Lecture #20

Objectives:
1. Last time: equilibrium statistics this time non-equilibrium behavior
2. Recombination-Generation processes
3. Carrier transport
4. p-n Junctions
Questions you should be able to answer by the end of the lecture:
1. Know the definition and different types of R-G processes
2. Understand the role of momentum in R-G processes
3. Know how to set-up rate equations for R-G statistics and how to derive the steady
state equations.
4. What is surface recombination and what is its significance.
5. What is the drift current and what are its sources
6. The role of mobility in carrier transport
7. How is the mobility effected by doping and temperature
8. Resistivity
9. Diffusion
10. What is the Einstein relationship
11. The equations of state
12. How are p-n junctions fabricated?
13. Qualitative description of p-n junction electrostatics
14. Understand what a depletion region is
15. What is the built-in potential and how is it effected by a forward or reverse bias
16. Ideal diode I-V response

References:
1. Ashcroft and Mermin
2. Advanced Semiconductor Fundamentals from the Modular Series on Solid State
Devices (Pierrett)
3. The P-N Junction

Definitions:
Recombination a process whereby electrons and holes are annihilated
Generation - a process whereby electrons and holes are created
Recombination (Generation) processes
(1) Band to band recombination The electron which initially occupies a state in the
conduction band transitions to a state in the valence band. This process is called a
direct thermal recombination where an electron from a conduction band
annihilates with a hole in the valence band. Since the energy of the electron in
the final state is lower than in the initial state the process is accompanied by a
release of energy typically in the form of a photon (radiative process).
(2) R-G center recombination defect states that are deep in the gap provide
intermediate energy states for the electron which transitions from the conduction
band to the deep level and then to the valence band. The two step transition
involves the release of lower energies than those in the direct transition these
energies are transferred to lattice vibrations (phonons).
(3) Recombination via shallow levels
(4) Excitons As we mentioned electrons and holes can be viewed as independent
particles. An exciton is an electron hole pair which are bound in an arrangement
which is hydrogen-like. These bound particles are viewed as a particle with an
energy of formation which is lower than the band gap thus forming levels near
the edges of the conduction or valence bands.
(5) Auger recombination in this process an electron in the conduction band absorbs
the energy released during the direct or indirect recombination in a collision
process. The electron makes a transition to a higher state in the conduction band
and then loses the excess kinetic energy by lattice collisions.

Band structure and its relation to momentum considerations in determining the

dominant recombination process
All of the above mentioned processes are constantly occurring in a semiconductor
(even at equilibrium). The question to consider is that of rate of occurrence
specifically is there a particular mechanism that has a very high rate of occurrence
thereby dominating the other processes? obviously it would be very useful to
understand the factors that determine the rate.
An important qualitative difference exists between the dominant R-G processes in
direct (GaAs) and indirect (Si and Ge) bandgap SCs:

When considering the probability or rate of a particular transition it is imperative to

look at not only the energy change but also the required momentum change. The
momentum of a photon is given by:
2
p = hk = h

the wavelength corresponding to a 1.24eV gap is 1 micron:

hc
=
Egap
which implies that the wavevector (and hence the momentum) is very close to k=0
since:

k band edge = >> = k photon ; 0

a

thus in a direct band semiconductor the k values of the electrons and holes are near
k=0 little change in momentum is needed in a recombination process thus a radiative
direct transition is favorabel. In an indirect SC the transition necessitates a large
change in momentum which cannot be facilitated by the emitted photon thus this
process requires a transfer of momentum to a phonon. This additional requirement
which is needed in order to conserve momentum leads to diminished rates of
recombination in indirect SC. Direct recombination is thus negligible in indirect SCs
when compared with R-G center processes.

R-G statistics
In order to calculate the rate of change of the concentration of charge carriers (be they
electrons or holes) due to recombination-generation processes we define the
following quantities:
n
- the rate of electron concentration change due both R and G processes.
t
p
- the rate of hole concentration change due both R and G processes.
t
nT - the number density of R-G center levels that are occupied by electrons
pT - the number density of R-G center levels that are unoccupied by electrons
NT = pT + nT
Comments:
1. The T label denotes a particular R-G mechanism which we called R-G centers
or the recombination via deep Traps.
2. We have assumed one type of R-G center levels.

