Properties of

Semiconductors
 Semiconductor materials
• Element : Si, Ge
• IV compounds : SiC, SiGe
• III-V compounds: AIP, AlAs, AlSb, GaN,GaP,
GaAs, GaSb, InP, InAs, InSb
• II-VI: SnS, ZnSe, ZnTe, CdS, CdSe, CdTe
• LED(GaN, GaP, GaAs), Three-elements(GaAsP,
InGaAsP), Fluorescent(II-VI, ZnS), Light
detector(InSb, CdSe), PbTe, HgCdTe, Si, Ge)
II III IV V VI

B C Carbon
N O
Boron Nitrogen Oxygen

Al Si P S
Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur

Zn Ga Ge As Se
Zinc Galium Germanium Arsenic Selenium

Cd In Sn Tin
Sb Te
Cadmium Indium Antimony Tellurium
 ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION
• Ohm's Law:
DV = I R
voltage drop (volts) resistance (Ohms)
current (amps)
A
(cross e- I
sect.
area) V
L

• Resistivity, r and Conductivity, s:

--geometry-independent forms of Ohm's Law
E: electric V I resistivity
field
  (Ohm-m)
L A
intensity J: current density
L L I
• Resistance: R   conductivity 
A A 

3
 Resistivity and Conductivity as charged
particles

V
mobility, m = Where V is the average d
E velocity t

Vis the average distance between

collisions,
divided by the average time between
collisions,

d
V  t
t
d
 CONDUCTION IN TERMS OF ELECTRON AND
HOLE MIGRATION
• Concept of electrons and holes:
valence electron hole electron hole
electron Si atom
pair creation pair migration

+ - + -

no applied applied applied

electric field electric field electric field

• Electrical Conductivity given by:

  n e e  p e h hole mobility

# electrons/m3 # holes/m3
electron mobility

11
Simple representation of silicon atoms bonded in a crystal.
The dotted areas are covalent or shared electron bonds.
The electronic structure of a single Si atom is shown
conceptually on the right. The four outermost electrons are
the valence electrons that participate in covalent bonds.

Electron (-) and hold (+) pair

generation represented by a broken
bond in the crystal. Both carriers are
mobile and can carry current.
Portion of the periodic table relevant
to semiconductor materials and
doping. Elemental semiconductors
are in column IV. Compound
semiconductors are combinations of
elements from columns III and V, or
II and VI.
 CONDUCTION & ELECTRON TRANSPORT
• Metals:
-- Thermal energy puts - +
many electrons into
a higher energy state. net e - flow
• Energy States: Energy
-- the cases below
for metals show empty
that nearby band
energy states filled
are accessible valence

filled states
band
by thermal
fluctuations.
filled
band

6
 ENERGY STATES: INSULATORS AND
SEMICONDUCTORS
• Insulators: • Semiconductors:
--Higher energy states not --Higher energy states
accessible due to gap. separated by a smaller gap.
Energy Energy
empty
band empty
? band
GAP
GAP
filled filled
valence valence
filled states

filled states
band band

filled filled
band band

7
 CONDUCTIVITY: COMPARISON
-1
• Room T values (Ohm-m)
METALS conductors CERAMICS
Silver 6.8 x 10 7 Soda-lime glass 10 -10
Copper 6.0 x 10 7 Concrete 10 -9
Iron 1.0 x 10 7 Aluminum oxide <10 -13

SEMICONDUCTORS POLYMERS
Silicon 4 x 10 -4 Polystyrene <10 -14
Germanium 2 x 10 0 Polyethylene 10 -15 -10 -17
GaAs 10 -6
semiconductors insulators

4
 PURE SEMICONDUCTORS: CONDUCTIVITY VS T

• Data for Pure Silicon:  E gap / 2 kT

 undoped  e
--s increases with T
--opposite to metals Energy
electrical conductivity,  empty
(Ohm-m) -1 ? band
10 4 GAP
electrons
10 3 filled can cross
valence

