Compound Semiconductors: Such as :-Gallium Arsenide (GaAs),

Cadmium Sulphide (CdS),

Gallium Arsenide Phosphide (GaAsP),
Gallium Nitride (GaN) etc
Forbidden Gap/Energy Gap
What Is meant by Fermi level in semiconductor? Derive the
expression for it.
Ans. Fermi level in semiconductor can be defined as the maximum
energy that an in a semiconductor have at zero degree absolute.

Assumption is the width. of energy bands are small in comparison to

forbidden energy gap between them, all levels in a band have the
same energy, energies of all levels in valence band are and energies
of all levels in conduction band are
Now no. of
in conduction band,
where P ( ) represents probability of an e having energy .
determined by Fermi-Dirac probability distribution function

where P(E) is probability of finding an

So

Now no. of

may be

..(1)
having energy E.

in valence band,

The probability P(0) of an

being found in the valence band with zero
energy can be determined by putting E = 0 in (1).

So

Or

i.e. in an intrinsic semiconductor, the Fermi level lies midway between

the conduction and valence bands.
What do you mean by Fermi level ? Derive the expression for
Fermi level and sketch the position of intrinsic, P-type and Ntype semiconductor.
Ans. Fermi level can be defined as the maximum energy that an
semiconductor have at zero degree absolute.
Fermi Dirac probability function

in a

where K is boltzmann constant and is the Fermi level in eV.

Concentration of free
(it) and of holes (P) are given as

where
is the no. of
in conduction band,
is the no. of
in the
valence band, is the lowest energy in conduction band in eV and is
the maximum energy of valence band in eV.
The only parameter that changes with the addition of impurity is fermi
level .
In an intrinsic semiconductor it lies in the middle of the energy gap,
indicating equal concentrations of free
and holes.

When donor type impurity is added to the crystal, then at a given

temperature and assuming all donor atoms, the first
states in the
conduction band be filled. Hence it is difficult for
from valence band
to bridge the energy gap by the thermal generation. No. of hole pairs
thermally generated are reduced. EF must be more closer to
conduction band to indicate that many of energy states in that band
are filled by donor
and fewer holes exist in valence band. This is the
position for fermi level in N-type semiconductor.
Similarly must move down from the centre of the forbidden gap
closer to the valence band for a P-type extrinsic semiconductor.

In insulator, the forbidden gap is very large up to 7eV while

in semiconductors it is up to 1eV
The conductivity of intrinsic semiconductor is very less. The
properties like conductivity can be changed by adding
impurity to the intrinsic semiconductor. The process of
adding impurity is called doping.
A semiconductor doped with trivalent impurity atoms forms
p-type material. It is called acceptor impurity with
concentration NA atoms per unit volume.
A semiconductor doped with pentavalent impurity atoms
forms n-type material. It is called donor impurity with
concentration ND atoms per unit volume.
In p-type, holes are majority carriers and in n-type electrons
are majority carriers.

When a material is subjected to electric field, electrons move in a

particular direction with steady speed called drift speed and
current drift current
Negative Temperature Coefficient: Those parameters
decreasing with the temperature have negative temperature
coefficient, e.g., energy gap (Eg).
where,
constant 0

= 2.2 104 (for Ge)

= 3.6 104 (for Si)

Mobility (),
Tm
Positive Temperature Coefficient: Those parameters
increasing with temperature have positive temperature coefficient
Important terms:
Drift velocity
V

=E

Current density
J=nqE
Conductivity
=nq
Concentration of free electrons per unit volume

Semiconductor conductivity
= (n n + p p)q
In intrinsic semiconductor, n = p = n i
Hence, conductivity
i = n i (

+ p)q

 Intrinsic concentration n

In extrinsic semiconductor,
The conductivity is given by,
For n-type,
n = (n n
For p-type,
n = (n p

+ p n p)q

+ p p p)q

ND = Concentration of donor impurity

NA = Concentration of acceptor impurity
N p = Number of electrons (concentration) in p-type
P p = Number of holes (concentration) in p-type and
But in n-type p n < < n n
n n ND
while in p-type n p < < p p and
p p NA
Hence, conductivity can be calculated as,
n = N D n q and
p = N A pq
Mass-action law
np =
In n-type,
n n pn =
hence

In p-type,

pp. np =

hence

Carrier Transpor
Diffusion Current: Diffusion is defined as the migration of
charge carriers from higher concentration to lower
concentration. Due to this non-uniform concentration, there
exists a current called diffusion current. The diffusion current
depends on concentration gradient

Diffusion Current Density: The diffusion current density is

given by,

Dp and Dn are called diffusion constants

Drift Current: In open circuit, continuously graded
semiconductor diffusion current exists. But net current is
zero. So there exist drift current in opposite direction of
diffusion current to cancel it.
Note: To have drift current exists a potential internally
generated. This indicates that non-uniform doping of bar,
results in the induced voltage.
Einsteins Relation: In a semiconductor, this relation gives
the relationship between diffusion constant, mobility and
thermal voltage.

VT = KT and is 26mV at 27C

Mobility:
The electron mobility and hole mobility have a similar doping
dependence:
For low doping concentrations, the mobility is almost
constant and is primarily limited by phonon scattering.
At higher doping concentrations, the mobility decreases due
to ionized impurity scattering with the ionized doping atoms.
The actual mobility also depends on the type of dopant.
Mobility is linked to the total number of ionized impurities or
the sum of the donor and acceptor densities.
The minority carrier mobility also depends on the total
impurity density.
The minority-carrier mobility can be approximated by the
majority-carrier mobility in a material with the same number
of impurities.
The mobility at a particular doping density is obtained from the
following empiric expression:

Resistivity:
The resistivity is defined as the inverse of the conductivity.
The conductivity of a material is defined as the current
density divided by the applied electric field. Since the

current density equals the product of the charge of the

mobile carriers.
To include the contribution of electrons as well as holes to
the conductivity, we add the current density due to holes to
that of the electrons.
or:

The conductivity due to electrons and holes is then obtained

from:

The resistivity is:

Integrated Circuit Components