Semiconductor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow (as opposed to ionic conductivity) intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 108 siemens per centimeter. Semiconductor materials are the foundation of modern electronics, including radio, computers, telephones, and many other devices. Such devices include transistors, solar cells, many kinds of diodes including the light-emitting diode, the silicon controlled rectifier, and digital and analog integrated circuits. Similarly, semiconductor solar photovoltaic panels directly convert light energy into electrical energy. In a metallic conductor, current is carried by the flow of electrons. In semiconductors, current is often schematized as being carried either by the flow of electrons or by the flow of positively charged "holes" in the electron structure of the material. Actually, however, in both cases only electron movements are involved. Common semiconducting materials are crystalline solids, but amorphous and liquid semiconductors are known. These include hydrogenated amorphous silicon and mixtures of arsenic, selenium and tellurium in a variety of proportions. Such compounds share with better known semiconductors intermediate conductivity and a rapid variation of conductivity with temperature, as well as occasional negative resistance. Such disordered materials lack the rigid crystalline structure of conventional semiconductors such as silicon and are generally used in thin film structures, which are less demanding for as concerns the electronic quality of the material and thus are relatively insensitive to impurities and radiation damage. Organic semiconductors, that is, organic materials with properties resembling conventional semiconductors, are also known. Silicon is used to create most semiconductors commercially. Dozens of other materials are used, including germanium, gallium arsenide, and silicon carbide. A pure semiconductor is often called an intrinsic semiconductor. The electronic properties and the conductivity of a semiconductor can be changed in a controlled manner by adding very small quantities of other elements, called dopants, to the intrinsic material. In crystalline silicon typically this is achieved by adding impurities of boron or phosphorus to the melt and then allowing the melt to solidify into the crystal. This process is called "doping".[1]

Explaining semiconductor energy bands

There are three popular ways to classify the electronic structure of a crystal.

Band structure

For more details on this topic, see Electronic band structure. atoms crystal vacuum

Putting two atoms together leads to Continuing to add This can be delocalized orbitals creates a crystal, continued with In a single H-atom across two atoms, more atoms. Note: which may then be an electron resides yielding a covalent For this regular This picture shows cut into a tape and in well known bond. Due to the fused together at solid the band a metal, not an orbitals. Note that Pauli exclusion the ends to allow structure can be actual the orbitals are principle, every circular currents. calculated or semiconductor. called s,p,d in order state can contain measured. of increasing only one electron. circular current.

Integrating over the k axis gives the An alternative bands of a After the band description, which semiconductor structure is does not really showing a full determined states appreciate the valence band and can be combined to strong Coulomb an empty generate wave interaction, shoots conduction band. packets. As this is free electrons into Generally stopping analogous to wave the crystal and at the vacuum level packages in free looks at the is undesirable, space, the results scattering. because some are similar. people want to calculate: photoemission, inverse photoemission

A third alternative description uses strongly localized unpaired electrons in chemical bonds, which looks almost like a Mott insulator.

[edit] Energy bands and electrical conduction

In classic crystalline semiconductors, the electrons can have energies only within certain bands (i.e. ranges of levels of energy). Energetically, these bands are located between the energy of the ground state, corresponding to electrons tightly bound to the atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron energy. The latter is the energy required for an electron to escape entirely from

the material. The energy bands each correspond to a large number of discrete quantum states of the electrons, and most of the states with low energy (closer to the nucleus) are full, up to a particular band called the valence band. Semiconductors and insulators are distinguished from metals because the valence band in them is nearly filled with electrons under usual operating conditions, while very few (semiconductor) or virtually none (insulator) of them are available in the conduction band, the band immediately above the valence band. The ease with which electrons in a semiconductor can be excited from the valence band to the conduction band depends on the band gap between the bands. The size of this energy bandgap serves as an arbitrary dividing line (roughly 4 eV) between semiconductors and insulators. With covalent bonds, an electron moves by hopping to a neighboring bond. The Pauli exclusion principle requires the electron to be lifted into the higher anti-bonding state of that bond. For delocalized states, for example in one dimension that is in a nanowire, for every energy there is a state with electrons flowing in one direction and another state with the electrons flowing in the other. For a net current to flow, more states for one direction than for the other direction must be occupied. For this to occur, energy is required, as in the semiconductor the next higher states lie above the band gap. Often this is stated as: full bands do not contribute to the electrical conductivity. However, as the temperature of a semiconductor rises above absolute zero, there is more energy in the semiconductor to spend on lattice vibration and more importantly for us on lifting some electrons into an energy states of the conduction band. The current-carrying electrons in the conduction band are known as "free electrons", although they are often simply called "electrons" if context allows this usage to be clear. Electrons excited to the conduction band also leave behind electron holes, or unoccupied states in the valence band. Both the conduction band electrons and the valence band holes contribute to electrical conductivity. The holes themselves don't actually move, but a neighboring electron can move to fill the hole, leaving a hole at the place it has just come from, and in this way the holes appear to move, and the holes behave as if they were actual positively charged particles. One covalent bond between neighboring atoms in the solid is ten times stronger than the binding of the single electron to the atom, so freeing the electron does not imply destruction of the crystal structure.

