" "

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement

for the Award of the degree of

Bachelor of Computer Applications

SUBMITTED BY
PRIYANKA PRAJAPATI

Ambedkar Institute of Technology

Shakarpur Delhi-110092
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to
my teacher Dr. Monica Rajput who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic
SemiConductors, which also helped me in doing a lot of
Research and I came to know about so many new things I
am really thankful to them.
Secondly i would also like to thank my parents and
friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project
within the limited time frame.

PRIYANKA PRAJAPATI
 Contents:
 Introduction
 Intrinsic semiconductors
 Extrinsic semiconductors
 N type semiconductors
 P type semiconductors
 INTRODUCTION
Semiconductors :- Most of the solids can be placed in one of
the two classes: Metals and insulators. Metals are those
through which electric charge can easily flow, while insulators
are those through which electric charge is difficult to
flow. This distinction between the metals and the insulators
can be explained on the basis of the number of free electrons in
them. Metals have a large number of free electrons which act
as charge carriers, while insulators have practically no free
electrons.
There are however, certain solids whose electrical conductivity
is intermediate between metals and insulators. They are called
‘Semiconductors’. Carbon, silicon and germanium are
examples of semi-conductors. In semiconductors the outer
most electrons are neither so rigidly bound with the atom as in
an insulator, nor so loosely bound as in metal. At absolute zero
a semiconductor becomes an ideal insulator.

Theory and Definition

Semiconductors are the materials whose electrical
conductivity lies in between metals and insulator. The energy
band structure of the semiconductors is similar to the
insulators but in their case, the size of the forbidden energy gap
is much smaller than that of the insulator. In this class of
crystals, the forbidden gap is of the order of about 1ev, and the
two energy bands are distinctly separate with no
overlapping. At absolute o0, no electron has any energy even
to jump the forbidden gap and reach the conduction
band. Therefore the substance is an insulator.

But when we heat the crystal and thus provide some energy to
the atoms and their electrons, it becomes an easy matter for
some electrons to jump the small ( 1 ev) energy gap and go
to conduction band. Thus at higher temperatures, the crystal
becomes a conductors. This is the specific property of the
crystal which is known as a semiconductor.

Effect of temperature on conductivity of

Semiconductor
All semiconductors are insulators. The valence band at
absolute zero is completely filled and there are no free
electrons in conduction band. At room temperature the
electrons jump to the conduction band due to the thermal
energy. When the temperature increases, a large number of
electrons cross over the forbidden gap and jump from valence
to conduction band. Hence conductivity of semiconductor
increases with temperature.
 INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

Pure semiconductors are called intrinsic semi-

conductors. In a pure semiconductor, each atom behaves as
if there are 8 electrons in its valence shell and therefore the
entire material behaves as an insulator at low temperatures.
A semiconductor atom needs energy of the order of 1.1ev to
shake off the valence electron. This energy becomes available
to it even at room temperature. Due to thermal agitation of
crystal structure, electrons from a few covalent bonds come
out. The bond from which electron is freed, a vacancy is
created there. The vacancy in the covalent bond is called a
hole.

