EE203 Semiconductor Devices

L11: Charge Transport - 1

Arun Tej M.
Basic Transport Mechanisms

In a semiconductor lattice:
1. Drift: Movement of charge due to electric field  Drift
2. Diffusion: Movement of charge due to density gradient  Diffusion
3. Thermoelectric: Movement of charge due to temperature gradients
4. Tunneling current: Movement of charge due to quantum mechanical tunneling in thin materials

ℰ𝑥

𝑒−
𝐼 𝑛

ℎ+ 𝑉 𝑥
 Random Thermal Motion of Carriers under Equilibrium

• Generation – Movement - Recombination 𝑇 > 0K

• Carriers have random thermal motion at RT
~10−6 𝑐𝑚
• Collisions - Scattering 𝑙𝑐
7
~ 10 𝑐𝑚. 𝑠 −1 𝑣𝑡ℎ =
 No net motion 𝜏𝑐
~10−13 𝑠
• Mean thermal velocity, 𝑣𝑡ℎ (rms)
• Source of noise

Zero ensemble average

Mean Free Path, 𝑙𝑐 : Avg. distance between two collisions Zero time average
Zero average flux
Mean Free Time, 𝜏𝑐 : Avg. time between scattering events
Collisions Scattering
• Phonons → Lattice Scattering
• Electrons and Holes → Carrier-Carrier / Many Body Scattering
• Ionized Impurities → Impurity / Coulomb / Rutherford Scattering
• Defects 𝑁𝐴−
→ Defect Scattering, Surface Roughness

Photons? Electron - Hole

• Recombination vs. Scattering
• Scattering: Action at a distance
Application of a Small Electric Field
ℰԦ |𝑣𝑛 |
𝑣𝑛 = −𝜇𝑛 ℰ𝑥
𝑣𝑛
𝜇𝑛 ≡
ℰ𝑥 Velocity Saturation

𝐽𝑛 = 𝑞𝑛𝜇𝑛 ℰ𝑥 ℰ𝑥

𝐽𝑛 = 𝜎𝑛 ℰ𝑥

Random Motion + Direction 𝐽𝑛 = −𝑞𝑛𝑣𝑛

Average net motion depends on the applied field

Non-zero average velocity opposite to field direction – called electron drift velocity

Not the actual instantaneous velocity of the electron

Drift Transport
• Electric field ℰ𝑥 applied along an arbitrary x-direction
• Electrons experience a net force opposite to field direction 𝐹𝑥|𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 = (−𝑞)ℰ𝑥
• Constant acceleration ? ⇒ Velocity becomes infinity! 𝑚𝑛𝑐
∗
𝑎 = (−𝑞)ℰ𝑥 ?
• Scattering results in deceleration ⇒ limits the velocity to a constant steady state value
• Mean free time between collisions: 𝜏𝑛
∗ 𝑣
𝑚𝑛𝑐
• Force due to collisions can be expressed as 𝑛
𝜏𝑛
∗ ∗
𝑣𝑛
𝑚𝑛𝑐 𝑎 = −𝑞 ℰ𝑥 − 𝑚𝑛𝑐
𝜏𝑛

∗
𝑣𝑛
0 = −𝑞 ℰ𝑥 − 𝑚𝑛𝑐
𝜏𝑛 𝑞𝜏𝑛 𝑞2 𝑛𝜏𝑛
𝜇𝑛 = ∗ 𝐽𝑛 = 𝑞𝑛𝜇𝑛 ℰ𝑥 = ∗ ℰ𝑥
𝑚𝑛𝑐 𝑚𝑛𝑐
𝑣𝑛 = −𝜇𝑛 ℰ𝑥
Semiconductor Electron Mobility Hole Mobility
(𝑐𝑚2 𝑉 −1 𝑠 −1 ) (𝑐𝑚2 𝑉 −1 𝑠 −1 )
Silicon 1350 480
Germanium 3900 1900
Gallium Arsenide 8500 400
Class Exercise

The 𝑒 − mobility in GaAs at temperatures 77K and 300K is equal to 3 × 105 and 8.5 × 103
𝑐𝑚2 𝑉 −1 𝑠 −1 respectively. The 𝑒 − effective mass is 0.067𝑚𝑜 . Find 𝑒 − mean free path at these
temperatures. 𝑘 = 1.38 × 10−23 𝐽/𝐾, and 𝑚𝑜 = 9.11 × 10−31 𝑘𝑔.
 𝐸
Both currents in same direction
Total drift current 𝐽 = 𝑛𝑞𝜇𝑛 + 𝑝𝑞𝜇𝑝 ℰ

𝑞𝜏 Depends on rate of collisions (or scattering)

𝜇≡
𝑚∗

1. Quantum mechanical treatment using perturbation theory

2. Semi-classical treatment