BECE201L

Electronic Materials &

Devices
Course Overview Total Hours: 45

➢ Module 1: Electrical and Thermal conduction in Solids

➢ Module 2: Semiconductor Fundamentals
➢ Module 3: Carrier Transport Mechanism
➢ Module 4: Junction diodes
➢ Module 5: Bipolar Junction Transistor
➢ Module 6: Field Effect Transistor
➢ Module 7: Other Electronic Materials
Course Objectives
Course Outcomes
Classification of Materials
 What are Semiconductors?

Ref: https://youtu.be/Gxn1bXlNGws
Semiconductors In Everyday Life
 Evolution of IC’s

MORE MOORE !!!

image source: www.wikipedia

Moore’s Law

Dr. Gordon Moore

Why the Devices are scaled down? Gordon Moore, a physical chemist
•To increase the speed working in electronics, made a prediction
•To increase the number of in 1965, the number of transistors on an
components per chip integrated chip, would double every 18
•To reduce the cost months.
 Electronics – Major Classification

Ref: https://quick-learn.in/introduction-to-basics-electronics/
Ref: http://www.electronicsandyou.com/basic-electronic-components-types-functions-symbols.html
Books & Weblinks
❑ TEXT BOOK
1. S. O. Kasap, Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices , 2018, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill
Education.

❑ BOOK REFERENCES
1. Simon Sze, Ming-Kwei Lee, “Semiconductor Devices, Physics and Technology”,2012, 3rd Edition,
Wiley International Student Version.
2. Ben G Streetman and Sanjay Kumar Banerjee, “Solid State Electronic Devices”, 2015, 7th Edition,
Pearson.
3. Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith & Arun N. Chandorkar, “Microelectronic Circuits: Theory and
Applications”, 2014, 7th Edition, Oxford University Press, New York.
4. Donald A. Neamen, “Semiconductor Physics and Devices”, 2017, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill.

❑ WEBSITE LINKS
▪ https://nptel.ac.in/courses/108/108/108108112/
▪ https://nptel.ac.in/courses/113/106/113106065/
Module - 1 – Electrical & Thermal conduction in Solids Hours: 6

Hours
S. No. Topic Week Book to be referred
Required

1. Crystalline state – Crystalline defects 1 S. O. Kasap

Single Crystal Growth -Czochralski Growth –

2. 1 S. O. Kasap
Amorphous Semiconductor
Week -1

Classical Theory: Drude Model – Temperature

3. 1 S. O. Kasap
dependence of resistivity

4. The Hall Effect and Hall Devices 1 S. O. Kasap

Thermal conduction – Electrical conductivity of non-

5. 1 Week -2 S. O. Kasap
metals, Skin Effect

6. Thin metal films, Problems 1 S. O. Kasap

Solid State
Classification of Solids
Classification of Solids
Cubic Unit Cell

body-centered cubic unit cell

lattice point in the center of the cell as well as at the corners.
face-centered cubic unit cell
lattice points at the center of each face of the cell as well as at the corners.
Primitive (or) simple cubic unit cell (SC)

Nc is the number of atoms at the corners.

Primitive (or)
simple cubic unit
cell (SC)
Body – Centred cubic unit cell (BCC)
Body – Centred cubic unit cell (BCC)
Face – Centred cubic unit cell (FCC)
Face – Centred cubic unit cell (FCC)
Density of unit cell
 Single Crystal - CZOCHRALSKI GROWTH State-of-the-art 200 mm Si crystal

© "Smithsonian", Jan 2000, Vol. 30, No. 10

Reprinted with general permission

https://youtu.be/xftnhfa-Dmo
 Solidification and Crystallisation
• Hardening of materials from the casting of molten liquid/gels (metals and alloys).
• Size and shape of the structure of the material depend on its cooling rate.
• Solidification process involves the formation of nuclei and the growth of nuclei to form
grain and crystal structures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ou1bIDn1xE
Crystalline Defects
Point Defects
Point Defects
Point Defects in Ionic Crystals
The conduction electrons are actually moving around randomly in the metal but
as a result of the application of the electric field Ex, they all acquire a net velocity
in the x-direction

The average velocity of the electrons in the x-direction at time ‘t’ is called drift velocity
It is denoted by Vdx(t)
It is the instantaneous velocity vx in the x-direction averaged over many electrons (i.e.)