Holes: electron absence as a charge carrier

The concept of holes can also be applied to metals, where the Fermi level lies within the conduction band. With most metals the Hall effect indicates electrons are the charge carriers. However, some metals have a mostly filled conduction band. In these, the Hall effect reveals positive charge carriers, which are not the ion-cores, but holes. In the case of a metal, only a small amount of energy is needed for the electrons to find other unoccupied states to move into, and hence for current to flow. Sometimes even in this case it may be said that a hole was left behind, to explain why the electron does not fall back to lower energies: It cannot find a hole. In the end in both materials electron-phonon scattering and defects are the dominant causes for resistance.

Fermi-Dirac distribution. States with energy below the Fermi energy, here , have higher probability n to be occupied, and those above are less likely to be occupied. Smearing of the distribution increases with temperature. The energy distribution of the electrons determines which of the states are filled and which are empty. This distribution is described by Fermi-Dirac statistics. The distribution is characterized by the temperature of the electrons, and the Fermi energy or Fermi level. Under absolute zero conditions the Fermi energy can be thought of as the energy up to which available electron states are occupied. At higher temperatures, the Fermi energy is the energy at which the probability of a state being occupied has fallen to 0.5. The dependence of the electron energy distribution on temperature also explains why the conductivity of a semiconductor has a strong temperature dependency, as a semiconductor operating at lower temperatures will have fewer available free electrons and holes able to do the work.

Energymomentum dispersion
In the preceding description an important fact is ignored for the sake of simplicity: the dispersion of the energy. The reason that the energies of the states are broadened into a band is that the energy depends on the value of the wave vector, or k-vector, of the electron. The k-vector, in quantum mechanics, is the representation of the momentum of a particle. The dispersion relationship determines the effective mass, m*, of electrons or holes in the semiconductor, according to the formula:

The effective mass is important as it affects many of the electrical properties of the semiconductor, such as the electron or hole mobility, which in turn influences the diffusivity of the charge carriers and the electrical conductivity of the semiconductor. Typically the effective mass of electrons and holes are different. This affects the relative performance of p-channel and n-channel IGFETs.[2] The top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band might not occur at that same value of k. Materials with this situation, such as silicon and germanium, are known as indirect bandgap materials. Materials in which the band extrema are aligned in k, for example gallium arsenide, are called direct bandgap semiconductors. Direct gap semiconductors are particularly important in optoelectronics because they are much more efficient as light emitters than indirect gap materials.

Carrier generation and recombination

For more details on this topic, see Carrier generation and recombination. When ionizing radiation strikes a semiconductor, it may excite an electron out of its energy level and consequently leave a hole. This process is known as electronhole pair generation. Electronhole pairs are constantly generated from thermal energy as well, in the absence of any external energy source. Electron-hole pairs are also apt to recombine. Conservation of energy demands that these recombination events, in which an electron loses an amount of energy larger than the band gap, be accompanied by the emission of thermal energy (in the form of phonons) or radiation (in the form of photons). In some states, the generation and recombination of electronhole pairs are in equipoise. The number of electron-hole pairs in the steady state at a given temperature is determined by quantum statistical mechanics. The precise quantum mechanical mechanisms of generation and recombination are governed by conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. As the probability that electrons and holes meet together is proportional to the product of their amounts, the product is in steady state nearly constant at a given temperature, providing that there is no significant electric field (which might "flush" carriers of both types, or move them from neighbour regions containing more of them to meet together) or externally driven pair generation. The product is a function of the temperature, as the probability of getting enough thermal energy to produce a pair increases with temperature, being approximately exp(EG/kT), where k is Boltzmann's constant, T is absolute temperature and EG is band gap.

The probability of meeting is increased by carrier trapsimpurities or dislocations which can trap an electron or hole and hold it until a pair is completed. Such carrier traps are sometimes purposely added to reduce the time needed to reach the steady state.

