Semiconductor Physics

and Applications

M. BALKANSKI
Universite Pierre et Maire Curie
Paris, France

and

R. F. WALLIS
University of Cal(fornia
Irvine , Cal(fornia, USA

OXFORD
U NIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
Nl\ER TT Y 'RESS
~rc:tl I.H~n
I n Stree t. Oxford OX2 hDP

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First published 2000

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Balkawki, Minko, 1927-
Semiconductor physics and a pplications/ M. Bal.kanski 'llld R.F. Wallis.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and imlex.
I. Semlc nductors. I. Walli . R. F. (RiclnrJ Fisher). 1924-11. Titk. Ill . ri'S.

QC611 . BJ SS 2000 537.6'22 -ck21 ll0-03~4Sl

ISBN 0 ll) :-151741 h Hardback

ISBN 0 19 51740 to: Paperback

Types~l hy N~:wgen lmagin" S '. . , p . . .

Printed in 1-••. 1t 8 .· 1 · "' )stuns ( l Ltd. l hl' llll<ll, Imkt
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 Preface

In. rec_e nt . ears thcr' have been rem a rka bl , dva nccs in hi gh I
thd I have I cvoluttOnrzcJ telccommunica tions. c ffi!)Uting ~d . ~elm . logy
'>l nge~
and 'e·~t -· . 1 0 ·
r Ieva . evrccs such a field IT t .. · ,. n tn 1· . rn at1on
. . 't , . ·,. e cc t r ansi~tors . In tegra ted
~ "~u r ·.. ln~rc: o processors. and _electroma!'lnetic rauiation J tecto r~ a nd
~ m~_ttei . ::t v~ played key roles 111 this revolution . In large meas re the e
~ "' ctic:_ IM~ed u pon semrco nductor. as the active mate ri·'ll It .. h
fo re es. cntJal tor the furth er development of hi.oh techrlol ·c .th I re-
·k · e ogv at yo ung
wo t crs entcnng the field be well tra ined in the ph\/sics arld . ~- I' . f
- , ·, d ~ · J · c appieations
semiLOil udors and that an up-to-date well-writte n Lextb k ·
the-e t · b ·1 bl · · oo covenn o
s Opics e ava1 a e. It is our hope and intent ion that the presen~
v lume satisfies this need.
T he material included in thi s book falls in to two categories:
I. the basic physics o f semiconductors:
2. app_licatio~s ofsemi~onductors to practical devices with emphasis on the
baSIC physical pnnctp]es upon vv·hich the devices opera te.

The part on the basic p hysics starts with a discussion of the composit ion
and structure of semiconductors. Nex t come chapters on the basic theorv of
electronic energy bands and o n the detailed characteristics of energy ba~d
111 pure. bulk emiconductors. The effects of impurities on electronic state
are then discussed . Chapters on sem icond uctor statistics and lattice
vibrati o ns in semiconductors precede a chapter on charge-carrier scattering
and transport. In the next chapter the effects of surfaces on semiconductor
properties a re treated . Optical properties form the subject matter of
C hap ter l 0. The part o n basic physics concludes wit h a chapter on mag-
neto-optical phenomena a nd no nlinear electro-optical effects.
The part on applica tions is no t a n enti ty sepa rate from the part on basic
physics. The vario us a pplieu topics are accompa nied by references to the
basic topics to which they a rc most closely related. The first applied chapter
covers p- n junctio ns a nd their use as rectifiers and capacitors. Then fo llo\v
chapters on bipolar j unct io n tra nsistors a nd on semiconductor lasers and
other photodevices. The importance of semiconductor interfaces is
expanded upon in chapters o n the electro nic, lattice dynamical. optical. and
transpo rt pro perties of heterostructure. The book concluues \\ ith a
l:hapter on meta l-ox ide-sem icond uctor field effect tra nsistors ·;tnd one l)ll
device applications of heterostruc tu res.
This book is intended to serve as a textbook for a co urse Ln . mt-
conduc tor physics and applications at the advanced undergradm t .tnd
beginning graduate levels. It is assu med tha t the reader has comma nd 1.. fth~
basic material in qua ntum mecha nics. stat istical m d1an i c~. ami ekctn.-
m ag netic theory. It is desirable, but not cssenti·d. tha t th r ~td -r be
acquainted with elementary solid state physics. Example am1 \t.: IL'I · .tr ·
 Preface

i• dud ,d t emphasize particular points and provide an apprecia~ion of the

m·tgnttu e 0 'the phy ical quantities encounte_red. Extensive use 1·· made of
'll!~res c enha nc: the clarity of the presentation and to establish contact
, 7th experimental r ·ulls. At the beginning of e~ch chapter there is a
ummary f kc. idea - dev loped in tha t chap~er. Thts su~mary enables the
_ der to get a quick impression of the rnatenal covered m the chapter and
1
he imp rtant qua lita tive re~ ult s. Problem sets appear at the ends of the
chaplet .
ln Tiling tbi · b k w have benefited from a number of prior works.
Thev indud lntro lucti 11 to Solid Stale Physic. · by C. KitteL Solid State
Pln,-· 1c by H. Ibach and H. Li.ith. Electronic Structure and the Properties of
Soiuls by W. A. Harris n, 'uney of Semiconductor Physics by K. W. Boer,
fntrolu ·fiou ro Applied Solid State Physics by R. Dalven, Semiconductor
Phy. ics by K. Se ge r, >miconducwrs by R. A. Smith. Ph_y·sique des Semi-
col/duel >w ·s er de 0111posants Electroniques by H. Mathieu, Physics and
Techno! y of Semi ·onduclor Devices by A. S. Grove. Physics of Semi-
t n lu l Or Devices by S. M. Sze, Fundamentals of Solid-State ElecTronics by
C.-T. Sah, Solid State Eleclronic Devices by B. G. Streetman. Quantum
Proces:es in Semiconductors by B. K. Ridley, Ware !vfechanics Applied To
Semiconductor Heteroslructures by G . Bastard, Quantum SemiconducTor
S!mc.:.fures by C. Weisbuch and B. Vinter, and Principles (~l Optics by
M . Born and E. Wolf.
Fina lly, the authors wish to express their appreciation to Jeannie
M . Brown ·whose diligence and patience in typing the manuscript made
possible the production of this volume.

Paris M.B.
Irvine R.F.W.
December 1999
Contents

1 Basic characteristics of semiconductors

1
1'.1 Qualitative J1rt1perties
1.2 Composition of semiconductors
2
1.3 Structure or solids
2
1.3. 1 Crystalline and a morphous rorms
2
1.3.2 Lallicc a nd hasis
3
1.3 .3 Bravai s lattices
3
1.3.4 Crystallographic terminology
5
1.3.5 Structures or semicond uctors
6
1.4 Chemical bonding in semiconduct o rs 10
1.4.1 Diamond structure semiconductors
10
1.4.2 Zincblcnde structure semiconductors
II
1.4.3 [IJ - VI layered semiconductors I)
1.4.4 Wurtzi te struet ure semiconductors 14
1.4.5
IV- VI semiconductors 14
1.5 Growth or pure semico nductor crystals 14
Problems 16
References 16

2 Electronic energy bands: basic theory 17

2. 1 Schr6dinger equation 18
I
"-·-
') Electrons in a periodic potential 20
2.3 Schrodinger equation for a periodic potential 22
2.4 Expansion of the eigenfunction in plane waves 24
r_)
2.5 Bloch 's theorem
2.6 Electrons in a weak periodic potential 26
28
'2.7 Brillouin zones
Energy bands and energy band gaps 30
v~
Tight binding method
35
2.9
35
2.9 . 1 Wannier fuJ1ctions
36
2.9.2 LC AO method
41
Problems
42
References

Electronic energy bands: semiconductors 43

3
-44
3.1 Spin--orbit interaction .
., iun interaction and pscudopotcntwb -+o
~ Electron
-+ l
3.2.1 Orthooonalizcd plane wave method
"' ..n
3.2 2 Pseudopotentialmcthod
 Contents

L
m dft)n eke ron mtcracl i )11
3
54
1 .Hartre • mt:tbo
54
-:3:.2 !lartrec -Fod. mctho
si ty f unt.:tional me l d 55
. clled eke! r me st· tcs 57
57
.4 58
r. knee han 60
.ndudi n b.tn 62
tnchkndc tr ld ur cmiconductors 63
E ·tt:ndL(.l k p meth cl 64
onpnrabolic bands: the Ka ne model 65
66
3 )- Encrg_ band truct r f r r ific ·emiconductors
.5. 1 lementa l emi ' onductors 66
. -.2 Ill- Y emic nduct rs 67
II- VT and IV- VI emiconductors 68
3. dific·tti n nergy band gap 68
., .6.1 cmicondu t r alloys 68
3. ).2 Tempera ture and pressure dependence of
band gaps 69
3.7 Amorpho us semiconductors 70
Problems 71
References 71

4 Kinematics and dynamics of electrons and

holes in energy bands 73
4.1 Group velocity
4.2 Inverse effective mass tensor 75
4.3 Force equation 76
4.4 Dynamics of electrons 7
4.5 Dynamic of holes
4.6 Experimental determination of effective masses:
cyclotron re on::~nce in semiconductors
4.6.1 Cyclotron resonance of conduction lectrons
in Ge and Si 'I
4 ·6·2 ydotron resonance of ho les in Gc and Si
-'
4·6·3 Effe~tive masses of carriers in compound
scrntconductor ....
4 -7 ExpcrimL'nt·tl
. . ' dete rrnm
· <tl
. ton
·- ol·earner
. char!!;e :wd
LOnccntratt on: Hai l effect
Problems
References

5 Electronic effects 0 f . ..
'\ . . . 1mpur1hes
·1 Qu.dnat t v~.: as 11 . .1 . 1• .
'i 2 ·· . . l:l S L) llTI p ll I t IO:S
Ut cct t~.>L· 111' 1'>'> lhcury .
 Cont nt

-. 1 onur rmpu r rl i · rn :, rnd JL

- ~ I l:: I il:c l nl ll t r~urclu i L1flstunt Lnu-u url.r c

'\ ' alk•) 1 rbn inter~rt.:t i 11 11
54
n 11 impuritrc · in Til emicondu\..lm<,
- . 'i
cceptnr impuriti c~
IJ
ell corrcc ti 111 a nd deq) leve l\
band '7
Pmhlems I} ,

References 9
99

6 Semiconductor statistics
101
6. I Intrin. ic cmiconductors
6. 1.1 Spherical parabolic energy ba nds 102
6.1 .2 Ellipsoida l energy hands 103
6.1.3 Multiple valence bands 106
6.2 Extrinsic semico nductors 107
6.2.1 Dono r impuritie. 109
I 10
6.2.2 Acceptor impurities
113
6.2.3 Compensa ted semiconductors
I 15
6.2.4 Majority and minority carriers
I 16
6.2.5 Contribution of excited impurity states
11 7
Problems
119
References
119

7 Lattice vibrations in semiconductors 121

7.1 Equations of motion 122
7.2 Monatomic linear chain 125
7. 3 Diatomic linear chain 126
7.4 Three-dimensional cry tals 129
7.4. 1 Elastic continuum theory 129
7.4.2 Three-dimensional lattices 131
7.5 Lattice dynamica l models for semiconductors I33
7.5.1 Homopolar semiconductors 134
7.5.2 Heteropolar semiconductors 135
7.5.3 First-principles methods 139
7.(i Normal coordinate transformation 140
7.7 Vibrational specific heal 141
7.'6 Anharmonic effect s 143
7.'6. I Thermal expansion 143
7.'6.2 Thermal co nducti vity 144
7 _9 Impurity effects on lattice vibrations 145
7. llJ Piezoelectric effects 14,'
7.11 Effects of stt-c ·s-induced atomic displacements 1-N
Problems ISO
Ref~:•rences 151
 Contents

Charge carrier scattering and

153
transpor properties
.I impl· phcnnmcn 1 1 gica l introd uction to transpo rt
enm:oru.J u ·tors 154
1
~ 1.1 Ek tric c nd u ·ti n c rrent 154
1.2 c)
11 ludi\ it_ ..:rre uw ma::
157
.I.' D 1ffu t(n c rr nt 159
~U .4 Dis l<ll;cmcn t cun"'nl 160
, .l 1 '1: ._ ltzmann qu· tion a nd its .:;olution 161
L'J Flcdric;JI conJuctiVLLY c. nd mobility 163
, .4 En1ng) depend nee f the relaxation time 167
k.- R Ia ation t1 me r sp..:cific Tattering mechanisms 169
.S. l l 111i1ed impu rity scat tering 169
'. 5.2 'cutrn l imp urity . cal tering 174
'.: .3 Laltic vibntional scatlt:ring 174
Ma!!11et tran r rt pr pc r tie~ 186
.6. 1 Magnet rc. istance 186
'. ·- Hall ffe t 189
.7 Thermoelectric phenomena 192
8. 7.1 Thermoelectric pov.:er 192
8.7 .2 Thermoelectric device .. 194
8.8 Th rmal conducti vi ty 195
8.9 Semi-insulating semiconductors 196
8.9.1 Pure GaAs 196
8.9.2 Impure GaAs: shallow impurities 196
8.9.3 Impure G aAs: deep impurities 197
8.10 Hot carrier phenomena 198
8.10.1 Distribution function in high electric field s 198
8.10.2 Gunn effect 199
8.10.3 Field ionization ~00
8.10.4 Impact ionization 200
R.ll Variable-range hopping conductivitv 203
Problems ~ •
203
References
20~

9 Surface properties of semiconductors 205

9 .1 Surface eff'ect s o n e1ec·t.tome
· states
_ ~ l)
9.1.1 earl y rre" ..,., . t
9 I ., . . ~'" ec ron approximation 2011
. ·- Ttght bmchng method _I
9.2 Surfaccefi'cct · 0 11 1 . .
:s att~ec vtbratiot1 21:
~11 I S · .
·-· urtacc acou ' lic mod, . 21 .:'
9-, ') S . . . I.: S
·-· - Ut h~.:e opt teal modes
21 '
Y._ 3 Surt'a~.:c vibntion· I . .
__ I
Y.2.4 ·xne,-·,n 'I ,t modes tn real semil' unJu 't r:-.
,, · 1entu obsl' rv· · . .
'l . .ttwn lll surttl't'
, . \J )rattonalmodcs
9.~
• Surlacc re,:ombinatit)n
.::_I
• roblems
Rl'f('rcnces
 Cont nt
Ill

10 Optical properties of semiconductors

227
Ill. I I 't ndam ·nt al.., 11f k~ t rc nn ,,~net1c rc r tn<.
IO I . I I <~ \ ~.: ll' scqu at inll '-
f'rnpaga ticn (•f ar elcct rtqlla •nc ttc ave in a
1
10. I
L nducting mcuJU m
2 IJ
10. I .3 Ort1ca l constant:.
2:\_
I 0. I .4 Dielectric l'unctiun o f a crystal
2
l 0. I 5 Optica I s pcctroscorie~
214
10.2 Intrinsic intcrhnnJ absorp tion
235
10.2. I A b. tHption cociTicicnt
_]
10.2.2 Transition probability
237
I 0.2 ..\ Oscillator strengt h
240
10. 2.4 Excitons
241
10.2.5 Burstein- Moss effect
241
10.2 6 Indirect interhand absorption 242
10.2.7 Extri nsic interband absorption 244
10.2.8 Interband absorpti on in amorphous
sem icond uctors 244
I 0 ..\ Optical properties of free carriers 245
I 0 ..\. I Free carrier absorption 245
10.3.2 Free carrier rellectivity 249
I 0.4 Absorption due to electronic transitions of impurities 250
I 0.5 Optical properties due to latt ice vibra tions 25 1
I0.5. I Dielectric response of polar lattice vibrations r1
I 0.5.2 Latlicc vibration absorption 255
10.6 Rad iative recombination 256
10.6. I lnternal q uantum efficiency 256
I0.6.2 Carrier lifetime limited by band-to-band
recombination rs
I 0. 7 Surface polaritons 261
I 0.7. I Surface plasmon polaritons 263
10. 7 .2 Surface optical phonon polaritons 26)
10.7.3 Experimental observa ti on of surface polaritons 263
10.8 Light scattering 264
10.8. 1 Brillo uin scattering 264
10.8.2 Raman scattering 265
I 0.8. ~ Anharmonic effects on Rama n spectra 274
IO.R.4 Light sca tterin g clue to clectroni( exci tations 275
276
10.9 Photoemission
276
I0.9. 1 Direct photoemission
277
I0 .9.2 In verse photocmission
278
10.9.3 Surface state energies
278
Problems 27')
References

11 Magneto-optical and electro-

281
optical phenomena
Frequency-dependent conductivity tensnr
" ',
II. I
 Contents

, electromagnetic wave in the

Pn 1a • ttlnn t 1 , 111
a,,ndil: field
J'fl; t: nc I; 1) 1 • I m c
2R4
.
__ 1 01 1.! tudin~d pn)paga uun. k II Bn 284
11
1 I."' .., 1 ~tn r pr pagJ.tt n. k .l B o
1,; . 285
1 ressiL)ns ~ r magnetodtspersJOn
II M.11.:ro ..:optl · l · ·
·tnd ma •11 u-.tbso rpti n 286
·-.I L 111 ..'iluuinal p ropagati, n: Faraday configuration 286
ll.J.2 1 ran , ~.:r e propaga tio n: Voigt co nfiguration 288
114 F< radLI r tali n Jue t mt raha nd tra nsit ions 289
11.4.1 . Ia ... lLi..t1111 d 1 r r F a raday rotutio n due to
l"rce arricr., 289
11.4.2 Com.lu ~ti' it ten · r d duced from the
B llzm< nn cq uat i n 290
11 .4.3 n;1ly ·i · >f th effective ma:s obtained by
Far day rotation 291
11.4.4 C, clo tron reso nance abso rpti o n 292
11 .5 I ctr nic ei ~ens tat e in a con tant magnetic field 293
11.6 Quantum mechanical theory o f cyclo tro n resonance 295
11 .7 Jntcrband magneto-abso rpti on 298
ll. Electro-optical effects 300
11 .8.1 Pockcls effect 300
I 1.8.2 Kerr effect 301
11 .8.3 Franz- Keld ysh effect 301
11 .9 Modulation spectroscopy 303
Problems 304
References 304
12 P-N iunctions in semiconductors 307
12. 1 Abrupt junction a t thermal equilibrium
30
12.1.1 Space charge region 309
12. 1.2 Charge density varia tion
310
12. 1.3 Diffusion potential JII
12. 1.4 Electric fi eld in the space charoe reoion .113
12. 1. 5 Electronic ener"\' b·tnd . . th e "' 1 . 31-J.
w· . 0 - < s 111 C space C Htrgc l"l:glOn
12. 1.6 tdth of the space charoe reoion 3 15
12.2
~~·~ 7 Physical interpretati o n l~f th; Dehye lenl.!th 3]
Jli11Ctton under '' Ill•·tppJ te ' d vo.I ta oe
r ."'
.., -' I ~
1- .2.1 Qualitative e!Te·t
1 ~ . 2._? F ~; s 0 an apphed vo lta!!e J t~
orward hias: n-t . ~
1') .., 1 R . YPt regton btased ne va tt\ ch
> • • .

- ·-·· everse ht as: n - ty ,., . 0 · . _ ::' -

p ?4 Q . .. . ·. Pl: lee ton htascd P~'sttt\'d _
--·-· u,tltt ..tlt vc dcsc r t . r· . .
·. . .
bl.t~ed . 'P ton o u trrcn t 11 0 \·\ m a
.Jili1L'[IOI1
I I'") .
-·-.) Q uan tit a tive trntrn ~ _. .
·. . . .
bl.t . ' c 111 ,) J l:ll !'l\.'n t tlL''' m a
. st d JIIH<.:Itun
12.3
Jrad ed P n j unl: tion
I_ 4 p N .
I") .lllllllton L';II1'1L'l· l · tl1l:L'
- .4 . 1 Stnra !!:. .. ·
<. '

~ ~.4.~ •. ~ L L , l p;ll: t(;,t JIL't'

I ransiti(111L" II) 'IL' , .
12 4 ~ ' • ' .tnL:c
l\ppltc;tt inn:-. ,,f
11 n iun~.· ttn 11 Lap; ~,. ,ll'll. .
1 11
 o n tent
v
S \ al •nd 1• r . t ~ dn nan d /u1
n
12 51 J\\ul:111ch · h1 .1J... Ill\ n
12 .2 /·ncr hr '<1 k n
Problems
Rd~ ren e. 1:\6
H7
13 Bipolar iunction transistor
339
13.1 Fabrication of tran:--1stor~
34f)
13.2 Ph ysical basis of the BJT
341
13.3 DC characteristics of the B.IT
342
13.3. 1 Injected minority ca rrier concentrati o n<;
342
13.3.2 Currents in the BJT
344
13.3.3 Current !!ain in the BJT
347
13.4 Small-signal characteri stics o f the B.IT
350
Problems
351
References
352
14 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices 353
14.1 General features of s timulated emission 354
14.2 Physical basis o f semiconductor lasers 355
14.2. 1 Qualitative aspects 355
14.2.2 Optical gain in direct gap semiconductors 355
14.2.3 Tra nsparency current density 3n0
14.2.4 Current d ensity gain relationship 362
14.2.5 Threshold condition in a Fabry- Perot cavity 363
14.2.6 Light-emitting diodes 364
14.3 Photodetectors 364
14.3. 1 Photoconductive gain 364
14.3.2 Responsivity and detectivity 366
14.4 Solar cells y.,~

Probl(.>ms 369
References 369

15 Heterostructures: electronir.: states 371

3T2
15.1 H eterojunctions 373
15 .2 Free charge carrier transfer
373
15 .3 Triangular quantum we ll
377
15.4 Square quantum well 377
1
15.4. 1 Conduction electron energy 1eves 380
15.4.2 Hole energy levels 3S2
D ' nsitv-of- states or quantum wells 3X2
15.5 c J . • · ·tntum wells
15 .6 Excitons and shallow impuntJes m qu~ ) ;>:.t
15.7 Coupled quantum wells an d supel · ·lattices- 3t\.t
1 - 7 1 Double-wdl structure 3 ~ :'
). . . .· d ·c coupled quantum w~lls
15.7.2 Superlatllces: pe l JO I ., , 3,'
15.8 Modulation doping of heleros trucluJes .3,'
IS.9 .
Self-consistent . . level calcula twn s
cne1gy- WO
IS.ION - 1- P- 1 structures 39_
Problems '\CP
-
References
 Contents

Phonons in superlattices 393

16
I fl. I U~l lltatlv(.; a r eel . o f pho nons in surerlaltice. 394

j fi.2 Ll.l
L
·tiL L"L nt 111 uum theory of low-frequency modes 94
I l ._~ ieh::tric C n llll llllll'l theory f o ptical modes 397
lh.4 1icro · 1 i~.: the 1ry of optical modes 40()
16.4 I inea r chai n model 401
16.4.2 hrcc-di mcn ·i )llal models 403
Problem 403
Reference 404

17 Optical properties of heterostructures 405

17.1 ptic· I a b orpti o n due to electronic Iran itions 406
17. 1. 1 lntrasuhband transitio ns 407
1 .1. 2 Tn t r ·ubband tra nsitions in the arne ba nd 407
I .1.3 lntcrband transitions 409
17. 1A lnt rband optical Iran itions in superlattice. 414
17.1. 5 Optical ab rpti on by cxcitons in hetcrostructures 414
17._ Pho toluminescence in two-dimensio nal sys tem. 417
17.2. 1 Experimentaltechnique 417
17.2.2 Quantum well luminescence 41 (
Problems 419
References 420

18 Transport properties of heterostructures 421

18.1 Effects of a constant electric field 422
18.1 . 1 Electric field parallel to the interfaces: £11.\' 422
18. 1.2 Electric field perpendicular to the interfaces: £11: -E3
18.2 Effects of a constant magnetic field 42 :
18.2. 1 Energy levels and wave function s ..J25
18.2.2 Magnetic-field-dependent den it y-of-sta tes ..J-2
18.2.3 Magnetoco nductivit y in a 20 hetero ~ truclllre 42
18.2.4 yclotron resonance 431
Problems
-'32
References
432

19 Metal-semiconductor devices 435

19.1 Metal-oxiuc-sL·miconduct )J' capa~.:itor
..J3o
19.1 .1 Effect of applied bias on c·ncrgv banos
4.•
ll.J . I ·-, Bi·1cS· c1~Lpen
, d- enL'eOJCapHL'ilance
. · .
19 · I ·-~ · v·1ILI'It' t' ·
• 1011 tl capat'ltance \'C'rsus \' O it:l~ un,,
• 4-tt
IY. l.4 Applicatiun~ of t·l1•' 111 ~1 ' 11 . l . -
C:: ' -0 \lt L'-St'l111C(ll1ull-.'( t r
.l
19.2
• ' ~ 444
M L<d-s~.:mJl'LincluL·h, r J iocle
l lJ"l I E Tb ··
·-· ljUI I . IIL1111 ch<H<JL'kristics or lh'1.: M ' , .. l .
I') "l , C .. . l l ll u
·-·- lll r nt unuer ;tpplit'cl \ lllta ~ ..-
~t:{al-o.xid ·-scmit·onducl ll' lidd L'ficL·I I r;msi'-lt)f
I J.l . l lnl roduui\1 11
i'J I~ DCch ·11·· 1 · ·
. ·- • .ll.:t'riSIII.:~t>t'lh · I( .TI
 Co VI

Prubl ms
Reff."r nee.

20 Applications of semiconductor
heterostructures 457
2 1. 1Device · v ith transport parallel to the inll:rfaccs:
fiel d ciTe t tr· nsistor 458
20. 1.1 Anal) is o f ph ysJC<11 proce cs 4
20 .1 .2 Ana lys is o f device performance 460
2U.l .J . emico nduct or insul ato r ~e micont.luctN
lielcl effect tran sistor (S TSFET) 461
20.2 D e' ices with transport perpendicular to the interfaces 4o 1
20.2.1 Heteros tructure double-barrier di ode 462
20.2.2 Heterojunction bipolar transisto r 463
20.3 Quantum well laser 464
20.3. 1 Double-heterostructure lasers 464
20.3.2 Single quantum well (SQW) lasers 465
20.3.3 Multiple quantum well (MQW) lasers 467
20 .4 One-dimensional and zero-dimensional quantum structures 468
20.4.1 Theoretical background 469
20.4.2 Fabrication techniques for I D a nd OD structures 470
20.4.3 Electrical applications of lD and OD structures 471
20.4.4 Device based on I D and 00 structures 473
20.4.5 I 0 and 00 optical phenomena 473
20.4.6 I D and 00 o ptical devices 474
20.5 Devices based on electro-optic effects in quantum
475
we ll structures
475
20. ~. I Quantum-confined Stark effect
475
20.5 .2 Quantum wel l modulators
476
20.5.3 Self-electro-optic-effect devices
477
Problems 478
References
479
Index
 teristics of •
uctors

eas
General Properties
11 ndtu·ror j - neither a good insulator nor a very !lood conductor 1.1 Qualitative properties
tric urren t. ~

h tl c 11 ical resis fi l'il\' of semiconductor generally decreases strongly

' tlh inLrea i g temperature, whereas the resistivitv of a metal
g n 'rail~ increases weakly \:Vith increasing temper;ture.
A micondu tor can be an e/emenr, such as Si or Ge, or a compound, 1. 2 Composition of semiconductors
uch a G · As or InSh.
Solid emi o nductors can exist in the crystalline or amorphous form. 1.3 Structure of solids
A lunice 1 periodic a rray of points in space.
A hasir; I ' a s t of atoms associated with each lallice point.
Semiconductors can crystallize in the diamond, =inch/ende, Jrurt=ire. or
oth r \ fructures.
Th bondi11g between atoms in a semiconductor can be covalent, ionic, or 1.4 Chemical bonding in semiconductors
mixed.
Layered s miconductors can interculate foreign atoms or molecules.
ry p ure . emiconductors can be produced by the :one refining method. 1.5 Growth of pure semiconductor crystals

T h hi t ry o - mico ncluct o rs elates back to the nineteenth century. The

d rec in re -ista nce of sil ver sulfide with increasing temperature v. as
n ti ed by Mi chael Faraday ( 1 ~33) . Selenium was found to be phot o-
nductinQ: b W . Smith ( 1873), and the rectifying properties oflead sulfide
w r bserved by F. Braun (1 874). During World War ll silicon found
appli tion a. a rectifier in radar. By far the mo. t important event. how-
eve . was the discovery of transistor action in germanium by J. Bardcen and
W. H. Brattain in 1948 , which ushe red in the exp losive development of high
technology based o n semiconductors that continues to the present clay .

1.1 Qualitative properties

S m1cond uctors can be distinguished from other ma terials by a number of
pb y~tca l properties. one of the most important or which is the electric
rc~ i . ti vi ty fi or the difliculty with which an electric current ca n pass thro ugh
 Basic characteristics of semiconductors

. ·. 1 d r tl c ·111fl·uu , 1 Lt:
. , ol· a n electric field. Materials t:an be t:las-
. . . .
the matert•1 un c . . -u l'lt . rs for vvhich the resist1v1ty IS very high ·
. . d . l 0 three call: go n e~. Ill ~ ' •. .
·tilt: 111 . b.. . l vlty is v ry low: and semiconductors, for whjch
t I. for whiCh t e rest 1
me 1 s. . . . x . te · v· lue and is highly temperature dependent.
tl1 tsttvlt I . mtermeula 11 . . ..
e_ n.::s · .- .
1 • n tenlJJeratureresistlvJtlcsofthesethreetype~of
I I T , 1nlues 10 1 t1~ I u
Ill'' I tl )ptL~ • . . ·~ 111 T able 1.1. The temperature dependences of the
malcrtal c.lle gtven . . . - ~ · , l"f]' · F
I II '' . . . • f. "t·l ·· nd ·em 1Lond uctorSdlt:CJUtteCI erent. ormetalsthe
res 1 ·u \ 'II te o mt: s .l • . . . .. . • .
d d nee is t)' J11Call y weak and the reslstn·Jty mcreases with
temperature epen e . d h ·
. . tur" ( jn 1 1). For semJCL>n uctors t e oppos1te is
mcrea-.mg tempera -=-· · . .. _ . .· •. .
· h . The tempera ture dependcm:c 1s strong ctndthe resistivity
Ly 11ca 11 y I t:: ca e. . . .. . . , . .
for the 111 ' l parl decreas w1th mc rea smg tem~erc1ture ( ~1g. l.2). A
num b r o f tl1 I. a ·p ct · of the elec tncal properties of semiconductors
·hould he mentio ned :
1. n n- hmi b havio r a nd recti fy ing effects;
T
... large imp m ity ffect ; .
Fig. 1.1
3. b th p ~ j ti e and negative charge earners:
R ' SJ ·tiVll}' Ycrsus remperJture ror a 4. high therm oelectric povver:
01 1.31. s. sensitivity to light- production of photovoltage and change m
resista nce.
Detail ' concerning th sc effects will be found in later chapters.
3

1.2 Composition of semiconductors

Which so lids are semiconductors? Among the most important are the ele-
ments silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge). which appear in group IV of the
T periodic table of the elements. Carbon in various fo rms ca n be i.l semi-
Fig.1.2 conductor. Other elemental semiconductors a re selenium (Se) and tell-
R c~i. ll\1!\ \'Crsu l emp<!rature for a urium (Te), which a ppear in group VI.
emicond ucLO r . The list of compounds which are semiconductors is ve ry large. Tt includes
the 111- V compounds, formed from gro up Ifl and gro up\/ "lements. ·uch
as GaAs and I nSb; the II- VI compounds such as CdS, C dSe. and ZnSe: the
Ill- VI compounds such as GaS and InSe: and the IV- VI co11po unds uch
as PbS and PbTe. Many ternary compounds such as Cu • 2 chalcopyrite)
are also semiconductors. Organic compounds which ·trc semiconductor::;
mclude anthrace~e . C 14H 10 , ·mel polyacetylene, (CH ),.
Many propert1es of scmi~.:onductors are drasticallv m d ili d b) the
presence of impurities. In silicon, fo r exa mple. the e l~ctri ~ l ·md L ptical
properties can be ignificantly cha nged by the addition ~'~r i mpurili _. :u ·h a~
boro n or arseniC. T he process of deliberat elv ad din .... k.n ,, n impun11 :.. in a
controlled m·Hmcr is kno .
. . . · ,
d . ' -· .
wn as opmg. In compound ' L'nt tL'On u ,'(Clf ·
J .
devntl1ons lrom stoich· ~ . , . -- . .
wmett y ca n attect tht'lr pmpertt

1.3 Structure of solids

1.3.1 Crystalline and amorphous forms
Solids l:an t:xist in the n '. . . .
form the "11 0 . . . ):.t.tllme ur thL' a nw rrh~)US "''1111. In th
' ' ms 01 1ons · 1 r ~. . . t.
ran<•(.' urd~;:r 1·11 ll . • , ' t: dll<lllgl'l.. Ill ~~ pcril t.h ' arr.t~ IL'. th Ill!
'=' IIC svs tt·rn I !h
-· · n t' amorphous fo r m th 'II.' 1 n I
 Structure of solids

1i l It rmctl h Lh~ ra pitl u li ng 11!

l1

ai ~~) it} high r tha n. J 11.1 p i'\~o: . h ther a

tmpl' i u_ ..,talline r am rph u kpcnds o n how it
ln 1he folll \ mg U l..,CU S IO ll e sha ll r cus on c stalline
r · a m lrph( u. s '111ico nd uct r will be di T us ~.:d in a latt::r

men t )J the at m::.. in a n iJ I crystal is specified by the crystal

. . . characten zed by t\ o elements: a lattice and a
ttl e 1 ~1 pen dtc arra. o f points in pace. A basis is a set of points
1 ntlcall} to each lattice point. Choosing one point of the lattice
r :!in. the po it i n v t r R({) of a n arbitrar !a ttic point can be
d l

( 1.1 )

\\her a,.a~.a3 ar n nc plana r vector ca lled the primitive translation

vectors and f ,. ~ f 3 r integer tha t take on all integer values and are
referred to llecti vely , f. T he primitive transla tion vectors are the
harte. t tra n lati n · t rs in their respecti ve directions tha t carrv one
point fthe lattice int a nother point of the la ttice. They fo rm the edges of
a parallelepip kn wn a n a primitive unit cell whose periodic repetition
generates th entir la tti . If a 1• a 2 • a 3 are chosen to form a right handed
triple. i.e .. th . alar t riple product a 1 · (a 2 a:,) is positive. then this triple
product i the' lume r! 0 of the primitive unit cell :

( 1. 2)
L~ L
It hould e mpha sized th a t neither the primitive translation vectors nor
th prim it i e unit cell are unique for a given lattice. Three possible pairs of
primitive tra n ~lation vecto rs for a two-dimensional Bra va is lattice are
z:
Fig.1.3
h vvn in Fig. 1.3. F urthermore, for c uhic lattices, the primitive translation Lattit:e points of a space latt ice in two
vector ' m·i_ not be orthogonal, and the primiti ve unit cell may not have the dimensio ns with possihle pairs of
·hap f a cube . This is the case fo r both the fcc and bee lattices. In general, primitive translatio n vectors.
there exist uni t cells which are no t primitive and whose volume is larger
than that of a primitive unit cell. or particular interest is the conventional
unit cell which h as the symmetry o r the crystal system to which the lattice
belongs. Thus, fo r fcc a nd bee lattices the conventional unit cell is a cube, c
requcn tl • referred to as the elemental cube. The conventional unit cell is
characterized by three axes a , h, c that coincide with three noncoplan_a r
J gcs o f the cell that meet a t a corner and three angles n. d, ~~ between patrs ,
,
axes as shown in Fig. 1.4. The magnitudes a, b, c oft he axes are the lattice
f1(if().,"J._ - - - - - - - -
constants. , -C.: "
' II

A (I:__ _ _ _ _..Y

1.3.3 Bravais lattices

It \\ as -.1 (J\'-.'Il by Bravais that there are 14 possible lattices in three- Fig.1.4
J IInt..:nsi unal -.pac ' .A tabulatt.on o f t I1e Bra va1s a t t c~s an d crys r <-•~ l s" )l s' tCITI S
. It. f\_stai .I Xt: ll. hc ;uld ~t ll :!k'" · 1·
 . . f emicond uctors
Basic choroctenstlcs o s
f . the 7 crv
,> I . Bt;J\';J i.· { ;tlltL C~ (ll
lal 'Y tcms
Table 1.2 I ll ~
-

Restriction<> on LOnvcntional cell

a=h = c
(I = j = '! = 9()-
f; 1 ~:c-o.:cntc: rcd
hody-o.:o.: tt len:d
priml llVC a = h :f c
t tragnn I n = :-J = ~f = 90'
bod -centc c·d
p t im t t1 I 'C o # h f= c
ha>e-c~.-mtcrcJ Lt = ,j = I= 90"
faLc-..:c nt cn.: I
h <.ly-ce ntered
primit ive u = b =fc c
(l = d= tJO' .- = 110·
rnmitive a= h=c
= -, <
mg< n:tl
Fig.1.5 " = d 12(1' f; 90
-,10\ 'llltOnJI JnJ pnmllt' e umt ..:db pri 111 it i \t: a ~ h :f c
mon chmc
rhe fac~-.:entercd cuh1c l:.tttJcc.
base -center d ( =.., = 90 # j

triclini..: primitive a =fc h -"-c

Cl # ,1 # ~·

is give n in Table I .2. Three of tbe Bravais lattices are cubic: simple cubic
(s ), face-centered cubic (fcc), and body-centered cubic (bee). Another one
is hexagonal. The face-centered cubic lattice is shown in Fig. 1.5 and the
hexagonal lattice in Fig. 1.6.
Example l.l: Body-centered cubic lattice
Describe the positions of the atoms in a body-centered cubic lattice
Fig.1.6 and specify one or more sets of primitive translation vectors.
om·entt na l and primitive unit cell. of Solution. The body-centered cubic lattice (bee) consists of a simple
Lhe he ·agonal lalliL·c:. cubic lattice with additional points, one at the center of each lattice
cube . The additional points constitute a second simple cubic lattice
(Fig. 1.7) .
The corner points of the original simple cubic lattice a rc center
points of the second simple cubic lattice. Hence. ea h point ora b uy-
centered cubic lattice has surroundings that are identical i th · l1f
eve:y other point. which i a prope;ty characteristic L f a Bra' ai:;
a
lattice. A po, sible set of primitive translation veer c i_ given ! :

.-
~-~- = a(~ ,O.O) , a2 = a(~.~.!). and a~ = u(O.O.l ) as sh .l\\'11 in
u ' I Ig . I .R. A more symmetric set is given hy a 1 = a(~, ~. - ~ l
a) = a(~ . ! . ~). and a.; = u(- t - {,~)as shl; \<vn in ig t.'"i.J. h
• I I • --

-~ -
'
angle hetwcen a pair of the l~ttlet:- p~imitiv~~ tr·m..;hri n H' 'tM t:;
-----·- 109' :2X'.

lnsimpkcrvsl't! ·- ' I ,
... ' . '

.
. S SilL 1 as l10
1 SC Ol the ll1CtalliL· eki11L' t1(S Ll pp
I ~·~ IS
llt:lt:
. J '
l)11ly lltH:; at l11. , . • ·. . . .
f lth.llfl !1.

I 1.. - .tssoci,tkd With a ~nen LttiiL\.' PL)Inl ln m ,,~,.. 'rn-

p LalCd crystals · ·I 1· . . ~ .
l
Fig.1.7
. · .· IlK lll tng thnse L)t all sCmic,\rhluct . r ·, th rt: IS Ill tho~n
r \.II mtcrp~!ICl l il l ll il'. l:l il1c' I' l llli lll j! ll1t: .ttom a~!\Ocl'lt -·t .·111I .
1"' 11 •d a h·" l \ -l.c ttl ~o: r •d u thtc ll t: '.. ti h· 1 . 1 , .· . · · '. cl ''' a g1wn !attic~? point. 1. • .. t hL 1' l I
\: l l!•.L ' ~ .t )d:o.J ~ . 1\ prnnttiv · · .. . . · •
t.hll.:s tht.: hash . Tl , . l unit_u:llu)nLttns tilL· ~:tm,: numb ·r
h.: ctlunts ut LhL· basts arL· idcnuti,.: I h_
 true ure of solid

The r ition Ctl r or till '''" ••ton inlhl: h.lsis

; ·
( I 3)
•n bech '>Cn ... uch tha t ( < d ' / '· 1., < 1 Tl
tl . b . . - t .c :! .cl - . 1Ccom plctc
11.: "l at 111 m Ill cell ( i::. specified by
lf
•
R(l n) = R(l) + R(h· ). ( 1.4) '
•
'
a,

ry. tal struc tu re = la ttice + basis

Fig. 1.8
1.3. Crystallographic terminology Primitive transla tion vector~ l·or the
hndy-cc ntcrcd cubic Bravui latlice
The t r ~( l) i. a translation vector of the la trice. The crystal as viewed which connect the lat tice point at the
from n~ pom t r appear exact! the same as viev..·ed from another point 1.1 origi n to lattice poinb a t two ..:ube
gi\"en b) corner · and one cube center

,. I = ,. + R (f') . ( 1.5)

In other w rd . tr n la ting the crystal by R(e) leaves the crystal invariant.

A lattice direction ca n be defined in terms of a translation vector

( 1.6)

\\here a. b, c w re introduced at the end of Section 1.3.2 and n 1.n 2 , n 3 are

integer r placi ng P1 • 1:'1 . •. The lattice direction from the origin to the
.. -. . .

endpoi nt of T(n ) i designated by enclosing in square bracket s the values of

n t . IIJ.. I13 for th e shortest translation vector parallel to T(n ) : [n 1n 2 n,]. If a
coeffici nt n, is negati ve, it is designated by placing a bar over it: IIi.
rta in la ttice directions can be transformed into one another by sym-
metry p ration s of the crystal. Such directions are called equivalent. In a Fig. 1.9
ubic cry ta L the directions [100]. [010], (001]. [TOO]. [OIO], [OOI] are Primiti\'e translation ,·ectors of the
uivalent a nd arc designated collectively b y ( 100). For a general set of body-centered cubic Ialli ·c conne..:ting
the la ttice point at the origin w lattice
quivalent directions, one chooses the ni .11 2 , n 3 values for one of the points a t three cuhe cente rs.
direction a nd encloses them in angular brackets.
A lattice plane is determined by the intercepts of the plane on the crys-
tall ographic axes and is specified by the Miller indices. Ordinarily. one uses
th axe that coincide with the edges of the conventional unit cell and
ex pre. s s the intercepts in units n 1 .~z 2 • n 3 of the lattice parameters a, h. c.
he Mill r indices h , k , 1 are obtained by ta king the reciprocals or n,. ll~. 113
and multiplying them by the smallest number that clears the fractions. The
lattice plane is designated by the Miller indices enclosed in parentheses:
(hid ). If a n index is negative, a bar is placed over it. It should be noted that
ht;re I i~ not the same as in Eq. ( 1.1 ).
. A set ofcrystallographically equivalent planes is identified by the Miller
111 li t!s f r u ne of the planes enclosed in curly br~ckcts {!1/d}. Thus, the set

ol e4 ui v:.~ en 1 pia ncs ( 100 }. (0 10), (00 I), (I 00). (0 10 ). (00 I) of a ~.:ub1c latt1ce
 . f ·conductors
Basic characteristics o sem•
_ f-ty-cenll.:rcd c.uhic and hcxagonal laltitc'\
h ,lf:J\ l i!fl tiL r,tri1 111C IC.l~ 11 , t.:
Table 1.3
Face-centered Hexagona l
(/1
(3 J:i;:~ )u2 c
4 3
.!.~ a·' ( v'3/ 2}lr (
4/ a-' -1,i 1crc
12 6 (c .:> a )
uj/2 a (c > a )
(, 2(c .-- J'Jo1
, dbtanct.:
{I
c(c < v'3a )

, repres n1e d lle..'"·t1vely by ' 1UO l . The smallest

. distance between
. . a pair of
1
.
p.uallel (llh.t plane in a ubiL crystal of lattice con tant a IS g1ven by
({

d,;.., = J h- '1 ( I. 7)

Th Bra,·< i. !attic that occur most frequently among semiconductors

ar the fac - ntercd cubic lattice and the hexagonal lattice. The primiti,·e
and conventional unit cell of these two lattices are shown in Figs. 1.5 and
1.6. resp cti ely. Th ir characteristic parameters are given in Table 1.3.

1.3.5 Structures of semiconductors

With these preliminaries out of the \:1,-'ay, we can now discuss the structure·
of the important types of emiconductors.

1.3.5.1 Group IV semiconductors

Group IV semiconductors such as Si and Ge crystallize in the diamond
structure which consists of two interpenetrating fcc lattices displact?d with
respect to each other along the (Ill) direction by one q uarter the body
Fig. 1.10 diagonal of the elemental cube. There are two a toms per primitiv ' unit cell
on enttonal unit cell or the diamond and there is a center of inversion midway between two neare 't neighbor
~t ructure .
atoms. The diamond structure is illustrated in Fig. 1.10.
Example 1.2: Crystal ··tructure of diamond
Describe the diamond structure and its Bravais lattice.
Solution. The Bravais lattice of the diamond structure i. fac -c rlt t.' r"'d
cubic. A symmetric set of primitive transhtion vec tors ·un t:thn rl
he ."t = a(O,! · D- tl~ = a(.l;. 0. *). a3 = a(-L t O) . The an...,l Dd\\ n
p<.ursof vet.:tors is60o . The,;olunieoftheprtmtti\'~unit~ ni, 11 ~ h
dtamond
. structur~
.- c ons1s 1s u two mterpcnctratut!! tac '-1.: nt ' J
c , · . t' · - •
cubtc lattu.:L: displ· d · h ~ L. J
. _ · · c~ce Wtt respect to one anoth r ·tl 111!! .hl' Pl' ~
dla!!onal
~ . ot the cubi Lee · ~ 11 b · - -
yonequarterot t ht'len!! tl 't th dl.t~\11.1
1
, hebastscllnsistsot't\.voatomslocakdata(O.O.O ~a n 11 1 1 . 1. f h•
LOordmalton numh. . 1 · t . q J
. \.:t, w 11c 11s thc number ufth n •·tre't n 'IE! b 1
anatnn1tnthestru<:t -- ··r 1" '
. 1 : lite, Is nur. he numbl-rol'n t- r ·.tr t n 'I •h
Is I_. The max11num ,110 -· 0 · t· .
0 Y11·l. 1_L1 :o.ph~..·rcs
. _· . t
1s U ~4
P rlJOno ava 1lahkvolun ,•\\htdtl.lllb
1 1 · ·I ·. ,_ ..
o-74 1·urctsJnt,!,kkchu
.. · . ·- ' " 11 '- lJs ~•g:nriH:antl\ mall·r 1h. n h
' -· ·rh - I
~ ' ILl . l:llL\11\.'S[Ill'lg_hbllf'\ !'th ·ltr ( I ll ~
 Str ct re of solids 7
r l ll~. ~ - ). <-1( - l . 1 . I) , 1 ( I I
1
I
n () () ) 1 I -1 I I • .J • 4 • 4 I.
tt 1( • . I ). a(~ . .: . (I , " ~ . 0. ~). o(O, '. . ~) . rc'ir ' ·-
h~.:t\ ~ '11 fh.:.trc L ll ~l gh ho r honcl-; is IOlJ -2R' .

I~
urc1
. lhta B r~l\ ai s httl ' 'b .
. ,.· : , L~ ecd uset 1lccn\lronmcnt:-.or .
t lt.: hasL dtl~ I 111 one ntatlon . Til l-s s··ti"LI' "tLtl· '. . I
- • " ~ 1 . , n ;Hur<-~
'·'' nt btmd tng.

1.3 5.2 emiconductors

Jll \ nu ndu tor- ~ uch a a As a nd lnSb crystallize in the zincblende
tru · ur · \ htch i. deriv d from the diamond structure by making the two
interpen tr_ung f~c !attic different as shown in Fig. 1. 11. For ex:1mple. in Fig. 1.11
i-a. o"le k latttce onrams the Ga atoms and the other fcc lattice con- Con ventiona l un it cell or th..: 1.incblcnde
tam. th <\. atom . There is n center of inversion between nea rest nei!!hbor struclur..:.
at m · be au e the e two a to ms are different. About each atom of a~oi ven
. pecie. . a)- Ga. th re are four eq uidistant atoms of the other specie; As,
arranged at th corners of a tetra hedron. In each elemental cube there are
fo ur mole ular u nit· of GaAs.

Example 1.3: C rystal structure of zi ncblende

D crib th r_ tal structure ofzincblende (cubic zinc sulfide) and its
Bra' at latti
olution. T he Bravais lattice of the zincblende structure is face-cen-
t red ubic. The face-centered cubic lattice is formed by add ing to the
-irnpl cu bic lattice one point in the center of each square face. Any
p in t can b considered to be either a corner point or a face-centered
p int or an of the three kinds of faces (bottom. top and side) of a
imp! ube. Hence, the face-centered cubic lattice is ·1 Bravais la ttice.
T he primitive unit cell of the face-centered cubic crystal is rhom-
boh dra l as seen in F ig. 1.5 a nd has three of its edges coinciding with
the primiti ve translati~n vectors. The conventional unit cell is a cube.
Th primitive cel l ha s one quarter of the volume of the co nvent ional
ell and has less symmetry.
The zincblende structure consists of two interpenetrating fcc lat-
tices displaced from each other by one-qua rter of a body diago nal.
The S atoms are placed on one fcc la ttice and the Zn atoms on the
other fcc lattice. as in Fig. 1. 7. There a re four mo lecules of ZnS per
onventional ceiL The b;sis attached to each point o f the latt ice is
ZnS, wi th respective coordinates of the atoms: S = a(O, 0. 0) and
Zn = a (1, t. t). The ZnS structure does no t have inversio n symmetry.
Th diamond structure is obtained from the zmcblende structure
by ma king all atoms the sa me species.