𝟏
Vdx = [Vx1 + Vx2 + Vx3 + ……. VxN]
𝑵

where, Vxi is the x-direction velocity of the ith electron.

N : Number of conduction electrons in the metal
 Number of electrons crossing A in ∆𝑡
• Suppose n is the number of electrons per unit volume in the conductor (n=N/V)

• In time ∆𝑡, electrons move a distance ∆𝑥 = Vdx ∆𝑡

• The electrons within distance ∆𝑥 pass through area A

• Thus, n(A ∆𝑥 ) is the total number of electrons crossing A in time ∆𝑡

The current density in the x-direction is :
∆𝒙 𝑒 𝑛 𝐴∆𝑥 It must be appreciated that the average
Jx = = velocity at one time may not be the same
𝑨 ∆𝒕 𝐴 ∆𝑡
as at another time, because the applied
𝑒 𝑛 𝐴Vdx ∆𝑡 field, for example, may be changing:
=
𝐴 ∆𝑡
Ex = Ex(t)
Jx = e n Vdx
This general equation relates Jx to the
Therefore a time-dependent current is
average velocity Vdx of the electrons.
given by
Jx(t) = e n Vdx(t)
 • To relate the current density Jx to the electric field E , the
x

effect of the electric field on the motion of the electrons in the

conductor must be examined.
• To do so, let us consider the copper crystal:

• The copper atom has a single valence electron in its 4s

subshell, and this electron is loosely bound
The mobile electrons are
• The solid metal consists of positive ion cores, Cu+, at free to respond to an
regular sites, in the Face-Centered Cubic (FCC) crystal applied field, creating a
structure current density Jx. The
valence electrons in the
• The valence electrons detach themselves from their electron gas are therefore
parents and wander around freely in the solid, forming a conduction electrons.
kind of electron cloud or gas
 The attractive forces between the negative
electron cloud (valence electrons) and the Cu+
Metallic ions are responsible for metallic bonding and
bonding the existence of the solid metal.

The electrostatic attraction between the

conduction electrons and the positive metal
ions, results in the conduction electron having
both potential energy PE and kinetic energy
KE.
 The mean KE of the conduction electrons in a metal is primarily determined
by the electrostatic interaction of these electrons with the positive metal ions and
also with each other

In Drude’s model, the temperature dependence of the mean KE is

Neglected
Absence of Electric Field
• In general, the copper crystal will not be perfect and the atoms will not
be stationary. There will be crystal defects, vacancies, dislocations,
impurities, etc., which will scatter the conduction electrons
• More importantly, due to their thermal energy, the atoms will vibrate
about their lattice sites (equilibrium positions)
• Over a long time, the electrons therefore show no net displacement in
any one direction.
Presence of Electric Field
• When the conductor is connected to a battery and an electric field is applied to the crystal
• The electron experiences an acceleration in the x direction in addition to its random motion, so
after some time, it will drift a finite distance in the x direction

• The electron accelerates along the x direction under the action of the force e Ex, and then it
suddenly collides with a vibrating atom and loses the gained velocity. Therefore, there is an
average velocity in the x direction, which, if calculated, determines the current as
Calculation of Drift Velocity
• To calculate the drift velocity Vdx of the electrons due to applied field Ex, let us
first consider the velocity Vxi of the ith electron in the x-direction at time ‘t’
• Suppose its last collision was at time ti; therefore, for time (t − ti), it accelerated free of
collisions
• Let uxi be the velocity of electron i in the x-direction just after the collision, called as the initial
velocity
• Since e Ex ∕me is the acceleration of the electron, the velocity vxi in the x-direction at time t will
be