filled states
10 2 gap at
band
higher T
10 1
filled
10 0 pure band
(undoped)
10 -1
material band gap (eV)
10 -2
50 10 0 1000 Si 1.11
T(K) Ge 0.67
GaP 2.25
CdS 2.40
10
 Doping of group IV semiconductors
using elements from arsenic (As, V)
or boron (B, III)
Intrinsic carrier concentration vs.
temperature.
 INTRINSIC VS EXTRINSIC CONDUCTION
• Intrinsic:
# electrons = # holes (n = p)
--case for pure Si
• Extrinsic:
--n ≠ p
--occurs when impurities are added with a different
# valence electrons than the host (e.g., Si atoms)
• N-type Extrinsic: (n >> p) • P-type Extrinsic: (p >> n)
Phosphorus atom Boron atom
hole
4+ 4+ 4+ 4+ conduction 4+ 4+ 4+ 4+
electron
  n e e 4 + 5+ 4 + 4 + 4+ 3+ 4+ 4+   p e h
valence
4+ 4+ 4+ 4+ electron 4+ 4+ 4+ 4+
no applied Si atom no applied
electric field electric field
12
 Equations describing Intrinsic and
Extrinsic conduction
Using the Fermi-Dirac equation, we can find the number of charge carrier per
unit volume as:
Ne = Noexp(-Eg/2kT)

No is a preexponential function,
Eg is the band-gap energy and
k is Boltzman’s constant (8.62 x 10-5 eV/K)

If Eg > ~2.5 eV the material is an insulator

If 0 < Eg < ~2.5 eV the material is a semi-conductor

Semi-conductor conductivity can be expressed by:

s(T) = so exp(-E*/nkT)

E* is the relevant gap energy (Eg, Ec-Ed or Ea)

n is 2 for intrinsic semi-conductivity and 1 for extrinsic semi-
conductivity
 Dopant designations and
concentrations

Resistivity as a function of
charge mobility and number

When we add carriers by doping, the number of additional carrers, Nd, far
exceeds those in an intrinsic semiconductor, and we can treat conductivity as
s = 1/r= qmdNd
 Simple band and bond representations of pure
silicon. Bonded electrons lie at energy levels
below Ev; free electrons are above Ec. The
process of intrinsic carrier generation is
illustrated in each model.

Simple band and bond representations of doped

silicon. EA and ED represent acceptor and donor
energy levels, respectively. P- and N-type
doping are illustrated in each model, using As as
the donor and B as the acceptor
 Behavior of free carrier concentration
versus temperature. Arsenic in silicon is
qualitatively illustrated as a specific
example (ND = 1015 cm-3). Note that at high
temperatures ni becomes larger than 1015
doping and n≈ni. Devices are normally
operated where n = ND+. Fabrication occurs
as temperatures where n≈ni

Probability of an electron occupying

a state. Fermi energy represents the
energy at which the probability of
occupancy is exactly ½.

Fermi level position in an undoped (left),

N-type (center) and P-type (right)
semiconductor. The dots represent free
electrons, the open circles represent
mobile holes.
The density of allowed states at an
energy E.

Integrating the product of the probability of occupancy with the density of

allowed states gives the electron and hole populations in a semiconductor
crystal.
 Effective Mass
In general, the curve of Energy vs. k is non-
linear, with E increasing as k increases.
E = ½ mv2 = ½ p2/m = h2/4pm k2
We can see that energy varies inversely with
mass. Differentiating E wrt k twice, and
solving for mass gives:

2
h Effective mass is significant because it
m 
*
2
affects charge carrier mobility, and
d E must be considered when calculating
2 2
carrier concentrations or momentum
dk
Substituting the results from the previous slide into the expression for the
product of the number of holes and electrons gives us the equation above.
Writing NC and NV as a function of ni and substituting gives the equation
below for the number of holes and electrons:
 In general, the number of electron
donors plus holes must equal the
number of electron acceptors plus
electrons

The energy band gap gets smaller with

increasing temperature.

Fermi level position in the forbidden band for a

given doping level as a function of temperature.
 In reality, band structures are highly
dependent upon crystal orientation. This
image shows us that the lowest band gap
in Si occurs along the [100] directions,
while for GaAs, it occurs in the [111]. This
is why crystals are grown with specific
orientations.

The diagram showing the

constant energy surface
(3.10 (b)), shows us that
the effective mass varies
with direction. We can
calculate average effective
mass from:

1 1 1 2 
*
   
mn 3  ml mt 
 As the distance between
atoms decreases, the
energy of each orbital
must split, since
according to Quantum
Mechanics we cannot
have two orbitals with
the same energy.

