Absorption in

semiconductors
Prof.N.Sangeetha
SENSE
The difference between the
band gap of metal,
semiconductor and insulator.

Fermi energy is defined as the difference between the energy of the highest and lowest occupied single
particle state, in a quantum system of non-interacting fermions at 0 K.

Prof.N.Sangeetha
Direct and Indirect band gap
• There are two different kinds of band gap in semiconductors: direct or indirect band
gap.
• A direct band gap is distinguished by having the band edges aligned in k (wave
vector or propagation constant), so that an electron can transit from the valence
band to the conduction band.
• In the indirect band gap, the band edges are not aligned so the electron does not
transit directly to the conduction band, both a photon and a phonon are involved.

Prof.N.Sangeetha
Absorption
• In semiconductors, excited electrons move from the valence to the conduction
band across the quantized energy range of the band gap due to the absorption of
a photon or both, photon and phonon by quantum mechanical transitions.
• The band gap can be thermally populated with both electrons and holes as the
Fermi energy level is near enough to both bands.

Prof.N.Sangeetha
Valence Band – Conduction Band Absorption
(Band to Band Absorption)

Conduction Band, EC

h = Ephoton
Egap

Valence Band, EV
 Valence Band – Conduction Band Absorption
(Band to Band Absorption)
This process obviously requires that the minimum energy of a
photon to initiate an electron transition must satisfy
EC - EV = h = Egap
Conduction Band, EC

h = Ephoton
Egap

Valence Band, EV
 Valence Band – Conduction Band Absorption
(Band to Band Absorption)
This process obviously requires that the minimum energy of a
photon to initiate an electron transition must satisfy
EC - EV = h = Egap
Conduction Band, EC

If h > Egap then

obviously a transition
can happen. Electrons h = Ephoton
are then excited to the Egap
conduction band.

Valence Band, EV
 After the Absorption Then What?
2 Primary Absorption Types
Direct Absorption & Indirect Absorption
• All absorption processes must satisfy:
Conservation of Total Energy
Conservation of Momentum or Wavevector
• The production of electron-hole pairs is very important
for electronics devices especially photovoltaic &
photodetector devices.
• The conduction electrons produced by the absorbed
light can be converted into a current in these devices.

Prof.N.Sangeetha
 Direct Band Gap Absorption
A Direct Vertical Transition
E

Conservation of Energy
h = EC(min) - Ev (max) = Egap

K (wave number)
h
The Photon Conservation of
Momentum Momentum
is Negligible Kvmax + qphoton = kc
 Indirect Band Gap Absorption

K (wave number) h
• Absorption of photons in direct transition there is no momentum. Very small
change in K due to the finite momentum of the photons which is equal to
h/λ.

• Indirect transition due to the absorption of a phonon causes large change in

momentum.
• Absorption coefficient is:

Where
• Energy-dependent absorption coefficient due to phonon emission and absorption and absorption as a
function of temperature

At very low
temperatures, the
density of phonons
available for absorption
becomes small hence,
αa is small. With the
increase in temp. αa
increases
 Donor- Acceptor and impurity-Band absorption

• Donors and acceptors are simultaneously present in a semiconductor

• Depending on the temperature and the state of occupancy of the impurity
levels, it is possible to raise an electron from the acceptor to the donor
level by absorbing a phonon.

εC εC
εD + + Donor
hω
Acceptor
εA
εV εV
f
 High-energy (near-bandgap) transitions
can occur between ionized impurity
levels and the opposite band edge is
shown in the figure

The photon energy absorbed is - where is the binding energy

of the donor or acceptor level

Donor- band Acceptor-band

absorption
εC
εC
εD
hω
hω

εA
εV
εV
 The energy photon absorbed is given by

--+ Coulomb interaction between

the donor and acceptor atoms
in substitutional sites, which
results in a lowering of their
• At low temp. the donor and acceptor atoms are neutral, If
binding energies
they brought closer together, the additional orbiting
electron of the donor becomes shared by the acceptor, as
in a covalent bond, and both become more ionized,
resulting in a lowering of their binding energy.

• Since donor and acceptor atoms are located at discrete

substitutional sites in lattice, r varies in infinite increments,
being smallest for the nearest neighbours.
 Impurity- Band transitions:
At low temp. The shallow impurity levels are usually filled with the
respective carriers, these carriers can be excited to the respective
bandedge by a photon.
The energy of photon must be equal to the ionization energy of the impurities

Low energy Donor- band Low energy acceptor-

band absorption
εC
εC

hω
hω

εA
εA εV
εV
Intraband transition:
LH – light – hole
HH – heavy – hole
SO – split – hole bands

These sub bands are separated by spin- orbit interaction.

Occupancy of these holes depends on degree of doping and position of fermi level

Absorption of photon with the right energy can result in transition from LH to HH, SO
to HH, SO to LH.
Free-carrier absorption:

• Absorption of a photon by the interaction of a free carrier within a band,

which is consequently raised to higher energy level.

• The transition of the carrier to a higher energy within the same vally must
conserve momentum

• This momentum change is provided by optical or acoustic phonon or by

impurity scattering
 Franz-Keldysh Effect
• The Franz–Keldysh effect is a change in optical absorption by
a semiconductor when an electric field is applied. The effect is named after
the German physicist Walter Franz and Russian physicist Leonid Keldysh .
 Quantum Wells

Quantum wells are structures in which a thin layer of a smaller bandgap semiconductor is sandwiched between
two layers of a wider bandgap semiconductor. The heterojunction between the smaller and the wider bandgap
semiconductors forms a potential well confining the electrons and the holes in the smaller bandgap material
region. This is the case of a type I quantum well. In a type II quantum well, the electrons and the holes are
confined in different layers. Thus the motions of the electrons and the holes are restricted in one dimension
(along the thickness direction).

Prof.N.Sangeetha
Quantum Wells

Prof.N.Sangeetha
Prof.N.Sangeetha
Prof.N.Sangeetha
 Another Viewpoint

• If a semiconductor or insulator does not have many

impurity levels in the band gap, photons with energies
smaller than the band gap energy can’t be absorbed
• There are no quantum states with energies in the band gap
• This explains why many insulators or wide band gap
semiconductors are transparent to visible light, whereas
narrow band semiconductors (Si, GaAs) are not
 Some of the many applications
• Emission:
light emitting diodes (LED) & Laser Diodes (LD)
• Absorption:
• Filtering: Sunglasses, ..
Si filters (transmission of infra red light with simultaneous
blocking of visible light)
• If there are many impurity levels the photons with
energies smaller than the band gap energy can be
absorbed, by exciting electrons or holes from these
energy levels into the conduction or valence band,
respectively
• Example: Colored Diamonds