Semi-insulators
Some materials are classified as semi-insulators. These have electrical conductivity nearer to that of electrical insulators. Semi-insulators find niche applications in micro-electronics, such as substrates for HEMT. An example of a common semi-insulator is gallium arsenide.[3]

Doping
For more details on this topic, see Doping (semiconductor). The property of semiconductors that makes them most useful for constructing electronic devices is that their conductivity may easily be modified by introducing impurities into their crystal lattice. The process of adding controlled impurities to a semiconductor is known as doping. The amount of impurity, or dopant, added to an intrinsic (pure) semiconductor varies its level of conductivity. Doped semiconductors are often referred to as extrinsic. By adding impurity to pure semiconductors, the electrical conductivity may be varied not only by the number of impurity atoms but also, by the type of impurity atom and the changes may be thousand folds and million folds. For example, 1 cm3 of a metal or semiconductor specimen has a number of atoms on the order of 1022. Since every atom in metal donates at least one free electron for conduction in metal, 1 cm3 of metal contains free electrons on the order of 1022. At the temperature close to 20 C , 1 cm3 of pure germanium contains about 4.21022 atoms and 2.51013 free electrons and 2.51013 holes (empty spaces in crystal lattice having positive charge) The addition of 0.001% of arsenic (an impurity) donates an extra 1017 free electrons in the same volume and the electrical conductivity increases about 10,000 times."

Dopants
The materials chosen as suitable dopants depend on the atomic properties of both the dopant and the material to be doped. In general, dopants that produce the desired controlled changes are classified as either electron acceptors or donors. A donor atom that activates (that is, becomes incorporated into the crystal lattice) donates weakly bound valence electrons to the material, creating excess negative charge carriers. These weakly bound electrons can move about in the crystal lattice relatively freely and can facilitate conduction in the presence of an electric field. (The donor atoms introduce some states under, but very close to the conduction band edge. Electrons at these states can be easily excited to the conduction band, becoming free electrons, at room temperature.) Conversely, an activated acceptor produces a hole. Semiconductors doped with donor impurities are called n-type, while those doped with acceptor impurities are known as p-type. The n and p type designations indicate which charge carrier acts as the material's majority carrier. The opposite carrier is called the minority carrier, which exists due to thermal excitation at a much lower concentration compared to the majority carrier.

For example, the pure semiconductor silicon has four valence electrons. In silicon, the most common dopants are IUPAC group 13 (commonly known as group III) and group 15 (commonly known as group V) elements. Group 13 elements all contain three valence electrons, causing them to function as acceptors when used to dope silicon. Group 15 elements have five valence electrons, which allows them to act as a donor. Therefore, a silicon crystal doped with boron creates a p-type semiconductor whereas one doped with phosphorus results in an n-type material.

Carrier concentration
The concentration of dopant introduced to an intrinsic semiconductor determines its concentration and indirectly affects many of its electrical properties. The most important factor that doping directly affects is the material's carrier concentration. In an intrinsic semiconductor under thermal equilibrium, the concentration of electrons and holes is equivalent. That is,

If we have a non-intrinsic semiconductor in thermal equilibrium the relation becomes:

where n0 is the concentration of conducting electrons, p0 is the electron hole concentration, and ni is the material's intrinsic carrier concentration. Intrinsic carrier concentration varies between materials and is dependent on temperature. Silicon's ni, for example, is roughly 1.081010 cm3 at 300 kelvins (room temperature).[4] In general, an increase in doping concentration affords an increase in conductivity due to the higher concentration of carriers available for conduction. Degenerately (very highly) doped semiconductors have conductivity levels comparable to metals and are often used in modern integrated circuits as a replacement for metal. Often superscript plus and minus symbols are used to denote relative doping concentration in semiconductors. For example, n+ denotes an n-type semiconductor with a high, often degenerate, doping concentration. Similarly, p- would indicate a very lightly doped p-type material. It is useful to note that even degenerate levels of doping imply low concentrations of impurities with respect to the base semiconductor. In crystalline intrinsic silicon, there are approximately 51022 atoms/cm. Doping concentration for silicon semiconductors may range anywhere from 1013 cm3 to 1018 cm3. Doping concentration above about 1018 cm3 is considered degenerate at room temperature. Degenerately doped silicon contains a proportion of impurity to silicon on the order of parts per thousand. This proportion may be reduced to parts per billion in very lightly doped silicon. Typical concentration values fall somewhere in this range and are tailored to produce the desired properties in the device that the semiconductor is intended for.

