Sourav Sarkar

Asst Professor
Dept. of ECE

CONDUCTION IN SEMICONDUCTORS

Carrier drift
Carrier mobility
Drift current equations
Carrier diffusion
The flux equation
The Einstein relation
Total current density
Carrier Generation and Recombination
We now have some idea of the number density
of charge carriers (electrons and holes) present
in a semiconductor material from the work we
covered in the last chapter. Since current is the
rate of flow of charge , we shall be able calculate
currents flowing in real devices since we know
the number of charge carriers. There are two
current mechanisms which cause charges to
move in semiconductors. The two mechanisms
we shall study in this chapter are drift and
diffusion.
Drift and Diffusion
Electron and holes will move under the influence of an
applied electric field since the field exert a force on
charge carriers (electrons and holes).


These movements result a current of ;
F qE =
Carrier Drift
d
I
d d
I nqV A =
:
d
I
:
d
V
drift current
number of charge carriers per unit volume
charge of the electron
drift velocity of charge carrier
area of the semiconductor
: A
: q
: n
Carrier Mobility ,

d
V E =
: E
:
applied field
mobility of charge carrier
| |
(
(

=
Sec V
cm
2

is a proportionality factor
(

=
E
V
d

So is a measure how easily charge carriers move under the influence of

an applied field or determines how mobile the charge carriers are.

n - type Si
+ -
V
n type Si
e
-

d
V
Electric field
Electron movement
Current flow
Current carriers are mostly electrons.
L
V
E =
+ -
V
p type Si
hole
d
V
Electric field
Hole movement
Current flow
Current carriers are mostly holes.
p - type Si
L
V
E =
Carrier Mobility
E
V
d
=
Macroscopic understanding
In a perfect Crystal
0
o
=

It is a superconductor
Microscopic understanding? (what the carriers
themselves are doing?)
*
q
m
t
=
general in m m
h e
* *
(
*
*
;
;
e
h
m n type
m p type

A perfect crystal has a perfect periodicity and therefore

the potential seen by a carrier in a perfect crystal is
completely periodic.
So the crystal has no resistance to current flow and
behaves as a superconductor. The perfect periodic
potential does not impede the movement of the charge
carriers. However, in a real device or specimen, the
presence of impurities, interstitials, subtitionals,
temperature , etc. creates a resistance to current flow.
The presence of all these upsets the periodicity of the
potential seen by a charge carrier.

Since there is no applied field, the movement of

the charge carriers will be completely random.
This randomness result no net current flow. As
a result of thermal energy there are almost an
equal number of carriers moving right as left, in
as out or up as down.
Random motion result no current.
Carrier Drift
The process in which charged particles move because of
an electric field is called drift.
Charged particles within a semiconductor move with an
average velocity proportional to the electric field.
The proportionality constant is the carrier mobility.


=
=
E v
E v
n e
p h

Notation:

p
hole mobility (cm
2
/Vs)

n
electron mobility (cm
2
/Vs)
Hole velocity


Electron velocity
Drift Current
Drift current is proportional to the carrier velocity and
carrier concentration:

v
h
t A = volume from which all holes cross plane in time t
p v
h
t A = # of holes crossing plane in time t
q p v
h
t A = charge crossing plane in time t
q p v
h
A = charge crossing plane per unit time = hole current
Hole current per unit area (i.e. current density) J
p,drift
= q p v
h


Drift Current Equations
For undoped or intrinsic semiconductor ; n=p=n
i

For electron
n n
J nqE =
drift
current
for
electrons
number
of free
electrons
per unit
volume
mobility
of
electron
For hole
p p
J pqE =
drift
current
for holes
number
of free
holes per
unit
volume
mobility
of holes
Drift Current Equations
Total current density
( )
i e h
i n P
i
i i n p
J J J
J nqE pqE
n p n
J n q E


= +
= +
= =
= +
since
For a pure
intrinsic
semiconductor
Drift Current Equations
? =
total
J
for doped or extrinsic semiconductor
n-type semiconductor;
T n D n
n p J nq E N q E >> ~ =
where N
D
is the shallow donor concentration
p-type semiconductor;
T p A p
p n J pq E N q E >> ~ =
where N
A
is the shallow acceptor concentration
Conductivity and Resistivity
In a semiconductor, both electrons and holes conduct
current:





The conductivity of a semiconductor is
Unit: mho/cm
The resistivity of a semiconductor is
Unit: ohm-cm
E E n p q J
E qn E qp J J J
E qn J E qp J
n p drift tot
n p drift n drift p drift tot
n drift n p drift p
o


