ECE 4070: Physics of Semiconductors and Nanostructures

K
M
K

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

ECE 4070: Physics of Semiconductors and Nanostructures

Instructor: Farhan Rana
Office: PH316
Email: fr37@cornell.edu
Syllabus: The course covers fundamentals of solid state physics relevant to
semiconductors, electronic and photonic devices, and nanostructures.
Crystal lattices and the reciprocal lattice;
Electron states and energy bands in molecules and solids;
Metals, insulators, and semiconductors;
Graphene, 2D atomic materials, and carbon nanotubes;
Lattice dynamics and phonons in 1D, 2D, and 3D materials;
Electron statistics and dynamics in energy bands;
Effective mass theorem;
Electron transport and Boltzmann equation;
Optical transitions and optical interband and intraband processes;
Optical loss, optical gain, and Kramers-Kronig relations;
Excitons and polaritons;
Semiconductor heterostructures;
Electron states in zero, one, and two dimensional nanostructures;
Quantum wells, wires, and dots;
Quantum transport in nanostructures and ballistic transport;
ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Course Website and Homeworks

All course documents, including:
- Lecture notes
- Homeworks and solutions
- Exam solutions
- Extra course related material
will appear on the course website:
http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/ece407/

Homeworks
Homeworks will be due on Tuesdays at 5:00 PM
New homeworks and old homework solutions will appear on the course
website by Tuesday night
Homework 1 will be due next Tuesday and will be available on the course
website by tomorrow night
ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Course Grading and Textbooks

Course grading will be done as follows:
- Homeworks (25%)
- 2 Evening Prelims (20% each) dates TBD
- Final exam (35%) date TBD
No in-class quizzes, no pop-quizzes
Final exam will be comprehensive

Textbooks
There are no required textbooks. Highly recommended textbooks are:
- Introduction to Solid State Physics, by Charles Kittel (8th
edition)
- Electronic and Optoelectronic Properties of Semiconductor
Structures, by Jasprit Singh
- Solid State Physics, by Ashcroft and Mermin
ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Handout 1
Drude Model for Metals

In this lecture you will learn:

Metals, insulators, and semiconductors
Drude model for electrons in metals
Linear response functions of materials

Paul Drude (1863-1906)

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Inorganic Crystalline Materials

Ionic solids

Covalent solids

Mostly insulators
Example: NaCl, KCl
Semiconductors
Si, C, GaAs, InP, GaN
PbSe, CdTe, ZnO

Insulators
SiO2, Si3N4

Metals
Au, Ag, Al,
Ga, In

Metals
1- Metals are usually very conductive
2- Metals have a large number of free electrons that can move in response to an
applied electric field and contribute to electrical current
3- Metals have a shiny reflective surface
ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Properties of Metals: Drude Model

Before ~1900 it was known that most conductive materials obeyed Ohms law
(i.e. I =V/R).
In 1897 J. J. Thompson discovers the electron as the smallest charge carrying
constituent of matter with a charge equal to -e

e 1.6 10 19 C

sea of
electrons

ions

In 1900 P. Drude formulated a theory for

conduction in metals using the electron
concept. The theory assumed:
1) Metals have a large density of free
electrons that can move about freely
from atom to atom (sea of electrons)
2) The electrons move according to
Newtons laws until they scatter from
ions, defects, etc.
3) After a scattering event the momentum of
the electron is completely random (i.e.
has no relation to its momentum before
scattering)

+
electron
path

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Drude Model - I
+

Applied Electric Field:

+
electron
path

In the presence
of an applied external electric

field E the electron motion, on average, can

be described as follows:

Let be the scattering time and 1/ be the scattering rate

This means that the probability of scattering in small time interval time dt is:
The probability of not scattering in time dt is then: 1 dt

dt

Let pt be the average electron momentum at time t , then we have:

dt

dt
pt dt 1 pt e E t dt 0

If no scattering
happens then
Newtons law

If scattering happens then average

momentum after scattering is zero

dp t
p t
e E t
dt

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Drude Model - II
Case I: No Electric Field

dp t
p t

dt

p t 0

Steady state solution:

Case II: Constant Uniform Electric Field

Steady state solution is:

Electron path

Electron path

p t e E

Electron drift velocity is defined as:

= e/m = electron mobility

p t
e
v

E E
(units: cm2/V-sec)
m
m

Electron current density J (units: Amps/cm2) is:

J n e v n e E E
3

Where: n electron density (units : # /cm )

electron conductivity (units : Siemens/cm ) ne

ne 2
m

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Drude Model - III

Case III: Time Dependent Sinusoidal Electric Field

dp t
p t
e E t

dt

There is no steady state solution in this case. Assume the E-field, average
momentum, and currents are all sinusoidal with phasors given as follows:

E t Re E e i t

pt Re p e i t

J t Re J e i t

dpt
pt
p
e E t
ip eE
dt

e
p
e m
p

E v
E
1 i
1 i
m
Electron current density:

J n e v E

Where:

ne 2
0
m

1 i
1 i

Drudes famous result !!