Effect on band structure

Band diagram of PN junction operation in forward bias mode showing reducing depletion width. Both p and n junctions are doped at a 1e15/cm3 doping level, leading to built-in potential of ~0.59V. Reducing depletion width can be inferred from the shrinking charge profile, as fewer dopants are exposed with increasing forward bias [1]. Doping a semiconductor crystal introduces allowed energy states within the band gap but very close to the energy band that corresponds to the dopant type. In other words, donor impurities create states near the conduction band while acceptors create states near the valence band. The gap between these energy states and the nearest energy band is usually referred to as dopant-site bonding energy or EB and is relatively small. For example, the EB for boron in silicon bulk is 0.045 eV, compared with silicon's band gap of about 1.12 eV. Because EB is so small, it takes little energy to ionize the dopant atoms and create free carriers in the conduction or valence bands. Usually the thermal energy available at room temperature is sufficient to ionize most of the dopant. Dopants also have the important effect of shifting the material's Fermi level towards the energy band that corresponds with the dopant with the greatest concentration. Since the Fermi level must remain constant in a system in thermodynamic equilibrium, stacking layers of materials with different properties leads to many useful electrical properties. For example, the p-n junction's properties are due to the energy band bending that happens as a result of lining up the Fermi levels in contacting regions of p-type and n-type material. This effect is shown in a band diagram. The band diagram typically indicates the variation in the valence band and conduction band edges versus some spatial dimension, often denoted x. The Fermi energy is also usually indicated in the diagram. Sometimes the intrinsic Fermi energy, Ei, which is the Fermi level in the absence of doping, is shown. These diagrams are useful in explaining the operation of many kinds of semiconductor devices.

Preparation of semiconductor materials

Semiconductors with predictable, reliable electronic properties are necessary for mass production. The level of chemical purity needed is extremely high because the presence of

impurities even in very small proportions can have large effects on the properties of the material. A high degree of crystalline perfection is also required, since faults in crystal structure (such as dislocations, twins, and stacking faults) interfere with the semiconducting properties of the material. Crystalline faults are a major cause of defective semiconductor devices. The larger the crystal, the more difficult it is to achieve the necessary perfection. Current mass production processes use crystal ingots between 100 mm and 300 mm (412 inches) in diameter which are grown as cylinders and sliced into wafers. Because of the required level of chemical purity and the perfection of the crystal structure which are needed to make semiconductor devices, special methods have been developed to produce the initial semiconductor material. A technique for achieving high purity includes growing the crystal using the Czochralski process. An additional step that can be used to further increase purity is known as zone refining. In zone refining, part of a solid crystal is melted. The impurities tend to concentrate in the melted region, while the desired material recrystalizes leaving the solid material more pure and with fewer crystalline faults. In manufacturing semiconductor devices involving heterojunctions between different semiconductor materials, the lattice constant, which is the length of the repeating element of the crystal structure, is important for determining the compatibility of materials. 1.

List of semiconductor materials

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Semiconductor materials are insulators at absolute zero temperature but conduct electricity at room temperature. The defining property of a semiconductor material is that it can be doped with impurities that alter its electronic properties in a controllable way. Because of their application in devices like transistors (and therefore computers) and lasers, the search for new semiconductor materials and the improvement of existing materials is an important field of study in materials science. Most commonly used semiconductor materials are crystalline inorganic solids. These materials are classified according to the periodic table groups of their constituent atoms. Different semiconductor materials differ in their properties. Thus, in comparison with silicon, compound semiconductors have both advantages and disadvantages. For example, gallium arsenide (GaAs) has six times higher electron mobility than silicon, which allows faster operation; wider band gap, which allows operation of power devices at higher temperatures, and gives lower thermal noise to low power devices at room temperature; its direct band gap gives it

more favorable optoelectronic properties than the indirect band gap of silicon; it can be alloyed to ternary and quaternary compositions, with adjustable band gap width, allowing light emission at chosen wavelengths, and allowing e.g. matching to wavelengths with lowest losses in optical fibers. GaAs can be also grown in a semiinsulating form, which is suitable as a lattice-matching insulating substrate for GaAs devices. Conversely, silicon is robust, cheap, and easy to process, whereas GaAs is brittle and expensive, and insulation layers can not be created by just growing an oxide layer; GaAs is therefore used only where silicon is not sufficient.[1] By alloying multiple compounds, some semiconductor materials are tunable, e.g., in band gap or lattice constant. The result is ternary, quaternary, or even quinary compositions. Ternary compositions allow adjusting the band gap within the range of the involved binary compounds; however, in case of combination of direct and indirect band gap materials there is a ratio where indirect band gap prevails, limiting the range usable for optoelectronics; e.g. AlGaAs LEDs are limited to 660 nm by this. Lattice constants of the compounds also tend to be different, and the lattice mismatch against the substrate, dependent on the mixing ratio, causes defects in amounts dependent on the mismatch magnitude; this influences the ratio of achievable radiative/nonradiative recombinations and determines the luminous efficiency of the device. Quaternary and higher compositions allow adjusting simultaneously the band gap and the lattice constant, allowing increasing radiant efficiency at wider range of wavelengths; for example AlGaInP is used for LEDs . Materials transparent to the generated wavelength of light are advantageous, as this allows more efficient extraction of photons from the bulk of the material. That is, in such transparent materials, light production is not limited to just the surface. Index of refraction is also composition-dependent and influences the extraction efficiency of photons from the material.[2]

