Silicon crystal grown by the Czochralski method

Figure 111 Silicon crystal grown by the Czochralski method. This large single-crystal ingot provides 300 mm (12-in.) diameter wafers when sliced using a saw. The ingot is about 1.5 m long (excluding the tapered regions), and weighs about 275 kg. (Photograph courtesy of MEMC Electronics Intl.) 1

Physics and Modeling of Microelectronic Devices

MEL G 631 Dr. RAMESHA C K - IC

Course plan
Text Book: Muller R. S and Kamins T. I., Device Electronics for Integrated circuits, John Wiley, 3rd ed., 2003.

Reference Books: (i) Sze S. M., Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 2nd Ed., Wiley Eastern, 1981. (ii) Tyagi M. S., Introduction to Semiconductor Materials and Devices, John Wiley & Sons, 1991.

Course plan
Lecture Learning Objectives Number References (C hap/Sec) (Text Book) Fundamental of semiconductors; Band and Semiconductor Materials 1.1 Bond Models Concepts of Holes, Mobility Drift, Diffusion Free Carriers and Hall Ef 1.2 & 1.3 , etc. fect Measurements Meaning of Equilibrium in Electronic Syste Metal-Semiconductor Co 3.1 m ntact. Ideal M-S Contact Without & With Bias and M-S Junctions 3.2 Variation of Charge, Potential, Field, etc. Schottky Contacts M-S Contact 3.3 & 3.4 & Effects Surface Effects 3.5 Effects of Impurity Distribution and Types o pn junction 4.1 & 4.2 f p-n junction and their properties. Effect of Bias and Junction Breakdown. pn junction under bias 4.3 & 4.4 JFET, its working and analysis JFET 4.5 Continuity Equation, Generation & Recombi Currents in pn junction 5.1 & 5.2 nation, Localized States Topics to be Covered

1-2
3-5 6 7-8 9 10 11-13 14 15-16 17-19

Lecture Learning Objectives Number 20-21 22-23 24-26 27 28-30

31-32
33 34

35
36-37 38 39-40

References (C hap/Sec) (Text Book) Ideal- Diode Analysis and Validity of Appro Current-Voltage Characte 5.3 ximations in the same. ristics of pn junction. Transistor action, Various bias conditions an Bipolar transistor 6.1 d use in IC. npn transistor under active bias, its function, Transistor under active bi 6.2 parameters as Transistor switching and different regions of Transistor switching 6.3 operation MOS structure, energy band diagrams in equ MOS system 8.1 & 8.2 ilibrium and under various bias conditions Equilibrium and non-equilibrium analysis in MOS Electronics 8.3 MOS electronics Capacitance of MOS system and its variatio MOS Capacitance 8.4 n Effect of oxide and interface charges on M Oxide charges in MOS 8.5 OS system Basic MOSFET Behavior MOSFET-Physical Effect 9.1 s Improved models for short channel MOSFE Short channel MOSFET 9.2 Ts Various parameters of MOSFET MOSFET 9.3 & 9.4 High Field Effects in MOSFETs MOSFET-Physical Effect 10.1 to 10.4 5 s

Topics to be Covered

4. Evaluation Scheme:

EC No. 1.
2. 3.

Evaluation Component Test I

Test II Assignments/ Presentations Comprehensi ve Examinati on

Duration Weight Date Time age (%) 1 hour 20% 16-09-2011

1 hour 20% 20%

Nature of Component Closed Book

4.

3 hrs.