+ =
+ = + =
= =
) (

) (
,
, , ,
, ,
n p
qn qp o +
o

Variation of resistivity with temperature

Why does the resistivity of a metal increase with
increasing temperature whereas the resistivity of a
semiconductor decrease with increasing
temperature?
1 1
nq

o
= =
This fact is used in a real semiconductor device called a
thermistor, which is used as a temperature sensing element.
The thermistor is a temperature sensitive resistor; that is its terminal
resistance is related to its body temperature. It has a negative temperature
coefficient , indicating that its resistance will decrease with an increase in its
body temperature.
Carrier Diffusion
Due to thermally induced random motion, mobile
particles tend to move from a region of high
concentration to a region of low concentration.
Analogy: ink droplet in water
Current flow due to mobile charge diffusion is
proportional to the carrier concentration gradient.
The proportionality constant is the diffusion
constant.

dx
dp
qD J
p p
=
Notation:
D
p
hole diffusion constant (cm
2
/s)
D
n
electron diffusion constant (cm
2
/s)
Carrier Diffusion
Diffusion current is due to the movement of the carriers from high
concentration region towards to low concentration region. As the
carriers diffuse, a diffusion current flows. The force behind the
diffusion current is the random thermal motion of carriers.
A concentration gradient produces a
pressure gradient which produces the force
on the charge carriers causing to move
them.
How can we produce a concentration gradient in a semiconductor?
1) By making a semiconductor or metal contact.
2) By illuminating a portion of the semiconductor with light.

Illuminating a portion of the semiconductor with light
By means of illumination, electron-hole pairs can
be produced when the photon energy>E
g.

So the increased number of electron-hole pairs
move towards to the lower concentration region until
they reach to their equilibrium values. So there is a
number of charge carriers crossing per unit area per
unit time, which is called as flux. Flux is proportional
to the concentration gradient, dn/dx.
n
dn
Flux D
dx
=
Flux
| |
| |
2 1
2
2
,
,
th
n n n
p p p
n p
Flux m s
D l D m s
The current densities for electrons and holes
dn dn
J q D qD for electrons
dx dx
dp dp
J q D qD for holes
dx dx
J A m
v

=
= =
| |
= =
|
\ .
| |
= + =
|
\ .
( ( =

Diffusion Examples
Non-linear concentration profile
varying diffusion current
L
N
qD
dx
dp
qD J
p
p diff p
=
=

,
d d
p
p diff p
L
x
L
N qD
dx
dp
qD J

=
=
exp
,
Linear concentration profile
constant diffusion current
d
L
x
N p

= exp
|
.
|

\
|
=
L
x
N p 1
Diffusion Current
Diffusion current within a semiconductor consists of hole
and electron components:





The total current flowing in a semiconductor is the sum
of drift current and diffusion current:
) (

,
, ,
dx
dp
D
dx
dn
D q J
dx
dn
qD J
dx
dp
qD J
p n diff tot
n diff n p diff p
=
= =
diff n diff p drift n drift p tot
J J J J J
, , , ,
+ + + =
Total Current Density
When both electric field (gradient of electric potential) and
concentration gradient present, the total current density ;
n n n
p p p
total n p
dn
J q nE qD
dx
dp
J q pE qD
dx
J J J

= +
=
= +
Einstein Relation
Einstein relation relates the two independent current
mechanicms of mobility with diffusion;
p
n
n p
D
D kT kT
and for electrons and holes
q q
= =
Constant value at a fixed temperature
( )( )
2
2
/
sec
sec
J K K
cm kT
volt volt
cm V q C
= = =

25
kT
mV at room temperature
q
=
Generation & Recombination
Generation is the process whereby electrons and holes
are created.
Recombination is the process whereby electrons and
holes are annihilated.
In thermal equilibrium we have electrons breaking out of
covalent bonds due to the acquisition of enough thermal
energy to hop from the valence to the conduction band.
This creates both a free electron and a free hole
(generation).
Free electrons that lose some of their thermal energy
when they encounter a hole and fall back into covalent
bond (recombination).
Generation & Recombination
Given that thermally generated free electrons and holes must come in pairs
0 0 p n
G G =
and they will also recombine in pairs so
0 0 p n
R R =
In thermal equilibrium the total number of free electrons and holes is
constant so the rates at which they are being generated must be equal to
the rates at which they are recombining.
0 0 0 0 p n p n
R R G G = = =
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