CSC 113: Electronics

By
Dr. Ronoh K, R., PhD
School of Computing and Informatics
Department of Computer Science
 Lesson Objectives
• At the end of the lesson the learner should be
able to:
– Name the common semiconductor elements
– Differentiate between conductors, insulators and
semiconductors
– Explain the importance of free charge carriers
– Distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic
semiconductor
– Explain the doping process
– Discuss the importance of p- and n-type materials
 SEMICONDUCTOR THEORY
• The construction of every discrete
(individual) solid-state (hard crystal
structure) electronic device or integrated
circuit begins with a semiconductor
material of the highest quality.

• Semiconductors are a special class of

elements having a conductivity between
that of a good conductor and that of an
insulator.
• In general, semiconductor materials fall into
one of two classes: single-crystal and
compound.
• Single-crystal semiconductors such as
germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si) have a
repetitive crystal structure, whereas
compound semiconductors such as gallium
arsenide (GaAs), cadmium sulfide (CdS),
gallium nitride (GaN), and gallium arsenide
phosphide (GaAsP) are constructed of two or
more semiconductor materials of different
atomic structures.
• The three semiconductors used most
frequently in the construction of electronic
devices are Ge, Si, and GaAs.
 COVALENT BONDING AND
INTRINSIC MATERIALS
• To fully appreciate why Si, Ge, and GaAs are the
semiconductors of choice for the electronics
industry requires some understanding of the
atomic structure of each and how the atoms are
bound together to form a crystalline structure.
• The fundamental components of an atom are
the electron, proton, and neutron.
• In the lattice structure, neutrons and protons
form the nucleus and electrons appear in fixed
orbits around the nucleus.
• The Bohr model for the three materials is
provided in Fig. 1.1.
Figure 1.1
• As shown in Fig. 1.1 , silicon has 14
orbiting electrons, germanium has 32
electrons, gallium has 31 electrons, and
arsenic has 33 orbiting electrons.
• For germanium and silicon there are four
electrons in the outermost shell, which are
referred to as valence electrons.
• Gallium has three valence electrons and arsenic
has five valence electrons.
• Atoms that have four valence electrons are
called tetravalent , those with three are called
trivalent , and those with five are called
pentavalent .
• The term valence is used to indicate that the
potential (ionization potential) required to
remove any one of these electrons from the
atomic structure is significantly lower than that
required for any other electron in the structure.
Figure 1.2: Covalent bond
• In a pure silicon or germanium crystal the
four valence electrons of one atom form a
bonding arrangement with four adjoining
atoms, as shown in Fig. 1.2.

• This bonding of atoms, strengthened by

the sharing of electrons, is called covalent
bonding.
• Although the covalent bond will result in a
stronger bond between the valence
electrons and their parent atom, it is still
possible for the valence electrons to
absorb sufficient kinetic energy from
external natural causes to break the
covalent bond and assume the “free” state.
• The term free is applied to any electron that has
separated from the fixed lattice structure and is
very sensitive to any applied electric fields such
as established by voltage sources or any
difference in potential.
• The external causes include effects such as light
energy in the form of photons and thermal
energy (heat) from the surrounding medium. At
room temperature there are approximately 1.5 :
10 free carriers in 1 cm of intrinsic silicon
10 3

material, that is, 15,000,000,000 (15 billion)

electrons in a space smaller than a small sugar
cube—an enormous number.
• A semiconductor in an extremely pure
form is known as an intrinsic
semiconductor.

• In this case the holes in the valence band

are vacancies created by electrons that
have been thermally excited to the
conduction band and hole-electron pairs
are created.
• When electric field is applied across an
intrinsic semiconductor, the current
conduction takes place by two processes,
namely; by free electrons and holes as
shown in Fig.1.3.
• The free electrons are produced due to the
breaking up of some covalent bonds by
thermal energy.
• At the same time, holes are created in the
covalent bonds.
• Under the influence of electric field,
conduction through the semiconductor is by
both free electrons and holes.
• Therefore, the total current inside the
semiconductor is the sum of currents due
to free electrons and holes.
• This creates new holes near the positive
terminal which again drift towards the
negative terminal.
Fig.1.3: Covalent bonds with freed electrons
and created holes due to temperature
• One important and interesting difference
between semiconductors and conductors is
their reaction to the application of heat.
• For conductors, the resistance increases
with an increase in heat.
• This is because the numbers of carriers in a
conductor do not increase significantly with
temperature, but their vibration pattern
about a relatively fixed location makes it
increasingly difficult for a sustained flow of
carriers through the material.
• Materials that react in this manner are said to
have a positive temperature coefficient.
• Semiconductor materials, however, exhibit an
increased level of conductivity with the
application of heat.
• As the temperature rises, an increasing number
of valence electrons absorb sufficient thermal
energy to break the covalent bond and to
contribute to the number of free carriers.
• Therefore: Semiconductor materials have a
negative temperature coefficient.
Figure 1.4
 ENERGY LEVELS
• Within the atomic structure of each and every
isolated atom there are specific energy levels
associated with each shell and orbiting electron.
• The energy levels associated with each shell will
be different for every element.
• However, in general:
The farther an electron is from the nucleus, the
higher is the energy state, and any electron that
has left its parent atom has a higher energy state
than any electron in the atomic structure.
 ENERGY LEVELS
• Note in Fig. 1.4 that only specific energy
levels can exist for the electrons in the
atomic structure of an isolated atom.
• The result is a series of gaps between
allowed energy levels where carriers are not
permitted.
• A semiconductor can be defined much
more comprehensively on the basis of
energy bands as illustrated in fig.1.4.
Figure 1.5
• A semiconductor is a material which has almost
filled valence band and nearly empty conduction
band with a very small energy gap (=>1eV)
separating the two.
• Figure 1.5 shows energy band diagrams of Ge and Si.
• It can be noted that the forbidden energy gap is very
small being 1.1eV for Si and 0.7eV for Ge.
• Even at room temperature some valence electrons
may gain sufficient energy to enter the conduction
band and thus become free electrons. However, at
this s temperature the number of free electrons is
very small.
• Therefore at room temperature a piece of Ge
or si is neither a conductor or an insulator.
• For this reason such materials are called
semiconductors.
• The energy band description is extremely
helpful in understanding the current flow
through semiconductor.
• Therefore we shall use this concept in our
further discussions.
 Extrinsic Semiconductor
• The intrinsic semiconductor has little current
conduction capability at room temperature.
• Its conductivity is highly dependent on
temperature.
• To be useful in electronic devices, the pure
semiconductor must be altered so as to
significantly increase its conducting properties.
• This is achieved by adding a small amount of
suitable impurity/foreign atoms to a pure
semiconductor.
 Extrinsic Semiconductor
• The process of adding impurities to a
semiconductor is called doping.
• The resulting material is called extrinsic
semiconductor.
• Generally for 108 atoms of pure
semiconductor, one impurity atom is added.
• The purpose of the doping process is to
increase the number of free electrons or
holes in the semiconductor material.
 The Doping Process
• Depending upon the type of impurity
added, extrinsic semiconductor are
classified as under:
– n-type semiconductor
– p-type semiconductor
 The Doping Process
• When a pentavalent impurity (5 valence
electrons) is introduced to the pure
semiconductor a large number of
electrons are produced in the
semiconductor.
• On the other hand if trivalent impurities (3
valence electrons) are added a large
number of holes are created in the
semiconductor material.
 n-type Semiconductor