• However, this is only for the ith electron. The average velocity Vdx for all such electrons
along x. The average expression for i = 1 to N electrons is given by:
• Suppose that τ is the mean free time, or the mean time between collisions (also
known as the mean scattering time)
• For some electrons, (t − ti) will be greater than τ, and for others, it will be shorter
Averaging (t − ti) for N electrons will be the same as τ
• Thus, we can substitute τ for (t − ti) in the previous expression to obtain

The drift velocity increases linearly with the applied field. The constant of
proportionality eτ ∕ me has been given a special name and symbol. It is called the drift
mobility μd, which is defined as
Vdx = μd Ex
where,
μd = eτ / me
From the expression for the drift velocity Vdx , the current density Jx follows
immediately by substituting
Vdx = μdEx
into
Jx (t) = e n Vdx (t)
Jx = e n μdEx
Therefore, the current density is proportional to the electric field and the
conductivity σ is the term multiplying Ex, that is,
σ = e n μd
Problem #1
Calculate the drift mobility and the mean scattering time of conduction electrons in copper
at room temperature, given that the conductivity of copper is 5.9 × 105 Ω−1 cm−1. [n = 8.5 × 1022
electrons cm−3. ]

Solution :
The electron drift mobility is
Problem #2
What is the applied electric field that will impose a drift velocity equal to 0.1
percent of the mean speed ‘u’ (∼106 m s−1)of conduction electrons in copper? What
is the corresponding current density and current through a Cu wire of diameter 1
mm? [μd is the drift mobility, which for copper is 43.4 cm2 V−1 s−1 and σ = 5.9 × 10 Ω m ]
7 −1 −1

Solution :
The drift velocity of the conduction electrons is
Vdx = μdEx
where μd is the drift mobility, which for copper is 43.4 cm2 V−1 s−1
With Vdx = 0.001u = 103 m s−1,
Jx = σ Ex
= (5.9 × 107 Ω−1 m−1) (2.3 × 105 V m−1)
= 1.4 × 1013 A m−2 or 1.4 × 107 A mm−2
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF RESISTIVITY: IDEAL PURE METALS

• When the conduction electrons are only scattered by thermal vibrations of the metal
ions, then τ in the mobility expression μd = eτ / me refers to the mean time between
scattering events by this process.

• The resulting conductivity and resistivity are denoted by σT and ρT, where the
subscript T represents “thermal vibration scattering.”

• To find the temperature dependence of σ, we first consider the temperature

dependence of the mean free time τ, since this determines the drift mobility
• An electron moving with a mean speed u is scattered when its path crosses the cross-
sectional area S of a scattering center
• The scattering center may be a vibrating atom, impurity, vacancy, or some other
crystal defect
• Since τ is the mean time taken for one scattering process, the mean free path ℓ of
the electron between scattering processes is uτ. If Ns is the concentration of
scattering centers, then in the volume S ℓ, there is one scattering center, that is,
(Suτ)Ns = 1. Thus, the mean free time is given by
• Because the atomic vibrations are random, the atom covers a cross-sectional area π a2,
where a is the amplitude of the vibrations
• If the electron’s path crosses π a2, it gets scattered. Therefore, the mean time between
scattering events τ is inversely proportional to the area πa2 that scatters the electron, that
is, τ ∝ 1 /πa2.
• The thermal vibrations of the atom can be considered to be simple harmonic
motion, much the same way as that of a mass M attached to a spring
• The average kinetic energy of the oscillations is ¼ M a2ω2, where ω is the oscillation
frequency
• From the kinetic theory of matter, this average kinetic energy must be on the order
of ½ KT. Therefore,
where A is a temperature-independent constant. This shows that the resistivity of a pure metal wire
increases linearly with the temperature. We term this conductivity lattice-scattering-limited
conductivity
Problem
Books & Weblinks
❑ TEXT BOOK
1. S. O. Kasap, Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices , 2018, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill
Education.

