Four Probe Method

Salman Suhail
M.Sc Physics
14510042
salman.suhail@iitgn.ac.in
April 11, 2016

Physics Lab Report

IIT GANDHINAGAR

Contents
1 ABSTRACT

2 INTRODUCTION

3 THEORY

4 FOUR PROBE APPARATUS AND ITS WORKING

5 CALCULATION

6 ERROR

7 CONCLUSION

8 REFRENCES

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ABSTRACT

In this experiment our motto is to find the Temperature dependence of conductivity and band gap
measurement of thin film of germanium (Ge) and to determine energy band gap of thin film of Germanium semiconductor which is deposited on a non-conducting substrate.

INTRODUCTION

For a material,Electrical conductivity is a very important property.It is defined as the availability of

free electrons in the material,As we know that metals has more free electrons than semiconductor
and insulator has no free electrons.So conductivity is higher for metals than semiconductor and
Insulator.In metals conductivity decreases with increase in temperature but as far as the semiconductors is concerned, conductivity increases with temperature because of the formation of Cooper
pairs and hence the creation of phonon field.Band gap energy in semiconductor be the order of
eV(Ge=0.69eV,Si=1.1eV).So as the temperature is increases electrons go from valence band to
conduction band as temperature increases more, more number of electrons move towards the conduction band and increase conductivity also.

THEORY

According to the band theory of solids,insulators and semiconductors are materials which posses a
band gap at the fermi level.These are classified on the basis of Band gap and it makes a difference
between Semiconductor and insulators.In Semiconductors the band gap is small enough,so that at
finite temeratures electrons can cross the energy band gap between valence band and conduction
band and it leads to a small but measurable conductivity but this excercise can not be repeated in
case of insulators.
Figure 1: energy band diagram of intrinsic semiconductor

The process in which thermally excited electrons contribute to the conduction is called intrinsic
semi-conduction.Intrinsic semi-conduction takes place at temperatures above 0K as sufficient thermal agitation is required to transfer electrons from the valence band to the conduction band.

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Concentration of electrons in intrinsic semiconductor is determined by the following formula3


(Ec Ef )
2me KT 2
n=2
exp
(1)
2
h
KT
And Concentration for Holes given by this equation
3
(Ev Ef )
2mh KT 2
p=2
exp
h2
KT
On multiplying first and second equation we get3

3
Eg
2KT 2
(me mh ) 2 exp
np = 4
2
h
KT
Where
me =mass of electron, mh =mass of hole
Eg =energy band gap
T =temperature
in case of intrinsic semiconductor concentration of electrons and holes is same.so

3
3
Eg
2KT 2
4 exp
ni = p i = 2
(m
m
)
e
h
h2
2KT

(2)

(3)

(4)

conductivity in intrinsic semiconductor which is found due to both electrons and holes, it will be
the sum of contributions of both electrons and holes:
= e(e ni + pi h )

(5)

Where e is the electron charge.e and h are the average velocities aquired by the electrons and
holes in a unit electric field and known as mobilities.Or = eni (e + h )

(6)

Now

Eg
(7)
2KT
Where C is a constant The factor T 3/2 and the mobilities change relatively slow with temperature
compared with the exponential term, and hence the logarithm of resistivity (= 1 ) varies linearly
with 1/T. The width of the energy gap may be determined from the slope of the curve.
On taking the log on both sides
Eg
loge =
loge C
(8)
2kT
On changing the base of log on 10.
3

= CT 2 (e + h ) exp

1 Eg
A
2.303 2kT

(9)

Eg 103
1
A
3
2.303 10
2kT

(10)

log1 0 =
log1 0 =

So from above equation, plot between log10 and 10T will be a straight line and by finding its slope
we can calculate energy band gap(Eg )by using following formula- Eg = 2.303 103 2k slope
where k = 8.617 103 eV K 1 Eg = slope 0.396eV
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FOUR PROBE APPARATUS AND ITS WORKING

The experimental set up consists of (1) probe arrangement (2) sample (3) Oven,thermometer
(0200degreeC).(4)constant current generator (5) oven power supply (6) digital meter.
Our concern to find the conductivity by using four probe method in which four equally spaced
(s = 2.00mm) tungsten tips with finite radius probe are used as shown in figure.We are using movable probes here which can be done up and down by some kind of spring mecha- nism.
Semiconductor has nonconducting base on which these four probes are situated. .These probes
are used to measure current which passes through semiconductor and voltage.Outer two probes
measure cur- rent and voltage is measured by inner probes.

If we do compare between four probe and two probe than we find that,Four probe method is better
than two probe method because two probe method can not be used for materials of random shapes
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and there is some er- ror due to contact resistance but these types of problems donot happen in
four probe method.One point should be very clear in mind that,Tip diameter of probe should be
lesser compared to the spacing be- tween probes. we can find resistivity of material using following
formulav
0 = 2 s
(11)
I
Actually in above formula, Resistivity that we find is not actual value of conductivity, we have to
add a correction factor to make it correct and to get more accurate result.
=

0


G7 ws

(12)

This correction factor de- pends on bottom surface whether it is conducting or non-conducting.Here
in our experiment bottom surface is non-conducting.With the help of lab manual and after consulting to lab incharge
am taking the value of




In this case ws = 0.25 corresponding G7 ws = 5.905

CALCULATION
Sl
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

Temp T
K
320
325
330
335
340
345
350
355
360
365
370
375
380
385
390
395
400
405
410
415
420
425

Voltage(mV)
on heating on cooling
377
378
335
341
298
302
259
265
227
230
199
201
169
171
144
147
124
126
107
108
91
93
79
81
68
70
59
60
52
52
45
46
40
40
35
35
31
31
27
27
24
24
21
22

Mean V
in mV
377.5
338
300
262
228.5
200
170
145.5
125
107.5
92
80
69
59.5
52
45.5
40
35
31
27
24
21.5

V
I

Resistivity
D (m) 103
171.01
153.11
135
118.69
103.51
90.6
77.01
69.91
56.63
48.70
41.68
36.24
31.26
26.95
23.56
20.61
18.12
15.86
14.04
12.23
10.87
9.74

1000
T
K 1

log10

-0.767
-0.815
-0.870
-0.926
-0.985
-1.043
-1.113
-1.155
1.247
-1.328
-1.380
-1.441
-1.505
-1.569
-1.628
-1.686
-1.742
-1.800
-1.852
-1.913
-1.964
-2.011

3.125
3.078
3.030
2.985
2.941
2.899
2.857
2.816
2.778
2.740
2.702
2.667
2.632
2.597
2.564
2.532
2.500
2.469
2.439
2.410
2.381
2.353

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From this plot which is draw between log10 and

So Energy Band Gap Eg will be counted as-

1000
T

Eg = slope 0.3973 eV = 1.67050103769 0.3973 eV = 0.6636 eV

Thus finally we get Energy Band Gap for the Germanium Sample as
Eg = 0.6636 eV

ERROR

As we know percentage error given by formulaalue

P ercentageerror = ActualV alueExperimentalV
100
ActualV alue
actual value of energy band gap =0.72eV
Experimental value of energy band gap=0.6636 eV
100
percentage error= 0.720.6636
0.72
percentage error=7.83

CONCLUSION

In this experiment we saw that on plotting a graph between logarithm of resistivity and 1000
T we
found a straight line.And we calculate the energy band gap (Eg ) which is equal to 0.6636 eV.

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REFRENCES

1.Geeta Sanon Practical Physics

2.Four Probe Wikipedia
3.Lab Manual
4.Google

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