Exercise. Describe the crystal structure of lnAs, which has a lattice

·o stant 11 = 6JJ48 A (see Fig. 1. 11 ).
 Basic characteristics of semiconductors
q of the primitive unit cell and the number
ta) Wh,l l are the ol ume ) wo .
nf atom , in il'. . _ 3/ 4 = 55 .3 k', where a 1 = a(O. ~. ~) ,
, cr. ~ln - Ia, · a;. x a,l - ll ·· -
"-(I~.O. ' ) . a,= a(~-1 -0) :twoat ms ., . . ,
a_ (_ - . 1, f) b~t veen tvvoletrahedr al bonds knowmg that
(b) Calculatle tl_letl~ntgbetwcen Lwo ody diagonals of a cube.
the ang e IS la . h, . b .
-d··tgonal vectors. takmg t e cu . e center as
n. wer. Two b o d r I< . r-l. . . · ,r
. . 1). d - I - I. 1), each w1th length v 3 m unrts ot J-.
o n gt n. ar {1- 1· an · . . ;::;; F. · -
~ · b t 11 their ndpomts 1s 2v 2 . . rom tngonometry.
The d1stw ce e " ' r:;
coo.·:. H· • c = - V 2. a = h = V 3.
r-l
c·1 - tr + 112 - "'tt/J
-
- ~ - . 3 cos U. c s (} = - 1.0 = l 09o 2~'.
8 3
= - - · rl e conventional unit cell'?
(c) 11 w manv at m ar 111 1
Ans,~er. Fr0 ;n Fig. 1.1 I. there are:
4 compl te o atom.
6
I, • atoms in faces
' x 8I
c
• atoms at corners
8 atoms

(d) Wha t arc the number and separation rt of nea~est neighbors?

Answer. 4 nearest neighbors: r1 = /3a j 4 = 2.62 A
(e) What are the number and separation t] of seco~d neighbors'?
Answer. 12 second neighbors; r 2 = aj v2 = 4.28 A (same a · for
nearest neighbors of the fcc lattice)

1.3.5.3 11- VI semiconductors

CdS, a Il- Vl compound. typically occurs in the wurtzite struc ture which
consists of four interpenetrating hexagonal lattices. t-vvo occupied by Cd
atoms and the other two by S atoms. There are four ·tt oms per primiti\·e unit
cell and no center of inversion . Each atom is surrounded b .. fuur nearest
neighbor atoms of the opposite species located at the c·orners of a t trrt-
hedron a shown in Fig. 1.12.
As we have seen previously. the zincblende ·tructure con·i·c t' t \O
interpenetrating face-centered cuhic sublattices. one subb ttic b ing di,:;-
1 t
placed with respect to the other by i a. a. a. where a is the lattice consl mt.
The wurtzrt structure (Fig. 1.1 2) can be viewed as n n'i ting f l\\ -
interpcne_trating hexagonal close-packed (hq)) structur s. on~ fL r a ·h )f
th atomrc components. The hcp structures are displaLC \\ ith r . p 'LI l)
one anoth~r alone: the a, -axis by an amount uc vvhere u is a p~tf<l!ll t r) 1tlu:
order of..,J 1It) · Lt s·hOlll
11 b e noted that the hcp st ructure is not.t Br.t\ u l.uw: ·
hut con.:;Ist
.· · · s· ~11' t wo- mterpenctratmg
· · hcxa glmul Brava L I.Htll.:~.: . 1. l.t ·c, I
r ~lattve to Il"",·ttl ,')t)l er
" . b y a vector d given
. ~ by

d 1 .
Fig. 1.12
= I
1 a, + 3' tt~ t-
1
2 " :..

\\'u i l lik 'I I U\.lil f C \ \iu\\lll g l\ i<: whcrcu 1 .a~ anda . . , . ,.

. . -' . ' .tit~ 11\.lWn m hg. I b . The'' u rt 1l t' trul..l\lf
l '' lu.:ur.d c n"ITIHlnl!!ll l 11 t: .tLh 1 ~ 11 ~ lont;tins lour I Ill , . .. . .. .
·d: t l ll JI - , . _. . ll(kltdr.tttng h .:xa g llnal Br.. t\ ilh l.r ltl ·•·
pu I tlllllllvc unit.:L·ll.
 tru tu r of soltd

1 mil mductor ·
1
r '~h.:h a~ ' d , a n In,\~ n y.,talli 7e in Ia crcJ stru ·-
1
.
tth \,mnus_polytypes n ssihlc Jcpench ng nn tl e ·t· ck in 1
number (1[ at m . per primitive unit cell can he r ur or
lg l l the r ll~ l) pe
'1111~.: )tH.Jut:ll r consiqing of metal atnms and chal OQen
n c, th~ m ta l at m · lie in two-dimensional sheets and : tre
r h_ chemt al_ b nds. Pairs of metal sheets arc connected by
n het\\e n patr: of metal atoms. one atom or a pair beinf! in
I the thcr at ) !ll bei ng in the other sheet. The chalcof!cn at;ms
Fig. 1.13
rr ngcd m l\\l -di men ic nal sheets and are bound by chemical
La yered 'tructun.: .
m tal atom in a<.ljac nt metal sheets. Each metal , hcet is che-
und l an ther m ta l sheet on one side and to a ehalcogcn sheet
t'n h th r. ·acb chalc gcn ·beet, on the o ther hand. is chemically bound
onl) t th~ adjacent meta l :-.heet. There. ult is a sandwich of four sheets. a
pair l)f metul :hect n th inside and a pair of chalcogen sheets on the
out id . i . h \\'n in Fi~. l.l4a . Also shown (Figs. 1.14b and 1.14c) are
, ie\\ rom ab ve ·m d rrom the side of the hexagonal array of chalcogen and
metal .nom-. in adja nt heets. Chemical bonds do not exist between
·and\\ iLhes. Sand icb s are bo und together by weak van der Waals forces
to fom1 th cry ·tal. T he sp a ing between successive sandwiches is called a
van der Waals ga p.
The phy'\ical pr p ertie_ of la ye red compounds are strongly an isotropic.
The ~ material are n t mccbanically strong. If a shear stress is applied in a
direction parall J t the . beets, the sand\:viches will slide with respect to
ach ther and. in fact, can be pulled ofT like onion peeL.
Theel ctrical c nducti ity is also anisotropic . The conductivity is typi-
cally hi!!h \\ithin the plane of the sheets a nd very low· perpendicular to it.

a)

::~
Sc

( b) ( C)

Fig. 1.14
Schema til: rcpr6cntation of tl1' ln. ·
strul:turc: (a) Structure l,f J ·an<..h \ tl'h
com lklS ·d or l \\ ll In ~he: \) ht'l\\ ·.·n l \\l)
Se shect:-.. l h) H ·xag<"lllal Ltrr<t\ ol ~
~UhS:ll1dl\ id1 CLlll!'>i~lt!l!;!. fa IJ.l 'l'fll
In :tml s. ,11 ···ts '1 ..:1H:d fr( m .t b ' '
(c) Cha ir-hl..c d ·format11 n l !thL·
h exa~o n~d ~t rr.t~
 . . f emiconductors
Basic charactenshcs o s
;\ rur n:pn:~entativc l:Ubic cmicond UClllr<. <l l ro
tanl. IP
Table 1.4 l.ult i..: ·
<.: <' fl (/
"'
Rt:f Material SI rlll:t u re {/
Ret
ruLlurc (I

543 ,,
5 (i"i Z nS zincbtendc 5423 b
Jr .. nl''' J
<I

5.43 1 h ZnSc Lincblende 5.661 b

i .:h l ~ndc zincbtende
'i.(11 l b Z nTc 6.082 h
() 142 b dS zi n~.:blcncle 5.X:~.2 h
'i 447 h CdSc Li ncble ncle f)052 b
5 (J4( h CdTe zi ncblende 6.423 h
ZliKhkndr.!
6. 130 b PbS rocksa lt 5.935 b
7. tm.hh:mk
llrtc..bh.:nJc (l.04i\ h PbSc rocksalt 6 152 h
mchknuc (i.4 74 h PbTe rocksal! 6.353 b

~~ Ktttd ( 19 '(1
b \ c113mantd :.md Hamann (I lJ 7Y I

Comment. In the proc . ~ o r intercalation. foreign atoms and even

m k cule. :111 ea. ily be introduced into the van der \Vaals gap. The
physical propertie · o f the material ca n be dras tically modified by
intercalation. When lnSe is intercalated with Li, as shO\vn in Fig. 1.15.
fore ·ample. its conductivity increases markedly as a result of free
cle trons donated by the Li a toms. The Li ions 'vvhich arise can
diffuse easily \vithin the van der Waa ls gap.
1.3.5.5 IV-VI semiconductors
IV- VI semiconductor such as PbS and PbTe crystallize in the rock salt
structure, Fig . l.l <\ vvhich consists of two interpenet rating fcc lattices
Fig. 1.16
displaced along the ( 100) direction by one-half the edge of the elemental
Rock. alt . tru ·tun::.
cube. There are two atoms per primitive unit cell and each atomic site is a
center of inversion .
Lattice constants for representative semiconductors are gtven m
Table 1.5 La ttice con ta nt n and the c{a Ta ble· 1.4 and I .5.
rauo f r repre;;enLati ve wunzite struc-
ture ·cmiconJucto rs at roorn t mpcra-
turc r~t!'tcr Wed3mant<.:l and Hama nn
1979) 1.4 Chemical bonding in semiconductors
'l<lterial <I
1.4.1 Diamond structure semiconductors
C/ !1

1. s 3.8 1'1 1.64 The bonds between nearest neighbor atums in Si and G arc .o\ ·tknt.
' d. 4. 139 1.62 : lectronpair bonds as described by Pauling ( ]1.)60). Each :1wm r 1de~ ,tt tht'
C...dS~ 4. 31N l .tu centerolatetnhedro
. . _ ~ n <~. nu..~·IS bouncl to 10 , L1r nearest ne1·ghbl r I ·J J J ( h ~
cot ners of the tetnhe ·1·- T h·- . . 1 1
(.ound tn
. . ' u o n.
manv c·trbo 11 ~
l ste trah edralboncltn~u s r he"Jm:l\r~·• " t hl
· · ~ - .- 1.. ll
. . •· < compounds and 111 the di:tm c~n d ll>nn 1 I c..aiL• 111·
!Tidy be under tood · · f' 11
Ge are '
.
.ts o n\vs. The ~lectwnJL' L·onfig urau L' Jll I

C: ( l.,f (2s t {"l.p) ~

Si : ( Is)- (2s ) ~ (2p/' (J., i2 \ 3p) ~
Ge . ( I s\ ~ \. "',· ) ~
J - ·
~ )r' , , · ) ~ (
-r• \·'·' -"P
,,
-t ) ,.
 Chemical bondi ng in semiconductor 11
th I tr. I IUrdt:l'trnns. t ,\-cleLir th <l n d tv.l f1-el ll rc n
1,11 ' .tLh 1 thee C11 ur d e Iro n. can he pa trt: .vtth a
1
I '"'PP . tlt: "Ptn nan •tghhon ng at m tor rm an lectrt n
n:pr~o:'>~:nt the clcdr ns l ' d N~. 1hen t 1c e lcctr n pair b nct
111 n. fot exa mple. e m b . represen ted . _mholi ·a lly hv
. .
·+ Si · __. · Si : . i .
~laniLally, the b nd strength is determined by the overlap of
rhllal of·t-hc tw elect.~·on o n neighbo ring atoms . Thi s overlap
nl..tnLt:d b) promotmg a n s-e)ectron to a p-state. For Si. the
J:Ltro n ·onfigu ra ti n is ls ) 2., )2 (2p/' (3s) (J p( Le t the 3s
2

t h~tal be dcno~ed b)~ s, fJ, . p_,. P~· One can "hybridize" these
1
t 1 for~n .SJr hybnd orb1tals < r t~trahedral orbitals by constructing
the flit"\ mg hn a r o mb111atto n. (Pauling 1960):

Prt = ~( + p , + p,. P~ )
I.Pt 2 = ~ ( . + P\· - p , - P:)

I.Pr.l = ~ (s- P.\ + Py - P~ )

lf.'t4 = 1(s - Px - P.r - P: .

The tetrah dral orbitals have their maximum amplitudes along the direc-
rion to th rners o r a tetrahedron whose center is at the origin of coor-
dinate of the o rbita ls. If t\ o such orbitals are centered on neighboring
atom and o ri nted along the line connecting the two atoms, a very large
overl p of the orbitals occurs. which leads to a correspondingly large
bond tr ngth for the electron pair bond between the atoms. The angle Fig. 1.17
between an · pair of bonds or a given a tom is I 09"28'. Such bonds are sp 3 te trahedral o rbita ls.
tr m ly trong. as indicated by the great hardness and resistance to shear
f diam nd.

Comment. Starting with an isola ted silicon atom in the 3s23p2 ground
-tat co nfigurati o n, an energy of 3.5 eV is required to promote an s
el ct ron to a p state yielding the 3s3p' configuration. The direction s of
maximum amplitude o f the sp 3 orbitals along the four tetrahedral
axe are shown in Fig. 1. 17. When electron pair bonds are formed
between neighbo ring atoms with sp 3 orbitals, a substantial amount of
energy is gained that offsets the promotional energy and yields a net
binding energy. The bonds between a given atom and it s four nearest
neighbo rs are shown in Fig. 1. 18. The angle B between bonds of
109' 28' is extremely resistant to deformation .
0

1.4.2 Zincblende structure semiconductors

Fig. 1.18
We already noted th at th e zincblende structure, like the diamond structt~re, Elcctrun pair bonus he l\H'~n a St at m
c ntain s two interpenetrating fcc lattices. This suggests that the bondm.g a nd its fo ur ncun:st n..:i to:h h'-lr,.
i~ primarily ovalent with sp·1 orbitals pa rticipating in the electron patr T he arr0\l sin li alL· ' I ·tr•' ll ' Pin
b nd . akino GaAs as an example, the Ga and As atoms ha ve the electron o ri..:nl ~tt ic•n
 Basic characteristics of semico nductors
2

Gn: (Is~ (3pt (4s)1 (4p)

(2.\. 2 (2p)l1 (3s)1

As : ( l..)-, (2s 1- (?p )(o (. 3s )2 (' -~ p )(, (4 s )1 (4

. p )3

, , nd l f ur •Jectr ns beyond closed shells. However

d no t ~.:< rrl: 11
\' IliL I1
· til. l·tltcr ilui.lJO n by transfernng one electron trom an As
. . " •

~can ac 1liL\C 1,.; • • • • •

. l 'L ,,. .,, t nl!i hbo r G·t at m y1eldmg an As 10n and a Ga- ion.
( l Ill 1 11
L ... .... - , •

\\'hl'n thi 1.; th. ne for :.til Ga- s pa1rs. each atom m the ~rystal has four
lectnm beyL~nd Jo ·ed shell · nJ t_e trah~dral ele_ctron pa1r bonds can be
onstructed u:;ing sp" hy bri d l rb1tals JUSt as 111 the group lV semi-
1
on ucl r . We an theref re r fer to the bond in Ga - As as a covalent
bond. On the ther hand, three electrons can be transferred from a Ga atom
t an A at m t yield Ga 1
A --- . Each a tom is an ion with only closed
:h 11 , t f 1 ctr n ·. H ence. the bo nd in G a- ~+ A .. - -- can be regarded as an
ionic bond. Th actual bond is a mixed bond containing both covalent and
i mic chara ter.
The chemical bond between two atoms A a nd B can be described by a
molecular orbital ': given by (Coulson el a/. 1962).

( 1.9)

wh re · A and 8 are atomic orbitals centered on atoms A and B. respec-

tively, and>. is a va ria tional parameter. For the case that A and B refer to As
and Ga <Horns, respectively. :Pr~ and r..p 8 are sp 3 hybrid orbitals oriented
along the line between nearest neighbor As a nd Ga atoms. The orbital part
of the wave function Ill for the two electrons of opposite spin forming the
electron pair bond is

w= 1( 1)'1(2)
= [r..pA(l) + A:Ps( I )J[ .-~(2) + A<tJs( :2 )] . ( 1.10)

Multiplying out the right hand side of Eq . ( 1.9) gives

'lJ = 'P.~ ( l) r..pA(2) + >.[ A( l )r..p s (2) - :PA () ( s( l ))

' A~ 'Ps(l) t,as(2). l !.II )
ln the first term
. I , . on t h e nght
·
hand side of Eq. (1.1 ) bo th I l'tnws
Mt: oca 11zed on ·:t to A · .
b t ' m · Ill the second term they a r ~v nh dt.'tnP ut d
e ween atoms A 'tnd B d . .
atom B. · ' · an Ill the last term they ~tr b th I L.tltzl'J L1 !1
The value or ,\ r . · . .
are lonlize i Ies 111 the ' ·mge )t 0 :::; A S . Fl)r ,\ = tl, t -.rh ·I •..:tn.. n
Tht:se ~·ts~s< 'o)'~. atom A. \\rhile for ,\ = ~ . thev an:· k 'JiiZl'd 'n ..It m .
' • .... ~.:c 11 espond t 0 . . ·
PUle 1Y 1on1c bon is . F(H' /\ _ 1. ~a~.:h k ·tr n t::-
_
cquall" shar•"<·l h -
c twe~.:n the A . .1 B
<~nu atoms, ·md ,,. h<l \ · .1 purd · .d nt
J ..... .
h ll1d .
If a scm ico nclucto r I1 . . 1I1
( )'rnup tv y . " s t' com position .-1' /3''
' ut VI dement) · 1 B ·
mcnt), thl' ~tat · . , 11 .• . . · .tn<. ~ ~ th~..· ca tt n ~n.HIJ
ll, ~.: l.:i.:ll\IL' ch ·u ,
L ~ - I ~l lHJ ( f i llf1 d t Ill
 Chemrco l bonding in emiconductors 13
-
' l1 lll! ' r) . llld ll'llll' ll \
• 1,11nc• , ·r ' l "' L"lllpn nnd
, ., ..
-~·n ti -
•'11 fod )'l(\,:! 1

\ I (

OA~ AJ.A, () 47 ll .llK

() ..j, '
GaA' 11.4(1 ll.(,k
() I InA' 0,.:19 f) hX
() _(],' ZnTc 0.4 5 049
( 6:-\ CdTc 0.4 7 0.49
0. ' A ISh 0.44 0 .6\1
0.-!9 CiaSh 04_1 0 .()9
l).4l{ lnSb 0.46 ()_Mi

h_ ( ul n d a/. 1962)

( 1.12)

\\here e 1 the magn itude of the electron charge. The quantity N takes on the
\'alue 4 for group I . emiconductors, 5 for Ill- Y semiconductors, and
6 for 11- VI semi o nductors. Since group IV semiconductors have pure
v. lent bond . A = 1 and QA = QB = Q_ The 111- V and II --VI semi-
onduct r bav A i= 1 and QA = - Q 8 i= 0. The bonds have a partial ionic
-haracter and a re therefore mixed bonds. The magnitudes of the static
ffi ti' e ch.. r_ for a number of compound semiconductors are gi ven in
Table 1.6. An a lternative treatment of ionicity has been given by Phillips
(197.) .

1.4.3 Ill-VI layered semiconductors

In a lay red compound such as InSe, each In atom is bonded to three
ncar t n ighbor Se atoms which lie in a plane and one nearest neighbor In
at m wh ich lies on a line perpendicular to this pla ne and connecting the two
In atoms . These four a toms are located at the corners of a distorted tet-
rahedron _Each Se atom , on the other hand , is bonded directly only to three
n arest neighbor In atoms. This bonding can be understood by noting that
In a nd Se a to m h ave three and six electrons, respectively. beyo nd closed
hell ·:
6
In : ( ls) 2 (2.~f (2p) 6 (3si (3p) 6 (4s/ (4p) (5.s/(5p)
6
Se : ( b / (2s) 2 (2p) 6 (3sr~ (3p) (4.s/ (4p'(

B. tra nsferring o ne electron from an Se atom to a neighboring In atom

accordin g to the equation
. . • t-
in -+ · Se : ____. · ~ n ·-- + - ~e :·
v.e obtai n fo ur electrons on the In " ion and five electrons on theSe+ ion .
Four v / • hybrid orbitals can be constructed on each ion. In the case of In- .
1

Wurtzite tructure semiconductors

1.4.4
The 11 _VI mateJ ial zn occur. in both _the zincblen?e a~d ~vurtzite true.
tures Cd i.: a II- VI em1 onduc torwh1ch occurs pnmanly m thewunzite
·true t ur . Th electronic configurations of the atoms are
2 6
Cd : (1.\)2 (~ )~ 2p )( (3s) (3p) (4.s/ (4p) 6 (5s/
6 2 4
S : (1 )2 (2 ~ (2p (3s) (3p)

corresponding to two and ·ix electrons beyond closed shells for Cd and S.
re p ti ely. B tran. fen·ing two electrons from an S atom to a neighboring
Cd atom according to
. Cd . + . s:... + . . .- +
---------> • C~d .2- s
we obtain four electrons on each ion and the possibility of four tetrahedral
bonds per atom using sp 3 hybrid orbitals. The orientation of the tetrahedra
in succes ive layers of the wurtzi te structure differs from that of the zinc·
blende structure.

1.4.5 IV-VI semiconductors

The rock salt structure in which the lead chalcoeenides PbS. PbSe. anJ
Pb!e crystallize is typical of strongly ionic material~ u has NaCJ and KBr.
Tht~ suggests that the chalcogen atoms acquire tvvo I tr ms from nei.:-h·
bo~mg ~b ato~1s and become doubly negatively h rged with closed sh 11
ele~tromc _con1Igurations similar to those of th halid ions in the alkah
halide. · Smce Pb has four electrons beyond c1 ·~;;d sh 11 ·. we ha\'e. fd
example. ·

. ~b · +· ~: ____,. ·Ph .='+ +: .. :--. !. I.~

Although the bond'10 . .. . ,.

n11 nan tl ~ , , n~·
there is ev· j" . ~ 111 the lead salts seems t h
llen e (Smith 1968) I . n.t .•
. m c n~l l'll
cha racter lnd d . t 1at the h mh g .11
. ec 111 none 0 fth b 111 lhn:-
purely cov·•lent ' . c compound ' t'mtc n ud r·1 th
< or purely IOnic.

1.5 Growth of .
. .. .
1 he\.:uncentration r· pure semiconductor cry
.· . .
an Ius.: of~e . lmpullllcs IS a n~ s nli tl h ·t
. . . tn•cundul·lL)rs l ·. h,
II)C 111pU . . •L
I"I[\' . ' . [IS l L r f1)fL' I p f( till t
. L:nntent F .
· liithenrt,H\?. th m.Jt 1i.tl
 Growth of pure e miconductor crystals 15
cr) t<t lhn ~ J • ect -. 11ch as cl t!!> l :)Cal i '11" an • 2
tth J1_rc cntttmc -.iii · n is tl c b<.I.,IS f:n the pro 1 cti m 0
lnen g ~I Ar r
r ~llllt.: nduct )rJc ices. Nootherma1cri·llca n l <llCh it.
rtJ.IT1 1ffif'UTllJCs r JO q l·[ess i ofl enreq Ired.
101 ' " p~1rc ~ol_ cr ·stallin sili on btain d by hydr gcn
I . '' hKh IS a ltq 1d that an b . is tilled manv tim es i 11 ord r
Hea ter
du.:on thus pr d u d i- melted a nd a -inl!lc ~ rvstal is >r )Wn
ne of the main di ' cui ie in a hieving -ingle crystals or
n. L c ntr lhng the temp rature gradient necessary to
J)K<.Hi n. -.: 1 ly u-ed method is the Czochralski method in
Cr) tali.- t u h d to the melt and the crystal is "pulled" from it
I. thdra' in g the seed a . hown in Fig. 1.19. The small single Fig. 1.19
d 1 mounted n a rotating axi and is put in contact with the Diagra m of th~: Czochrai· ki meth d of
the liqmd. Th temperature gradients are adjusted in such a wav cryc La[ growth .

th~ r I grO\\ th occur .. at the surface of the seed. Crystals of diameter~s

up lt : km are obtaina ble b thi method. At present the standard dia-
meter u ed fo r microelectronic applications range from I 0 to 15 em.
In the Czochral ki method a possible ource of pollution is the crucible.
At rhe melting poin t of si licon (1418 C). the crucible is always chemjcally
attacked and p llute the melt. An effective way of removing the impurities
i to use the zone refining method or floating zone method developed by ,I Shie!J
Prann and . ho n in Fig. 1.20. One starts with a single crystal or poly-
cry talline ilic n ingo t. A narrov·/ cylinder on the bottom of the ingot is
heated by a coil a ttached to a high-frequency generator. The local induction .··'
,. _, .
heating forms a narrow molten zone. By slowly moving the heating coil ..: ·- <
/,

upward . a lo displacement of the molten zone takes place followed by ., " .. : .

olidification. Once the whole polycrystalline ingot has been passed
through b th molten zone, one obtains a single-crystal ingot. By repeating
thi roce man times one can obtain extremely pure material. Silicon
·ith imp uri ty levels as low as 10- 10 can be produced by zone refining. Such
extraordinary purity bas made possible the development of modern elec-
tr nic and computer technology to the extent we know it today. ---++- Monocry ~tal
To understa nd the basis of zone refining consider a solid in equilibrium
with it liquid phase. The impurity concentration is cL in the liquid phase SecJ
and c in th so lid phase. The segregation coeftlcient K of the impurity is
d fined to be the ratio ofcL to cs : Support

CL
K = - . (1.14)
cs Fig. 1.20
Diagram of the Ll)I1C refinin g methlld or
In general K is much larger than unity, impurities being more soluble i.n the crystal purification .
liquid than in the solid. Let the impurity concentration in the starting mgot
be ·o. The initial molten zone also has impurity concentration co, but the
first solid sel!m nt obtained after the passage of the molten zone has the
ncentratio~1 c' =co/ K . If K > 1. the solid segment has a lower impurity
\ nc ntration than initially. As the molten zone progresses, It becomes
enri h d with impurities until its impurity concentration reaches the value
Kc<,. urther motion of the molten zone through the crystal g.JVeS no
additional purilication.
 c1 = cu/ K ,

\\here ~ 1 4 Ljf. Clearly, if both K and S are large, very significant

punlh.. ation can be achieve

Problems
1. Prov tha t in a cubic crystal the direction [hk f] is perpendicular to the plane
(hf.::C) . Ca n thi demons tration be !!eneralized to all crystal systems'.1
DeL rm in . th direction perpendicular to the (Ill ) plane of the tetragonal
la ttice.
3. Iden tify the plane \Vith maximum density of atoms in a fa ce-centered cubic
la ttice. Show that the maximum proportion of the available volume \vhich can
be filled b, hard spheres in a face-centered cubic lattice is 0.74. What is this
proportion for a bod y-ce ntered c ubic lattice?
4. The lattice constant of the di amond form of carbon is 3.567 A. Given that the
0

density is 3.516gjcm 3, calculate the number of atoms in the elemental cube. Is

your result consistent with the diam o nd structure'!
5. Carbon also cr:ystallizes as gra phite w.hich belongs to the hexagonal system.
[f the lattice constants are a = 2.41 A. and c=6.70A. and the densit'¥ is
3
2.25 g,icm . how man y atoms does the primitive unit cell co nt ain') How n{any
i~terpenetrating hexagonal Brava is lattices does the graphite tructure have'!
6. For Cd~ m the wurtzite structure the lattice constants are specilied by
u = 4.14 A and c = 1.62 a. Calculate the density of the crvstal ·:m d the volume
of the primitive unit cell. What is the numbe~ of neare~t nei!!hbors and the
distance between them? How ma ny ato ms does the primitive u~it cell contain.'

References
C. A. Co ulson . L B R -d ·. lD 0 ,-~
(I%:!). · · e ei, anc . Stocker. Proc. Ro1· . , ~ 1c. (L ndon ) A27 , -'=' ·

· Kittel, lntroducti
ew York, t<.JR6).
II to Solid S tar!! PI · ·· · · SI.."lll
1_1.\IO. '
di.tl n (Jl hn \\'IIi:'~-
l. Paulin~, The Nat ure o( t/r > C l . ·. 1 - . . 11 ni\ersit)
Prc!is, Ithaca, I960). · ( l e llt/W Bond. 1 htrd ed ttt on ( orn.:

W. J . Pfann, in Solid S t 1 . H
!Academic Press N - \Jll (' Phi 'SI C'.\, Vol. ~- eds. F t.:it unJ urnru
J -. . . . , · · ew • o rk , 1957 ).
. . Phtlltps, Bond~ und B I .
I'J7 3J. . Wl c s 111 S l:'mit·onductnrs l '<to '111tl.
R. A. Smith ~-c . · . I
'I1 . . . 11111 unc llctorv ( C· b . :1 -
· Wc1Bn1antel and . .t m rll gt' Un tversity P r •s 1
Vnlug, Berlin. 1')7l) ). Hamann. Grundlugr"ll tier F,•vtl.. ''f'
 ne gy and •
•
ery

Key deas Bands and gaps

Th 1g n t H~.:s or an ele tron nll)Ving in the periodic potential of a crystal
re Bl 1 1/a/cs \\ ho e enero · igenvalues can only take
c rl m, !lowed \alu~s I ing in energr hands. .
Ek:t:tr 11 m \·e as if th i ns are instantancoi.tslv '
at rest . 2 .1 SchrOdingerequotion
The 1 (lUrier expan. 1on o r a p~:: riodic pO!cntial involves sums over wave 2 . 2 Electrons in o periodic potential
ectors called retiJ mcal larrice vectors.
l11e dectroni eigen ' ta te. are determined by solving the Schriidinger 2 .3 Schrodingerequotion foro periodic
l'£flltltion for a period ic potential. potential
The de11 ·iry o.felecrronic stare. ink-space for crystal volume n is 2.4 Expansion of the eigenfunction in plane

(2~)-'.
wove$
g(k) =
Each eigenfunction of an electron moving in a periodic potential 2.5 Bloch'stheorem
con i t of a plane ll'avl:'jacwr and a periodicfunctionfactor.
:'\ weak p riodic potential perturbation leads to strong scattering of 2.6 Electron$ in o weak periodic potential
el ctrons wi th wave vectors k satisfying the Brag~? cunthtion
1
k ·/~/ = ~~~- where G is a reciprocal lattice vector.
The plane which bisect the reciprocal lattice vectors G, the Bragg planes. 2.7 Brillouinzone$
ncl se spaces called Brillouin zones.
The dcgcncrac, of the zero order states \k) and \k - G ) at the 2 .8 Energy bonds and energy bond gaps

Brillo uin zone boundary is lifted in degenerate perturbation theory.

h p n urbed energies Ek are split at the Brillouin zone boundary by
an amo unt ~ \ Vc \, leading to a discontinuity or gap in Ek which
:::.eparate t\VO energy hands. In the reducfd ::one scheme, all of the
n rgy bands can be represented within the
range or vvave vectors in the first Brillouin zone.
When~the electron - ion interaction is strong, the tight hinding or LCAO 2.9 Tightbindingmethod

method provides the electron wave functions as series of functions

localized about the nuclei. The localized functions can be represented
by Wmmier_/imctions or by atomic orbitals.
 . bands: basic theory
El ctrontc energy
. . Ill\ such a.., rectifiers that we now associate with ·ern·
II •h ·tpp1 alit h . 1-
It
• ,H' ~ • · , . ~fa r back as t e ntncteenth centurv it .
~t )f~ hac.1 1
,\.: n 11 t 11
JV
. . - , Wet,
~..: n u~.; · i p en t ofquantum mechamcstn the late 1920sth
ntil tcrL 11e l 'vL 1 1 at
1
' ' u : r r the e r perti s became understood. A. H. Wi i<·
th 1)' I ~ 1 ;lsJS Ill . . . >On
P 1 •\. th dectr me band theory of crystals developed b
\. ··d l 1 - 1l . f' .~ d )
, . . b". Pllli ·d wthc understandmg o sem1con uctors. Propertie
F I I d. ,;,ll 'fi . f I . I . . 'S
• . :.. e n g.1. 11• L tempen t ure cocl tctent. o e ectnca . resJstJvitv- folio',,.
1
tb; 11 ·~ theory. The key 1ngred1ents are the Bloch states
h reth ctge stJtes of an electron moving in the periodic p~tential of a
cr tal. The energi s of the Blo h ta les cannot take on aJI posstble values.
b; l arc r slricted to certain all \Ved regton s or bands sep_arat~d from one
Jlo c..l n~r~. nanJ
;.mother by f rbidd n regi ns or band gaps as shown m F1g. 2.1. The
. llowed en ro} hand are a na logous to the pass bands of an electric
~ransnu::.::,ion Une and are ha racteristic of any wave propagating through a
peri die structur (Brillo uin l_ 5'' ). . . .
In a pur emi nd uct r w1thout defects and at 0 K , certam bands are
Fig. 2.1
11 wed n ·rg\ han anJ forb idden completely full f l ctrons and the remaining bands are completely empty.
c!nerg) gap of,m el 'Clr n 111 a p ri lie A we shall s e later, th is situation corresponds to an insulator. If the
p t..:n llal. tempera ture of the crystal is raised . electrons will be excited from filled
bands to empty bands leading to partial occupancy of these bands. Under
these circumstances. the crystal becomes a semjconductor with a con-
ductivity that increases r·otpidly with increasing temperature as more and
more electrons are excited into originally empty bands. The underlying
basis for these statements will become apparent as we proceed .

2.1 Schrodinger equation

An ideal crystal consists of an infinite array of ions loca ted at or near lattice
sites and an assembly of electrons moving in the field of the ions. The basil·
properties of Crystals fOliO\\' from the d yn;m ics oft hese j n teracting system~.
In order to solve this dynamical problem. we first write down the nHnplere
Schrodinger equation that includes electron- electron electron- ion. and
ion- ion inte~actions. We then introduce the approxima~ion that enable~ us
to find solutions corresponding to the difrerent aspects f he beha\illf 11
the . crvstal·
J •
electi·Onl·c mo· l.ton, wmc
· · motton.
· · tn
a nd thetr · · ~\'tth
· t rncttOih
vanous perturbations including external fields.
The complete S h10
. . c .··d·mgcr equat1on.
for 11 elecrr n.~ anti.\ t '1!1S can 1.t·l.'
111
written terms or the electronic coordinates r 1• ••.• r anJ th~ illflll
coordmate R 1 , · · · .. R l\' ,ls
.,

I~
L
II .\' '
fjI -
v- _I
. + l , tR
_I
-
v,. -
n _
- c-
II
~
[ 1
i = l - 111 L 2M .
I.. = I I.
/.. + -' i.L
/- l
t_

I ii
1 . •• • R ~, )

+ V,.;(,.I
. • . . . •
,. · R I . . . . ' R \')] \V
II ' = Elf! ,

where lht.: fir ' t t ~ .

et m on the 1 ·I' t . · .
the second is th . - c t Ltnd stc.k Is tlw km ·t
.
l1L)f1 S,
'·I . 'l . .
~ cc ton lnl~ra ~ · . IC ,-.11
t: "I Ill'! ' '1' "\ I' t I
~ ... ·:::-. n 1 1 ·It n~ l h.' 1
c 1 t\ n Pfllcntnl lh·· . . .
. ' • '- illll r t h I:> tit ' ILlll h 11 Ill ,
 Schrodinger equation 19
111 11
~ntct<.~ ctinn pnh.:ntial. In the third tc rm . t, 1 is
1 'll

·trn 1!\ ' ,tn d f. a nd the prim · t'll the sum mea n~ that
/I" ' cl utkd. T ltc :-pin ·1Wb1t interaction and othe r
IIC lllllllkd j',lr l ht.: prt'. t.:lll.
t Hl 111.1:->. 111 IS sma ll r by a ractor o r at least I /1 ROO than
. ti1L 'IL'cl rl n m o tion is in general much faster than that of
u.tr '11 J i..,t ri t uti _n adjust cont inuously to thl' positio ns
,tt ~lll) 111. ta n t I t 1111e can be a::;sumcd tu be the same as
1. "er a t r ' l. hi · assumpti o n i ca lled the adiabatic
a 10n Bl n~ ;.md_ I "'nhcimer 1927) . It ca n he ex p ressed by writin g
-----•a• ... "I~ ·nlunctt n W a · a p roduct of fun ctions of the electron ic
,., . . . r,. repre en ted collecti vely by r . a nd the ionic coordi·
. R . r·pr ' en t d collecti ely by R:

'I! (r . R) = d r. R);;( R). (2.2)

\Ye c l<.H a panial pa ration of the electronic and io nic coordinates has
b en aclw?-.. db) the a diabatic approximation.
The fundi n 1.:' r. R) is the electronic eigenfunction and is a function of
the lectronic ourd ina tes r as variables with the ionic coordina tes R
app anng a. fixed parameters. It sa tisfies the electronic Schrodinger
equation

[-t li2 \';

1=l _ /II
71 L"
- i.i= J
1 e2
~
1
+ Vc,(r. R)
'1
l (r, R) = E, (R )7/;(r. R). (2.3)

\\her E<.(R ) is th lectronic energy eigenvalue a nd is a function oft he ionic

o rd inat R. The function <;(R ) is the ioniceigenfunction and is taken to
. au f) th a proxima te equation

(2.4)

\vher ¢> (R ) = Et:( R ) + Vii( R) is the effective potential energy of the ions
and E i · the tota l energy eigenvalue. Eq uatio n (2.4) is the ionicSchrodinger
equation and arises whe n Eq . (2 .2) is substituted jnto Eq . (2 .1), Eq. (2 .3) is
used. and the terms

ar neglected. The latter terms represent the nonadiobotic coupling of the

electronic and ionic motions.
L p to this point the io nic coordinates R in Eq . (2.3) arc arbitrary. If the
i n cu py the sites R 11 of the equilibrium crystal structure, the potenttal
V,., (r. Rq) beco mes a periodic potential with the periodicity of the crys ta l
lattice.
 Electronic energy bands: basic theory
0
• Electrons in a periodic potential
r 22
_ ·c()nuudor r stal the periodicity of the perfect cry, tal is 1.
In a r ·• I ~et 1l . . . . I d cI •
. J'Htritit:s uc· nc1es. mtcrstttla s an other defect and b
ruptcli l1~ 111 • • . . . . . v
·l1 r tlion ul the nuclei about thetr equthbnum po iti n •
th~ t I1crma \1 '
I . . . 5. 1n
. . ·s ·tis · t modera te temperatures these devtattons f
, , II -pr pared L rom
peri 1 dic t: lea tit cha.ng:s 111 the dectron~c energtes t~at are relattvely ·mall
• . . . .

.,,llt can ben •glectcd 111 !tr ·t approxtmatwn. The pnmary problem is then
he Ill 1 rion of the ele tr ns in t~1e field of the. periodic potential of the
p itivt: 1011 ._. a ·h of which provtdes an_attractive potential as shown in
Fig.2.2
Plll n 1, 1, , 1 0~k 1~0lat.: I i n. r i&. 2.2 . To si mpl ify the pr blem even turther, w_e neglect the Coulomb
int~.;ractions b twee n the lcctr n and focus on a smgle electron movine in
a peri dit: potential V( r ) wh ~re ,. is the position vector of the electr~n.
Schemati diagram;:; reri die potentials along lines containing ions and
\ 'frl
bet\ een pla n ~· f i n. ar , hown in Figs. 2.3 and 2.4, respectively.
Th periodicit c ndition ati sfied by V(r ) is

V(r + R(t) ) = V(r), (2.5)

where R(e) is a lattice vector given by Eq. ( 1.1 ). Any periodic function can
be expanded in a Fourier series. For V(r) we can write
Fig. 2.3
f\ tcntial al ng a line of ions. V(r) =LV GeiGr , (2.6)
G

\'(r)
where G is a reciprocal lattice vector which can be determined m the
following way. Replacer by r + R( ) in Eq. (2.6):

V(r + R(l:.')) = L1 c e iG (r - Rtll) = L1 ceiG'r eiGRt•) . ( ~.7 1

r G G

Now substitute Eqs. (2.6) and (2.7) into the periodicity condition, Eq. (2.5):

Fig. 2.4
P lcntial along a lint:: between planes of
1() 11 <..

In order for Eq (I 8) t 0 b .
· -· e vahd for all values of r. '.Ve must have

e i(iR( I = I.

MakinguseofEll·1· (I · I ) , we o b tam
.

from which follows

G · u; = ~1rn, [
i = I")\
~ -~
(2 11
where the L u· ..
. I ctnlttu.:s nur, · " " ' · 11
ol Eqs. (2 . 1!) is I t: Hlh.:gu S. lt can h > ea o jl~· \ ~.:nrkd th tlthl? , ctlttl l'
 Electrons in a periodic potential 21

2rr
h - = - 2n a1· - a 1, (2. 13)

lu ne ~ f the primitive unit cell given hy Eq. ( 1.2). The vectors

h~.: pri1~iti:,'~ translation vectors of the reciprocallallice . They
th" p ntmtlve translation vectors of the direct lattice by the

a; · b 1 = 2rr6u. i. j = I. 2, 3 (2.14)
h Kro necker delta (Du = I if i = j , 0 if i =F f).
oeffi ·ients o ft he periodic potential , V c, can be obtained by
in,·crtin.; the u ·ier series in Eq. (2.6). The result is

Vc = - 1
flo
1·cell
d .) rV(r) _,,,.
·c (2.15)

w~ n te that Vo is simply the average potential over a primitive unit cell.

Example 2.1: Primitive unit cell of the reciprocal lattice
Deriv the r lation between the volumes of the primitive unit cells of
the reciprocal and direct lattices.
olution. The volume n, of the primitive unit cell of the reciprocal
Iallie i given by

sing the expressions

2n
h2 =no ·'
- a' x a 1
,
we obtain
(1n)2
f2,. = ~ - lbl · [(a3 a,) (al a2)]1.
26 X X X

The theorem of vector analysis concerning the vector triple product

gives
(a 1 x a 1) x (a 1 x a 2) = [(a 3 x a 1) · a2]a1 - [(a1 x a,) · al]a2
= [(a 3 x a,)· a2]a,.

Combining this result with the condition

b 1 • a 1 = 2n,

we obtain
 b ds · basic theory
Electronic energy an .

u b~tJtuting
lal . (a2 ;-< a~) l = no
m ' I.J ( 1 21 'It: ds the de ired result
. ( 27r)~
n,. =~

\ •h th< l th, \ olume of the primitive unit cell o_ft~~ reciprocal

tttt.:s
< t · ei in ·e dyproporti nal tothevolumeofthepnmitJveunitcell
t (the direct Ia ticc.

2.3 Schrodinger equation for a periodic potential

In dealing with th dynami . of electrons in crystals, we shall be primarily
c ncern d. irh electron en rgies on the order of a few eV. The de Broglie
wavelength ,\ is rela t d t the energy E by
h'2
E =--.,,
2m>.""
where hi, Planck's constant and 1n is the electron mass. For the energies of
interest,>. is on the order of a lattice spacing, so diffraction effects will be
important and the wave picture of the electron must be employed through
the Schrodingerequation.
In the coordinate representation. the momentum operator pis related to
the gradient operator V by p = - inV. where fi = h/21f . The Schrodinger
equation for an electron moving in a periodic potential fl' (r ) is
H·. (r) = E ·(r), (1.1 )
where

H = Ho + V(r), (2. 1 ~ 1

Ho is the kinetic energy operator given by

-, -,
H 0 = p- = _ !i-v- l~-19 '
2111 2111 '
n "' ·
.v - ts. .the Laplaci·m .
' 0 peiator, and f (r) I.S the eioenfuncti n. Onlv IC .. 1
r L1 1··e\\
specwl cases of th , · d. · ·
b . t: peno Ic potential can the hr "ding r ~quanon
b

e so1vect analyttcall 0 · Q\
exp· d. . y. ne can, hO\vever, obtctin a f rmal soluuon ·
an mg '1/.1. '') m ct -ser'I Cs
(c ·I ~
. ~ o f' f unctions
. ,
tormmo. . . ,_
·t c rnpl te · ·t. A p~t rlJI.L
<LI y co nvenient set f tl11. e, l lf
the rre ,1 or s purpose consists of th io nfunc.:til ns \ (r '
c e ectron Hamiltonian J-1 e
(1,

llo \ (,.) = r:·0 \ (,.).

where r:o JS 1 free elect
· l1c . .
one ·ecs th·:~t . ron ene 1gy ugcnvalue. \Vit h HIJ "1\ II t:l\ Ey (.2 till.
' P1.1ne w·tve ·~ ·
' s cunst1tute ·olutions.· t·' Ly 1 , ,
\-·-

\ (,.) = c'" ,..

 Schrodinger equation for a periodic potential 23

( 2.22)

r /. has c01~ ..tant components that are convenien tly ::.pccincd

oundarycond1t1ons. One starts with the crystal in the fo rm of a
t"''"'"'~"~, \ Jth edge l en_!! t~1 s L1, L1. L3 a nd periodically reproduces the
11 ll the space 1. hlkcl. The original crystal se rves as a unit cell
ry tal. and o ne n::quires that the eigenfunction x( r ) satisfy the
md1t1 ) 11.

\ (r + 1;ar) = x(r' , i = l , 2.3 (2.23)

\\her ,la~l = L;. the ; are integers. and the a; are the primitive transla-
u n \cdor.
quation (1. - 1) is the periodic boundary condition of Born and
\Oil K ann:in. Sub -rituting Eq . (2.21) into this equation yields

(2.24)

Jfw writ k in the form

(2.25)

wh re th b; are the primitive translation vectors of the reciprocal lattice,

and use Eq. (2.14). we obtain

e2rriN,p 1 = \ (2.26)

ur
111; (2.27)
p;=-y ,
1 i

where the 111; are integers. Equation (2 .25) can now be written as

m1 m2 m 3h (2.28 )
k = - hl + - h?+- I
N1 N2 - N3 .

which is the specification of k according to periodic boundary conditions.

It should be noted that the volume associated with one k value in reci-
procal space is

(2 .29)
~flk = .I r \[hl · (h2 X h3)] \
N,N21\ 3
and tha t N = N N N is the number of primitive unit cells in the c rysta l.
1 2 3
Sine lb . (b x b ) \ is the volume of the primitive unit cell ofthe reciprocal
1 2 3
la ttice, the numbe r of k values in the latter volume is given by

lh1 · (h2 X h3) \ = N . (2.30)

~nk
 Electronic energy bands: basic theory

hHthc.:t rd .tl, .,nuit

...
er of allowedwavevectorskinaprimitiveunit
b fl·. . . ee1l
. .oc.··tll·tttice
recrpt · i .qu·. I to the
. . num er o cttt1ce s1tcs m the cry. t·a .
1 1h, 1
racrr.;tal ofmacr . c prcs1z . th1s 1s a very large number, on the order of
·ud·n·· nu 11ber. ..
t 1 Ie 1 r ·r Hn the wav peri die boundary
. . conditions
d . are introduced th·at
c t . are ncl!lec ted. If one 1s on 1y mtereste Ill the bulk properr
- . d .h te'i
, rc 1 , tals. the rror assocrat_e wrt the use of periodic
!· r c 1 dlti Ih 1 xtremeJy small and IS more than compensated b
tl e ci ·nou ~implificati n f Lhe ~:n~thematics relative to that require~
hen "Ul face c.:f <.:fo' arc treuted exphcrtly.

E ·ample 2.2: Densi ty-of- ·tate in reciprocal space

Deriv~.: an e pre· 1011 f r the density-of-states in reciprocal space.
'olution. The q mntit. ~Dk i the volume in reciprocal space asso-
ciated \ ith ne k vatu a pecified by periodic boundary conditions.
The in er f ~nk i th number of k values associated with unit
lume in r ciprocal ·pace, or in other words. the density-of-states in
r cip rocal (k). From Eq. (2.30) we have

Since the volume oft he primitive unit cell of the reciprocal lattice 0,. is
lhr · b1 x b3l.

N
g(k ) = -
n,. .
But we saw in Example 2.1 that

so

g(k) = Nn~ = ~
( -') 7r ) ·' (2rr) · '
where 0 is the volu f h .
account f . h me 0 . t e crystal. If we introdu e , f< tor o1 2 w
or t e two pOS ' tbl ·· · · · .
the density-of- t ·~ tes . sl de oncntat1ons ot ele t r n ·p111. w·· htal!l
· " · me u mg spin

(,..
g ,, " ) == -
n, .
4Tt·1

2.4 Expansion of th .
Tt e e•genfunction in plan a es
l Pancwave
1 ·t· t"·
co mpkte set ,·,1 d cs that ,.:onstituk the JO"nfun ll
r . terms )r h' -
ull Hamiltonian H . "·' w Ich \ 'e c·m e p:m I ·tn ·•-
. Lll.:h :tn '\ . ,· .
1.: puns1 n 1 l.Ju" d ~nt l
 Bloch's theorem
2
n m1 < fa I l1Uric r ~ n l.!" i.l (""~ p r·
J1rl d (C Ill p 'fl( fie f.1ULJild;lrV
ta the I rm

t·( r ) -= C (!..k'A'.
(2.31 )
"
(k a r~ the ex pa nsio n cocnlcicnts and k is a \Nave
db) pen tl1c bounJ a ry condition , k = ( 111 1; ..v 1)h, +
11h' \- h_· rn q . (2.2R). Substituting Eq. (2.3 1) into the
n r lJU~~lJ lfl. . -. 17)_ and using the expansio n of the period ic
1 I m Fl uncr ·cne,. f q . (1. 1). yi tel

2m C(k)e'"·r + .2:;: L VcC(k ei(G+k )·r = £ L C( k )eikr _

~ k k

(2.32)
In tht: cc nd term on the left hand ide o f this equation, we make the
·uh tituuon k' = G - k a nd o btain

LL G (k ) i(G+k,. = LL VGC(k' - G )eik' r

G k G k'

= L L VcC(k - G )e;,..,.• (2. 33)

G k

\\here th Ia t fo rm re ults from the replacement o f the dummy summation

\ariabl k' y the dummy ' Umma tion variable k.
The hrodinger equation can now be rew ritten in the form

L{
k
1
11'2 k / 2m )C(k ) + L~ G
cC(k - G) - EC(k ) } cik·r = 0. (2. 34)

For th i eq uati o n to be va lid for a n arbitrary val ue of r . we must set the

c fficie nt of each factor c;",. equal to zero:

(t/-!r / 2m)C(k ) L VGC (k - G) - EC(k ) = 0. (2.35)

G

Add itional eq ua tio ns in volving the coefficients C (k - G) can be obtained

b 1 replacing k by k - G and G by G' in Eq. (2.35) and considering all values
fG. Since ""e have infinitely many reciproca l lattice vectors G. we have an
infinite set of linea r homogeneo us algebraic eq uation s in the coefficients
C(k - G ). For a nontrivial solution to exist, the detern1inant of the coef-
ficients C (k - G ) must be zero . This secularequation specifies the allowed
eigenvalue of the energy E for a given va lue of k. ln practice. the deter-
minant is made finite by restricting the values of G employed to those with
nngnit ude less than some specilicd value. The na ture of the solutions to the
sec ular eq uation is disc ussed in Section 2.9.

