ECE 340 - Solid State Electronic Devices

Lecture 2 : Solid-state Materials, Crystal Structure

Instructor: Prof. G. Logan Liu

Semiconductors
Insulators : very low conductivity, have only core electrons and no valence or free electrons
Diamond (SiO2) Electric Resistivity = 1018 m

Metals : very high conductivity, have many unbounded free electrons

Gold (Au) Electric Resistivity = 22.14 n m

Semiconductors : intermediate conductivity, have both core and valence electrons

Silicon (Si) Electric Resistivity = 103 m

Semiconductors in Period Table of Elements

Semiconductor Materials
Elemental (transistors, diodes, ICs)
Ge (used in early days), Si (used today)

IV Compounds
SiC (high-temp electronics), SiGe

Binary III-V Compounds

GaN, GaP, GaAs (LED and lasers), AlP, AlAs, AlSb, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb (photodetectors)

Binary II-VI Compounds

ZnS, ZnSe, ZnTe (fluorescence), CdS, CdSe, CdTe (photodetector)

Ternary and Quaternary Compounds

Electric Resistivity Comparison

Conductivity of semiconductors can be changed by doping and temperature

Semiconductor Properties

Semiconductor Crystal Periodic Structure

Figure 6-33 of Streetman Book

Periodic Lattice Determines Electrical Properties

Terminologies: rhombic lattice (above), basis (atoms at lattice points), primitive cell (smallest cell, ODEF or ODEF), primitive vector (smallest vector), unit cells (rectangular cell allowing center lattice points, PQRS with center T)

Unit Cell - Cubic Lattice

Example 1: Lattice Constant a = 5 Calculate maximum packing fraction

Silicon (Si)

Silicon Crystal Lattice Diamond Lattice

Solve example 1-3

fcc lattice with a basis of two atoms, or two interpenetrating fcc sublattices see Fig.1-8 fcc lattice with extra atom placed at a/4+b/4+c/4 from each of the fcc atoms

III-V Compound Semiconductor - Zinc Blende Lattice

Atoms are arranged in a basic diamond structure but are different on alternating sites. Ternary or quaternary III-V compounds have the same zinc blende lattice but various mixture of elements e.g. Al0.3Ga0.7As or InxGa1-xAsyP1-y II-VI compounds have wurtzite lattice

Crystallographic Notation

See example 1-2

Crystallographic Planes in Silicon Wafers

Silicon wafers are usually cut along the (100) plane with a flat or notch to orient the wafer during IC fabrication:

Relationships in terms of Miller Indices

Distance d between two adjacent (hkl) plane
d =a / (h+k+l)1/2

Angle between direction [h1k1l1] and [h2k2l2]

= {h1h2+k1k2+l1l2}/{(h12+k12+l12)1/2(h22+k22+l22)1/2}

Direction [hkl] is perpendicular to plane (hkl)

Wafer Fabrication and Crystal Growth

Bulk crystal growth Doping Epitaxial growth
Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) Liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)

Take ECE 444