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Linear Response Functions - I

The relationship:

J E

is an example of a relationship between an applied stimulus (the electric field in

this case) and the resulting system/material response (the current density in this
case). Other examples include:

P o e E
electric polarization
density

electric
susceptibility

electric field

M m H
magnetic polarization magnetic
density
susceptibility

magnetic field

The response function (conductivity or susceptibility) must satisfy some

fundamental conditions . (see next few pages)

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Linear Response Functions - II

Case III: Time Dependent Non-Sinusoidal Electric Field
For general time-dependent (not necessarily sinusoidal) e-field one can
always use Fourier transforms:
d

E t
E e i t
2

E dt E t e i t

(1)

Then employ the already obtained result in frequency domain:

J E

And convert back to time domain:

d
d

J t
J e i t
E e i t
2
2

Now substitute from (1) into the above equation to get:

d

d

J t
E e i t dt '
e i t t ' E t '
2

J t dt ' t t ' E t '

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Linear Response Functions - III

J t dt ' t t ' E t '

Where:

d
e i t t '
2

t t '

The current at time t is a convolution of the conductivity response function and the
applied time-dependent E-field
Drude Model:

0
1 i

d 0
d
e i t t '
e i t t '
2
2 1 i
t t '
0
t t '
e
t t '

t t '

step function

t t '

t t '
ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Linear Response Functions - IV

The linear response functions in time and frequency domain must satisfy the
following two conditions:
1) Real inputs must yield real outputs:
Since we had:

d

J t dt '
e i t t ' E t '
2

This condition can only hold if:

*
2) Output must be causal (i.e. output at any time cannot depend on future input):
Since we had:

J t dt ' t t ' E t '

This condition can only hold if:

t t ' 0 for t t '

Both these conditions are satisfied by the Drude model

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Drude Model and Metal Reflectivity - I

When E&M waves are incident on a air-metal interface there is a reflected wave:

Ei

o
Et

Hi
Er

Hr

Ht

The reflection coefficient is:

Er

Ei

o
o

Question: what is for metals?

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Drude Model and Metal Reflectivity - II

From Maxwells equation:
Amperes law:
Phasor form:

E r , t
H r , t J r , t o
t



H r J r i o E r


E r i o E r

i eff E r

Effective dielectric
constant of metals

eff o 1 i

Metal reflection coefficient becomes:

Er

Ei

o eff
o eff

Using the Drude expression:

0
1 i

the frequency dependence of the reflection coefficient of metals can be

explained adequately all the way from RF frequencies to optical frequencies

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Drude Model and Plasma Frequency of Metals

eff o 1 i

For metals:

and

ne 2 m 0

1 i
1 i

For small frequencies 1 :

ne 2
m

eff o 1 i

For large frequencies 1 (collision-less plasma regime):

0
ne 2
i
m
i

eff o 1

where the plasma frequency is:

ne 2
om

p2
2

For most good metals

this frequency is in the
UV to visible range

Electrons behave like a collision-less plasma

Note that for p

the dielectric constant is real and negative

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Plasma Oscillations in Metals

Consider a metal with electron density n
Now assume that all the electrons in a certain region got displaced by distance u
-ve charge
+ve charge left
accumulated
behind
+

The electric field generated E

neu

Force on the electrons F eE

ne u

As a results of this force electron displacement u will obey Newtons second law:

d 2u t
dt 2

F eE

n e 2 u t

d 2u t

Solution is: u t A cos pt B sin pt

dt 2

p2 u t

second order
system

Plasma oscillations are charge

density oscillations

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Plasma Oscillations in Metals with Scattering

From Drude model, we know that in the presence of scattering we have:

dpt
pt
e E t
dt

d 2u t
dt 2

e E t

As before, the electric field generated E t

m du t
dt

(1)

n e u t

(2)

Combining (2) with (1) we get the differential equation:

d 2u t
dt 2

p2 u t

1 du t
dt

Or:

d 2u t
dt

1 du t

dt

p2 u t 0

ne 2
om

second order system with damping

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Plasma Oscillations in Metals with Scattering

Case I (underdamped case): p

1
2

Solution is:

u t e

A cos pt B sin pt

Damped plasma
oscillations

Where:

1
2

p p2 2

Case II (overdamped case): p

1
2

Solution is:

u t A e 1 t B e 2 t

No oscillations

Where:

1
1

p2
2
4 2

1
1

p2
2
4 2

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

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Appendix: Fourier Transforms in Time OR Space

Fourier transform in time:

f dt f t e i t

Inverse Fourier transform:

d
f e i t
2

f t

Fourier transform in space:

g k dx g x e i k
Inverse Fourier transform:

dk
g k e i k
2

gx

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

Appendix: Fourier Transforms in Time AND Space

Fourier transform in time and space:

hk , dx dt

h x , t e i k x e i t

Inverse Fourier transform:

dk d

2 2

h x , t

h k , e i k x e i t

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

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Appendix: Fourier Transforms in Multiple Space Dimensions

Fourier transform in space:

h k x , k y , k z dx dy dz

h x , y , z e i k x

i ky y i kz z

Need a better notation!

Let:

k k x x k y y k z z

r x x y y z z

3
d r dx dy dz

h k d 3r hr e i k . r

Inverse Fourier transform:

hr

d 3k

2 3

h k ei k . r

ECE 4070 Spring 2010 Farhan Rana Cornell University

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