2.5 Bloch's theorem

Wen te from Eq . (2.35) that a given k is coupled to only those k's that differ
f'rum it by a reci procal la ttice vector G. We can therefore pick a particular k
 b nds. basic theory
Electronic energy a .
6 . . n rewrite q. (2 .31) in the form
a. 'l tailing p HOt a
•drl = L C(k - G')ci(k - G )·r

[L
G

= ,P· r C(k - G)e - i(lrl· (2.36)

G

. Ir' JU'l ~.; hrm.:L t on the right hand side of Eq. (2.36) is a
h q- ntn_ •
f . 1•1 n 1 ,. w1th the pe nodicity of the cryst,dlattice, as may be
< • . . . , , • •
• J"
pc 1 1u mt.: _, • E 29 W I ·
\ n' ~.:d hy r plt.lCi g . by,. + R( f) and usmg q. ( . ). e ca I this periodic
fundi n 111. (')

(2.37 )
G

a d " rit
\ ( r ) = e ik. ·I" Uk ( r ) . (2.3S J

Equation (2.38) on ti tutes Bloch's theorem, which states that the eigen-
function of an elect ron moving in a periodic potential consists of a plane
wave factor and a periodic function foetor. An eigenfunction of the fom1
(2.38) is called a Bloch function (Bloch 1928).
Comment.lfthe position vector r is augmented by a lattice translation
vector R(e), the Bloch function '1/.Jk.( r) is changed only by a phase
factor. To demonstrate this, let us replace,. by r + R( t) on both sides
of Eq . (2 .38) which states Bloch's theorem:

'1/Jk(r + R(C)) = e ik. ·(r,-R(f )) uk ( r + R(

Since uk(r) is periodic with the periodicity of the lattice,

and we can write

· k(r R (e)) = eik. (r R(l )) uk (r )

= e ik R( lc/"'.ut.. (r)
= e ik ·RI\() IJik.
· r )
\ 1' .

Thus. t!k(r . R (f)) 15

.. . . . . . J
tiplied b 1 sunply the ongmal Bl och I undt n n (r) m 1 •
Y t 1e phase facto . 1k R(il · •
· 1 e · wh1ch is inck p nd nl ol r

2.6 Electrons in k
F . . . a wea periodic potential
OI sem ico nducto rs and .
the one-ckctn 11 . . 111 cli1_ ther oliu. thl.'pr r
. . u l'lgen t ut t" , •.
l: Pll.: sscd in ·q . (
2 3 . •~'- h.ms hy m an::. I I h~.: b 1 ·
lh;: c'•rrl'spnndin ' S ·- ~~J '.~.:q.utrcs hundred::. f p l.m.' l
g · 1. h roc( Ill ~ 1 . .
C4ll.llll , lj
 Electrons in a weak periodic potential 27

1 •t h • t m . dll'finiit to cxtr<~ct the e~se ntial ph ysics in ,,

' n td Lhi ' · )mphcltlion we consider a weak potential that
Iltllhati n t heory . We thcrl·hy obtain analytic results from
· 11p )rtant 1h sica] principles can be deduced.
he r )tcn tial I '(r ) as a perturbati on , the zero-order eigen-
th\.' c hr ·dinger equatio n. Eq. (2 . 17) . a re plane waves

(0 ) ( )
r
I ,.,_I' I (2.39)
··
~ . = -vTI e " · = k) '

lu me of the crystal. and the zero-order energy eigenvalues

E (o) = n-,,-
I I I

(2.40)
k 2m ·

ummg f r th e moment that the state of the wave vector k is not coupled
b_· the p ten tial to another state of eq ual energy, we can write the perturbed
rn rgy eig nvalue to second order as

(
ki V( ·)ik) + ""' (ki V(r)ik')(k' i V(r) \k ) (2.41)
I ~ E (O) - £ (0 ) ,
k' k k'

\'h r

(2.42)

Substituting Eq. (2 .6) into Eq. (2.42) yields the relation

(2.43)

Using this result, Eq. (2.41) becomes

(O) ""' VcV- c (2.44)

Ek = Ek + Vo +~ (Ol (Ol ·
G Ek - Ek - G

Taking the complex conjugate of Eq. (2.6) and noting that V(,.) is real, we
have

V(r) = v • (r) =L V~e-iG···

G

which, upon replacing the dummy summation variable G by - G, becomes

v(,.) = L v~ u-e'G·· . (2.45)

G
 . bonds: basic theory
Electrontc energy
. d ('"' 4'i) l!ivcs the result
'lnlf a ring Cq ·. (-.6 Ml -· - ~
(2.46)

J ) ·an thl!n be rew ritten as

d!H n ( - 44
~ v(i 2 1

= l:.k + Vo + 4
· l Ul I

Ek £ !OJ - E (OJ , (2.47j

G k k- G

, ' 0) (0 )
which i c rr~.;d to O(f 'c; a'> long_as ~k Ek - G·
Th .. lirst rdcr c rrected eig ntunctiOn has the form

,(OJ ~ (k' l V(r)Jk) .1 (O) •

lf'J. (r) = 'IJ'k ( •·) +0 (0) (O) /Jk' (•)
E" - £",
k'

. ro) ~ vG. . ,/ o) ( )
= . k (r ) + 0 (OJ (OJ u k - G r · (2.48)
G Ek - Ek - G"

Making u e of the fact that \ 0) r ) is a plane wave as given by Eq. (2.39). we

can rewrite Eq. (2.48) as

J ikr {1 ~ Vc -iG·,·} (2.49 )

'lj;k ( ,. ) = me +0
vn
(OJ (0) e
G Ek - Ek - G

which has the Bloch form of a plane wave modulated by a periodic function
uk(r) given by

uk(r) = _ 1 { 1
. Jn
+"""'
0 £ (0) -
VG*
£ (0)
e 1G·r
. } . (2.50 )
G k k- G

2.7 Brillouin zones

The periodicity of the system in real space leads to a periodic di,isil111 L)f
wave vec~or space into Brillouin zones. Within a given zon th ' nergy of an
electron IS a cont" • . ~ . · ·,
. . muous 1unction of energy but undeP,. ~ a iJ::>l'"Onllnut 1·
~r.ossmg a zone boundary. The Brilloui~ ~one is am =s t u fuJulncept in
llh1
t e lepresentatiOn of l ~ . .
W . e ectromc state m crvstals.
eig c .nov./ .dtscuss· th,e a. bove results 111. •detail. . he perturb<:d enl'·r'•' ::.
1
~~.:nvuuegtvenbyE (/ 4 , . . , - . . , d·r
term v. d · .q . - · 7)contamsaconstant . htltJud rh l u ~rl r
0 111
term is 11' . c1· ~:cond ord er term that is wave vec-t r lkp ·nd ,nl Tllc' I' t tl •
egc~ttve at k - 0
chc · £ (01 s· - anc1 bec mes larve in m· gnitudt: ::. E u •1PP rl:t-
" c· , mce there ·, . ,
numher ::~r .·
I
. •s. " Isum O\'er G .m::;. tl-.·• (~ .-P
stngulantte~ 111
~
th~.:r .. '" Jll 111
tint!·
. ~·
en~::rgy. As·111 -1. .· . t le ex.pr~:ssion for the . 'l. ll1d r I 'f ·!lUI
' ' dr s•tu·tt• 11 .1 1-
Eq (2.49) II' .1 . ' • PP Ies tu 1 ·n r
the pc rt urh~J 'll!l..ll t~ndi 'll ::! '
· ' stnguhrity ~ h '•th'
wavl' state 1.. _ (,' . ' · U\.'cur~ lor G - G 1 th ' ..1 111 t I ·I · .
I •o In the p . t ·b .
strong '>t:all~.:rin • <J . \:I" Lll .eJ L"tgentun~.. ltl n Jt , \. ,.
l '

g 1 th~: ~:lectrotl I'"· Ill l 1 1.1tl· "'

(J
 Brillouin zones 29
the -mgula ri L_'.

' .51

· i1.111 fo r the unperturbed ener<:rv !liven

~-- ._

ua tion for the plane in wave vector space that

1 d th~ rec1pr c· ! lattice · tor Go. It is the famous Bragg condition for
the J- r nt call ring fplane waves by a periodic structure. The perpen-
d. I r h1 e t r plane is known as a Bragg plane. We note that k = Go / 2
-~ 11 1 Eq. ( ~ (0 l -: £ -to)
' - 51_ a n th·at- £_Go/2 Go/ 2 f rom E·q. (2.51
· ). -
mcc there IS a Bragg condltton for each G, the Bragg planes divide wave
\ector pace into zones which arc called Brillouin zones. The first Brillouin
zone enclose the rigin and is the smallest volume entirely enclosed by the
Bragg plane ofr ciprocallattice vectors drawn from the origin. The second
Brillouin zon onsis ts of those portions of volume just outside and con-
tiguou w1th the first z.o ne which, when translated by appropriate reciprocal
lattice vector , \viii exactly fill the first zone. Third and higher zones can be
de cribed in a similar manner. It can be shown (Ziman 1972) that the
olum of ch Brillouin zone is the same as that of the primitive unit cell of
th r ciprocallattice. Consequently, we deduce from Eq. (2.30) that each
zone o ntai ns values of the wave vector k allowed by periodic boundary
o nditio ns, where N is the number of primitive unit cells in the crystal. The Fig. 2.5
fi r t thr Brillouin zones for a two-dimensional square lattice are shown The first three Bri llouin zont::s of a
two-dimensional square lattice.
in Fig. 2.5.
Example 2.3: Brillouin zone
De cribe the construction of the Jirst Brillouin zone for a face-
ntered cubic lattice.
Solution. The primitive translation vectors of the face-centered cubic
lattice with lattice constant a are given by

They can also be written in terms of orthogonal unit vectors.\·, _f,-, i as

a 1 = 2I a ( x, + y, )_,

The volume of the primitive unit cell is

These primitive translation vectors can be combined with Eqs. (2.12)

and (2 . 13) to give the reciprocal lattice vectors G,

G - 2n
- ,[PI ( - X. - y- +:::-' ) ' --
+ l2( X. + _)'- - ::") + f' 3( X~ , -
- )' :::--·)] ,
ll
 b nds. basic theory
Electronic energy a .
_ all integer values. From the form f these
.., .
111
·h··r~ ach of 1 1 12 1
' ' h'
cc iproL:allattice of a face-centered cubic lat-
. c ec that t e r r· ' .
e I• rs :-. · d uh·c lat tice. The two sets o G s With smalle t
tic 1." a hody-cc 1tere t:
o z~r n~lgnitudc are:

.... 2.• (-:\ - .i· + .:).

±~ ,/
X - 1'- :).
.

"
± -~,
a -\,
±=-a -"' ±21fa- 2:.\GI
')7r - =~- "'(21f) ·
a

Tb perp ndicul, r bi~ d r planes of these two sets ofG's arc specified
by the equation
3r.
±I -kx + kr- k :: ) = -,
(I ' . a
3r.
±(kx + k.r + k::) = -,
a

and

27r 27r
±kx = - , ±k-- = -.
({
u

The boundary of the first Brillouin zone of the face-centered cubic

Fig.l.6
Th.: fi r t Brill uin zone of the
face- entered ubic lattice with ome
!'high ymmetry inuicat d by
lattice has contributions from all 14 of these perpendicular bisector
planes as can be seen in Fig. 2.6.
The first Brillouin zone is the smallest volume centered at the origin thar
is bounded by perpendicular bisector planes. It has the form of the Wigner-
Seitzprimitiveunitcell for a body-centered cubic lattice and is uniquely spc·
cified by the symmetry operations of the crvst·tl !at tic'. Points of high
symmetry denoted by r. L X. etc .. are shown. in Fig. _.6.

2.8 Energy bands and energy band gaps

lnordertogetfurtherinsightintotheetTectofth p ri i ' p 1 t ntia l nt ,:
energy eigenvalues of an electron, we need to mod if) 1ur pr · dun.: in )rd ~
t handle the de gene1acy .. l occurs 111
t1at . zero rd rat th Bn·11 ('l11·11 Ztll. 1
boundarv' where E4· - (J- ...cd) 1s
.
satisfied . We ust J ~'11 rat plnu r b·tll•111
theory and r
·.
.
ocu~ on the two deot:nera te st a ks A nd A
~ 1 11 •
\\· hd~
neglectmgalloth - ·· Tt1e two eq uationsofthe
::. - h.& r ll·n '" ·
·sct cfEq _, ,,:-.H
L

.,.. t:Is.
thesl: two states are

( l' iO)
-,. I· ·o - D" C k ) 1 (t o 't\1\' - I

.,
£ l 'J I
(~,. . I
\) E,. l , A
 Ene gy bands and energy band gaps
31
U.\llc nI 1 an nlri\ ial , !uti m is

: II
1•J. I .II
,_ 0.
01 (2.54 )
Vo - k
I. " "

11 equa ti n 1!.1 \'l: ·

t

+ _1 {£/.10 + £ I.'01G, ± [( /..

( I)
-
(OJ
£1. - G,) + 4 jl G
2
,J Jt}. (2.55) IG
~ 0 k

• tmportant · n ~:q u ence of this result is that, as £ !.( 1 and £ 1°1 Fig. 2.7
· f ~ k - G0 Energy Ek as J functi on o f k n.:a r the
m qua I. t he tv\'~ s I t~t1 n . orE~; come no closer together than 2jVc,J degeneracy point1Go.
In lh r \ l rd. ther~ 1· a d t:c ntmUity or forbidden energy gop in the energy
H.:r u k cun tlrtt ~ cpa rates two allowed energy bands. States of electro~·s
propagatmg through the cr tal do not have energies in the forbidden
'ner!!y gap.
To desLribe the bt:havior oft he energy eigenvalue more precisely near the ,_
~'2iv·(·l
I

degenera • point k = ~ Go. ,~,. c let q = k - *Go and use Eq. (2.40) to elim- I ' '•
in te k fr m Eq. (2.55). The result is -
I

-
(2.56)
' 2IV!c,l
~dL
v)ivc. I
A q --> O.E~.: __, V + £~,G6± / Vc0 / .Forsmallq,weexpandthesquareroot
in E . (_.56) in Taylor series and obtain
Fig. 2.8
The first three allowed energy bands in
1.:- Vo (2.57)
the extended zone scheme.

wh re (} i the angle bet\-veen Go and q.

The b havior of E~; as a function of k is illust rated . chematically in
fi g. -· 7 for a particular value of B. Two bands of allowed energies are
epa rated by an energy gap t :l{ whose magnitude is 2/ VGo /. The wave vector
at whtch the gap occurs is specitied by the Bragg condition contained in
Eq. (2 .52). and it therefore lies on a Brillouin zone boundary. Note that the
c/ dependence forces £ 1, to be normal to the zone boundary itself.
Each nonzero reciprocal lattice vector can give rise to an energy gap. The
fir t three allowed energy bands and the gaps between them are shown in
Fig. 2.~ for a one-dimensional system. Except for the lowest energy band.
the energy bands are split into tv.:o parts. one lying in the domain of negative , ()
wave vector. and the other in the domain of positive wave vectors. This '

behavior is a feature of the extended zone scheme depicted in Fig. 2.8.

-k
An alternative procedure, which in some ways is more attractive. is the
reduced zone scheme. It is obtained by using appropriate reciprocal lattice Fig. 2.9
vector~ to translate the parts of an energy band that lie in an outer Brillouin The tir~t IIHL·..: ..lllt>\\..:d · L·rg\ hantl m
znn mto the first Brillouin zone as shown in Fig. 2.9. In this way, all of the the: redun:d Ll•ne ~dlt•n ..:.
 . bands: basic theory
Electronic energy
s an her ' presented within the s~me ran~e of wave vect P i . The
cm:1 g h. nd. eJ·ustificd by notmg that 1f the wave vector k' f
J d:t.:( 1 e t:h meLan
r~ u~.: (r) di cr fr om another wave vector k by a reci proc-,
th 1 d1 tu ndJlHl '!.' c1

111 1• C \ ed r G
k' = k + G. (2.58)

1 nb Ill!! Eq. (:!.3· ). we e tb c1 t

\, (r ) = e'k ' uk' (,.) = eik1· ciG ·r uk ' ( ,. ) .

1
•
(2.59 J

ThL' factor t ·'G ,. ha the pcriodi ity of the crystal and so does the function
u,.( r ) defined by

llk (r ) =e ' tG' r ( )

uk' ,. = e
iG'·r ( )
Uk+ G r . (2.60)

Con equentl

The Bl ch functions ·l k(r) and k+c(r ) are therefore equivalent.

To complete the justifica tio n of the reduced scheme, we show that the
energy eigenvalue is a periodic function of k with the periodicity of the
reciprocal lattice. If the fo rm o f the Schrodinger equation in Eq. (2.35) is
modified by replacing G by G' and k by k-G. the result is
2
(k - G) C(k- G) +"'"" Vc ,C(k- G- G' ) = Ek C(k- G). (2.62)
2
:
... m L
G'

where the dependence of the energy eigenvalue on k is explicitly indicated.

Since Eq . (2 .62) stands for an infinite number o f equatio ns corresponding
to the infinite number of values ofG, there is an infinite number of solutions
for Ek and the associated coefficient s C( k - G ) which we la bel by an index 11
having the values 1, 2, 3, .. . :
172
2m (k - Gl ·c " (k - G) L I\,-•C11 (k - G - (;' ) = E nk n(k - G).
G'
(2.631

The i~dex 11 is the band index, and the va lues of £ 111. for giY n 11 ami v;tri-
ou -~ fo rmthe nth energy ba nd . The co rresp nd ina 811. ·h funL"£IL111 ~
specthcd bv Eq (/ 16 ) . c-
- - . · - ·- are des1gn·:tted 1j,11k(r ). .
establi ·sh the peii.·OltCtt
lo _. j' ·
y I
··
£ we modi f the hr l tem '1 11 t h · l'll
hand stde of Eq. C' 63) b . · . 11
..
1...
_ ·· G' ith '
- ~ . .d . -· Y tnt1 oducmg b G ' and : ummm\! l .. r .1 0~
sc~.:on term by letting G" = G + G' . Th~· resul t i.
li ~
~-
7: 2111
(k.
-
G ' )2( . (k
" - G V• . , ·
r

+ L
-
C/ '
l 'c;"
(,'
• (!..
1/ -
II,
} = 1"-··" I'·
\ 1\
 nergy bands and nergy band gap
3
II 1.!1 \ L

I 1
, ) (~r, (, '
I r," (;] "( It - G 'i

E,.~. ( II It· - I )
12 6 _)

= En!.C,(k - G) .
(2.66)
If\ ru e A in q. (1.. ) by the reciprocal lattice ector G " and set
n
r _- G + G' nL., = G ' G" . tI1e resu It can be cxpres::;cd as

f= !i"J. ,_
[1m (k - R t 0k - A.k - If' + r, k - -K- (k - K ')
]
C11 (k - K')

= E11k - G'' u(k- K ). (2.67 )

in e both G and K in Eq . (2.66) and (2.6 7) pan the space of reciprocal

lattiCe vector 't d since G' and K' are dumm y summation variables
. panning the · m space, we see that Enk- G '' and Enk are eigenvalues of the
arne matrix. If there is no degeneracy of bands at k, then

(2.68)

for an~ alu of G" and therefore Euk is periodic in reciprocal space. This
re ult an be ex tended without difficulty to the case where k is a point of
£ n ra y .

hav thus established the justification for the reduced zone scheme. c
whi(h is the scheme most commonly used in the discussion of electronic
n rg band s. In Section 2.5 we noted that the number of values of the wave
't'Cl · k all wed by periodic boundary conditions i, equal toN, the numher
f primitiv unit cells in the crystal. Since the Bloch functions in a given
nergy band are distinguished by their wave vectors, it follows that there are r
~ M
Bloch functions in an energy band . Each Bloch state can be occupied by
tw lectron. of opposite spin in accordance with the Pauli principle. so 2N
electron can occupy a given energy band.
pecially important for semiconductor physics are the t:tce-centered
cubic and hexagonal lattices. The first Brillouin zone of the former is given Fig. 2.10
in Fig. 2.6 and that of the latter in Fig. 2.1 0. The zone-center point (k. = 0) is Brillouin zone r,,r the hexagLmal l.ll! i ·e.
denoted by r. Particular points of high symmetry on the zone boundary
and in certain directions within the zone are labeled by letters as shovm.
Example 2.4: The Kronig- Penney Model
Develop analytic solutions to the Schrodinger cq uation for a periodi(
p ll:ntial consisting of an array of square-well potentials.
Solution. Consider a one-dimensional periodic potentiaL V(.\·) =
V r + a ). huving lattice constant o and represented by the
 b nds · basic theory
ElectroniC energy a .
, arra h wn in Fig. 2.11. The one-dimen"iional
·quHC- s,.c 11
1 •
· . ·
' .. _1 • ~ c . ualJOn for thts case ts
, chn utngcr t1

- lil d2~, (.· ) + V(x}tf,'(.-.:) = £¢,(x).

'2.111 dx- ·
· tl , energy e;:i a n value and ·t/1(X) is the eigenfunction.

-
\\-hen.. F t 1
\: < 1 - h where ~ (.x) = 0. the eigenfunct 10 n is a
~ , . . .
· 11 0
In LI rcg1 . .
t linear ~.:ombmation r pla ne \\/aves travelling to the nght and to the
left:
Fig. 2. 1 .
p I nll I ent:r.,.., d Ill~ Kn.,nJg P.:::nll\!) ..) 1(.\ ·) _- A c,;,h + 8 (;" - i,h .
m d I.
The en rg eig n a 1ue is rda ted to (3 by E = f1 2 .A~ /2m or
rJ = J2mEjtr. . . .
Tn the th r r gion -h < .r < 0, wtthm the barner, the solution is of
the f rm
'IfI 2 ( .\·) -- c?nx
~
+De- ''-'" '

where Vo- E = /7 2 a."2 / 2m or (\' = J2m(Vo- E)/17. At each dis-

continuity of potential, the eigenfunction must satisfy the boundary
conditions that it is continuous and has a continuous first derivative
with respect to the coordinate. For the discontinuity at x = 0. we have
t 1 (0) = 1 2(0)
,.rt (0) = 'if'S(O).
where the primes indicate first derivatives with respect to argument.
For the discontinuity at x = - h, the boundary conditions are
1(-b) = 1h (-b)
• /1 (-b) = ·zt;; (- b).
The eigenfunction must also satisfv Bloch's theorem which for pre-
sent purposes can be written as J

'th (a - h) = eika t!J l (-b)

"·~(a - b) = ei/,a «l1 ( - h).

The boundary condition at x =- h then become

7- ikll I I
t l,' IJ \{/ -
L1) = If'~( -/J)
,- il..a ,, ( ,
(. 1/.'1 (/ - h) = ·~( - h ).
lf one no\v utilizes rl ·
. 1e expansiOns oft ·1 (x) and '' (.Y
one obta1n -

A B= C + D
i1j(A - B) = n(C' _ D)
e ik"( .,·'t-' .I_ Be . '(
i [,, /') 1 ' " A\ , · · ,,,. r t
 Tight binding method 35

- 1
~
,
I-) - n ()
\-J 1t ·-.
I 1( II
7! - 2 7!
hi = fl.
'"" - ('
t lh
- c""
- i.-le- '" '' I l II h - ne _,,,, r\e' 'h
Fig. 2.12

I 1 • th~? determina nt give. th quation The Lh:pcndcncc ot the functiOn

( p/ 1a) sLn (.1u) + co~ ( 1a ) nn iu with
(\ ~ - ,{! I' = :.rr(l Iafler Kr n1g and Pen ney
l'c (A. a) = 7 l1 sinh ( 1h) sin [.J a- h)J 1'>:\ 1).
_n
+ osh ( r~ h ) cos[.J (a - h)].

111 or
tnd 1 ar fu n ti ns the en rgy eigenvalue E. this equation
. p ·cihe the dependenc of Eon the v.rave vector/.:. 15
'
A implc re ult arist:s if o ne pas. e_ to the limit b _. O, v0 --... in '
' ''
uch a \U~ that the quantity m V0 ha/ 1i approaches the finite va luep:
2 I

cos (ka) = P sin (3a ) + cos (3a).

'3a
Thi rc ~u J t c rrespond s to a potenti<ll V(x ) consisting of a periodic
array o f delta functions . Since the left hand side lies in the interval - I 11 2rr 3n 4rc
ka
to I f r real k. . the allowed values of E are those that cause the right
hand id to lie in that sa me interval. They correspond to the heavily Fig. 2.13
dra \.vn ra nees of rJa in Fig. 2. 12. Note that the forbidd en ranges Plot of energy in units of :r2h 2 f1 mac
b me : ma llcr as E increases. Figure 2. 13 shows the allowed bands versus reduced wan:: vector forth..:
Kronig- Penncy model with p = 3-:r/ ~
of en r __ E (k ) eparated by gaps at the zone boundaries. (after Kittel 1986).

2.9 Tight binding method

Thl: xpansion of Bloch wave fun ctions in a series of plane waves converges
w 11 ir the electron- ion interaction is weak, i.e. , the electron energy
und rgoes onl -y a small chan!!e as a res ult of the interaction. It is of interest
~ ~

to con ider an alternative method, the tightbindingmethod, which is partic-

ular] , appropriate \vhen the electron- ion interactio n is strong and the
electro n::, ·ue tightly bound to the positive ions. In this method the electron
wave function is expanded in a series of functions th a t are localized about
the vario us nuclei of the crystal.

2 .9.1 Wannier functions

One can con truct a set o f localized function s by taking suitable linea r
combinations of Bloch functi ons t1.'11J. (r ). The res ulting functi o ns, t:allcd
Wannierfunctions. are defined by

w"(r - R (P)) = i\' - ! L e- ik R(I l l/)"k(r) (2 .69 )

k
 . bands: basic theory
Ele ctromc ene rgy
_ . . p r unit cell. The fact that '~'n is a function of
t•{)f l h~' C'' t e >I. . lHlh~
t: ,l 1 01 • h d
-.ccn h y usi ng Bloch s t eorem an wntmg
..

!'
r Rl 1) 111 1~ ca t:

= N- _ e -·ikR(rl e. ikr link ( r )

11 '11 (1'- R ) 0
k

iL c/ktr Rf ill"k (r - R(l )), (2. 70

k

wIltf \\(: ll 'L\''' Ll ed the periodicity of u",.(r ). One can use the orthonorm-
L '-' • ,

,tim fth Blu:h funct i n _ , ·11 ,.(r) to show that Wanmcr functiOns centered
n ditTercnl Ia ticc it s are o rth ogo nal:

I.( 3rl\ ' (r - R (()) 11' 11 (r - R(£')) =

, . . 1.1 ' ·

Ea ch Wan ni r fun tion is loca li zed about the lattice site entering into its
d fi nit i1 n. Th is can be easi ly demonstrated for the special case of a simple
cubic !attic with u11 ,.(r ) independent of k: ll11k (r ) = llno( r ) . Then

The function
In\

f' x) = Sll1 X
X X

is a localized function that has its maximum at .\' = 0 and decays in an

Fig. 2.14
he un li n ( 111 )lx plotted \ero u · x .
o cill atory fashion as .\' ~ ± . This behavior is s h~.)wn in Fig.~-~~.
Although the orthogonalit of \Va nnier functions localized lH1 different
latt ice ·ites i a desirable property. they are of limited use in energy band
C'tlculati ons. be a use the d esired quantities. the Bloch sta t ·s. must ~
known in order to calculate the Wannier functions. R u ; urse is thacf:w
made to alternative fo rms of localized functi o ns.

2.9.2 LCAO method

A conven ien t se t of localized functions is comp )~cd t at mic orbital~
,_, r. wh~re,.,. d~.ignates th e type· of atom and i rh\. part1 ul t r.lt~1 m~<.: ~t.ll d
that a tum (Is, 2s. 2fJ,. etc.). A ti~Zht binding BIL,d• fun ·ti~ n t -~.. · (rl ''
L' ons tru~:t ed ha ving the- t'c rm ~

I .
'''J.. ,_, (r ) ___ , (,,/.. R '"I l ''
~ !L 1- ""
 Tight binding method 37
1\ ( tns~\ era l Blnch ftJJKtion"~clf )rbital. Lentercd
h ' n i n F i !L 2. 1s
11 .1 re
I
•
n
tnd cncrn\'
:::-.
CJ ~IZ 'I~V·\IU-'
< t:s·. o f tlne IJ
namll. to nJan
.
arc
1111! a hne<LJ' ~ mhinat:ion ofth Bloch fur1ClJ.')J1S . ' I • r
• . ' . 1, " ·'"' or
/'; and r · nd chonsmg: the c 1ett!Lients to mimmize the
I th ~. : Hamdtoman subject to the normalization condi-
tun~tll.. ll . T h conditiOn for achieving this result is that the
Jmmantal quatiun be sa tisfied:

(2. 75)

nt l1f the Hamiltonian matrix!:::! in Eq. (2.75) are designated bv

n.: giYcn b_ ~ · Fig 2.1s
C o ntributions to several k = 0 Bloch

H .-,n.'J' = j ·w~. . (r ·)
· h ~ti I .
H ·1 hk ,.,(r)d 3 r..
't" . X I (2.76)
functions of Is, 2s. a nd 2p- o rbi tals o n
adjacent atomic sites.

\\here the Hamiltonia n for His given by Eq. (2.18). The elements of the
overlap matrix~ ar designated by S,,-1,,.,, , and are given by

(2.77)

lt hould be emphasized that in general S"1.,,.,, is not the Kronecker 6,"-n.'i'

becau atomic orbitals ~.p, 1 ( r - R(f!K) ) and <p,c'i'( r - R( f!'K' )) centered on
different nu lei a re not orthonormal. ln principle, the size of the matrices!:::!
and ~ i infinite. but in practice, one truncates the matrices by including only
a finit n umber of occupied and nearby unoccupied atomic states.
Th x ression for H ,. 1.,,'i' in Eq . (2.76) can be rewritten using Eq. (2.74):

H "i.r;'i ' = /V
I ;· [ ' e - Lr ik R (t r;) • (.
'P"i I -
R(''f't,,·))] H

x [4,>;'"'1'' '\o,'!'(r - R ( e' no'))] d 3

r. (2.7R)

A uming periodic boundary conditions, we change the variable of inte-

gration from r tor' = r- R( l'f.;,) :

/ J1 t\ l. ,t +1 1. 1 _
-
~,y / ' [ '
L.,.; e-ik·R(£~<), 11 • .(r')] J-1
'rf;.J
. . I

I ~""" ik lR (1)1 R (I;' )- R (I> ))

= - L.,.; L.,.; e
N I I
Electrontc energy bands : basic theory

. . 1 = " _ f a nd have made use of Eq. ( 1.4). The o;;um vert

\ · rc ,.t: a . e sel,d·· tclv to y1·eJd a factor o f' 1Y wh.1c h cance
.. Is· t he fac tor 1 ,V
b~: d nc Immc JU J
can . e 011 the dummy mtegrat1on vanable r . we obtain
- . . . , · •

Drur pmg l 1le pnm

' IIi R (l ti) - R(ClJ; J]

H,. . i ,..'1' ==- L_., e

(2.80 .1

An anal 1 simila r 1 that just given can be applied to the overlap

integr· 1 S,o,,.,.. ,· define b Eq. (2.77) . The result is

. ,
S111.,.,,. ='L (;) k ·IR(l ;;' J- R(Ot; )j

-
f

<p ~ i ( ,.) :p"'I'(,. - R (P,....') + R (0 tl,)) c/"1r .

J (2.8 1)

We see that S i.,;'i' consists of a sum of terms containing either one-center or

two-center integrals depending on whether R(f.,..! ) = R(Or; ) or R(tn.') =f.
R(Orc) . re -pectively. Their eva luation can be conveniently carried out using
spherical coordinates for the one-center integrals and elliptic coordinates
for the two-center integrals. The latter can be reduced to certain basic two-
center integrals using the rela tions developed by Slater a nd Koster ( 1954).
Since the two-center integrals decrease exponentially with increasing
separation of the centers, it is customary to neglect these integrals for
centers with separation greater than some chosen\ alue.
Consistent v.·ith the spirit of the tight binding procedure, one can
express the potential energy V(r ) in the Ha milto nian Has a sum of atomic
potentials:

1 (r) = 'L>.:,.(r- R( C,.;) ).

"''

~hiere 1 ~ (!·) is t~e potentia.! due to ~ucleus h:. We cnn th n group rb t.::nn::> l)f
11
the lol\ov..mg way after malong the repbc~mt.nt ,. - Rt r. ---'· r :

/-1 = Ho + t ,,- ( ,.) + L u ·" (,. - R (I ";; n) l- ,·_·l

lf we now ·r · . th· 1 . . t' 1ht '

.· . . < ss umc .11 t 1e a tom1c l.)l'hltal .-, (rl i an~.:l!.! ·n UIH.:LI n
LllcJmJc Hamtltoni· 1-1 · ) . 'T' · '
<~n n ,,,;(,. with cncrg~ i:;cmc.du • . L ·n 4 · 1-·
- , .,
f rH .
'"·"' '' Cd ll ht' rcwntten a s

II,. •'t' ::-

,, . . . , '
I ,., , t-, I
J '" I •
 Tight binding method 39

(2.R5)
contuin three-center integraL in which ( 11 1,-" . { 1,-'
IJ J.rfTcrent.
II II
~n I two-center
.
integral. in which e"thI er
I K -:/; t.K = _
o,,-. ~mce the three functions -t;,(1·).
r) ar all I calrzeci functr ms. the three-center integrals are
II compared t th t\·VO-center integrals, \vhere t\VO fthe tlu-ee
fun tll'n ngly ovcrlal n the ame center. Consequently the three-
center 1111 gral are fn.·ttuentl ' neglected . The results of Slater and Koster
can be u ed to red u e the two-center integrals appearing in V1.u;'i' to certain
bas1c mteQral-.
In order to cal uJate the energ band structure for a given material. it is
nece aD to have \ a lues for the basic integrals entering into V,.; ...' i' and
,;... , The e value are determined in the empirical method by choosing
them ·o that experimental data reflecting the band structure are repro-
duced . In the ab initio method , the basic integrals are calculated from
tabulated atomic rbitals and atomic potentials such as those of Herman
and Skillm n ( 1963) a nd Clementi and Roetti (1974). Typically, the results
of the ah initio method do not agree well with experimental data for semi-
ond uctor-. o recourse is then made to a semi-empirical method in which
the ba ic integrals are multiplied by scale factors to produce ·tgreement with
ex peri men t. In many cases. the in traduction ofjust a few scale factors leads
t go d r ult .
Example 2.5: Calculation of a simple energy band
Consider a one-dimensional, periodic array of hydrogen atoms. all in
th l.1 tate. with lattice constant a. Calculate the energy as a function
of the vva v ector k.
Solution. Since there is only one atom per primitive unit cell. the basis
index K and atomic state index i each take on only one value. We
can drop r.: and take i = Is. The determinantal equation given b
Eq. (2 .75) reduces to the simple equation

L f
eikl u ; ·
.
Y~s(x, y, ::)[1-/o
+ ~ v(.Y _ f'a.y . .:)Jtp r-(x - fitt, .l',.: )d r
3

(I

-- E~k '~
,iklu
(:
; · u ;'' (Y )l . .Z) I.'l J 1 (x
r Is · ' . · r ·
- f a. )', z)d
•
1
r.
I .

Utilizing the result

[Ho + n(x, y, .:) ]:P I ~ (x,y, .:) = r rs'? L-(Y,r,.:)
 Electronic energy ban ds.· basic theory

-1
.
nd ::.epara tmg .u t the terms with e= 0, we obtain

I 1.\ - I.
I
(~· r - ) ' n(x - f!'a,y,.::)<pJs(x.y,.::)d 3r
'fl.l ·'·· ·- ~
t' f O

+L ei/Jo ;· . 1 Jx, y, z) [c: 11 + ~ v( x - f.' a, Y, .: )]

1 , i( l f fQ

/ :p 1s(.r - l!a,y, :::)d 3 r

= Ek [1+ L
J ;io l)
eikfa
'
j cp~_,(x, y, z):PJs(x- fa,y, .::)d 3 r],
\ here w h · v as umed that the atomic orbital 'P~s(x, y, z) is nor-
ma li ed to uni ty. We now restrict ourselves to nearest neighbor
o rlaps. Letting

i)_, = ./ cp 1Jx, y, z)u(x ±a. _v. z):pL~(x, y, z)d 3r

K1s = . / :p~s(x,y, .:)v(x + a,y, z):pls(x + a,y, .:)d 3r
=.I<p~_Jx,y, -)v(x- a.y, z):p 1,(x- a,y, z)d 3r

S~s = / <p;,(x,y, .:)cpJs(x ± a,y, z)d 3 r ,

and solving for Ek, we obtain

')
E~-: = E1s _ k [1 1.. + K 1,coskaJ.
+ 1 -t-. 2S-Is COS ~a

Tak_ing v(x, y,.:) to be the Coulomb potential - e 2 / r. \Ve can evaluate

the Integrals to give (Pauling and Wilson 1935)

e-1
- e- n( a+ D ).
.
K.Is=

\J'.
1.7':! r--r--------.~ -
as

~ - 1.>-;
\ : S Is = e - D ( I + D + JI D-)) ,
\
'
'

I IS 1 '":--l--L.__ _.L_
l~
'
where D = a jaB and aH is the Bohr radius .
-2 () 2
4 Let us consider the particular cast.' D = - _Th~~ tnt .! I! th ·n ·''
th e v·tlues f 0 ~9 ~
/..a . ' " • I =- __) 99 Ry, K = - 0 0X09 R l
~ • • till
I

Withrl, =- 1 0Rv theb -·11 . . II 1'£' . t .

F"1 · J· t: av1oro ;. as a lunctt n )I,
(l g~ ;} 6 - Note that the band width I.\ Ht
4
2
·' '·
• . . _ ·'~,JI =
~.: 1llllun 1s r· ..
O.OI) Ry. ft is mterestinl!, th :11 thL' ~..·n
1 1-
It \.'
~
, dl.t 10 Jc Ill wave \'I..'L' tL)r l'llr all \\ a \ ' 'll ·.t' ill
 Problem
It h h :tVt\l r ·).L eu r ~ n n 1y n ear th '/nne

. . pr, 'i ~ a v· Iua l'lle pict urc or how encrgv

'" l,ll- <.l dll11 "ar l roue.ht ~ tooe
::: t\1 ~- t l)101111t1CLr
r . I '' l'll•
rc ml1mtd. fa r J p~trt. . th St .
, . ·1 h at 1 d l -· . t . ' ·
r.. 11 111 e !ll a 1s are
. The degeneracy. - o l the
. ei2:cnv·duc
~ • r'; IS · _ eq ua~1 to t 11e
l t11e H 111 the cr t:::t l 1 •• tl1e num b e r o ,- pm111t1vc · · · unit
I'
• L • .... . .

atun apprua c h each o ther • th e ove1·1·1p o f t\1C a t Ol111C ·

v
• <

111.:e and the m teg ra L " · J h. and K 1" increa se in ma!lnitude

n t·1 nt 1 de r a:-.e~ . T he degeneracies arc then rem ov~d. a nd .
~
n1 ' I hr ade m; u t into a band. The widths of the ba nds
the '.ttlic~ c n. ta nt d ec reases. Since there is one state for each
,.. the t 1tal nu mbe r of orbital states in a band is N. Therefore
ro Interatomic dbtance
t<.tkin mt ccount spin . 2. c\··ctrons can be accommodated in a band. jus~
a m th n~.:.HI) fr electron pi ct ure . Fig. 2.17
. chern3tlc repre en tation of the e nergy bands as a function of atomic Energ y bamb as a fun cLic n of a tom ic
sqxtra tio n for tetrahedrally bound
-.t:pJratJ 111 for tetra hed ra lly b o und se miconductors such as Si and Gc is
semicond uctors like Si <.md Gc .
~h1\\ ll in Fig . 2.1 7 . A t th quilibrium se p a ration r 0 there is a forbidden
energy gap £1!. betw n th e occupied and the unoccupied sta tes that results
from th,.: \P' hy rid iza tion .

Problems
I. ho~ that cxp(ik · R({ )) i. an eigenvalue and the Bloc h function 1.-'k (r ) is
an eigenfunction of th e -rys ta l translation operator T defin ed by Tr =
r - RU ).
Find the ncrgy ga p at the co rner point (1r j a. Tr/ u) of th e Brillouin zone for a
quare la ui c in t\\·o dimen . ion ·with the crystal potential

I' (x. y) = - 4 Vu cos (2rn) a) co. (2Tr_r/ a).

3. on. it! r the diamond . truct ure a nd its reciprocal lattice associated with the
twenti nat cuhi c cell. Let he he a primitive translation vector of this
rc ·ipr ·al lattice. .
(· ) how that the Fo urier co mponent VG of th e crystal po tent1al seen by an
el ctron i zero for G = 2b, .
(bJ Demon trate that the energy gap vanishes at the zo ne bound~ry plane
normal to the end of the vector h, in the first order approx1mat1on to the
or th e wave equation in a peri od ic lattice . .
~ luti ons
(l:) '.·ing Eq . (2.35). where the o nly equations to be retamed are those that
~.: ntain both coenicienh C(~G) - · ·
and C'( - ~C). show that the potenual
· · 1· '"I' Ll" 11/ ·tt th e zone
energy 2 V0 cos Cx creates an ene1gy g.tr o L:X• t.: -' - o <
. dboundary. - 1 b· 1d at /· -- () fc>l- the Kro , m!l- · Pennev~
4 . F111 the enerl!v - - o l the · o\vest energy· ,11
. · ·' · - · l « I For- -th1. s case J

m1 del \\hen thL: potent tal energy 1. · a delta lund lOll .tl1l P ·
find the hand. l.!.a
~ p at. k = '
E·, . · ·. . . · . h 'd tl1 0 f t )C t-ll.. t a 11 0\VC1d
1
5. Bv ·1ppl y1nl! success1ve appro:x1mat10ns. esu m<~te t e WI :r
h~n • E a~d the forbidden gap l~g for the Kroni g- Penncy model w1th P = "t
.

nd u - 3 A.
h. Pr \ .:
<
th ~ t the Wannier fun cti ons centered at different la tticl; sites are
Il l I IJgnnal
 Electronic energy bands: basic theory

References
1-. Bl ch. z P!ll'Sik 52,555 (1928).
,... . Ho ·n an 1 J R . Or cnhe1mer. Ann. Phys. 84. 457 (1927); !Vf· Born and
•v
K. H· .ln ~ . _,·,onlico 1 ·~r1.J('fJIT n f Crystal
. Lallices (Oxford Umver ity Press,
l "4)
x.Lru. . . . P . .
f .I
9"'>· W ' P·
L. B Jlh1 in. 4nn. Pln·s 17, 88 (I. ~~) . me 1 opagatwn m enod[(· Struuures
cc nd ~.:"cilt · n ( Dov PubltcatiOnS, New York, 1953). •
1 . 1e nli anJ . R etti, ~10111ic Dat~t. and N~cl~ar Da~a T~hles J4, 17? {1 974 ).
F Herman a11d ktllm.-~n. Atomtc Structwe Calculatzons (Prentice-Hall
md '\\ J It .. . J., 1963). '
c. itt I, fntrodllc'tion to Solid State Physics, Sixth edition (John Wilev
N ~w ork. J98 ). ...
R. L. Kr nig and W. G. Penney. Proc. _Roy. Soc. (London) 130, 499 (193J).
L Paultng :md . B. Wilson. Jr.. lntroductwn to Quantum Mechanics (McGraw.
Hill. Nc\ York. ll35).
J. . Slater and G. F . Koster. Phys. Rev. 94, 1478 (1954).
A. H. Wilson, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) 133, 458 ( 1931 ).
J. M. Ziman. Principles of the Theory of Solids. Second edition (Cambridge
U niversity Press. Cambridge. 1972).
 e r y bands:
•
ductor

Energy bands in
t 'miconduc to r at 0 K has it Faience bands completely full of semiconductors
dr n and it conduuion hands completely empty. Betwee-n these
b 1d i. thl: fundam elllal h md gap.
Orbital nd ~pin angular momema of electrons interact to modifv 3.1 Spin -orbit interaction
th 1r encrg~ level ~ ·
The 11i.: ti\·e I dr n- i n potential can be represented hy a 3. 2 Electron-ian interaction and
p. ·udopoumtial onsisting of attractive and repulsive parts. pseudopotentiols

Electron interact with one another through the Coulomh interaction. 3.3 Electron-electron interaction
In the flarrree-Fock m ethod the Pauli exclusion principle leads to
the xclum'~e interaction between electrons. In the densityjlmctional
method th nergy of interacting electrons is a functional of the
electron density n(•·).
Excited ta te energies can be calculated with the aid of the electron
etrcnerg_r nperator that combines the effects of exchange and
CO IT e ] ti 11 .
The k · p method provides the energy £ 11,. as a function of \A.-'ave vector k 3.4 The k · p method

n ar a hand extre111u111 without calculating the entire band structure.

A IIOJU/faenerate hand with extremum at k = 0 in a cubic crystal has an
isolropic 4fectil'e mass. A degenerate band with extremum at k = 0
111 a cubic crystal exhibits ll'arping of the constant energy surfaces.
A band \Vith extremum at k ::f- 0 in a cubic crystal has an unisotropic
ef(ec tire mws.
Silicon and germanium have indirect gaps with extrema or valence
3.5 Energy bond structures lor specific
semiconductors
and conduction bands at different k values. The majority of 111- V.
11- VL and IV- VI semiconductors have clirecl gaps with extrema of
valence and conduction bands at'' = 0. 3.6 Modification of energy bond gaps
Energy band gaps can be modified by changing the tcmpermure, by
appl_ ing pressure or stress, or by forming an alloy.
3.7 Amorphous semiconductors
Disorder in the atomic arrangement produces an amorphous
Sl:'micvndw.:tor.
 . bands: semiconductors
ElectroniC energy
. . Wit h ut d viations from periodicity ha c th.
ur-- ·cmlc n uLtors . f t
• l: h· ..1·w. tic that a t the a bsolute zero o temperature al l cnergv
un rt,tntc ai.IC c . . . . d I I· f
. · lu IIH! c. certain ban are compete)' ull of cl ctron
"'J

1 ·tnds up tl) .Jill1 me .. Th ·

' h· d r high r energy are completely empty. ere IS a gap bet vc n
tn I .tn · 0 ....
the hiuhe ·t 1tile
.. d b an an t e o t tom ed ge of the
d d h b
thc op ~.:<.Ige ' I ~ .
md Thic; t'Ta 1, ca ll ed the fundamental gop. The electrons
I , c"t em p tv _ t1 , · c . . . .
l up ing the h)~ est tilled band~ ar~ strongly lo~a llzed _ a bout md 1vidual
·. dar termed core el ectrons. 1 he electrons 111 the h1gher filled bands
11llL l I .Ul . . .
, .. tlizcd than o re lectr ns and part1c1pate 111 covalent bonds
.tn.: 1e"s lo. .
bel\\ en atom:- The e I ctr n a r valence electr~ns. and the bands they
ccup)- are valence ba nds. F r rea ons th at will become clear later.
the bands that are cmp t • t 0 K are conduction bands.
Th general di cu · ·i n f ncn!y bands in Chapter 2 presents the basic
c 11 pt' tb· t undcrli nergy band theory , but omi ts a number of effects
that ha c igni fi ant impact on the energy hand s of real semiconductors.
h ff ts tha t w di s uss in this chapter a re the spin orbit interaction. the
1 tr n- i n inter::tction and p eudo potenti als. a nd the electron-electron
interaction. The characteristics of the energy bands of typical semi-
LOnductors are presented and a na lyzed with the aid of k · p perturbation
theory.

3.1 Spin-orbit interaction

An electron possesses both orbital and spin a ngu lar momenta . The~e two
forms of angular momentum interact through their associated magnetic
moments to modify the energy of the electron. This interaction is th basis
for the familiar LS coupling in atoms. For an electro n c f position vector
r and momentum p moving in a central potential V (r ). the spin- orbit
interaction energy is given by (Thomas 1926)

H w, = ~(r)L · S ,
where L is the orbital angular moment urn opera to r ,. p, S i · th spin
angular momentum operator 41i<r. <r is the Pauli ·pin matri'\ H' tor. ·md

~( r) = _ 1_, -, ~ dT . (3.- l
2m- c.:. r dr
. For a general potenti al the spin- orbit co ntri buti 1 11 t thL' Hamilt ia n 1S
g1ven by

II
H ,." =- - £T • V I , "
4m2c2 p
.
' '
..l . ·"

whcre
.
Vis~ th c gJ , ..<~C1le
· • •
nt operator. f:/ ., should b ., 1·d t th • H. milt 1 11 1•111
g1 vcn bv Eq p 15) Tl . ." · . t 1
th .· _· . - : · le pJ csenL·eolthcspet·d )fli l!ht c m/1" 11 11... 1 LI.L
c pm ~ I bit lntcrac l!on is a n:: la ti vist iL· ell TL
onunent. The . · . . . .
·('' · . . s 11.. ln OJ 1)II ln tc rac t l n IS ()111.: ~I ' 'I
c H.:ds \V IH::n ·t 1·t ·I
·. · . ' tcc lJ Onm \'L ··inthl.''ilrl)11" hlL'tlli·ll
nuc 1l: l , lh ~ reed .. . . "'
L.tll .tppln;n:h tha t l l l lw.ht . .t nd II. mu
<
 in -orbit 1 ere 1on

I Till Ill lh ~ \'<: n e c qu :I t l lll Ill . , I - l. .

