SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE PHYSICS
S. M. SZE
Department of Electronics Engineering
National Chiao Tung University
Hsinchu, Taiwan
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ch 0
Introduction
PART I
SEMICONDUCTOR PHYSICS
Ch 1
Energy Bands and Carrier Concentration in Thermal
Equilibrium
Ch 2
Current Transport Phenomena
PART II
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
Ch 3
p-n Junction
Ch 4
MOS Capacitor
Ch 5
MOSFET
Ch 6
Non-volatile Semiconductor Memory
PREREQUSITES

This course is for junior or senior undergraduate
students or equivalent in electronics or electrical
engineering, applied physics or materials science

Prerequisites :
 Modern Physics
 Calculus
 Introductory Electronics
TEXTBOOKS AND REFERENCE BOOKS

Textbooks




S. M. Sze and M. K. Lee, Semiconductor Devices: Physics and
Technology, 3rd Edition, Wiley, Hoboken (2013)
中譯本(正體字)：曾俊元，半導體元件物理與製作技術，第三版，國立交
通大學出版社 (2013)
中譯本(簡體字)：赵鹤鸣，半导体器件物理与工艺，第三版，苏州大学出
版社 (2014)
Reference Books




J. N. Burghartz, Guide to State-of-the-Art Electron Devices, IEEE, Wiley,
West Sussex, UK (2013)
S. M. Sze and K. K. Ng, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 3rd Edition,
Wiley Interscience, Hoboken (2007)
中譯本(正體字)：張鼎張、劉柏村，半導體元件物理，第三版，國立交通
大學出版社 (2008)
中譯本(簡體字)：耿莉、张瑞智，半导体器件物理，第三版，西安交通大
学出版社(2008)
CHAPTER 0
INTRODUCTION

Semiconductor devices are the foundation of the
electronics industry ― the largest industry in the
world with an annual sales of over 2 trillion US
dollars ($2,000,000,000,000). An understanding of
semiconductor devices is essential to the study of
advanced courses in electronics.

In this chapter we consider：
 Global electronics and semiconductor industry
 Four device building blocks
 Eighteen major semiconductor devices
 Semiconductor device trends
ELECTRONICS AND
SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRIES

Figure 1 shows the gross world product (GWP) and sales volumes of the
electronics, automobile, semiconductor, and steel industries from 1980 to
2010 and projected to 2020.



Electronics industry ― the largest industry in the world
Annual sales ― more than US$2 trillion ($2,000,000,000,000)
Semiconductor industry ― a subset of the electronics industry, will
constitute 25% of electronics sales in 2020.
THREE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENTS OF
THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY

Vacuum Tube ― Electronics Age




Vacuum tube was invented by De Forest in 1906
Vacuum tube ushered in the Electronics Age
Radio, TV, early digital computers, basic communication
systems were developed
Transistor ― Modern Electronics Age



The transistor effect was discovered by Bardeen, Brattain and
Shockley in 1947
Transistor ushered in the Modern Electronics Age
The hearing aid, personal computer, color television, and
advanced communication system were developed
THREE STAGES OF DEVELOPMENTS OF
THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY (Cont.)

Non-Volatile Semiconductor Memory (NVSM) ― Digital
Age




The NVSM effect was discovered by Kahng and Sze in 1967
NVSM has ushered in the Digital Age
The digital cellular phone, tablet computer, digital camera,
implantable defibrillator, smart IC card, etc. were developed.
At present, every modern home has more than100 NVSMbased microcontroller systems (e.g., in air conditioner, digital
TV, microwave oven, washing machine, refrigerator, etc.), and
every modern car has 50-100 NVSM-based microcontroller
systems (e.g., in engine control, transmission control, HVAC
 heating, ventilation, air conditioning, ABS  anti-lock
braking system, GPS  global positioning system, etc.).
DEVICES BUILDING BLOCKS

All semiconductor devices can be constructed from 4
device building blocks

Figure 2 shows the basic device building blocks
(a) Metal-semiconductor interface
(b) p–n junction
(c) Heterojunction interface and
(d) Metal-oxide-semiconductor structure
Metal
Semiconductor
(a)
Semiconductor A Semiconductor B
(c)
p-type
Semiconductor
n-type
Semiconductor
(b)
Metal
Oxide
Semiconductor
(d)
DEVICES BUILDING BLOCKS (Cont.)
Metal
Semiconductor
(a)
Semiconductor A Semiconductor B
(c)
p-type
Semiconductor
n-type
Semiconductor
(b)
Metal
Oxide
Semiconductor
(d)

Metal-semiconductor interface: an intimate contact between a
metal and a semiconductor

p-n junction: formed between a p-type (with positively charged
carriers) and an n-type (with negatively charged carriers)
semiconductor

Heterojunction interface: formed between two dissimilar
semiconductors
Metal-oxide-semiconductor structure: a combination of a metaloxide interface and an oxide-semiconductor interface

MAJOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

We have 18 major devices, with over 140 device variations related to them.
The most important two devices are the MOSFET and the non-volatile
semiconductor memory.
FIVE MAJOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES

Metal-Semiconductor contact: the first
semiconductor device ever studied (1874). It can be
used as a rectifying contact or an ohmic contact

p-n junction: p-n junction theory serves as the
foundation of the physics of semiconductor devices

Bipolar transistor: formed by combining two p-n
junctions. Bipolar transistor ushered in the Modern
Electronic Age, but since mid 1980 it has been
supplanted by MOSFET
FIVE MAJOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES (Cont.)

