OUTLINE
Intrinsic Fermi level
Determination of E
F
Degenerately doped semiconductor
Carrier properties
Carrier drift
Read: Sections 2.5, 3.1
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 2
Intrinsic Fermi Level, E
i
To find E
F
for an intrinsic semiconductor, use the fact
that n = p:
2
ln
4
3
2
ln
2 2
*
*
/ ) ( / ) (
v c
n
p
v c
i
i
c
v v c
F
kT E E
v
kT E E
c
E E
m
m
kT E E
E
E
N
N kT E E
E
e N e N
v F F c
+
~
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
+
=
|
|
.
|
\
|
+
+
=
=
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 3
n(n
i
, E
i
) and p(n
i
, E
i
)
In an intrinsic semiconductor, n = p = n
i
and E
F
= E
i
:
/ ) (
/ ) (
kT E E
i c
kT E E
c i
i c
i c
e n N
e N n n
=
= =
/ ) (
/ ) (
kT E E
i v
kT E E
v i
v i
v i
e n N
e N n p
=
= =
/ ) ( kT E E
i
i F
e n n
=
/ ) ( kT E E
i
F i
e n p
=
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 4
Example: Energy-band diagram
Question: Where is E
F
for n = 10
17
cm
-3
?
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 5
Dopant Ionization
Consider a phosphorus-doped Si sample at 300K with
N
D
= 10
17
cm
-3
.
What fraction of the donors are not ionized?
Answer: Suppose all of the donor atoms are ionized.
Then
Probability of non-ionization ~
meV E
n
N
kT E E
c
c
c F
150 ln =
|
.
|
\
|
=
017 . 0
1
1
1
1
26 / ) 45 150 (
/ ) (
=
+
=
+
n
th
m
kT
v
Thermal Velocity
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 13
Carrier Scattering
Mobile electrons and atoms in the Si lattice are
always in random thermal motion.
Electrons make frequent collisions with the vibrating atoms
lattice scattering or phonon scattering
increases with increasing temperature
Average velocity of thermal motion for electrons: ~10
7
cm/s @ 300K
Other scattering mechanisms:
deflection by ionized impurity atoms
deflection due to Coulombic force between carriers
carrier-carrier scattering
only significant at high carrier concentrations
The net current in any direction is zero, if no electric
field is applied.
1
2
3
4
5
electron
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 14
Carrier Drift
When an electric field (e.g. due to an externally applied
voltage) is applied to a semiconductor, mobile charge-
carriers will be accelerated by the electrostatic force. This
force superimposes on the random motion of electrons:
1
2
3
4
5
electron
E
Electrons drift in the direction opposite to the electric field
current flows
Because of scattering, electrons in a semiconductor do not achieve
constant acceleration. However, they can be viewed as quasi-classical
particles moving at a constant average drift velocity v
d
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 15
Electron Momentum
With every collision, the electron loses momentum
Between collisions, the electron gains momentum
(-q)Et
mn
t
mn
is the average time between electron scattering events
d n
v m
*
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 16
p
[qt
mp
/ m
p
*] is the hole mobility
Carrier Mobility
m
n
*v
d
= (-q)Et
mn
|v
d
|
= qEt
mn
/ m
n
* =
n
E
n
[qt
mn
/ m
n
*] is the electron mobility
Similarly, for holes:
|v
d
|
= qEt
mp
/ m
p
*
p
E
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 17
Electron and hole mobilities of selected
intrinsic semiconductors (T=300K)
Si Ge GaAs InAs
n
(cm
2
/Vs) 1400 3900 8500 30000
p
(cm
2
/Vs) 470 1900 400 500
s V
cm
V/cm
cm/s
2
(
=
has the dimensions of v/E :
Electron and Hole Mobilities
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 18
a) Find the hole drift velocity in an intrinsic Si sample for E = 10
3
V/cm.
b) What is the average hole scattering time?
Solution:
a)
b)
Example: Drift Velocity Calculation
v
d
=
n
E
q
m
m
q
p p
mp
p
mp
p
t
t
*
*
= =
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 19
Mean Free Path
Average distance traveled between collisions
mp th
v l t =
Spring 2007 EE130 Lecture 5, Slide 20
Summary
The intrinsic Fermi level, E
i
, is located near midgap
Carrier concentrations can be expressed as
functions of E
i
and intrinsic carrier concentration, n
i
:
In a degenerately doped semiconductor, E
F
is
located very near to the band edge
Electrons and holes can be considered as quasi-
classical particles with effective mass m*
In the presence of an electric field c, carriers move
with average drift velocity , where is the
carrier mobility
/ ) ( kT E E
i
i F
e n n
=
/ ) ( kT E E
i
F i
e n p
=
c =
d
v