· L 1 rt l l h!LI
I I'I t IlC D I L.l . I . -
• L I C :I IJ 'l<;lJ c e qu .J tJ n n whi ch . a lt ~r
n~nts. La kc.: s the fnrm

( VI "( r )

1 -- rnp nr..: nt '> pin r.l is the 2 x 2 unit nnt ri x. a nd

0
I - (
0j -i)
0 .

Th r t two term.· re the kinet ic and potential energies , the third and
ft urth t~rms Me the r la tivistic corrections to the kinetic energy and
r ltenl!ai energy (th arwin correction), and the fifth term ~;epre­
-,ent. the pin orbit co upling. The relativi stic corrections become
import nt ~ r heav" nuclei .

in e th mag nitud of both the potential and its gradient are very large
near the nucleu s. tb . pin- o rbit int eraction tends to reflect atomic char-
acten lie. In pa rti ular. the energies of j = ~ and j = ~ atomic le vels are
pbt b)- th in-o rbit interaction. Thi s s itu~1tion carries over to energy
band in cry tal ·· a m ay be readily seen in the tight-binding picture. For
1
xamplc, en rgy bands derived from) = andj = ~a tomic levels are split.
Example 3.1: Spin- orbit splitting of valence bands
Di u the sp in- o rbit splitting or the valence hands m Si, Ge,
and ln Sb .
. olutinn. Semiconductors such as Si and Ge have the diamond
tructure. The structures oft he valence band s arc similar in diamond,
Si . and G , with the po int o f maximum energy at k = 0. This point has
ene rgy F1 a nd is called the band edge. The valence band edge states
are d ri ved fro m p-like atomic states and would be threefold degen- E
erate in the absence of .- pin. With spin th e degeneracy is six-fold
without spin- o rbit interaction . Introducing spin- orbit interaction
I ads to a splitting or the V::llence band edge into two band edges: an
upper band edge associated with fourfold degenerate Prlike states
and a lower band edge associated with two-fold degene rate pr like
states.
When k f- 0, the Pl hands split into two doubly degenerate hand s
ca lled light and heav ~ hole ha nd s. The energy difference between the
p1and Pi ha nds at k = 0 is denoted hy .6.,11 • A schematic representation
oT the v~lence band splittings is shown in Fig. 3.1. For diamond the Fig. 3.1
va lu of .6, is .. . _ 0.006 eV, which is much less than the fundamental Valence bands uc:ar til-: 13nlkHnn /<In ·
11

gap o 5.4cV . As the atomic constituents become heavier. the spin-

sc:mtCll!ld uctors 11 1l h -;pi n n rh1 t 'Phttm~
tJ rbit sp iJtting increases and the fundamental gap decreases. ForGe, 6 ",. The band.'> .· dhl\\ n ~II"<" th.: ht'a\ ) h,) k
6 ", ,~ U.3cV and £" c::= 0.74eV. JnSb has a spin orbit splitting of (h/t), light h0k ( //1) . •111d r th> lf ( 111)
(J k2l:V whtch is si~nilicantly larger than its fundamental gap of hamk E;tch lxmtl " lh•uhl ) d.: g ~m:1at.:
 bands. semiconductors
ElectroniC energy ·
• tra t 1 th ·ituation in Si and Ge. In semiconduct r
(1:23 CV , Ill ~011 . . . . .
ht:'l\ 'v demen t , the spm orbtt sphtttng ts one of the
compl)sc o r ~ - _.
. Jr Jet 'rmm m the hand structure.
iml rtant f aL 1l

3. Electron-ion intera ction and pseudopotentials

11 th electron· r · ry,·tal Jrc dealt with explicitly in an energy band

cak lalion. the electron w n interaction is simply the Coulomb interaction
du Ll thl: pustllvc nuclei T r ·tting all the electrons, however. is very dif-
tiettlt analytically and ve ry computer-intensive numerically. Part of the
rea on or th 1 • diffi .ult i · that the wave functions of the loosely bound.
m re e:tended cle tro ni tates must be orthogonal to the wave functions
f Lh tit!bt 1 und . more localized core states. Furthermore. the electron-
ion pot~ntial is n t ·weak in the core region , so pla ne waves are a poor
appr xima tion there. If the extended stale wave functions are expanded in
t rm · of ian v 'lVe . it may take an enormous number of plane waves to
achie ·e c re t· te orthogonalization and to properly account for the strong
electron- ion potential in the core region.

3.2.1 Orthogonalized plane wave method

A way of handling the orthogonality problem \Vas pointed out by Herring
(1940) who proposed the orthogonalized plane wave method (OPW
method). If jk) denotes a plane wave of wave vector k and jc) a core state.
the orthogonalized plane wave Jk )onv is given by

Jk) 0 pw = Jk) - L (elk) jc) . ( 3.4)

where the summation is over all core states. It is ea ily s en that Jk)0 p 11 rs
orthogonal to any core state Jc' ):

(c' Jk)0 pw = (c' jk)- L (cJk)(c'Jc)

l'

= (c' Jk) - L,. (cjk)l·<"<

= (c ' jk) - ((·'Jk) = 0. l3.5)
. The exact wave function fo r an extended eJ ctr n .\.r~tnJc-J
m a sene of OPWs or the form

I¢" Plf' ) = ""'

L C( k - G llk - G I /'H '
G
when.: G' is -1 ~ · . th
S .. . · ' n:: tproca 1 1atttce vector. ~ ubstitu!IOll 111[ '
chrod mgcr cqu<ttion , Eq . (~ . 1 7 ). and u:-.e 0f Eq . J.~

L C( k - G' )I( HI) + I ')Jk - G ) - \llk

(, ~

= '(;' C (k G L' jk G) \l 'lk

 lectr n-ion int t. d
erac 10" an pseudopotentials
47
th l' 'r ~tal . a rr sufficiently lpc~li7eu sn that
lin I ) j<'} - r, jc)

1 nt \) I k . ' <tin!.!. th ·1t 11 · . I

k .
·melle energy Opt>ratnr
u Js l l e
.I~) anJ laklllg the scalar product or Eq (1 7) ··tl I
. • '

"' G ' J \\ e L) bt.IJn

. · -. \\·1 1 t1c

fl 2 ,
tk- G) [-") (k - G t8( ·c· (k - G' /V/k - G )
_ 1// ' '

- ""-;-' , ( ·lA- G )(k - G'ic)l

= LG EC(k - G )[ cr.·· - "
~
' (c/k - G ,\ (k - G' jc)]. ( .3.9)

:xpJoiting thr Kr ne ker deltas and rearranging terms, Eq. (3.9) becomes
,~

- t/.. - G t (k - G ' )
_/11
G
= EC( k - G'),
(3.10)
wh re

(3.11)
c

In o rdinate space. we have

I R(r. r' ) = L (E - c,.):p;.(r) <pc(r' ).

('

where ; A r ) i a core state orbital.

T h quantity V R is a potential operator that is nonlocal and energy-
dependent. It is repulsive in character, because for extended electronic
tates, E > c · It therefore tends to cancel the electron- ion potential V
\\'hich is a ttractive in character. Consequently, the effective potential
V + VR appearing in Eq. (3.10) tends to be weak, a fact which was
ex ploited by Phillips and Kleinman ( 1959) in their development of
the pseudopotential method.

3. 2. 2 Pseudopotential method

The effective potential V + V R is known as the pseudopotential Vps:

v"s = v + vR. (3.12)

Jn terms of the pseudopotential, Eq. (3 .10) can be rewritten as

L HcJ;'( k.)C{k - G') = EC(k - G), (3.13)

G'
 . bands: semiconductors
Electronic energy

hi? e
IT;. ('· _ G 12 0(. (' ' + (k - G \ Vps\k - G') f3.l4 J
/1 c,, (k)=- 2nl
" . J,1

. the ro les of G and G'. The fact that VP\ is weak

lrt' c mll.:n.; Ihinge0
nd e ' . . tl . the t~ o uri er components o f VP' are smalL except
re l , nlean 1U
c mp 1 • • •• \l'lttice vectors. and the convergence of the series
r the: r t k \ rectproc.t ' .
r I o,.,,., h utcl be raptd.
m q. (_· !) or] . ~ .'nd Kl inm a n. we take the coeflicients C(k - G J that
11
1

Folio~ mg P 11 1P5 ' .

.. ., E (~ 13 ) a n 0 fi n the function
sat1 1) q. - ·
\k(r ) = L C( k - G) \k- G ) . ( 3.1 5)
G

(l\6 )
,.

Substituting this form fo r 1 ?r w) into the Schrodinger equation

H\ fP11i) = E \¢fP''v) yields
H\xk) - l.":\c\xk)H\c) = E \xk)- L (c\ -xk)E \c) (3.1 71
c

Using Eq . (3.8) and rea rranging, we get

[H + ~(E - ,,.)\c)(ci ] \Xk) = E \u )

or, using Eqs. (2.18), (3 .11), and (3.1 2).

(3.\Q)
[Ho + Vps}\Xk) = E 1\k) -
W e see that \xk) sa tisfies a Schrodinger-like equatio n \\·ith the pseudl)·
p otentia l as the effecti ve potential a nd the eige nval ue given by rhc e.\•H:t
eigenvalue£. \ k) is kno wn as the pseudowavefunction . "inc T"r is ,~-e~tk.
1
1 1
I X~< ) can be expanded in a rapidly co nvergent series l)fplanc.: \ ,1\ I?S. Thts 1 . '
computa tionall y much less dema nding task than tht ·olution ,f Eq. (~·.
in which the full po tentia l V appears a nd fo r vvhid1 a plan'\\ ,l\' , \r••m•l ll
i much less rapidly conve rge nt. . . .
There still rema ins the no ntri via l pro blem L f acru.tll_ ~.: bW 10111g: th~
.. ,.td :) t t . 1 N · 1 i J·n'llli' 11t
Psc • l po en •a . o t onl y ts the pseudop ten tial m nl · .tn ~ r '" ..
on the energy eige nvalue £ .it is also no t umq uc Zim.tn I - In ~ r:tcu~~
111 1111
much use has been made of local fo rms 0 fthe pseud p l ·nu.tllh.t l l' • "
parameters chosen to fit experimental data . b ur r ·~.. 1tl n nl c .tl ll nn
have become common.

3 ·2·2·1 Empirical pscudopott·ntial method

~ part il:ttlarl y ::.imple ap prL)ac h ((\. hen
cl ::. ~ UIIIC::. that lh~: p-;1.:' Llcl UIH I n t1:1
. I ~.·an be pr
 El ctr n- ion interaction a nd pseudopotentials
49

I r• rJ = L "•· ,.- R ( fl,-)) _

I~

hl bindi ng Ill thnd. The Fourier tnnsform ()(- 0

•
vfl·' (I ·) tl1CI1
.
,

(3.21 )

l hl \ ol me of the cr st::ll . This expression can be recast as

-iG R(t J j d Jn :,.(r - R (flh· ) ) c - i(r' (r - R I~))

= / L e - i(I·R(f I L e rG·R(,·) ; · d 3r 'v,c( r ')e - iG·r ' '

(3.22)
I ,...

\\her \\ hav a ·sumed periodic boundary conditions. The sum over egives
th number or unit cells N by Eq . (2.9). With the introduction of

1· - (G )
. = -11( ; ·
(/1· r v .(r)e
. , - a'·'
·r .
(3.23)
' 0
- "0 . ''· '

Eq. (1_1_) come

(3.24)

\\ h r fi e i the number of a tom in the primitive unit cell.

Th F urier transfo rmed atomic potential v~;( G ) is known as the pseu-
dopotential form factor ro r atom fC For semiconductors having the
diamo nd or zinchl ende structure. it is convenient to choose the origin of
rd inate- midway between the two atoms in the primitive unit cell at
th pom . t· a (l" , l8 , l)
R . Th en R( I ) -- - a (l
s , lR , l) · d R(?)
8 an - -- + a (!8 , !8 , !)
s .
ub titution of these values into Eq. (3.24), setting T = a(k . k, k), and
taking n, = 2 gives the result

(3.25)

wh -re ts(G ) = Hn
1 (G ) + v 2 (G )] and ·t 11 (G) = 1 (G ) - u2( G )] are tbe Hv
ymmetric and ~ntisymmetric form factors, respectively. The quantities
S (G ) = cos G - r and S 4 (G ) = sinG· r arc the symmetric and antisym-
mctric structure factors. respectively. Since the t\vo atoms in the unit cell of
the diamond structure a re the same species, 7' 1(G ) = v2 ( G ) and u,.J(G) = 0.
>nsequently.

VP·' (G ) = tJs ( G ) cos G · T. (:~.26 )

hen and Bergstresser ha ve calculated the band structures near the

f unJamental energy gap for a large number of semiconductors having the
diamond or z.incblcnde structure. They chose the form factors to fit optical
 . bends . semiconductors
ElectroniC energy ·

_ d 1. l the ma llcsl three or four nonzero values of jG 1 wer

:.~t·• Jnd to un I,., .- . II - e
: ' , >d co nvcr~cnce of the rec1proca att1ce vector um
ufllCJCnt 10 gJVC g t ~ cr f h . - .
er J 1 not include the C11ect o t e spm- orbJt interac-
1et r r~su 1t , I10\\ e\ •
li n r 11 n olal effects.
, le ~ . Band r 1cturc of ZnSe
., an p ~· 2· r
Is u: th d~.: erminati n o f the band structure o ZnSe by the
mpiric·li pseud 1potcntia l method (~PM~. .
olution. The r . ud p tcntlal Hamlltoman IS
')
11- 7
H1 = - - V'- + v,,_,(r).
" 2m

Making u - orEq. (3.2 5), the pseudopotential Vf' (r) for a zincblende-
~tructur emi nd uctor can be expressed as a Fourier series invol-
in g. ymm tric and antisymmctric pscudopotential form factors and
tru tur factc rs.

Vp.1 (r ) = "
~ . · (G) vs (G )
' [s·') iS'1 (G'_1v_." (G) ]eiG·r.
jGj~Go

where Go is a cutoff reciprocal lattice vector. Both the symmetric and

antisymmetric structure factors contribute for a zincblende st ructure
rna teria \.
For the determination of the form factors, only the first five reci-
procal lattice vectors which have squared amplitudes ofO. 3. 4. 8. and
11 in reduced units are considered (Chelikowsky and Cohen 1976).
Larger reciprocal lattice vectors are assumed to give negligible con-
tributions to the pseudopotential. The symmetric ·tructure l~1ctor for
G2 = 4 is zero and the antisvmmetric structure factor for G: = 0 and
G = 8 is zero. One can take 'Vs( O) = 0, since it is a constant con-
2

tribution to all energy levels. Thus, there are three s_·m metric and
three antisymmetric form factors to be specifled. p ro imate form
factors are determined by comparison o[ experim n tal op i al data
wtth the calculated ba nd structure.
The band structure is obtained by calculating th roL t · of thc
secular equation derived from the Hamiltonian mat i\.. The matri \
for the ~incblende structure is complex, since th matri: dem 11 [~ of
the ~ntisy_mn:etric potential are pure imaginar} . Th pwccdurc
conststs ol adJusting the band structure in succ s t\'e ' t p.- tl) ake It
consistent with the experimental results. One s tarL \\ lth J JtL.ll11 )nd-
~t ruc\ure_ semicoJ~ductor for which the mat r·x im I t.:J 1" r~.d .!lld
- 0 -0 111 stze, lor exampk. G . R Recti\ 11y .mc h-, ,H~fl1 1 ~' 1 ()ll
mcasuremen t ·11-e l t:s·ed 1o est nnak
-
thc- en ro\ dtft• 'II • 1...v~ l \ \ ~.:··~.,
'c\
_ - L

vanous dectronic states in the Brillouin z '11 I ·I nl.'.tr th .

hand gal) <·1re fit ·bY(1elermtnm\!.
· · the I' rm 'IL'l<lrs l•' 1 n 1t h' l I •1
rydb • · H · ~ • · '
b , ~ ·g.. avtnQ found the pokntial fo r c, t'~l1~: 11 J ' ·~ \
. y kt:epLng: the same symmctri · puknt ial .mJ .1 1.111 1111
ymml:lnt: put t·· 1 · 1l ·
. , . e_n 1' 1 · 1 ohta m th.: P•'kntJat I t
f> .lf"IH.: SYlllllll' lflL' ) . .
· I Okn lt;tl and 11 LT ·..1 cs dh: mu
 El ctron- io n inter ction and pse d opo te ntiols 51
l~l tl r r ,' .
...... - - to \ \1 1h in ll.lll ' T he ha nd
al ulall.' ac '•""~r I l l~' t I•' tl11·-~ prOLl:l!UI'l:
~ . shown
IS
(>

4
2
al pseudopo enti a l rnethnd
-2
li · tted tr atm cnt of sem ico nduc tor energy ba nds has been
--4
~" k · ·:1nd C o he n ( 1976) wh o included bo th the spin o r bit -6
1 n nl cal t rms 111 the p seud o po tcnti a l. T he ma tri x elements
-R
r 1 H<tm illo ni a n give n by Eq. (3.3) were ca lcula ted with
s. ln rd r t inc lude spin effects, the sta te indices that
q ('A) mu ~ t bt: a ugmented by s pin state indices s a s fo llows:
I~\ I \) · Ic) - t lc ) = ic)Is). The m a trix elements o f H_, 0 then
A r ~ X U.K I r
ZnSt:
[! nn
Fig. 3 .2
JIG· , = 1k- G ·J Hsolk - G's' ) Ba nd structure of Z nSe by the em p irica l

- L (k- GsJHsolcs") ( s" Jk - G's' ) pseudopo tcntial method (after

Chelikowski a nd Co hen 1976).

+L L (k - GsJcs" )(cs" IHso Jc 's"' )(c's'" lk - G's '). (3.27)

(_'." r·' .,w

Sin th p in- o rbit interaction is s tro ng o nl y nea r the nucleus of a n

atom. the d minant co ntribution to the matrix element co mes from the last
t rm imoh •ing the double sum . Writing

H \'0 = A . U , (3.28)

wh r
11 ,
A= --
2 -, v J· X p, (3.29)
4m e-
we have to a go od a ppro ximatio n

H(/ G'., • ::::: (s lu Js') · L L (k - GJc)(cJAJc') (c ' lk - G').

(''
(3.30)

The ex treme localiza tion o f the spin- o rbit interaction has the ad d itiona l
conseq uence th a t we ca n write A as a s um of a tomic co nt ributi o ns.

(3.31 )

Since th e co re index c denotes both th e electronic stale f and the lattice

site ff\, o f the core sta te a tom , the o nl y sig nif1cant co ntributio ns to (ciA Jc')
are th ose fo r whic h c and c' ha ve th e same la ttice site a s o ne of the terms in
Eq . (3.3 1) fo r A. W e can therefo re rew ri te Eq. (3.30) fo r H ;';',_G's' (k ) as

H~~, .c•,, (k ) '::: (sJu ls') · LL L (k - GJtt'h:.)( fi·>JA JI't>)

I /1 (K

x (t'enlk - G' ). (3.32)

 . bands. semiconductors
ElectroniC energy ·

Lcl u -.: .d er l l1e

11 ,.,
111 •• gi v n by

_ I: (k _ G itf'fi· ) (t'f'h·.[k - G' )

,
-
- L -!f'·I ;· .- li k- G.J r,n..,,,,.(_',.- R(Ln.,))d 3r
{'

.
I
. e'u.- G' l·•·' ;,~< ( r
I
- R ( tK.))t
. I'· r I

' ;rc; Cl' JR fi.! J ' (k. - G)l· -(·k. - G') (3.33 I
= L-t - . , e '" ''· ,

where

J,~(k = / eikr tp;) r)d 3r , i = l. t' (3.34 )

i ~ the Fouri r tran sfo rm of the orbital '-Pit•(r) for core state i of atom tt. The
sum over an now be carried out with the aid ofEqs. ( 1.4) and (2.5) to yield

S = 0N1 ei(G- G' R (t· ) ! '". (k-G .)1~~

·(k-G'_
.) . 1 3-
(... ))

At this point we restrict ourselves to core states that are p-states. which are
the most important core states for semiconductor band structure calcula-
tions (Chelikowsky and Cohen 1976). It can then be shown (Weisz 1966.
Bloom and Bergstresser 1968) that the integral h. (k) is proportional to lki.
Combining the magnitudes of k - G and k - G' with angular contributions
from (k-G [c), (c [A lc') and (c '[k - G' ) gives a factor (k-G ) x (k-G l
in the expression for H~~·. G's' (k). U tiJizing this result to get her with Eq . (3.35).
we can rewrite Eq. (3 .31) in the form (Chelikowsky and Cohen 1976)

H~~' G '_,. , (k) ~ (k-G) x (k- G' )(s [a [s' )

{ - i.\s[cos( G - G') · r] ,\··• sin [( G - G' . rJ} . (3.36 \

where we have restricted ourselves to diamond and zin bl n j ·structures. r

is defined just before Eq . (3 .25). and

( _.,' ·-""'

. The quantities .\r and A.:! contain the contrihuti n from rhL' r:tdtal
mtegrals Involving· a· to I11s 1 <~nc
• 1"'!. Ill
· t 11e pnmilt · . plt• rh ''-
. . .v umL L·ell. In pnnd
may
,
b·· c·1I 1 d t'
l: ' u ate rom tabulated atomic l rbit ·d ·. hut i prJ 'I I(· ·
'
Hl'

usuallv' needs" ..to au·JU S t th em to yield

. · ·nl .
gUlld a!.!.reem Ill\ JLh l p ·fllll
Nonlocal d!ects cun be included bv addin-g l l th~.; )le-al .t ,11111 ~· p;;·udl'"
potentt::tl a term of th ·· r· . . . ~ '
l: 01m LCh elikowsk y ~tnd 1h n I '

I·' vdr. E) = L -I I (E)/ \I) p

I ll

where ·4 ' (F· ) ·1s an cncr , , 1 1

lat ing the l'!l'.. . -<.. epl: nu~..·nt \\ell dL'l Lh .
LLt ,. , .111
ol ~..·ur , " 1•. 11 l:S . J
 Electron-electron mt roctio n 3
ntum •' lllpnncnt. ll h .: nil'n t t rm fur/;( 1) 1, / ,( t - I
r f I ' R f 'tr s~m ict~nduLt r a pp lic~l it1 n · f~.:a n
a_ I uc... 0 · I • -') · T JlC CJlldlllltlcs
. . · · .·L ( /:.• ) CtJ' I11 tllll
.
~ho. entt Ill c p •rimcntal data . T he rnat ri clem .nts f
\.: pl:t.:lt 1 p iLI1e \\': t\'C tall.'.. h ~nc the l<>rm

1\ _ G ') = 4~t
n<J J.i
l ) P, ( cosO~; G, k <;')

' S' (G' I - G )F ; ( k - G. k - G '), (3.3L)

\ ~)lw11e p rat m . P, (x ) is a Leoendrc pol" no mi·ll f.l7 _

. e -' < • k - G.k- G'
' e n k - G a nd k - G ', S' ( G'' - G ) i. the structure factor for
F, (k - G. k - G'' ) i · a somew·hat comp licated function of
' sci functil n.:.
n nh.cJ.l p ·eud p lentia l method has pro\'ed to be a very powerful
p lOL dur· J r cal ula tmg acc urall:: energy band structures of semi-
co1dU l )f . um ~ro u s ·pe i 1c examples are presented in Sectio n 3.5.

3. 2.2.3 Ah initio pst•udopotentials

The pseudop tt: ntia l th at have been discussed so fa r have in volved param-
ett:r · that ure dete rmined by fi tting experimenta l data for the crystal being
tudt d . A c n ptually more sa ti sfactory procedure is to avoid data fo r the
f) ·u.tl and u e o nl y da ta fo r the individual constituent atoms. Pseud o-
potential _ ne rated in thi s way a rc known as ab initio pseudopotentials.
The) can b \'ie\\ed as producing truly predicti ve calculati o ns for crystals.
et r ah initio p eudopo tcn ti a Is (Bac he let et a/. 1982) has been d veloped
for e\e ry ato m fro m H to Pu . They can be used advantageo usly in the
non! al p. eudo potenti a l method a nd in procedures to be discussed in the
ne ·t Lion which include th e electro n-electron interac tion explicitly.
\Ve om: have in ha nd tbt.: ingredients fo r a one-electron theo ry of
1111 nd uctor ba nd structure. By o ne-electron theo ry we mean a theory in
which the eigenfuncti on fo r .N electro ns is approxima ted by an antisym-
mctriLc.:d prod uct of o ne-electro n eigenfunctio ns. However. the electron-
lectr n interacti on ha s no t yet been taken explicitly into acco unt.

3.3 Electron-electron interaction

p to thi s point we have trea ted o nl y a single electron a nd have o bt ained a
Hamil toni an. H 1 (r ), which invo lves the coordinates of onl y tha t o ne elec-
tr n. We know. however. tha t electro ns interact with one another through
the Co ul omb interac ti o n. It is therefo re neL:essary to dea l explicitly with
th coo rdinates of a ll /V electrons 111 the system ,., , r 2. 1'3· . . . - r.v. The
Hamill m ia n then ta kes the fo rm

( 3.40)
 b nds. semiconductors
Electronic energy a .
. tl . ·ct:< 11 ·)summation means that the terms for; --= 1..
rnnc on c . . are
., of the Coulomb mteractwn terms enormou
rhe pre I.: n~L: . . . 1\
, th\; pr bll:m beca use the_ Hamiitontan IS no longer cparabl~
. e·t'·l term involving the coordmates of only ne elec-
f tt: rrn , ... . .
ur... must then c made to approximation methods. some of
,., e cri lx: .

.3. Hartree method

In Lle Hanree method. the '-ele_ctron eigenfunction is expressed as a
r duel of 10 -ckctron igenfunctJons :Pn(r ):

(3.41 )

Each electro i a ssumed to move in the average field due to the other
lcdr . Th eil!enfuncti on 'Pi(r ) then satisfies the Hartree equation

(3.42 )

where the sum over j need not be restricted to j =J:. i, because the volume
element oft he integral cancels the singular term. There is an equation of the
form (3.42) for each occupied state :Pi(r ), so we have a set of coupled
nonlinear integra-differential equations. They can be solved by iteration on
a computer by inserting~ an initial couess for the .. J·(r ) into the Co ulomb term.

3.3. 2 Hartree-Fock method

There is a fundamental difficulty with theN-electron ft n til n given by the
simple product in Eq. (3.41 ). It does not satisfy the Pauli exclusion principle
that a given electronic state can be occupied by at most ne I ·ctron. In th~
H_artree-Fock method, this difficulty is remedied by ' nti g th..: \'-ekct r~ 11
etgenfunctlOn as a Slater determinant of one-electr n ·u n 'ti n::;

1 (1·1 )n , (.1·1 ) .,; \ ( I'J t1 \ { .\ I )

"I (I'.: )ClJ (s_; ) .,..~ , tr ;: < ' t .:

where ( v) ·.. · ·
· ' Js a spm eLgL'nfunctio n. If two el L'tr n u
1
·{ · )
'
1
n·;(.\ ). then two c c t· . b . .
· ·h " , .
ts cs. l he Pault p .· .- 1 .
umns ecomc tdt.·ntu:al. :md th tl
·rl " tmup e ts tlll:rct"ore ohL'YuJ
l~ ( ne-dect rot r . . . .
cxpcct·ttl ~ l·1 . I 1 _unl"I!Ons t.,.'; (r L·~•n ht: lk tnn tn
l• v •• Lit.: t I I H .
Li o ••s ·,n ll . ( •..: an·uhvman ,' l[J ' Ill \l''
L

· h: -r, 1· ) Th ~· \.trt,llH•nal
,. ·. · .
cakubt tu n l·.td
 Electron-electron int ra tion 55

47ruL (d 'rl.,;i (r') !- . I ·'I } .,.J;{r)

'\"' I
1 • 1I - I

!-' 1,I y{ ·' ) .

I .
( 'P1 . 1 . . i( l" )
I
I,. - I ,. I 1(r)·
I . =- E ' "· t'. r· ) I 't' I . (3 .44 )

or
.l nne the ll a rtree- F ck C(lll"-llion~
• " tl1'·lt
• detet·m'
. me tl1e onc-
Ltln: .;,(r) . T he last term on the left hand side is a new term
change term . 1t a ri,se from the direct Coulomb term preceding
r rrang m~nt ", (r ).pi(r ) --+ - ri (r') :p, (r) . In other words. th~
nd 1 are m tercha nged and a minus sign is added .
h.mge term can be rewritten in the form

.! d\' v. .x(r. r' );pi(r' ). (3.45)

'here
_.2
l l c.ni l\ 1" '). =- ~ <.p1' ( r ') (: ;p1 (r). (3.46)
i 4nt:olr- r' l
i the exchange operator. It is both a nonlinear and nonlocal operator, a fact
"hich complicat s the solution of the Hartree- Fock equations. They can be
oh ed exactly for a system
- of free electrons.. the one-electron functions
eing plane wav . Exchange leads to an effective repulsion between elec-
trons ofpara ll I pin (Seitz 1940). Some of the physical consequences ofthe
Hanree- Fock method , however, are not satisfactory (Kittel 1987, Ashcroft
and Mermi n 1976).

3.3.3 Density functional method

A significant advance in the treatment of the electron- electron interaction

wa made b y Hollenberg and K o hn (1964) and by Kahn and Sham (1965).
H hen be rg and Kohn showed that the energy of an interacting electron gas
in a n ext rna! pote ntial is a functional of the electron density n(r). Mini-
mization of the energy functional with respect to va riations in n(r) leads to
th e orrect gro und state energy. Kohn and Sham shO\·ved that, if n(r) for an
J -electron system is ex pres ed in terms of one-electron functions o.p;(1·) by

N
n(r) = L !:,o; (r)j 2
. (3.47)
i= l

the minimization of the energy functional lea ds to a set of equations, the

Kohn-Sham equations, that determine the one-electron functions . By treat-
ing exchange in the local density approximation (LOA) and introducing
th~ co rrela tion energy F~._. which accounts for the difference between the
Hartre"- J-ock energy and the exact energy, Kohn and Sham obtained the
 b ds. semiconductors
Electronic energy an ·

l.!quati n
.
1
1
n (r' )
~ d 3r' + J-l n·(n(,.)) } <pl(r) = E ;i_p;(r ), ( 3.4~ )
{ Ho + J ,., + 47rf I. !r - r'l

\here r ., i . the clectr n- t n potentiaL

. d(11 XL' (11 ))

I'·" (n ) = I
(:IT
(3.49 )

( ) ·t th n .- 1 ctron exchange and correlation energy. The

and f .n 11
ex hange part r fL \c(n ) a · derived by Kohn and Sham has the form

1.22 db
I'·'· (n) = - -
r_,(-
11 )
ry ergs. (3.50)

The quantity r. (n) i. the radius of a spher containing one electron

expressed in units of the Bohr radius as and given by

r~ ( n ) =
3 ll/3 · -I · (3.51 1
· [ 4rrn(r) as

The correlation part has been estimated to be (Wigner 1934)

f.l r -
_ -
0.88
r,.(n) + 7 .8
[I + r5 (n l
rvdber 0_s...
3 (r, (n) + 7 .8) · ...
~ ~ )
l. -'·--

Other forms for both the exchange and correlation potenti· L have been
suggested.
The density functional formalism of Hohenberg, Kohn. and Sham g.in~s.
in principle, exact results for the electronic gro~nd stat n rgy and for
structural and lattice dynamical properties ~hat ar d ~termi ncd b) that
energy. Computational difficulties generallv fore the u e f the LD
(Wendel and Martin 1979 Yin and C~hen 19'82) or Quantum I )nt · ark'
1

methods (Fahy et a/. 1990). Representinl:?: the elec tron ion intcrad ivn )
ab initio pseudopotentials and using the~LOA. Yin ami ( t h n l)bta tn~d
val~~ · for the lattice constant a. bulk modulus Bo. a nd ht: t\ • lll.'f\!. £ ·
ofstltcon and germanium that are presented in ab k I 1 ;(.·tht'r \\i th th'-'

Table 3.1 C ·tll:uht . 1 . 1 r:xpenment:t

. · . n>nst:tnt. bu ll- m•JUIII
. . ' · ' ~l .lrll llatltl·.:
lor ~thcon •·tnd g~tm.tntum alter 't 111 and Cohen IYX2l
1 • • ·( - ·••

Lallin· cunstaul ,1
Bulk uwdulu' 8 11
(A)
(t-.lh.tr)
('a! h .. p . l '; t k' .
St 5 .-1 ~ I
"-'"'~') O.lJX
G\: ~ ()5:' 5o. ::: II 7 1 0 ,.,
 Th A p metho 57
I ~h ' ·n~~ml.'nt hl' t ' 1.c " n llh::o
' t.) and L.' J1C ntn~
. nt ts vcr
n I f l ' ls )11,1 1 lj ~( l d r\) f F
'"
'' ~
lectronic states

an e I lht: Pfl' j)Crties o r :-, miconductnrs are excited I -

h ~' "ph)
[ ha cr ll'lal
· m lc in prOJ.1Crtics' suc-11
' '·•s·· el,t:: C·t·· l e ec
I I C<l con-
Ic• •l { rp tli..Jn . A l ~ h o u g h the density runcti onal meth ud
t: y utli.! go d results l l r !!round sta te pro perti s such as the
nt tnJ bul k m, d ul us. as \-vc ha ve seen in tl1e 11 ,.,,,.· , l .. ·
.... 0 IS sec 1ton . It
·
"llahle r ult ' G r enen!:V ~- ~
ga ps and o tl1et- 1) 1·o pe 1·t 1·es " . ·
In VO 1VJIH!
·
. Fore :.tm _k . the L DA calculatio ns r 't'' in and ' ohcn vield
n g~ gap I 0.48 e ''l nd 0.47 eV ror Si and Ge. rcspecti~re l y,
t,:;mltca nLly I - th an the ex periment a l values of 1. 17 eV and

n altcrn,Hi\ e a pp r ac h to the excited state pro blem is based on the

J 't~rmm.tti( n )r quasiparticle energi s E nk thro ugh the olution of the
t.:hri1dlllg'r-like eq ua ti n

[Ho + I . i Vli l d r' L ) r, r' ; £ 111.:)]

3
, 11 k(r')

= Enk ''nk(r), '

(. .).)
- ., )

\\ h re J ·If i tl e average Coul o mb (Hartree ) potential due to the electrons,

and ._,(r. r ': E,k) is the electro n self-e nergy opera to r. The Iau er operator
c ntai n ~ the d Te ts o f excha nge and correlation. It has been evaluated with
suffi 1 n t accu racy to yield signi fica nt results fo r semiconductors by
H ~ bert en a nd Lo uie ( 19tl6). T hey obtained the values of 1.29 eV and
. 5 cY f r the minimum energy ga ps ofSi a nd G e, respectively, which a re
in mu h b tt r ag reement with the experimental values than the LDA
rc ult of Yin a nd Cohen . A number ofint erba nd transiti on energies were
cc I ulat d that arc in good overall ag reement with experiment fo r both Si
nd G . Simila r re ·ul ts have been o btained for the III - V compounds AlP,
aP. lnP. AlAs, GaAs. InAs. A!Sb , G aSb. and lnSb by Zhu and Louie
( I 9 1). The energy eigenva lues as functi o ns of wave:: vecto r were calcula ted
by Hybertsen a nd Lo ui e for the valence ba nds ofGe. The results are in good
agr ment with experiment.

3.4 The k · p method

It wa. stated in the introduction to this chapter th at the top of the va lence
band and the bo tto m of the conducti on hanJ are separa ted hy the funda-
mental gap. Electro ns in the cond uction band and holes in the valence ba nd
tend to acc umul a te in the vicinity of their respecti ve ha nd ex trema in
acco rda nce with sta ti stica l mechanical distribution la ws. It therefore
pr e~ U'-> ful to ha ve a procedu re fo r developing the energy versus wave
\'e t )r relatio nship E nk near a hand ex tremum witho ut ca lcul a ting the
ent1 re ha nd structure. T he k · p method i. such a procedure.
 d 5 . semiconductors
Electronic ene rgy b an ·

3.4.1 Nondegenerate bands

· c·J1 a. pte r! an electron in free space has an energy-wa
• , \ :t: h uve <;cen t 11 -·
. c tor rel.ltl no:;hi that i i ·otropic.

(3.54

\'h~:re k:. = k- k~ + k"j . By differentiating this expression twice with

r r ·ct to J, , one btain.
I t/ 2 Eo
m = tz 2 dk 2 .
(3.55 )

On the th r hand, the r suits that will be presented for energy bands in
emi ndu toru frequently exhibit an anisotropic relationship between
en rgy and wave vector, so that the energy is not simply a function of the
magnitude ot k. but depends separately on k,., kr. k: . One must then define
an invene effective moss tensor whose elements for band n are given by

I 8 2 Enk
1) (3.56)
( Jn '
11 JIV
11 2 EJk ,JJk v .

In general, these elements are not constants, but are functions of k ,. k ,. k: .

Of particular interest are the values of the elements at band extrema. as
discussed above. A derivation of Eq. (3.56) will be given in Chapter 4.
Let the energy band of interest have an extremum at wave vector ko.
At a nearby v.'ave vector k. the Bloch function can be \vritten as

( ·)
. nk ( I
·) _
- e ikO" I' ()!:ik·r link 0 - D.k I , (3.57 )

where !:1k =k - ko . Substituting Eq . (3 .54) into the Schr6dinger equation.

[ p-
2m + J (r ) ·. nk(r) =
') ] Enk r ,nk •·) . (3.5 )

where Pis the momentum operator and J' (r ) is the r n li p1t 111 i~ I. '' ·
obtain

P2
[ 2m
liko . P
m
h!:1k. p
111
+ /z2(ku + !:1k )2
,.,
-Ill
+I
•
,.
lu ,,,,

= £1/l..u ~J..II"J..o I .:'11.. (I').

 The It · p method 59
I th~.: tal, nltn is JWnde~cn~rat I
d •"~•-dcr a . t le p~rt urh ·d energ y cun

nm~ l n the su m mean , the term n' = 11 ,· 5 excl Ul1cc:1 . lftl1e eneruv
n trcmum at k = ko. the term linear in 6.k must vanish, so th:;t
1/·(0.k 2
= Lu/.. 11 + ----'-
2111
+ 17 ~ "D..ko!::.lq ~ ~ (nkoiPuln ko )(n ko JP.dnk 0 )
1 1

m- L L E E . (3.61)
ol n' nku - · n'k n

From th ddi niti n of the inverse effective mass tensor,

(3 .62)

and u ing Eq. (3.61 ), we obtain

( /11 )
117
II jJ 1/

(3.63)

The principal contributions to the sum over 11 1 typically arise from those
stat w·ith E,1'kf) closest to E,1k"·
Example 3.3: Efrective mass for a spherical, parabolic band
Evaluate the inverse effective mass ratio for a spherical, parabolic
band.
Solution. Take the semiconductor to be cubic with band n derived
from an s-like state at ko = 0 and bandsn1 fromp-like states at ko = 0.
From symmetry, (s0 jpy jx 10) = (s0 jp 1 jy10) = (sO jpj::- 0) = P,,., (O),and
1

all other matrix elements of p 1, are zero. Then,

2
.111) - [I 2 ~I JP,p'(O)j ];. (3.64)
( -m .. -
.I jl l/
+m L..
f'
, E,n
.
- Ep'O
(If//' '

If the states sO andpO correspond to the conduction band edge and the
valence band edge, respectively, and we neglect all other p-like states
at k0 = 0, we obtain the approximate result (Kane 1957)

2
_'_!_!_) - [ I - 2 I p Sf' ( ()) 1 ] 1: (3 .65)
- -1
( m~
s fill
m E,g ul"''
 d . semiconductors
Electronic energy b an s .
E quation (3 .65) is particularly u eful for
where £ ,u - ro.
£'-~ = - h . . .
· · ·ond uctor such as JnSb. T e energy as <l funct1 n of
11'11 rQ\\ g p e tlliC . .. • h .
' r take the: form charactenstic ot a sp encaL parab lie
,·ave 'e t
b.l.ll .
? ~
Irk"'
£,, = E,o + - - , (3.66)
" 2111'

'' h~:n.:
-= - - =--= - .
m· m.~ , m,T m __

and k.- = k \2 + k I: + k : . As the energy gap increases the effective mass

-

al oin rea ·e .

3.4.2 Valence bands of Si and Ge

Turning now to the case for which band n is degenerate at its extremum k0 ,
we label these bands by n = 1, bz, ... and the corresponding eigenvalue
energy by E t>ku. We foc us on the valence bands of Si and Ge whose maxima
are at ko = 0, so 6.k = k . The bands are triply degenerate in the absence of
spin considerations. Applying degenerate perturbation theory. we must
deal with nondiagonal second order matrix elements having the form

H = 11'2 " ' ' (6ikoik ·Pi ko )(Pko Jk · p jb;ko) l.3. 67'.l
I}
m 2 ~
f
Ei::k u -
Et k u .

The perturbed energy eigenvalues Ep(k) are then specified by the secular
equation

H,l - ..\ Hr;, HI :.

H21 H:.?c - ..\ H .,_J, = 0. {3.68 )
H31 Hn H.~.' - ..\
where..\ -- EP (.k) -
1~2 ,
" '' -
,/?-111. u ti·1·IZtng
· the symmetry pro ert.·t es ol·s·1 am·i
Ge, one can reduce Eq. (3.68) to the form (Dresselhaus eta/. 195 5)
Lk~ + M (k>: k.!) _ .-\ /1/f.; rk. , \/.. ,/.._
NkJ;,
U·;:' + l'vl (k ; + k }) - /\ ,\ k k-
Nk J.;.k:
N k ,k: Lk: + \1 (k ~ - k ,-

where the quantities L M · . . . 111

E4 . ~ 3.67 ). · · · · N mvolve pa rt1cul tr n1l~r 1 cltat rat._.
T properlv.J tr·e·•t t-11 l:" \1'1
. ICI1C " b I I' ..
t:ompouncl SC t1t ·c j • . c an :\ l t a nd J<:
<l

I Oil( llL' tOrs 1t . ·

orbit int net · . , . · · Is n e L·cssary tP ta t. 11 Ll t
to n ciS gtven by E
111 1 ·b· . - q . (.J .) ). \\1t h tl \. 111 lu t 1
L 'l ' . ,.
~.:xc luclin g thcs · ,
~ tltnter· .1·
• · • Ol t 1 1
de gL'Ilcr~tt· 1~ 1 , . . <lL ton , tn~..· 6 p- lt k.e \ ,tkn ·
c . 11.. "~Pitt orb 1t ·111 1 ·
era ltL n spl it. II l'i 1 ~
 The A p method 61
~I 11· 1\\'11- t · IJ l 1Cl!l.: ll 'r(ll '
' ~·'1
and :t . /.1 -·
• "- '' the fnrm (Drcssclhaus 1·t a/. I~S S.I
1

II If~
~ \ '\ II
,\ ' ,, ~. 1 //
() II...._!!_ ~lh
- ll q If 21/ ' llo I ll
~\o l
!!.!.·· ,
H11 I~ .}]
.\ II
\ ~ '" '
~ Ill
~
II;_
,\ !:£ • II · '!lll p II r/1 = 0.
\ h
1 •. - ~ 1111 - 11 - ~ u ,~
\1 1 J/Jl ~~ - ~ HI
0
1!11 -
!.f...__i!!_. ._,f,._ clf..u
\::. "· h '"
_ !J.J.·~
\ h 0 ~- H ..
1 - - .-':. > ., - ,\ I
r 70 )

l the 'Plll- or it ·plitting between the iJn andj

11 2
states at k = 0.
In t ttl n the !nom nt~m o perator.p must be replaced by the operator
• - p- I 4mc- )u · V l Jl1the matnxelements inEq.(3.67)andtheterm
!t/... - _mmu. t be ·tdd to>. to give the energy eigenvalue Ep(k ). o!T
0[()
0 11
. . f the secular equation to o rder k. 2 may be obtained by
crm td nng only the 4 4 block in the upper left corner and the 2 x 2 block
in thr lower right rner. The two 2 x 4 strips neglected in this approx-
imation affect th soluti ns only to order k 4 j 6 w. Solving the 4 x 4 deter-
mmantal quati n gives the result
: Heavy
E .3 -, (k·) = Ak -
~
± [B-k
1 4 '
+ C - (k r-k\ •·-
1 1 ?
(). 71 ) 011 '--~~
- '_,,. . ._-__-..,....::~ .
' holes
_./ 0 I I

010
\\ h r
Fig.3.3
2 \.1 ) li:. / 2m ( ).72a) Constant energy contours in the (I 00)
plane in k·space for the two flu ted energy
surfaces of the valence band of Si.
(3.72b )

(3 .72c)

't h lu tion specified by Eq. (1. 71) occur twice for each value of k. This Heavv
d ublc degeneracy ( Kramers degeneracy) is a consequence of time-inver- holes·
i ) 11 ymmetry and the fact that crystals of the diamond structure possess
a c nter o inver~ion (Kittel 1987).
Th n. tant energy surfaces described by Eq. (3. 71) are nonspherical for
C i= 0 and are referred to as fluted or warped surf~-tces. The intersections of
th sc surfaces \.vith the ( 100) plane ink-space are plotted in Fig. 3.3 for
. iii ·on and Fig. 3.4 for germanium.
Turning now to the 2 2 determinantal equation, its solution can be
written as
Valence
(3.73) band

Fig.3.4
wher A is given by Eq. (3 .72a) provided~"" is small compared to Eg, and a
nstanl energy n uto urs in the tl OUl
t•vo-f ld degennacy due to time-reversal symmetry is present. Since the plane in k-spa.:e fl>r tht: tw\.1 tlu t ·d t.>n,l g)
band d scri hed by Eq. (3 .7 3) is split off at k = 0 from the bands described by surf<tce> of the v:d IK"t: band ot" e(.d. a
:.q. (3 7 1) by the spin orbit interaction, it is referred to as the split-off band. Dressel haus t'l a/. J li'i) )
 Electronic energy bands : semiconductors

'tlle val nee ban d constants A. B . C for Si and Ge have ecn

Tht.: va Iuc 1 (
. d r· vel tr 11 resonance measurements (Orcsselhaus et a/
dctt:nm n~ I on: . . . .
JtJS.5·Dc terc!al 195J). Recent ~a luesarcgJvcnmTable_J.2 . Wenotethat
. L·on i t nt ~i t h the tact that the curvature of the valence band
.I I] ·g;lli\L.
. . k _ 0 Q 11 ca n a] ··o show that B < 0. The plus sign 1·n
l . ncgctll\(: <11 - • ' . •· '
q _. 71 ) Cl rre. p nd. to he'IVY holes. wh~reas. the mmus sign corresponds
. ltgh hole . Th vatu of the sptn- orbit sp llt-~ff parameter 6. ~, can be
e munc by <.;pectr ·c pic measurements. It I_s found to be 0.045 eV
f ) f 1 aud 0.297 cV [ r Ge Boer 1990). A schematic plot oft he heavy hole.
1i Itt twk, and pli t- band s is given in Fig. 3.5.
0

3.4.3 Conduction ba nds of Si and Ge

Theoretical calcula ti on (Herman 1954) show that the conduction band
minima of i nd do not occur at k = 0. In the case of Si. there are
·ix mmirn of the same energy at ko = ( ±ko. 0, C)) . (0 . ± kn. 0). and
(0. 0. ±ko ). \ h re k 0 is about 0.8 of the way to the Brillouin zone boundary
in the r direction. Such minima arc often referred to as va lleys. One can
then ay th at the Si conducti on band has six va lleys. Even though Si is cubic.
a Lhange 6.k parallel to k 0 is not eq ui valent to a change perpendicular to
H k 0 , since. if ko = (±ku. 0, 0) , (nkoiPxln'ko ) =/= (nkolP ~· l n'ko ) = (nko!P: /n'ko).
Consequently, the expre sions for the inverse effective mass ratios become
Fig. 3.5
He ' hole (lrhL light holt: (lh). and m m
plit-o[ ( o) energy bands for diamond -= -= 1 (3.74)
struct ure semiconductors. The Kramers m( m ~·x
degeneracy i indicated by the up a nd
d wn a rrows.

.,' ..-)
~
.
( . .I .

The relation of energy to wave vector i.

k,.

T~e surfaces of constan t energy a re ellipsoids of re\ luLit1n \\ ith nw 't r ,In 1
mmor axes proportional to vrnl' and m respectin:h Tht: 'lt fr n:'tanl
energy su r . I i
- r aces. ISs lOWn chematical ly in Fig. 3 . .
I • .

lnthecaseofG~ tl . . . f . ... b·tnd lltp 'IJ th.tt 1·tt ·IIH!

Fig. 3.6 111
) .. . c, let c:: ..ue our condudton J ~

Jllblant ~.: nc r 'Y 'u rlatt:l> fvr th~.:

.~ I du ectl ons as shown in Fig. 3.7. T he band ~d ' :-. .tr t the Bnltt' 1111
z ne boundary (L · ) B .
•)nd uct1on ham! ,.f i, . .. . · pomt · _ rotat111g the L'0oriina Le 1
I lt!S 1 ll g ·1 (J\J] j'
clO · ...
I. · _ Ctrcctton, one ca n show th· L the- n r!! _,
re.tttonotEy
. L

,. I ' . ' ' . . . 6 IS v.thd for the cu ndUL'tio h.tnJ l r

(~7 ) ." .. • ~ •
r •rl r rn.tl
\a ues ol nl, and III "
For s·t ·a nJ '.
Gc, Ill • .
. ( t' ~l) lhe elltrs
L
111
ruuhy b·tlt T l
. t:. , . 1l: m·tJur- Lo- min,)r ' I . .. .
cln i'> Ol ropyoft h · II ' . . . 1 1. 111
c l: 1ps td .
 Thek p meth d 63

de structure emiconductors

.mel tructure~ l'' ?incbl. 11 d, . .

