Carrier Transport Phenomena

Adersh Miglani
IIT Delhi
August 07, 2013
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Preview
1
The process by which these charged particles - holes and
electrons, move is called transport.
2
There are two basic transport mechanism.
1 Drift: Movement of charge due to electric eld
2 Diusion: Movement of charge due to density gradients
3
The temperature gradients in a semiconductor can also lead
to carrier movement. However, as the semiconductor size
becomes smaller, this eect can usually be ignored. Why?
4
IMPORTANT:The carrier transport phenomena are the
foundation for determining the current-voltage characteristics
of any semiconductor device.
5
ASSUMPTION: Thermal equilibrium will not be substantially
disturbed while understanding transport phenomena.
6
Non-equilibrium processes are discussed in the next chapter.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Carrier Drift
1
An electric eld, when applied to a semiconductor, will
produce a force on the electrons and holes so that they will
experience a net acceleration and net movement.
1 Acceleration is caused by electric eld and net movement
means charge carriers have nite resultant displacement within
the device even after collision with ionized atoms.
2 Also, there should be available energy states in conduction
band (n-type) and valence band (n-type).
2
Say, volume charge density is in Coulomb/cm
3
and average
drift velocity is v
d
in cm/sec, then drift current density is
given by J
drift
= v
d
in Coulomb/cm
2
-sec or ampere/cm
2
.
3
Say, charge on a hole carrier is q and volume density is n in
cm
3
, current density due to holes is given by
J
p,drift
= qnv
d
(1)
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Carrier Drift Contd..
1
A hole (eective mass m

) accelerates due to electric eld

(E), the relation between force (F) and acceleration (a) is
given by
F = m

a = m

dv
d
dt
= qE v
d
=
qE
m

(2)
2
If electric eld is constant, the velocity to increase with time.
But, charge carriers face collisions or scattering events and
their velocity characteristics are altered. So, we consider
average velocity and eective time of movement between two
consecutive collisions.
3
After every collision, charge loses most of its energy and gain
energy again in the form of drift velocity due to electric eld.
Therefore, the drift velocity of charge (say, hole) is
proportional to applied electric eld. The constant of
proportionality is called mobility (of hole)
p
.
v
dp
=
p
E (3)
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Mobility
1
Mobility decides how well a charge carrier will move due to an
electric eld.
2
Unit of mobility is cm
2
/V-sec.
3
Unit of electric eld is V/sec.
4
By combining relationship between drift current density and
velocity and relationship between velocity and mobility, we get
J
p,drift
= qpv
d
= qp
p
E (4)
5
Drift current due to holes is in the direction of electric eld.
And the drift current due to electron is in the opposite
direction of electric eld.
J
n,drift
= qn
n
E (5)
6
The total current density is sub of current density of electrons
and holes
J
drift
= q(
p
p +
n
n)E (6)
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Mobility Eects
1
There is a mean time between collisions which may be
denoted by .
m

dv
d
dt
= qE m

v
d
= qEt v
d
=
qEt
m

v
d
= E =
qt
m

2
Hole and electron mobility is given as follows

p
=
q
p
m

n
=
q
n
m

n
(7)
3
The parameters
p
and
n
are mean time between collisions
for an hole and electron, respectively.
4
If m

n
< m

p
, the electron mobility is higher than the hole
mobility.
5
There are two types of collision or scattering mechanisms that
dominate in a semiconductor and aect the carrier mobility:
phonon or lattice scattering and ionized impurity scattering.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Phonon or Lattice Scattering
1
The atoms in the semiconductor crystal have a certain
amount of thermal energy at temperature above absolute zero
that causes the atoms to randomly vibrate about their lattice
position within the crystal.
2
Without these vibrations of atoms, the electrons would move
unimpeded or with no scattering. But, thermal vibrations
cause disruption in the movements of electrons due to
vibrating lattice atoms. This lattice scattering is termed as
phonon scattering.
3
The lattice scattering is related to atoms thermal motion
which is a function of temperature.
4
Let us denote
L
the mobility that would be observed due to
lattice scattering alone. As per the scattering theory the
relation between
L
and temperature, T is given by,

L
T

3
2
(8)
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Ionized Impurity Scattering Contd..
1
Therefore, mobility due to lattice scattering increases as
temperature decreases.
2
The impurity atoms are ionized at room temperature so that a
coulomb attraction exists between the electrons and holes and
ionized impurity atoms.
3
Let us denote
I
the mobility that would be observed due to
ionized impurity scattering alone.
4
If temperature increases, the random thermal velocity of
carriers increases. This reduces the time a carrier spend in the
vicinity of ionized impurity center. Lesser time spend in the
vicinity of Coulomb force, lesser would be the scattering eect
and, thus, larger the expected value of
I
.
5
If the number of ionized impurity centers increases, the
probability of a carrier encountering the ionized impurity
center increases. This implies smaller value of
I
.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Joint eect of
L
and
I
1
Probability of a lattice scattering event occurring in a
dierential time dt is
dt

L
, where
L
is mean time between
collision due to lattice scattering.
2
Similarly, probability of an ionized impurity scattering event
occurring in a dierential time dt is
dt

I
, where
I
is mean time
between collision due to ionized impurity scattering.
3
If these two events are independent, the total probability is
dt

=
dt

L
=
dt

I
(9)
4
We know that =
m
q
, so we can write
1

=
1

L
=
1

I
(10)
5
With two or more independent scattering mechanisms, the net
mobility decreases. Independent mobilities possess relation
like parallel resistors.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Conductivity
1
The total drift current density can be written as
J
drift
= q(
n
n +
p
p)E = E (11)
2
The is the conductivity (-cm
1
) of the semiconductor
material.
3
Since, mobility is function of impurity concentrations;
conductivity is a complicated function of impurity
concentration. Resistivity (-cm) is given by
=
1
q(
n
n +
p
p)
(12)
4
Suppose, we apply a voltage V on a bar of length L and
cross-section area A. The current density and electric eld (E
in Volt/cm)is given by the following expression
J =
I
A
and E =
V
L
(13)
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Conductivity
1
Use J and E in equation of conductivity
I
A
=
V
L
V =
L
A
I V = IR (14)
2
The V-I characteristics is linear upto a voltage V. This linear
region is called ohmic region where current increases with
increase in voltage. After a voltage threshold, current
saturates because of velocity saturation.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
Velocity Saturation
1
We assumed that drift velocity is not a function of electric
eld. It means that the drift velocity increases linearly until a
collision occurs. At low electric eld, drift velocity varies
linearly with applied eld.
2
The slope of drift velocity and applied electric eld denes the
mobility. In case of Si, the velocity increases but saturates
after a certain value of applied eld. If drift velocity saturates,
drift current also saturates.
3
For GaAs, the velocity-eld characteristics shows dierent
behavior. After a certain applied eld, velocity does not
saturate but it starts decreasing. This produces negative
dierential mobility and hence negative resistance. This
particular characteristic is used in the design of oscillators.
4
TO BE READ: Understand the E-k diagram for further
clarications on negative resistance.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena
V-I Characteristics
1
The rst two regions are ohmic and saturation. If applied
voltage is further increase even after reaching saturation
region, electrons gain very large energy. When they collide
with semiconductor atoms, they release more electrons. These
carriers are called excess carriers. This process is known as
impact ionization.
2
For same donor and acceptor concentrations, the drift current
is higher in case of n-type semiconductor as compared to
p-type semiconductor. This is due to higher electron mobility
and lower electron eective mass.
Adersh Miglani Carrier Transport Phenomena