Electronic Devices

EEE F214/INSTR F214

Lecture 1- 6
Dr. Navneet Gupta

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

2012-2013

Dr. Navneet Gupta

Course Overview
2

Course Title :
Electronic Devices
Instructor-in-charge : Dr. Navneet Gupta
(email: ngupta@bits-pilani.ac.in)
(Chamber: 2210-H, FD-II)
Instructors :

Vinita Tewari, Snehlata

Dr. Navneet Gupta

Scope and objective of the course:

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Provides a comprehensive understanding of the basic

theory of semiconductors and devices.
Goals:
Sound understanding of existing devices
To develop the basic tools with which they can later learn
about newly developed devices and applications.

Contents:
Crystal structure of semiconductor materials.
Basics of semiconductor devices
Conduction mechanism in materials/devices
Different types of devices

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Text Book
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Text Book :
B. G. Streetman, and
Sanjay Banerjee, Solid
State Electronic Devices,
6th ed., PHI Learning
Private Limited, New Delhi,
2009.

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Reference Books
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Reference Books :
Donald

A. Neaman and D.
Biswas, Semiconductor Physics
and Devices , 4th edition, Tata
Mc Graw Hill.
S.M. Sze, Semiconductor Devices:
Physics & Technology, 2nd ed.,
John Wiley

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Evaluation Scheme
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Component

Duration

Mid Term
Test
Assignments
&
class
participation
Quizzes

90 min

Marks
(300)
100

Date & Time

--

40

03-10-2012;
10:00-11:30 pm
--

10 min

40

Tutorial hour

Compre.
Exam.

3 hours

120

Evaluation
type
Closed Book
Open Book

Closed Book

08-12-2012 FN Open + Closed

Book

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Importance

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Indian Semiconductor Market

The Total Semiconductor Market (TM) revenues poised to grow
from $6.55 billion in 2010to $9.86 billion in 2012.

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as per ISA

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Brief History of Electronic Devices

1907: Vacuum tube by Lee Deforest

1947: First transistor by Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain
1958: First Integrated circuit
1968: First microprocessor chip

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Evolution of Electronic Devices

1st Generation
Valves

4th Generation
LSI and VLSI

2nd Generation
Semiconductor Devices, Diode and
Transistor

5th Generation
ULSI
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3rd Generation
SSI and MSI

6th Generation
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Course Coverage

Topics:

Crystal structure
Semiconductor Material
p-n junction
Metal-semiconductor junction
Field-Effect Transistors
Bipolar Junction Transistors
Special diodes
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Basic Device Building Blocks

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Semiconductor Materials
Electronic Materials: The goal of electronic
materials is to generate and control the flow of an
electrical current.

Electronic materials include:

Metals (conductors): have low resistance which

allows electrical current flow
Insulators: have high resistance which suppresses
electrical current flow
Semiconductors: can allow or suppress electrical
current flow

Semiconductors are a group of materials having electrical resistivity

(or conductivity) intermediate between conductors and insulators
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Periodic Table to show semiconductor materials

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Semiconductors are a group of materials having energy band gap

intermediate between conductors and insulators

Increase in conductivity of semiconductor materials

is possible by:
Changes in temperature
Optical excitation
Impurity content

One part per million

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Crystal Properties

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Lecture-2

Crystal Lattices
Periodic Structures

(a) Crystalline

(b) Amorphous

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(c) Polycrystalline

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Lattice: Symmetric array of points in space

Basis: Addition of atoms at each lattice point in an arrangement.

Unit cell: Smallest possible structural unit that is repeated, 3

dimensionally.
Primitive cell: lattice points only at the corners of the cell. Effective
number of lattice points unity
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Cubic Lattices

Effective number of atoms per unit cell

Nc N f Ni
n

8
2
1

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Atomic Radius
Half the distance between nearest neighbours in a crystal

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Atomic Packing Factor

Maximum fraction of cell filled = Effective number of
atoms per unit cell X vol. of each atom / total vol. of
unit cell

4 3
n r
3
APF
a03

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Miller Indices (Planes and Directions)

Notation system to describe the position of a plane
or the direction
Find the intercepts of the plane in terms of integral
multiples of basis vectors
Take reciprocal of the integers
Reduce to smallest set of integers h,k,l
Label the plane (hkl)

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Notation
(hkl)
{hkl}
[hkl]
<hkl>

Interpretation
crystal plane
equivalent planes
crystal direction
equivalent directions

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Volume Density
mass of the unit cell M
v

volume of unit cell Vc

nA
v
N AVc

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Planar Density
Effective number of atoms on the crystal plane Ne
p

Area
A
Example: Planar density in SC on (100) plane

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Linear Density
Number of lattice points per unit length (lattice
parameter) in the direction of interest

Ne
L
L
Example: Consider direction [110] in a FCC unit cell

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Lecture-3

Example #1
Calculate the surface density of atoms on (110)
plane in a FCC structure. Take lattice constant
4.5 Ao.

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Diamond Structure

Zinc-blende lattice
Diamond Lattice

Face-centered cubic plus a basis

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1/4, 1/4, 1/4 from each atom

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Example: How Many Silicon Atoms per cm-3?