~ c ::..t ucturc ~ llllconcluctors
lh•' J k.td I ( r ·suit-.. tin! a. re qua 1ltat•ve
• • L
. . to th '> C
- · 1y Similar
ft r _d ramond '> tructure materials. However the lack of a
nrn th~Lrnchl n e structurele·uJs toc t.:r·t·.
• L
f'
aJne1ectsont1e
.
1
tha t• arc n t ~ und 111 the_ diam ond structure -
r.: · 1
. r 0 1 examp c,
1
blC Kramer d generacy 1 di ffe rent in the two case ·. If we
Kramer ct~gcnc_ra testates by up and down arrows (loosely,
~)~ rela ted t ~pm dtre~tion). the Kramers degeneracy for
n n . -.truct ur 1 · pe~ Ified by £ ( ,k)=E(l, k ) and
E . - k). T hese relatiOns do not hold for the ziocblende
l"lr \\hi_h v. _ha e E (T , k ) = £( [, - k ) and E (l . k ) =
Fig. 3.7
. \ c theret rc a rnvc at the qualitative picture shown in Fig_3.8
Constant energy surfaces for the
f1r th~.: al nee band .T he b havior of the bands shown implies that th~re is conduct ion band of Ge.
a !"near. plittine n_ ar ~ = 0. This is. in fact. the case. The splilling is spe-
ctfiLd b~ th ontnbutJOns (Dr s. elhaus 1955)
E
I I
k-J,-
\= \·X-) j:: }2
1 1
(3.77a)

(3.77b)