The splitting results in “bands” of

electrons. The energy difference
between the conduction and valence
bands is the “gap energy” We must
supply this much energy to elevate an
electron from the valence band to the
conduction band. If Eg is < 2eV, the
material is a semiconductor.
 Common semiconductor crystal structures
• The most common crystal structure among frequently used
semiconductors is the diamond lattice
• Each atom in the diamond lattice has a covalent bond with four
adjacent atoms, which together form a tetrahedron.
• This lattice can also be formed from two face-centered-cubic lattices,
which are displaced along the body diagonal of the larger cube in Figure
by one quarter of that body diagonal. The diamond lattice therefore is a
face-centered-cubic lattice with a basis containing two identical atoms.

The diamond lattice of Si(silicon) and Ge(germanium)

 zinc-blend crystal structure
• Compound semiconductors such as GaAs and InP have a crystal structure
that is similar to that of diamond. However, the lattice contains two different
types of atoms.

• Each atom still has four covalent bonds, but these are bonds to atoms of the
other type. This structure is referred to as the zinc-blend lattice, named after
zinc-blend crystal (ZnS) as shown in Figure

The zinc-blend crystal structure of GaAs and InP.

The cubic crystals are characterized by a single parameter,
the lattice constant a,
 Production : Starting material Si

• Silicon is commercially prepared by the reaction of high-purity

silica in an electric arc furnace using carbon electrodes. At
temperatures over 1,900 ℃, the carbon reduces the silica to
silicon according to the chemical equation
– SiO2 + C → Si + CO2.
– SiO2 + 2C → Si + 2CO.
 Form of metallurgical grade Si (MGS)
• In the Siemens process, high-purity silicon rods are exposed to
trichlorosilane at 1150 °C. The trichlorosilane gas decomposes and deposits
additional silicon onto the rods, enlarging them according to chemical
reactions like

– 2 HSiCl3 → Si + 2 HCl + SiCl4.

• Silicon produced from this and similar processes is called polycrystalline

silicon. Polycrystalline silicon typically has impurity levels of less than 10−9.
Metallurgical grade Si (MGS) : thousand parts pet million ppm 1x1016 cm-3
Electronical grade Si (EGS) : : parts pet billion ppb 1x1013 cm-3

• In 2006 Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) announced construction of a

plant based on fluidized bed technology using silane.
– 3SiCl4 + Si + 2H2 → 4HSiCl3
– 4HSiCl3 → 3SiCl4 + SiH4
– SiH4 → Si + 2H2
Growth of Single crystal:
Czochralski process
Wafer
 Epitaxial Growth
• Epitaxy refers to the method of depositing
a monocrystalalline film on a
monocrystalline(single crystal) substrate.
• The deposited film is denoted as epitaxial
film or epitaxial layer. The term epitaxy
comes from the Greek roots epi, meaning
"above", and taxis, meaning "in ordered
manner". It can be translated "to arrange
upon".
Molecular Beam Epitaxy
 MBE
• Molecular beam epitaxy takes place in
high vacuum or ultra high vacuum (10−8
Pa).
• The most important aspect of MBE is the
slow deposition rate (typically less than
1000 nm per hour), which allows the films
to grow epitaxially.
• The slow deposition rates require
proportionally better vacuum to achieve
the same impurity levels as other
deposition techniques.
 Growth of semiconductor crystals

• The first transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories on December 16,

1947 by William Shockley (seated at Brattain's laboratory bench),
John Bardeen (left) and Walter Brattain (right).
• This was perhaps the most important electronics event of the 20th
century, as it later made possible the integrated circuit and
microprocessor that are the basis of modern electronics.
• Prior to the transistor the only alternative to its current regulation and
switching functions (TRANSfer resISTOR) was the vacuum tube,
which could only be miniaturized to a certain extent, and wasted a lot
of energy in the form of heat.
 P-N RECTIFYING JUNCTION
• Allows flow of electrons in one direction only (e.g., useful
to convert alternating current to direct current.
• Processing: diffuse P into one side of a B-doped crystal.
• Results:
+ p+-type
+
n-type
- -
--No applied potential:
+ + - - -
no net current flow.
--Forward bias: carrier
flow through p-type and
p -type + - n -type
+ + -
n-type regions; holes and ++- - -
electrons recombine at +-
p-n junction; current flows.
--Reverse bias: carrier
flow away from p-n junction; p -type n-type -
+
carrier conc. greatly reduced - + + - - +
at junction; little current flow. + + - -

