Semiconductor Materials

Semiconductor Materials
Electronics Engineering (KOE038)
By:
Priyanka Sharma,
Asstt. Professor, EIE Deptt. GCET, Greater Noida
• Solid-state materials can be categorized into
three classes - insulators, semiconductors, and
conductors.
• Semiconductor are a group of materials having
electrical conductivities intermediate between
metal and insulator.
• The conductivity of these material can be
varied by changes in temperature, optical
excitation and impurity content.
• This variability of electrical properties makes
the semiconductor materials natural choices
for electronic device investigation.
Classification of semiconductor
materials
• Compound and Elemental
• Intrinsic and Extrinsic
• P-type and N-type
Compound and Elemental
• Semiconductor materials are found in column IV and
neighboring column of periodic table.
• The column IV semiconductor are called elemental
semiconductor because they are composed of single
species of atom.
• In addition to elemental material , compounds of
column III and V also can make up compound
semiconductor.
• The elemental semiconductor Ge was widely used in
the early days of semiconductor development for
transistors and diodes.
• Silicon is now used majority in transistors , rectifiers
and integrated circuits.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic
• For semiconductor materials, the periodicity of
the structure does not change significantly with
the addition of impurities in the doping process.
• The electronic and optical properties of
semiconductor are strongly affected by impurity.
• The impurities can be used to vary the
conductivities of semiconductor over wide ranges
and even alter the nature of the conduction. i.e. –
ve charge carrier to +ve charge carrier.
• A semiconductor MATERIAL THAT HAS been
subjected to the doping process is CALLED AN
extrinsic MATERIAL.
• Intrinsic MATERIALS ARe those semiconductors
THAT HAVE been CARefully refined to reduce the
impurities to A very low level—ESSENTIALLY AS
pure AS CAN be MADE AVAILABLE through modern
technology.
Atomic Structure
• The atoms of Ge and Si form a very definite
pattern that is periodic in nature.
• One complete pattern is called a crystal and
the periodic arrangement of the atoms a
lattice.
• Any material composed solely of repeating
crystal structures of the same kind is called a
single-crystal structure.
Contd…
• The atom is composed of three basic particles: the electron,
the proton, and the neutron.
• The neutrons and protons form the nucleus, while the
electrons revolve around the nucleus in a fixed orbit.
• Ge-32 orbiting electrons, Si-14 orbiting electrons (Figure 1).
• 4 electrons in the outermost (valence) shell.
• The potential (ionization potential) required to remove any
one of these 4 valence electrons is lower than that required
for any other electron in the structure.
• In a pure germanium or silicon crystal these 4 valence
electrons are bonded to 4 adjoining atoms (Figure 2).
• A bonding of ATOMS, strengthened by the SHARING of
electrons, is CALLED covalent bonding.
Figure 1. Atomic structure:
Figure 2. Covalent bonding of the
(a) germanium;
silicon atom.
(b) silicon.
• Although the covalent bond will result in a
stronger bond between the valence electrons
and their parent atom, it is still possible for
the valence electrons to absorb sufficient
kinetic energy from natural causes to break
the covalent bond and assume the “free”
state.
• An incrEASE in TEMPERATURe of A SEMICONDUCTOR
CAN result in A SUBSTANTIAL in- crEASE in the
number of free electrons in the MATERIAL.
• Semiconductor MATERIALS such AS ge AND si THAT
show A reduction in resis- TANCE with incrEASE
in TEMPERATURe ARe SAID to HAVE A NEGATIVE
TEMPERATURe coefficient.
Energy levels
• Each material have its own set of permissible
energy levels for the electrons in its atomic
structure.
• The more DISTANT the electron from the
nucleus, the higher the energy STATE, AND ANY
electron THAT HAS left its PARent ATOM HAS A
higher energy STATE THAN ANY electron in the
ATOMIC structure
• At 0 K or absolute zero all the valence electrons
of semiconductor materials find themselves
locked in their outermost shell of the atom with
energy levels associated with the valence band.
• However, at room temperature (300 K) a large
number of valence electrons have acquired
sufficient energy to leave the valence band, cross
the energy gap defined by Eg.
N-type and Ptype
• The n-type is created by introducing those impurity
elements that have five valence electrons
(pentavalent), such as antimony, arsenic, and
phosphorus. The effect of such impurity elements is
indicated in Figure 1.9
• Diffused impurities with five VALENCE electrons ARe
CALLED donor ATOMS.
• Even though a large number of “free” carriers have
been established in the n-type material, it is still
electrically neutral since ideally the number of
positively charged protons in the nuclei is still equal to
the number of “free” and orbiting negatively charged
electrons in the structure.
• The p-type material is formed by doping a
pure germanium or silicon crystal with
impurity atoms having three valence
electrons. The elements most frequently used
for this purpose are boron, gallium, and
indium.
• The diffused impurities with three VALENCE
electrons ARe CALLED ACCEPTOR ATOMS
Electron vs. Hole flow
• If a valence electron acquires sufficient kinetic
energy to break its covalent bond and fills the
vacancy created by a hole, then a vacancy, or
hole, will be created in the covalent bond that
released the electron. There is, therefore, a
transfer of holes to the left and electrons to
the right, as shown in Fig. 1.12.
Majority and Minority carriers
• In AN n-type MATERIAL (Fig. 1.13A) the electron
is CALLED the MAJORITY CARrier AND the hole the
minority CARrier.
• In A p-type MATERIAL the hole is the MAJORITY
CARrier AND the electron is the minority CARrier.

Semiconductor Materials

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Semiconductor Materials

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Semiconductor Materials

Electronics Engineering (KOE038)

You might also like