❑ BOOK REFERENCES
1. Simon Sze, Ming-Kwei Lee, “Semiconductor Devices, Physics and Technology”,2012, 3rd Edition,
Wiley International Student Version.
2. Ben G Streetman and Sanjay Kumar Banerjee, “Solid State Electronic Devices”, 2015, 7th Edition,
Pearson.
3. Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith & Arun N. Chandorkar, “Microelectronic Circuits: Theory and
Applications”, 2014, 7th Edition, Oxford University Press, New York.
4. Donald A. Neamen, “Semiconductor Physics and Devices”, 2017, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill.

❑ WEBSITE LINKS
▪ https://nptel.ac.in/courses/108/108/108108112/
▪ https://nptel.ac.in/courses/113/106/113106065/
THE HALL EFFECT AND HALL DEVICES
• An important phenomenon that we can comfortably explain using the “electron
as a particle” concept is the Hall effect, which is illustrated in the Figure 2.16.
• When we apply a magnetic field in a perpendicular direction to the applied field (which
is driving the current), we find there is a transverse field in the sample that is
perpendicular to the direction of both the applied field Ex and the magnetic field Bz,
that is, in the y direction
• Putting a voltmeter across the sample, gives a voltage reading VH
• The applied field Ex drives a current Jx in the sample
• The electrons move in the −x direction, with a drift velocity Vdx .
• Because of the magnetic field, there is a force (called the Lorentz force) acting on each electron
and given by

• The direction of this Lorentz force is the −y direction, which we can show by applying the
corkscrew rule, because, in vector notation, the force F acting on a charge q moving with a
velocity v in a magnetic field B is given through the vector product
F = qv × B

• All moving charges experience the Lorentz force

• In our example of a metal this Lorentz force is the −y direction, so it pushes
the electrons downward, as a result of which there is a negative charge
accumulation near the bottom of the sample and a positive charge near the
top of the sample, due to exposed metal le of a ions (e.g., Cu+).
• The accumulation of electrons near the bottom results in an internal electric field
EH in the −y direction
• This is called the Hall field and gives rise to a Hall voltage VH between the top and bottom
of the sample.
• Electron accumulation continues until the increase in EH is sufficient to stop the further
accumulation of electrons
• When this happens, the magnetic-field force e Vdx Bz that pushes the electrons down just
balances the force e EH that prevents further accumulation. Therefore, in the steady state,
However, Jx = e n Vdx
Therefore, we can substitute for Vdx to obtain e EH = Jx Bz ∕ n or

A useful parameter called the Hall coefficient RH is defined as

The quantity RH measures the resulting Hall field, along y, per unit transverse
applied current and magnetic field. The larger RH, the greater Ey for a given Jx and
Bz. Therefore, RH is a gauge of the magnitude of the Hall effect.
• The reason for the negative sign is that EH = −Ey, which means that EH is in the −y direction.

• Inasmuch as RH depends inversely on the free electron concentration, its value in

metals is much less than that in semiconductors
• In fact, Hall-effect devices (such as magnetometers) always employ a semiconductor material,
simply because the RH is larger.
Applications of Hall Effect
• The Hall effect is widely used in magnetically actuated electronic switches. The application of a
magnetic field, say from a magnet, results in a Hall voltage that is amplified to trigger an
electronic switch. The switches invariably use Si and are readily available from various companies

• Hall-effect electronic switches are used as non-contacting keyboard and panel switches that last
almost forever, as they have no mechanical contact assembly. Another advantage is that the
electrical contact is “bounce” free

• There are a variety of interesting applications for Hall-effect switches, ranging from ignition
systems, to speed controls, position detectors, alignment controls, brushless dc motor
commutators, etc.
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
• Metals are both good electrical and thermal
conductors
• Free conduction electrons in a metal must also
play a role in heat conduction
• The transport of heat in a metal is accomplished by
the electron gas (conduction electrons), whereas in
nonmetals, the conduction is due to lattice
vibrations
• When a metal piece is heated at one end, the
amplitude of the atomic vibrations, and thus the
average kinetic energy of the electrons, in this
region increases, as depicted in Figure
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY (c0ntd..)
• Electrons gain energy from energetic atomic vibrations when the two collide

• By virtue of their increased random motion, these energetic electrons

• then transfer the extra energy to the colder regions by colliding with the atomic vibrations
there.

