Fundamentals of Solar

Energy
Lecture notes
By Katharina Theis-Bröhl
SS 2021
 Fundamentals of
Semiconductor Physics

2
Atoms in the Ground State

• we start with a single atom

• the nucleus contains protons and neutrons
• The electrons fill up the atomic shells from
the inside to the outside accordingly to
certain principles  atoms are stable and
have minimal potential energy
• As long as the electrons are in the ground
state on their electronic level they do not
radiate electromagnetic waves.

3
 Bohr’s atomic model
Niels Bohr proposed in 1913 the Bohr model for hydrogen
1. Bohr’s postulate: Wn
0 eV
Electrons can only travel in certain orbits with -0.85 eV
certain energies without continuously losing energy M -1.5 eV
as they revolve around the nucleus L -3.4 eV
2
1 1 Ze 1 1
Wn    13.6eV
4ε0 2 r1 n 2 n2
-13.6 eV
2. Bohr’s postulate K

Electrons can only gain and lose energy by jumping from one
allowed orbit to another, absorbing or emitting electromagnetic
radiation
W  W2  W1  hf h  6.6  10 34 Ws 2 Planck’s constant
Emission Absorption of light

4
 The periodic system of the elements

• Rows: give the electronic orbits K, L ,M, N, O, …

• Columns give the valence: number of electrons in the outer orbit 6
 Configuration of the Silicon Crystal
• If the outer electrons bond to the ones of the neighbor atoms a periodic
lattice structure may appear  crystal
• Silicon makes a covalent bonding with each of its four outer electrons to the
neighbor electrons

7
 Compound Semiconductors
• Combination of different elements of different main groups of the
periodic systems leads to compound semiconductors.

• The best known material combination is Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs)

– It consists of the trivalent Ga and the pentavalent As and therefore
is called III/V- semiconductor
• There exist also II/VI-semiconductors like Cadmium-Telluride (CdTe)

8
 Band model of a semiconductor
• One atom has discrete energetic electrons levels
• What happens if two atoms approach?
 coupling of the electrons  change of the electronic levels
 each state splits into two
• In a crystal infinity atoms couple to each other
 single states no longer can be dissolved there
 we call this Energy Bands

9
 Electrical conductivity
• For the electrical conductivity it is important how the highest occupied
electronic band is filled with electrons: if it is
– empty
– partly filled, or
– completely filled

• Conductor:
– the highest band is only partly filled with
WF
electrons up to the Fermi energy WF
– An electric current can flow when applying
an electric filed due to many unfilled states
into which the electrons can jump

10
 Electrical conductivity
• Isolator: the valence band is completely filled with electrons, the
conduction band is empty.
– The band gap Wg=Eg is large (5-10 eV)
– In the band gap no electronic states are allowed.

• Semiconductor:
– intrinsic semiconductors have bands similar to isolators.
– The band gap, however, is much smaller, in the range of 1 eV

Conduction band

WF Conduction band
WF WF
valence band valence band

Conductor Isolator semiconductor

11
Electrical conductivity in a semiconductor

– At absolute temperature T=0 (ground state) all valence

electrons (electrons in the valence band) are completely bonded
to their neighbors

Conduction band

Forbidden region

valence band

Wg  WC  WV

12
Electrical conductivity in a semiconductor

– At elevated temperature the electrons start thermal oscillations

and some electrons can gain enough thermal energy to break
the bonds and to overcome the band gap and to go over into the
conduction band  a small current can flow.
– The electrons in the conduction band are called conduction
electrons
– Conductivity increases with temperature

Conduction band

valence band

13
 Band gap of different material

Material Type of material Band gap Wg

Diamant Isolator 7.3 eV

Galliumarsenide Semiconductor 1.42 eV

Silicon Semiconductor 1.12 eV

Germanium Semiconductor 0.7 eV

14
 Intrinsic conduction density
• Generation of an electron-hole pair:
– As soon as an electron breaks its bond a hole is created in the crystal.
• Recombination of an electron-hole pair:
– The inverse process
Generation of an electron-hole pair Recombination of an electron-hole pair

Conduction band

• Generation and recombination of electron-hole pairs continuously

happens in a semiconductor.valence band

• The average number of free electrons per volume is called intrinsic

conduction density ni . It can be determined by:

N0: effective density of states (how many electrons could be

Wg
 generated at maximum):
ni  N 0 e 2 kT
N0  31019/cm3 for Si
15
k: Boltzmann constant: k=1.3810-23 Ws/K=8.63 10-5 eV/K
 Charge transport in semiconductors
• Applying a voltage U to a semiconductor leads to an electric field F
U
F 

• The current through the semiconductor is also called drift current.
• Due to collisions the electrons are also decelerated and therefore reach an
average drift velocity vD

16
 Mobility of the carriers
2
v cm
• The mobility mN of the electrons is given by mN  D  1400 (for Si)
F Vs
2
cm
• The mobility of the holes mP is much smaller mP  450 (for Si)
Vs
(because first electrons have to jump to
free spaces)

17
 Charge transport in semiconductors:

Field current

• In the volume V of the crystal we find N electrons

N  nV  n  A   n: electron density

• The electrons move in the time t = l /vD through the crystal due to the
electric field.
• The field current is therefore:
q N q n  A  
IF   v D  q  n  A v D  q  n  A  mN  F
t 
• The field current density

IF
j F   q  n  mN  F
A

18
 Charge transport in semiconductors:

Diffusion current

• Due to concentration difference

• The energy comes from thermal lattice vibrations
• Diffusion current from areas of higher concentration to lower ones
• Diffusion current is proportional to the particle concentration n(x)

 Diffusion current density:

dn x 
j D  q  D
dx

 D: diffusion coefficient
 q: elementary charge
19
 Doping of semiconductors
• Semiconductors are intrinsically bad conductors
• By doping the conductivity can be influenced intentionally
• By addition of atoms of different valence the density of conduction electrons
(or holes) can be set selectively

• Two different types of semiconductors can be created:

– n-doped: addition of higher-valence atoms (e.g. As or P in Si)
– p-doped: addition of lower-valence atoms (e.g. Ga or B in Si)
n-doping in Si p-doping in Si

20
 Band model of doped semiconductors
• The impurity atoms provide additional energetic levels between the bands
• In a n-doped semiconductor the additional energy level (Donator level) is
slightly below the conduction band. The electrons (majority carriers) need
only a small energy of 0.05 eV to jump into the conduction band
• In a p-doped semiconductor the additional energy level (Acceptor level) is
slightly above the valence band. The electrons easily can jump into this
level and create holes (minority carriers)

Conduction band Conduction band

WF

WF

valence band valence band

n-type semiconductor p-type semiconductor

21
 The p-n-junction
p n
Fixed
+ + + + + ++ + Fixed
acceptoren
+ donatoren
Free + + + ++ +
+ + + ++
holes + ++ Free
elektrons
Both sides are neutral !
Formation of a space-charge region:
• Electrons (holes) diffuse in the p-type region (n-type region) und
recombine with holes (electrons)
• Remaining are: immobile, uncompensated donators (acceptors)
 a field builts up which prevents further diffusion of carriers
p space-charge region n
negative netto positive netto
charge at the F + + + + + ++ + charge at the
+
p-type + + + + ++ + n-type
+ + ++
semiconductor + ++ semiconductor 22
 Characteristic line
Diode in forward direction

dn x 
Diode in backward direction
jjFE  j D  q  nx   m  F x   q  D
dx

 qU  IS: saturation current

I  IS  e  1
 kT
L: diffusion length
  (for holes p or electrons n)
 q  DN ni2 q  DP ni2 
IS  A    
 LN L N 
 n A p D  23
 Interaction of light with semiconductors:
light absorption
• As in the Bohr’s atomic model for a single atom:
semiconductors can absorb light.
• As we have here bands instead of single electronic levels:
the band gap Wg determines the absorption behavior
Wphoton  hf  Wg

Conduction band

Eg

valence band

Creation of an electron-hole pair

24
 Absorption coefficient
• As light penetrates the semiconductor, its flux density (intensity of the light)
decreases due to absorption with an exponential decay

E x   E1e x

E1: flux density at x=0 E1

e
: absorption coefficient
Penetration depth xE:

1
xE 

Crystalline Si (c-Si): =4000/cm E0
for visible light (l=600 nm)
 xE= 2.5 mm
25
 Conservation of energy and momentum
• Different materials have different absorption coefficients
 what is the reason for that?
• A crystal consists of coupled vibrating ions on
a lattice
• Similar to light the lattice vibrations can be
described as particles: phonons

Photons: have high energy but low momentum

Phonons: have high momentum but low energy

Not only conservation of energy but also conservation of momentum

has be fulfilled as a photon penetrates the crystal

26
 Direct and indirect semiconductors
Direct semiconductor Indirect semiconductor

2𝜋
k= ∙𝑝 k
ℎ
Crystal direction (crystal momentum) Crystal direction (crystal momentum)

• Minimum of conduction band • Min. of conduction band and

and maximum of valence band max. of valence band are not at
are at the same crystal the same crystal momentum
momentum  electron directly  electron can be transferred
can be transferred into the into the conduction band only
conduction band with the help of a phonon, e.g.
vibration direction also changes 27
 Direct and indirect semiconductors
Direct semiconductor Indirect semiconductor

k k
Crystal direction (crystal momentum) Crystal direction (crystal momentum)
Simple Model: Core hole bound electron
Core hole bound electron

28
free electron free electron
Absorption coefficients of different semiconductors

Absorption Penetration
Material Type Band gap Wg
coefficient  depth xE
c-Si indirect 1.12 eV 4 000/cm 2.5 mm

a-Si direct 1.7 eV 40 000/cm 0.25 mm

CdTe direct 1.45 eV 37 000/cm 0.3 mm

GaAs direct 1.42 eV 47 000/cm 0.2 mm

Direct semiconductor:
• absorption is more probable and a high absorption coefficient results
connected to a small penetration depth
Indirect semiconductor:
• Photon can penetrate the crystal relatively far because the electron
needs to collide also with the core (for taking the momentum of the
phonon) for being able to absorb the photon 29
 Light reflection at the surface
• Index of refraction within a material: c0: velocity of light in vacuum
c0
n c: velocity of light in the material
c
• Magnitude of reflection: Reflectance E0: incident irradiation
ER
R ER: reflected irradiation
E0
• Perpendicular incidence:
2
 n1  n2 
R   
 n1  n2 
• The reflectance increases when the light
incidences at an angle

Example: Si in the visible range n=3,9

2
 1  3,9 
R    0,35  35%
 1  3,9  30
 Antireflection coating
• the thickness of the coating layer should fulfill the condition of
destructive interference (for perpendicular incidence):

d
1
 lmat 
2m  1  l  2m  1
2 2 ns 4

 Reflectance:
2
 n  n1n2 
2
R   s

 n  n1n2 
2
s

R  0 for ns  n1n2

For Si: coating with a material with ns  1 3.9  1.97 would be perfect

31
 Examples for antireflection coatings
1. coating of Si with SiO2 (n=1.46), l=600 nm
2
1.462 − 1 ∙ 3.9 600 𝑛𝑚
𝑅= = 0.086 = 8.6% 𝑑= = 103 𝑛𝑚
1.462 + 1 ∙ 3.9 4 ∙ 1.46

1. Coating with Si3N4 (n=2.0) ), l=600 nm

2 600 𝑛𝑚
2.02 − 1 ∙ 3.9 𝑑= = 75𝑛𝑚
𝑅= = 0.0002 = 0.02% 4 ∙ 2.0
2.02 + 1 ∙ 3.9

bare Silicon
Reflectivity R

Coating with SiO2

Coating with Si3N4

Wavelength l in nm 32
 Photodiode
Light incidence
Electron-hole pair,
generated by light

Electrical
Electricalfield
field Characteristic line:

• Photocurrent IPh: IPh  const  E

(Consumer oriented arrow system) 33

 Configuration of a Photodiode

- hf
p
F
space charge region

+ + + + + +
+
+

+ +
+

+
+ + +
+

+ +
n

+
+

+
+
+

+
+

+ +
+

+
+
+

+
+

+
metal contact
+
• Photodiods operate in reverse direction
• Either the p- or the n-layer is very thin, in order to allow light to incident
into the space charge region  current by excited charge carriers 34