Effective Number of atoms in a unit cell:
4 atoms completely inside cell
Each of the 8 atoms on corners are shared among cells
count as 1 atom inside cell

Each of the 6 atoms on the faces are shared among 2

cells count as 3 atoms inside cell
Total number inside the cell = 1 + 3 + 4 = 8

Cell volume:
(.543 nm)3 = 1.6 x 10-22 cm3

Density of silicon atoms

= (8 atoms) / (cell volume) = 5 x 1022 atoms/cm3

Bulk Crystal Growth

Starting Materials
- The

raw material for silicon manufacture is sand (SiO2)

The sand is heated in a furnace containing a source of carbon,

2C + SiO2

(MGS) Si + 2CO,

where MGS = metallurgical grade silicon.

-Although MGS is of relatively high purity (98%), it still contains a
number of contaminants (such iron and aluminum).

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Purification
-The MGS silicon is purified to EGS silicon (Electronic Grade Silicon)

using a distillation process,

-First, the MGS is reacted with HCl to form SiHCl3, (trichlorosilane) which
is in liquid form at room temperature,
-Fractional distillation results in impurity segregation, and extremely pure
SiHCl3.
-To convert the SiHCl3 back into purified Si a CVD (Chemical Vapor

Deposition) process is used (in a hydrogen atmosphere),

SiHCl3 (gas)+H2 (gas)

2Si (solid)+ 6HCl (gas),

Growth of Single-Crystal Ingots: Czochralski method

- From

the high purity poly-Si to single crystal silicon

The crucible is
A single crystal
heated to just above seed is then
1412oC,
lowered into the
melt EEE C381

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Preparation of Silicon Wafers

Polysilicon

Seed crystal
Crucible

6. Edge Rounding

1. Crystal Growth
Heater

7. Lapping
2. Single Crystal Ingot

8. Wafer Etching

3. Crystal Trimming and

Diameter Grind
Slurry

9. Polishing
4. Flat Grinding
Polishing table

5. Wafer Slicing

10. Wafer Inspection

Polishing
head

Dopant Incorporation
-Dopant is introduced into the melt but control is non-trivial due to segregation,
-Any impurity will possess a certain chemical potential in silicon,
-This will be different for solid or liquid phases.

Liquid

Cs

CL
Cs

CL
Solid

Kd = CS/CL
-Where Kd is the distribution coefficient, for silicon Kd <1, impurities prefer to
be in liquid phase!

Chapter-3:

Energy Bands and Charge

Carriers in Semiconductors

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Bonding Forces in Solids

Ionic bonding: Nacl

Covalent bonding: Si

At 0K, semiconductor behaves as insulators

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Energy Bands in Materials

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Silicon Atom

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Lecture-4

Formation of Energy Bands in Si

8N States

4N Electrons

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Metals, Semiconductors and Insulators

The variation in band structure is responsible for the wide range of
electrical characteristics in various materials

Semiconductor
Insulator

Metal

Semiconductor materials at 0K have basically the same structure as insulators.

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Direct and Indirect Semiconductors

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Direct and Indirect Semiconductors

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Direct semiconductor

Indirect
semiconductor

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Charge carriers in semiconductors

Carriers by thermal excitation
Impurity addition

There is considerable flexibility in controlling the

electrical properties of semiconductors

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Electrons and Holes

An empty state in the valence band is referred as a hole.
Electron-hole pair (EHP).

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Effective Mass
Movement of electrons in lattice is different from that of
an electron in free space.
In lattice besides external forces, internal forces are also
present.

Motion of an electron (a) in vacuum and (b) in a semiconductor

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Lecture-5

Intrinsic Material
A perfect semiconductor crystal with no impurities or lattice
defects is called an intrinsic semiconductor.
EHPs are the only charge carriers in intrinsic material

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Extrinsic Material
Charge carriers: intrinsic carriers + carriers created due
to impurities.
Doping : technique for varying the conductivity of
semiconductors.

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Si or Ge can serve as donors

or acceptors depending on
whether they reside on the III
or V sublattice of the crystal
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Carrier Concentrations

This gives the probability that an available energy state at E will be

occupied by an electron at absolute temperature T.
At T > 0K: A energy state at the Fermi level has a probability of of
being occupied by an electron.
Fermi function is symmetrical about EF for all temperatures
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Fermi-Dirac Distribution Function for intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors

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Lecture-6

Example 1
Assume that the fermi energy level for a particular
material is 6.25 eV. Calculate the temperature at which
there is 1 % probability that a state 0.3 eV below the
fermi energy level will not contain an electron
Answer = 756 K

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Density of states
Density of states: is the energy distribution of allowed
states in semiconductors.
gc (E)
gv (E)

4 2mn
h3

* 3/ 2

4 2m p
h

E Ec

* 3/ 2

Ev E

Concentration of electron in CB:

no

Concentration of holes in VB:

Ev

f ( E ) g ( E )dE

po [1 f ( E )]g v ( E )dE

Ec

po N v e EF Ev / kT

no N c e Ec EF / kT
2mn kT

N c 2
2

3/ 2

Effective density of states

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2m p *kT

N v 2
2
h

3/ 2

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For intrinsic semiconductor:

n 0 = p0 = ni

ni

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Nc Nv e

E g / 2 kT

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Intrinsic Concentration (ni)

ni

Nc Nv e

E g / 2 kT

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Example:2
A Si sample is doped with 1017 As atoms/cm3. What is the
equilibrium hole concentration po at 300K? Where is EF relative
to Ei?

Why Si doped with 1014 cm-3 donors is n-type at

400K but Ge is not ??

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