• Thus, electrons act as “energy carriers.”

• The thermal conductivity of a material, as its name implies, measures the ease with which heat,
that is, thermal energy, can be transported through the medium
• Consider the metal rod shown in Figure, which is
heated at one end
• Heat will flow from the hot end to the cold end.

• Experiments show that the rate of heat flow, Q′ =

dQ∕dt, through a thin section of thickness δx is
proportional to the temperature gradient δT/δx and
the cross-sectional area A.
• By Fourier’s law of thermal conduction

where, κ is a material-dependent constant of proportionality that we

call the thermal conductivity. The negative sign indicates that the
heat flow direction is that of decreasing temperature.
Comparing Fourier’s law of heat conduction with Ohm’s Law

• The Fourier’s law of heat conduction is a defining equation for κ.

• The driving force for the heat flow is the temperature gradient δT /δx
• If we compare the above equation with Ohm’s law for the electric current I, we see that

which shows that in this case, the driving force is the potential
gradient, that is, the electric field.
In metals, electrons participate in the processes of charge and heat transport,
which are characterized by σ and κ, respectively

Therefore, it is not surprising to find that the two coefficients are related by the
Wiedemann–Franz–Lorenz law, which is

where,

is a constant called the Lorenz number (or the

Wiedemann–Franz–Lorenz coefficient).
Experiments on a wide variety of metals, ranging from
pure metals to various alloys, show that equation

is reasonably well obeyed at close to room temperature

and above

Figure Thermal conductivity versus temperature for two pure metals (Cu and
Al) and two alloys (brass and Al–14% Mg).

SOURCE: Data extracted from Touloukian, Y.S., et al., “Thermal Conductivity, Metallic Elements and Alloys,”
Thermophysical Properties of Matter, vol.1, 1970. New York, NY: Plenum, 1970.
• Figure shows the temperature dependence of κ for
copper and aluminium down to the lowest
temperatures. It can be seen that for these two
metals, above ∼100 K, the thermal conductivity
becomes temperature independent, in agreement
with Equation

• Qualitatively, above ∼100 K, κ is constant, because

heat conduction depends essentially on the rate at
which the electron transfers energy from one
atomic vibration to another as it collides with
them
Thermal Conduction in Non-Metals
• Nonmetals do not have any free conduction electrons inside the crystal to transfer
thermal energy from hot to cold regions of the material
• In nonmetals, the energy transfer involves lattice vibrations, that is, atomic
vibrations of the crystal
• We know that we can view the atoms and bonds in a crystal as balls connected
together through springs as shown for one chain of atoms in Figure.
• According to the kinetic molecular theory, all the atoms
would be vibrating and the average vibrational kinetic
energy would be proportional to the temperature.

• When we heat one end of a crystal, we set up large- Kinetic

amplitude atomic vibrations at this hot end Molecular
Theory
• The springs couple the vibrations to neighbouring atoms
and thus allow the large-amplitude vibrations to
propagate, as a vibrational wave, to the cooler regions of the
crystal.
• The efficiency of heat transfer depends not only on the
efficiency of coupling between the atoms, and hence on the
nature of interatomic bonding, but also on how the
vibrational waves propagate in the crystal and how they are
scattered by crystal imperfections and by their interactions
with other vibrational waves Diamond Bonding
• The stronger the coupling, the greater will be the thermal
conductivity, a trend that is intuitive but also borne out by
experiments
• Diamond has an exceptionally strong covalent bond and
also has a very high thermal conductivity; κ ≈ 1000 W m−1 K−1
• On the other hand, polymers have weak secondary bonding
between the polymer chains and their thermal conductivities Polymer Bonding
are very poor; κ < 1 W m−1 K−1.
THERMAL RESISTANCE
Consider a component of length L that has a temperature difference ΔT between its ends as in Figure. The
temperature gradient is ΔT ∕L. Thus, the rate of heat flow Q′, or the heat current, is

Fourier’s Law:

This should be compared with Ohm’s law in electric circuits,

where ΔV is the voltage difference across a conductor of resistance R, and I is the electric current.
In analogy with electrical resistance, we may define thermal resistance 𝜽 by

where, in terms of thermal conductivity,

Thermal Resistance :
The rate of heat flow Q′ and the temperature difference ΔT correspond to the
electric current I and potential difference ΔV, respectively. Thermal resistance is the
thermal analog of electrical resistance
Low-Temperature Behavior of Resistivity
Ex) Cu
_
log-log scale

_
linear-linear scale

At low temperatures, the number of lattice vibrations are greatly suppressed due
to the quantum nature, resulting in much more rapid decrease with temperature.
(The equipartition theorem for zone-center acoustic modes does not hold.)

See Kasap pp 387 for explaining why ρ is proportional to T5 at low temperatures.

Mathiessens’s Rule
Another major contribution to the resistivity is from the defects/impurities, which breaks the σ = ne2  m*
translational symmetry of crystal. The defects can be classified into point defects (vacancies,
interstitials, substitutional impurities) and extended defects (dislocations and grain
boundaries). The point defects induce local variation of potential, which cause the electron
scattering.

Let’s first assume there is one type of defects. The mean time between the collisions with the
defects is τI. Most discussions on the phonon scattering equally apply to the impurity
scattering if they exist separately. However, the two scattering mechanisms should exist
simultaneously. Then how to add them? The inverse of scattering time is the scattering
frequency. 1 /  : scattering frequency from thermal vibrations - Phonons
T

1 /  I : scattering frequency from lattice imperfections - Lattice Imperfections

If the two scattering mechanisms are independent, the
mean scattering rate is the sum of these two scattering
frequency.
The total resistivity is equal to the sum of the resistivity
1 1 1
 = T +  I = due to the lattice scattering and due to the impurities.

1/τ = mean frequency of collision

This is called the Mathiessen’s rule.
 1 1 1
Two Scattering Mechanisms = +
 T  I
 
d = e  → 1 = m 1 = m  1 + 1  = 1 + 1
For the mobility m  e  e   I  T  I
d T

That is to say, the drift mobility is the harmonic average of lattice-scattering-limited drift mobility
(μT) and the impurity-scattering-limited drift mobility (μI). In terms of resistivity,
1 1 1
= = + = T + I
end enT enI

• Note that ρI is (approximately) temperature independent and depends on the defect concentration.
• In general, there are several types of defects. The scattering with each defect type is independent if the density is
not too high. Therefore, one can apply to Matthiesen’s rule, and total resistivity is the sum of resistivity caused by
each defect type. The impurity scattering remains even at low temperatures.
The concentration of equilibrium defects such as vacancies depends on the temperature. Its concentrations are
typically very low so do not affect the conductivity much. Here we rather concern on the non-equilibrium defects.
σ = neμ = ne2  m*
 = n e e + p e h
Demonstration of Mathiessen’s law: resistivity of Cu
Lattice imperfections
Impurities

Defects

Typical temperature dependence of the resistivity of annealed and cold-worked (deformed) copper containing
various amounts of Ni in atomic percentage. The deformed samples contain extended defects such as dislocations
while they disappear in the annealed samples. The alloying element substitutes Cu atoms randomly so they play as
impurities and scattering centers.
Problem
A brass disk of electrical resistivity 50 nΩ m conducts heat from a heat source to a heat sink at a
rate of 10 W. If its diameter is 20 mm and its thickness is 30 mm, what is the temperature drop
across the disk, neglecting the heat losses from the surface?
ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF NONMETALS

All metals are good conductors because they have a very large number of conduction
electrons free inside the metal. We should therefore expect solids that do not have
metallic bonding to be very poor conductors, indeed insulators.
It is apparent that nonmetals are not perfect insulators with zero conductivity. There is no
well-defined sharp boundary between what we call insulators and semiconductors.
Conductors are intimately identified with metals. It is more appropriate to view insulators
as high resistivity (or low conductivity) materials.
SEMICONDUCTORS
• A perfect Si crystal has each Si atom bonded to four neighbors, and each covalent
bond has two shared electrons
• We know from classical physics (the kinetic molecular theory and Boltzmann
distribution) that all the atoms in the crystal are executing vibrations with a
distribution of energies.
• As the temperature increases, the distribution spreads to higher energies.
Statistically some of the atomic vibrations will be sufficiently energetic to rupture a
bond as indicated in Figure
Rupture of a bond releases an electron from the bond
which is free to wander inside the crystal.