14
 Sheet Resistivity
V EL L  L L
R= = =  = = s
I JA A t w w
Sheet resistivity is the
rs is the sheet resistivity resistivity divided by
the thickness of the
doped region, and is
L denoted W/□
w

If we know the area per square, the

resistance is  s  n squares  area / square
MSE-512
 Conductivity
Charge carriers follow a
random path unless an
external field is applied.
Then, they acquire a drift
velocity that is dependent
upon their mobility, mn and the
strength of the field, x
Vd = -mn x

The average drift velocity, vav is dependent

Upon the mean time between collisions, 2t
 Charge Flow and Current Density
Current density, J, is the rate at
which charges, cross any plane
perpendicular to the flow direction.
J = -nqvd = nqmnx = sx
n is the number of charges, and
-19
q is the charge (1.6 x 10 C)

The total current density depends upon the total charge

carriers, which can be ions, electrons, or holes
J = q(nmn + pmp) x

OHM’s Law: V = IR
Resistance, R(W) is an extrinsic quantity. Resistivity, r(Wm), is the
corresponding intrinsic property.
r= R*A/l
Conductivity, s, is the reciprocal of resistivity: s(Wm)-1 = 1/r
 What is a Semiconductor?
• Low resistivity => “conductor”
• High resistivity => “insulator”
• Intermediate resistivity => “semiconductor”
– conductivity lies between that of conductors and
insulators
– generally crystalline in structure for IC devices
• In recent years, however, non-crystalline semiconductors
have become commercially very important

polycrystalline amorphous crystalline

amorphous solid
• An amorphous solid is a soild in which there is no long-range order
of the positions of the atoms. (Solids in which there is long-range
atomic order are called crystalline solids or morphous.
• Most classes of solid materials can be found or prepared in an
amorphous form. For instance, common window glass is an
amorphous ceramic, many polymers (such as polystyrene) are
amorphous, and even foods such as cotton candy are amorphous
solids.

The amorphous structure of glassy Silica (SiO2).

No long range order is present,
however there is local ordering with respect to the
tetrahedral arrangement of Oxygen (O) atoms
around the Silicon (Si) atoms.
Polycrystalline
• Polycrystalline materials are solids that are composed of
many crystallites of varying size and orientation. The
variation in direction can be random (called random
texture) or directed, possibly due to growth and processing
conditions. Fiber texture is an example of the latter.
• Almost all common metals, and many ceramics are
polycrystalline. The crystallites are often referred to as
grains, however, powder grains are a different context.
Powder grains can themselves be composed of smaller
polycrystalline grains.
 Crystal Lattice
• In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a
unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal.
• A crystal structure is composed of a motif, a set of atoms
arranged in a particular way, and a lattice.
• Motifs are located upon the points of a lattice, which is an
array of points repeating periodically in three
dimensions. The points can be thought of as forming
identical tiny boxes, called unit cells, that fill the space of
the lattice.
• The lengths of the edges of a unit cell and the angles
between them are called the lattice parameters. The
symmetry properties of the crystal are embodied in its
space group. A crystal's structure and symmetry play a
role in determining many of its properties, such as
cleavage, electronic band structure, and optical
properties.
Two-dimensional lattice
• The Bravais lattices are the distinct lattice types,
which when repeated can fill the whole space. The
lattice can therefore be generated by three unit
vectors, and a set of integers k, l and m so
that each lattice point, identified by a vector , can be
obtained from:

• The construction of the lattice points based on a set

of unit vectors is illustrated.

The construction of lattice points using unit vectors

In two dimensions, there are five distinct Bravais
lattices, while in three dimensions there are fourteen.

