Lecture 4: Equilibrium

Carrier Statistics
ECE5590: Nanoscale Devices and
circuits
Mostafizur Rahman
rahmanmo@umkc.edu

Recap

ECE5590 Fall 2015 MR

Recap
So far, we saw how to calculate bands for solids
Kronig-Penny was a simple example
Real bandstructures more complex

Often look like free electrons with effective mass m

ECE 663

Outline

Density of States
Fermi Dirac Statistics
Doping
Conclusions

ECE5590 Fall 2015 MR

Equilibrium Carrier Statistics

Electrons and holes are called carriers
because they are charged particles when
they move, they carry current
Equilibrium is the condition that prevails when
the semiconductor is left unperturbed from
external stimuli (i.e., voltage, light, etc)
Carrier populations depend on
Number of available energy states (density of
states)
statistical distribution of energies (Fermi-Dirac
function)

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Density of States

How many states are there in

a band? N

How many are occupied upto

E?

Or
How many states per unit
Energy? (DOS)

ECE5590 Fall 2015 MR

Density of States
E
dEdE
dk
x x x x x x x xkx
2/Na /a

ECE5590 Fall 2015 MR

Density of States
E
dEdE
dk
x x x x x x x xkx
Pi/a

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Graphical Representation

E
dEdE
dk
x x x x x x x xkx
k
For 1D parabolic bands, DOS peaks at edges
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1D-DOS

M. Alam, ECE 606 Purdue

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3D-DOS

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3-D DOS

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DOS for Real Semiconductor

(GaAs)

M. Alam, ECE 606 Purdue

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DOS for Real Semiconductor

(GaAs)

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DOS for Real Crystals

M. Alam, ECE 606 Purdue

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Outline

Density of States
Fermi Dirac Statistics
Doping
Conclusions

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What is Fermi-Dirac
Function?

Find number of carriers in CB/VB - need to know

Number of available energy states (g(E))
Probability that a given state is occupied (f(E))

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Fermi-Dirac Function
Fermi-Dirac function derived from
statistical mechanics of free
particles with three assumptions:
1.Pauli Exclusion Principle each
allowed state can accommodate only
one electron
2.The total number of electrons is fixed
N=Ni
3.The total energy is fixed ETOT = EiNi
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The Fermi Function

Probability distribution function
(PDF)
The probability that an available
state at an energy E will be
occupied by an e-

f E

E
Ef

k
=
=
T

Kelvins)

1 e

E E f

f(E)
1

kT

Energy level of interest

Fermi level
Halfway point
Where f(E) = 0.5
Boltzmann constant
1.3810-23 J/K
8.61710-5 eV/K
Absolute temperature (in

0.5

Ef

The Fermi function at three different

temperatures.

http://ecee.colorado.edu/~bart/book/book/chapter2/ch
2_5.htm

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Carrier Concentrations
Number of electrons in conduction band
Etop

n g c (E )f (E )dE
Ec

El. Density

State
Occupancy
Density per state

And number of holes in valence band

Ev

p gv (E )1 f (E )dE
Ebottom

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Carrier Concentration

M. Alam, ECE 606 Purdue

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Fermi Dirac Statistics

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Boltzmann Distribution

Fermi dirac integral of

order half can be
approximated by
exp()
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Effective Density of States

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Outline

Density of States
Fermi Dirac Statistics
Doping
Conclusions

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Intrinsic Semiconductor
Silicon has 4 outer
shell / valence
electrons

Forms into a lattice

structure to share
electrons

Intrinsic Silicon
The valence band is full,
and no electrons are free
to move about
EC

EV

However, at temperatures
above T=0K, thermal
energy shakes an electron
free

Semiconductor Properties
For T > 0K
Electron shaken free and
can cause current to flow

h+

Generation Creation of an
electron (e-) and hole (h+) pair
h+ is simply a missing electron,
which leaves an excess positive
charge (due to an extra proton)
Recombination if an e- and an
h+ come in contact, they
annihilate each other
Therefore, semiconductors can
conduct electricity for T > 0K
but not much current (at room
temperature (300K), pure
silicon has only 1 free electron
per 3 trillion atoms)

Doping
Doping Adding impurities to the
silicon crystal lattice to increase the
number of carriers
Add a small number of atoms to
increase either the number of
electrons or holes

Periodic Table
Column 3
Elements have
3 electrons in
the Valence
Shell

Column 4
Elements have 4
electrons in the
Valence Shell

Column 5
Elements have
5 electrons in
the Valence
Shell

Donors n-Type Material

Donates an extra ethat can freely travel
around
Leaves behind a
positively charged
nucleus (cannot move)
Overall, the crystal is
still electrically neutral
Called n-type material
(added negative
carriers)
Mobility?

Acceptors Make p-Type Material

h+

Add atoms with only 3

valence-band
electrons ex. Boron (B)
Accepts e and
provides extra h+ to
freely travel around
Leaves behind a
negatively charged
nucleus (cannot move)
Overall, the crystal is
still electrically neutral
Called p-type silicon
(added positive
carriers)
Mobility?

Band Diagrams (Revisited)

E

EC
Ef

Eg

EV
0.5

f(E)

EC

Conduction band
Lowest energy state for a free electron
Electrons in the conduction band means current can flow

EV

Valence band
Highest energy state for filled outer shells
Virtually all of the
Holes in the valence band means current can flow

Ef

Fermi Level
Shows the likely distribution of electrons

EG

valence-band energy
levels are filled with e Virtually no e- in the
conduction band

Band gap
Difference in energy levels between EC and EV
No electrons (e-) in the bandgap (only above EC or below EV)
EG = 1.12eV in Silicon

Effect of Doping on Fermi

Level
Ef is a function of the impurity-doping level

EC
Ef
EV
0.5

f(E)

High probability of a free e- in the conduction band

Moving Ef closer to EC (higher doping) increases the number of available
majority carriers

Effect of Doping on Fermi

Level
Ef is a function of the impurity-doping level
1 f E
EC

Ef
EV
0.5

f(E)

Low probability of a free e- in the conduction band

High probability of h+ in the valence band
Moving Ef closer to EV (higher doping) increases the number of available
majority carriers
Dr. Ethan Farquhar, university of tennassee

Revisiting Boltzmann
Distribution

Fermi level
within 3KT:
degenerate
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Intrinsic Semiconductor (Law of

Mass Action)
n=p=
ni

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Charge Neutrality
/ k 0

Poissons Equation relating

charge density to electric
field

In equilibrium, E=0 and =0

q p n ND N A-
p n ND N A- 0

ECE 663

Charge Neutrality
Relationship

Summary
DOS allows us to know possible states
The Fermi-Dirac distribution helps us fill
these states
For non-degenerate semiconductors, we get
simple
formulae for n and p at equilibrium in terms
of Ei and EF, with EF determined by doping
Next-> non equilibrium states
Suggested Reading: Chapter 4 (Advanced
Semiconductor Fundamentals)