1 1.1 Material Types and Electric Conduction Intrinsic Un-doped Silicon At room temperature (27oC, 300°°K), in intrinsic silicon a hole-electron pair is generated for each bond broken by thermal agitation and the number of free electrons, no, is equal to the number of free holes, po, in the un-doped material. Both electrons and holes take part in the electrical conduction process and hence the term ‘bipolar semiconductor’. For intrinsic silicon, since the conducting charge carriers are generated in pairs, they have equal concentrations at any temperature so that: no = po = ni nopo = ni2 This is known as the Law of Mass Action At room temperature, (300°°K), n i ≈ 1.5××1010/cm3 Conduction band e- e- e- e- Ec Edge of conduction band Eg Ef Energy gap h h + - e - e h + h + Fermi Energy level E v Edge of valence band Valence band Fig 1.1 Electron and Hole Generation in Intrinsic Silicon 1 1.2 n-Type Material (see Fig. 1.2) In this case, the silicon is doped with impurity atoms having five electrons in their outer shell. Four of these take part in the covalent bonding of the silicon crystal structure. The extra free electron originally occupies the donor energy level, Ed, just below the conduction band of the silicon. At room temperature, practically all of the electrons of the impurity atoms gain sufficient energy to leave the donor level and enter the conduction band. Hence the donor levels are almost all empty and do not take part in the conduction process. The number of electrons in the conduction band in n-type material due to doping far exceeds those generated by thermal agitation of the silicon. Consequently, in n-type material, current conduction is primarily due to the electrons in the conduction band. This is so to such an extent that the electron concentration in the conduction band can be taken as equal to the doping concentration of n-type impurities present, i.e. no ≈ Nd . Moreover, the increased concentration of electrons in the conduction band also increases the rate of carrier recombination in the doped material. Hence, the concentration of holes in the valence band of n-type material is much lower than is the case for un-doped material. However, the Law of Mass Action still holds so that n0p0 = ni2. 1.3 p-Type Material (See Fig 1.3) In this case, the silicon is doped with impurity atoms having only three electrons in their outer shell. These all take part in the covalent bonding of the silicon crystal, but for each impurity atom there is a vacant energy level, Ea , termed an acceptor level, just above the valence band of silicon. At room temperature, enough electrons are excited from the valence band to fill the acceptor levels. Hence, the acceptor levels take no part in the conduction process. The electrons excited into the acceptor levels, however, leave behind a plentiful supply of holes in the valence band so that the number of holes present far exceeds those generated by thermal agitation. Consequently, in p-type material, current conduction is primarily due to the holes in the valence band. The hole concentration in the valence band can, be taken as equal to the doping concentration of the p-type impurities present in the silicon, i.e. po ≈ Na . Moreover, the increased concentration of holes in the valence band also increases the rate of carrier recombination in the doped material. Hence, the concentration of electrons in the conduction band of p-type material is much lower than is the case for un-doped material. Again, n0p0 = ni2. 2 Conduction band EC Ed EF Donor level Fermi level n -type material EV e- h+ Fig. 1.2 Valence band n-type Silicon Semiconductor Conduction band EC p type material EF Ea EV Fermi level Acceptor level e- h+ Valence band Fig. 1.3 n - type material no po = ni 2 no ≈ Nd >> ni ni 2 po ≈ << ni Nd p-type Silicon Semiconductor p - type material n op o = n i 2 majority carriers po ≈ Na >> ni ni 2 minority carriers no ≈ << ni Na 3 1.4 The Effect of an Electric Field In the absence of any external influence other than temperature above 0°°K, carriers undergo thermal agitation only and move randomly within the crystalline structure. There is no net flow of charge in any direction within the semiconductor, and hence, no current flows through the material. The energy of carriers in a given band is also constant throughout the material. Conduction band V e- qV EC h+ semiconductor + E EV - Valence band Direction of electric field + E - Direction of electric field Fig. 1.4 Effect of an Electric Field on Energy Bands When an electric field is applied across the semiconductor, by way of a battery or power supply for example, an electrostatic force is exerted on the charge carriers in the material. The carriers, as a result of the force they experience in the field, gain electrostatic energy. This gives rise to a gradient in the energy bands occupied by the carriers in the direction of the electric field as shown in Fig. 1.4. Since electrons will seek to occupy the lowest energy status available, they will move from locations of higher electrostatic energy to locations of lower energy. This gives rise to a net movement of carriers through the material and hence sets up a flow of current. Electrons, because of their negative charge, will move in a direction opposite to the electric field while holes will move in the direction of the field. Current flow is, by convention, in the direction of the electric field and is referred to as a drift current. 4 1.5 Carrier Mobility The net drift of carriers under the influence of an electric field depends on the relative ease with which they can move within the crystalline structure of the semiconductor. Carrier mobility is defined as the velocity with which a carrier will drift, on average, in unit field strength of 1 Vm-1 and is given as: µ qτ n = m *e n µ = for electrons and p qτ p m*p for holes where: m e* and m *p are the effective masses of electrons and holes respectively. τ n , τ p are the mean free times of the carriers spent between collisions. q is the magnitude of the charge on the carrier. Generally, the mobility of electrons in the conduction band is somewhat greater than that of holes in the valence band, i.e. µ n > µ p and has units of m2V-1s-1. 5 1.6 Drift Current When charge carriers drift in a uniform manner across a piece of homogeneous semiconductor material, there is a constant and uniform flux of charge through the material. The charge flow per unit area is referred to as the Charge Flux Density as seen in Fig. 1.5). E lectric F ield E J drift = nqµ n E (electrons ) n A C h arge F lu x D en sity J drift = pqµ p E p (holes) J Fig. 1.5 Charge Flux Density in an Electric Field where: n and p are the respective charge carrier concentrations q is the magnitude of the charge on the carriers µ ,µ n p are the respective carrier mobilities E is the electric field strength. Electrons and holes will drift in opposite directions in a given electric field. However, since the charge on the electron is negative, both electrons and holes will make positive contributions to conventional current specified in the direction of the field. When both flux components are integrated over the area, A, of the semiconductor, the total drift current is obtained as: Idrift = Jn drift A + Jp drift A = AEq(nµn + pµp ) 6