Detection of Light

Lecture 2: Solid State Physics

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Overview of Course Topics

Before solid state TODAY: Solid State Physics Intrinsic and Extrinsic Photoconductors Detector Arrays Artifacts, multiplexers, readout schemes Bolometers Heterodyne Receivers

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Photon Detectors respond directly to individual photons

Incoming photons energy....

hc E =

...is converted into releasing bound charge carriers Detector Material

+ - +

Wavelengths: From X-ray to infrared Photoconductors, photodiodes, Examples: photoemissive detectors, photographic plates

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Electrons

e

Carry an electric charge
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Charge = 1.60 1019 C

me = 9.11 1031 kg

Are fundamental, point-like particles

Are fermions (only one fermion per quantum state)

Energy Units
The electron volt is the amount of energy a free electron gets after passing through an electrical potential of 1 Volt:

1eV = 1.602 10

19

1.240 E eV (m)

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Photons

hc E = h p =

Are massless (but have momentum) Quantized as particles (and as a continuous wave...) Carry no electric charge Are bosons

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Electrons and Photons interact through Electromagnetism

The photon is the gauge boson for EM Accelerating charges make photons ...and photons can be absorbed in bound charge systems

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Classical Mechanics treat electric charges as point particles interacting with electric elds
Electric Potential Energy between two charges:

1 q1 q2 UE = 40 r12

e
Electron with mean separation

r12

Nz p

Atomic Nucleus with N protons

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The QM properties of electrons lead to atomic lines and semiconductor bands

Multiple electrons around a positively charged nucleus have four quantum numbers:

n, l, ml , ms
Only ONE FERMION can have one set of quantum numbers! Electrons (and other particles) are described with Schrodingers Wave Equation:

(x, t) i (x, t) = H t
Electrons are described by probability clouds called ORBITALS with specic energies.

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Electrons can absorb or emit photons and change to a different allowed orbital
e.g. the Hydrogen atom with one electron

Photons of only specic energies can be absorbed or emitted

Energy level diagram

m = 2 to n = 3, 4, 5, 6

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Incomplete orbitals provide electrons for bonding

Silicon and Germanium have 4 electrons in their outermost (n=2) orbital: (In the Periodic Table these are GROUP IV elements) Energetically they want to have 8 electrons to form a stable conguration:

Si Si

d = 0.230 nm

Si
Forming a crystal sharing electrons with other Si atoms forms a stable LATTICE:

Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si

Si Si Si Si

Si Si

Si
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Si

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Semiconductors can be formed with pairs of elements

Gallium has 3 electrons, Arsenic has 5 electrons:

Ga

As

Ga
Ga atoms alternating with As atoms form a stable LATTICE:

As Ga As Ga

Ga As Ga As

As Ga As Ga

As Ga As

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Dopants in Silicon
We can dope a pure silicon crystal with small amounts of Group V or Group III elements

Adding a Group V element introduces conduction electrons and creates n-type silicon, called a donor.

Adding a Group III element introduces an electron hole and creates p-type silicon, called an acceptor.

Si Si Si Si

Si

Si

Si

Si Si Si Si

Si

Si

Si

Si As Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Si Ga Si Si Si Si Si Si Si

Pure semiconductors are INTRINSIC, doped semiconductors are EXTRINSIC

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Metals and Semiconductors on the Periodic Table

Classical Semiconductors

Metals
New Semiconductors

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Atomic orbitals overlap in a crystal to form electronic bands

Outermost orbitals begin to overlap.... ...bands form at crystal spacing CONDUCTION BAND

Energy

3p

Eg

3s

VALENCE BAND

2p

2s 1s
Isolated atoms Lattice spacing

Decreasing atomic separation

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Semiconductors

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Energy Band Diagram

Energy
CONDUCTION BAND

Ec

hc > Eg

BAND GAP

Eg

Ev
VALENCE BAND

Electrons can also be THERMALLY excited

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Energy Band Diagram

Insulator Metal Intrinsic Semiconductor Extrinsic Semiconductor

Energy
CONDUCTION BAND

BAND GAP

VALENCE BAND

T = 0K

T > 0K

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Energy Band Diagram for Donors and Acceptors

Intrinsic Semiconductor Extrinsic n-type Semiconductor Extrinsic p-type Semiconductor

Energy
CONDUCTION BAND

Donor ionization energy Ed

BAND GAP

Acceptor ionization energy Ea

VALENCE BAND

T = 0K
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Energy Band Diagram for Donors and Acceptors

