Review of Semiconductors

Types of Semiconductors
 Important points
• Intrinsic semiconductor:
(Intrinsic Concentration)
(at steady state)
• Generates conduction in the order of nA and PA.
• The process of adding impurities is called Doping
 Extrinsic Semiconductor
N-type semiconductor:
• Adding pentavalent impurities(p,As,Sb)
• Majority charge carriers are electrons and
minority charge carriers are holes.
• Pentavalent impurities are called as Donors.
• After doping
 Extrinsic Semiconductor
P-type semiconductor:
• Adding trivalent impurities(Boron,Gallium,
Indium)
• Majority charge carriers are holes and
minority charge carriers are electrons.
• Trivalent impurities are called as Acceptors.
• After doping
 Mass Action Law
In a Semiconductor (intrinsic or extrinsic) under
thermal equilibrium the product of electrons
and holes is always a constant and is equal to
the square of intrinsic concentration.
 Mass Action Law
In a Semiconductor (intrinsic or extrinsic) under
thermal equilibrium the product of electrons
and holes is always a constant and is equal to
the square of intrinsic concentration.
 Equation of Charge Neutrality

• Each donor atom donates one electron and as

it looses electron it becomes positively
charged ion.
• ND Donor Concentration
Total Positive concentration= ND +P
 What is the net charge
of this material

Si & P

N-type semiconductor
 What is the net charge
of this material

+14

Si & P
-14
+14

+ ion is

-13

One electron is
Si & P
taken out from n-
type
semiconductor
 Contd..

• The acceptor impurity atom accepts an

electron and it becomes negatively charged
ion.
• NA Acceptor Concentration
Total Negative concentration= NA +n
 Contd..
The material is always electrically neutral hence
the total positive charge concentration is equal
to the total negative charge concentration. The
equation of charge neutrality is

ND +P= NA +n
Charge densities in semiconductor
N-type semiconductor:
• NA=0
• After doping
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  n≈ ND
• Recall  Mass action law
Charge densities in semiconductor
N-type semiconductor:
• NA=0
• After doping
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  n≈ ND
• Recall  Mass action law
• Let =Electron Concentration in n-type
semiconductor
Charge densities in semiconductor
N-type semiconductor:
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  n≈ ND
• Recall  Mass action law
• Let =Electron Concentration in n-type
semiconductor
• Let =Hole Concentration in n-type
semiconductor
• So for n type i.e.,  ≈ ND
Charge densities in semiconductor
N-type semiconductor:
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  n≈ ND
• Recall  Mass action law
• So for n type i.e.,  ≈ ND
Charge densities in semiconductor
P-type semiconductor:
• ND=0
• After doping
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  P≈ NA
• Recall  Mass action law
Charge densities in semiconductor
P-type semiconductor:
• ND=0
• After doping
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  p≈ NA
• Recall  Mass action law
• Let =Hole Concentration in p-type
semiconductor
Charge densities in semiconductor
P-type semiconductor:
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  P≈ NA
• Recall  Mass action law
• Let =Hole Concentration in p-type
semiconductor
• Let =Electron Concentration in p-type
semiconductor
• So for n type i.e.,  ≈ NA
Charge densities in semiconductor
P-type semiconductor:
• Recall ND +P= NA +n  P≈ NA
• Recall  Mass action law
• So for n type i.e.,  ≈ NA
 Conductivity of n-type material
• Metal  unipolar (current due to electrons only)
• Semiconductor  bipolar (current due to n & P)
• Recall J=σE where σ=nqμ  conductivity
• For n type
 Conductivity of n-type material
• Recall J=σE where σ=nqμ  conductivity
• For n type

so σ= q + q

σ= + )q
 Conductivity of p-type material
• Recall J=σE where σ=nqμ  conductivity
• For p type
 Conductivity of p-type material
• For n type

so σ= q + q

σ= + )q
 Conductivity of Intrinsic
semiconductor
• In Intrinsic Semiconductor
(Intrinsic Concentration)
so
σ= + )q
 Transport Phenomena in
semiconductor
• Drift Current: The transport of charge carriers
in a crystal under the influence of an electric
field is called as “Drift current”.

• Diffusion Current: The transport of charges in

crystal due to a non uniform concentration
gradient is called “Diffusion current”.
Drift Current
 Contd..
• N-type Semiconductor
 Contd..
• N-type Semiconductor

The above equation represents Drift current

density due to electrons.
 Contd..
• N-type Semiconductor
 Contd..
• P-type Semiconductor
 Contd..
• P-type Semiconductor

The above equation represents Drift current

density due to holes.
 Contd..
• P-type Semiconductor
Drift current density in Intrinsic
semiconductor
(Intrinsic Concentration)
 Next session
• Diffusion current
• Einstein Relation ship
• Fermi Level
• Fermi Energy
• Introduction to UNIT-I