[edit] Types of semiconductor materials

Group IV elemental semiconductors Group IV compound semiconductors III-V semiconductors (See also: Template:III-V compounds): Crystallizing with high degree of stoichiometry, most can be obtained as both n-type and p-type. Many have high carrier mobilities and direct energy gaps, making them useful for optoelectronics. II-VI semiconductors: usually p-type, except ZnTe and ZnO which is n-type I-VII semiconductors IV-VI semiconductors IV-VI semiconductors V-VI semiconductors II-V semiconductors Oxides Layered semiconductors Magnetic semiconductors Organic semiconductors Charge-transfer complexes

Others

[edit] Table of semiconductor materials

Group IV Elem. 1 Material Diamond C Formula Band gap Gap type (eV) 5.47[3][4] indirect Description Excellent thermal conductivity. Most common semiconductor, easy to fabricate. Good electrical and mechanical properties. Used in early radar detection diodes and first transistors; requires lower purity than silicon. A substrate for highefficiency multijunction photovoltaic cells. Very similar lattice constant to gallium arsenide. Highpurity crystals used for gamma spectroscopy. May grow whiskers, which impair reliability of some devices. used for early yellow LEDs

IV

Silicon

Si

1.11[3][4]

indirect

IV

Germanium

Ge

0.67[3][4]

indirect

IV

IV

IV IV

2 2

Silicon carbide, 3CSiC Silicon carbide, 4HSiC Silicon carbide, 6HSiC Silicongermanium

SiC

2.3[3]

indirect

SiC

3.3[3]

indirect used for early blue LEDs adjustable band gap, allows construction

SiC SiGe

3.0[3] 0.67 1.11[3]

indirect indirect

of heterojunction structures. Certain thicknesses of superlattices have direct band gap.[5] III-V III-V 2 2 Aluminium antimonide Aluminium arsenide AlSb AlAs 1.6/2.2[4] 2.16[4] indirect/direct indirect Piezoelectric. Not used on its own as a semiconductor; AlNclose GaAlN possibly usable for ultraviolet LEDs. Inefficient emission at 210 nm was achieved on AlN.

III-V

Aluminium nitride

AlN

6.28[3]

direct

III-V III-V III-V III-V III-V

2 2 2 2 2

Aluminium phosphide Boron nitride, cubic Boron nitride, hexagonal Boron nitride, nanotube Boron phosphide Boron arsenide

AlP BN BN BN BP

2.45[4] 6.36[6] 5.96[6] ~5.5 2

indirect indirect quasi-direct potentially useful for ultraviolet LEDs potentially useful for ultraviolet LEDs

indirect Resistant to radiation damage, possible applications in betavoltaics. Resistant to radiation damage, possible applications in betavoltaics. Used for infrared detectors and LEDs and thermophotovoltaics. Doped n with Te, p with Zn. second most common in use after

III-V

BAs

1.5

indirect

III-V

Boron arsenide

B12As2

3.47

indirect

III-V

Gallium antimonide

GaSb

0.726[3][4] direct

III-V

Gallium arsenide

GaAs

1.43[3][4]

direct

III-V

Gallium nitride

GaN

3.44[3][4]

direct

silicon, commonly used as substrate for other III-V semiconductors, e.g. InGaAs and GaInNAs. Brittle. Lower hole mobility than Si, P-type CMOS transistors unfeasible. High impurity density, difficult to fabricate small structures. Used for near-IR LEDs, fast electronics, and high-efficiency solar cells. Very similar lattice constant to germanium, can be grown on germanium substrates. problematic to be doped to p-type, pdoping with Mg and annealing allowed first high-efficiency blue LEDs[2] and blue lasers. Very sensitive to ESD. Insensitive to ionizing radiation, suitable for spacecraft solar panels. GaN transistors can operate at higher voltages and higher temperatures than GaAs, used in microwave power amplifiers. When doped with e.g. manganese, becomes a magnetic

III-V

Gallium phosphide

GaP

2.26[3][4]

indirect

III-V

Indium antimonide

InSb

0.17[3]

direct

III-V

Indium arsenide

InAs

0.36[3]

direct

semiconductor. Used in early low to medium brightness cheap red/orange/green LEDs. Used standalone or with GaAsP. Transparent for yellow and red light, used as substrate for GaAsP red/yellow LEDs. Doped with S or Te for n-type, with Zn for p-type. Pure GaP emits green, nitrogen-doped GaP emits yellow-green, ZnO-doped GaP emits red. Used in infrared detectors and thermal imaging sensors, high quantum efficiency, low stability, require cooling, used in military long-range thermal imager systems. AlInSbInSb-AlInSb structure used as quantum well. Very high electron mobility, electron velocity and ballistic length. Transistors can operate below 0.5V and above 200 GHz. Terahertz frequencies maybe achievable. Used for infrared detectors for 1 3.8 m, cooled or uncooled. High