~ r the light a nd heavy hole bands with C a constant. The effect of these
·ontrit ution i to shift the maximum of the valence band slightly avvay
fr m k = 0. Tnt rband magneto-optical experiments on InSb (Pidgeon and
r ve. 1969) have shown that the valence band edge is raised by . . ._ 10 5eV Fig. 3.8
HeaYy hole (hh), fight hole (/h). and
corrc pondi na t a very small value of C. This shift is not evident in the split-off (so) energy bands in the [11 OJ
nergy band figures for zincblende structure semiconductors shown in direction for zincblcnde structure
_ub.cqu nt fi gures. Henceforth, vve shall neglect C in our analysis. semicond uctors. The arrows distinguish
It h :.~. be o rne customary in discussing the valence bands of zincblende difrereut Kramers states.
' tru ture emiconductors to use the dimensionless Luttinger band param-
ter. ~ 1• ,_ , r >which are related to the Dresselhaus parameters A, B. C by
I
2111 Ill 111
, =--1 A, _ ,1 -- -
/_ - !i'1- B,
-
..
~~~ - [I-:1 C2
=:,2 + 8 2]2 . (3.78)
fi-

Th nergies of the light and heavy hole bands are specil1ed by the
ex pression

, ? ~
(3. 79)
,, ,,
X (k ; k ;: + k ;:k; + k; k; )]- }.
re th and - signs refer to light and heavy holes, respectively.
We n< te that the condition for spherical bands is 'Y2 = )3- Values of the
Luttinger parameters are presented in Table 3.3.
In the cas of Ill- Y scmicondudors such as GaAs and InSb, the mini-
mu m fthe c nduction band is at k = 0, and there is no linear splitting such
 d . semiconductors
Electronic ene rgy b an s .
, ~ -.,., for Ill V and II VI 1inchlcnd~.:
p ·t r· tm t: le l 'i I I· 1• ' lructure
' ' rr w s Jl)69, Lawaetz 1971. Bl.ier 191)0)

':·I --, ~
-~~

11 5 Z nS 2.54 0.75 1.09

II Of>
() 7~ I 57 Z nSc 3.77 1.24 1.6 7
I 75 Z nTe 3.74 1.07 1.64
I 01
l ::!5 CdTL: 5.29 1.89 2.46
ll·N
~ ., . :! g6 H!!.
.,
- 4U - 21 .0 -20.7
.... 57 HgSe - 26.0 -13.7 - 13.2
u94 l 12 HgTe -1~ . 7 - 10.2 - 91)
lnP 5. 15
Jn•\s 211 4 '3 q j

In b Jl5 l.f.5 15.6

as in the valenc and . A ·plitting does appear in third order ink and is
giv n by (Dre l h~u s 19 ·s)

(3.80)

where C 1 is a constant related to the spin- orbit interaction. This splitting is

also too small to be observ·1ble in the energy hand figures of this chapter.
The conduction bands of GaAs and lnSb are therefore very nearly sphe-
rical. GaP, on the other hand , ha s conduction ba nd minima along the six
( 100) directions as in Si. The minima are so close to the zone boundary at X
that a camel's back structure appears.

3.4.5 Extended k · p method

The k · p method outlined in the preceding sections is valid only in the
vicinity of an energy band extremum. The method can be modified. how-
ever, so that it provides accurate results over the entire Brillouin zone. Tht>
starting point is the observation that the periodic functions llnk) r ) form a
complete set in terms of which mn· periodic function with the periodicit) of
the_crystal Ia ttice can be expanded . 1n particula r. one can ' pand lin~; tr) in a
senes of the u11~;,, ( r),

Unk(r) = L Cn·(k o) ll
II'
11 'k,,(r l.

where. the. codficie11 l s' c."' l(o arc the element s

. (·'· ) -
l) t thl: . ..
~~!!~t1\ • ·t ot ~ l
)f rh1.'
Hamtltontan matrix ~

(nt,ko l ~ 6.k. · p!nJ k 11 ) (lltikp J D.A . p I I

1
L'll tku (ntkol-;~ /'' -"
(n~ ko l ~ ~k. · p jn1k.o)
 The 1\ · p method 65
I ll.!~ num hn 1r hands i~ included in th e H <.u niltnnian
0 Jt""atH 11 f hr ]at tcr leads to <ICCllra\e l'I1Cfl'V hands over·
'='~
Ulll I 1llL'.

h.l'> ht:e n 10'\ l1 ited hy C ardona and Pollak ( 1966) for Si

la. they determined interhand matrix elements ofp for up
h ~ then ( l nstrLKted a I 5 15 Hamiltom a n rnatrix whose
1 ~:.1\ e yuite go xi results for the valence and conduction
I, t:lllir wn ~ -

34 nparabolic bands: the Kane model

n1ple f th . xact k · p method is the Kane model (Kane 1957)
\\ Jud11 a ·ed on th e scrvation from perturbation theor.Y that the hand s
ha,in-= the greatc t intl uence on a gi ven band are those that are closest in
rnerg_ l) tha t ban d. In the Kane model one focu ses on a particular band
and in lud in t h Hamiltonian matrix only that band and those other
band. close t to it in energy. Exact diagonali zation ot' the resulting matrix
1nve. resu lt Cor th e energy bands that include nonparabolic effects. i.e.,
2
:orrection to th energ_ of higher order than k .

Example 3.4: K a ne model for a tvvo-band system

Evaluate E11 k fo r two bands n = c and n = 'U , assuming that the band
e. trema a re at k =
Cl.
olution. he secular equation for the determination of Enk takes the
form

~ k ·., (cO ip lt 0)
E,.o - ,\
I = O, (3.83)

wh ere /\ = E iik - h 2 k 2 / 2m. Expanding the determinant yields a

uad ratic e4uati o n in,\ whose solution is

[(£,, _£," )' +4(>

) l

>. = I{
2 E ,o + E, o l(cOiplvO)IY]'}
(3.84)

Expansion of the square root in Eq . (3.84) leads to the series solutions

for the conduction and valence band energi es:

2 4 4
, _ , 17 2 (k · l(cO \p lv0) 1) __ 1i (k ·i(c0 iplnO)I) + ... (3.85a)
A , - E,{J + -111-" Ed! --
E' oO 111
4 (E.:co - E~ "o )3

2 4 4
, !i 2 (k · l(cO\p iv0) \) fi (k ·i(cOiplvO)I) (3.85b)
\ . = E,.o - -;
111-
E-:,0 - E dJ + 4IJ1 (E cO - E dJ ) .1

The first two terms on the right hand sides of these expressions give
th e energy to order k 1 and constitute the parabolic approximation.
 . emi conductors
Elect ron 'c energy b o n d s. s
4
. the right hand sides are of order k and are non-
T he th u·d term, n - ~ h k
. . N o t ~ from q. (3.84) t at as -----. x. ., .A ~~ lkl. a
arab ol lc corredtons. c
P . b 1ic beha vior. Plots of the band energies\ and..\
thstmctl · n np. ra t1 · _ _ . . '
01 ~ . nd 11 n p·1rabohc cases are shown 111 Fig. 3.9.
~ rThe
th~.!K~arJ
anc m
ICdeal c·an b•" c'x nanded to include the conduction band
... · F · _ . . . •
. . d hea y hoi hands and the spin-orbit spht-off band
l1e I tg11 ,t n . - . . d. I' d -
(Kan 195 7). A 4 4 Ha m ilto man ~natnx 1s 1agona Ize to yield the
foll \! ing band cnergie lo o rder k-:

E . ·k =E
' ( ) g
fi~ k 2 [ l +2P- ( -2. +
+-_-
2m
2
I
3m Ee Ee + ~'"
) l
J
(3.86a )
, ~ r.us k • olid

(3.86bj

2 2
£ , -n-k-- ( l - - 4P_- )
(3.86c)
1' - 2m 3m£'<

(3.86d)

In Eqs. (3.86). Pis the momentum matrix element between conduc-

tion and valence bands. The quantities P2 / mEg and P2 / m( Ez + ~'"
are typically large compared to unity for material s s uch as ]nSb. The
effective masses of the v2 and split-off (so) bands then ha\·e the proper
negative signs . The neglect of higher band interactions leads to an
incorrect sign for the 'ul band effective mass.

3.5 Energy band structures for specific semiconductors

Detailed energy band structures have been calculated fL)[ a large number of
semiconductors. In thi s section we present band struc ture- for repre-
sentative elemental and compound se mico nductors an d d i · u:;· the qu:Ill-
tative feature of the individual structures.

3.5.1 Elemental semiconductors

The energy band structure ofSi for th e principal Ji r d1 n in th ' Bnl l~' u 111
zone 1s J1rcse t i · F·1g.
· 11 ec Ill
· 3. 10. - The ma xunum . 11 th upp ·nnot tdkJ
(valence) band ccurs at the r point ( k = 0 ). ~tnd t h • mminHnliOt'th ·lln, ~>l
(!lllJ)l \! ( ., d .- . . ' t th .
J LOI1 LILli0\1) hand OC ur ~ ak) llg the .\ ,j j t:l'LI I U Llil U l \.
way to the zo ne b 1 1 - - . ~ . h,tr·
. c um ary . fh1s IS ~111 xam pl I .tn ind1rect ap l.
actenzed bv the ext 1·e - .. I
. . •. · rn..t ol t 1c ':llc.·nL·I..' and c r luLl I n nJ t•~-.. ·til''=- t!
Fig. 3 .10 dttler nt pumts in k . -- t . ,, 1
Band < J ruuu,~ •ll' ~ ~ i al t~r t ' li e lik• l w~ k
,. 1• , . · _-space. I he magnit u k ,r th · 11 •
\,JL:llL .mdcundu ct1 1 b· J' 111
_,,,J ' " ' '~ '' I'J76J _ _ l n .tnL :--.at r, , Pm IL'11 tp •ro.tLUlt: 1 1 I
gap ,Jt thl: J Politi i-. 3.45 l'V at 5 K .
 nerg band str ct res for specific e mico nd uctors
67
1
I i . ~ ){) I h,l! 1he \ <1h 1v h·)!l•i ·tt r~' · · J
. .• ' ' ' ~ l 'i c.:g n ~: r a le .
frcml, IL llllJl: Jr' '> l atcs \\'hich ~Ire not "Pill h the c uhi .
phl h th~.: sp m < rbit interact! n. but th~: latte r Is too
phtt mg that 1s ' \, cnt -111 tbc s -- ·-ti~ ) 1- tl 1- _ "
I · • ~.: c 1c 1gu1 c.: . ,~-, ~ one
11th; r J10111 !. the ._. llllll ' tr . i. reduced rrom cuhic and the
Jl. I. C\ IU ·n t for lbc I' X and rL directions . Every band
t I J _ull} ~ ~ ·~e rate he \ ttl. c of the Kramers de•,~nerac;
) 111111 t Jy Jnd th presence of a center of inversio n

. tructu re c r Ge is s l~0 \\~1~ in Fig. 3.11. It is qualitatively

but t hc r ~re . ome sJgnllJc·tnt ditTerences .As in the case
1
t 1 I.
I nc banu ma. m1um occurs at the I' point. However. the L A r .:.\ X f../.K I r
r~nd mmm um IS at the L-point. i.e .. at the Brillouin zo ne
PtlUI n~ the [111 ] d irection . The order of the r l and r~ band s is Fig.3.11
Band structure or Gc (after ChclikowsJ-,
re\ rs mpared to i. bu t the fundamenta I energy gap is still indirect and and Cohe n t':l76). ·
cqu.!ll;) 0.67t:V at r m temperature. The spin- orbit splitting of the
upp rm t 'alene ba nd i 0.3 eV and is clearly seen in Fig. 3.ll. The
minrmu11 dm:t: t gap at r between valence and conduction bands is 0.90 cV.
light!) larger lh a n the indirect gap.
n
In the cquen e of h mopolar materials such as in column IV of the :>-2
pen Jil: table. the fundamental gap is largest at the top for diamond '"'
~ -4
:>-.
(£,,~54 eV) a nd decrease · going down the column until o-Sn is reached. OJ)

~ -6
c:
\\ hich ha. ze ro funda m nta l gap and whose band structure is shown in ~
-8
ig. 3. ! ::!. 10
- 12

L A f L\ X UJ•.' [ r
Wave vector k
3.5.2 111 - V semiconductors
Fig. 3.12
helik "" ky and Co hen have calculated the energy band structure of the Band structure of o -Sn (after
IJl V cornp unds corresponding to all possible pairings ofGa and In w·ith ChelikO\\·sky and Cohen 1976).
P. A. _and b. The band structure of GaP is shown in Fig. 3.11. It is similar
t thal f i in that the minimum energy gap is indirect and occurs bet'vveen
the r int or the valence band and a point ncar the Brillouin zone
b un ary in the rx direction of the conduction band. The band structures
of th o ther five compounds are very similar to one another. Specifically. 6
th minimum energy gap is direct and occurs at the r point for each of them. 4
· a n example. the band structure of GaAs is shown in Fig. 3.14. In 2
ad dition to the principal conduction band minimum at [, there is a sec- ()
·- ..,
nd a ry minimum at the L-point. The order of these two minima is the >
0 - -

rev r fthat found in Ge (Fig. 3.1 1). ~-4

Th e ·pin orbit splitting of the valence bands of GaAs at f is clearly ~ -6
~.: \ ident in Fig . 3.14 as the separation oft he r 7 and fx bands. The splitting of
u.: - !{

the upper val nee band f:-: ask becomes difrerent from zero can be seen in - 10
th rJ and rx directions. This splitting is a consequence or the IO\vcred - 12 L-~~~----~~----~
) metrv when k is finite. The band structures of other III V semi- L A r ~ x ex ~ r
n uct~rs :.uch a GaSb. InP. lnAs, and lnSb arc qualitatively similar \~ht \ 't' \'c' l'!llr k

t that fGaAs. Just as with the group lV materials, the fundamental gaps Fig. 3.13
f II I compound:-. become smaller and smaller as one goes down the Hand structure ur ia P (al'ter
PCJ'! ( di t:.tble . Chelikowsk\ and ' hen 19761.
 . emiconductors
Electronic energy b on d 5 · 5
... . b·•nd gJ Jl' .tlld ~ pill orbi.t splitting~ in eV of group IV. III "
l bl 3 4 Dm:d .a mi liWi re~.; 1 ' . . '
a e • . 1t low temperature (alter Bur5.tcm and Fgli I" ;:
I. ::! ,, d 1\' VI cmJCo ll<1uc 1_o.rs , " '
IT 1 :-\6. Bf>cr 1990) -
. Jf d cJna l "7 {lJ
l • H •·•rt· i<>o
. n 19~ 0 . K Jttc I

£"" 6 ., ,, II -VI and IV VI £";,

-~
l'
~ --
().()()6 ZnS (cubic) 3.78 fl.llli 7
3.45 () 04 5 ZnS (hex) lSI I O.IIXIi
(I 74 tJ .90 0.297 ZnSe 2.!Q U.-103
Gl!
() 0.73 ZnTe 2.39 0.9i
-sn CdS
~ 3.0 2.515 ()fJ62
AlP ..,
, J
-· CdSc U\4 ll.41fi
AlA> .......... -·-
1.65 0. 75 CdTe 1.61 0.811
2.35 2.Y0 () 0 ' HgS so (J.32
UL I. 2 o.:-4 HgSe so IJ.58
Ga b 1.?1 0.S I 0.76 HgTc so 1.1!5
lnP 2. 19 1.42 0.11 PbS 0.29
Fig. 3.14
In lSI .42 0.43 PbS~: 0.16
Band ~truclur ·of GaA. (aftt:r
In b l.OJ 0.2 3 OJQ PbTe ()[':)
Chc:h!wl\sky and Cohen J 97n).
SnTe 0.3

3.5.3 II-VI and IV-VI semiconductors

The II - VI and IV-V I compounds e se ntially comprise the Zn, Cd. Hg. Pb.
and Sn chalcogenide and some oxides. The II - VI materials crystallize in
the zincblende or wurtzite structure, whereas the IV- VI materials crystal-
lize in the NaCI structure. An example of band structure is that of ZnSe
shown in Fig. 3.2. It closely resembles that of GaAs. The band structure of
L A r il X U,K I r HgTe is given in Fig. 3.I5 and is seen to be like that of n-Sn. Hovvever. the
k mercury chalcogenides may have overlapping valence · nd conduction
Fig. 3.15
bands and be semimetals as discussed in Section 3.6.1 . A tabulation of
Band str ucture of HgTe (after Cohen valence-conduction band gaps and spin- orbit splittings oft he vaknce band
and Chehk01 ki 19 , ). is given in Table 3.4 for a variety of semiconductors.

3.6 Modification of energy band gaps

We have seen that under the sa me ex perimental conditi on · the energy banJ
gap varies fr om one semiconductor to another. For ~- in:n material the
band gap ca n be changed by heavy doping with imp urities or b~ alloyin~
~•th another semiconductor or by varyit;g the t mp rature 1 r a pr l~ 1 0 ~
stress. In thi s section we examine these method s o m dil\ tn!! th t'J;lll i gar-

3.6.1 Semiconductor alloys

 Modification of e er y band gaps 69
h~.: h.111d l!ap
. . II
,,r .
- ~ ., 111 11
~ _•
-
' " ; 1 c o ntttlllt l ll · 1 nLI 1 m nl
111.11 '' O\• •.tht:\ '' lna tt 111 Wi. t ,1 L1 11l1Pt)'> tliun i , ltn c~u if ~ 1' 7n
that lrl.: ' <H IL: 1 'l \ ~ 11 •. ·J 111 >-
. ' ~.: \.:d i Y ' -;a me ;JI O mt c radi i ·tnJ :::. 3 ()()
t cngth to lh' th1rJ c )mtitu 11 1 1_. _ t
. 01 \ \'O con ·ttl uents
2 .6() ..__.____,.________ ___,_
(I 0.~ ().4 n r. n. 1n
E .' l:\ .87 )
~r Ec ,.) tic 'tgna t c a n a ,·erage over difTc rcn 1 micro ·co pic Fig. 3.16
1 a g.!\ en composi tio n _,._An example of linea r
L )!1 1st ' Ill \ 1tl_
Dc pc nd t iK t: \>I ban d ga p un
com posit ion r.. r Zn e I '(J fter
th hand gap ' 1Lh ·o m positio n is given in Fig. 3. J6 for the L·trat h £'/a/. 19-7)
When the ha ractcri ·tic pa rameters o r the two co -
n
I.
. (' 1 .
1g111 1cant_· different. bowing of the bandQap occurs.. as sl
. 1O\\ ,n
~ 2.70 ZttSc
[i r the ~s t em Z nT _ , 1 _,. Bowing can be described by the

(3.88)
2. I 0 l-.'--"'-''---'..::::::.= =:::::.:::.._____.._j
wh r' E 'I t the ba n e.ap ' ith bowing anu his the bowing parameter. 0 0.2 0.4 06 0 8 1.0
for man) -.emi ond u tor a lloy . hi. positi ve (Boer 1990). The band gap or X

th 'allo~ for a !2iY n om positi o n is then smaller than the linear gap E.,(x ) at Fig. 3.17
that ·ompo iti n. , - Dependence o f band gap o n
In ome, mt .ond uctor a ll oys with na rrow gaps. more profound changes compo siti o n for ZnT e, Se 1_ , (after
Lara ·h e1 a!. 1957)
oc ur in the ban "tructurc a a functi o n of composition. Of particular
intere tis H g 1 "Cd , T vvhose band structure fo r three di ffe rent composi-
ti n ~ i . how n in ig. 3. 18. If a ba nd gap i defined by b. £= £ (f 6 ) - E (fx )
__\)."
*
Jt k = 0. th n C.,.£ fo r pu re C dTe is + L6 eY co rrespo nding to a semi- E.. =0 __ . - · - . E-?0
c nd uctor. A t a certain intermedi ate compositi o n b.£ is zero, corre- - -' - - ~ 0 - - - - - - -~
:p nd in g to a ga plcss semico nductor, and fo r pure H gTe, b.£ is negati ve_
~ -- I~\ -
~,·(\ tio
. :C. E orr ·pond s to the fundam ental gap defin ed as the difference in energy
f th I we t empt y sta te and the highest filled sta te o nl y if b.£ ~ 0. If
j.£ < 0, it is no lo nger the fund amental gap. The latter is zero for cam-
?\A ~
p iti(.: n \\ ith 6 £ < 0. becau e the lowest empty band and highest ftlled X

ba nd are the x ba nd s th at to uch at k = 0. Thus, HgTe appea rs to be a

Fig. 3.18
gaplc · scm ic nducto r like n -Sn. H owever, there is a fine point that must be D ependence o f ba nd struct ure on
menti n d. Since HgTe lack · a center of inversion , there are terms linear in composition x or pressure p for
k that rajsc the valence ba nd edge above it value a t k = 0 and produce a Hg. 1 , Cd ,Te (after Boer 1990) .
m·tll overla p of the va lence and co nducti o n bands. The result is a semimetol
\-\ ith both electro ns in the co nductio n ba nd and holes in the valence band
pr sent.
noth cr interesting system is the alloy Pb 1_, Sn,Te. In PhTe the con-
ducti on and va lence bands a re L (, a nd L c,, respecti vely, whereas in SnTc
they are reversed. L (; and L(, . As .\' increa. es. the gap decreases until it
re;_ ch s 1.ero at x = 0.62. For x > 0.62 the system is again a semiconductor
( immock et ul. 1966 ). Thi behavio r is shown in Fig. 3.1 9. It provides a
ha-; i ~ for desi!!nin !! material s with specific band ga ps.

3.6. 2 Temperature and pressure dependence of band gaps Fig. 3.19

D ep ·nde nce ,,f' b.ll1 I gap L>ll
The hand oap in semiconductors is dependent on cryst a l bo nding and cu tnJh ):>t li ('!l ft_) r Ph 1 ,: n, '(.tftcr

btttcc-: m ~ta n t. Bo th o f thesc parameters cha nge when the temperature T L>imnwc k. r1 u!. I J )(-!)
 Electroni c energy bonds : semiconductors

~I . , T he change in band gap is described hy

r pressure p c Mngc · ~

"£
w "
= (.E)
__!I.
'" T
(DE.
6. T + ~
f'
.J
(/]
") 6-p.
T
!3 .89 )

The va lues of ((J Eg/ T )i, are typically ""' - 40 meV /K and those of
(t)E.jcJp r,..., 10 meV /k bar. _ _
C n:idering fir t th effec t ot temperature, one t_mds that_the band gap
de rea es uadratically with Tat very low T a~1d l~nearly With Tat room
temperat ure. This beha i r i ··illustrated forGe 111 Fig_- 3.20 and is ~elated to
dt'ec ts on the hand tru ture due to thermal expansiOn and lattice vibra-
tions. Empi ricall~, the band gap as a function of temperature can be
repre ented by (Var bni 1967)
0 100 200 ~00

T! K)
AT 2
Eg( T) = Eg(O ) - B + T (3.90)
Fig. 3.20
Dependence of band gap on te mperature
for e (after 1acFarlane er a!. I 57) . where A and B are constants.
The d pendence of the band gap on pressure can be complicated if the
band edge. at different symm etry points move in opposite directions as
the pressure increases. An example is GaAs, '<Vhich is shown in Fig. 3.11.
The band edge at r moves upward relative to the valence band edge.
wherea the edge at X moves do\vnward . As a result, the minimum band
gap is direct at pressures below 8 x I 04 atm and indirect at pressures
above 8 x 104 atm. The resulting dependence of the minimum band gap on
pressure for GaAs is given in Fig. 3.22.
Application of uniaxial stress to a cubic crystal reduces the symmetry and
!!) splits the light and heavy hole bands at k = 0. The number of equivalent
0 conduction band minima is reduced if the stress is in a suitable crystal-
lographic direction.
Fig. 3.21
Depende nce of band ed ge on pressure
for GaAs (after Boer 1990)
3.7 Amorphous semiconductors
In addition to the crystalline state a semiconductor such a , Si 'an exist in the
amorphous state in \vhich the atoms do not form ·1 period ic ar ray·. but an:
disordered . The absence of periodicity means that BloL·h· thet.lrem TIL)

3000
/ Gai\.s .?Ugc.'

s :woo
I
100()

() ..j()
~ ()
Prt·,s ur.: 1 I0 1 c~ lul l
Fig. 3.22
 References 71
11 th 11 lh \ , 1\ ~ \ CL" hll " I1111 '' r :1 ~nnd qu a ntum
. .
IS 1111
t Itc c-.-.. "1 11 11..' 1 ·nt sh 111·t 1.
2.0 r----r---r--r---.--,
'
l , . . · ; •ngc (lrlh.: r n:n1;11ns thai the cl cc-
l.lll::-. I !.t in-. t i s grn-;s lea tun:-; . Ban d cdg-l' 'i. ho\\·'C c r. a rc ICJ
I d h,wd g.tps :Ire lln I ~'IH!.t:r clearl y dctincd. States whl1SC
IX
Ill\ ~i ln~l 1.\ ha t had been the l'nrbidden gap ma y have ' ,,
\.I r.ItiH.:r t han I Ill' C.\ lcndcd c haracter or Rlnch slate . 1.7
''.the_ ~~ost c~·lm1.11tln amorphous semiconductors. C reating
I l.tttt ~..:. ' ' h ' h IS lclra hedrallv ha nded cJu ·c" ~- -·1 · . , . 1.6
r • • . , • .., t: ,JXd lOll
r ment 'l r a l1 urtnld coordination 0 1- 11 •. . , ·t . hb >
,r , , , ., . cdtes ne1g o rs and "' 1.5
~
1 rng bond . IH.: sc blmd. need hl be sat urated and co mbine ~-

m. n \,tlent ;t !Otn s . uch a s H t y ield n-Si:H .

\
1.4
emicl)l1d u t_o r all ys an: frequently used in applications.
I ~- ·mwrph o.u . 1 JC alloys are u seful in solar cells in vievv of 1.3
th:J tc m .a .' ttni Ze perfo rmance by varyi rH!~ the com JlO SI·1lOll
·
. 1.2
Ill cnce ot the _ b and. gap of hydrogenated Si- Ge allovs
H) n o m po Ill n 1. ·hown in Fig. 3.23. •
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
X

Problems
Fig. 3.23
Dependence of band gap on
I. D_d~..nmnt: the e · ec t ~t i n va lue of the Hamiltonian , Eq. (3.40). for a state
compositio n for ll'·Si 1_, Ge<:H (after
111th \\<1\ fu m;~ ' - n g1v n by Eq . (3.41) under the assmnption that the rp;( r)
Mackenzie 1!/ a/. 19R5)
. Jli I~ Lht: Condit t n f rthonormality:

/ ~; (r)~j(r)d ·'r = fl;1.

ht \\ 1hat the ta tio nary condi tio n

tog tber \\'it h the o rthon o rmalit y c nditi o n handled by Lagrange multipliers
lead 1 th..: Hartn..:e equation . Eq. (3.42).
3. Rep a t the ca lculations of problems I and 2 using the 1vave function of
- ll · : .43).
4 Pr ,. tha t the only nonzero con tributi o ns to the excha nge term in the
Han r e- F d equa tions come from electrons of parallel spin .
ak ul ate the energie of the conduction. va lence. and split-off bands of GaAs
a ~ uncti ns o f k usin g Eq. (3.86). Take P = 811/ a. where a is the lattice
n L;1111. and take E~ ( Efr) and .6,, from Table 3.4. Plot the energies versus k
and c mpare the res.ults\.Jualitalively to those for GaAs in Fig. 3. 14. Explain
any ~i~rn i fican t differences.
6. xtend the ti ght binding treatment or Chapter 2 to the case of Ge with two
atoms per unit cell and taking into account the 4s and 4p atomic states. The
re It :,p cific · the va lence: band energies (Reference: Chadi and Cohen 1975).

References
. A. hcroft and N. D. Mermin , Sulid S tate Physics (Holt. Rinehart , and
Win tn n. w York. 1976).
·· B BachdL:t. D . R. Hamann. and M . Schltitcr, Ph_t·s. ReF. 826. 4 I 99 (I ~ ~Q) .
S Bluom and T . K . Bemstresser . .';)o/id State Commun. 6. 4n5 (1968) .
. Ri"ie1, Sune 1• ,: l Semiconductor Phys ics (Van Nostrand Rei nhold.
New Y1 rk. I'NO) . .
Electronic energy bands : semiconductors
. ·fd• ·a!lces 111 £/ectromc.\ and Eleclron Phr.1in. Vol. VII
E Bur, lc Jn ,tntI P E I ' · ll1 , 'i5
.cd . H . Hr ,., ks (, adci111 C Press. cvv Y?rk. 19: )., ..
, 1 1 . 11 nc<.lroscufl l' (i\c.;,ulemlc Press. New York. 1<)69).
1 C ·r l,liH 'l1l l(/1([//11 l ~-,o 196L
d L H PJ ih k '·'/in. R£'1'. 142. ).' (
.
..... . 1 ' ·. 11) .
1 C:.1ruona ·111 r· • ' ' · ' · 8 405 197
. ]' . 1 M 'nhen. Pht ·s . .",'tal . .Sol. 86 . ( 5).
0 . .1 (I1at 1 .tnt . .. · , .. ,, 'i
, 'l
J R ._ w , ~nw 1 " ·k\ a 11 d M 1
· ~· C )hen · ·//n .1. Rt:.\ . B14. 5_6 (1976).
M. L \ •ho..:n an i .T K. Be rg trcsser. Ph)S. Rn. 14L 7S9 ( 1966).- M . L. _Cohen and
1. R . Chclik ' " 1-.y . .lcc lrolliC Struc /ure and Opucal Properltes of .Semicmuluc-
.tors pnngcr- crla . Berhn. . 19RH ' ). . _
R . Dexter. H . J Zeiger <m d B. Ltx . .Phrs. Rer . 104. 637 ( 19)6).
J. 0 Diml11l)Lk. 1. Melngaill . a nd A. J. ~t_rauss. Phrs. Rer. Lell . 16. 1193 119fi6).
G. Drc ·elhaus. Phrs. Rcr. 100. 5XO ( 19))).
G Dre-:.clhaus. . F Kip . and . Kittel. Phys . Rer. 98, 368 (1955).
A. L. .cJw 3 rd. . -. I_kh1 use, a nd H . G. Drickamer. J . Phys. Chem . Solid1 11.
!40 19. 9).
S. Fahy. . W Wang. :.tnd S. . Louie. Ph1·s. Rer. B42, 3503 ( 1990).
'\: . A. Harri n. Elec!ron truct ure am/the Propl:'rties of Solids (W. H. Freeman .
an - ra nci co. I nO).
F. H t:'rm an . Pln ·s . Re r. 93. 12 14 ( 1954).
C. He rri ng. Ph_;.\. Rn 57. 1!6LJ (1940).
P Ho hen be rg and W. K o hn. Phys. R er. 136, B864 ( 1964).
M. S. Hvbert sen and S. G. Louie , Phrs. Rev. 834. 5390 ( 1986).
E. 0 . K ~ ne, J. Phys. Chem . Solids 1. .249 ( 1957).
C. K itt l. /ntro du tiun 10 Solid State Physics, Sixth edition (John Wiley.
New York. 19 6).
C. Kittel. Quantum Th eory o( Solids. Second re ised pnntmg (John Wile~.
New York. 1987), p . 92 .
W. Kohn and L. J. Sham. Phys. Rev . 140, Al133 (1965).
S. Larach, R. E. Schrader, and C. F. Stocker. PI'IJ's. Rev . 108. 587 ( 195h
P. Lawaetz, Pln·s. Rev . B4, 3460 ( 1971 ). .
G. G. MacFarl a ne, T. P. McLea n , J. E. Qu a rringt o n. and V. R o berts. Plt_rs. Rer
108, 1377 (1957).
K . D. Mackenzie. J . R . Eggert. D. J. Leopold. Y. M. Li. S. Lin. a nd \V. Paul.
Phys. Rev. B31, 2198 (1985).
J . C. Phillips and L. Kleinman, Pln·s. R e r. 116, 287 ( llJ:'<)).
C. R ._ Pidgeon and S. H. Groves. Phys . R i!l' . 186. o24 ( 1%9) .
F. Seitz. Modern Theory of Solids (McGra\'>'-Hill. New Y o rk. 1940 ). p. 2-L~ .
L. H. Thomas. f'v'ature 117, 514 ( 1926).
Y. P ._ Va rshni, Phys. Swt . Sol. 19.459 and 20. 9 (!967).
G. W e iSZ. Phv:1. Rev. 149, 504 ( 1966).
H. Wendel a nd R . M . M a rtin . Ph1 ·s. Re r. 819. 5251 ( 197 ).
E. Wtg~er. Phys. Re r. 46. 1002 ( 19.~4).
~ - T. 'nn a nd M. L. Co hen. Phrs. Re r. B26. 5668 (1982\
X. Zhu and S. G. Lo uie. Ph1 ·s . Rei'. 843. 14142 ( l Yl) l)
J. ~1.· z~~nan , Princi( 11C.\' of rlw T!tcorr of S olids. s~,~· onJ ~Jiti m l :unnndg('
L. nJvet slt y Press, Ca mbrid ge. 197 2 ). p. I02 .
 •cs and dynamics
ro s and holes in
bands

Electrons and holes in

ron in an energy band can be represented semiclassically energy bands
p 7~·kc1 o fBJ ell state.s that is spmial~r loca/i::ed. The velocity or
l rot the \\ a ve packet IS the group velocitr v, . 4 .1 Group velocity

un.ttu.re o f an ~nergy band is proportional to (J,e inl'erse ejfectil·e

111
Th~: lllrC'r se cf1ert1ve mass t ensor is defined hy 4 .2 Inverse effective moss tensor

An £'.\1£ m ol j(Jrce F acting on a band electron produces a change of its

waw \ ector k with time. 4.3 Force equation

dk
F = 1i.-dt.

\\hich i. analogous to the classical relation of force to time rate of

cha ng o f momentum p:

F = dp.
dt
One therefore defines the crystal momentum to be Ilk. .4.4 Dynamics of electrons
An electric field£ produces an accelerated electron wave packet:

dv2
dt
= -e(-1) .
111 ~
£.

A hole> is an emptr stare in an otherwise filled band. Both the electric 4.5 Dynamics of holes
charge of a hole and its ej(eclive mass are positive.
The effective mass of a charge carrier can be measured by cyclotron 4.6 Cyclotron resonance
l'f!.\0/lW/C(' .

The concentration and charge sign of a charge carrier can be measured 4.7 Hall effect
by the Hall cf/'ecl.
 . t' d dynamics of electrons and holes in energy bands
Kmemo 1cs an

One of the~ at urcs that di ·tinguishes semiconduc~ors from metals j . that

the ur ·ent ~.,; rricrs c· 11 include not on!~ electrons m the conduction band.
but. empty -.1 ctrnn tate, or holes 111 the valen~e band . The dynamical
rc p nse of th curren t carriers to external electnc and _magnetic fields is
·trongly ITect by th energy band structure of the semiconductor and is
char· tenzcd b their fDctiv · mass and charge. These parameters can be
detem1 in d by mea ns of cycl tron res nance and Hall effect respectively.

4.1 Group velocity

The wav function rrc, ponding to Bloch states are wave-like in char-
act rand are n n-Io alized . In order to disc uss the motion of an electron
from ne poi nt t another. it i. necessary to form a localized wave packet. so
that th el ctr n can be a signed a particular coordinate at a particular
time.
A wave packet can be created by setting up a linear superposition of time-
dependent Bloch functions of various wave vectors k with coefficients a11,.
that peak at a particular wave vector ko:

(4.1 )

The time-dependent Bloch functions · nk(r, t) can be written as

(4. 2)

where Enk is the energy eigenvalue of the Bloch state. We now exploit the
sharply peaked nature of the quantities a11k by settin2: k = ku + t::.k and
carrying out expansions in powers of D..k: ~

(·l3)

In the case
c of ank.'·r·s rapt
- 'dl Y varymg
. - character requires us t r tain its tu
· 11
dependence on l:ik:

( ~ .5 )

Substituting Eqs. (4.2 - 4.5) into Eq. (4 . 1) gives

where. fo r o ur purp ) " , ·1 · , . 1

.' cses.t ls sutfictentlvau:·un t [ )1\:l.lln II tn·l '.l• 111!!
lcr:n 111 the expansion nf lind .- ). -
fbe ex pres ·ion Wl: ha c obt· - ,
ufwa c vcctorl- d -'llh:dlllf/nl.,,(r.t)reprl:s nt
" O mu ula ll"d b , · 1 ·
ove r k ff " · ,Jn ~m · LJ1 1U t1l.lllll1 I
. \\~ L'l•rls rlkr 1111.' value ll'lh~ ·m ·ll lut Ll
 Inver e effective ma ss tensor 75
h.1 I I he e m elo p t.:~ 1 1nc·t ll) n 11a ~ liH.::. a me v· I c to r ' I r and
f.ik I
u ..tkr

(4.71
) ~.:,H, thcrel'o rc be rcg;.~rckd as specifying simplerectilinear
n c packe t I r the ckctron that i:;; characterized hy a velocity
l'

I
Vv. , =-
/1 VJ..o £'
- n r..-r, · (4.8) I'' Brilloum 10ne •
·------~

Tl t. v., is the grou p velocity of the electron wave packet. It is a Fig. 4.1
tlc rate o f t ran ort c fma ss. charge. and energy oft he electron. Graphical representation of v,. and E"k as
functiOn s of wave vector k. , .
S!•. proporlional to the k-gradient of the Bloch state energy. it is
dctt.nmn db) the 1 pe of the £"" versus k curve. Figure 4.1 gives a graph-
r enlation v>: a , a function of k.
Ref.,k I) (r,t)
Comment. Equa ti ns (4.6) and (4.R) specify the time evolution of a
, , ve packet for an electron characterized h:-,.· a group velocity vr:. 1...,...__ u / - + :
g ••• ••

Figure4.2 g1ve a schematic representation ofthe wave packet in real

spat. . At a pa rtic ular time 1. the wave packet has its maximum
amplitude at me value of r. say ro. The spread U.r oft he wave packet
and the width U.k of the region over which a"" is appreciable are
. ubject to th limitation U.rU.k -:::' 1. The wave vector interval U.k
hould b sm all compared to the dimensions of the Brillouin zone, so
Fig.4.2
that £ 111. va ries little over the principal levels appearing in the wave Representation in real space of a wave
packet. i.e .. U. k ~ I / a where a is the lattice constant. The above packet of an electron in the
me nt io ned limit a tion then gives conduction band.

I
6-r-:::' - »a. (4.9)
U.k
Trr spective or the value or r 0 , the wave packet of Bloch states char-
acte rized by !:::,.k « 1/ a is spread out in real space over many primitive
unit cel ls . Thi s behavior is shown in Fig. 4.2.

4.2 Inverse eHective mass tensor

Since a wave packet can be regarded as a semiclassical d~scription of
electron motion, \Ve can make usc of various classical relat1ons between
velocity , force, and energy. Consider the time derivative of vg:

dvg _ d (~. V k E~ nl.: .)

-- -
dt dr h
1 dEnl. (4.10)
= -V~. -- .
li dr

sing the classical relation

dE
--dr = F· v,.. . (4.11)
 . . dd mics of electrons and holes in energy bands
Krnematrcs an yn a

· t llef' 1-, ·cFactingontheparticle.wecanrewrite q.(4 . IO)

nnd intro luctn " -
(l.

(4. 12 )

\\ h re we h,tve a. umed tb . t Fi independent of k . Replacing v g on the right

hand ide 0 ~ q. (4. L) it I ti nition in Eq . (4.8). we obtain

d v~
- =-,I l·v /. v k £. ) F Ilk . · (4. 13;
dr n-
lmpari n fE q .(4.1 3)to ew t o n's se~o ndlawof~otion.showsthatthe
quan tit /l 2 \7~ kEn!.· v,.:hich i, a dyad1c , ha s the dJmensJOns of inverse
mas ·. W . . d fi n d th elemen ts of the inverse effective mass tensor for band 11
,. Eq. (3. 2). or a simple parabolic band.

I D2 Enk
-2 -- 2 (4. 14)
m,~ tz Dk .

We see that the curvature of the energy band is proportional to the inverse
effect ive mass. The larger the curvature. the sma ller the effective mass.

4.3 Force equation

Let us re-examine the classical relation given by Eq. (4.11 ). Applying the
chain rule for differentiation to the left hand side yields the result

dk
-d
.I
· V k Enk = F · V'.< .

Eliminating the gradient of the band energy with the aid of Eq. (4.8) and
equating the coefficients of vg o n e·1ch side of the resulting equa ti on. we
obtain

F= ndk 0
(4.151
dt
The quantity 11k is known as the crystal momentu m. Equari n (-+.15) 1 ~
therefo re the analogue of the classical rdation

l~ . 1 (11

where pi ' the classica l momen tum .

4.4 Dynamics of electrons

Co nsider th~.: speL·i· tl ~ . · ~. 0
.
1-IL.. k I £. .)-ht'n ,. . ' Ldse 111 WIIICh th lun.:C' :tri e-. rr lJl • n ... ,
 Dynamics of holes 77

Ilk
r, cit - - ·£ - ( 4. IX)

th·rct 'ft? \.:.lUse. Ll \\'U\ C vec t r k to chan ge \Vilh time

C.II1Cllllhlll ' l:q::; . (..f . I J ). 4. l 4 ).and(4 . !7) ~o yi e iJ .

d g
df=- (
-;;;
I ) .£
(4. 19

th.tt tbcdcctron v. a\ pa ket i. acccleratcJ by the electric llcld

n ·~.: l an ~:I Llri urn::nt.
II tne picture ofele trica l onductionjust described is valid for
1lkJ nero) t a nd . n electron of wa ve vector k ~.:an make a
a nearb) m pt:::.- . ta te of different wave vector under the
f a" ~ak. ele tric field. Ho,,·ewr. if the band is completely filled
tr n .... there are n empt _ ·tatcs into which an electron can make a
n. a nd con equ n ll _ the conductivity of a filled band is zero.
thu arrne a t a imple distinction between insulators and conductors.
An Ill ulator ha'l a ll bands up to aod including a certain band completely
filh.:d \\ith ele tr ns at the absolute zero of temperature . All hands above
tbeupp'm1 t fi ll d band are completely empty. and the lowest empty band
~~ ep.trated from the upp rmost filled band by an energy gap£~ » k 8 T,.,
''here T i~ ro m temperature. In practice, Ef!. must be several electron volts
:.1 • r r example, in th a lkali ha Iides.
A onduct r o ntain, at least one band that is partially filled with elec-
tron . If th e~e 1 ctron arise hy thermal excitation across a forbidden
en rg~ ga p fr m ·m o therwise filled hand , the material is a semiconductor.
!\ot tha t u nder thi ' definition. a semiconductor is simply an insulator v..-ith
a relativ ly mall energy gap. ff one or more bands remain partially filled
do"'n to th a bsolute zero of temperature, the material is a metal or a
semi meta l.

4.5 Dynamics of holes

I fan l ctron is excited from a filled energy band to an unfilled energy band.
the empt y ~ra te left in the otherwise filled band is called a hole. Of great
imp rta nc are hole~ lying near the top of the uppermost filled band
(\alene band) of a semiconductor. In assessing the properties of such holes
\\' e ·amine first their wave vector. Since the reciprocal lattice has a center
ofinv r"ion , the full valence hand has a total wave vector of zero . The wave
vec tor k 11 to be associated ,.vith a hole is the diffen:nce between the total
wa v vector of the filled hand and that of a band with an electron of wave
\'~o:CtL r k, . lll1 SS II1 g:

kh = 0 - k l'
= - k,, ( 4.20)

t~ that 1he hole wave vector is not that nf the missing electron, but is the
n~.:g- ti ·e ol' it.
 . dd ·cs of electrons and holes in energy bands
Kinematics a n ynaml
. Lh, cnerg , of a h Ie. we observe that as lk,J increa e th
urnuu! n :w. ll1 c . d d h . e
- , , 1.,"'er in the valence ban . an t e energy Ec(k .) ofth·
3 ·a 1 t " t.l t e 111 o t: :- t f h . ' at
t te lc ·re~ cs.
• . H ,• •··ver
...
the total energy o t c system of electron
' .
" th \ ·tlcncc ha 1ncrca -es. by the same amount. ?ecause a the
11
7trc.; rnp:s from its initial htgher energy stat~ .to tts final lower
t· l , 1 Ot.:CIIpi d sta le makes the reverse transitiOn. This scenarro
line the energy o f the h le. E11(kh) , to be the negative of Ee(kr):

(4.21 )

Smcc k1r = - k .. we lrtve

(4.22)

For every tate with wa e vector k, there is another state of equal energy
with wa vector - k (se Figs. 3.5 and 3.8). Consequently,

(4.23 j

As stated above, Ee is a decreasing function of its argument; hence. Eir is an

increasing fun cti o n of its argument. It characterizes a normal particle
whose energy increases as its momentum increases.
In the case of a spherical parabolic valence band, we have

( 4.~-q

where Ev is the energy of the valence band edge and the effective mass m; is
negative. The hole energy then becomes

(4.25 )

It is convenient to rewrite this result as

(a)

.
E.II ('k h)=-£,.+ n2ki
- -' .
?.m,,'.
where
. m'.".is the e tlective
~ ·
mass ot~ a hole. C lea rl v. o n mu t h,n· IIlii ==-I ll ·
Smce Ill IS neo·:tt. .. . .. . ' I\' .
k,. , . . ''.. ~=-' tve. ~'1 1 " ts positive . Plo ts of t:L,(k , and E tA1,) \crsus "·
\ec~ o i di e presented 111 Fig. 4 _3.
1 he next q uestior
' 1 c'·>n , . . . h
'l.:Clns t egroupYeloci. t . l \:it · )f!lh'l'. I Lt·' gn rd'~'·
I
(b)

I I
( -+.-
' ~)
Fig.4.3 Vgh = y; Vk,, Eft {k , ).
(a) Hnk ene rgy /:'~, <tud (h) mi, sing
d~:Ctrut nt·rg~ E, a ~ lunc ti o u s of while that of the missing electron is
a v euor A pai nf hole a nJ
nn ~~m g elt: ·l vn 1 ~ 1nJi.:aLcJ by the
(;H<: Ic~ I
v~.- = - V 1. E (/,
IJ '\ '
 Cyclotron resonance expenments in emiconducto r 79

I
v,., - - h V t..n E, i - /. 11 )
I
= - h v /q, E.(' ( k" ) . (4.29 )

~ q. (-4.23) kad · t

= V((h · ( 4.30)

up cl citie of the hole and missing electron are equal.

t prt pert of hole, to be discussed is their charge e11 • The equation
n. Eq. (4.1 , a pp lied to the missing electron is

elk,.
fi - = - e£ . (4.31 )
eli
Replacmg k, by - k:, . ne o btains the equation of motion of the hole

(4.32)

\\here e, = +e. T h t. . the charge of a hole is positive. A hole near the top of
an otherwi ·e fi lled band can therefore be regarded as having both positive
charge and positi e effective mass. An electron near the bottom of a con-
duction band a lso ha . positive effective mass. but negative charge.

4.6 Experimental determination of eHective masses:

cyclotron resonance in semiconductors
tel tro n resonance experiments in semiconductors exploit the classical
m tio n of barged particles in a constant magnetic field. A particle with
harg e, and velocity v will experience a force under the influence of a
mag n tic held B given by the Lorentz expression

(4.33 )

The magnitude of the force for v perpendicular to B is

(4.34)

If the particle has mass m. it executes a uniform circular motion about the
field with radiu s r, an acccleration v 2 j r, and a centripetal force
,
v- (4.35)
F,.= m 7 .

E 1 atinu the two forces, we get for the radius oft he circler :- rnu/le,I B. !he
peri d o f Lh circular motion is T = 2rrrj v. The angular trequency of the
 . dd ·cs of ele ctrons and holes in energy bands
KinematiCS an ynaml
h~.; cyclotron frequency and is given by
1Jrtll'l ,..., l:alle d

(4. 61

. h d;J -1c•tl a rticle in free space. a charge carrier in

1
. i h. 11 ·ffective mass m ' has a cyclotron frequency
eB
(4.3 ,)

uhjectcd to an extern' 1 radi· ti o n .field. a ~ar_rier ~n a cyclotron orbit

b. energy 1f the frequency oi the radwt10n tield approaches the
.t bs r --
cvclotr n trequency. Th electric field £ of the radiation should have a
n-onzer comp n nt in the plane of the cyclotron motion. The resonant
ab rpti on of en rg t the cyclotron frequency is called cyclotron reso-
na . To determine th yclotron resonance conditions let us consider the
eq uation motion for a free charge carrier subjected to an external elec-
tromagnet ic field

m· -
dv
( d! ~V) = Cc (£ +VX B) . (4.38)

Here r is the relaxation time of the carriers. vis the drift velocity under the
influence of the electric field£. and the magnetic field oft he electromagnetic
radiation is neglected in comparison with the static magnetic field B.
For plane-polarized radiation with£ = (E~0 , 0. O)e;"'', v = (t ~cn . 'l'~n .0)/
e-'.-; 1 and 13 taken in the .:-direction, the equations of motion become

nt ( - iw (4.39a}

( l)
m ~ - iw +-; u1. = - ec'crB· (4.Jl)b I

Solving for Vx and the current density component } 1 = IIJ, t\ . one caku·
lates the complex conductivity according to

(-l.-Hl
~
~ (J 2 t-"'---i---t--+~-+-~--l where ao
.
= n,.e~' r/ Iii , ·IS the stat1c. co nducti vit\ ·tnd 11 i th i::Jrn· r ·l n·
centratJon . The .. , . . .• • · . ,f lh .
~ __J.__ ___j___:::::J . d . . . powei c~bso1 bed 1. prupor11 nal t th~.o rc:al p.trt
con uc t1 V1ty g 1ven b y
() () '------1----l._

:t (J 0.. 1.0 J.5

Fig.4.4
I' clat1 e J) \ >WcT JbS,q1llu ll V<: l"o u ,
agnd i..: field In Ull llS ( f .J, /..; fu r
1·' " 1lk r"nt 1d<JXJLiu n tim ·~ 111 un h
]
In h g. 4.4 i. ·h WJI tl - .
·' uncttun ur the t · . .
<ot ,,;r Cai LI.T D r~.:~scl h au~ Lf ,tf. J lJ ~~ ) . . I' .. 1c IL'I~tlJVe Pt.IWLT •tb . ] l l L\ dl
•
.tltc magnetic d I intl'nsit
 C lo ron resononc experime nts in semiconductors 8
tunc
/

:; '·
lll"'nts <lO c. clotrn n r '~n n ~tncc ( f lectrons and holes in ...
~ . Ei
rtcd b_ . Dre ·-_cJh aus. . r . Kip. and . Kittel ( 195J. ...
E
. . De ter. H Zeiger. and B. ax ( J<r4. 1956). The ~

dttt ns are dete rn in ·d h_ the cfft:cli ve ma · ur the §

' tigath1 n l-or nl" / m :::::: 0. 1. and ...;= L.5 1O'' rad s ' . 0
e.
r II b = <'60 ' c rre'\po ndi ng to w = u..', . The line width is .f
~
he collision re la\:ation Li m e r. which describes the efTcct of
~_, rn r \ 1th im t rG ctions. ·or cyclotron resonance to be 0 I 000 2000 l,(M )() 4000 5000
Magnetic field (oc r~t d ~)
1 ~cs ·ar. · t ha e the mea n free path of the charge ca rrier
t'' p~m1it the ca rrier t sweep ut one radian of arc around the Fig. 4.5
rhit het\\ en co lli ·ions. T hi s conditi o n i satisfied if u..:, r > 1. To Cyclotron resonance absorption versus
n h r'laxa ti n Limes it i adva ntageous to work with high-purity m agnetic field at 24000 Me s forGe at
liquid hehum tempe rat ures. These req uirements can be relaxed 4 K (after Drcssclhau~ eta/. 1955) .
f high r-fr q u nc radi·ttio n and higher magnetic fields. The
:.111. r tu u din cycl tro n reso nance experiments is essentially the same
a that [i comentional pa ramagnetic resona nce except that the geometry
1 11 di11ed . o that lhe microwave electric field is perpendicular to the
e. temal applied m a gn tic field. Absorptio n of energy under cyclotron
re. onan e condi tion is determined by measuring the changes in the Q
( ualit) fa tor) fa micn1 \· ave cavity in which the sample is placed. The
external magneti fi ld may be va ried in order to obtain the dependence of
the power a orption in the ample on the magnetic field . From the
ab. orpti n "'pectrum this efTective m ass may be obtained . T ypical cyclotron
re onance. pcct ra forGe and Si are shown in Figs. 4 .5 and 4.6. respectively. 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Magnetic lield (oersteds)

4 .6. Cyclo tron resonance of conduction electrons in Ge and Si Fig.4.6

Cyclo lro n reso nance absorption versus
The c nductio n ba nd s nea r their extrema in Ge and Si consist of sets of magnet ic field at 24000 Me ' s for Si at
el li p oidal con ·tant energy surfaces located at eq uivalent positions in k- 4 K (after Dn.:sselhaus t'l a/. 1955).
~pace a t r n a r th e zo ne boundary a nd are described by the equation

(4.42)

\\'her m, i the transver e effective m ass and m7is the longitudinal effective
mas.
To discuss the motion of a conduction electron in the presence of a
unif rm static magnetic field 13, we consider the group velocity
v K = ( I / TI ) V k Ek. Making use of Eq. ( 4.42), we find that

Jik 1i ,_ nk _-
v)i \ . = ~ • Vor = _ln_ l 'V'<:: = - .. (4.43)
· m;· "'· m, · rn 1,

r mbin mg the equation of motion given by Eq . (4.15) with the Lorentz

f rce given by Eq. (4.33) and setting v = v>: yields
dk
f7- = - C:' V ,. X 13. (4.44)
dt '
 · s of electrons and holes in energy bands
Kinematics and d ynam•c
. . I - ... t·lne 13 = B(sinB.O. cosO). Eliminati ng k r
• T3 t 1 • 1n 1 1c :\..-1' " · . rom
'~ t< k 4 ' tl the au.i of Eq. (4.43). and assummg that v:r varie· a
44 I '1 ·
. , ' ult m tht.: cl cq uatwns

iwt ':sn - w; cos Hv!{y = 0

(4.45b

when.: v.J, = eBjm and w1 = ( Bjrn;. Setting the determinant of the coeffi-
1
cients f Pg.-. · t'g_1 , t~g: equa l to zero gives
O.Q.l W=--+-++--t-+=H---t--;.§":!::"1
(4.46)
x
;:::.
:::.
0 L.:i:.J.__L_,L__L_.J..__L-l-J.--'-- '
-10 0 RO 90 100
nglc in d gn'c in\ 110
whcr \ is the cyclotron frequency . If we define the cyclotron effective mass
plane fr Ol [00 il ' 'I
m:. by
Fig.4.7 eB
Effective mas of conduction electrons w(.= - , (4.47 1
m Ge at 4 K crsus the angle between me
a mal! netic f1eld in the (II 0) plane and
the [00 I] axis ta fter Dresselhaus we tind from Eq . (4.46) that
eta!. \95 ·)
2 2
1) cos 2 () sin (J (4.48i
(-nz*c
= -- +-- .
nr•I
2 n1•·n1¥
1 I

Table 4.1 Electron and hole effective The value of the cyclotron effective mass for conducti on electrons in Gc
masses for silicon and germanium in
units o free electron ma s (after Kittd at 4 K is plotted in Fig. 4.7 for various directions of the magnetic field in a
1986) ( 11 0) plane measured from the [00 I] direction. If on assumes that there is a
set of equivalent constant energy surfaces oriented al ng th (Ill direc-
m; m; ill ;;, n1;,;,
tions in the Brillouin zone, the ~ffective mass param ter can be deri,·ed
Si 0.92 0.19 0.16 0.52 fro.m a fit of the theoretical ex pression of Eq. (4.4 to rh ~ x.peritnental
Gc: 1.59 0.34
pomts. The results are presented in Table 4.1. In Fig. 4.' an~ shown the
0.01:12 0.043
1
results for the angular dependence of the efl"'ccti\ t' ~tt-'' f (oncluL·tit n.
electrons in Si. From these results one may concl ude that rh re is a ~et ' t
1

111
eq LIIV<~Ient constant energy ellipsoids oriented a long th I om dtrectil)flS
the
_ Bn ll oum · zone. The values deduced for the m a . p.tri. mt:ter'
\ · \111
are (lst~l
1 able 4.1.
 -,r-
C I tron re o n
x perim nts in emicon ctor 83
resonance o f ho les in Ge an d Si II 14
~

h·tnds . ~r ·~ ·mll ,,1

!1·1HX' • ..c I··.ttl1 ·r Clllllplicat
.:: · .11 · cd ;t s a J ~-I-
I
IJ ll

)~
• · c

I If I\\ -!old l r 1tlal dL '· • ' <·t t "' · - 0 - T ll C 1 Orl!!lnatc

- ' '"=" ·m'r'tC\ · · 11. \(,
I I d · and ·trc · h<tra ~.: tcri zcd b · the cn cn2.y-wavc vec tor
lll l1t} . (J.71. ~ ~ I
\ j
~ , i
- ( ~ - ~ !.2
\ \ (\ 1 k -:-1..--y ) ]~ • (3.7 1) -, 11.24 >/_ ~ N !'-!"

q 3. I) ,.. i\~ · the li l!ht hole band and the plus sign gives
'·
~ 0 20
~fa:
,...... ""'v
tnd. T he wa rp 1ng term. with coelficicnt C 1 make the hole
ani. t r pi c. \V arp ing effects can be includ ed in an
OL
• ~ b) mea n. f the ex pres. ion (Dre ' selh a us e1 a/. ]-l))5)
0.0

0.04
,_
C)
~ - --
,:=

- I 0 0 I 0 2() 30 40 50 lifl 70 80 90 I Oil

Angle in tlt:gree' in r II Ill
Plane lrom LOO II ax 1 ~
(4.49 )
Fig. 4.8
Effe.:tive mass of co nduct io n electrons
in Si at 4 K ve rsu. the angle between
which applies whe n t he magnetic field lies in the (II 0) plane and makes an a mag netic field in the ( 110) plane and
the (00 I] ax is (after Dresselhaus
an le fl \\ ilh the [100] direct ion. In Fig. 4.9 is shown a plot of experi mental Cf a/. 1955).
··y I tr n re nanc data for holes in Ge as a function of the angle e. The
con tanb A, B, Cw reeva luated by fitting Eq. (4.49) to the data. The values
thu det rmin d re given in T ab le 3.2. A similar procedure was ap plied to 040
h I in i \\i th qua lita ti ely similar results (Dresselhaus eta/. 1955). 1-, ~ 0
lU6 ~
It i conveni nt in ca lcul a ting va rious properties to have an isotropic v r-
ci_
appro ·imation for the hole masses . Such an approx im ation is provided by :: 0 . ~2

th ~ II wtng pression fo r the va lence ba nd energies (Smith 1968): ";o2s

::
ls>o-"
v
g
-~0.2~
(4.50) u
"
~0.08

The average light and hea vy hole effective masses are specified by 0.04 _
,
Is
0
_£ - -
-
- 10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 71l RO 40 lt lO
(4.51a) '\mdc in deorecs in t il m
. plane lw1~ [00 1] a~i'

~ . l} (2111)
Fig.4.9
-=-:;-
111
= {
- A- [B-~ + (C-/6)]2 2 ·
(4.51 b) Effective ma~s of holes in Gc at -l K

Ill"" 11 versus the angk bet ween a magnetiL'

field in the ( II 0) plane and the [UOI]
h expression for the li ght hole effective mass is a rather good approx- axis (a ft er Dresscllutus ,,r tl . l'l55 }.
imation sin<.:e the li!!ht hol e band is nearly spherical. but that for the heavy
h le i I ss a ti s fac~o ry due to the significant warping o_f the heavy hole_
hand 'v~ll' · g t }1e vu 1ues o. f' A . B , an d c t't·onl Table -3__
? , one hnds the values of
11
i ' " an mj,IJ th a t, re li sted in Table 4. 1.
 . dd mics of electrons and holes in energy bands
Kinematics an yna

.6.3

ra ·
1 p cr 11. .
he lndu·tJ n 1 ctnneffecuvemassesofiii- Vandli- VIcompound
'ith dJr 1.:1 l! p ,1t k - 0 are li ted in Ta ble 4.2. Comparing the effective
m. s ~.:s , ·ith the orresp nding band gaps in Table 3.2, we see that the
etTecti~c mas" decrea. e a the gap decreases. This behavior is consistent
\'ith the Kan ow I I · s pressed by Eq. (3.65). As pointed out in
Chapter J, GaP ha an indirect gap with conduction band minima verv
clo to the X-p int n th Brillo uin zone boundary in the (100) directio~.
The effe tiv m f onduction electrons is anisotropic with m; = 0.91 111
and m; = 0.25 1JI.
Th effectiv rna es of hole arc determined by the Dresselhaus para-
meter A, B, C or the Luttinger parameters "i't, / ?. , ~fJ.. As noted in Chapter 3
the effective mass depends on the direction of propagation of the Bloch
wave due to warping of the constant energy surfaces. Average or spher-
icalized effective rna es for light and heavy holes can be calculated using.
for example. Eqs. (4.51 ). An alternative method (Lax and Mavroides 1955)
uses the quantities

(4.52 1

and

to express the average light and heavy hole masse a

m;" = ( , -)- 1m
m,,
- ·
=
(
~~ ,
I
- i')- (I
,,~
+ O.OS~iu + O.Ol ~ ~~)- - ,~.

Values
.
of .avera ooe e~e c t 1ve
. h o 1e masses arc g1ven
. . Tahle "+1. _i.
111 , ~1 · ·h )\\ !1
-"" :.o:.
are the spm- orbit ·spl 1't- fT e ft'ect1v
. ma sses m~ · .
'"
Table 4.3 1\ vera oe e ffe~ t . ' I1 0 I . .
. "' ~.: I\ C <::masse~ 111 UJlll S o t· the fr~ •
bdll 1. Ill Ill- Y ' lllcl II VI . .
' semiconduct o rs [aft ·r Ll\\';tL' I L Ill
Ill v 111;;, Ill hit Ill II \'I
GaP '"
0 . 16 0.5 ll ...J6
GaA~ o.o:s 5 U. l ~
Zns .,,.,
/ J '~
l)
Ga . h () 06
ln P
0 .'\ (J l..J Zn TL'
ll .(JX l),.i
ln.i\ -, 11.1125
U. 15 u
0.-t
lnSb 11 .112 1
11.1)~
11 . ~ ll I I
 tal deter inatio of carrier ch rge and oncentrotion 85
• t3
n.tal det ermination of carrier charge and
.. ,.,...... ,rratlon: Hall eHect

mc 111 n Lh~lt p r \ ide · useful mfo rm atinn abL)UI current

Hall effect. !l Sid e r :t bar nr
rectangular cro s section in
n~.:tll ll "'~\\'S in _the presence uf' a uniform external magnetic
n 111 hg ~-I r .. Fu r the steady tate sttua tion th e equation of
rr nt ca tTH:r g!\ e n by Eq. (4.3:::;) reduces to
Fig. 4.10
Ill ' v Ex perime nt al c0 nfigurat1 o n f• H the Il a ll
F = - r - = e, £ +.i 1 x B. (4.55)
effec t.

1 cun:cnt de n it y per unit carrier concentration . e, v, and F is

~.:arne r.

nfigurat i .n shown in Fi g. 4.10. let us Ctrst apply an electric field

- i ~ctio n a rallel to the ax is of the ba r. A current will arise in the
f th field"' ith

( 4.56)

Note th.tt.i1~ IS in th e sa me direction for both electrons and holes. Nm:v let us
wrn n a magnetic 1eld in the .:-direction, B:. Carriers are deflected in the
negati\'e y -dire ti 1n, whether electrons or holes, and accumulate on the
f"ront .\.:-fa Cth e bar. At the same time an excess of carriers of opposite
~ ign appear. o n the opposite \\'all creating an electric field component [ 1 .
o te that [ 1 has oppos ite signs for electrons and holes. In the steady state
thi tr:.m verse electric fi eld. call ed the Hall field. gives rise to a force that just
canl.: Is th Lo rent z fo rce due to the magnetic field:

(4.57)

Th l ral current densityj, is given by nj 1\ for electrons and Piix for holes,
where 11 a nd pare the concentrations of electrons and holes , respectively.
The Hall fi eld can now be expressed as

(4.58)

vvhere the Hall coefficient R 11 is given by

I (4.59a)
RH = --
ne

!'or electrons and by

1 (4.59b)
Ru = -
pe

for h( les. Since [ 1 • j\, and B: are experimentally measurable. _an ex?~ri­
mental valu e of RH can be deduced and from it the concentratiOn ot _free
carricrs. F urthermore. the sign of the Hall coefficient gives the s1gn of the
 c
tan(:) = -z:-.
'-'r
(4.60)
'-'x

ftaeH !l angl : talt:kclron...-. The gcometr)' is how n in F ig. 4 .1l for electrons and holes. If we substitute
Eq. (4.53) into Eq. (4.54). we obtam
e .r:
[). = -'-.
n1 •
[,Br·
·
(4.611

The quantity e, r/ m; is the proportionality constant between the velocity

component n, and the electric field component Ex- We can write thi~
relation as

(4.62)

where the conductivity mobility J.l is er / m • and is always positive. The

equation specifying the Hall angle now takes the form

(4.631

Coupling an experimentally measured value of [ 1 with th :e of E, and F

enables one to determine both{) and Jl.
Comment. Hall effect measurements are the m t fr qu ~ntly used
procedure to obtain two of the basic chara ct ri. tic or a semi-
conductor: carrier concentration and mobi lit ·. In rd r to sinlrlif~
the a nalysis it is general practice to use a s~1 ~1 pl in th h~ pe l'l ;t
long pa_rallelepiped. Consider as an example a bar c f ·iltc n \\ h l"IS\.'
dunens10ns are: length. 0.01 rn: height. 0.001 rn and \\idtb l O(ll iH
Between the contacts at the ends of the bar a currenL / ,-== l tiOl.\
flow · A magnetic held 6 of 0 . 1 T is appl i . The ' ,JL,1gc <lP[ li'J
~et_ween the e nds o f the bar is 5 V, and th p rHcnt t.tl Jtfl.~."r 1~1.." 111 ·;t·11
s._uJcd 111 the transverse direction is 0.001 V. Th ·~.:kc 111. li IJ ' ' 1' ·h
)00Yfm, . •
£ 1' is I V .m
I , .an d t. h ecurrcntcknstl · '/\hIll 111
~ Tlt'H.dl
"'
codltctent Rfl ·. - .\ ' 'C . . .
Is 10 m · 1 (these dtmcnSil ns h 1 1 11 ) 11l' , fn'nt
Eqs. .. (4 · S<J) · The H·<~ II ang. Ie ts . !!IVt:n
. tw t.t n fJ I 0 l ~~~- I h··
mnblltty 1, : 0.02 111 2/ (Y. ··) _ , l~U . 111 : : (\., ~ S
• • . _. 1 ·' - - . 1111..'~· 1
ll·' ·t i ·1 11!
IS flOSIIIW the C'l .. ·
(, , • , Llll rs mu~t he hoks. The lh k
' - I 0- 1 m ' _ ) .2 I () t , L'111
 References 87

· ra h~'li~ cncrg; band \\ith the energy a~ a fundion

(4.64)

• m a:>: at k = 0 and u IS the lattice constant. Calculate

I Ci t] !:~ <i ' a functi o n of !' and plot c~ versus k over the range
1 h'r m 0 = O. lm and a = 4A.
~.t 11e xpr :. i n for Ek as in Problem I , calculate the eHective mass