The (a) and (b) transitions are the only ones that effect the number of electrons in the
conduction band
n n
n
=
+
t t ( a ) t (b )
p p
p
=
+
t t ( c ) t ( d )

We assume that the probability of a transition is proportional to the number (density) of

electrons in the conduction band and the number of empty trap levels (these assumptions
hold for non-degenerate semiconductors)
n
= cn pT n
t ( a )
with - cn being the constant of proportionality sometimes called the electron capture
coefficient which is a positive number.
This process is assumed to be a first order process and can be likened to the rate equation
that is used to describe the rate of a chemical reaction
e + ( empty R G center ) ( filled R G center )
The electron emission process can likewise be related to the concentration of occupied
trap levels and to the number of vacant levels in the conduction band (which is included
in the constant of proportionality - en )
n
= en nT
t (b )
with - en being the constant of proportionality sometimes called the electron emission
coefficient which is a positive number.
In the same way expressions for the rate of hole change are obtained
p
= c p nT p
t ( c )
and
p
= e p pT
t ( d )
substituting these relations into the rate equations
n
= cn pT n + en nT
t
p
= c p nT p + e p pT
t
The basic question is how do we calculate or fined the capture and emission coefficients?
For that we begin with calculating the relations between these coefficients under
equilibrium conditions:
Assuming that the electron capture and emission and hole capture and emission are
independent processes we can write that at equilibrium
n
= cn pT n + en nT = 0
t
p
= c p nT p + e p pT = 0
t

we can thus relate the emission and capture coefficients for the electrons and holes
pTeq n eq eq
eq
en = eq c n
nT
12
3
this coefficient can be explicitly calculated
( ki T )
pTeq neq pTeq eq NT nTeq eq NT
n = eq 1 ni e B
= eq n =
n

nTeq
nT
nTeq
T

where i represents the position of the chemical potential in an intrinsic SC

i =

mp
Ec + Ev 3
+ k BT ln
m
2
4
n

The expression for the occupation number of the trap levels is:
nTeq
1
=
( ET )
NT
1 + e k BT
where the temperature corrected energy of the trap level is
ET = ET

kT ln
g
{
{T
+ acceptor-like traps
- donor-like traps

# of states allowed
per trap level 2

The analysis performed in many cases on devices assumes that the device is operated
under steady state conditions which means that all the macroscopic quantities are
constant with time but the individual processes are not balanced (which would be the case
at equilibrium assuming that the processes were independent)

nT
n
p
=
+
=0
t
t R G t R G
using the relations derived above
E / kT
cn NT n + c p NT ni e( i T )
nT =
E / kT
E / kT
cn n + ni e ( i T )
+ c p p + ni e( i T )

The net steady state recombination rate:

R=

1
c p NT
{

n the electron
minority carrier
lifetime

(n + n e (

np ni2

i ET ) / kT

)+

1
cn NT
{

( p + n e(
i

i ET ) / kT

p the hole
minority carrier
lifetime

where the lifetimes ( n and p ) represent the length of time an excess minority carrier
will live in a band populated by majority carriers. For instance upon illumination of a
semiconductor minority carriers will be excited the lifetime n will represent the time it
will take for the minority carriers to decay in a p-type semiconductor. Note that the
lifetimes depend explicitly on the number of R-G centers NT .
Controlling lifetimes via impurity engineering
The R-G centers are typically impurities that were unintentionally incorporated into the
lattice during growth or processing. It is possible though to intentionally increase or
decrease the lifetimes by either adding impurities (Au to Si) or gettering impurities for
example one can diffuse phosphorous into the back side of an Si device in order to trap
imurities and increase the lifetimes.
Typical lifetime ranges in Si

Carrier transport
This section is concerned with the motion of carriers under the influence of external
fields and gradients. While the R-G processes focused on vertical transitions in the band
diagram transport deals with horizontal movement. The two major processes that give
rise to carrier motion are drift and diffusion.
Drift
Is defined as the motion of a charged particle in response to an applied electric field as
depicted in the figure

while the microscopic details of the motion of individual charge carriers are obviously
complicated and involve collisions one can assign an average velocity which is called the
drift velocity vd.
The drift current (for the case of holes in a p-type semiconductor) is:
I drift
= qpvd A
p