III-V

Indium nitride InN

0.7[3]

III-V

Indium phosphide

InP

1.35[3]

III-V

Aluminium gallium arsenide

AlGaAs

1.42 2.16[3]

electron mobility. InAs dots in InGaAs matrix can serve as quantum dots. Quantum dots may be formed from a monolayer of InAs on InP or GaAs. Strong photo-Denber emitter, used as a terahertz radiation source. Possible use in solar cells, but p-type direct doping difficult. Used frequently as alloys. Commonly used as substrate for epitaxial InGaAs. Superior electron direct veloxity, used in high-power and high-frequency applications. Used in optoelectronics. AlxGa1xAs, direct band gap for x<0.4 (corresponding to 1.421.95 eV); can be lattice-matched to GaAs substrate over entire composition range; tends to oxidize; n-doping with Si, Se, Te; pdirect/indirect doping with Zn, C, Be, Mg[2]. Can be used for infrared laser diodes. Used as a barrier layer in GaAs devices to confine electrons to GaAs (see e.g. QWIP). AlGaAs with composition

III-V

Indium gallium arsenide

InGaAs

III-V

Indium gallium phosphide

InGaP

III-V

Aluminium indium arsenide

AlInAs

close to AlAs is almost transparent to sunlight. Used in GaAs/AlGaAs solar cells. InxGa1xAs. Welldeveloped material. Can be lattice matched to InP substrates. Use in infrared technology and thermophotovoltaics. Indium content determines charge carrier density. For x=0.015, InGaAs 0.361.43 direct perfectly latticematches germanium; can be used in multijunction photovoltaic cells. Used in infrared sensors, avalanche photodiodes, laser diodes, optical fiber communication detectors, and shortwavelength infrared cameras. used for HEMT and HBT structures and high-efficiency multijunction solar cells for e.g. 1.352.26 direct/indirect satellites. Ga0.5In0.5P is almost latticematched to GaAs, with AlGaIn used for quantum wells for red lasers. Buffer layer in metamorphic HEMT 0.362.16 direct/indirect transistors, adjusting lattice constant between GaAs

substrate and GaInAs channel. Can form layered heterostructures acting as quantum wells, in e.g. quantum cascade lasers. III-V 3 Aluminium indium antimonide Gallium arsenide nitride Gallium arsenide phosphide Gallium arsenide antimonide AlInSb

III-V

GaAsN Used in red, orange and yellow LEDs. 1.432.26 direct/indirect Often grown on GaP. Can be doped with nitrogen. 0.71.42[3] direct Used in blue laser diodes, ultraviolet LEDs (down to 250 nm), and AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Can be grown on sapphire. Used in heterojunctions with AlN and GaN. Used in some green LEDs. InxGa1xN, x usually between 0.020.3 (0.02 for near-UV, 0.1 for 390 nm, 0.2 for 420 nm, 0.3 for 440 nm). Can be grown epitaxially on sapphire, SiC wafers or silicon. Used in modern blue and

III-V

GaAsP

III-V

GaAsSb

III-V

Aluminium AlGaN gallium nitride

3.446.28 direct

III-V

Aluminium gallium phosphide

AlGaP

2.262.45 indirect

III-V

Indium InGaN gallium nitride

23.4

direct

green LEDs, InGaN quantum wells are effective emitters from green to ultraviolet. Insensitive to radiation damage, possible use in satellite solar cells. Insensitive to defects, tolerant to lattice mismatch damage. High heat capacity. III-V 3 Indium arsenide antimonide Indium gallium antimonide InAsSb

III-V

InGaSb also InAlGaP, InGaAlP, AlInGaP; for lattice matching to GaAs substrates the In mole fraction is fixed at about 0.48, the Al/Ga ratio is adjusted to achieve band gaps between about 1.9 direct/indirect and 2.35 eV; direct or indirect band gaps depending on the Al/Ga/In ratios; used for waveengths between 560650 nm; tends to form ordered phases during deposition, which has to be prevented[2]

III-V

Aluminium gallium indium phosphide

AlGaInP

III-V

Aluminium gallium arsenide phosphide

AlGaAsP

III-V

III-V

III-V

III-V

III-V

III-V

III-V

III-V

III-V

Indium gallium arsenide phosphide Indium gallium arsenide antimonide Indium phosphide arsenide antimonide Aluminium indium arsenide phosphide Aluminium gallium arsenide nitride Indium gallium arsenide nitride Indium aluminium arsenide nitride Gallium arsenide antimonide nitride Gallium indium nitride arsenide antimonide Gallium indium arsenide antimonide phosphide Cadmium

InGaAsP

InGaAsSb

Use in thermophotovoltaics.

InPAsSb

Use in thermophotovoltaics.