und1 :m Ck and plor m · ve rsus k over the ra nge 0 ~ k ~ Ti f a.
3 n dectr n movinn in an ~:ncrgy band under the influence of an
I L nL fie ld . A suming no scattering of the electron. calculate the time
i f r the electr n to cross the first Brillouin zone if t: = 10 V fm and
1
= . The inverse o f this time is the frequency of a Bloch oscillation.
4 011p. n.. th . r~ ti v masses for light and heavy holes in Si and in G e that
re ult fr m Eq s. (4.49) and (4.51 ). Take the magnetic field to he in the [110]
din: ·ti('n ({} = 90° ). Also compa re with the experimental values of m;11 =
0.16111. mj,h = 0.53 m for Si a nd m;,, = 0.044m. m;,, = 0.35m forGe.

References
K. W B .. er. Survev o f S emiconductor Physics (Van Nostrand Reinhold,
e\N or k. I 90).
R.N. De. ter H. J. Zeiger, and B. Lax, Phys. Re v. 95, 557 ( 1954); 104, 637 ( 1956).
G. Dre ·elhau . A. F. Kip. a nd C. Kittel, Phys . Rev. 92.827 (1953); 98.368 ( 1955).
W. . H rrison . Eleclronic Struc!Ure and !he Properties of Solids (W. H. Freeman,
a n F rancisco . 1980) .
. Kittel. !nTroduclion to Solid State Physics, Sixth edition (John Wiley,
e\ York. 1986).
P. Lawaetz. Phrs. Rei'. B4, 3460 (1971).
B. Lax and J . G. Mavroides, Ph rs. Rev. 100, 1650 (1955).
R. A. Smith. Semiconduclors (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1968).
 Impurities in
m 11-lr pe ,\'<'111i< 'OII(/ucrors provide free ekctrons to semiconductors
trnn band a~d po itively charged donor ions. Acceptor 5.1 Qualitative aspects of impurities
' m p-llpe senl/conduc/or. provide free holes to the valence
n I neg·tti\l.:l~ charge lcccp!or ions.
lwl• mpurilie \ hav i ni7a ti o n energies that are small compared to 5. 2 Effective moss theory
th fundamental gap . Their energy levels and eigenfunctions are \veil
d~.: cd h~ £'/it>cfhe 11/IISS t/ieor)' .
11
Th 1111i\ tropi f)fe ·tire mass of the conduction band in Si and Gecau ·es 5.3 Donor impurities in Si ond Ge
:.1 pli ttmg ~fen rg_ I vels associated with p-I ike hydrogenic states.
A. t of Jl nor level i associated with each conduction band minimum:
i minim<I for i and four forGe.
The \\ <He ve tOr d pendence of the dielectriL constant leads to coupling
bd\\ecn impu rity state. associated with different extrema of an energy
band and a pl itting or degeneracies.
In mat rial .;;uch as InSh, the small effective mass and large dielectric 5.4 Donor impurities in 111-V

n tant I .·td tn a large ejfec/ire Bohr radius of donor le1'f'ls . semiconductors

De&eneracy a nd ll'(llping or the valence bands lead to complicated 5. 5 Acceptor impurities

tructure o (/(_:ceprvr /el'(:/. .
Dap /ere/ centers have energy levels near the midpoint of the 5.6 Central cell corrections and deep levels

fu ndame ntal gap. The ground state ionization energy depends

. ignifi a ntly on the nature of the impurity or defect. Ccnlral cell
'(1/Tt ctions are required in the impurity potential.
t suffici ntly high impurity concentrations, the wave functions of 5.7 Impurity bonds

n ighh ring impurities overlap sufficiently to produce an impuriry

band.

ln pun tie-. ca n hav a dra stic effect on the pn perties or semiconducturs,

pan,cularl . th electrical properties. They can provide adcliti o n:d current
earner-,, uch a o nduction electron or va lence holes, and scattenng
l:c lers \A.'hi h r crt 1rh th e mt tion c r the carriers. Impurities are con-
cn ientl} dassi 1 •d a ·curding to the column of th~ peri odic table- 111 whJch
tJ \!y OCt.Ur.

ru tom mtr due d
tJ utt II) into anSi liJL!it:e to torm
donor .:~.:ntcr P 1on to whil.:h an e:tra
ck\:lron ~~ \ t:akl) b und .
Fig. 5.2
Boron atom introduced substitutionally
into a Si lattice to form an acceptor
Genter B- ion t which H hole i:. weakly
b und.
. ff
Electrontc e ec s 0
t f impurities
ualitative aspects of impurities
5 .1 Q
~ ·t uroup IV :emiconductor such as Si. If a group V
l t u Ct111 IL1eJ 1 tr '1 ...
.
. .. . b. . .
.. dded It Sr the P atoms c,m enter u strtuttonall v int
nt ·uc11 a. 1 a · . . . o
r •tal h ·eph:trH! Si atom Ill t he drar~on~ structure. Pho<;phoru~
· t , be'- c nd c1 ed shells. o[ whrch four can be paired up
tarn · fi1 c1 L 1 0 11 J . . •_
·our ncighbon ng Sr a toms to form four electron-pair
H h I~c ( nm ' n ! . .
nd . 1 h, ri Lh dcctro n is b und to the P ron .a t sufficrently low tern.
p r. tures. ut 1 thermally excit d to the conductto~ band at highe~ tern.
pera l un: , nd j -· therefo. r .un ho und to the P IOn. The srtuat 10n i'.
illustr.tted schema tica lly Ill Frg. 5. 1.
Phosphoru j cLIJJed a dono r im purit.y, be~ausc: it "donates" el~ctrons to
the conduc tron band. Sili~on d ped w1th PIS known as n-type Sr, becau e
the current ca rrier pr vid d by Pa re negativel~i charged conduction elec-
tron . Other gr up Vel m nt uch as As and Sb behave very much like p
L t usn con id r a n impurity from group III of the periodic table . uch
;;1 • B, whjch can al· en ter Si substitutionally . Boron contains three elec-
tron::. beyond closed hells and therefore lacks one electron needed to form
electron pair bonds with four nea re t neighbor Si atoms. The missing
electron on the B atom can be regarded as a hole. At sufficiently low
temperatures. the hole is bound to the B atom. At high temperatures an
electron from a far away electron pa ir bond can transfer to the B atom and.
together with the other three electrons, form four electron-pair bonds
between the B atom and it four nea rest nei ghbor Si atoms. The hole is
thereby transferred from the B atom to the far away electron pair bond and
is no longer bound to the B atom. The B atom in this process has become
negatively charged. The situation is illustrated sc hematica lly in Fig. 5. ~ .
Boron is referred to as an acceptor impurity. becau it .. accepts"' elec-
trons from elsewhere in the crystal. Silicon doped\ ith B is kn ovm as p-type
Si, because the current carriers provided by B a re positiv I_ harged h les.
Other group III elements such as AI and Ga behave mu h the ame way as B.
Other impurities of interest are group VI element uch a· and Se. '' hich
behave as double donors and group II elernent · su h a Zn and Cd. \\hich
behave as double acceptors. If we consider I II- V mic nd u ~t r . repi<Ki ng
a group V atom by a group VL a tom lead to a I nor impurit} . \\ h r a5
replacmg a group III atom by a group II atom yiel t , an acceptor im urir. ·
5.2 EHective mass theory
A common. . f'e·atu·1·,.~ of the tmpunty
· · systems d scnhcL . i Ill· rl1c.. pr~:, ndtn•':
sectron ._ ts that o n!.! cte·tl · ·11 . . ~ .
' s t 1 ac urrentcar n crnt accrt .u n ~.:h.lr~'m 1 , in· : trt
thclt
. -~ Jdofunim putt··t Y.·ro n o f' the opp stt. ch~ug . Th~.-' tmp un t}- ':"- 't m t!lll
cone. ponds to a hydrogen-like a tom .
A problen1 or nreat j 111 . . .
po1 tan ce ts to d et rmm tht.• ' ' 1\
1..:11 rgy t'lgcnvalu s r tl .. .
, . . b
·' . .
• · o 1l: tmputlt _ alL)l11. pr perh t.t!.:tn ml
Cnt.:r Yha nd structur . 1 1· 1 · · -
., . . . . . e:~nc Lt ~..ctnc sere 11111g prLlJ'Ll LIL .
erl,tm .t:>pccts Sllnphl y the p r hkm :
I. T he impu ri ty po t . 1·. 1 ·. .
., . . Lll l.l IS \\ t:a !.. . h 'L'.Ilh~ tJ IIlli ll lll
IL e l11..:d hyt )lL' h l.rl j ' [
C II.: c t IIC Cl II'\'-! 11 I of I l_ plc.tl
 Effective moss theory 91

I '" I_ ' ,tr) til!! l r a lattice cnn-.tant

t 1 l ''1"\ I ~a J uuL ;tnu nnl~ \\ <n e ector:-. k n ' Hr the
lUll .trl.'. Illlp< na nt 111 the F 'Uri r dccumposition nf the
Lllll.:t l )n .

dt pnh.:ntllt' the thel"'ry that incPrpnrates these simpli-

n 1tent 'a~ ha s h~:-cn carricJ out hy Luttinger and Kohn.

!
utt mg r and Kohn '-;155) is the effective mass theory f
h· l~lrll ng pni_nt o l thetheoryisthcSchrodingerequation
hl. 1 11punt) '' · ' e !unction , ·;( r .

I "1(r ) I p( r)] •,(r = E;v ,(r ). ( 5. I )

1 the irn p urit~ potentiaL I ·1, r ) is the period ic potential of the

tl . ~wd E, i t h encr!!y cigenv:.d ue . Let us first consider donor
impunt c and a nd uction band with minimum at k = 0. Luttinger and
K 1Im expand d t ·,(r ). not in terms of Bloch l'unctions \~.- (r) , but i~ terms
of th functi n

\ nk r ) = eik ·l" 11110 ( r ) ( 5.2)

'' htch arkn \\'n as luttinger -Kohn functions. These functions form a
·ompl t t. hq en:.~ble one to usc Fourier transform techniques unen-
cumb r d by the k-dependence of 1111k r).
B~ ·u tituti ng the expansion

"l'; ( r = L :2...::: AnkX.nk(r)

11 k
( 5.3)

int th hr .. dingt:r equation, Eq. (5.1 ), and making use of the simplifi-
L3 U n ( l (~)listed above. Luttinger and Kohn were able to show with the
aid f c, n nical tran sformations that the impurity wave function can be
\\ nt t n t • good approximation as
(5.4)

The function F, r ) is known as the effective mass wave function o r envelope

function . It sa risfies the effective mass equation.
( 5.5 )

wher £, (- iV ) i obtained by replacing k in the band energy E,-k by the

operator - iV. The impurity potential can be well appwximated by the
o ul omh p tential

(5.6)
Fig. 5.3
R.:present:llll•n ~,r I h.. effl.'-:ti m;h.;
\\·here Zl! i~ the charge of the impurity ion and f is the static dielectric waH~ functil'n or .:rnd pe t"u n~·ti n
t nt f the semiconductor. The functions F,.(r) and ~·i( r) are shown F. t,.) and the impurit~ \ \;l\t' fun-:11 n
l', ,·). <I is the Ll!li~·e l.'l'll wnt
a tiLall in ig. 5.3.
 f ·mpurities
Electronic e ff ects o t
· ·t·ttcs for a spherical parabolic band
1 .::; 1• lm! unt\ s • . . .
F.: amp e ~ · · . . ·• ra t"'s assocwted w1th a sphcncal paraboli
find h~.: impnnty c tgt:n~ . '".' ~
. o ul mlh p t ntta l. . .
t 'nJ ,111 . 1.. 1 . : pherical parabobc band wtth effecti e
Ju • n. he ·m: rgy ' ·'
t l can ht: wn tt~::n as

(5.7i

· · , n is ·- t k = 0. The effective mass equation then

1tthL ban d 1111111111 ~11 · 1 L

take the f rm

(5.8)

whic h is th Scbrbdinger equation for a hydrogen-like atom. The

4
eiaen!'unctions are characterized by an etfective Bohr radius a8. which
J is ~1 measure of the orbit size and is given by
2

( 5.9)

- --1----- - n= l
The binding energy of the impurity ground state 1s the effecti\'e
Rvdbera
.; b Rv"
.; given bvJ

0 k 11 2 m*Z 2 e4
Ry* =? = ) -)t;, , . (5 .10)
Fig. 5.4
_m • a '· 2
8
.
2(4u 0 ,rE-
Hyd rogen-like energy spectrum of a
~ h a ll ow donor impurity. The energy eigenvalues are those of a hydrogen-like atom given by

Rv '·
E(nH ) = - ~,
( 5.11 )
::-,
n-,_,
...c
~ ~~rT~~~~~~

UJ where nll is the principal quantum number with the va l 1es I. 2. 3. · · ..

A schematic representation of the energy spectrum is gin·n in Fig. 5.4.
This example is applicable to donor impurities in Ga s.
·A. d'1agram sh owmg
' t·h e 1mpunty
. . ground state reb
. lt\
. t t \,1r lerr·' ·tnd
1..t'
conduction bands for a donor impurity is given in Fig. 5 .5 . We ..:~c th~tt th~
1 11
donor level lies just below the conduction band eJ g . FM ,tn ac P '
impurity the ground state lies just above the va len ~e hand dg ·. lmpunt ~
level s that lie close to the corresponding band cdc · arc~: tl J sha llow levels.
Exercise. Calculate the etTective Bohr ra ·u · o n , nd ~tf~diH?
Rydberg Ry' for a donor impurity in GaAs \\ ith 111 - .ll 111 Z:::: I.
and ( = 12. -
Di lance
Answer. 91 A. 6.6 meV
Fig. 5.5
~chcm;; IJ l Jc' pr t: libllull of t ho! P"~Jtion
llf l hL llllp un\ y gr. JuJ•d ' tal \!'i: Dun<ll"
n ~<~r th\: <.:onuUI. ti• H• ha11d a11d .J<.:<.: i:f11"r"
ll< .11 LIH \ ' ;Jlcm.L b a11 d
 Donor irnp riti in S1 and Ge 93
lrll\ \1 lle '" t _ l 'lr·udnut :111 I th:1t the impmity
ll th .-n
'tlr, , ' 1. 11 1! rmcd

purities in Si and Ge
5 1 of ellipsoidal constant energy surfaces

n ri \;S\hen n I"a] · with dunor impurities in Si a nd Gc.

nst~nt cr:crg: : u_rfac . nr the conducti n band are not
hr ud · of re ·o lutto n a specified by q. ( _~ . 76). onsider a
\ 1d ~nl "n.:d at k o The ctli ti vc mass equation in the parabolic
n then t:rk ~ th fo rm

(5.12)

The ani otrop) f the kin Lie energy operator renders it impossible to olve
rlli equation exactl . Recourse must then be made to approximation
method.. uch a_ th va ria tional method (Faulkner 1969). Faulkner has
arried out detail d variational calculations for donor impurities in Si and
e. He determi ned the effective Rydberg to be 31.3 meV for Si and 9.8 meV
for G .
The ani otropy f the kinetic energy operator in the effective mass
quation 2:iv n b. Eq. (5 . 12) causes a splitting of excited states such as
p- tate . hem = 0. tate is split off from them = I states. This splitting
ha.' be n b rv d experimenta lly in Si (Picus et a/. 1956, Aggarwal and
R· m a 19 - a nd in Ge (Reuszer and Fisher 1964) by means of infrared
p tr · p).
e have n ted in Chapter 3 that the conduction band of Si has six
equi,·alent mini ma or ··valley .. along [I 00] directions ink-space. Within the
pre ent th,or •. there is a set of donor levels associat d with each valley. A
gi\ n d no r level therefo re possesses a six -fold degeneracy due to the
multipl \" lley . In the case ofGe, there arc four equivalent valleys located
alo ng [I J I] directions and centered at the L point on the Brillouin zone
b{ und · ry. Each donor level has a four-fold degeneracy due to multiple
Yall ) . A more sophisticated theor . ho''-'S, however, that the multiple
\'alley degeneracies arc split by· interactions hetween valleys, as will be
di cu s d in the fol lowing section.

5.3.2 Volley-orbit interaction

Th effi cti\'e maS!:> tht:ory of impurity states presented thus far assu~es tlu~ t
the d1 J tric con_ta n! is independent of vv·ave vector. In fact. the,dtelectne
on~tant i~ not a constant. but is a function of wave vector k and frequency
...:. r pre~en t purposes tile frequency dependence can be ignored, but ~he
wave \'CCI r d pcndence cannot. The latter dependence leads to couphng
ctv. a n impurity states associated with different extrema of an energy
hand. as in the case of donor impurities in Si or Ge.
Electronic effects of impurities
'd emic )nductor with r equivalent minima in the co
Let us c n t er a . - I ,., 3 . . n-
. b d lo .. 1ted ul wave vectors kow tt - , ....... · .. , 1. If r(k) 1 the
Juctton an ~,;.. . . · · h w · . ..
. d erld~nt d 1eJectnc functiOn, t e euect1ve mass equation
wa e-v~.:dot- ep " . .
. l .,) mu t e 0<Je nerahzed to a set of coupled dtffer ntial
g1 ·en y :q · -5·1-
l

"'lJll ' tion ·

, . 2 r ze1
tt-(k ow - tV',) F (. ·) - ~ F. (r) = EF (
L
• - ,,I"':
-
? ~
II' '
1 ' 1 JJO
~4
- I 7ffo€
(k Or1 - k 0 1)·I (//
I/ -
1
<"t <i• r ),

(5.13,1

,vhere 111 i::. the rl mpo nent of the diagonal effective mass tensor of the
wth mit~~{~um and cp (•·) is the etTective mass function of the J.L·th mini-
mum. Th term in Eq . (5 .13) with I.J =1- tt can be treated as perturbations
wi th (k ) ta ken from theoretical results for Si and Ge (Nara 1965). Using
varia tioml sol Lit ions to Eq. ( 5.13 ), one finds (Baldereschi 1970) that the six-
fold degen rate ground state fo r donors in Si is split into a singlet U 1,
ground state, a doublet(£) excited state, and a triplet ( T2 ) excited state \vith
relative energies given by

E(T2 ) - E(A 1 ) = ~1 = 10 .6meV

£ (£ ) - E (T2) = ~?. = 1.1 meV.

The experimental values of the splitting parameters ~ 1 and 62 derived

from infrared spectroscopy (Aggarw·aJ and Ramdas 1965) are ~ 1 = 11.85.
21.15, and 9.94 meV and .6 2 = 1.35. 1.42, and 2.50 meV for P. As. and Sb
impurities, respectively. The splittings of excited states deri\'ed from ~s. ~p.
and higher hydrogenic states are very small, because the env lope fum:tions
are very spread out in real space and require only ver _mall k in their
Fourier decomposition .
ForGe, the four-fold degenerate ground state is spl it into ·1 singlet (A t
ground state and a triplet ( T 2 ) excited state \Vith ca!cuht d pl ttting

The experimental values of ~ 1 are ~.83. 4.23 an J 0 .3 ~ m V f1r P. ·. and

Sb impurities, respective\v.
,. The ionization encrgie; for the lower !yin£ ' tate: f J . . n 1r 1mpuntic . in
St an? Ge are li sted in Table 5. 1. The ag~- m nt hd\ 1: ·n lh "1 r) ,tnJ
expe t:nnent for the excited st·1tcs is v~:ry l!D • but 1 'l..!ll tfi._·,Ultl) I ·
sattstactory for the Is. tales. For the lattn~th "re t: ad ar kpl..'mkn · 11
the tomzatton energy on th nature ol'the im purit _. 111 .... ) hll n \\ tlh th,
theory so l'ar devel oped .

5.4 Donor im pur•"t•1es ••n 111-V semiconduc o

Ill V '> elllh.:on Jul'lors such as . I . . . ~.. I
. .
ba ncI mtntmum . "' . ,t n tt..>" 1.1
:ttl. _ 0 [' h . .
L lllll1ll til 11 bctnd I
 A cceptor •mpuntie 9
Ill , I ; t tt d ' • 1. t11 ·r uv r
l .tt1l ~ n·r l'l(,•J , R,d I.:IC ..: ht

4:.5 53 .
1 \ ,I} - 2.fi
\2 (1 3 1.2 30.
2/'11 II :I IU II : 11.6
:!.p 6 4(1 1.4 (d 6.3
Jp,, 5.4!' -5 5.5 5. 3
'I' .\ 12 J. l 3. 1 3.0
h · I I) I l 26 1:2.76 14.04 10. 19
II T2} .6(1 9 93 '.U\1 9.87
2p, 4 4 4.74 4. 73 4.74
2p I. J 1 73 I. 73 1.7:1
3ru -. 5 2. 6 2.56 2.57
l.r± I. 3 105 1.02 103

·pherical and paraboli . The donor states are therefore described by the
i ·otro pl etfe tive ma eq uation. Eq. (5.8). Similar considerations apply to
d nor Impurities in II I semiconductors. In the case of InSb the con-
duction band effecti v mass i so small (m ' : : : : 0.014m) and the dielectric
con tant i - larg ( :::::. I ) that the effective Bohr radius is exceptionally
large (a 8 - I Oas) and the ionization energy is exceptionally small
(£ 1 ~ 0.-9 meY).
Other [IJ-V em iconductors such as GaP have multiple conduction band
min ima away fro m k = 0. The donor impurity states are described by the
effective rna uation gi en by Eq. (5. 13) and are qualitatively similar to
tho ·eof i .
A ta bu la tion of experimental and theoretical binding energies of
·hallow d nors in Ill- Y and II Yl semiconductors is given in Table 5.2. Table 5.2 Binding energies (mt:V) for
donors in 111- V and II- VI semiconduc-
Ef ctive m theory i seen to give rather good results for shallow
tors (after Watts 1977)
d no rs r placing either theca tion or the anion of the host crystal.
System Donor Theory Experiment

Gai\s Si 5.72 5.84

s 5.72 :\. 7
5.5 Acceptor impurities lnSb Tc 0.59 0.6
CdTe In 11.6 14
Th f'G tive mass theory of acceptor impurity states in Si and Ge is 25.7
ZnSe AI 26.3
complicated bv the degeneracy of the alence band at k = 0. The warping Cl 25.7 26.9
or the con tan\ energy surfaces as described by Eq . (3.71) further compli-
cate the problem. The effec tive mass formalism of Luttinger and
Kohn . nevc rthele s, is able to handle these difficulties in a straight-
forwa rd manner ( Luttinger and Kohn 1955). The effective mass equation
b es a matrix equation obtained by first making the replacement
~ ' .. - i\7,, in the matrix ofEq. (3 .69 ) and adding the impurity potential to
the d iagona l cl ~ 111 nts. This matrix then operates on the column vector of
'Omp r cn t F, (1') of the effective mass wave function. and the result is set
 Electronic effects of impuriti es
96
equaltoz r o:

;:_>'2
D'!. f __

' n. Dr cJxD:::

if
-L--M(-) ,+~
i)-, '), )
c
ff-
n":! .Y- o ::- -N - -
arD:::

. 2 ( D2
[j2 o:. - L - - A1 - ,
d::- dx:.
- .\' - -N--
;)'.::::: fJyu:

(5.l4J

wher 111 = -Ze2 j 41fr-n r.

Equation (5.14) represents a set of three coupled pa rtial differential
equations in the three functions F1 (r), F:. (r ). and F~( r) . The spin- orbit
interaction at this point has not been included. To include ir. one applies the
procedure described above to the matrix of Eq. (3.70). The result is a set of
six coupled partial differential equations. Neither set can be solved anal}t-
ically. In tho e cases where the acceptor binding energy is small compared
Theore tica l
to the spin orbit splitting of the valence ba nd, the set of six coupled
B 10.3 9.3 equations can be decomposed into a set of four coupled equat ions and a set
a 10.8 9.3 of two coupled equations. which determine the acceptor states associated
In I 1.4 9.3
TI 13.0 9.3 with the light and heavy hole bands and with the split-offband, respectiwly.
The problem can be simplified by separating th e Hamiltonian matrix into a
spherically symmetric part and a cubic correction (Baldereschi and Lipari
1973).
Variational method s have been a pplied to the solut i n of the accep[(lr
impurity problem (Kohn and Schechter 1955. Mendels n an James 1964).
The ground state is four-fold degenerate, has even parity. -tn :1 b~long~ t '
theirreduciblerepresenrationft; .andh·tsnoradial nod , . Jti ·L meni n rl~
n.o v. B .'///fLI//////I//1///1//////f/11/l
representedbythesymbol (8 + 0).Excitedstateswhich ar p-l i eb I ng_tL'
the r (i, r 7: orr~ representati ns a nd ha ve odd parity. Th number of r<tdl,tl
- 1.0 -' '
'_: ~ Jp nodes vanes. For a given symmetry type and a giY n numba n f n ~.1d '· rl 'f ·
>~ - 2.0
.- ~~ -3s
may be more than one eigenstate. These eigensta te: are di LU1~ ish ·J b~
•'
~-02 ·--~.;..._ 2p addir~.g another index, a in (8 - II) and (R ..:_ ] ~).
§ 3.0 ~+ I ·'·- 2 s . In fable 5.3 are given e ·perimental and the 'fc:ti ·al il' niz.tunn ~.·ner,~I ·
lor ~.iroup III accept or. in G e. Tht·re arc cka rh . 11mifi :mt lilT r m·c ltl
;,!

.2." --4 .11

~-lJ)
11;: IOI1l7..ation energies of the varil)LIS accc-pr . : in '" .l ntr dt ·tilH1 \\lt h d~.
:t -5 ellectlvtnn ~ s re · It l ' l
' su · ne ener~1·es l) l · the
. .
IO\\ -h m n b lUll t.u~.·~ l
f" l 11 11 ,,.
are prc::;cntcd in Fu
111!1 h +< l
• • _ · .
1
'\ (. . , . ~
levd s. fhe J1anty ol 1 t1 c~ 1 eves ~ 1
·-
.
· · ~
e ~- · J ,tnL 1dcntl11ed \\'ll h t he L't1 n·e ·p 11
.
l _.l l
··-1
accort1lll l.! Lll tlcl£1\ L 1111
lead to sek ·tiC\ 11 1 t' . ~
\.. rue~ or opt 1ctl tr~tn . itll ns In I d
f ig. 5.6
sy t_nmt:t.r nf a sub~titutiL)nal siJc lacks a I.' ·ntcl I. I m
1 u~ I)JUI! l<l l l llll Lah.: o: ncq;1c 11 1 lr 111 '-lllon s I l"l\111 the gn'tln l t· t • . II I .
• lal 11.: r DJ,J <.y an J DiJillllud l 'Jil7 1 .. s I I (l ;t l 1 · Ill I ·a [ •d l 1.. ll
( lck Y and 111llllud. IY67 ) 1·1· ·
· L'l l\' ' 111 l 'oS lh I
 Central cell corrections and deep level 97
l nrinuum \\ 11h th.: los of the J1ll111 l !!f •up s) mn 'l ry Table 5. 4 R1nohn • 11 r 1 rm ) ••r
ll . ;lC q l ll f~ ill rrr v nJ II "I mtLOO ·
duLior, , ntl l1parJ
he t r ~Heel b
1 1tk 1111ll \' 111J II Vl ·' m i~.: n nd uc ims ·a n
1'!73 )
a) d J1pwa ·he em I 1 _·...: for i a H...l c. IT ctive mass
lllahll! picture the experime nt al r~s ult s r r the bind ing cccptcr
mh r ,rca 'e ch sh wn 111 T a ble _.4. (J ~Ip 7n
oa A Zn 25 6
I R6
r I cell corrections and deep levels Lt 110.1 114
11 the pr cedi ng s c t i o n ~ of this chapter that effecti\'c mass
t the amt.: gr und ·tate io ni za ti on energy for a ll impurities o f
d )l1l r or a~.:ceptor) in a given semiconductor_ since the ioni-
Jept.:nd onl\' on the carrier effecti ve mass and the dielectric
he ho t cr ' nl. The latter properties are little a ffected bv
impt nti l lm\ concentra ti n. -
It r I ar rrom the re ·ul tc· pre. ented in T.1bles 5.1 and 5.2 that the ground
~wt i mvtion nerg) dep nd . . ignilican tl y on the nature of the im~purity.
in~.: 1nrradi~.:ti< n to the effec ti ve mass theory predict ion. The reason for this
dr ~.:rt.:pam.:y is that the impurit potential within the unit cell occupied by
the impurit) cann t be ade4 ua tcly described by a Coulomb potential
.crcened h~ the bu lk d ielectric constant of the host crystal. The impurity
potentral tend to hav a short range component superposed on the
oulomb pot ntia l. Since impurity gro und states are typicall y deri ved
from hydrogt!nic s-states and have v a ve functi o ns that are no nzero a t the
impurity nu leu ·. th~;y are trongly influenced by the short range part of
th pot ntial v..·hi h \aries ·igniflcantly from one impurity to a nother.
£ "\cited . ta te deri ved from hydroge nic p-states, o n the other hand, ha ve
wav func tion that a re zero a t the impurity nucleus a nd are much less
affi t db) th ho rt ran ge po tential. as is evident in the data of Table 5.1.
Th h rt ra nge contribution to the impurity potential is known as a
centra l cell correction. The implementa tion of this correction may be
achi ved by mean. of more sophi sticated theories based o n pseudopoten-
tial . A pa rticularly simple case is that ofisocoric impurities ,.vhich have the
am n umber of core electrons as the a to m of the host crystal. e.g. , P a nd S
in Si tP·mtelides a nd Sah 1974). For these impurities the perturbation
pot ntial is not re ponsible for binding additional core states. Howeve r.
imp urity and host ato ms ha ve different Coulomb and excha nge contribu-
ti n::. of o re electrons to the potential. Taking this effect together '.vith
man '-va lle\· effects into account, a weak short ran ge contribution to the
ciT ctive in; purit y potential can be obtained and incorporated into tl~e Table 5.5 lo niLa tion energies (meV l for
effccti e mas eq ua ti o ns. The res ult s for the ionization energies ofP ~ nd S r_n p a nd S in Si . The s+ and S 0 slates refer
Si ar given in Table 5.5. T he agreement between theory and cxpenment Is to one a nd two elc..:trons bound 10 the
qu ite good . Indi vidual valley- orbit interaction splittings for P, As, Sb and ct:ntcr, respectively (after Pantt'lidt:~ .tnd
Sah 1974)
otht: r donor impurities ha ve a lso been ca lculated. . .
or the case o!' no ni. oco ric impurities the perturbation potenllal brnds Impurity Th ' Of \ f \ptfl lllt:ll l

additional core electrons in the impurity cell and cannot be regarded as 42.4 4' ~
p
weak . In othe r -ystem s a lso. the perturbation potential is stro ng . These S (.'>' n) :!lJ 1 \02 I)

'>~stems irdud vacancies and host atom interstitials. noble metal ato m S(S ' l t>5Q.J hl'
imp urit1 ::.. and transition metal atom impurities. Efl'cctivc mass theory is
 Electro ic effects of impurities

. hi b" ·ws -- the defect levels tend to lie toward the <.:entc
n I ng r a p Il<.a c. ~ • . . , . . . r
. g·tp . nd cannot be ascnbed solely to e1ther the alence
o f the f un ;J men t d 1 ' '1
1 c nduction band.
·t r J cfectlcvcl• Jving h are referred to
toward the. centerI of.the gap
I mp u n Y ~
· They pia an important role m ca ta yzmg t e recombination
Ll d eep Ieves. 1 . . .bl h .. .
n Icct r ns• ·•nd ;... 11 ole , but contnbute neghg1 ~
Y to t e eqtuhbnum con _
c~:ntra t ion . of elec ron and holes. Shallow donors a~d acceptors. on the
the r han , conlr 1 th oncentration of current earners and thereby the
electrical conductivity.
A . an example o f d p levels we show in Table 5.6 t_he i?nization energies
r _d t ra 11 ition elem nls in Si (Zunger 19R6). The IOlllZa twn energies are all
e 5.6 i •)Oilall011 ~nerg1 'S (C )
. -., 11 sid~wbly larger th · n the effective mass theory value of "' 0.03 eV.
f
~ ~ . ull 1. .I tran~nion metal dopants in
1 (o.~.fler Zungcr l9c6)
A num b r of approaches have been made to the theory of deep levels.
They includ tigh t binding methods (Hjalmarson eta/. 1980), and Green's
function meth ~ds (Baraff and Schluter 1979, Zunger and Linde felt 1983).
Recent empha. is has been placed on the use of the density functional
approach together with ab initio pseudopotentials (Zungcr and Lindefelt
0.2: 0.30 OT
1983, Zunger 1986).

5.7 Impurity bands

Up to now our discu sian of impurity states has treated the impuritie- a
isolated entities. At a finite concentration n 1 • however. the impurities
have an average nearest neighbor separation of approximately n;' 3
. At
sufficiently high n 1 , "' 10 18 cm- 3 for Si, neighboring impurities are suffi-
ciently close that their wave functions overlap enough to produce a sig-
nificant perturbation of the energy levels. The energy levels broaden Lmt
into a band called an impurity band.
If the impurities were located on the sites of a lattice. th impurity band
would be associated with reciprocal lattice vectors and a n impurit~
Brillouin zone. For group V donor impurities in Si the imp urity hand \\ouki
be half full ifthe two-fold spin degenera y were taken intc1 a count. Such an
impurity band therefore has metallic character ·lnd h uld ·hi hit tintt ·
conductivity even a t very lmv temperatures. This b h<. vi 1r h·ts in fa t b ~n
observed in 11-Ge (Fritzche I ()55) .
, The as.umption of periodicity of the impurit y sit ~s j -. fu1urs . rw t \ ,tli' .
~ o r rea l semtconcluctors. The impurities are disordered Th~ n rgt - ' 1
tmpunty states are not confined by b·md ed~e. , but .u ~pre.td ul (n a a.n
~xtended range characterized by a d e ns it v-of-sta r s function h n h..-rm 1 r '.
rt has been hown ( Andersorl ·
1('~I.')
1
-~'
t h a t ui
~r Sl rL 1t'rL.. t ll I ,,1 J1 l '- 1o col•· •ed
.. states
and the appea rance or in~ ulatini.! character. Th t -.tit ed ..tnd Jeh ~.:alird
states ~~~:e. se parated hy th mobility edge ( Ml' tl 1 I 7) II I\ h. h!tng th'
compostlton or b y other means. the Fe rmi n r -' L"~lll m.t i. ll I'· .
lhrnuf!h the mobility . .
cd ol: .1 t 1· 1
o , • me o -msu ator trans ton
~- h•' ,.
cc n t r<~ t i n ., t \\ 1 1 1
- ' ' 1tL'1l1 e tr~lll"iti o nt~tl-. s pla · t-.;-.;p•d la·d r·l.tlll

I,
 Re fere nces 99
1 ''''m' CLh1~ n: bt1 m ct n 1c J crivcd hy Llhscr vin g th;rl
ll the lOll r ICill iilll C~lll llllplln :.tn d r , d ll- CC lh e hlllcllll"
. t:
1 F r rhc '>1.: r cn~.:J 'ou l0m h ~l O c ntial

e -'
(r) = - - - c '/ r ( 5. I h)
-1·:7111,.

hlil1' ~e cree Hng ln gth: pcuficdhyq::·= 4 (311, /7r) 1 ' 3 / uj .a 11

1
1 rll.ilnl~ ifq, < 1. 19/ a u (R o gersl'ta/. llJ 70 )0J

(5.17)

Problems
l ~~~ ula c the d n r io ni za lton energy, the radius of the ground state orbital.
an l til' m1n1mll rn L'P nce ntra ti on for which there will be sufficient orbit al
O\erlar D pr due a n impuritv ba nd in n-lnSb. The dielectric con.·tant f is 18
.tnd the dcctron elfcc tiw mass m: is 0.014m.
1
<tkui.H~ Lhe cf fe t f nonpa raholicity on th e donor ioni zation energy in
n-ln b ming th effect ive ma ss equation

where

p = -i7i V. a nd V;( r ) is the C o ulomb potentiaL Take F, (r) to be a variational

funct ion nf !he form ."1(cxp (- or), where cc is the vari ational parameter. Is the
e~' L f the no nparabo licit y to in crease or decrease the ioni za tion energy'1
J. alcu! at the hinding energy of a donor impurity in Si using the effective mass
eq uation, q . ( 512), a nd a va riatio na l trial functi o n of the form

with oj1 = 47ffudi 2 j me2 • n a nd ,1 va riational parameters, and 1 = 12. Take

the values nl" th e m,", from Tahle 4.1. set k 0 ., = ko 1 = koc = 0. and ignore
the vall ev o rbit interaction. Co mpare your result with that for a sphencal
bamj · - m · = ( m [. m ;-' ) I ·' l .
Will1
4 The el ectric fi eld of an io ni zed impurity is screened by l"ree carriers gtv~ng
ri se to th e !;creened po tential VJr ) = - (e2 j 4rrr0 rr) x exp ( - tf,r), where q, is the
in v rse ~creening length. Using a trial functi o n of the form f!(r) ~ A e:p( -:- or)
in th e v::~n a ti o nal method , calculate the binding energy as a functiOn ol i.f, lor a
dono r impurity in CdTe taking ( = 11 and m;. = O.IOm. Is your result
consistent with the remark ju st above Eq. (5.17)' 1

References
R. L. Aggarwal and A. K. Ramdas , Phys. Rev. AI37 , 602 (1965): AI40. 1246
f 1LJ65J
P W _ And r:-.( n . Ph Fs. R('\" 109. 1492 (195X).
A Bal d resc hi , /'/n·;_ Rn. BJ. 4673 (1970).
00 Electronic effects of impurities

A. Bcddere chi a nd N. 0 Lipari. Phys. Rev. 88, 2697 ( 1973) .

. A. BamJT and M. Schliiter. Phys._ R~v. 819. 4965 ( 1979).
F. Bas. ni. . fado ni~i. and B. PrcgJOSJ. Rep. Prog. P~ys . 37. 1099 (197 4 ).
D. H. D ickey and J . 0. Dimmock. 1. Ph~·s. Chem. Soltd\· 28. 529 (1967).
R. au lk ner, Phy 1· Rcl'. 184. 713 (1969).
H Fn tzsche. Ph. ·s. f. cv. 99. 406 (1955).
H . P. Hj · lmarson. P. Vogel. D . J. Wolford. and J. D . Dow. Phys. Rev. Leu. _
44
8 0( 19 0).
W . K ohn dl . Schechter, Pllys. Rev. 99. 1903 (1955).
J. 1. Lutlingl!r a nd W. Kohn. Phys. Rev. 91. 869 (1955).
K . . M endel u n · nd H . M. James, J . Phys. Chem . Solids 25, 729 (1964).
N. F. lo ll. r/1•. Pln·s. 16. 49 ( 1967).
H . Nara. J. Phr.1. ·~c. Jp11. 20. 778 (1965) .
. T. Pant l ide~ a nd C. T. Sah, Phys. Re i'. 810, 621. 638 (1974).
. . Picu. . E . Burstein. and B. Henvis. J. Phys. Chem. Solids I, 75 (1956).
J. H. Reu zer a nd P . Fisher, Phys. Rev. Al35, 1125 (1964).
F. J. Ro rs. H . C. Gra?osk~ Jr._. and D. J. Har~ood, Plzys. Rev. AI, 1577 (1970).
R. K. \:Vatts. Pomt D(~/ects 111 Crystals (John W1ley, New York. 1977).
A. Zunger, in Solid Srate Physics. Vol. 39. eds. H. Ehrenreich, F. Seitz. and
D. Turnbull (Academic Press. New York. 1986). p. 275.
A. Zunger and U. Lindefelt. Phys. Rev. 827, 1191 (1983).
 cto stat1stic

e as
Statistics
ri1H1i. st?micl ndu ·ror free chan:re carriers arise from the excitation
6.1 Intrinsic semiconductors
·I c tron: from the valence band to the conduction band creatino
u I l n ntra tio ns of free electrons in the conduction band and fre~
h I Ill the \ alence b·md.
I til rmal equilibri um the Fermi · Dirac distributionji111ction specifies the
ccupation 1111111! r of a state.
I he den itr-o(sta/c. in an energy band is the number of states per unit
\IJ!ume p r unit energy intervaL
Tht.> intrmsic carrier concenlration enters the /mt· olmass aClion that relates
the on en rration of electrons and holes.
In exrrin. ic . Cl/liconductors the charge carriers arise primarily from 6 .2 Extrinsic semiconductors
impuri tie ·.
Donor impuritie.\ produce an 1z-type semiconductor. In the ji'eeze-out
range the free earner concentration increases exponentially
wit h temperature, but in the saturation range it is nearly constant.
A ccep! vr impurit ie.1 produce a p-trpe semiconduNor.
In a cvmpen.wted semiconductor both donor and acceptor impurities are
pre ent.
In ann-type semiconductor electrons are the majority carriers and holes
are the minoritr carrias. In a p-typc semiconductor the roles of
electrons and holes are reversed.

In rder LO ca lculate properrie - such as electrical conductivity, it is neces-

!'.ary t kn ov> the concentration of electrons in the conduction band and
hole in th valence band . These current carriers can arise by thermal or
optica l e cita ti on or electrons rrom the va lence band to the conduction
band. b y excitation of carri ers from impurity states. or by injection from an
utst l source. In this chapter we focus on ca rrier concenlraltons 111 a
'ien iconductl r in thermal equ ilibrium .
. emtconduct rs can be classified according to the origin of their current
carriers. Ir the carriers arc due primarily tot he excitation of electrons from
th val 1 e band to the conduction band. the semiconductor is intrinsic.
"fh is i-, the si tuation in an ideaL perfectly pure . emiconductor. but it may
 Semiconductor statistics
. . . lpur c;;emi comluctor if the temperature is sufficient! .
al 0 ccur lfl .tn Ill , . . . Y
tl lnnd if the current earners anse pnmarily from
1
high . On t 1e o 1e • • . . . "
. ~ . . . th . rnicon d uclo r ts extnnstc. l ts clt:ctncal beha vtor depends on
• • • •
3

trnpunue~. t! .
uon-intrinsic r pertie ' r the mal.enal. ..
Vv.hen h h donor and <tccep tor tmpunttes ared present and have random
A t eqUJ·11·bnum
·
·cm iconduct r is compensate . electron •·
d 1 trt b UtiOII • the .
ar . tran ~ r rred from the dono rs to the acceptors, thus creatmg ionized
don rs and accept r.. If n neutral donors and acceptors remain. one ha~
ideal compensation.
If a . micondu t r c ntai ns impurities whose ground states lie far from
the band edge . the impurities give rise to deep traps. Carriers originating
from ~ h allow impurit ie c· n be captured by deep traps. The result is a semi-
insulating semicond uctor in which the thermal excitation of carriers into the
alen r c nd uct i n band is difficult.

6.1 Intrinsic semiconductors

Let u c nsider an intrinsic . emiconductor with an energy gap Eg between
the valence and conduction band extrema . Since electrons are Fermi par-
ticles. the Fermi-Dirac distribution , fi:D(k ). specifies the occupation
number of a state of energy £1. in thermal equilibrium at absolute tem-
perature T,

Fig. 6.1
Fermi- Dirac distribution function
plotted against energy E for T = 0 K
a nd T #- OK.
(6.1.
where = 1/ kaT, ks is Boltzmann's constant and EF is the Fermi energy or
chemical potential. A plot of the Fermi- Dirac di stribution function versus
energy is given in Fig. 6.1.
When the temperature Tis zero.fj.-0 (k) = 1 for£,. < EN and_! ro(k) = 0
for Ek > E~. All or the states situated beiO\-\' the zero t mperature Fermi
energy E ) are occupied and all oft he states above Ejl re empt) . The Fermi
energy hes between the occupied and the unoccupi ed sta tes of the system at
T = O.
When 1::k - EF becomes very large compared to /.. 8 T . it is P')ssiblc~
to neglect the quantity + I after the ex ponential in th d n mi nawr L11
E.q . (6 .1)_. The Fermi- Dirac distribution th n red u , s tl th B It 1,wn
dtstnbutiOn

The conccntntion
c 0 ,. e I'ectrons Ill
· the cond uctil n bani n ·t' .... ,
~ t\ 11 l'.

, ~
0-'
17 = :...
q """
'
L .I'FJl ( "I . ) = -- ~---
f..
'
-~L_,_ (' i/A
I
J- T
1..

wh~re th ·um is over . 11 , .

. tl
I S 11: VO 1LI111L'
,
l)f' th ~
" ,
"tall:s tn th L' ~nJ uLti llll l ' an
. e" sh:m , and a Ia ·11 r ot' h·1
l u tthe:-.pt nd egc ncra · ~ .· -'
J s tnl! tl p r M.:n Llllll 1 1
 lntrin ic semiconductors 103

= - -- ; · d· 3 k (6.3)
-"
11
( ) .
~ ~Jf;-;:£:-
. k-_-:::
E-r .-+-1

fh ira~ inte~ral in this expression cannot in general be evaluated

r m. H wever.. with certain approximations its analytic eval-
Je.

6.1 .1 Spherical parabolic energy bands

The fir. t a. e \\ e consider is a spherical parabolic conduction band with

e1Tect1ve mas ' m( and energy given by

(6.4)

wh re Ec i the onduction band edge. W e take the temperature sufficiently

I \\ that koT « Ec- EF and approximate the Fermi- Dirac distribution
y

(6.5)

qua ti n (6.3) now becomes

n = -2- ;· t /11
· !{e .l(£F-F,·-h'
· · k 1 '12m·)
•· . (6.6)
(27r )3

Introduc ing spherical coordinates 111 k-space and integrating over the
angle gives

(6.7)

2 2
Changing the variable of integration from k toE = h k /2m;·, we obtain

(6.8)

where

N, (E) = 7r2
l ? ')3/?. E 21 ( 6.9)
2 ( -;;'

i~ the density-of-states in energy for the conduction band, i.e. , th~ number ?f
states per unit volume per unit energy intervaL This quantity ts plotted 111
 Semiconductor statistics
0
-t· of en rny £. The free carrier concentratJ n i al~
~~ 6 1 as u f l lt: Jo n c:- E . . n
- · - d . tl · ti'gure It h uld be noted that q. ( 6.8) IS vahd f r a more
repn.: ·en L 111 l L .
. . d ·p'tldence nf E.k - Ec on/.; than that of Eq . (11.4) provided
cnmp I tGtteu1 t; c . ' .~ . __
th~ pnper t:xprcssJ n lor ;\,1 ( L ) I. usc~. , 3 - ~ '
The int grill in Eq (fd~) 1s proportJOn,tl tor (5) - 7r- / "--The result for 11 1,
n= /\!,.(' (fr - / -:._)
(6.1 ())

\\here
(6.11 )
l :!
{If: the effective density-of- states for_the conduction band.
The cf~ ctive den ·ity-of- ·rates N , represents a weighted sum of all the
tates in the conduc ti n band . It is, in fact, the partition function of the
nonint ra ting 1 ctro n cJ'as. The weighting coetncient is the Boltzmann
._ factor which xpresses the fact that the higher the energy of the state in the
-
I
conduction band the lo·wer the probability that the state will be occupied by
an elec tron. A t a given temperature N, represents the effective degeneracy
:;.
, 0 I
<:.~ 0 L__- - - - ' - - - - - - ' of the onduction band regarded as a single level with energy Ec- Because
1 2 the approximations employed lead to the use of the Boltzmann distribu-
fiE tion . the carriers form a nondegenerate system. When the criterion
Fig. 6.2 k 8 T « Ec - EF is not satisfied, the full Fermi- Dirac distribution must be
Den i!y-of- ta tes N<( E) and the product used , and the carriers form a degenerate system. Nondegenerate semi-
,\',( E )exp(-. 1£) plotted again . t conductors are characterized by a relatively low concentration of shallow
energy £.
impurities, whereas degenerate semiconductors have a relatively high con-
centration of shallow imp uri ties. In the Ia tter case the ovt: ria pping of atomic
orbitals of neighboring impurities can lead to the formation of impurity
bands as described in Chapter 5. The Fermi energy can then lie s ufficient!~
close to Ec that degenerate behavior persists to low temperatures.
Example 6.1: Effective density-of-states: conduction band
Calculate the effective density-of-states F,, chan tcrizing the con-
duction bands of semiconductors Ga.As and lnP _
Solution. Substituting the values 11 = 1.055 x 10--- ergs ·tnd ks =
1.38 I0- erg K - I into the expression for the lle ti' • len · it~­
16

of-states in the conduction band. Eq _(6.11). one c- t ·

(Ill'~ ) ~ (
31 1 2
10- t'l - -
T ('Jll
_,
Ill 300
The conduction bands ofGaAs and InP are l 1 a g "1\ J .tppr im.ll ltll
sphcncal and parabolic with dfectivc ma sses 111 cqu,ll w !1 t)(, '', " 11 !
0.077 nl respectively. The correspondin..! e~re ·tl\
J n ttl ,f tJt'.
are 4 _2 -· 10 17 c m- 1 .dl1 d )- __-., 10
1 ~- .
m -. r ~spctl\d_.ltOI-..
Turnino"' now t l 1 hoi es. 111
· t 111: valenc "' banJ . ,, I ·
1\ 1 ' till' ' '
.Th
talelackml!~ ·tnele·t
0 • : •
·
L ~ on . l .1C c IS!rtbutil n ru
1 1· · ' [1\))1 J r ,, I
e cunc e ntlt~twn ul h< ll's pis th ~ n gn · n b~

[l - f i- J. (k \j
 lntrin ic emiconductors 105

(k ) - J (6. 1~)
- 111 ,,

lo\\ cmpaaturc a. t1Jlrl')Xi m·'-ltt. 11 "H

1
T ..4"
. . _. . . _ l~
~1 -
.£• , . an d pro-
m th\: c.l. c f I.' nd uc tton ekct ron s . we 11 nd fort he concentra tion

f1 = /J,, j( 1::, -£, I

(6.14)

th dfect i\e d n it '-( r-slates ror holes is given by

( 6.15)

Example 6.2: Effec ti,·e den. ity-of'-states: valence band

ulculate th eff ctivc density-of-states 1- ,. for the valence bands of
a and TnP.
olutioo. ing the value of 1'1 and k 8 given in Example 6.1, one gets

,. = 2.5 I 01\1 m;,"')

( m
3; 2 ( .I_). -
300
l / 'l
em
- 3
.

Th maj r part of the effective den Lity-of-states comes from heavy

hoi '' h masses are 0.5 m and OAn1 for GaAs and loP, respec-
eg:lccting the light hole contribution. one find s that /V,. is
10 1 crn - 3 and 0 . )3 10 19 cm - 3 for GaAs and lnP. respec-
tive] _. at T = 300 K. The contribution of light holes can be obtained
by u ing t he result o r Section 6.1.3.
T he xpr " ion for the conce ntra tions of electrons and holes given by
Eq . ( . I ) and (6.14) invo lve the Fermi energy EF which i: as yet unde-
knnin d. We can elimina te it by multiplying the two expressions together
t iekl
(6. 16 )

where £ '.! = E - £ 1• and n 1 is the intrinsic carrier concentration. Equation

(6. 1()) i. the low of mass action that relates the concentra lions of conduction
I trons and holes in thermal equilibrium, i.e., the product of the electron
and hole conL:entration . in a nondeg~.:neratc semiconductor is constant at a
j v n l mpcrature. It must be emphasized that the law of mass action is very
g ne ral. The basic approximation made is that the separa tio n of the Fermi
n rg_ from the valence and co nduction band edges is large compared to
k,JT. It makes no as~umption about the source or sources of electrons and
h lc., whether by excitation across the gap or by ionization ofimpuritie . In
chcmi:.,try, a similar law controls the concentrations H t and OH ions in or
w· t r.
Semiconductor statistics
. .. , r e:citation across the gap in an intrin ic em·
F tl1e pJrucu 1ar <.:dSt: · l-
or • ~ 1 n in uritie. to be ionized, and charge conser ation
ondlll- { r I 1lCT\: ,tr~.: I b .
l. • . _ r·r m th law of- mass actiOn,
.
we o ta m
r 1r th.ll 1- TJ.

The conL:t.l1l .ttions of c nd uction e~ect ron s and valence ~oles increase
C"i entiall ~.:xpuncnti 11)' ,: ith increasing temper~ture and With decreasing

nergy g:·~p Th1. behavior i primarily _respo nsible ~o~ the chara_cte~istic
temperature dep nd nee of the electncal condu~tJVIt~ of an mtrmsic
miconductor. In Fig. .3 n IS plotted as a functiOn ot temperature for
£~ = l.OeV an me = 171 1, = O.I_n1. .
Ha ing btain d a n expressiO n that gives both n and p, we can no\\·
determine the ~::rmi energy En of an intrinsic semiconductor by equating
the xpressions for n in Eq . (6 .10) and pin Eq. (6.14):

(6.18)

Solving for En yields the result

EFi -- E V + ~I ·Eg + 43 k B T Iog (/11:

m:.) · J (6.19)

We see that a t T = 0 K , the intrinsic Fermi energy lies at the center of the
forbidden gap. As the temperature increases. Eri increases or decreases
depending on whether m" < nz~. or m ; > m~ , respect ively. If m; = m;.. EFi
lies at the center of the gap for all temperatures.

6.1.2 Ellipsoidal energy bands

For the case of a semiconductor such as Si or Ge, we must take into account
th~ fact that the constant energy surfaces of the conduction band are
elhpsoids of revolution. The conduction band energ\· that appea rs in
Eq. (6.6) must be replaced by the corresponding expr n from E I· (3.76): _.::i'
n=
2
( ~)' J d 3ke {EF- E -(fl!/~)[(1;: k~)'m; lk - /... 11 ~ 111 • }.

~n ~ rder_ to evaluate the integra l. we ''spherical i.t " tht: n ·r,;) b:t J by
mtJ oducmg the scale transfornn tion

( ",_' -- ('11/ ;)s: /,

k = Ill") ~-kl' . I
.!
-
_ I
Ill \ . 111 ,. "- ~ - k o =

The co nduction elect ron t:nncelltr~tion then h ~cl !Tit:'

II - -
2 - (11(....!...1)1'2 )! ;· tf
_1_ f.:' , l1 t.1 I
:::! rr ) 111 .
 Intrinsic semiconductors 107
" t1 1a '-Phellcal para holic l:nn d . \'vC r ., ,.,·,,.~ L] . (c. -:11
11 . ~ -)

II = <.' 1, - / , I l'
• I
N,'( E 1,<' 1 (I t:. (6.23 )

- ,f_ tate ''(

.. ) is. . c"ivcn b

' I
'( )-- -I ('2mv o. ')
n-
1 77.:!
1;":. !
E -. (6.24)

f-. tall:::; effecti\e ma ,_ m 'D - is related tom; and 117 ; by

( 6.25 )

me out the integrat ion over E in Eq. (6.23) leads to the result

( 6.26)
where

(6.27)

Tf there are r equivalent ex trema in the conduction band , each extremum

contribute:, the amo unt uiven by Eq. (6.26), so the total concentration of
onduct1on el ct rons is then

(6.28)

It hould be noted that Eqs. (6.14) and (6.28) are not restricted to pure
-em i onductors. They apply also to doped semiconductors, but EF is no
1 nger the intrinsic Fermi energy.

Comment. ForGe with density-of-states effective mass for the con-

duction band 0.22 m and heavy hole effective mass 0 .34 m, one obtains
C r the effective density-of-states of the conduction band
1- , = 0.26 : 10 19 cm- 3 and of the valence band Nv = 0.50x
10 19 cm - 3 at T = 300 K. For Si with effective masses miJos = 0.32m
and mi111 = 0.52 m, one has IV,. = 0.45 x 10 19 cm- 3 and N, =
0.94 10 19 cm - 3 at T = 300 K .
For the case of a spherical parabolic valence band, the Fermi energy can
be eliminated from Eqs. (6 . 14) and (6 .28) . The concentrations of electrons
and hole are then specified by Eq. (6.17) with rn;. replaced by mbos and
with a factor d inserted :
l 1)1J1( ~ ~ ·)3 /4 -E~ f2knT (6 .29)
n = p = 2r2(kBT/ 21ftz- · -mn 0 sm,, e ·

6.1.3 Multiple valence bands

In Si and Ge, the uppermost valence bands (light and heavy hole bands)
have dcgl:nerate maxima at k = 0. In the approximation that each of these
 Semiconductor statistics
lie. their contributions to the concentration ...
hand . 1. ·piH:rical Hil LI para b ·'
f light at d hea '- hole are
(6.30)

-
N,., = ~., (11lu, /'.B
'· T / 21111t.:2)!< / 2 • (6.31 )

<lnd

(6.32)

wh re

(6.33)

The eflective masses of light and heavy holes are m;11 and 111~11 • respectively.
The total concentration o f ho les is given by

P=P + Ph = (N- ,, + N- ..11 ) e .J( £ , - Er ) . (6.34)

Eliminating the Fermi energy from Eqs. (6.28) and (6.34) yields the Jaw of
mass action in the form

(6.35 )

For intrinsic material, n = p = n; . Then from Eq . (6.35)

n 1· = n =p = [1·JVc (.·N-ul + ,.-, t•h ') ]~e-.

1
1\ - JE./ 2 · (6.36)

Using the expressions for N~ , F.'t· and f/,. 11 given in Eqs. (6.17). (6.31). and
(6.33), respectively, we obtain

l , ., , , I , ,
= 2r2 (ksT/ 2n1i 2 )\ - [m' 1-.( 111 •-' i - + n 1 •.J-'_) ] ~ - n e -.
p , 1
11; (6.3 7i
DOC:> !h hh

. As we have seen in Chapter 3. the light and heavy h \ a lem:e bands of

St and Ge a~e .wm~ped , not spherical and paraboli Ta~in g the ltn\·
temperature hrnn ot the hole distributio n funL·ti o n in . (6. L) and ct)n-
vertmg the sum over k to an integral. we obtain

Fig. 6.4
I • 11 I.HIIL HcrO( ~ u rl o.H.:o.: t n I. pd "
 xtn n 1 em1con uct r 109
d/.. llh pu p ·n d ''-'t d .trd, ..,l~lll 'l·hct ' Li lth ·cnll l;l nt ·n ·r •v
p ·tpcn il ' lli.lr l 'lhC..,L' :--urLICC<.. jo.; th e !! LidiC11t P ith ' C 11CI' !! ~.
n ·' dtlk 1 ' II ·l.: dl , i:-- ~j, en hy ~·

dl. , - dl. 1 jV"/.:.',." 1-

1 ,,1\ = r II1\ I.S' d £ ,.

.I
1 ' r =
- I V~.£ •.~. 1
ciS
.
(6.40

I=-~ ;·
( _;r)· . .
dE,. ;· __..
r. (6.41 )

t~ con~tant energy surface of energy £ ,.. ln actual cases

e. t h intcgnls in Eq. (6.41) must be done numerically.

6.2 xtrinsic semiconductors

A h t: nc t d in hapter 5. impurity atoms are an important source of
r in a , miconductor. Since the electron or hole ionization
·harg~.: ~..::un
energ~ ma) h' ma ll compared to the forbidden energy gap. there may
b ·i-=-mlicant thermal production of free carriers at relatively low
t mpcratur . .
'er) gen ' ral ~::X pression for the ratio of electron and hole concentra-
ti n ind ped emi onductorscanbederivedfromEqs.(6.lO)and(6.14)by
r \Hillng th m a

(6.42a )

an
(6.42b)

''here EN i the intrinsic Fermi energy. Taking the ratio of Eqs. (6.42a)
and (6.4_b). we btain

-II == e-·'
~ Jl £ E I
F- "''/ (6.43)
p

I th F rmi energy of the doped material is higher than that of the intri~1sic
rnaterial. the lectron concentration is higher than the hole concentration.
\ h r a if th~..: Fermi energy is lower than that of the intri~1sic material. the
h le ncentration is hieher than the electron concentration.
Th d tJiled staristic;l analysis of impurity levels is complicate~i by_the
a ·t that these states are localized. If there is already one carrier ol a _g,ven_
· ·111 · locahzed
PII1 · · · orb1ta
unpunty · 1, t h t: a dd't'on
'.I
of a ·second earner. ol
3 •

· h · energy as a result of the

· pposne spin to that orbital causes a large c ange 1n
Semiconductor statistics

. n f the two carriers. The binding energy of the second

oulom) l rq u1· 10 · 1 ·
. . · . II , 0 weak that the bound state wtt 1 two earners can be
earner 1 typtc Y s
ign red.

6 .2.1 Donor impurities

]l i nvcment in the d v I pmeot of impurity statistics to use the grand
canonical ensemble of ta li tictl mechamcs (Tolman 1938, Guggenheim
l 9 -3 and berg 1958, T iller and Wallis 1960). The probability that a
on~r impurity tat ha 11 j electrons \vith spin up and n electrons with
spin down i given b
. [ ) -_ C 1[(n! n l) E, - Et( n , nl)j
P n , 11 , (6.44 )

where C i a nornnlization constant and £1 (n T. n 1) is the energy of

the sh te . Th occ upation numbers n and n J can take on the values 0. I.
In a cOt·dance with the discussion in the preceding paragraph. we
shall exclude the possibility that both n and n l take on the value t
simultaneously.
As a specific example, we consider a donor impurity such as phosphorus
in silicon or germanium. The treatment can be easily modified to apply to
acceptor impurities such as boron. The phosphorus atom can have its extra
electron, not needed for covalent band formation , in a localized state with
its spin either up or down. As discussed in the preceding chapter. the ground
state of phosphorus in either silicon or germanium is a singlet with the only
degeneracy due to spin. In the present simplified discussion. v\T neglect the
excited bound states and treat only the ground state and the continuum of
unbound states. The probability that we have one electron localized on a
phosphorus atom is therefore given by

(6.-l: l

Using Eq. (6.44), we obtain

2e 1( l:. F- £)' )

2e .I( £ F- F ;' )

where EJ' is the energy of the donor impurit. . t.tte l!i \ n_ by

E" - E1 ( . · . ~
t - .1. O) = Et(O. I J and we have taken 1
(0. 0 lthe m.·rg) 1 1 the
crystal With the donor electron rem 'ed) ro h r Th~;; qLwnut) P, is th'
occupatio~ factor or the impurity state. Not lhtll it I rh. I th ~lm~· ·''
th~h ennt~Du:ac distribution defined in Eq. ( 1).
. e pro abtltty that th txtra clectrllll of th phosplh ru t •nt I 1 1J1l ~ J
lllll thl: conduction band is give n h y

~J I I / L1 1
~
, - 1- 1- , -=
+ ,e ll., ' ' l I
 Extrinsi semiconductors 111

d111g \ i~ h t h. ~cneral ana lysis of Eq. (()4X ). \-VC examine the

1~ nant :>l l LI:l tH)ll in \vhi~..·h EF is suH1ciently below
l that E;'
'1. ~~~en t he _llllpunty level is essentially unoccupied. ncarlv
1mpunt1 .· ~ r IL m zed . and n ::::::: ""·A more precise appraisal C:r
h\ ta"-'_ng 11110 acC(""lUnt the electrons excited from the valence
nduct1 n band. The condition of chan.!c neutrality is then
=
II Jl -j- II+
". (6 .49)

th' con entra tion of ionized donors. For the case under con-
.::: 11". liminating the hole concentration using the law of
I tain

(6.50)

Tln: p\ Jcall~ signifi ant so lution to this quadratic equation is

l
n = 1 [ nd + (nj + 4n j )2.!.] .
J
(6.51 )

Equation (6. - I) i p·trticularly useful when li ef ::::::: n;. If this is not so. we have
the t\\O limit ing ca s 11.1 ~ ni. n:::::: nr1 and 'lei « n;, n:::::: n,-. The first case
c rre-p nd- to a n extrinsic semiconductor and the second to an intrinsic
emiconduct r.
Turning n w t the general analysis of Eq. (6.48). we need a second
relation in o l ·ing the Fermi energy Er. This relation is provided by
Eq. (6._ ) in hich the approximation Ec - Er » k 8 T has been made.
H \Vc\'er, w no longer require that Ej1 - £,... » k 8 T . Hence, Er can be
Jo. lO Ef1 and can even be above it. Noting that the energy E;' of the
impuri t tal is given by

Ej1 = Ec- Er~ , (6.52)

wh r Ed i ' the donor ioniza tion energy. Eq . (6.48) becomes

1'1(/
n = I+ 2e ':i(b. - £·c+ £·~~ l. (6.53)

Eliminating Er - Ec from Eqs. (6.28) and (6.5.3) yields the relation

1r
')

- -- = .!.,·iV
~
, ,
. e - riE,, .
( '
(6.54)
lid - 11

Tw limiting cases of Eq. (6.54) are readily evaluated: ,t3Ert »

l(k 8 T « E,J) and ,.'1£" « I(ksT » Et~)· In the first case, 11 « 11" and one
 . nductor tatistics
Sem1co
. mtt e · ,Juti n

(fi.55J
··Hlduction electron concentration increa e
it h im:rca ing temperature. This is the freeze-ou~
I r· 1 r ln 1ht.: t:cLmd case. 11 ::: nd. essentially all the donor
' i . hi. j the saturation range of temperature .
• ( ju tinn eledr n concentration in n-Si
nmpl · · (111 · .