= qpvd
J drift
p
The drift velocity is related to the applied field and for small to moderate field values is
taken to be proportional to it
vd = p
{
{ external
field
hole mobility

thus relating the drift current density to the mobility and carrier concentrations
J drift
= qp p
p
The total drift current density is given by
drift
J Total
= q ( n n + p p )
144244
3
- conductivity

Example of n-type SC drift calculation: In a non-degenerate donor-doped SC

maintained in the extrinsic temperature regime
n2
N D >> ni n ; N D and p ; i << n
ND
drift n-type
J Total
; qN D n

typical values for carrier drift velocities in SC

Mobility
Mobility is a measure of the ease of carrier motion within a material. The mobility can be
represented as
q
=
m
where is the mean free time between collisions and m is the effective mass. In device
semiconductors the dominant scattering mechanisms that determine are phonon
scattering and scattering by ionized impurities. The calculation of mobilities are done
typically using many approximations and empirical rules one of these is that the total
mobility is given by the following sum:
1
1
1
1
=
+
+
lattice ionization other
Another widely used empirical rule relates the mobility to the temperature and doping
levels
b (T )
= a (T ) +
c
N
1+

c (T )
where all the T dependences are simple power laws.

Diffusion
Diffusion is a macroscopic motion due to carrier concentration differences. The diffusion
motion and resulting current are described by diffusion equations:
dp
J pdiffusion = qD p
dx
dn
J ndiffusion = qDn
dx
where Ds are the diffusion coefficients with units of cm^2/s
The Einstein Relations
For a non-uniformly doped SC

Note: in the notation we used in class the EF level was called the chemical potential
which is the term that has thermodynamic significance
Under equilibrium conditions the chemical potential across the sample is constant (by
definition of equilibrium). You also saw in the previous lecture that in an n-doped SC the
chemical potential moves closer to the conduction band. Consequently in non-uniformly
doped SC we expect to see band bending and thus a non-zero electric field is formed in
the material.
The current under equilibrium conditions is zero everywhere:
dn
+ qn n = 0
dx
Here we have used n to denote the mobility of the electrons in the conduction band not
to be confused with the chemical potential.
J ndiffusion + J ndrift = qDn

However the internal field can be simply related to the gradient of the energy band
1 dEc
=
q dx
The density gradient can be calculated by the expression for the number of electrons in
the conduction band at temperature T which is equal approximately to:

1 2m kT
n = gc ( E ) f ( E ) dE ; n2
4 h
Ec

3/ 2

( Ec )
kT

3/ 2

(E

c
dn dn dEc
dn
1 1 2mn kT
kT
=
=
q =
e
q

2
dx dEc dx dEc
kT
4
h

144424443
=n

J ndiffusion + J ndrift = qDn

qn + qn n = 0
kT

D
kT
n =
n
q
This last relation is called the Einstein relation.
For a typical non-degenerate semiconductor at room temperature:
kT
; 0.026V
q
n ; 1000

cm2
cm 2
Dn ; 26
V s
s

Continuity equations

n n
n
n
n
=
+
+
+
t t drift t diffusion t R-G t other
p p
p
p
p
=
+
+
+
t t drift t diffusion t R-G t other

p-n Junctions
The p-n junction is the most fundamental of semiconductor devices the vast majority of
SC devices employ some form of a p-n junction. For example: the bi-polar transistor is
just two very closely spaced p-n junctions. A solar cell is a p-n junction built to absorb
sunlight and convert it to an electrical current.
p-n junctions are formed by a variety of fabrication techniques such as:
1. Alloying 2. Epitaxial growth SiCl4 and hydrogen are flowed over an n-type wafer at elevated
temperatures impurity atoms such as borane (B2H6 to form p doping) can be added to the
carrier gas. This process forms a fairly abrupt p-n junction.
3. Thermal diffusion a gas containing impurities is passed over the substrate at elevated
temperatures causing the diffusion of impurities into the substrate and the subsequent
formation of a graded junction.
4. Ion implantation impurity atoms are ionized and then accelerated and shot into the
substrate. This process offers precise placement of the junction and can be done at low
temperatures.
The rest of this lecture will be from powerpoint slides..