AlInAsP

AlGaAsN

InGaAsN

InAlAsN

GaAsSbN

GaInNAsSb Can be grown on InAs, GaSb, and other substrates. Can be lattice matched by varying composition. Possibly usable for mid-infrared LEDs. Nanoparticles used

III-V

GaInAsSbP

II-VI

CdSe

1.74[4]

direct

selenide

II-VI

Cadmium sulfide

CdS

2.42[4]

direct

II-VI

Cadmium telluride

CdTe

1.49[4]

II-VI, oxide

Zinc oxide

ZnO

3.37[4]

direct

as quantum dots. Intrinsic n-type, difficult to dope ptype, but can be ptype doped with nitrogen. Possible use in optoelectronics. Tested for highefficiency solar cells. Used in photoresistors and solar cells; CdS/Cu2S was the first efficient solar cell. Used in solar cells with CdTe. Common as quantum dots. Crystals can act as solid-state lasers. Electroluminescent. When doped, can act as a phosphor. Used in solar cells with CdS. Used in thin film solar cells and other cadmium telluride photovoltaics; less efficient than polysilicon but cheaper. High electro-optic effect, used in electro-optic modulators. Fluorescent at 790 nm. Nanoparticles usable as quantum dots. Photocatalytic. Bandwidth tunable from 3 to 4 eV by alloying with magnesium oxide and cadmium oxide.

II-VI

Zinc selenide ZnSe

2.7[4]

direct

II-VI

Zinc sulfide

ZnS

3.54/3.91[4] direct

II-VI

Zinc telluride ZnTe

2.25[4]

direct

Intrinsic n-type, ptype doping is difficult. Heavy aluminium, indium, or gallium doping yields transparent conductive coatings; ZnO:Al is used as window coatings transparent in visible and reflective in infrared region and as conductive films in LCD displays and solar panels as a replacement of indium tin oxide. Resistant to radiation damage. Possible use in LEDs and laser diodes. Possible use in random lasers. Used for blue lasers and LEDs. Easy to n-type doping, ptype doping is difficult but can be done with e.g. nitrogen. Common optical material in infrared optics. Band gap 3.54 eV (cubic), 3.91 (hexagonal). Can be doped both n-type and p-type. Common scintillator/phosphor when suitably doped. Can be grown on AlSb, GaSb, InAs, and PbSe. Used in solar cells, compoments of microwave generators, blue LEDs and lasers.

II-VI

Cadmium zinc CdZnTe telluride, CZT

1.42.2

direct

II-VI

Mercury cadmium telluride

HgCdTe

0-1.5

II-VI

Mercury zinc HgZnTe telluride

0-2.25

Used in electrooptics. Together with lithium niobate used to generate terahertz radiation. Efficient solid-state x-ray and gammaray detector, can operate at room temperature. High electro-optic coefficient. Used in solar cells. Can be used to generate and detect terahertz radiation. Can be used as a substrate for epitaxial growth of HgCdTe. Known as "MerCad". Extensive use in sensitive cooled infrared imaging sensors, infrared astronomy, and infrared detectors. Alloy of mercury telluride (a semimetal, zero band gap) and CdTe. High electron mobility. The only common material capable of operating in both 3 5 m and 1215 m atmospheric windows. Can be grown on CdZnTe. Used in infrared detectors, infrared imaging sensors, and infrared astronomy. Better mechanical and thermal

properties than HgCdTe but more difficult to control the composition. More difficult to form complex heterostructures. II-VI I-VII I-VI 3 2 2 Mercury zinc HgZnSe selenide Cuprous CuCl chloride Copper sulfide Cu2S

3.4[7] 1.2

direct direct p-type, Cu2S/CdS was the first efficient thin film solar cell Used in infrared detectors for thermal imaging. Nanocrystals usable as quantum dots. Mineral galena, first semiconductor in practical use, used in cat's whisker detectors; the detectors are slow due to high dielectric constant of PbS. Oldest material used in infrared detectors. At room temperature can detect SWIR, longer wavelengths require cooling. Low thermal conductivity, good thermoelectric material.

IV-VI

Lead selenide PbSe

0.27

direct

IV-VI

Lead(II) sulfide

PbS

0.37

IV-VI IV-VI IV-VI IV-VI IV-VI

2 2 2 2 3

Lead telluride PbTe Tin sulfide Tin sulfide Tin telluride Lead tin telluride SnS SnS2 SnTe PbSnTe

0.32 1.0 2.2 indirect

Complex band structure. Used in infrared detectors and for thermal imaging.

IV-VI IV-VI

3 3

Thallium tin telluride Thallium germanium telluride

Tl2SnTe5 Tl2GeTe5 Efficient thermoelectric material when alloyed with selenium or antimony. Narrowgap layered semiconductor. High electrical conductivity, low thermal conductivity.