The free electron can drift in the presence of an applied

field; it is called a conduction electron.

As an electron has been removed from a region of the

crystal that is otherwise neutral, the broken-bond
region has a net positive charge.

This broken-bond region is called a hole (h+). An

electron in a neighboring bond can jump and repair
this bond and thereby create a hole in its
• Effectively, the hole has been displaced in the opposite direction to the
electron jump by this bond switching.

• Holes can also wander in the crystal by the repetition of bond switching.

• When a field is applied, both holes and electrons contribute to electrical

conduction

• For all practical purposes, these holes behave as if they were free
positively charged particles (independent of the original electrons) inside
the crystal
• In the presence of an applied field, holes drift along the field direction
and contribute to conduction just as the free electrons released from the
broken bonds drift in the opposite direction
• and contribute to conduction.
Doping
• It is also possible to create free electrons or holes by intentionally doping a semiconductor crystal, that is
substituting impurity atoms for some of the Si atoms
Defects can also generate free carriers. The simplest example is nonstoichiometric ZnO that is which has
excess Zn. The electrons from the excess Zn are free to wander in the crystal and hence contribute to
conduction
• Suppose that n and p are the concentrations of electrons and holes in a semiconductor crystal. If electrons
and holes have drift mobilities of μe and μh, respectively,

The overall conductivity of the crystal is given by

• Unless a semiconductor has been heavily doped, the concentrations n and p are much smaller than the
electron concentration in a metal. Even though carrier drift mobilities in most semiconductors are higher
than electron drift mobilities in metals, semiconductors have much lower conductivities due to their lower
concentration of free charge carriers.
SKIN EFFECT: HF RESISTANCE OF A CONDUCTOR
• Consider the cylindrical conductor which is carrying a current I into ×
• The magnetic field B of the current I is clockwise. Consider two magnetic field values
B1 and B2, is inside the core and B2 is just outside the conductor.
Assume that the conductor is divided into two conductors

The conductor in is now cut into a hollow cylinder and a smaller solid
cylinder The currents I1 and I2 in the solid and hollow cylinders sum to I.

We can arrange things and choose B1 such that our cut gives I1 = I2 =
1/2 I

Obviously, I1 flowing in the inner conductor is threaded (or linked) by both

B1 and B2. (Remember that B1 is just inside the conductor. So it threads at
least 99% of I1.)

On the other hand, the outer conductor is only threaded by B2, simply
because I2 flows in the hollow cylinder and there is no current in the
hollow, which means that B1 is not threaded by I2
• Clearly, I1 threads more magnetic field than I2 and thus conductor (c) has a higher inductance than
(b)
• Recall that inductance is defined as the total magnetic flux threaded per unit current
• Consequently, an ac current will prefer paths near the surface where the inductive impedance is
smaller. As the frequency increases, the current is confined more and more to the surface region.
• For a given conductor, we can assume that most of the current flows in a surface region of depth δ, called
the skin depth, as indicated in Figure in the central region, the current will be negligibly small
• The skin depth will obviously depend on the frequency ω. To find δ, we must solve Maxwell’s equations in
a conductive medium

where ω is the angular frequency of the current, σ is the conductivity,

and μ is the magnetic permeability of the medium, which is the
product of the absolute (free space) permeability μo and the relative
permeability μr.
THIN METAL FILMS
Conduction in thin metal films
In certain applications, notably microelectronics, metal films are widely used to provide
electrical conduction paths to and from the semiconductor devices.
Methods used to deposit thin films:
• Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD)
• Thermal evaporation
• Electron beam deposition
• Sputtering
• Electrodeposition
Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), that is, by vacuum deposition,
which typically involves either evaporation or sputtering

In thermal evaporation, the metal is evaporated from a heated

source in a vacuum chamber. As the metal atoms, evaporated
from the source, impinge and adhere to the semiconductor
surface, they form a metal film which is often highly Physical Vapor Deposition
polycrystalline.

