EECS143

Microfabrication Technology
Professor Ali Javey

Introduction to Materials
 Evolution of Devices

Yesterday’s Transistor (1947) Today’s Transistor (2006)

 Why “Semiconductors”?
• Conductors – e.g Metals
• Insulators – e.g. Sand (SiO2)
• Semiconductors
– conductivity between conductors and insulators
– Generally crystalline in structure
• In recent years, non-crystalline semiconductors have
become commercially very important

Polycrystalline amorphous crystalline

What are semiconductors

Elements: Si, Ge, C

Binary: GaAs, InSb, SiC, CdSe, etc.
Ternary+: AlGaAs, InGaAs, etc.
 Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors

Å
Silicon Crystal Structure

• Unit cell of silicon crystal is

cubic.

• Each Si atom has 4 nearest

neighbors.

5 .4 3 Å
 Silicon Wafers and Crystal Planes
z z z
· The standard notation
for crystal planes is
y y y based on the cubic
x x
unit cell.
(100) x (011) (111)

· Silicon wafers are

(100)
usually cut along the
plane
(100) plane with a flat
(011)
flat
or notch to help orient
Si (111) plane the wafer during IC
fabrication.
Bond Model of Electrons and Holes (Intrinsic Si)
Si Si Si · Silicon crystal in
a two-dimensional
Si Si Si representation.

Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si

·
When an electron breaks loose and becomes a conduction
electron, a hole is also created.
 Dopants in Silicon

Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si As Si Si B Si

Si Si Si Si Si Si
N-type Si P-type Si

· As (Arsenic), a Group V element, introduces conduction electrons and creates

N-type silicon, and is called a donor.
· B (Boron), a Group III element, introduces holes and creates P-type silicon,
and is called an acceptor.
· Donors and acceptors are known as dopants.
Types of charges in semiconductors
Hole
Mobile Charge Carriers
they contribute to current flow
Electron
with electric field is applied.

Ionized Immobile Charges

Donor they DO NOT
contribute to current flow
with electric field is applied.
Ionized
However, they affect the
Acceptor
local electric field

Slide 1-9
 Doped Si and Charge
• What is the net charge of your Si when it is
electron and hole doped?
GaAs, III-V Compound Semiconductors, and Their Dopants

Ga As Ga
Ga
As Ga As

As Ga As Ga

· GaAs has the same crystal structure as Si.

· GaAs, GaP, GaN are III-V compound semiconductors, important for
optoelectronics.
· Which group of elements are candidates for donors? acceptors?
 From Atoms to Crystals

conduction band
Pauli exclusion
p principle
Energy

s
valence band

isolated atoms lattice spacing

Decreasing atomic separation

· Energy states of Si atom (a) expand into energy bands of Si crystal (b).
· The lower bands are filled and higher bands are empty in a semiconductor.
· The highest filled band is the valence band.
· The lowest empty band is the conduction band .
 Energy Band Diagram

Conduction band Ec

Eg Band gap

Ev
Valence band

· Energy band diagram shows the bottom edge of conduction band,

Ec , and top edge of valence band, Ev .
· Ec and Ev are separated by the band gap energy, Eg .
Measuring the Band Gap Energy by Light Absorption
electron
Ec
photons
Eg
photon energy: h v > E g
Ev

hole

• Eg can be determined from the minimum energy (hn) of

photons that are absorbed by the semiconductor.

Bandgap energies of selected semiconductors

Material PbTe Ge Si GaAs GaP Diamond
E g (eV) 0.31 0.67 1.12 1.42 2.25 6.0
 Semiconductors, Insulators, and Conductors
Ec
Top of
conduction band
E g = 9 eV empty
Ec
E g =1.1 eV filled
Ev Ev Ec

Si (Semiconductor) SiO (Insulator) Conductor

2

· Totally filled bands and totally empty bands do not allow

current flow. (Just as there is no motion of liquid in a
totally filled or totally empty bottle.)
· Metal conduction band is half-filled.
· Semiconductors have lower Eg 's than insulators and can be
doped.
 Donor and Acceptor Levels in the Band Model

Conduction Band Ec
Donor Level Ed
Donor ionization energy

Acceptor ionization energy

Acceptor Level
Ea
Ev
Valence Band
Ionization energy of selected donors and acceptors in silicon
Donors Acceptors
Dopant Sb P As B Al In
Ionization energy, E c –E d or E a –E v (meV) 39 44 54 45 57 160

m0 q4
Hydrogen: E = = 13.6 eV
ion
8e0 h
2 2
 Dopants and Free Carriers

Donors
n-type

Acceptors
p-type

Dopant ionization
energy ~50meV (very low).
 General Effects of Doping on n and p
_
+
Charge neutrality: + - -
n Na p Nd = 0
_
Na : number of ionized acceptors /cm3
+
Nd : number of ionized donors /cm3

Assuming total ionization of acceptors and donors:

n + Na - p - Nd =0
Na : number of acceptors /cm3

Nd : number of donors /cm3

 Density of States
E
gc
DE
Ec Ec
g(E)
Ev Ev

gv

number of states in E  1 
gc ( E )   3
E volume  eV cm 

mn* 2mn* E  Ec 
gc (E) 
 2h3
m*p 2m*p Ev  E 
gv ( E ) 
 2 h3
Thermal Equilibrium
 Thermal Equilibrium
An Analogy for Thermal Equilibrium

Sand particles

Dish

Vibrating Table

· There is a certain probability for the electrons in the

conduction band to occupy high-energy states under
the agitation of thermal energy (vibrating atoms, etc.)
At E=EF, f(E)=1/2
Effect of T on f(E)

T=0K
 Question

• If f(E) is the probability of a state being occupied

by an electron, what is the probability of a state
being occupied by a hole?
Nc is called the effective density of states
(of the conduction band) .
Nv is called the effective density of states
of the valence band.
 Intrinsic Semiconductor

• Extremely pure semiconductor sample containing an insignificant

amount of impurity atoms.

n = p = ni

Ef lies in the middle of the band gap

Material Ge Si GaAs
Eg (eV) 0.67 1.12 1.42
ni (1/cm3) 2 x 1013 1 x 1010 2 x 106
 Applications of Doped Semiconductors
p-type n-type p-n junction

+ =

p-n junction is commonly known as a diode

Current-Voltage characteristics of diode

Applications of Doped Semiconductors
p-n junctions (diodes) are basis of everyday technologies

light-emitting diodes (LEDs) solar cells

LEDs and solar cells use same principle of p-n junction, but in opposite ways:
• LEDs use voltage bias to recombine carriers, which generates light
• Solar cells use incident light to generate carriers, which produces a voltage
 Applications of Doped Semiconductors
The transistor uses doped semiconductors to create an electronic switch.

The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) is the

building block of today’s digital electronic circuits.

Ideal switch characteristics MOSFET characteristics