V-VI, layered

Bismuth telluride

Bi2Te3

II-V

Cadmium phosphide

Cd3P2 N-type intrinsic semiconductor. Very high electron mobility. Used in infrared detectors, photodetectors, dynamic thin-film pressure sensors, and magnetoresistors.

II-V

Cadmium arsenide

Cd3As2

0.14

II-V II-V II-V

2 2 2

Cadmium Cd3Sb2 antimonide Zinc Zn3P2 phosphide Zinc arsenide Zn3As2 Zinc antimonide Used in infrared detectors and thermal imagers, transistors, and magnetoresistors. 3.2 3.02 2.96 photocatalytic photocatalytic
[8]

II-V

Zn3Sb2

Oxide Oxide Oxide

2 2 2

Titanium dioxide, TiO2 anatase Titanium TiO2 dioxide, rutile Titanium TiO2

dioxide, brookite One of the most studied semiconductors. Many applications and effects first demonstrated with it. Formerly used in rectifier diodes, before silicon. P-type semiconductor. High Seebeck coefficient, resistant to high temperatures, promising thermoelectric and thermophotovoltaic applications. Formerly used in URDOX resistors, conducting at high temperature. Resistant to radiation damage.

Oxide

Copper(I) oxide

Cu2O

2.1

Oxide

Copper(II) oxide

CuO

1.2

Oxide

Uranium dioxide

UO2

1.3

Oxide Oxide

2 2

Uranium trioxide Bismuth trioxide Tin dioxide

UO3 Bi2O3 Ionic conductor, applications in fuel cells. Oxygen-deficient ntype semiconductor. Used in gas sensors. Ferroelectric, piezoelectric. Used in some uncooled thermal imagers. Used in nonlinear optics. Ferroelectric, piezoelectric. Used in varistors. Conductive when niobium-doped.

Oxide

SnO2

3.7

Oxide

Barium titanate

BaTiO3

Oxide

Strontium titanate

SrTiO3

3.3

Oxide

Lithium niobate

LiNbO3

Oxide Layered Layered Layered Layered Layered

3 2 2 2 2 2

Lanthanum copper oxide

La2CuO4

Ferroelectric, piezoelectric, shows Pockels effect. Wide uses in electrooptics and photonics. superconductive when doped with barium or strontium

Lead(II) PbI2 iodide Molybdenum MoS2 disulfide Gallium selenide GaSe 2.1 indirect Photoconductor. Uses in nonlinear optics.

Magnetic, diluted 3 (DMS)[9] Magnetic, diluted 3 (DMS) Magnetic, diluted 3 (DMS) Magnetic, diluted 3 (DMS) Magnetic 4 Magnetic 2 Magnetic 2 Magnetic 2 Magnetic 2 Magnetic 2 Other 4

Tin sulfide SnS Bismuth Bi2S3 sulfide Gallium manganese GaMnAs arsenide Indium manganese InMnAs arsenide Cadmium manganese CdMnTe telluride Lead manganese PbMnTe telluride Lanthanum calcium La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 manganate Iron(II) oxide FeO Nickel(II) NiO oxide Europium(II) EuO oxide Europium(II) EuS sulfide Chromium(III) CrBr3 bromide Copper CuInGaSe 11.7

colossal magnetoresistance antiferromagnetic antiferromagnetic ferromagnetic ferromagnetic

direct

CuInxGa1xSe2.

indium gallium selenide, CIGS Copper zinc tin sulfide, CZTS

Other

Cu2ZnSnS4

1.49

direct

Polycrystalline. Used in thin film solar cells, highly efficient. Cu2ZnSnS4 is derived from CIGS, replacing the Indium/Gallium with earth abundant Zinc/Tin.

Other Other Other Other

3 3 3 2

Copper indium CuInSe2 selenide, CIS Silver gallium AgGaS2 sulfide Zinc silicon ZnSiP2 phosphide Arsenic selenide As2S3

direct nonlinear optical properties

Other

Platinum silicide

PtSi

semiconductive in both crystalline and glassy state Used in infrared detectors for 1 5 m. Used in infrared astronomy. High stability, low drift, used for measurements. Low quantum efficiency.

Other

Bismuth(III) iodide

BiI3 Used in some gamma-ray and xray detectors and imaging systems operating at room temperature. Used in some gamma-ray and xray detectors and imaging systems operating at room temperature. Used as a real-time x-ray image sensor.

Other

Mercury(II) iodide

HgI2

Other

Thallium(I) bromide

TlBr

Other

Selenium

Se

1.74

Other

Iron disulfide FeS2

0.95

Used in selenium rectifiers. Mineral pyrite. Used in later cat's whisker detectors, investigated for solar cells.

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