Chapter 18: Electrical Properties

Mechanical properties - strength, hardness, ductility

- depend on atomic movements
(ex. dislocations)

Electrical properties - depend of movement of small

charged particles (electrons, ions)
in the atomic structure
Conduction and Carriers

Ohm’s Law V = IR

where V = voltage (volts, V)

I = current (amps, A)

R = resistance (Ohms, )
depends on material,
size of material
Resistivity
- independent of material geometry
- constant at particular temperature
- measures the resistance a particular material
has to current flow

 = R A (-m)
l

where R = resistance
A = cross-sectional area of
conductor (ex. wire)
l = length across which voltage
is measured
Conductivity
- measures ease at which current flows through
a material

 =1 = l (-m)-1
 RA

 ~ 107 metals
~ 10-15 ceramics (insulators)
~ 10-6 - 104 semiconductors
Conductivity depends on:

number of charge carriers (n)

charge per carrier (e) =ne
mobility of each carrier ()

mobility is affected by crystal defects and

thermal vibrations (anything that scatters
electrons)
Example
18.1 (a) Compute the electrical conductivity of a 7.0 mm diameter cylindrical
silicon specimen 57 mm long in which a current of 0.25 A passes in an axial
direction. A voltage of 24 V is measured across two probes that are
separated by 45 mm.
(b) Compute the resistance over the entire 57 mm of the specimen.
Example
18.11 At room temperature the electrical conductivity and the electron
mobility for aluminum are 3.8 x 107 (-m)-1 and 0.0012 m2/Vs, respectively.
(a) Compute the number of free electrons per cubic meter for aluminum at
room temperature.
(b) What is the number of free electrons per aluminum atom?
Assume a density of 2.7 g/cm3.
Factors affecting resistivity of metals:

total = t + i + d

1. temperature

metals:   (  ) as T 

t = 0 + aT where 0, a = constants

T = temperature

higher T increases number of collisions between

conduction electrons and atoms (decreases )

ceramics and semiconductors:   (  ) as T 

(thermally activated)
2. chemical composition
- solid solution alloying increases  (decreases )
distortion in the lattice impedes mobility
of charge carriers

single phase
complete solid solubility
L
Tm (A)
+ L
Tm (B)
 i = Aci(1-ci)
0 100
wt% B
A = composition-independent
B
constant that is a function
of host and impurity atoms
A ci = impurity concentration
0 100
wt% B
multiphase

i = V+ V


 V = volume fraction

rule of mixtures

3. deformation (d)
- plastic deformation (cold working) increases
resistivity because dislocations aid in electron
scattering (decreases )

  (  ) as %CW 
Figure 18.8: Effects of temperature, impurities,
and deformation on resistivity of copper
Types of carriers

1. electron (e = 1.602 x 10-19 C)

2. electron hole - electron jumps from ion to ion,

leaving behind a hole
(e = 1.602 x 10-19 C)

3. positive and negative ions

- ion jumps from one lattice position to another,
made possible by vacancies
(e = n x 1.602 x10-19 C, where n = valence)
Conduction in metals

metallic bonds - free electrons wander throughout

material

an applied voltage causes electrons to move in

direction opposite direction of electric field
electric current flows

Band model - used for determining electrical properties

- based on quantum mechanics
Consider Na (Z = 11)
single energy level
single atom
3s1

2p6
energy 2s2
1s2

band of energy levels

group of atoms 3s of 3s electrons
(each energy level is
called a state)
2p6
energy 2s2
1s2
Example: 4 Na atoms

3s
energy
band

applied voltage excites electrons from lower

energy states to higher energy states
(these act as charge carriers)
 Electron Energy Band Structure (Fig. 18.3)

• Valence band – filled – highest occupied energy levels

• Conduction band – empty – lowest unoccupied energy levels

Conduction
band

valence band
 Conventional electron band structure representation

empty band
Metal with partially filled
valence band (ex. Cu, Ag,
band gap
energy Au all good conductors)

empty states
valence band Ef
filled states

Ef - Fermi energy
- energy level of highest filled state
- only electrons with energy above Ef
participate in conduction
Conduction in insulators (ex. ceramics)

- insulators have full valence band, so e- must

be excited to conduction band

empty
conduction
band

energy band gap Eg

filled valence
band
Eg = energy gap between valence and conduction bands

need to supply energy of ~Eg to excite electron

from valence band to conduction band (where it
can act as a charge carrier)

Eg ~ 6-7 eV

(energy ~ kT) - thermally activated

Ionic materials also have ionic conduction

total = ionic + electronic

temperature dependence i = ni e Di
kT

where i = mobility of ion

Di = diffusion coefficient of ion
(dependent on T)
ni = valence of ion
 
ionic as T
Conduction in semiconductors

Group IV Si, Ge
III - V GaAs, AlP
II-VI CdS, ZnTe

Electron band structure:

empty
conduction
band
energy
band gap Eg ~ 1 eV
(much smaller than Eg of
filled valence insulators)
band
What helps e- jump energy gap?

electric field (voltage)

electromagnetic radiation
heat
magnetic fields
Intrinsic semiconductors

- only valence band and conduction band are involved

in charge transport
- each electron that jumps to the conduction band leaves
an electron hole in the valence band

 = n e e + p e h

e = mobility of electrons
h = mobility of holes
n = # of electrons/m3
p = # of holes/m3

n=p
Extrinsic semiconductors

- conduction characteristics due to controlled presence

of impurity atoms (doping)
0.0001 to 0.01 wt% impurities (1 to 100 ppm)

2 types:

1. n-type (negatively charged carriers)

- addition of Group V elements (P, As, Sb)

to Si or Ge
ex. P in Si

Si 4 e-
P 5 e-

- only 4 of the 5 e- in P participate in bonding

- 5th valence e- can be easily excited to conduction
band (no hole is produced)

impurity atom in n-type is called a donor (donates e-

to conduction band)

 = n e e + p e h

dominates, n > p
Extrinsic n-type semiconductor model (Figure 18.12)
2. p-type (positively charged carriers)

- addition of group III elements (B, Al) to Si or Ge

ex. B in Si

Si 4 e-
B 3 e-

- one bond deficient in e-, so hole is formed

impurity atom in p-type is called an acceptor (accepts e-)

 = n e e + p e h
dominates, p > n
Extrinsic p-type semiconductor model (Figure 18.14)
Example
18.29 (a) The room temperature electrical conductivity of a silicon
specimen is 500 (-m)-1. The hole concentration is known to be
2.0 x 1022 m-3. Using the electron and hole mobilities for silicon in table
18.3, compute the electron concentration.
(b) On the basis of the result in part (a), is the specimen intrinsic,
n-type extrinsic, or p-type extrinsic? Why?
Example
18.31 The following electrical characteristics have been determined for
both intrinsic and p-type extrinsic gallium antimonide (GaSb) at room
temperature. Calculate the electron and hole mobilities.
   (-m)-1 n (m-3) p (m-3)
Intrinsic 8.9 x 104 8.7 x 1023 8.7 x 1023
Extrinsic(p-type) 2.3 x 105 7.6 x 1022 1.0 x 1025