Dr.

Nasim Zafar
Electronics 1
EEE 231 BS Electrical Engineering
Fall Semester 2012
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Virtual campus
Islamabad
Semiconductor device lab.
Kwangwoon
Un i v e r s i t y Semiconductor Devices.
Generation and Recombination

Lecture No: 3

Generation
and
Recombination




Generation- Processes:
Thermal Generation/excitation.
Optical Generation/excitation.
Particle Bombardment and other External Sources
Equilibrium and Generation/Recombination:
So far, we have discussed the charge distributions in thermal
equilibrium: The end result was np =n
i
2

When the system is perturbed, the system tries to restore
itself towards equilibrium through recombination-generation.
We will calculate the steady-state rates.

This rate will be proportional to the deviation from
equilibrium, R = A(np-n
i
2
).



Generation and Recombination:
In semiconductors, carrier generation and recombination are processes by
which mobile charge carriers (electrons and holes) are produced and
eliminated.

Charge carrier generation and recombination processes are fundamental to
the operation of many optoelectronic semiconductor devices, such as:

Photo Diodes
LEDs and Laser Diodes.

They are also critical to a full analysis of PN junctions devices such as
Bipolar Junction Transistors et.

Generation and Recombination:
Generation = break up of covalent bonds to form
electrons and holes; Electron-Hole Pair generation.

Electron-Hole Pair generation requires energy in the following
forms:

Thermal Energy ( thermal generation/excitation)
Optical (optical generation/excitation)
or other external sources ( e.g. particle bombardment).

Recombination = formation of bonds by bringing
together electron and holes
Releases energy in thermal or optical form
A recombination event requires 1 electron + 1 hole




The ease with which electrons in a semiconductor can be excited
from the valence band to the conduction band depends on the
band gap, and it is this energy gap that serves as an arbitrary dividing line
(~ 5 eV) between the semiconductors and insulators.

In terms of covalent bonds, an electron moves by hopping to a
neighboring bond. Because of the Pauli exclusion principle it has to be lifted
into the higher anti-bonding state of that bond. In the picture of delocalized
states, for example in one dimension - that is in a nanowire, for every energy
there is a state with electrons flowing in one direction and one state for the
electrons flowing in the other.


Band Gap and Generation/Recombination:
Generation and Recombination
of electron-hole pairs
conduction band
valence band
E
C

E
V

+
-
x
E(x)
+
-
Recombination:
Recombination is the opposite of generation, which means this
isn't a good thing for PV cells, leading to voltage and current loss.

Recombination is most common when impurities or defects are
present in the crystal structure, and also at the surface of the
semiconductor. In the latter case energy levels may be introduced
inside the energy gap, which encourages electrons to fall back
into the valence band and recombine with holes.

In the recombination process energy is released in one of the
following ways:
Non-radiative recombination - phonons, lattice vibrations
Radiative recombination - photons, light or EM-waves
Auger recombination - which is releasing kinetic energy to another free
carrier

Recombination:
The non-radiative recombination is due to the imperfect
material (impurities or crystal lattice defects).

Radiative and Auger recombination, these we call
unavoidable processes. These two are recombination,
due to essential physical processes and release energy
larger than the band gap.


The transition that involves phonons without producing photons
are called nonradiative (radiationless) transitions.

These transitions are observed in an indirect band gap
ssemiconductors and result in inefficient photon emission.

So in order to have efficient LEDs and LASERs, one should
choose materials having direct band gaps such as compound s/cs
of GaAs, AlGaAs, etc
hv
hv
Energy Band Diagram
Direct Band-to-Band Recombination
Applications: Lasers, LEDs.
+

Direct Band-to-Band Recombination

When an electron from the CB
recombines with a hole in the VB, a
photon is emitted.

The energy of the photon will be of
the order of Eg.

If this happens in a direct band-gap
semiconductor, it forms the basis for
LEDs and LASERS.
e
-

photon
Valance Band
Conduction Band
For an indirect-band gap material; the
minimum of the CB and maximum of
the VB lie at different k-values.
When an e
-
and hole recombine in an
indirect-band gap s/c, phonons must be
involved to conserve momentum.



Indirect-band gap s/cs (e.g. Si and Ge)
+
VB
CB
E
k
e
-

Phonon
Atoms vibrate about their mean position
at a finite temperature.These vibrations
produce vibrational waves inside the
crystal.