Intrinsic Semiconductor Extrinsic n-type Semiconductor Extrinsic p-type Semiconductor

Energy
CONDUCTION BAND

Donor ionization energy Ed

BAND GAP

Acceptor ionization energy Ea

VALENCE BAND

T > 0K
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Metals, Semiconductors and Insulators

Metals

Semimetals

Metals have high electrical conductivity and consist of positive ions in a crystal lattice surrounded by delocalised electrons Insulators (also called dielectrics) resist the ow of electric current Semiconductors have electrical resistivity between metals and insulators, which is temperature dependent

Semiconductors

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The wavevector k
Atom

Even in a material with T=0, the electrons have momentum! Electrons are FERMIONS and so they cannot occupy the same quantum states So, we talk about the electrons wavevector, which is related to their momentum:

k = U (k, r)e
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(ik.r )

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In reality, band structure is complicated...

Germanium
Silicon

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The Size of Bandgaps

For semiconductors, typically: 0 < Eg < 3.6 eV

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Bandgaps and Lattice Struture

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Direct and Indirect Band Gaps

Minimum in the conduction band and maximum in the valence band are characterized by the wavevector k If the k-vectors for minimum and maximum are the same, it is called a DIRECT GAP.

source: Wikipedia If the k-vectors for minimum and maximum are different it is called an INDIRECT GAP, and a transition must involve the absorption or emission of a phonon to conserve momentum.

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Direct and Indirect Band Gaps

Indirect gaps make electronic transitions less likely, so light-emitting and laser diodes are almost always made of direct band gap materials (e.g., GaAs), and not indirect ones (e.g. Si) Consider a compound material like:

Al and Ga have ~ same atomic size within the lattice are exchangeable If x 0.7 then bandgap is direct If x > 0.7 then bandgap is indirect (Fletcher et al. 1993)

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Electrical Conductivity of a material quanties how a material conducts electrical current ow

Electrical Conductivity

1 =

Electrical Resistivity

A = R. l

A sample of uniform material

R = electrical resistance (ohms) A = cross-section area (m2 ) l = length of material (m)

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Thermal Excitation and the Fermi Energy

The distribution of electrons amongst the energy states is described by the Fermi distribution

f ()

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The Energy Distribution of Electrons (1)

In the classical picture, the energetic distribution of electrons would be given by Maxwell Boltzmann statistics:

n2 (E2 E1 )/kT Eg /kT =e =e n1

Ec

In the QM picture the concentration of electrons in the conduction band is given by:

n0 =

f (E )N (E ) dE

...where N(E) dE is the density of states and f(E) the Fermi distribution (Fermi-Dirac statistics):

f (E ) =

1 1+e
E E F kT

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The Energy Distribution of Electrons (2)

T=0K

For intrinsic semiconductors: Ec EF = EF EV = Eg /2"

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The Energy Distribution of Electrons (3)

Even at room temperature, the conduction electrons occupy only the lowest states in the conduction band. If f(E)N(E) is close to zero at E>Ec, it can be described by an average effective density of states Nc near E ~ Ec:

n0 = Nc f (Ec ) where Nc = 2

2 mef f kT h2

3 / 2

Hence the Fermi-Dirac statistics become:

f ( Ec ) =
...and we get:

1
( E c E F ) kT 1+e

Ec EF >>kT

( E c E F ) kT

n 0 = N c f ( Ec ) = 2

2 mef f kT h2

3 / 2

(Ec EF )/kT

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The Fermi Energy in Extrinsic Materials

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Donor and Acceptor Energies

Observed donor Ed and acceptor Ea ionization energies:

Donor intrinsic P As Sb B Ga In

Si (meV) 1100 45 49 39 45 65 157

Ge (meV) 700 12 13 10 10 11 11

For T = 300K, kT 26 meV

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Summary

Semiconductors can detect photons by absorbing the photon and raising an electron from a valence band to a conduction band The energy between the two bands is called the band gap energy For intrinsic semiconductors, the band gap is large compared to room temperature Doping intrinsic semiconductors forms intrinsic semiconductors, which introduce energy levels much smaller than the intrinsic semiconductor band gap The conductivity of a semiconductor is dependent on the doping and the temperature of the detector

Read Detection of Light Chapters 1 and 2 Do the Exercise sheet 1

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Reference Properties of Semiconductor Materials

second column: i=indirect, d=direct, D=diamond, Z=zinc blende,W=wurtzite, H=NaCl; source: Streetman & Banerjee, Appendix III

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