Characteristics of Si ( a semiconductor)

Pure Si has a relatively high electrical resistivity By adding ppm level of special impurities (dopant), resistivity can be lowered by many orders of magnitude There are two types of mobile carriers (electrons and holes) in Si : Donor dopants will increase the electron concentration ; Acceptor dopants will increase the hole concentration. The work function of Si depends on mobile carrier concentrations Regions of Si with different work function will develop a built-in electric potential difference ( 1volt) Mobile carrier concentration can be modulated many orders of magnitude with built-in or applied electric field

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

The Si Atom

The Si Crystal

High performance semiconductor devices require defectdefect-free crystals

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Representation of Crystallographic Planes by Miller Indices

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

Silicon Crystal

<100>
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

<110>
Viewing Direction

<111>
EE143 Lecture # 4

Intrinsic Si

ni (Si) ~ 1.5 E10 /cm3 at room temp

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Silicon Electrical Properties Modified by Dopants

n-type P, As ,Sb
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

p-type B, Al, Ga
EE143 Lecture # 4

Dopants in Semiconductors

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

Energy Band Description of Electrons and Holes Contributed by Donors and Acceptors
EC = bottom of conduction band EV = top of valence band ED = Donor energy level EA = Acceptor energy level At room temperature, the dopants of interest are essentially fully ionized

Donors

Acceptors

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

Carrier Concentrations
n: electron concentration (cm-3) p : hole concentration (cm-3) ND: donor concentration (cm-3) NA: acceptor concentration (cm-3) ND + p = NA + n Charge Neutrality Condition

At thermal equilibrium, np = ni2 Law of Mass Action :

Carrier conc depends on (ND - NA) !!!

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

Carrier Mobility
|Velocity ( v) | = Mobility() Electric Field (E)
Electron current density

Jn = ( -q)nv = qn nE

Jp = (+q)pv = qp pE p

Hole current density

Mobility depends on (ND + NA) !!!

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Electrical Resistivity (in ohm-cm)

= 1/ (qnn + qpp)
1/ qp p for p-type 1/ qn n for n-type

Note This chart assumes the starting Si contains no dopant

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

Example (1) 1015/cm3 Boron added to pure Si NA = 1015/cm3 , ND = 0 Si is p-type Therefore p 1015/cm3 , n 2 105/cm3 Resistivity = 1/ (qn n + qpp) 1/ qp p = 1/ (1.6 E-19 1E15 470) = 13.3 -cm Here , we use p = 470 cm2/volt-sec from the p vs total conc curve
Example (2) 1017/cm3 Arsenic added to sample described in Example (1)

NA = 1015/cm3 , ND = 1017/cm3 Si is n-type Therefore n 1017/cm3 , p 2 103/cm3 Resistivity = 1/ (qn n + qpp) 1/ qn n = 1/ (1.6 E-19 1E17 720) = 0.087 -cm Here , we use n = 720 cm2/volt-sec from the n vs total conc curve
The p-type Si is converted to n-type by adding more donors than original acceptors Dopant Compensation
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Resistance
I
W

V +

* if is homogeneous t

R = L / (W t) where = resistivity

Sheet Resistance (in ohms/square)

Rs / t is the resistance when W = L
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Resistance and Sheet Resistance

R = Rs L W

1mile
1 m

R = Rs

L 1 m

R = Rs

1mile

R~ 2.6R s 2R s (1/2 )R s
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

R=4R s

How to find n, p and E f when all the donors and acceptors are fully ionized

B, As and P are essentially 100% ionized at room temperature. Since Nd and N a are given (they are fixed by the device fabrication procedures) , the following approach will give n, p and Ef .

Solve for p and n

Find E f from either of the following relationship:

Ec q| F | Ei Ev Ef (n-type) Ef (p-type)

n p = N d -N a pn = n i2

(1) (2) E f - E i = kT ln(n/ n i) E i -E f = kT ln(p/ n i)

(i) If N d -N a > 10 n i : n N d -N a (ii) If N a - N d > 10 n i : p N a- Nd No need to use Equations (1) and (2)

E f is called the Fermi level E i is the Fermi level for pure Si

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Dependence of Fermi Level with Doping Concentration

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

Built-in Potential Difference across a PN Junction

The Fermi level E f is spatially invariant at thermal equilibrium

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Summary of Semiconductor Terminology

intrinsic semiconductor: undoped semiconductor
electrical properties are native to the material

extrinsic semiconductor: doped semiconductor

electrical properties controlled by the added impurity atoms

d o n o r : impurity atom that increases the electron concentration

group V elements (P, As)

acceptor : impurity atom that increases the hole concentration

group III elements(B)

n-type material: semiconductor containing more electrons than holes p-type material: semiconductor containing more holes than electrons majority carrier : the most abundant carrier in a semiconductor sample minority carrier : the least abundant carrier in a semiconductor sample
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

DEVICE ISOLATION METHODS

(1) PN Junction Isolation

Device 1 p Cross-section n p p-sub Device 2 n

gio e r ion t e l dep

p

p n Top View n p n n I +

conducting + V Non-conducting

Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

EE143 Lecture # 4

(2) Oxide Isolation

Device 1 SiO 2 n p-sub SiO 2 Device 2 n SiO 2 pn junction

(3) Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI)

Device 1 <Si> Device 2 <Si> Dielectric Substrate. e.g. SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

Contacts to Si
(a) Tunneling Ohmic Contact
Quantum tunneling Very narrow depletion region width

n+ Si M Ec

metal SiO 2 n+
e

10 20 - 10 21 /cm 3 Ev Al SiO 2 p+ V I

n-Si

p-Si
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley EE143 Lecture # 4

(b) Schottky Contacts

I Al SiO 2 n-Si conducting Schottky Rectifying contact V Non-conducting I Al SiO 2 p-Si
Professor Nathan Cheung, U.C. Berkeley

Schottky Ohmic contact

Moderate conductive V Moderate Conductive

EE143 Lecture # 4