Lecture 4

OUTLINE
• Semiconductor Fundamentals (cont’d)
– Properties of carriers in semiconductors
– Carrier drift
• Scattering mechanisms
• Drift current
– Conductivity and resistivity
Mobile Charge Carriers in Semiconductors
• Three primary types of carrier action occur inside a
semiconductor:

– Drift: charged particle motion under the influence

of an electric field.

– Diffusion: particle motion due to concentration

gradient or temperature gradient.

– Recombination-generation (R-G)

Lecture 4, Slide 2
 Electrons as Moving Particles
R.F. Pierret, Semiconductor Fundamentals, Figure 2.9

In vacuum In semiconductor

Lecture 4, Slide 3
 Carrier Drift
• When an electric field (e.g. due to an externally applied voltage)
exists within a semiconductor, mobile charge-carriers will be
accelerated by the electrostatic force:
2
3 1
4 electron
5

E
Electrons drift in the direction opposite to the E-field  net current
Because of scattering, electrons in a semiconductor do not undergo
constant acceleration. However, they can be viewed as quasi-
classical particles moving at a constant average drift velocity vd

Lecture 4, Slide 4
Drude Approach
In general the average velocity or the drift velocity of the
electron with mass m* inside the semiconductor travelling
due to electric field 

The current density is now

 Conductivity Effective Mass, m*
Under the influence of an electric field (E-field), an electron or a
hole is accelerated:
a
 e 
*
me
e Holes
a *
mh

Electron and hole conductivity effective masses

acelration=-–mqnE

Si Ge GaAs
me*/mo 0.26 0.12 0.068
mh*/mo 0.39 0.30 0.50
mo = 9.110-31 kg
Lecture 4, Slide 8
 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 T

• 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 E-field is

applied. 3 2
1
electron
4
Lecture 4, Slide 9 5
 Electron Momentum
• With every collision, the electron loses momentum
*
mv e d

• Between collisions, the electron gains momentum

–eEsc

sc ≡ average time between electron scattering events

Conservation of momentum  |me*vd | = | eEsc|

Lecture 4, Slide 10
 Carrier Mobility, 
For electrons: |vd| = eEsc / me* ≡ nE
n  [esc / me*] is the electron mobility

Similarly, for holes: |vd|= eEsc / mh*  pE

p  [esc / mh*] is the hole mobility
Electron and hole mobilities for intrinsic semiconductors @ 300K
Si Ge GaAs InAs
n (cm2/Vs) 1400 3900 8500 30,000
p (cm2/Vs) 470 1900 400 500
Lecture 4, Slide 11
 Conductivity and Resistivity
• In a semiconductor, both electrons and holes conduct current:
J p ,drift ep p  )
J n ,drift  en(  n
J drift  J p ,drift J ep   en 
n , drift p n

J drift (ep p  en )  n

• The conductivity of a semiconductor is  ep p  en n

– Unit: mho/cm

1
• The resistivity of a semiconductor is  
– Unit: ohm-cm 

Lecture 4, Slide 12
Hole Drift Current Density, Jp,drift

R.F. Pierret, Semiconductor Fundamentals, Figure 3.3

 Hole drift current per unit area Jp,drift = e p vd

Lecture 4, Slide 13
 Electrical Resistance
I V
+ _

W
t
uniformly doped semiconductor

V L
Resistance R   [Unit: ohms]
I Wt
where  is the resistivity
Lecture 4, Slide 14
Resistivity Dependence on Doping
R.F. Pierret, Semiconductor Fundamentals, Figure 3.8

For n-type material:

1

en n

For p-type material:

1

ep p

Note: This plot (for Si) does

not apply to compensated
material (doped with both
acceptors and donors).

Lecture 4, Slide 15
Mobility Dependence on Doping
Carrier mobilities in Si at 300K

Lecture 4, Slide 16
 Thermal Velocity, vth
3 1 * 2
Average electron kinetic energy  k BT  me vth
2 2

3k BT 3 0.026eV (1.6 10  19 J/eV)

vth  
me *
0.26 9.110  31 kg
2.3 105 m/s 2.3 10 7 cm/s

Lecture 4, Slide 17
 Mean Free Path
• Average distance traveled between collisions
l vth sc

Lecture 4, Slide 18
 Mechanisms of Carrier Scattering
Dominant scattering mechanisms:
1. Phonon scattering (lattice scattering)
2. Impurity (dopant) ion scattering

Phonon scattering limited mobility decreases with increasing T:

1 1  3/ 2
 phonon   phonon    T
phonon density carrier thermal velocity T T 1/ 2

 = e / m vth  T

Lecture 4, Slide 19
 Impurity Ion Scattering

There is less change in the electron’s direction if the electron

travels by the ion at a higher speed.
Ion scattering limited mobility increases with increasing T:
vth3 T 3/ 2
impurity  
N A  ND N A  ND

Lecture 4, Slide 20
Mobility Dependence on Temperature
1 1 1
 
  phonon impurity

Lecture 4, Slide 21
 Velocity Saturation
• At high electric field, carrier drift velocity saturates:

J. Bean, in High-Speed Semiconductor

Devices, S.M. Sze (ed.), 1990

The saturation velocity, vsat , is the maximum drift velocity

8 10 6 cm/s for electrons in Si
vsat  6
 6 10 cm/s for holes in Si
Lecture 4, Slide 22
 Example: Resistivity Calculation
What is the resistivity of a Si sample doped with 1016/cm3 Boron?
Answer:

1 1
 
en n  ep p ep p

 (1.6 10  19 16
)(10 )(450) 
1
1.4   cm

Lecture 4, Slide 23
 Example: Compensated Doping
Consider the same Si sample doped with 1016/cm3 Boron, and
additionally doped with 1017/cm3 Arsenic. What is its resistivity?
Answer:

1 1
 
en n  ep p en n

 (1.6 10  19 16
)(9 10 )(750) 
1
0.93   cm

Lecture 4, Slide 24
 Example: T Dependence of 
Consider a Si sample doped with 1017 As atoms/cm3. How will its
resistivity change when T is increased from 300K to 400K?
Answer:
The temperature dependent factor in  (and therefore ) is n.
From the mobility vs. temperature curve for 1017 cm-3, we find that
n decreases from 770 at 300K to 400 at 400K.

770
Thus,  increases by 1.93
400

Lecture 4, Slide 25
 Summary
• Electrons and holes can be considered as quasi-classical
particles with effective mass m*
• In the presence of an electric field E, carriers move with
average drift velocity vd = E ,  is the carrier mobility
– Mobility decreases w/ increasing total concentration of ionized dopants
– Mobility is dependent on temperature
• decreases w/ increasing T if lattice scattering is dominant
• decreases w/ decreasing T if impurity scattering is dominant

• The conductivity () hence the resistivity () of a

semiconductor is dependent on its mobile charge carrier
concentrations and mobilities
 ep p  en n   1
Lecture 4, Slide 26