Stated differently, the metal atoms in the vapor condense to form

a metal film on a suitably placed substrate

Thermal evaporation
In electron beam deposition, an energetic electron beam is used
to melt and evaporate the metal

Sputtering is a vacuum deposition process that involves

bombarding a metal target material with energetic Ar ions,
which dislodges the metal atoms and then condenses them onto
a substrate. The use of sputtering is quite common in
microelectronic fabrication.
Electron beam deposition
Copper metal interconnect films used in microelectronics are
usually grown by electrodeposition (i.e.) electroplating, an
electrochemical process, to deposit the metal film onto the
required chip areas

Electrodeposition Sputtering
• In many applications, especially in microelectronics, we are interested in the resistivity of a
metal film in which the thickness of the film or the average size of the grains is comparable
to the mean distance between scattering events ℓbulk (the mean free path) in the bulk
material

• In such cases, the resistivity of the metal film is greater than the corresponding resistivity of
the bulk crystal

• A good example is the resistivity of interconnects and various metal films used in the
“shrinking” world of microelectronics, in which more and more transistors are packed into
a single Si crystal, and various device dimensions are scaled down.
RESISTIVITY OF THIN FILMS

Polycrystalline Films and Grain Boundary Scattering

In a highly polycrystalline sample the conduction electrons are more likely to be scattered by
grain boundaries than by other processes as depicted in Figure 2.33a

Consider the resistivity due to scattering from grain boundaries alone as shown in Figure 2.33b.
The conduction electron is free within a grain, but becomes scattered at the grain boundary.

Its mean free path ℓgrain is therefore roughly equal to the average grain size d.
If λ = ℓcrystal is the mean free path of the conduction electrons in the single crystal (no grain
boundaries), then
The resistivity is inversely proportional to the mean free path which means that
the resistivity of the bulk single crystal ρcrystal ∝ 1/ λ and the resistivity of the
polycrystalline sample ρ ∝ 1/ℓ. Thus,

Polycrystalline metal films with a smaller grain diameter d (i.e., more grainy films) will
have a higher resistivity.
In a more rigorous theory we have to consider a number of effects. It may take more than
one scattering at a grain boundary to totally randomize the velocity, so we need to
calculate the effective mean free path that accounts for how many collisions are needed to
randomize the velocity.
There is a possibility that the electron may be totally reflected back at a grain
boundary (bounce back). Suppose that the probability of reflection at a grain
boundary is R. Suppose that the probability of reflection at a grain boundary
is R and d is the average grain size (diameter), then the resistivity can be
calculated by the Mayadas–Shatzkes formula
The β represents the λ/d ratio adjusted for the reflection to transmission ratio of the electron at the
grain boundary

When the grain size is large, β is small and Equation simplifies to

For highly polycrystalline films, the grain size would be small and β>>1
Books & Weblinks
❑ TEXT BOOK
1. S. O. Kasap, Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices , 2018, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill
Education.

❑ BOOK REFERENCES
1. Simon Sze, Ming-Kwei Lee, “Semiconductor Devices, Physics and Technology”,2012, 3rd Edition,
Wiley International Student Version.
2. Ben G Streetman and Sanjay Kumar Banerjee, “Solid State Electronic Devices”, 2015, 7th Edition,
Pearson.
3. Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith & Arun N. Chandorkar, “Microelectronic Circuits: Theory and
Applications”, 2014, 7th Edition, Oxford University Press, New York.
4. Donald A. Neamen, “Semiconductor Physics and Devices”, 2017, 4th Edition, McGraw Hill.

❑ WEBSITE LINKS
▪ https://nptel.ac.in/courses/108/108/108108112/
▪ https://nptel.ac.in/courses/113/106/113106065/