40%

(12 noon 1pm) 21-10-2011 Open Book (12 noon 1pm) To be announced in the class 05-12-2011 (FN) Closed Book / Open Book

Today's Electronic Devices

Importance Semiconductor Devices

These devices enhance Performance Reliability Cost effectivenes

of
Energy Systems Generate, distribute and regulate energy Information Systems store, process and communicate information

Energy Bands and Charge carriers in Semiconductors

- Specific mechanisms by which current flows in a solid - Dependence of the conductivity of a semiconductor on the temperature and impurity concentration

- Discrete energy levels within atoms

- Large gaps in the energy scale where no energy states are available - Basic difference between electron in an isolated atom and one in an atom in a solid

10

Bonding Forces in Solids

Ionic bonding

Metallic bonding
Covalent bonding

11

Bonding Forces in Solids

Ionic bonding : NaCl (Alkali halides)

Each Na atom is surrounded by 6 Cl atoms, and vice versa. Na (Z=11) has [Ne]3s1 and Cl (Z=17) has [Ne]3s23p5 electronic structure.

Each Na atom gives up its outer 3s electron to a Cl atom so that the crystal is made of ions with the electronic structures of the inert atoms Ne or Ar :
Thus, NaCl is called a good insulator.
12

Ionic Bonding (NaCl) & Covalent Bonding (Si)

Figure 31 Different types of chemical bonding in solids: (a) an example of ionic bonding in NaCl; (b) covalent bonding in the Si crystal, veiwed along a <100> direction (see also Figs. 18 and 19).

13

Bonding Forces in Solids

Metallic bonding
A metal atom has the outer electronic shell which is partially filled, usually no more than 3 electrons. The alkali metals such as Na have only one electron in the outer orbit that is loosely bound and easily given up in ion formation.

This fact accounts for not only the great chemical activity of the alkali metals but also their high electrical conductivity. 14

Bonding Forces in Solids

Covalent bonding In diamond lattice semiconductors ( Si, Ge, and C), each atom is surrounded by 4 nearest neighbors, each with four electrons in the outer orbit. Each atom shares its valence electrons with its four neighbors. The bonding forces arises from a quantum mechanical interaction between the shared electrons. Each electron pair constitutes a covalent bond. In the sharing process it is no longer relevant to ask which electron belongs to a particular atom, in other words, both electrons belong to the bond. 15

Ionic Bonding (NaCl) & Covalent Bonding (Si)

Figure 31 Different types of chemical bonding in solids: (a) an example of ionic bonding in NaCl; (b) covalent bonding in the Si crystal, veiwed along a <100> direction (see also Figs. 18 and 19).

16

Energy Band
What will happen when several isolated atoms are brought

together to form a solid ? The forces of attraction and repulsion

between atoms will find a balance at the proper interatomic spacing for the crystal. In this process, important changes occur in electron energy level configurations, thus resulting in the varied electrical properties of solids.[(ex) For Si atoms, the outermost shell (or valence shell), n = 3, where two 3s and 3p electrons interact each other to form the four hybridized sp3 electrons when the atoms are brought close together].

Si 1S2 2S2 2P6 3S2 3P2

17

Energy Band in a Silicon Solid

As many atoms are brought together, the split energy levels form continuous bands of energies.
- An isolated Si atom has an electronic structure in ground state : 1s22s22p63s23p2 - Noted that each atom has available two 1s states, two 2s states, six 2p states, two 3s states, six 3p states, and higher states . - For N atoms, there will be available 2N 1s states, 2N 2s states, 6N 2p states, 2N 3s states, 6N 3p states.

18

Energy Band in a Silicon Solid As the interatomic spacing decreases, these energy levels split into

bands, beginning with the outer shell (n = 3). As the 3s and 3p

bands grow, they merge into a single band composed of a mixture of energy levels. This band of 3s-3p levels contains 8N available states. As the distance between atoms approaches the equilibrium interatomic spacing of Si, this band splits into two bands separated

by an energy gap, Eg. The upper band (conduction band) contains

4N states and the lower band (valence band) contains 4N states.
19

Figure 33 Energy levels in Si as a function of inter-atomic spacing. The core levels (n = 1, 2) in Si are completely filled with electrons. At the actual atomic spacing of the crystal, the 2N electrons in the 3s sub-shell and the 2N electrons in the 3p sub-shell undergo sp3 hybridization, and all end up in the lower 4N states (valence band), while the higher lying 4N states (conduction band) are empty, separated by a bandgap. 20

