Semiconductor Fundamentals

OUTLINE General material properties Crystal structure Crystallographic notation Read: Chapter 1

What is a Semiconductor?
Low resistivity => conductor High resistivity => insulator Intermediate resistivity => semiconductor
conductivity lies between that of conductors and insulators generally crystalline in structure for IC devices
In recent years, however, non-crystalline semiconductors have become commercially very important

polycrystalline amorphous crystalline

Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 2

Semiconductor Materials
Elemental:

Compound:

Alloy:

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 3

From Hydrogen to Silicon

# of Electrons 1 2 3 Z Name 1s 2s 2p 3s 3p 3d 1H 2 He 3 Li 4 Be 5B 6C 7N 8O 9F 10 Ne 11 Na 12 Mg 13 Al 14 Si 15 P 16 S 17 Cl 18 Ar 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 1s
1

Notation 1s 2 1s 2 2s 1 1s 2 2s 2 1s 2 2s 2 2p1 1s 2 2s 2 2p2 1s 2 2s 2 2p3 1s 2 2s 2 2p4 1s 2 2s 2 2p5 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 1 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 3p1 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 3p2 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 3p3 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 3p4 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 3p5 1s 2 2s 2 2p6 3s 2 3p6

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 4

The Silicon Atom

14 electrons occupying the 1st 3 energy levels: 1s, 2s, 2p orbitals filled by 10 electrons 3s, 3p orbitals filled by 4 electrons
To minimize the overall energy, the 3s and 3p orbitals hybridize to form 4 tetrahedral 3sp orbitals
Each has one electron and is capable of forming a bond with a neighboring atom

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 5

The Si Crystal

Each Si atom has 4 nearest neighbors

lattice constant = 5.431

diamond cubic lattice

Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 6

How Many Silicon Atoms per cm-3?

Number of atoms in a unit cell:
4 atoms completely inside cell Each of the 8 atoms on corners are shared among cells count as 1 atom inside cell Each of the 6 atoms on the faces are shared among 2 cells count as 3 atoms inside cell Total number inside the cell = 4 + 1 + 3 = 8

Cell volume:
(.543 nm)3 = 1.6 x 10-22 cm3

Density of silicon atoms = (8 atoms) / (cell volume) = 5 x 1022 atoms/cm3

Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 7

Compound Semiconductors

Ga

As

zincblende structure III-V compound semiconductors: GaAs, GaP, GaN, etc. important for optoelectronics and high-speed ICs
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 8

Crystallographic Notation
Miller Indices: Notation (hkl) {hkl} [hkl] Interpretation

<hkl>

crystal plane equivalent planes crystal direction equivalent directions

h: inverse x-intercept of plane k: inverse y-intercept of plane l: inverse z-intercept of plane

(Intercept values are in multiples of the lattice constant; h, k and l are reduced to 3 integers having the same ratio.)

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 9

Crystallographic Planes and Si Wafers

Silicon wafers are usually cut along a {100} plane with a flat or notch to orient the wafer during IC fabrication:

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 10

Crystallographic Planes in Si
Unit cell:

View in <111> direction

View in <100> direction

View in <110> direction

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 11

Summary
Crystalline Si:
4 valence electrons per atom diamond lattice
each atom has 4 nearest neighbors

5 x 1022 atoms/cm3

Crystallographic notation
Miller indices are used to designate planes and directions within a crystalline lattice

Spring 2007

EE130 Lecture 1, Slide 12