This hole can be filled by some other electron in a covalent

bond. As an electron from covalent bond moves to fill the
hole, the hole is created in the covalent bond from which the
electron has moved. Since the direction of movement of the
hole is opposite to that of the negative electron, a hole
behaves as a positive charge carrier. Thus, at room
temperature, a pure semiconductor will have electrons and
holes wandering in random directions. These electrons and
holes are called intrinsic carriers.
As the crystal is neutral, the number of free electrons will be
equal to the number of holes. In an intrinsic semiconductor, if
ne denotes the electron number density in conduction band,
nh the hole number density in valence band and ni the number
density or concentration of charge carriers, then
ne = nh = ni
 extrinsic semiconductors
As the conductivity of intrinsic semi-conductors is poor, so
intrinsic semi-conductors are of little practical
importance. The conductivity of pure semi-conductor can,
however be enormously increased by addition of some
pentavalent or a trivalent impurity in a very small amount
(about 1 to 106 parts of the semi-conductor). The process of
adding an impurity to a pure semiconductor so as to improve
its conductivity is called doping. Such semi-conductors are
called extrinsic semi-conductors. Extrinsic semiconductors
are of two types :
i) n-type semiconductor
ii) p-type semiconductor
 n-type semiconductor
When an impurity atom belonging to group V of the periodic
table like Arsenic is added to the pure semi-conductor, then
four of the five impurity electrons form covalent bonds by
sharing one electron with each of the four nearest silicon
atoms, and fifth electron from each impurity atom is almost free
to conduct electricity. As the pentavalent impurity increases
the number of free electrons, it is called donor impurity. The
electrons so set free in the silicon crystal are called extrinsic
carriers and the n-type Si-crystal is called n-type extrinsic
semiconductor. Therefore n-type Si-crystal will have a large
number of free electrons (majority carriers) and have a small
number of holes (minority carriers).
In terms of valence and conduction band one can think that all
such electrons create a donor energy level just below the
conduction band as shown in figure. As the energy gap
between donor energy level and the conduction band is very
small, the electrons can easily raise themselves to conduction
band even at room temperature. Hence, the conductivity of n-
type extrinsic semiconductor is markedly increased.
In a doped or extrinsic semiconductor, the number density of
the conduction band (ne) and the number density of holes in the
valence band (nh) differ from that in a pure semiconductor. If
ni is the number density of electrons is conduction band, then
it is proved that
ne nh = ni2
 p-type semiconductor
If a trivalent impurity like indium is added in pure semi-
conductor, the impurity atom can provide only three valence
electrons for covalent bond formation. Thus a gap is left in one
of the covalent bonds.
The gap acts as a hole that tends to accept electrons. As the
trivalent impurity atoms accept electrons from the silicon
crystal, it is called acceptor impurity. The holes so created are
extrinsic carriers and the p-type Si-crystal so obtained is called
p-type extrinsic semiconductor. Again, as the pure Si-crystal
also possesses a few electrons and holes, therefore, the p-type
si-crystal will have a large number of holes (majority
carriers) and a small number of electrons (minority carriers).
It terms of valence and conduction band one can think that all
such holes create an accepter energy level just above the top of
the valance band as shown in figure. The electrons from
valence band can raise themselves to the accepter energy level
by absorbing thermal energy at room temperature and in turn
create holes in the valence band.
Number density of valence band holes (nh) in p-type
semiconductor is approximately equal to that of the acceptor
atoms (Na) and is very large as compared to the number density
of conduction band electrons (ne). Thus,
nh Na > > ne
 electrical resistivity of semiconductors
Consider a block of semiconductor of length l1 area of cross-
section A and having number density of electrons and holes as
ne and nh respectively. Suppose that on applying a potential
difference, say V, a current I flows through it as shown in
figure. The electron current (Ic) and the hole current (Ih)
constitute the current I flowing through the semi conductor i.e.

I = Ie + Ih (i)
It ne is the number density of conduction band electrons in the
semiconductor and ve, the drift velocity of electrons then
Ie = eneAve
Similarly, the hole current, Ih = enhAvh
From (i) I = eneAve + enhAvh
I = eA(neve + nhvh) (ii)
If  is the resistivity of the material of the semiconductor, then the
resistance offered by the semiconductor to the flow of current is given by :
R =  l/A (iii)
Since V = RI, from equation (ii) and (iii) we have
V = RI =  l/A eA (neve + nh vh)
V =  le(neve + nhvh) (iv)
If E is the electric field set up across the semiconductor, then:
E = V/l (v)
from equation (iv) and (v), we have
E = e (neve + nhvh)
1/ = e (ne ve/E + nh vh/E)
On applying electric field, the drift velocity acquired by the electrons (or
holes) per unit strength of electric field is called mobility of electrons (or
holes). Therefore,
mobility of electrons and holes is given by :
e = ve/E and h = vh/E
1/ = e(ne e + nh h) (vi)
Also, = 1/ is called conductivity of the material of semiconductor
 = e (ne e + nh h) (vii)

The relation (vi) and (vii) show that the conductivity and resistivity
of a semiconductor depend upon the electron and hole number densities and their
mobilities. As ne and nh increases with rise in temperature,
therefore, conductivity of semiconductor increases with rise in temperature and
resistivity decreases with rise in temperature.

References:
 https://www.google.com/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor
 https://www.britannica.com/science/semiconductor
The End