Energy Bands and Charge Carriers in Semiconductors Metals, Semiconductors, and Insulators in Energy Band Structure For electrons to experience an acceleration in an applied electric field, they must be able to move into new energy

states.
This implies that there must be empty states (allowed the electrons. For example, if relatively few electrons reside in an otherwise empty band, ample unoccupied states are available into which the electrons can move.
21

energy

states which are not already occupied by electrons) available to

Energy Bands and Charge Carriers in Semiconductors Metals, Semiconductors, and Insulators in Energy Band Structure
On the other hand, the Si band structure is such that at 0K, the

valence band is completely filled with electrons

conduction band is empty.

and

the

Thus, there can be no charge transport within the valence

band

because no empty states are available into which electrons can move.

Also, there are no electrons in the conduction band so

has a high resistivity typical of insulators.

that

no
Si
22

charge transport can take place there either. This is why a pure

Typical Energy Bands (Insulator, Semiconductor, Metal)

Figure 34

Typical band structures at 0 K.

23

Direct and Indirect Semiconductors

When a single electron is assumed to travel through a perfectly periodic lattice, the wave function of the electron is assumed to be in the form of a plane wave moving in the x-direction with propagation constant (or wave vector) k.

24

(a) Direct Semiconductor (GaAs) : an electron in the conduction band can fall to an empty state in the valence band, giving off the energy difference (Eg) as a photon of light. Thus, this semiconductor material is used for light emitters and lasers.

(b) Indirect Semiconductor (Si) : an electron in the conduction band minimum in Si can not fall directly to the valence band maximum. Instead, it must undergo a momentum change as well as changing its energy. The indirect transition involves a change in k, and the energy is generally given up as heat to the lattice rather than as an emitted photon.

25

Energy Bands Variation vs. Composition (x)

Figure 36 Variation of direct and indirect conduction bands in AIGaAs as a function of composition: (a) the ( E,k) diagram for GaAs, showing three minima in the conduction band; (b) AIAs band diagram; (c) positions of the three conduction band minima in AIx Ga1- x As as x varies over the range of compositions from 26 GaAs ( x = 0) to AIAs ( x = 1). The smallest band gap, Eg (shown in color), follows the direct band to x = 0.38, and then follows the indirect X band.

Charge Carriers in Semiconductors

Consideration of Current Conductions : - Metals : Metal atoms are imbedded in a sea of free electrons, and these electrons can move as a group under the influence of an electric field. - Semiconductors : Since the semiconductors has a filled valence band and an empty conduction band at 0K, the increase of electrons in conduction band by thermal excitations across the band gap must be considered as the temp. is raised. In addition, after electrons are excited to the conduction band, the empty states left in the valence band can contribute to the conduction process. Also, the introduction of impurities is considered to have an important effect on the energy band structure and on the availability of charge carriers.

Electrons & Holes : As the temp. is raised from 0K, some electrons in the
V.B. receive enough thermal energy to be excited across the band gap to the C.B., and this results in a semiconductor with some electrons in an otherwise empty C.B. and some unoccupied states (called holes) in an otherwise filled V.B.
27

Figure 37 Electron-hole pairs in a semiconductor.

28

Electron-Hole Pair (EHP)

EHP = A pair of conduction band electron and valence band hole created by the excitation of a valence band electron to the conduction band. - Equilibrium number of EHPs in pure Si at RT = 1010 EHP/cm3 - Si atom density = 5 x 1022 atoms/cm3

Very few electrons are free to move about via the many available empty states

In the filled valence band, all available energy states are occupied. For every electron moving with a given velocity, there is an equal and opposite electron motion elsewhere in the band. If we apply an electric field, the net current is zero because for every electron j moving with velocity vj, there is a corresponding electron j with velocity -vj. With N electrons/cm3 in the band, the current density J :

J (q)Vi 0 (filled band),

If we create a hole by removing the j-th electron, the net current J in V.B. will be,
i

J (q) Vi (q)V j qV j (j-th electron missing)

i

29