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Densityofstates

PrinciplesofSemiconductorDevices
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B.VanZeghbroeck,2011

Chapter2:SemiconductorFundamentals
2.4Densityofstates
2.4.1.Calculationofthedensityofstates
2.4.2.Calculationofthedensityofstatesin1,2and3dimensions

Beforewecancalculatethedensityofcarriersinasemiconductor,wehavetofindthenumberofavailable
statesateachenergy.Thenumberofelectronsateachenergyisthenobtainedbymultiplyingthenumberof
stateswiththeprobabilitythatastateisoccupiedbyanelectron.Sincethenumberofenergylevelsisvery
largeanddependentonthesizeofthesemiconductor,wewillcalculatethenumberofstatesperunitenergy
andperunitvolume.

2.4.1Calculationofthedensityofstates

Thedensityofstatesinasemiconductorequalsthedensityperunitvolumeandenergyofthenumberof
solutionstoSchrdinger'sequation.Wewillassumethatthesemiconductorcanbemodeledasaninfinite
quantumwellinwhichelectronswitheffectivemass,m* ,arefreetomove.Theenergyinthewellissetto
zero.ThesemiconductorisassumedacubewithsideL.Thisassumptiondoesnotaffecttheresultsincethe
densityofstatesperunitvolumeshouldnotdependontheactualsizeorshapeofthesemiconductor.
Thesolutionstothewaveequation(equation1.2.14)whereV(x)=0aresineandcosinefunctions:
(2.4.1)
WhereAandBaretobedetermined.Thewavefunctionmustbezeroattheinfinitebarriersofthewell.Atx=
0thewavefunctionmustbezerosothatonlysinefunctionscanbevalidsolutionsorBmustequalzero.Atx=
L,thewavefunctionmustalsobezeroyieldingthefollowingpossiblevaluesforthewavenumber,kx.
(2.4.2)
Thisanalysiscannowberepeatedintheyandzdirection.Eachpossiblesolutionthencorrespondstoacube
inkspacewithsizen/LasindicatedonFigure2.4.1.

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Figure2.4.1:

Calculationofthenumberofstateswithwavenumberlessthank.

Thetotalnumberofsolutionswithadifferentvalueforkx,kyandkzandwithamagnitudeofthewavevector
lessthankisobtainedbycalculatingthevolumeofoneeighthofaspherewithradiuskanddividingitbythe
volumecorrespondingtoasinglesolution,

,yielding:
(2.4.3)

Afactoroftwoisaddedtoaccountforthetwopossiblespinsofeachsolution.Thedensityperunitenergyis
thenobtainedusingthechainrule:
(2.4.4)
ThekineticenergyEofaparticlewithmassm* isrelatedtothewavenumber,k,by:
(2.4.5)
Andthedensityofstatesperunitvolumeandperunitenergy,g(E),becomes:
(2.4.6)
Thedensityofstatesiszeroatthebottomofthewellaswellasfornegativeenergies.
Thesameanalysisalsoappliestoelectronsinasemiconductor.Theeffectivemasstakesintoaccountthe
effectoftheperiodicpotentialontheelectron.Theminimumenergyoftheelectronistheenergyatthe
bottomoftheconductionband,Ec,sothatthedensityofstatesforelectronsintheconductionbandisgiven
by:

(2.4.7)

Example2.3

Calculatethenumberofstatesperunitenergyina100by100by10nmpieceofsilicon(m*
=1.08m0)100meVabovetheconductionbandedge.WritetheresultinunitsofeV1.

Solution

Thedensityofstatesequals:

Sothatthetotalnumberofstatesperunitenergyequals:

2.4.2Calculationofthedensityofstatesin1,2and3dimensions

Wewillherepostulatethatthedensityofelectronsinkspaceisconstantandequalsthephysicallengthof
thesampledividedby2andthatforeachdimension.Thenumberofstatesbetweenkandk+dkin3,2and
1dimensionthenequals:

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(2.4.8)
Wenowassumethattheelectronsinasemiconductorareclosetoabandminimum,Eminandcanbe
describedasfreeparticleswithaconstanteffectivemass,or:
(2.4.9)
EliminationofkusingtheE(k)relationabovethenyieldsthedesireddensityofstatesfunctions,namely:
(2.4.10)
forathreedimensionalsemiconductor,
(2.4.11)
Foratwodimensionalsemiconductorsuchasaquantumwellinwhichparticlesareconfinedtoaplane,and
(2.4.12)
Foraonedimensionalsemiconductorsuchasaquantumwireinwhichparticlesareconfinedalongaline.
Anexampleofthedensityofstatesin3,2and1dimensionisshowninthefigurebelow:

Figure2.4.2:

Densityofstatesperunitvolumeandenergyfora3Dsemiconductor(bluecurve),a10nm
quantumwellwithinfinitebarriers(redcurve)anda10nmby10nmquantumwirewith
infinitebarriers(greencurve).m* /m0=0.8.

Theabovefigureillustratestheaddedcomplexityofthequantumwellandquantumwire:Eventhoughthe
densityintwodimensionsisconstant,thedensityofstatesforaquantumwellisastepfunctionwithsteps
occurringattheenergyofeachquantizedlevel.Thecaseforthequantumwireisfurthercomplicatedbythe
degeneracyoftheenergylevels:forinstanceatwofolddegeneracyincreasesthedensityofstates
associatedwiththatenergylevelbyafactoroftwo.Alistofthedegeneracy(notincludingspin)forthe10
lowestenergiesinaquantumwell,aquantumwireandaquantumbox,allwithinfinitebarriers,isprovidedin
thetablebelow:

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Figure2.4.3:

Degeneracy(notincludingspin)ofthelowest10energylevelsinaquantumwell,aquantum
wirewithsquarecrosssectionandaquantumcubewithinfinitebarriers.TheenergyE0
equalsthelowestenergyinaquantumwell,whichhasthesamesize

Next,wecomparetheactualdensityofstatesinthreedimensionswithequation(2.4.10).Whilesomewhat
tedious,theexactnumberofstatescanbecalculatedaswellasthemaximumenergy.Theresultisshownin
Figure2.4.4.Thenumberofstatesinanenergyrangeof20E0areplottedasafunctionofthenormalized
energyE/E0.Adottedlineisaddedtoguidetheeye.Thesolidlineiscalculatedusingequation(2.4.10).A
cleardifferencecanbeobservedbetweenthetwo,whiletheyareexpectedtomergeforlargevaluesofE/E0.

Figure2.4.4:

NumberofstateswithinarangeE=20E0asafunctionofthenormalizedenergyE/E0.(E0
isthelowestenergyina1dimensionalquantumwell).Seetextformoredetail.

AcomparisonofthetotalnumberofstatesillustratesthesametrendasshowninFigure2.4.5.Herethesolid
lineindicatestheactualnumberofstates,whilethedottedlineisobtainedbyintegratingequation(2.4.10).

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Figure2.4.5:

NumberofstateswithenergylessthanorequaltoEasafunctionofE0(E0isthelowest
energyinan1dimensionalquantumwell).Actualnumber(solidline)iscomparedwiththe
integralofequation(2.4.10)(dottedline).

ece.colorado.edu/~bart/book

Boulder,August2007

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