• When a small amount of pentavalent

impurity is added to a pure semiconductor,
it is known as n-type semiconductor.
• Typical examples of pentavalent
impurities are arsenic , antimony, Bismuth
and Phosphorous etc.
 n-type Semiconductor
• Such impurities which produce n-type
semiconductor are known as donor
impurities because they donate or provide
free electrons to the semiconductor crystal.
• Diffused impurities with five valence
electrons are called donor atoms.
• Electrons are said to be the majority
carriers whereas holes are the minority
carriers.
Fig.1.6: Antimony impurity in n-type
material.
• It is important to realize that even though
a large number of free carriers have been
established in the n-type material, it is still
electrically neutral since ideally the
number of positively charged protons in
the nuclei remains equal to the number of
free and orbiting negatively charged
electrons in the structure.
Fig.1.7: Effect of donor impurities on
the energy band structure.
• The effect of this doping process on the
relative conductivity can best be
described through the use of the energy-
band diagram of Fig. 1.6.
 p -Type Material
• The p -type material is formed by doping a pure
germanium or silicon crystal with impurity atoms
having three valence electrons. The elements most
frequently used for this purpose are boron , gallium ,
and indium .
• Each is a member of a subset group of elements in the
Periodic Table of Elements referred to as Group III
because each has three valence electrons.
• The effect of one of these elements, boron, on a base
of silicon is indicated in Fig. 1.7.

• Note that there is now an insufficient number of

electrons to complete the covalent bonds of the newly
formed lattice.
 p -Type Material
• The resulting vacancy is called a hole and is
represented by a small circle or a plus sign,
indicating the absence of a negative charge.
• Since the resulting vacancy will readily
accept a free electron:
– The diffused impurities with three valence
electrons are called acceptor atoms.
• The resulting p -type material is electrically
neutral, for the same reasons described for
the n -type material.
Fig. 1.8: Boron impurity in p-type
material.
 Electron versus Hole Flow
• The effect of the hole on conduction is shown in Fig.
1.8.
• If a valence electron acquires sufficient kinetic
energy to break its covalent bond and fills the void
created by a hole, then a vacancy, or hole, will be
created in the covalent bond that released the
electron.
• There is, therefore, a transfer of holes to the left and
electrons to the right, as shown in Fig. 1.8.
• The direction to be adopted is that of conventional
flow , which is indicated by the direction of hole flow.
Figure 1.9: Electron versus hole flow

(a) (b) (c)

Electron versus hole flow
• Majority and Minority Carriers
In the intrinsic state, the number of free
electrons in Ge or Si is due only to those few
electrons in the valence band that have
acquired sufficient energy from thermal or
light sources to break the covalent bond or to
the few impurities that could not be removed.
• The vacancies left behind in the covalent
bonding structure represent our very limited
supply of holes.
• In an n -type material, the number of holes
has not changed significantly from this
intrinsic level.
• The net result, therefore, is that the
number of electrons far outweighs the
number of holes.
• For this reason:
– In an n-type material ( Fig. 1.10a ) the electron
is called the majority carrier and the hole the
minority carrier.

• For the p -type material the number of holes

far outweighs the number of electrons, as
shown in Fig. 1.10b . Therefore:
– In a p-type material the hole is the majority
carrier and the electron is the minority carrier.
• When the fifth electron of a donor atom
leaves the parent atom, the atom
remaining acquires a net positive charge:
hence the plus sign in the donor-ion
representation.
• For similar reasons, the minus sign
appears in the acceptor ion.
Fig.1.10 a) n-type b) p-type
The n- and p-type materials represent the basic building blocks of
semiconductor devices and “joining” of a single n -type material with a p -type
material will result in a semiconductor element of considerable importance in
electronic systems.