one dimension (here, the
temperature is uniform so that the average thermal velocity of e- is independent
of x)

x
• Let 𝑙 be a distance less than the mean free path of an e-. In other words, it is
the average distance that an e- travels between collisions (𝑙 < 𝑣𝑡ℎ 𝜏𝑐𝑛 )
Average thermal velocity
Time before collision

• Then, e- moving to the right at 𝑥 = −𝑙 and e- moving to the left at 𝑥 = +𝑙 will

cross the 𝑥 = 0 plane.

𝑙 𝑙
𝑥 = −𝑙 𝑥=0 𝑥 = +𝑙

• 1/2 of the e- at 𝑥 = −𝑙 will be traveling to the right

• 1/2 of the e- at 𝑥 = +𝑙 will be traveling to the left
• The net rate of e- flow, 𝐹𝑛 , in the +x direction at x = 0 is then
1 1 1
𝐹𝑛 = 𝑛|−𝑙 𝑣𝑡ℎ − 𝑛|+𝑙 𝑣𝑡ℎ = 𝑣𝑡ℎ 𝑛|−𝑙 − 𝑛|+𝑙
2 2 2

• We can expand the e- concentration in a Taylor series about x = 0, we get:

1 𝑑𝑛 𝑑𝑛 𝑑𝑛
𝐹𝑛 = 𝑣𝑡ℎ 𝑛|0 − 𝑙 − 𝑛|0 + 𝑙 = −𝑣𝑡ℎ 𝑙
2 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥

• Each electron has a charge (-e), so the current is:

𝑑𝑛
𝐽 = −𝑒𝐹𝑛 = +𝑒𝑣𝑡ℎ 𝑙
𝑑𝑥

• This current is the electron diffusion current, and it is proportional to the density
gradient of the electron concentration.
• The diffusion of e- from a region of high concentration to a region of low
concentration produces a flux of e- flow in the negative x direction
• Since e- have a negative charge, the conventional current direction is in the
positive x direction
• We may write the e- diffusion current density for the 1D case as

𝑑𝑛
𝐽𝑛𝑥|𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓 = 𝑒𝐷𝑛 • 𝐷𝑛 = electron diffusion coefficient [=] cm2/s (> 0)
𝑑𝑥

• 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, the conventional diffusion current density is also in the
negative x direction.
𝑑𝑝
𝐽𝑛𝑥|𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓 = −𝑒𝐷𝑝 • 𝐷𝑝 = hole diffusion coefficient [=] cm2/s (> 0)
𝑑𝑥
Total current density
• We now have 4 possible independent current mechanisms:
• Electron drift current
• Electron diffusion current
• Hole drift current
• Hole diffusion current

• We can generalize this equation in 3D as:

• The electron mobility (𝜇𝑛 ) gives an indication of how well an e- moves in a
semiconductor as a result of the force of an electric field. The electron diffusion
coefficient (𝐷𝑛 ) gives an indication of how well an e- moves in a semiconductor
as a result of density gradient.

• The 𝜇𝑛 and 𝐷𝑛 are not independent parameters. Also 𝜇𝑝 and 𝐷𝑝 are not
independent parameters.
• In fact, their relation is summarized by the Einstein relation

𝐷𝑛 𝐷𝑝 𝑘𝐵 𝑇
= =
𝜇𝑛 𝜇𝑝 𝑒

𝜇 = cm2 Τ 𝑉 ∙ 𝑠

𝐷 = cm2 Τ𝑠
Hall effect
• Consider a charged particle moving in the positive x direction with a velocity 𝑣
as shown below:
• If a magnetic field is applied in the positive y direction, then a force is
developed on the particle that moves the particle in the positive z
direction (perpendicular to both the velocity and magnetic fields)
𝑣Ԧ
z
y 𝐹Ԧ = 𝑞 𝑣Ԧ × 𝐵
𝐵
x

• We can apply this effect to a semiconductor device to determine if the

semiconductor is n-type or p-type.
(Assuming the semiconductor is extrinsic with the conc. of majority carrier >> conc. of
minority carrier)
 • Consider we have a semiconductor shown below:
𝐵

𝑑
𝐸 𝐼𝑥 𝑊
z
y
x
• Top view:
• In a p-type semiconductor (𝑝 > 𝑛), the • In a n-type semiconductor (𝑛 > 𝑝), the e-
holes accumulate at the bottom wall (y=0) accumulate at the top wall (y=W)

𝐵 𝐵

y y=0 y y=0

x 𝐹Ԧ x 𝐹Ԧ
• Due to accumulation of charge on one side, there is a net charge which
induces an electric field in the y direction

• p-type • n-type
- - - - - - - - - - - +++++++++++
𝐵
𝐵
++++++ + + ++ - - - - - - - - - - -
y y

𝐸𝐻 𝐸𝐻
x x

• The induced electric field is called the Hall field, and this produces a voltage
across the semiconductor which is called the Hall voltage