The five Bravais lattices of two-dimensional crystals: (a)

square, (b) rectangular, (c) centered rectangular, (d)
hexagonal and (e) oblique
• Bravais lattices of two-dimensional
crystals
• a1 and a2 are the magnitudes of the unit
vectors and a is the angle between them
 Bravais lattices of three-dimensional crystals
• The fourteen lattices of three-dimensional crystals are
classified where a1, a2 and a3 are the magnitudes of the
unit vectors defining the traditional unit cell and a, b and g
are the angles between these unit vectors
 Cubic Lattice
• The cubic lattices are an important subset of these fourteen Bravais
lattices since a large number of semiconductors are cubic.
• The three cubic Bravais lattices are the simple cubic lattice, the body-
centered cubic lattice and the face-centered cubic lattice as shown
in Figure.
• Since all unit vectors identifying the traditional unit cell have the same
size, the crystal structure is completely defined by a single number.
This number is the lattice constant, a.
• The simple cubic (a), the body-centered cubic (b) and the face
centered cubic (c) lattice.
 The seven lattice systems
• These lattice systems are a grouping of
crystal structures according to the axial
system used to describe their lattice.
• Each lattice system consists of a set of
three axes in a particular geometrical
arrangement.
• There are seven lattice systems. They are
similar to but not quite the same as the
seven crystal systems and the six crystal
families.
  Miller indices
• Crystal planes of a crystal are characterized by their
Miller indices.
• The Miller indices are defined as the smallest possible
integers, which have the same ratios as the inverse of the
intersections of a given plane with a set of axis defined by
the unit vectors of that crystal.
• The intersections between the plane and the axis occur at
p, q, and r. The corresponding Miller indices are therefore
therefore

where A is an integer chosen such that the Miller indices are

the smallest possible integers. It should be noted that the
resulting Miller indices are the same for all parallel planes
of atoms in a crystal.
Intersections of a plane and the x, y and z axes, as used to determine the
Miller indices of the plane
Lattice plane
hexagonal
A diagram of a fluidized bed, including a particle force
balance and distributor plate designs
 DOPED SEMICON: CONDUCTIVITY VS T
• Data for Doped Silicon: • Comparison: intrinsic vs
--s increases doping extrinsic conduction...
--reason: imperfection sites --extrinsic doping level:
lower the activation energy to 1021/m3 of a n-type donor
produce mobile electrons. impurity (such as P).
--for T < 100K: "freeze-out"
10 4 thermal energy insufficient to


0.0052at%B
excite electrons.
10 3
--for 150K < T < 450K: "extrinsic"
electrical conductivity,

doped
10 2
(Ohm-m) -1

0.0013at%B --for T >> 450K: "intrinsic"

10 1

concentration (10 21 /m 3 )
doped
10 0 pure undoped
(undoped) 3
10 -1 conduction electron

freeze-out

extrinsic

in trinsic
2
10 -2
50 10 0 1000
1
T(K)
0 MSE-512
0 200 400 600 T(K)
13
Piezoelectrics
Field
 g
x = electric field
produced
s = applied
by stress: stress
Strain
produced  d E=Elastic
modulus
by field: d = piezoelectric
1 constant
Elastic E g = constant
modulus: gd

MSE-512
APPLIED MAGNETIC FIELD
• Created by current through a coil:

Applied N turns total

magnetic field H L = length of each turn

current I

• Relation for the applied magnetic field, H:

NI
H
L current

applied magnetic field

units = (ampere-turns/m)

2
 W ith
In A ir: Bo   o H
M agnetic Bo  o H (1   m )
mo=1.257 x 10-6 Wb/
/(-) (A-m) core:
MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY
• Measures the response of electrons to a magnetic
field.
• Electrons produce magnetic moments:
magnetic moments
electron electron

nucleus spin
Adapted from Fig. 20.4,
Callister 6e.

• Net magnetic moment:

--sum of moments from all electrons.
• Three types of response...

4
Magnetic domains align in
presence of magnetic field, H
Hysteresis Loop
Soft and Hard Magnetic Materials
Typical properties of soft and
hard magnetic materials
 MAGNETIC STORAGE
• Information is stored by magnetizing material.
• Head can... recording medium
--apply magnetic field H &
align domains (i.e.,
magnetize the medium).
--detect a change in the
magnetization of the recording head
medium.

• Two media types:

--Particulate: needle-shaped --Thin film: CoPtCr or CoCrTa
g-Fe2O3. +/- mag. moment alloy. Domains are ~ 10-30nm!
along axis. (tape, floppy) (hard drive)

~2.5 m ~60 nm

9
Magnetic Forces