PHYSICAL

ELECTRONICS
ECX 5239
PRESENTATION 01

Name : A.T.U.N Senevirathna.
Reg, No : 20661910
Center : Kandy
Introduction
What is a semiconductor ?

Introduction about Current density, Resistivity, Conductivity,
Drift velocity, Mobility.

How to solve my problems according to above equations.

What Is a Semiconductor?




Many materials, such as most metals, allow electrical current to
flow through them
These are known as conductors
Materials that do not allow electrical current to flow through
them are called insulators
A material whose properties are such that it is not quite a
conductor, not quite an insulator
That material called as semiconductor.

Semiconductors
Some common semiconductors

Si - Silicon (most common)
Ge Germanium
Silicon is the best and most widely used semiconductor.








The main characteristic of a
semiconductor element is that
it has four electrons in its
outer or valence orbit.
Doping

To make the semiconductor conduct electricity, other
atoms called impurities must be added.

Impurities are different elements.

This process is called doping.

Some impurities are As, P, B

Doping with Boron


Boron has 3 electrons are in its
outer shell.
We remove a silicon atom from the
crystal lattice.
Then we replace it with a boron
atom.
Notice we have a hole in a bond
this hole is thus free for conduction


This type of silicon is called p-type








p-type
will be
shown
like
this.
Semiconductors can be Conductors
An impurity, or element like
arsenic, has 5 valence
electrons.
we remove a silicon atom
from the crystal lattice and
replace it with a arsenic
atom.
We now have an electron
that is not bonded it is
thus free for conduction.

This type of silicon is
called n-type .

n-type
will be
shown
like this.
Carrier Drift
When apply an electric field to
semiconductor , charged particles
move according to electric field.
This process is called drift.
Charged particles move with an
average velocity. This velocity
proportional to the electric field.
The proportionality constant is the
carrier mobility.

Hole velocity


Electron velocity
Notation:

p
hole mobility (cm
2
/Vs)

n
electron mobility (cm
2
/Vs)
Hole velocity

Electron velocity
Drift current is proportional to the
carrier velocity and carrier
concentration:

Drift Current
(current density) J = =

Drift Current Equations
Electrical Resistance
1
2
Using 1,2 we can get eq. 3
3
Problems
Question No 08 :
A current density of 10 A/ m
2
flows through an n-type
germanium which has resistivity 0.05 ohm-m. Calculate the
time taken for electrons in the material to travel 50 m.

According to question we can get
Current density = 10 A/ m
2
Resistivity = 0.05 ohm-m
Distance = 50 m
Charge of electron = 1 .6 x 10
-19
c
Electron mobility = 0.39 m
2
/ vs because n type germanium.


Where is Drift velocity

J
e

nev J =
v
1
D
e
n
e

o
=
2

Density of electrons






20
05 . 0
1 1
= = =

o
3
Conductivity
Using 2,3 we can get eq. 4
20
20
10 2051 . 3
10 24 . 6
20
=

= =

e
n
e

o
4
Using 1,4 we can get eq. 5
5 . 19
10 6 . 1 10 2051 . 3
10
19 20
3
=

=

v
5
v
D
Time =
6
Using 5,6 can get,
s s
ms
m
Time 5 . 2 10 5641 . 2
5 . 19
10 50
6
1
6
= =

Question No 09 :
Intrinsic silicon has a resistivity of 2000 ohm-m at R.T. and the density of
conduction electrons is 1 .4 x 10
16
calculate resistivity's of samples
containing acceptor concentrations of 10
21
and 10
23
m
-3
Assume that
h
remains as for intrinsic silicon and that
h
= 0.25
e
.
According to question we can get
Density of electrons
3 16
10 4 . 1

= m n
Resistivity 2000 =
4
10 5
2000
1 1

= = =

o
Conductivity of Intrinsic silicon
Charge of electron
c e
19
10 6 . 1

=
Using above data we can get ,
Electron mobility
2232 . 0
10 6 . 1 10 4 . 1
10 5
19 16
4
=


= =

ne
e
o

4
3
Hole mobility of intrinsic
e h
25 . 0 =
B
Using 4,B we can get 0558 . 0 2232 . 0 25 . 0 = =
h

5
Now we can get eq. for conductivity of
sample
( )
h e
p n e o + =
1
We use another eq. for number of electrons
and number of holes
a d
N N n =
d a
N N p =
Where N
a
is acceptor concentration and



N
d
Is donor atom concentration/impurity concentration
Let
21
10 =
a
N
And assume this is p-type semiconductor
Hence
21
10 = =
a
N p
2
Because room temperature
2,3,4,5,6 apply to 1 we can get | | 0558 . 0 10 2232 . 0 10 4 . 1 10 6 . 1
21 16 19
+ =

o
9284 . 8 = o
Hence resistivity of sample () = 1/ 8.9284= 0.112 ohm.m
Similarly , when
23
10 =
a
N
We can get () = 0.00112 ohm.m
Question No 10 :
A rod of p-type germanium 6mm long , 1mm wide and 0.5mm thick has and
electrical resistance of 120 ohm. What is the impurity concentration ? Assume

e
= 0.39,
h
= 0.19 m
2
/v.s and n
i
= 2.5 10
19
m
-3
what proportion of the
conductivity is due to electrons in the conduction band ?
According to question we can get ,
e
= 0.39,
h
= 0.19 m
2
/v.s, n
i
= 2.5 10
19
m
-3

Length of rod (L) = 6mm, Resistance of rod (R) =120, Area of rod (A) =
0.5 m
2
Then we can get conductivity of rod
( )
100
10 5 . 0 120
10 6
6
3
=


= =

RA
L
o
1
Let
a
N p =
a
i
N
n
n
2
=
As p-type germanium
2
h e
ep en o + =
3
Using 1,2,3 we can get
h a e
a
i
eN
N
n
e o +
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
2
4
Solving eq. 4 Using previous data we can get
21
10 289 . 3 =
a
N
or
17
10 9 . 3 =
a
N
Solving eq. 2 we can get

17
10 9 . 1 = n Hence let
21
10 289 . 3 =
a
N
Because p>n as p-type
Finally we can get impurity concentration
3 21 21 17
10 29 . 3 10 28 . 3 10 97 . 1

= + = + = m N n N
a d
Reference
Course material of physical electronics.

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