MOSFET: formed by using an MOS capacitor as the
gate and two p-n junctions as the source and drain.
MOSFET is the most important logic device for
advanced integrated circuits

Non-volatile semiconductor memory (NVSM): formed
by modifying the gate electrode of a conventional
MOSFET so that semipermanent charge storage
inside the gate is possible (10 to 100 years). NVSM is
the most important memory device for long-term
information storage, and has ushered in the Digital
Age.
THE FIRST TRANSISTOR



The transistor effect was discovered by Bardeen, Brattain, and
Shockley in 1947 while working at Bell Labs
Germanium substrate as the base, two point contacts as the
emitter and collector
Transistor effect was observed, i.e., the input signal was
amplified
THE FIRST ENHANCEMENT MOSFET




Invented by Atalla and Kahng in 1960 while working at Bell
Labs
Silicon substrate, thermally grown SiO2, and aluminum gate
Gate length is 20 μm, oxide thickness is 100 nm
MOSFET is the most important logic device for advanced
integrated circuits
THE FIRST NON-VOLATILE
SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY (NVSM)



The NVSM effect was discovered by Kahng and Sze in 1967
while working at Bell Labs
A floating gate was imbedded in the insulator for charge
storage
NVSM effect was observed, i.e., long-term information storage
was obtained
PENETRATION RATE IN
ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY
100
90
70
Transistor
NVSM
Laser
HDD
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
19
86
19
88
19
90
19
92
19
94
19
96
19
98
20
00
20
02
20
04
20
06
20
08
20
10
20
12
20
14
20
16
Penetration Rate
80
YEAR

Transistor
 NVSM
 Laser
 HDD
100%
100%
28%
18%
Penetration Rate in 2014
THE HYBRID INTEGRATED CIRCUIT



Invented by Kilby in 1959 while working at Texas Instruments
It contained one bipolar transistor, three resistors and one
capacitor
Made in Ge, devices were connected by wire bonding and
isolated by mesa etching
THE FIRST MONOLITHIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
• Invented by Noyce in 1959 while working at Fairchild
Semiconductor Corporation
• All devices fabricated in a single semiconductor substrate and
connected by Al metallization
• It is a flip-flop circuit ― modern-day static random access
memory (SRAM) circuit
• This invention laid the foundation for the rapid growth of the
microelectronics industry
THE FIRST DRAM CHIP (1103 by Intel)

DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) was invented by Dennard in
1967 while working at International Business Machines (IBM) company

The DRAM Chip was made by Intel in 1970 with a feature length of 8 μm

DRAM is a two-element circuit block ― one MOSFET and one MOS
capacitor

DRAM is an important working memory where information is held
temporarily before being filed for long-term storage (e.g., in NVSM)
THE FIRST MICROPROCESSOR
(4004 by Intel)
• Developed by Hoff et al. in 1971 while working at Intel Corp.
• The chip contains entire central processing unit (CPU)
• It is a four-bit microprocessor, 3 cm x 4 cm, 2300 MOSFETs and
0.1 MIPS (million instructions per second)
• p-channel, polysilicon gate, 8 μm design rule
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE TRENDS

Most important device trends include :
higher density, higher speed, lower power consumption, and nonvolatility
 Figure 8 shows the exponential decrease of the minimum feature length
versus time
22 nm
16 nm




Rate of reduction of feature length ~ 13% per year
In 2002, microelectronics→ nanoelectronics
Device miniaturization→ low cost, high speed, reduced energy of operation
At present, the length→ 16nm, may reach 10nm in 2020
INCREASE OF MEMORY DENSITY



Figure 9 shows the exponential increase in dynamic random access
memory (DRAM) density and nonvolatile semiconductor memory (NVSM)
density versus year
DRAM density : x2 every 18 months (1978 to 2000), slowed down after 2000
NVSM density : x2 every 18 months (2000 to present),
by 2020 it may reach 10 Tb (Terabits) = 1013 bits
MICROPROCESSOR
COMPUTATIONAL POWER

Figure 10 shows the exponential increase in microprocessor
computational power versus year



Computational power: x2 per 18 months (from 1980 to present)
A Pentium-based computer is more powerful than CRAY 1
supercomputer in 1960s
Soon it may reach 107 MIPS (million instructions per second)
TECHNOLOGY DRIVERS

Figure 11 shows the growth curves for different technology drivers



Bipolar transistor: Beginning of the Modern Electronics Age (1950-1970)
MOSFET-based DRAM and microprocessor for personal computer and
advanced electronic systems (1970-1990)
Nonvolatile semiconductor memory for numerous digital electronic
system, beginning of the Digital Age (1990)
SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 0




Semiconductor devices are the foundation of the
electronics industry
A historical review is presented for all major
semiconductor devices
In the past 140 years, semiconductor-device field
has evolved from a simple metal-semiconductor
contact to sophisticated integrated circuits
containing billion (109) of devices and operating at
trillion (1012) instructions per second
MOSFET is the most important device for logic
circuits, and NVSM is the most important device for
long-term information storage