Phonons are the quanta of these
vibrational waves. Phonons travel with a
velocity of sound .
Their wavelength is determined by the
crystal lattice constant. Phonons can only
exist inside the crystal.



Eg
Direct and indirect-band gap materials :
For a direct-band gap material, the
minimum of the conduction band and
maximum of the valance band lies at the
same momentum, k, values.

When an electron sitting at the bottom of
the CB recombines with a hole sitting at
the top of the VB, there will be no change
in momentum values.

Energy is conserved by means of
emitting a photon, such transitions are
called as radiative transitions.
Direct-band gap s/cs (e.g. GaAs, InP)
+
e
-

VB
CB
E
k
Generation Processes
Band-to-Band R-G Center Impact Ionization
Recombination Processes
Direct R-G Center Auger
Recombination in Si is primarily via R-G centers

For GaAs, calculate a typical (band gap) photon energy and momentum , and
compare this with a typical phonon energy and momentum that might be expected
with this material.
CALCULATION
photon
Phonon
E(photon) = Eg(GaAs) = 1.43 ev

E(photon) = h = hc /

c= 3x10
8
m/sec

P = h / h=6.63x10
-34
J-sec


(photon)= 1.24 / 1.43 = 0.88 m

P(photon) = h / = 7.53 x 10
-28
kg-m/sec


E(phonon) = h = hv
s
/

= hv
s
/ a0

(phonon) ~a0 = lattice constant =5.65x10
-10
m


Vs= 5x10
3
m/sec ( velocity of sound)


E(phonon) = hv
s
/ a
0
=0.037 eV

P(phonon)= h / = h / a
0
= 1.17x10
-24
kg-m/sec
u
u
Photon energy = 1.43 eV
Phonon energy = 37 meV
Photon momentum = 7.53 x 10
-28
kg-m/sec

Phonon momentum = 1.17 x 10
-24
kg-m/sec
Photons carry large energies but negligible amount of momentum.
On the other hand, phonons carry very little energy but significant
amount of momentum.
Photo Generation:

Another important generation process in device operation is
photo generation








If the photon energy (hv) is greater than the band gap energy,
then the light will be absorbed thereby creating electron-hole pairs
E
g

hv
Light Absorption and Transmittance
Consider a slab of semiconductor of thickness l.
0 l
x
I
t
= I
0
exp (ol )
where I
0
is light intensity at x = 0 and I
t
is light intensity at x = l.
I
0
I
t

l
semiconductor
hv hv
23
Photo-generation
The intensity of monochromatic light that passes through a material is given
by: I = I
0
exp( o x) where I
0

is the light intensity just inside the material at
x = 0, and o is the absorption coefficient. Note that o is material dependent
and is a strong function of .

Since photo-generation creates electrons and holes in pairs
and each photon creates one e-h pair, we can write:
( )
x
e G , x G |
t
p
|
t
n
o
= =
c
c
=
c
c
L0 L light light
where G
L0
is the photo-generation rate [# / (cm
3
s)] at x = 0

Question: What happens if the energy of photons is less than
the band gap energy?
Some Calculations!!

Thermal Energy

Thermal energy = k x T = 1.38 x 10
-23
J/K x 300 K =25 meV

Although the thermal energy at room temperature, RT, is very small,
i.e. 25 meV, a few electrons can be promoted to the Cconduction Band.

Electrons can be promoted to the CB by means of thermal energy.


Excitation rate =constant x exp(-Eg / kT)

Excitation rate is a strong function of temperature.


Electromagnetic Radiation:
34 8
1.24
(6.62 10 ) (3 10 / ) / ( ) ( )
(in )
c
E h h x J s x x m s m E eV
m
v

= = = =
h = 6.62 x 10
-34
J-s
c = 3 x 10
8
m/s
1 eV=1.6x10
-19
J
1.24
Silicon 1.1 ( ) 1.1
1.1
g
for E eV m m = = =
To excite electrons from VB to CB Silicon , the
wavelength of the photons must 1.1 m or less
Near
infrared
Summary
Generation and recombination (R-G) processes affect carrier concentrations as
a function of time, and thereby current flow
Generation rate is enhanced by deep (near midgap) states
associated with defects or impurities, and also by high electric field
Recombination in Si is primarily via R-G centers

The characteristic constant for (indirect) R-G is the minority carrier lifetime:

Generally, the net recombination rate is proportional to
material) type - (p material) type - (n
1 1
T n T p
N c
n
N c
p
t t