𝑉𝐻 = 𝐸𝐻 𝑊 • NOTE: here 𝐸𝐻 is the amount of electric field

and is a scalar quantity. Therefore, we assume
𝐸𝐻 to be positive in the +y direction
 • At steady-state, the force due to magnetic field will be balanced by the force
due to induced electric field
𝐹 = 𝑞 𝐸𝐻 + 𝑣Ԧ × 𝐵 = 0
𝐵
which in scalar form, we can write:
𝑞𝐸𝐻 = 𝑞𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝐸𝐻 = 𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧

Using the definition of Hall voltage, we obtain:

𝑉𝐻 = 𝑣𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝑊
• For p-type semiconductor, the drift velocity of holes can be written as

(Using 𝑉𝐻 = 𝐸𝐻 𝑊)
• For n-type semiconductor, the Hall voltage and the e- concentration are given
by
NOTE: the Hall voltage is negative for n-type
semiconductor; therefore, the e-
concentration is actually a positive value

• Now, with the majority carrier concentration known, we can determine the
majority carrier mobility

• For p-type:

• For n-type:
• We can also define a Hall coefficient, for a material, as:
𝐸𝐻 𝑉𝐻 Τ𝑊 𝑉𝐻 𝑑
𝑅𝐻 = = =
𝐽𝑥 𝐵𝑧 𝐼𝑥 Τ𝑊𝑑 𝐵𝑧 𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧

• For p-type, we have

1 𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧
𝑅𝐻 = 𝑉𝐻 = 𝑅𝐻
𝑒𝑝 𝑑

• For n-type, we have

1 𝐼𝑥 𝐵𝑧
𝑅𝐻 = − 𝑉𝐻 = 𝑅𝐻
𝑒𝑛 𝑑
Excess carrier generation and recombination
• At thermal equilibrium, the net carrier concentrations are independent of time

• Looking closely, at thermal equlibrium, e- are continually being excited from the
valence band into the conduction band. At the same time, e- moving randomly
through the crystal in the conduction band may come in close proximity to
holes and “fall” into the empty states in the valence band

• Therefore, the rate at which e- and

holes are generated and the rate at
which they recombine must be equal
• Using symbols, we can write this as:

Thermal- 𝐺𝑛0 = 𝐺𝑝0 = 𝑅𝑛0 = 𝑅𝑝0 *Unit = #/(cm3·s)

generation Recombination
rate of e- rate of hole
Thermal- Recombination
generation rate of e-
rate of hole

• e- and holes can also be generated by an external force, i.e. high-energy photons.
In this case, these e- and holes are called excess e- and excess holes
• These excess e- and excess holes are created in pairs, so their generation rates
are the equal
𝑔𝑛′ = 𝑔𝑝′ *Unit = #/(cm3·s)
Generation Generation
rate of rate of
excess e- excess hole
• When excess e- and holes are generated, the concentration of e- in the
conduction band and of holes in the valence band increase above their
thermal-equilibrium value:
𝑛 = 𝑛0 + 𝛿𝑛 𝑝 = 𝑝0 + 𝛿𝑝

e- concentration in • Similar definitions for hole

the conduction band (in the valence band)
Thermal equilibrium Excess e-
e- concentration in concentration in the
the conduction band conduction band
• As the external force perturbes the equilibrium condition,

𝑛𝑝 ≠ 𝑛0 𝑝0 = 𝑛𝑖2

• As in the case of thermal equilibrium, an excess e- may “fall down” into the
valence band, leading to recombination

• The excess e- and holes recombine in pairs,

so the recombination rates must be equal:

𝑅𝑛′ = 𝑅𝑝′
Recombination Recombination
rate of excess rate of excess
e- hole

*Unit = #/(cm3·s)
• In the direct band-to-band recombination, the recombination occurs
spontaneously; thus, the probability of an e- and hole recombining is constant
with time
• The net rate of change in the e- concentration can be written as

• With: • And, 𝛼𝑟 𝑛𝑖2 is the thermal-equilibrium

generation rate
• Since excess e- and holes are created and recombine in pairs, we have
𝛿𝑛 𝑡 = 𝛿𝑝(𝑡)

• NOTE: excess e- and hole concentrations are equal, so we can simply use
the term excess carriers to mean either

• We can solve the above equation by imposing the condition of low-level

injection , which puts limits on the magnitude of the excess carrier
concentration
• Consider a p-type material (𝑝0 ≫ 𝑛0 ) under low-level injection (𝛿𝑛 𝑡 ≪ 𝑝0 ),
then we have:

• We can solve the above equation and get:

−1
𝜏𝑛0 = 𝛼𝑟 𝑝0 = excess minority carrier lifetime

• The recombination rate – which is defined as a positive quantity – of excess

minority carrier e- can be written as:
• For the direct band-to-band recombination, the excess majority carrier holes
recombine at the same rate, so that for the p-type material:

• In the case of an n-type material (𝑛0 ≫ 𝑝0 ) under low-level injection (𝛿𝑛 𝑡 ≪

𝑛0 ), the decay of minority carrier holes occurs with a time constant

𝜏𝑝0 = 𝛼𝑟 𝑛0 −1 excess minority carrier lifetime

• The recombination rate of the majority carrier e- will be the same as that of the
minority carrier holes, so we have