. nJuction elec tron concentratiOn as a funct1on of
al ·tilat I t.: t.: . · · · s· k. E. 0
tcmpcr.ttun.: l·c)rgroup V don r tmpunttes m 1 ta mg c1 = .030eV.
11
_ 0 I)'"" 111 111 = 0.19111 a nd r = 6.
~lutio~.-E~ua~ion ( .5 ) is u qua.d ratic equation inn which can be
ol ·edt gi c the phy icall_ meanmgful result

1
n = 2nJ rI+ (I + 4;,:n) ] - I (6.56 j

where

(6.57)

The limiting cases di sc~ssed above follow from Eq. (6.56) for
T
400 500 600
nc1 I Fi,~ » l and nr1 I R;.
11 « l , respectivel y. Inserting the values of
the material parameters and a ra nge of values of the temperature into
Fig. 6.5
Eq. (6.56). one obtains the dependence of non tempera ture shown in
nducu on electron concentrat ion n
Yer us tem pera ture T for n-Si . Fig. 6.5 for nr~ = 10 1n em - 3 .
It is of interest to obtain an expression for the Fermi energy for thesyst:m
?iscussed in Example 6.3. Substituting the result for 11 given by Eq. (6.:- 6)
mto Eq. (6.28) and solving for Er yields

Er = Ec- ksTlog{ ( rN;/2nt~)[ l + (1 + 4n,rj \',<'11 )1~ }. (6S

In the low-temperature limit. 11" 1N,':tl » 1. and EF i gi\ by

Er ~ Ec - *Ed+
- -
~ k 8 T log.... ( ?.r111y~ ,) •

The Fermi energy Sh 1·t .d . . I ,·tnLl th'-' l'tlll·

.. c s tn1 vvay between the 1mpu rll kv
d Ut.:tton band ccl oe . t T 0 . .. T 1tnW''
to · . .o a = and Ill It tally ris.:s ·t · TinL:r ~ 1 ' .\ ~ ' Lll
Increase. It IS n cc ." - . . l ·I dt,·f·
. 11 · · c s el i Y to take mto acco unt tht: I 1' g ·n ·r,t d 1
m,t y Ill the valence h· d . - I tll''n t
E .. - 1- . ctn tn order to properly rr·1L: · tl •JL rrh r1.. \ L L
- 1- a~ a unctio n or T. '
When holes· 'represent.
·t
th 1 th • 1•l t1
condition of el ectroneutrollt '..I ll. ...,
 E trinsic semicondu tor 13
r ndndt' l!l\ cn h ~ l·. L l .... t(' -"'~·
'" anLI ( '' I I

/·., -
;--..
I r.,tl
-1..' i( I I L "l -j
I
( ,., + I\ ··h )t' f(l I '· • )
( A.n 1 J

11. Lquatit. n in. exp ( 1£ 1.· ) which c-111, b·~'" ,S<ll ,,d . · 11 -
" 11 urneJJc a y 1or
lllll'll ll .. , v1Lh tem perature is displayed in F ig. n.A r n-Si
7
1 lll:f!.!_ l•c::- ·ll.. , o ut ha lfwa y between the donor ~levcl ami th~
,tnd edge a t ' ry low k mpcratures and dror s to abo ut the Fig. 6.6
h' 'ncrgy gap at hi gh tempera tures !'o r which k\ I! .T > £"". l- enn i t: n··rg. [I VCI' US lcmpcr,LtUr<.: {
f< r n-Si .
l:ll n k ' tron co ncentrati on n is plotted versus iiW<.'Ts~' tem-
g. 6. 7. N t the clearly defined intrinsic. S<tturalion a nd
m peratu rc. The slopes of the curves in the intrin ·ic
n the . c: m.ilog plot provide values for £~ and £",

)r"'g 111g treatment is applicable to donor impurities in semi-

J"' such < • G s for which the conduction band minimum occurs
. he con ta nt energ: . urfaces are spherical. and r = 1. For those
case uch · ~ i. Ge, a nd 'aP in which the minimum occurs awav from
/.. - 0. th c n 'ta nt energv surfaces are ellipsoids of revolution. r > -1 , and
a m r general tr a tmcnt is required tha t includes the contribution of
~ cned hound . ta te. . Thj treatment is given in Section 6.2.5. 1/T

Fig.6.7
C nduction electron concentration 11
ve rsu- inverse temperatur~ 1/ T fl r
6.2.2 Accepto r impurities
n-Si .
Th treatm nt f acceptor impurities is straightforwa rd if the current car-
r1 r ar reg::trd d a holes. The major complication is the degeneracy of the
\ alene~ band at k = 0 a ociated w·ith the: light and heavy hole ba nd s. We
hall negle 1 \ · r ping eflt:cts and restrict o ur discussion to the case in which
the light and hea \ _ ho i bands a re spherical a nd parabolic.
We u e th .... ra nd canonica l ensemble a nd a procedure analogous to that
empl yed f, r d nor . Onl y those cases in whjch either no hole or one hole
r d n a n acce ptor impurity a re co nsidered. For ho les the energy
h in verted compared to electrons: Ep ____, - Ep, £1 _..... - £ , .
iliLy tha t an acceptor impurit y state ha s p, l light holes with
·pin up. p1 li ght ho les with spin do wn. p 11 f heavy holes with spin up. a nd
Ph h a y holes with spin down c-otn be written as

(6.62)

her Eu is Lh ~ energy of the accepto r impurit y state. The probability that a

I ~-
. ingle ho le i. localized on an acceptor atom is

P(O, 0. 0 . I ) P(O, 0. l , 0) -t P(O. L 0, 0) + P( 1. 0. 0, 0 ) ..

P,~~P~
( --_~O.~O~)~
+~P~(~O .~O~
.O~.~l)~~
P~(O~,(~
) .~l.~O~)~P~(Of.~l.ro~.u~
- )J+~P~(~l.noli,l)
).~O)
( 6.63)
Semiconductor statistics
. inl ) Eq. ( .63) yields
u

(6.64)

r. ana logou. to that u~ed for donors, we find that the

1
1 s i 1 the valence band IS

(6.65 )

when: lla I· t 1 ,_
~ ,~.~n··· ntrali n of acceptor impurities, Et = Ev + £0 and
vV ... • • • '

E,,
i the acceptor i n1zat1 n energy. In Section 6.1.3 It was shown
(Eq. (6.34)) that

p = i-v- ,,, + 1-v-d r)(:_~ d( E,. -EpJ ' (6.66)

when the light and heav hole bands are spherical and parabolic.
Eliminating Ev - EF from Eqs. (6.65) and (6.66) gives

p2 l -
- - = - (N d + N- ch)e - ' jF~u, (6.67)
na- p 4

which is analogous to Eq. (6.54) for donors. The same limiting cases can be
analyzed for acceptors as were done for donors .
Comment. The case of an acceptor impurity such as boron can be
analyzed in the following way (Guggenheim 1953 ). A neutral boron
atom has an unpaired electron in the 2p shell. If a second electron is
added to pair up with this 2p electron and one takes into account the
pair of 2s electrons, the boron ion thus formed has the electron
configuration necessary to form four tetrahedral bonds with four
nearest neighbors. The procedure used for donor in Section 6.2.1 can
be applied, but with emphasis on occupation num bers 11 == I and
n = 2 rather than n = 0 and n = I . For Group III accep tors. n === 0
corresponds to a state with the unpaired 2p el tron r mo\·ed. Thb
state has
_ <
an ene rgy so h1g1
' 1 that it can be neg! ct d. .
f ~sm_g the gr~nd canonical ensemble one can expre ~ th pwb•Ibiht}
0
mdmg a pa1r of 2p electrons (or no hole) n u rt n at m ~IS
e •~C2Er - L.")
I - pI ~ ~7fi:'----r~-"7.'::":::---- ( b.O~ )
4 e d(E, £, ) .:1(1£1 - £ 2 ) -

where E 1 'ind E 1,
.- ' ·~ are the enero-ies of th n = I • n '' == ~ :w ·
re, pect1vely £ " _ E b th •
dcnon11·11 . r ' . b~ , - . :._ - E, · and the fa t r of ~•rr •Jrs 111
erate St-11a' 0 .1 b ec·tus
c e" tl_1e acceptor grou nd ·tal~ i. lUI- 1· 1 IJ li ~-
''' n-
. l.:C <I OUnd n·l 11. 0 f ') ·p ,nd'
to· 1 1 . . . 1'' -rclectr n · n a bt n t 'mt:•Jff<.;' 1.. -
d 10 e that Is I o n ·· ·d . II 'Ill'
l'rec hole~ is tze mto the valence band. th 111 ·ntrJ
 x trinsic s mrcon uctors

111 itic 1', d ' li ncJ h y Eq::-. (6 46) and (6 .64) ror don r. ·rnd
n ht! 'n llc n rn the ge ne ral fo rm

(6.70)

and - · ign~ refer to.donors and acceptors, re -pcctrvely

Jt:ger~eracy of tbL· 1mpunt y level. The corresponding
r t he ln.:c earn e r concentration is

n}
p = I + !::'e
I
(6. 71)

6 2.3 Compensated semiconductors

In J compensated semiconductor both donor and acceptor impurities are
pr e1H and distributed randomly. Electrons from the donors will transfer
to th .l~.:t:ept r- thu crea ting ionized donors and acceptors, even at
T = 0 K. Partial mpensa tion means that not all donors and acceptors are (£) (±) (±) (!) (±) (±) (±)
ionized at T = 0 . Ideal c mpcnsa tion means that all donors and accep-
t r: are ioniz d at T = 0 K. In this section we trea t an1Hype semicond uctor
uch .l n- i tl1'H i partially compensated by acceptor impurities.
'j e

Let the con enlra ti ons of donor and acceptor impurities be nr~ and na. G G G G 8 8 8
rep ctivel '.' i th nt~ > n" . We assume, for simplicity, that the impurities are
group I m nt for tbe donors and group III elements for the acceptors . Fig.6.8
t th t mp ratures of interest, k 8 T « Eg. all the acceptor levels are Sl:hematic representation of eh:..:tron
o upied b lectrons transferred from donor impurities as indicated in the transfer from donor to a(ccptor
impurities.
i· gram f Fig. 6.8. Th co ncentra tion of neutral donors is given by n3
17~ = lld - lla - II. (6.72)

where n i th o ncentration of electrons thermally excited to the conduc-

ti n b nd.
F IIO\\ ing the analysis based on the grand canonical ensemble gi~ren in
S ti n .2.1. we can write the fraction of donor levels that are occupied by
le tr ns as

(6.73)
le
1 .
1itf- E,.J

The nergy difference Ec - Er can be eliminated using Eq. (6.28) and the
res ult ·impliti.ed with the aid of Eq. (6.57) to give
_ 1 N ell
. _ •iF.··· = I
l + -rN <e + -c- . (6.74)
2n 11
 . ductor statistics
Sem• con
n I rearranging yields
111gE
n(n + lla ) _ N''ff
-J. ( '
(6.75)
II - fl o - II

compensation b)

II- 1' (6.76)

1 + n,,,l + [( I - ~
N '"
) 2 + 4 ..!:L]
11 N" 12
'
\ ·here 11 1 g1v n bJ Eq. (6.- ).
E. ample6.4: Conducti n el ctron concentration with compensation
present
Dcri ·pr 1 n for n with 1111 >> nu i- 0 and ksT « Et~ or
kBT » Ed·
Solution. ln the ver low-temperature limit, 11 is much less than 1111 and
can be neglected compared to the latter. We then obtain directly from
Eq. (6.75) the result

(6.77)

which shows clearly that n decreases as lla increases. In the high-

temperature limit with both n 0 and nd very small compared to""'
Eq. (6.76) can be expanded in Taylor series to give
(6.78)

corresponding to all noncompensated donors being ionized.

The Fermi energy can be calculated by eliminating 11 from
~qs. (6.28) and (6.76) and solving for Er. The res ult is a straight-
torward generalization of Eq. (6.58).

6.2.4 Majority and minority carriers

In previous sections we have seen that electroni tran ttil)ns frorn th

valence
. band to tile cond uction · band mmtnns1c
. . _ . mat n;.tl [ ~a d toe lcctrl,n
111 the conduct"
~ , ,· . ton b'ctn d and holes 111. the valence band. ur hernJOil_. ·· th'-'
t:xcttatJOnofdonor . ·
nnpunttes· · 111
· n-tvpc material and .tL'l: pt r tmpu
· ri ll ·' 111.
p-type
..
matenal.
le-~ds t -. . c1
•
· ·
o con uctton electron:; aml .tkm:c we~.
1 1 · r~ P~-,
lively. Our dtscu · .1 . . . t· rtlll
. . h ston the L~oncentratJOns of fr ~.: ~:arnl:L' 1!1 t h~ 1,tt . .
°
c.tses. owevcr did '10 t d trJtl J!l'
or ho 1es. 111
- '
n-type nnt .· 1
evclop explicit c:xpressit n h 1 Lh~: ~nnl' 11 .
ri _, lt\•rll
int~.:rb·lnd . . < etta and electrons in p-t Ypl: m:.tkn:d th 11 1 ·
L excttatton We .• . ..:
,
· nnw reme-dy lh1s d ltl: H:IK)

624 1
· · · n-type material
<·onsiJer -
.t '->Cmh.:oncluct 1. . I
-
~..:nergy E . °\\·ll 1 d o nor con · ·n LJ au n
-o/ , .LnL1 no cc nrp . .. __ .
L11S.illlt g "ICL\."[1{ t)r 111lf1Urtll
 Extn tc s miconductor 117
I l h~.: \ :1"1 tl it n l th~ llll J1U rit \ cl ·tn •n" :1 1 •
<1Jl 1l
'l1k t s
.tnd I 1c \;tl ·n ·._ I a nd i" 1.'. ssc nt i<tll y c "1111ph.: tc ly
lllo..nn " ill then h ' .;;i tuatcd hct\Wcn tlw dnncH c ncrg · lev:,
II llll l I tho.: l'lllh.ludi ~l n h :tn 1 Er as "P ~clfi ·d hy •q ((, 5LJ).
Ill.::_! t ·mpc n turc thl· dnnGr impurities [1f"OQressi\l:lv inn i/'
r~ :lr p · a nd C\· cntu ~ill~ l'a lls hc k \v the clnnnr cnct:l! . , , ,.,1
"scn tta ll) all dnth)r impurities arc i<..l ll i7cd. and the con-
nn luc t t(l ll clcctr~.,llls is equal to the .;a turati o..l n range va lue :

( 6 .7l))

r l llCt ~Le in th ~ _lcmpcra turc. th e rm;il excitatio n of carriers

p hcc m e smn1l11.:ant and lead ~ t the 11roductit'~ . n o l. llo l". ·
es 111
d
111 .

l)f1 CC I1 ra ti 11 fJ is given by th e Ja w of mass action nn = 11 2

/' I •

arner concentratto n a t the temperat ure of interest.

q. (6.50) that Eq. (6.79l remains a verv
• J

,
1r
p =_!..._ . (6.( 0)
lid

F 1 at ro m tc:: mpera ture the intrinsic carrier concentrati on n, i

I: • J0 "cm ' . Jl the concentration of donors nd is I0 16 cm - 3, the hole
1

c n c:ntrati n f1 a t r om temperature is 2.2 " 104 cm- 3 which is ver, mall

c Jmp;tr d to b th lid a nd ll j . For this reaso n, the conduction electrons in an
n-type material ar ·ailed the majority carriers ami. the holes are called the
minority carriers. Jn the sat uration range the conducti vity of n-type material
depend~ nly o n the do no r impurity concentra ti on; the minority holes give
J negligible ntri bution to the conductivity.

6.2.4.2 p-tJpr material

If' the ·emi nductor is doped only with acceptor impurities, the con-
du ti,it i p-t pe, a nd there are no compensating donor impurities:
" " = 0. Jn th aturation range.
(6.<' I )

· th tem p ra t ure inc reases, interba nd excit·ttion of conduction electrons £

an h I in reases .
Pr edin g as in the case of n-type ma terial. \VC find under typica l con-.
diti<. n that the conducti n electron concentration is much less than that ot Fig.6.9
th hole ·. Consequently, in a p-type material. the majority carriers are holes Density-of-st~II C'~.. Fermi distrihutiLlll.
anJ freL· carria cnnccntratll)l1 \ dStb
'llh..l the minority carriers are conduction electrons. , . cnc:;rgy fl11· n- :.111d r-t~ pe ma t · ti ~ I.
fn - ig. 6.9 arc presented schematic representa ti on~ ot the~ denstt y-of-.
tat ' · Fermi di -rribution, and free ca rrier concentratt ons as JunctiOns of
en m~ fo r n-and p-type semiconductors.

6.2.5 Contribution of excited impurity states

As i cu~ t d in C hapter 5, the donor ground state in Si is six~l.-old degen-
. · · · .l.tl1e~ de"Ciler·tcv
c r~Jte \\ Ithm eftect tve mass theory t c. • J
due to spm
-
1s ne!!lected .
~·
Semiconductor statistics
. .. ,d \\ ith each of the ix conduction band mini
f• , I 'I t.;l<l 1.: • . h d flla.
, • II , orhit 111 t ractt n sp 11ts t e cgeneracy to pr due .
1
r11.: ' •
1 ·lunnol h: .t ~.:\ . - · ~ · "d , . . d· d ei.l
n tate. i.l tnplet T 2 exute st<tt.e. an ~ .oublet £ excit d
·pltlllng is ~ 10 mcV a~d .the 12- £ sphttmg is"' 1 meY. Ir
u~.;h that the sphttmgs are comparable to k T
( ~HI t hem di fied to in~l~de the c~ntributions of~h~
Ul 11 nnore there are addttlonal exctted bound states
i 1 ~ ~ 2 • J.,, ... leveL. These levels are typically sufficientlv
d 1s 'tHH l eLi ,.1 bttnd edge that they can be neglected if r~d 1 « i. l<
In JC th our·fold degeneracy f ~h~ donor. gro~nd sta~e m effective
mas. theory i split by the valley-o~·b1t t~terac~IO~ mto a smglet ground
·t al and a triplet ~:x ited :tate. C n 1derallons s~mtlar to those for Si apply
abo to the contnbution r excited donor states m Ge.
The grand c·.u1 nical n embl enables one to account for the occupancy
f excited state ry ea ily. lf the system has impurity levels of energies
E,k, Eu ... . and oc upati n numbers n"' n p, .. . the probability of the
c urrencc of thi tat in a n ensemble of members containing all different
p ible occupation numbers may be written as (Tolman 1938)

(6.82}

where degenerate level are not accounted for explicitly and we are
focusing on donor impurities. Let us now assume that an impurity ion can
trap only one carrier. Since the values of nk , 11£, . .. are restricted to 0 or I. the
occupation numbers must satisfy one or the other of the constraints
... = 0 (6.83a)

(6.83bl

In the latter case one of the occupation number s is unity and all the others
are zero. The occupation number that is unit y can be any one of them.
however. .The normalized probability that one impurity level is occupied
can be wntten as

(6.84)

where

( ..S5 l
IIJ.., Il , ..

and the .cons•·t1·a· · d ·

< Ill 1 state In Eq. (6 R1b)
lf ar1 · ... - app I1.es•
nnpuntv level 1·5· d . ·· f" 1 wr
~ . each of th "' . · egene ra te With energy £ 1, .md dL·gen r~t ') · ~
·the
- ' v· l, ·ese. deuenen o
t•I I . .
c e eve swtllha vett ' ui.:·u p.tll "lnn unl
h ·tk , l'n
r l, ,
c1 ue unny 111 tu. tl . . . .
n, HI gl vmg nse to g,, i<.kn i ,d ll.: rm 111 th _wn .
1
Takinu into ., .
o « count the deg . . . . p 11 tl 1t~
alternativ furm encutCies ul ·til k\ b.' ·L ~,.· 11 · pre ..

I • I
 References 11 9

I - I" ( I - pI ) = - ---==---'-'•_
1
-.,.,---
I + <r ./ ' i(/ - r id .
~, .., ,,
I

,.ith - q. (6.2X) gi,es a rclatinn that det~.:rmin c3 tht:

r /\r
1
L' it £ 1 - 1:, ) = -=-----===---'-1._1--:---c-- (6.88 )
,.,.....er ,l! ! ( f, I - C,.) ·
I olu ti n or Eq. (6.8R) yields the Fermi energy as a functi o n
ture. Th lectron cone ntration can then be calculated from
or \lari u ~ tempentures. Electrons thermally excited from the
...tnd can b acL·ounted ror as in Eq. (6.61 ). Th~ case of acceptor
im ntl can h h ndled in similar fashion.

Prob ems
1. akuhttl.: the onc ~ ntrati0n of conduction electrons and holes in intrin ic Si at
3 lO • m the approx imation of spherical. parabolic valence ha nds. The values
of the required a ramercrs are: Eg = 1.14eV. r = 6, m; = 0.92m, m; = 0.19m,
m 1 = O. lflm. m"" = 0. 2m.
on. id r a am ple of Si doped with As to a concentration " d = 10 17 cm - 3
(a ) Calculate the nLentration of electrons occupying impurity levels at 300 K.
(h) DeduLe th co n entrations of both electrons in the conduction band and
hole in th \'alence band at that temperature.
( ) Oedu tb value of the Fermi energy.
The \'alue of tht: impurity ionization energy £" i · 0.03 cV.
3. For the a f donor impurities find explicit expressions for EF in the two

Ia) ( '!!,)e£, ks T « I (\veak doping)

rV
'
b ( ~~~) E., ' ks T » 1 (low temperature).
r.\'c
4. n. ider n-G e with As impurities and singlet A 1 ground state and tripl.et T1
· g1vcn
exciled sta te ionization energ1es · · T a bl e ).
m ~ I F
. o.r lltJ ---:- 10 em.. - " .',
10
·md
neglectitH! higher bound ·rates. calculate EF as a funct1on of tempel:ttu~e T
ov r th range 0 _ T _ 150 K and plol EF versus T. Calculate II as a lunLIJon
r T nd plot 11 versu T.

References
-· . Gugoenheim . Proc. Phrs . Soc . Lone/. A66, 121 (1~ 53 l· . ·k l95t<).
P. T. Lande berg. Senutonductors
. ·
one1PI10.1p, 11 ~)r.~(lnterscJence
. · · NewYo1,
S. Tei tler and R . F . Wallis, J. Phys. Chen/. So/uls .16. 71 ( 1960 >· . . . 1 Press.
R. . Tolman, Pnnnples . . oj . .s·lafi.\IU
.. ..aI M'l c·haii/CS (Oxford 111VCIS11)
r rd . 193 ).
 • •
t1on tn
du t rs

Phonons
t r ''IIi!' llfJfJT'O YiiiWfinn the equatiOnS of llll)tion are linear in the 7.1 Equations of motion
I 'Lllk nt L 111 0 111:?111~ Of the atoms.
11 '' 'lc>d£'.fi·equ211 ·ies of a monatomic linear chain arc confined to 7.2 Monatomic linear chain
nd b,t,,·cn z rn and a maximum frequcncv.
mwl m d ~frequencies oLt diatomic linear ~!win lie in the acoustic 7.3 Diatomic linear chain
m h ( "II" the oprical hronch \l.'ith a gap between the branches.
111lil7llllll lh •or.I provides a simple treatment or long-wavelength 7.4 Three-dimensional crystals
1!' ' i h r:.nion.
11 n di ,pcn i 11 curres are determined by ineluslic newron sca11eri11g. 7.5 lattice dynamical models

h rl ra ng interactions are insufficient to account for the experimental

lla. Th deformability of the electron charge distribution is taken into
• LL{ unt b~ th _h ell model and the hone/ charge mndel. The partial ionic
chara t r of the electron-pair bonds and the effective charge of the
atom i · tah n into account by the def(mnatinn dipo/(> model. The linear
rt'. ponsc! II IC'Ihod provides full phonon dispersion curves without fitting
par:.1m t rs to experimental curves.
In '\ nornwl m odc o( vibratiun all atoms vibrate with the same frequency. 7.6 Normal coordinate transformation

Tht.: \lbrati nal specific heat obeys the Dehye T 3 -hm at low temperatures 7.7 Vibrational specific heat

a nd th Dulong Petit lmr at higher temperatures.

nham1 me effects arc responsible for rhernwlt.!xpansion and di{fit. il'e 7.8 Anharmonic effects

thermal conductiritr.
7.9 Impurity effects on lattice vibrations
lmpuriti ::; and other defects can give rise to /ocali::.ed modt!s.
7.1 0 Piezoelectric effects
Pic:oelecrricitr can increase the elastic moduli and the speed of sound .
7.11Effects of stress-induced atomic
Appl i d . "!I· s.,·can cause shifts and split tings of electronic and vibrational
displacements
en rg) kvels .

. n imp rta nt ~oun.::e of deviation s from period icit .. in a crystal i.s the dis-
pia ·eme nt of an atvm from it s equilibrium position. These dt>\'tatton anse
nat rail fr m the thermal energy of the atoms. If the crystal i in a stabk
n lgu ra ti n. the displ<tcem~nt or an all Ill leads to •t rorce tl~at tend s to
re t re th a t mtl) its equilibrium position. However. the ktnettc energ) ol
the at 111 cau ::, ~ it to OVLrshoot the latter. As a res ult the atom \'Jhrates
 l attice vibrations in semiconductors
2
. . .b . osition. The forces of interaction between atoms
about tt equt 1I n u 111 11 . . . I . 'b
. · 'b r Gt iu ns together. g1vtng nse to att1ce v1 rations.
couple the a tomtc VI L

7.1 Equations of motion

A de el pcd in the Bo rn- Oppenheimer appr?ximation. discussed in
Chapter 2 the potentia l energ~' for the nuclear ~otwn, ~( R) : ts g_Iven by ~he
' ttm o f the el~ tr n ic e ne rg tgenvalue, E.: (R ), an? the JOn- Ion mteract100
r ,R) At moder ate temperatures for which· the nuclear
e ne rgy. , \ · · displace-
ments ar mall. we can expand the nuclear potentia 1 energy m powers of
their dtsplacem nl com po nents uo ( ft;:).

tf.>( R ) = rl>o +L 1>0( €h:)t-1u(tK) +~L L 1>,:~ ,3( fn-; e' 1

tl- )
Lt>l'l - l·,;o l'tc.' ii

X u~, \'Pt;: ) liJ ( tn' t;:') + ""'""'

L L ""'
L ;r,
'l'n;h u ;,.., {_t'' t;: t., tull K. II ·)
("

f no f'ti'.t3 (" ;.-;"--(

(7.1)

where
II= R- R (O) (7.2)

and the superscript zero denotes the equilibrium value. The terms up to and
including the quadratic terms are the harmonic terms, while those terms of
higher order than quadratic are anharmonic. Since the right hand side of
Eq. (7.1) is a Taylor series, the coefficients have the interpretation

;r,.
'l'o d
(
Ln-;f..I K.)
J·
=
Ul/0 (
a ) 'V
;r,.

(!..;, )Du,,( t' r~.' ) u=O

I .

3
;r,. 1 -.' (n
'*'o t £" ")
.tK.; f.' t;:; K = ,. ..
oun (£,.,_,)au 3 (f'"''
CI <P .
)EJu_· (f"
, I . (7.3)
. . h·"_
J· u=O

From the symmetry of partial derivatives. we have the rela ti n

if>o.,'J(£1'\,:J!'K.') = <l> Jo(f'l..:':~r~.. ) (7A)

~it,h similar relations for if>n 1h (LH:l'r.-'; f"h·") obtained b y p m lU ting l HO.
f! K {J, and £" K. 11f.
T~e solution of the Schrodinger equation for the n u I~I . Eq. (2.4). is
facthtated by solving the classical problem o f them tion fth nu ·I i. The
classtcal equations of motion are given hy a set fequa!ll. n L r, hn:h thl'se
for nucleus e,.,_, are

with o: = \. v - R , · -..
· ' · · - · estnctmg ou rsel es tn the har ll)fil ~ ll.:ml t ( ll
we eva luate the right h •·llld sic!·~~ l,>t. q . 1' 7 .:>- ) : till l l h t.tln
.

H D~ u .. (lj" )
I I i) { -' =
- •I\ ' ' ( f'•·
n
) -
 Equations of motion 12

(f',,') ;lrl: I'Cr ' · St' lha1 all atom" <If· 111
Jtltlp1 llll' llS.t h c r ' L anhclhlr~)r · ·;JCtingnnan y; 1 tnm ; h~n c

( 7.7)

11hcrm r . if all atoms arc chsplaccd rigidly according to

/( j f' h'' ) = ( (~ 1 •
(7 .8 )

n"tanL. n relative motiun of the atoms occur, and no

: hen e,

L
I' .I J
4>,..] t 1-1· ·'1-1') -() 1 = o

L
,.,.,,
<D 0 -1 (th·: ft' 11-' ) = 0. (7.9)

E u U 1 7. ) tat s the condition of infinitesimal translational invoriance

that m.t he ati fied by the force constants <ll ( r;,; f.'t,'). From this con-
ditio! and repla ing by J , \Ve obtain the alternative form

c1>, J ": P"") =- L '<I>~, ( f K; e'"''), (7.1 0)

(' ti'

wh re the prime n the sum denotes that the term with f.' K' = f.l\. is omitted .
e no\\ rewrite the equations of motion in two forms that will prove to
e u ful. in_ Eq. 7.7). Eq. (7.6) becomes

3-u(.J th'.) "" 1 1 f)/

10 = - L 8( .K.; f. l'i, )u:J (t:
I
(J(l <1> 0 1\. ) . (7.11)
l ' K'.j

Eliminating <I> ,J 1\ ; 1\.) from the latter equation with the aid of Eq. (7.10)
]i ld

(7.12)

B th f rms of the equations of motion just obtained are linear homo-

gen o u difrerential-difference equations. This suggests that we seek plane
wav ol Jtions of the form
I
- 2 f11 ( . ) i (q R ( )- .,;t] (7.13)
11 11 ( Pt,:: q, I ) = M ,., '" n h (' ,

in which W ,., ) is a measure of the amplitude of the wave, q is the w~ve

vector, and u. is the angular frequency. Substitution of this trial solutiOn
into Eq. (7 .12) gives the linear. homogeneous algebraic equations

L [D A"-"-'; q) - w 2 6~.1~6ti"' J WJ( n') = 0,

(7 .14)
K' .J
 . . miconductors
lattice vibrattons m se
2
\\here

. f h~ dynamical matrix for the crystal. If we impose periodic

ts an dem(:nl L L c · · 1 h 1
· , d.t 1ons 011 th..: , t m1c cltsp acements. t eva ues of the wave
hl undar ' t.:On l ~ , · d - · ··
. 1 )with/\ ~ q. Un e1 penod1c1ty. theforce
·ctor q < n~ "Pt'l 111 cd hyEq · ( - -- . . - ·
1.: ·' II - (';;')de( ~n d nly on the dlllerence t =
c1.Hl tants ~l,, > n.. · E ·
e-
f' and not on
' . .. tel'·' n~cq uen tl y. we can rewnte q. (7.15) With the aid
{ an d { " P<1J,1 -' · ·
of Eq. ( J.l) as

'
D.,~( Hh;q
\L
= ( M ".-k f ".-·)- 2 - .
c;p,~ . J (On~;ftl..')e'q
R
(I_ (7.16)

The 11 m tri i. 1solution of Eq ·. ( 7.14) requires that the determinant oft he

en !ficients of the amplitudes W -J( tt') be zero:

(7.17)

This is the secular equation. If the crystal is three-dimensional and has

r atoms per primitive unit celL the dynamical matrix has dimensions
3r x 3r, and the secular equation has 3r ei!.!envalues for u.r~ for each value of
q. These eigenvalues are distinguished by the branch indexj. For a stable
crystal the eigenvalues must be non-nega tive. The sq uare roots of the
eigenvalues are the frcq uencies of the normal modes of vibration of the
crystal and are design a ted by v..1qj. They are conventionally taken to be non-
negative. A plot of w qi versus q constitutes a phonon dispersion curve. After
the normal mode frequencies are calculated. they may be substituted into
Eq. (7.14) and the corresponding amplitudes ~V (t/ : qj ) determined. The
latter are the eigenvectors of the dynamical matrix.
T_he eigenvectors can be chosen to be orthonormal. A particularly con-
veme_nt choice is designated by e 08 (qj ). for \-Vhich the orrhonormality
cond1t10n tak s the form

L e,.Jqj )en,. (qj' ) = IJ/ .

The property of closure is also sa ti sfied :

( _[ ll
 M o natomic linear chain 12

c;tfc ranch . 1 h(' nt hn l\.\ ' hran (' hc'> ha 'l: their atl)mi c di-;-
l['l'lld t •tllar I l l q an I :trL· ·ailed transver e acoustic branches.
I ru11.. lks L<lll he l'lh':-. n ::-;ud'l that the di splaccm ·nts nfthc
'l111.1l ll I h i ~l: I r the oth r. In similar ra
•hton the nnrmal
'J'Itc.tl h r~ltll:h · l·an he classiticd a · lo ncitudinal or tr;:Jns-
l 'I 111 a htgh -symm e t r~ direction . the hrat~·hc~ have a mix~d
t 111'\CI''i • ·haraL·ter.
cmtc nd ULI 0r ()r the diamond or zinc-blcnJc st ructurc
ms pt:r unit II. There are six pho no n branches of which
"11 ·al 'vYith tw o transvc r a nd one longitudinal and three
th l\\ Iran. , erse and one lou!litudinal.

1. onatomic linear chain

llu trat th g neral procedures 2iven in the preceding sections by
1111 k exampl -. Th first case th a t we consider is the monatomic a 1- t 1+1
J nL r h in\\ ith n ar t neighbor interactions. We assume only one atom
Fig. 7.1
pt:T 1rimlll\e unit ell. Both the,.,. index and the o index can he suppressed. Diagram or monatomic linear chain" it h
A dt't=ram nf t h., · ~ t m i · shovd1 in Fig. 7 . l . Referring to the equations of nt~are~ t neighbor interactions.

m 1tion giH~n b E q . 7.11 ). with nearest neighbor interactions only, the

nonzero force o n ta nt. are <I? ( , I ), <I> ( C. C) , and <I> (£, 1 - I ). From
Elj.(7A)an thc p ri dicityofth chain,(P (f, C l )and<P (C. £- l ) mustbe
1ual and have th ·a me value for all . If u( e+ 1) > u( ), we see from
Eq C' 11) that th fo rce constant <I> ( €. I) must be negative in order to
ha\'e the f r na t 111 ' act in the direction of increasing as it should from e,
ph~ -j al con id ration . Setting

<1?{t, , + I = <I>( , f - l) = - a , ( 7.20)

v.eobtain from Eq. (7.10)

<I>( P,f) = 2a. (7 .21)

' io2 the res ults the equations of motion become

/vf
a,- u,.('') = a [u(f+ I )+ u(f - 1) - 2u( )]. (7.22)
fJt-

The elements or the dynamical matrix specified by Eq. (7 .16) are given by

D(q) = -l2a-
I iqu
ae - ae
- icta ]
.M

=~
?a
(I - cos qa )
M
= 4a . " / 2) ,
- sm-(qa
(7.23)
M
 . . miconductors
lattice vibrations '" se
t The secular equation. Eq. (7.17), yields the
"here u IS thL la!tice ct:I st an .
normal mode f req ue CIC ~
I

wq = (~) \ in(qa/ 2) . (7.24)

. w·Ive vect r q specified hy the periodic boundarv

a1ut: o r lh ~ < .
= lf = 27fn/ Na. where N ts the number of atom
ThL · • -
. ,
t:ond I 10!1!1 lv, +I) u(i ) are ,_ · .
. l1 c ham
m 1 · .rn d 11 1·s, an integer. I be vectors of. the rec1procallatttce
. G are
.
gtVt:11
b G_
] - -'' 11
1.,.. /[,t· For the case under consideratiOn, Eq. (7.13) for the
displacement reduces t

. ) _ l .f -
U,f (f . { - II
t r;rr i ( qal - c.v•l )
- ~·r e . (7.25 )

If we augment q by a r ciprocallattice vector G. we obtain

''· f ') -_ t~-~

u,1+G ( r, VJ
- ~- rr
r.veif' (q~)af-...:1]
·
1/ 2
4 (j
' J'vl
= 11(/f; t ). (7.26)
n.
0.6 Thus, the physically distinct sets of displacements corresponding to the
0-+ normal modes of vibra tio n can be restricted to values of q in the first
Brillouin zone. There are therefore N normal modes corresponding to the :V
0~------~------+----­ values of q in the first Brillouin zone. One can have longitudinal modes with
- rr / a 0 rrla q
the u( f) parallel to the chain axis or transverse modes \.vith the u([) per-
-+- First Brillouin z.one -1
pendicular to the axis. The force constants for these two cases would in
Fig. 7.2 general be different.
orm, I mode fn.:4ucno.:ic~ vcn.us wave A plot of the normal mode frequencies versus q is shown in Fig. 7.2. Forq
vector for a monatomic linea r chai.n.
small, w,1 increases linearly with q. At larger q, w,1 increases more slowly and
reaches its maximum value at the Brillouin zone boundary. The normal
mode at the zone boundary has atomic displacements that alternate in sign
moving along the chain, but have the same magnitude.

7.3 Diatomic linear chain

No real semiconductor has only one atom per primitive un.it cell. Since
group IV semiconductors as well as 111--V semicondu tors ha\ l\\ L) awm~
Mt M, 1- a - -\ ~er primitive celL one can get a qualitative picture of tho>ir n mn l ,·ibra-
-oJ'\N~W~
(J 2/- 1 21 2/+1 tronal modes by considering linear chains , ith eith r 1 t rn;.lll ng t'on:c
consta~ts or alternating atomic masses. We shall di · us th httt r "'xphL·itl:
Fig. 7.3 and reter the form er to a problem.
I 1 gram ol d1at mic linear chain wit h
altern ating rna ..: .11 1 •md A4" and
onsider the diatomic linear chain, ith alt rn:.tttn ~ m.t . e \/, .wJ \/~
1 ea rt~l n cig hh,lr interact io ns. and nearest neighbor interacti ons as shown in Fi~. ./\ ~ .1 lllll · pt'nl JJ .
bound a rv condr· tr'or1s ··t 1 ·
, J
· ~
• wr 1 ' umt LTlls in the p riod Thl n Hl fl e
1·n1 ·nl
ol the Ioree con ·t· t
•
. .
s <~n matnx are ol the fllllnwin g f nn:
•T>U. 1: e. ~ ) = •I>U' l· t 1 , ) , h · ..,
' . - ·- = '+'(f , _ ;f 1. 1

<(l ({ , I : I. I) = •1• I. 2; ,
 Dia tomi li near cham
127

I 11( / - I. 2) - 2u({_ l )j ( 7 ::!Xa)

,·1· u(i. 2 )
11, ,)1 :: - a [u( l -1 l. 2) + 11({, 1)-2u (l , 2)j.
( 7.2Hb)

f ll1c J) namiGd matrix are

(ll:q) = i\fj" 1
(2!T) . IY2 _;q ) = M ;- 1 (2a)
(7.29a )

(7.29b)

(7.29c)
ht . UJ on ub'tituti 11 int Eq. (7.17) give the secular equation
I 2(T l a
( I +e- 'qa)
I - - uF
J/1 I

1I -
(A1 1 llh_ )'S
(T
2a = 0. (7.30)
I (I + e lqu - . -u.r
1

(Jf, j\12r= 'h

EYaluating the de t m1inant and olving the resulting quadratic equation in

2
ield
....· )

M, 2] I}
'' ( 1-a )',.~
qa 2
MJ
I ~ 4 . , : _lv/~
- I ± [(- I - - Slll~-
Af:_ .~1 1 M1
: (2a)
112

'.M,

I 4i\1 .· 2
[ - M J lA1
2

sm 1..:...
qal ~} ' ( 7.31)
'

l 2
At:oustic
branch
0+-------------~r--
wher 1 i · th r duced mass of the two types of atoms: 0 !!.. q
a
I I I
-=-= - +-. (7.32) Fig. 7.4
/t4 M, M1 Nr>nnal mode frequencies versus wave
vector for a diatomic linear chain.
n islent with the fact that there are two atoms in the primitive unit celL
th re are two branches in the lattice vibration spectrum corresponding to
th plus and minus signs in Eq . (7.31 ). The branch with the minus sign is the Table 7.1 Normal mode frequencies fl)f
acoustic branch labeled byj = I, while the branch with the plus sign is the the di·Homic linear chain a t two values
optical branch labeled by j = 2. The normal mode frequencies ;.Uql and wq2 of the wave vector q
ar the appropriate square roots of the right hand side of Eq. (7.31). They q "-'q l wq~

ar pi tted as functions of q in Fig. 7.4. I

It i · worth while to work out explicit results for certain limiting cases,
namely. q = 0 a nd q = n/a (Brillouin zone boundary). The normal mode
0 0
c~~r
(~~)!
t

frequ n ies are easily evaluated from Eq. (7.31) and are listed in Table 7.1
for th ,",.1 1 > Ah,.
7T

(J C"Y
Ali
 .
L t1ce
"b
I ro
t"tons in semiconductors
12 · d. f the atomic displacements for these
tl e. mplllu e o b . .I
1 , ,Jfllll r 1 ai : d Jrl'( 1) and W (2) may be o tatneu from
. , lhc.tmpl1 1Ut:s ·
IJnut n · · .
q 7.14 hi h LIke th form

t! - iqa ) vV (2) = 0 (7.33a j

a I I +e''' ')W( I + (~ -w") W (2) ~ 0 (7.33b )

(M1 1-;.) 2
· B bstitutin 0o the appropriate values of the normal
f r theca eofmtt=r l. Y u . · h
mod fr q uen le· ·mt o et'ther of t hese equati o ns, o ne can d e. te rmme t he
· · b . . W( l ) -111 d W (7) fo r the wave vectors ofmterest. T e
relatwnsh1p etw en " - . . . . . d ( 7
·.
amplitudes - ( 1) an d (2) ofthe physical displacements u(fi 1) dn u f-)
are related to W( l) and W(2) by
I I
- -:;
2
U( l ) = M ~ W(l ) . (2) = IV1 2 ""W(2). (7.34 )

as can be seen from Eq . (7.13). .

To illustrate this procedure, let us consider the acoustic branch for £f = 0.
Then w = 0, and Eq. (7.33a) or Eq. (7 .33b) yields

I I
M~2 W( I ) = .M ~ 1 W(2) .

Eliminating W( I) and JY(2 ) with the aid of Eq. ( 7.34), we obtain

U(l) = U(2) ( 7. 35)

which corresponds to a rigid tra nsla tion of the crvstal. The th r limi ting
cases can be worked out in similar fa shion . The . results ~1re p re-enl d in
Table7.2forthecaseM 1 > M 2 . Wesee thatfortheoptical bra n h l tq= O.
the two atoms in the unit cell move in opposite directi o ns. r th a' ustic
branch at the Brillouin zone boundary. only the atoms o f th hea"i~. r mass
move. whereas for the optical branch. only the a to ms of the light r ma ·s
move.

Exa~ple 7.1: Vibrations of a sq uare lattice

Denve an CXj)ress· .. h
. . ' Ion tOr t e no rmal mode freq uenci _ l)f .1 m 1 na-
tomic simple sc1uare I· tt·· · . . . .
• • · c1 Ice wn 11 nea re. t nerghbor 1rHerm t1 t
Solution. The Ia 1tice is . . d ~ · ·ch
I assume to ha ve lattict:· c on !anl l \\I
t 1e :.:It oms labeled bv in1 ~o , .. 1! " • • • 1 '
.} cocrs r. 111. fhe equatll)IIS t::lt m 11 '11 1.1
 Three-dime nsional crystals 129

tT II, l,m t- u, l ,m- 2u, ,IJI) + r(u,_,, , I ··l lit,"' I - 2u,,)

- ,T 7',,, I / '' ,, 1 - ..."l l'1m ) t- r ( r, 1 1'\ Ill ,, I• 111 ) I ' 1111 )
-- L.. •

h1.. 1: II. I' ~liT the \._1' L'Oll1pL)Jll'llt.

. Of l.hsphceJll'-' 111 i\1 . tl
• '- . .
IS lC atomiC
m ..,_._ 1~ !hi.' central lm~ce constant. and r is the noncentral force
• n..,t 1111. Slllcc t~1c equat1ons of motion arc uncoupled . we can take
. '!utll n ~~ r the tnrm

t'i m = U

Jnd

ll t /11 = 0

The equations of motion for the u-displacements yield normal mode

fr q uencies specified by

w
..: -_ 4a
-
[sm
. 2 - (qxa) + -sm-
r . , ((/ra)
- -- J
M 2 a 2 '

while tho ' e for the ·-displacements yield

u.J 2 =4r
- [sm
. 2 - . ., - . , (q- ·-a)] .
(q.ra) - -cr sm- 1

/11 L.. T 2

The wave vector components q_\· q,. lie in the ranae - rr/ 1 to + rr/ a. For
waves propagating in the x-direction, the u-displacement modes are
longitudinal and the v-displacement mod es are tran ve rse. For pro-
pagation in the y-dircction. the assignments are reversed. The model
treated in this example is the Rosenstock- Newell model (Rosenstock
and Ne\vell 19 53).

7.4 Three-dimensional crystals

7.4.1 Elastic continuum theory
Since real semiconductors are three-dimen iona l ·tncl ha ·e at l , t t\ o
atoms per primitive unit celL the sec ular equation th at must he
determine the normal mode freq uencies. - q . (7.17). in vo lv s a et rmi na nt
that i at least 6 X 6 in size. Anal yti c solution of thi -qu a t ion a rc r < . i "l!C
on ly in special cases. so one must use a mpuler r r th 'C n ral ca . h
~itua tion is further complicated by the fa ctthar th in t c r~llom i c intera tic n
are long range, even in homopolar ,·ernicunductor. such as Si and
(Herman 1959). In heteropolar semiconductors ~uch as a A . th Mom
are electrica lly charged ions for which the lon g range Co ulomb int r tl on
must be taken in to account.
 . m"•conductors
v"br tio '"
ca e -01. \: ' lll' ch considerable
. .
progress can he made
.
da tic l:On tin uum bm1t where the wavelength of
· h . rger th· n the lattice constant. For a cubic
e m ul: 1a 0 h
th fo rm jq ja << I.
n
·I • • , k ne can t en expand
hi~ c ndlh n t.l e~ .
, ,..· m p wers "f Ra{b) :

~ lln( f,.;) + L
aun(P~)
"·) e +b. K) RJ(o) 0Xi1
!-I

1 . 8 2 u,. (tn.)
+ - ~R(o) R(b) ?- o + .. ·. (7.36)
2~J G ~ ~ X~
· "f

.t t ' . g this e, pa sion into the equations of motion. Eq. (7.12), and
SU b t IUI I1 · f · f
· · tenn s through
retammg . e ond order ' we obtain the equa tlons o motiOn o
elasticity theory

P
a2u(r)
ot2 =
a·u(r)
Ctl i..7x2 + (Ct 2 + C44)
(8oxoy
v(r) 8w(r))
2

+ oxo:
2

8 2 u(r) D2u(r)) (7.37)

+ c44 ( a· J' ,· + az-' ,

plus two other equations obtained by cyclically permuting (u, v, 11') and
(x,y, z). We have expressed u as (u, v, w) , pis the crystal density. and Ctt·
C 12 , and C44 are the elastic moduli in the Voigt notation (Born a nd Huang
1954). The elastic moduli are linear combinations of the second order force
constants <Pa~:~ (€1'\,; f' K.1 ) . In Table 7.3 we present the elastic moduli for a
number of cubic semiconductors.
The equations of motion of elasticity theory, as expressed by Eq . (7.37).
are linear, homogeneous, partial differential equations which dmit solu-
tions of plane wave form

u(r, t) = [u(r,t),v(r,t),w(r,t)] = (U. v. W )eiq·r- tlq " . ( .38 )

w~ere U, ~· Ware amplitudes and cis the speed oft he wav . ub ·titution of
this form mto the equ a t.Ions o f motion
· y1elds
· a set of- three hne.1r h nw-
geneous algebraic equat· · v J h ·1
Ions m . / . W. The secular eq ua t10 \ h1c mu
be solved to provide a no t · ·. l 1 · . • i
n nv1a so ut10n mvolves a 3 3 det mu n.tnl :.t m

Table7.3 Elastic modHli (in fQII d ,

(after Harrison 19tiO. Boer 1990) ynej cm- or IQ lll Nfm~ ; f'Lh \a ri u: cubJ~: uu nJuclM

Cry~tal
c1 1 ('12
44 Crys tal
107.6 1:2.50
Si 16.57 57 7 lnP
<.ie 6.39 7.%
12 X9 In ~
Al!\ s 4 .1\3 0 .7 1
12.02 lnSb
Ga l' . .70 5. ~')
14. 12
6.25 Zn
J !\s II .Xi 7.115
~ . 32
•aSh ~ X-1 . lJ~
..j lll
..J .Q
 Three-dimensional crystals
131
ll l t i ~n •n ' '. There <1 r~ th ·reftll"l' t h rce solu tinn" In r ,. . i l nd
n h '11 th~.: '• bra tJnnal SJ"ll'l'trum t\lltt1 . , .. _ . . . .
. ' 1 t ~u c a t:oustu.: . snH.:e 1he
. lq/ '"l'S ' r r\' as lql goes to zero for eal.:h bran~.:h.
11
rtam h1 g,h-svmmetrv dirl'l'lion s· 1"t' .
~. · · prnpc-1ga1Jon. the 'iccuhr
n ,111 h ' I;._Klnred ·tnd · l) t' . 1.
.' _sl u IOns o transverse or longi ludinal
L

"~bl .uncd. We hst a lev.' of these cases:

1 (I m · cr:-.'-' "a"e. [100] propagation direction

II = (0. n,O) = (0. V.Oki<t(r - r, r)

I
,, = (C44jp)"i

hn,,it u ina I wave, [I 00] propagation direction

u = (u, 0, O) = ( U . 0, O) eiiJ(x-c,r )
I
C{ = (Cll/p)2

J. gi tudinal wave, [II 0] propagation direction

u = (u. v, 0) = ( U, V , O)eiq(x .r)f ../ie- iqc,t

I
C[ = [(c., + c, + 2Cl4)/2p]1.

The speeds of acoustic waves such as these three can be measured

experimentally using ultrasonic techniques (Truell et a/. 1969). From the
speeds and the density. the elastic moduli can be determined .

7.4.2 Three-dimensionallattices

The equations of motion for a three-dimensional lattice have the form

specified by Eq. (7.12). The force constant matrices ci> (/!n..• £'/'\,') are 3 x 3
matrices. For a crystal with periodic boundary conditions, the solutions
to the equations of motion can be expressed as plane waves given by
Eq. (7. I 3). If there are N unit cells in the crystal and r atoms per unit celL
the number of independent solutions is 3Nr. i.e., the number of degre~s of
freedom .
An important quantity th a t enters into the calculation o f many lattice-
dynamical properties is the frequency distribution function F(u.. . It is defined
as the number of normal m odes per unit fr quency range and a n b
expressed in term s of the d e nsit y-of-stales in reciproctl space Jeriv d in
Example 2.2,

n (7 .3 )
g(q) = ~ ·
(-11,

where the electron wave vector k ha been rep Ia e i by th ph nc n wa

vector q. In order to obtain F (w) . we need to sum up the numb r fn rma!
 . · ·conductors
Lattice vibrations m sem•
2
. _ , . 1 inr• in a _-;hell between __two const~nt fre_qu~ncy
111 J s \i tlh ftequLIH.:te Y ~.. ·e as shown in ftg . 7.5. Thts sum IS gtven
ur I ...." . at ,....,, an I i.JJ dw m q-spclL , ' -
~.: .

)'

F(...; rlr..u = f g(q)d\1

./shell

=- 0 -, ;· d ·q.
\
(21T( shell
F'g. 7.5
C""~n l:lnt frcquen.:} urfaces l
a c \I!Ctor p c. Th element volume between the constant frequency surfaces has a
base dS..! and an altitude dqJ.., ~ a that

/ r(3q = ;· dSU)dq J.. .

J shell

The element of frequency dw is related to dq.1. by

where V qw is the gradient of w and is the group velocity Vg of the normal

mode. One can then write for the element of volume

dw
dSu:dq 1.. = dS,_,_. - .

A simple case is provided by the isotropic elastic continuum with con-

stant speeds of transverse and longitudinal waves c, and c1 • The dispersion
relations are w = c,q and w = c q, and the surfaces of constant freq uency
are spheres. Then for branch},

) . r.,}
dS.; = q- sm () d(} d<P = -~ sin () d() d d.J.
c-.1

where e. c/J are polar angles. The frequency distribution functi on i · gi\ en by

0 1
2~ + \)
F ( ') = (? )3 / " sin(} df1 / " r/0 (
-7!" .fu .fo c c·I
Ow:!(?
I

= 2;2 ci~ t . AO )

Fr<.:LJLu:ncy cTHt)
12
and is proportional to :...'2
Real semiconductors .arc I· , .
Fig. 7.6 phonon speeds Th . e <lstJcally antsLHrop!L' \\'tt h n n · H1 't.tn l
. · c evaluation of Ft ·) . fr ·-
I r~.:qu~ m:y di trihutiu n I um:llli ll ve r,u:, L!llcncles over the entire B _. \w 1equtres accurall: ph t1Ll11 ~,.
11 11
\ ( tun lOne that arc dett:nni n d tth
lll.!l.jUt.: n~ y l' ·· ,blL..:rW ~;:he r I'J77 ).
mentally o 1 theoreti .. .,
c,, 11 Y·. 1 n c 'x··1m P1e ts
1111t:rcsting feature 1, 11
· s11Ll\·vn m ri ~ 1. t
. s lC pl~.:scnct• ur~ H .
pomts ch:.uactcr 17 eJ bv 'J 1 J an ove smgularities tn 1- (
typc:-;ufVanHuvc . rlwrrcJ, = O(Yc~n HL'\c ]t 51) h·r I ' l l ' l ' li"
singu attlJ s 111 1 - · II
vanes as \w, u..'l '. ·: UllL'-LIIllensit'Ha l .., t ·m f 11 'I~·' '
lh.:ar a stngui-JrJ.t\· -. tl d
~ ' . a I -<-\ .I !lU I ll I 1 ' Ill 11 I• ' '
 La tti ce dyn amica l mo dels for s mi conductor
133
"'-'I· In lh Itl'l'-dinH:n ... inn ' t1 "\ LI ' Ill ( {/ '1I 1u.: 11:1 'i.·lll ~ U 1;I -
· . '
I} I Il l 1.! <I:- 1- • ..._·1
. · ' C r i It ··tl
· 1' n 111 'i arc 1. stl Ia fl'l j an I lin i 1 · 1n
. 1
In ,1\.' I td .ll h..'l..' \\ ~th I\1,'1'Sl' ' lhC:\li'C:lll th e pntndi~o.· irv or a crv ·t·d
t~.l.~nltl.'al pnml~ in the surfa~.:cs (lr const~nl frcqu-·n ''v
- 11 1.. • •tn d hc nu nl 'illl l.! ulantJcs in th, r·- , , .. J Jstnnutton
. · · ·
. 1 I" 1) ~ L' ll:LJU~.:tll'y
I j llld Ill I d . '"'
t .

.5 Lattice dynamical models for semiconductors

phonon t. th~..· quantum of cncr'T)' l f ·1 1101-111 -1) 111 ) j ~ f · f
• _- . . '"'. ' ' t ll: o gtven requencv.
n ,11 tl ~ - ptmc:ral ta_sks L)l htttcc dynamical theory is to devdop ; 11
un kr t. tnd mg nl e.xpcnmcntal phonon dispersion curves · c , " .. .
' Tl· · · -· , . ,. . . ,1. . ,-<-·q,V\.:JSU S
q l'll \ . 1~.:s~ Lurvcs Lan be determmed by the technique of inelastic
n ·utP 1 s ·a ttenn~. ~ monoenergetic beam ~r neutrons of energy Ei and
"·I' \C ·tt r k , ts ~nCJdent on the crystal of interest . The neutrons interact
"1th th at ms oJ the crystal and are scatter d into a state with enernv E
~md \HI\'e 'ector k , . At the s·tme tim~ a phonon 0f energy 17v..JqJ is cr::ttcd
( toke." process) or destroyed (ant.t-Stokes process). Conservation of
n ~r-= ~ .md cry ·te:li momentum require that

1lu., q.i = Ei - E. Stokes (7.4la )

= E, - Ei anti Stokes (7 .41 b

q = kl- k~ Stokes (7.4lc)

= "~ - ki anti Stokes. (7.4ld)

By measuring the energies and momenta of the incident and scattered

neutron s. one can determine both q and :.Jq i for the phonon that is created or
destroyed .
An alternative technique for obtaining pho non frequencies is based o n
light scattering. Photons replace neutron as the scattered part ides, but the
same conservation lav,:s a pply. Highly m n hroma tic isible light is
typically used. e.g. , from an argon-i o nIa e r. Ho" ever, the wave vector. o f
such photon are so small compared to the Brillouin z ne bound·1ry that
only phonons with wave vector ~ near the zo n center can h tudi ed in ne-
phonon processes . When the frequ enc f the scLHl n.:d light differs fr m
that of the incident light hy the fr quency o f ·1n pticc-11 ph } Jl 11 , th e . cat-
tering proce . . is called Raman scattering. An optical ph 11 11 11 fr ~4uc n c i'
thus determined . 1L on the o ther hand , thL: diffl:ren in frequcn f he
~cattered and incident li!!hl c o rre, p( nd s to the fr q ucncy of ·tn il L u tic
phonon . the process i c;lled Brillouin scattering , and an ac ) U. tiL ph on< n
frequency is determined.
Additional optical techni4ues for the mcasur m t~ t r _p honnn
frequencie5. include the ab ·oq tio11 , cllli ' sion . and ren ~li On In ra red
radiation. A detailed treatnwnt of opt ical tl!chniqu ~ i. r"s ntc J Ill
C hapter I 0.
 Lattice vibrations in semiconductors

7.5.1 Homopolor semtconductors

h in ·Ia tic m:utr 11 cattcring t ch niq ue has been employed to .determine
lh~ ph n 11 ui pcrston curves ~f Si ( Dolltng 1962) and ~e (N1lsso~ ~nd
lin 1· 71) \ hkh are di played 1 F1g . 7. 7 and 7. 8, respectively. A stnkmg
fc tun: fthe result··~ the flatne of the transverse acoustic (TA) branch as
it approa he the Brillouin zone unda ry in the [1_00] and also. the (Ill]
direct 1on . Thi 11atnes i difficult t reproduce With a model mvolving
T. ~hort range interatomic in Lera li on · between nearest neighbors and next-
0 0 0 0 neare t neighbors. It has bee n :.-.hown (Herman 1959) that interactions out
to a 1 in luding fifth n ighbor · ar r quired to give a reasonable fit to the
0

expcrim ntal data for

The basic physical reason for the anomalous behavior of theTA branch
X
in Si and Ge seems to be the high deformability of the electron charge
di tribution in these materials. This deformability was taken into account
Fig. 7.7 by the shell model (Dick and Overhauser 1958, Hanlon and Lawson 1959)
Phon,.m spectrum for Si in the [100]
which was first applied to alkali halides. The electron charge distribution is
direction ( fter Dolling 1962 .
represented by a spherical shell about each nucleus. A given she!J is coupled
by Hooke's law forces to the nucleus inside the shell and to the shells about
the nearest neighbor nuclei as shown in Fig. 7.9. In addition there are
interactions between nearest neighbor nuclei.
The equation of motion for the shell model take the form

10
M /i.
EJ2uo: (€h: )
ot- = L { ~~~ (f!),,f'K.') ui3(e'K') + if>~S (f.K,f''""' )q (f',/) }
I ' ~;.' {3
9 (566
0 66 TO
0 6 ( 7 .4~J )
0
0 o 6. o\c
8 6
/6
LO ( .-+~bl
7 '

I
LA
v
'I
6
0

- 4

TA
00 0000
M,. 8 -, - [• 1111 .,....Ill]
b.
2 0
//.1 I'S
b.
0 . iJt - - tl> + (~ . (<J> ) I -
. q) · II -L~ l

, ~o wlu\.:h can he solv u . I

Tl . . . ~.: Ill t le manner d ·I " . .
11.: shell moue! W'IS ' IP I' I . eve oped Ill pr-:\ ll) U s s ·~:lh n.
I) -t-- - - - - l A sutt,,
· · . b- k. cltu1c•~
. lJI.' tl· ' P ~~~t to S1 •.111 l 1 L• b\ chr ,1r1 · . 11
I . .. 1e modd . .. . . ~
\~tth the ex perimental 11 p;_tt,.tllletns !.!a\l: ra thcr l:.l'' I
IA h 1 I lllnun d1s,, · ~
Fig. 7.8 ranch:-. were n::asllll'lll · I t:.I'S.' IL)Il l' lll'\l'S . In rartll.lll
l'li••mJn >~~trun1 l c.r I, · 111 l ho.: I IIIII] A . . ' ) v Well .
\':tl'l<tltun un lll'
I II . ll'pr~>dtll.'l'd
Ulf ·• l t••tt!.t l l 1 J ll ~, .. n , 1111 t c h ll l 'i7 ll S s 1l' m) I 1
~.:
, lllc~ lltl· l'uvaknt buJtd I " LILl' Is thc .holld l' harg~.· I h dl..'l {
dl" I l l d ) I · .
I I L - Up l•l l'l l' llllll d l l
 lattice dynamical models for semiconductor 13
11 1! It I 1 ,J h•nh ''llc..' c..: lllltk<tli ; · 1hi -.. char.!!c dis1 nh u t 11111 hy pia in).!
I' '1111 ·ltar_•c h '1\\\.l'll ca ·h pa1r ''' nc;11Ts1 nt:l).!hhnr nu ·I ·i . 1 h .
h n_'~.: 1 L\'UPI ·d h~ J..h .H'k.: ' s law t'nrc~..·s 1u 11t ~se llllcl·1. Cnupling
tnlr'' itt· ·d l' '1\\.: ' II llt'arcst llt'1ghhnr nucki <~nd h~.:1wccn 11 ·ar .._t
11 'J"h l 1 J1tl111 1 ~..·h~trgcs The cquatillns l)r motitlll arc or 1h ' o.;;lln c !.!Cneral
,, 1111 1 th\t 'f 1r the shell llhXkl and may he solved in the s;tmc wa; U \i ll!..!
Fig. 7.9
th~.: tdt.d"·tllc..' ~tpprtl\. i matit111 . The results for the ph< IH.lll di ~ persi <l n-curvc: S~.:h ·m;IIJL r~:pl t.: enl ' l ll>n 1 t hell modd
,f ,bftll1 i hy \\' -her are shown in Fig. 7. 10. We 'iCe that the ;1!!recmcnt 1nt ra cuon,
fie.. I' en the 1r_ and e'\pcriment is cxc..:cllent. Similar results h7.vc b ~~ 11
,, [, t.111 tcd ll r ( ic ( \Vehcr 1977 ).

7.5. 2 eteropolar semiconductors

Phl t lll d ispcrsil1n curves fur a large number of hcteropolar semi-
nduct )rS have b~en obtained by inelastic neutron scattering. Both the
~hellt1 1d I and the bond charge model have been applied to these mate-
ri;1ls. l wever. the theoretical analysis must include the partial ionic
cha r: ctcr ( r the electron-pair bonds and the effective charges on the ions.
The ituati n is somewhat similar to that of ionic crystal such as alkali
halides fc r which the rigid ion model (Kellerman 1941) and the deformation
dipole model (Hardy 1962) have proved useful.
ln the rigid ion modeL the ions arc regarded as nonckf'ormable point
char!!e interacting \.\itb each other through th Coulomb inte-raction.
Short rang repulsive int ractions or the Born- Ma er type are aLo
included. The Born- Mayer interaction has the form
(7 .44)

\V,

I 1

L K

~·hnl) 21 uhJltn~ .:~tkultt Jr·uh

Fig.7.10 II· . Jt•r f , ,111111! 1962 1 JI,~ll11 ind
. s·1: ••) )I' J
Ph on n di~per~ion curves lor L i rt:JC<, ,l' pcni1ll't1\.l t ,t(,l , \ t:

(after Weber I Y77 ).

Lattice vibrations in semiCo nductors
. r· cters \Vhich can, for example. be determined fr m
, here A .m I r1 • re r.t d 111 •
't ,. . tti e l.Ono;;tant and t hL bulk modulus.
the equt l111LUm 1.l L h d r
..1 .1ted 11 Jt.iel which ta kes mto account t e Ctormabtltty
. · ·
,\ 111 lr · .-op h~~ 1~.::, . . . . .
t c ec n)n ·I 1.1. rg"... Lii · tributio n ~tbnut an ton ts the deformatiOn dtpole
0f 1 lt: I t ~.: _ . .
node! ( H.m.ly 1 62 Kaw an i H · rdy I<)69. K unc ~~a/. 197 5 ). ~hts 11_1odel 1s
ha"~.:d 11 the adiabatic. harmo mc, and linear ~1p?le appro~1m~t10ns. 1t
de cribes the Jmg range pa rt ,f the interatomtc lorces, wh1ch IS due to
le tr tatir..: interacticms 1t1 tl ~ tem of ion cores and loosely or tightly
bound 'lectr n ·. A a re ull o l' tb di ,placements of the ions and the dis-
wrti 11 of the elect on di trib uti01r about the ions, an electric dipole
m 111 nt pd(f r.:) is proJuced t lattice site flt>·. whose components can be
xpand d in pO\·Ver serie · in th com ponents of the ionic displacements
u(C;-;.) :

p; 1
( /'i,) = e'(h.·. U0 ( K) + Lf11nti (fK,f h.I)Ll(i({I K1 1 1
). (7.45 )
('t;' d

Here e"' (/{) is the effective charge on ions of type K and mr..-~Ur.:, f ' ~~ ) is the
deformation dipole matrix. The latter can typically be restricted to nearest
neighbor interactio ns. An additional contribution to the dipole moment
arises from the presence of an effective electric field E c'f which polarizes the
ions. If o(/{) is the polarizability of ion K. the total dipole moment can then
be written as

p,.( K) = e"' (K) Ita(Cn;) +L 111nJ(I!K, e'K')u(J (f'rtl) + o-(H)£2 ([ti ).

[','J'

( 7.46)

The effective field is itself determined by the dipole momenr an C'l n be

expressed as

E,~:JJ (fK) = L Bod(fK, f.' r.:' )pJ( e!{ 1 ), t .4 )

{ ' K.' a
El . . ".L'·(£r~ . e'r.:' ) i's th e<tppropnateCoulombcoefficient(K
whereB . . uncl9 1- -l).
tmmatmg the effective field from Eq . (7.46) yields .-

PofK =e 1
(tr)u,. (l:,~) + L~'~~(li(f'r.:,f't/) u ,. t't>:)
{ ' ,,· 1

u (r>) 2.: B .J(I!r.:,. f 'r..-' )p l(t't/ ) .

f'r. ', )

The eq uati ons of motion r .

or the dtsplacemcnts can be\\ nlt~: n t.
. ,2 II,. ({·
;\if 1,U. ,. /-..·) = 2:. t'f> "· 1
(f' , fi l
r.,' '"" )u r(l ti)
I· 1

f' t.' j

- Lt:'(r. ) B., i(l' h )fJ ·(('r')

,, '
, , l ; \

- """)II ' (' r

~ ~ 1 ;,.( t < , t<)8 I. (' 1-.·' , fu ,..,·'')j
I ,, 1 1 1 '',~'' l
 Lotti e dynomi 0 1 d 1 f
mo e s or semiconductors
137

Fig. 7.11
l'hron.>n ,iJ ~po.:r" "ll Lt t l VC l <11 l n\h· nlid
<:J rd~:' J')t:nmcnta l dat.J (,dt~r Pm.
,., of. 197 1). " .JiJ Ime~. 15-p<t r,tmc cr
d ·fu1 m· li"ll iprtlo.: mndcl · J,"hcd Ime •
fl I fl .h ll.S 1.0 1.0 OJ\ O.fl 0.4 cco nd-IH!tghh< r c.;~.: n tr;tl fort~: m" eJ
0 .2 fl. ' fl.! (l)
r 100 1 x A II I Oj d\!llt:d line\. fir l - 11CII!h hol '- ·ntrall•lrtc
I II II L
modt:l ( a ll ~.:r Kunc !' I ul. 1rJ'iJ

,, h ' r tl' , 1I h . f' ~-.-') is the- Coree constant matrix for short range i11 teracti ons.
E u.Hi""~n:-. A:-l) and (7.49) arc a set of simultaneous equations in the dis-
pl.!' mc>t t' and dipole moments. Solutions in the form of plane waves witb
\\ :.1 \ · ' ~tor q can be found . tha~ yield the frequency as a functi on of q.
Re::-.u lt It r lnSb arc- shown 111 Ftg. 7.11 together with experimental data
frl1Ill in Ltstic neutron scattering. Paramete-rs that appear in the force
C1.:mstanr and deformation dipole matrices were chosen to give the hest fltto
the' data.
A cQmmc-nt is desirable about the different behavior of the optical mode
frequenc t in homopolar and heteropolar . emiconductors as q ~ 0. In
homopl'dar semiconductors the transverse and lo ngitudinal optical mode
frequencies approach the same value, whereas in heteropolar semiconduc-
tors the trans\'erse optical frequency u.JTO approaches ·t lower value than the
longitudinal optical frequency wuJ. Thi difference in limiting frequencies
arise from the strong interaction of transver 'e optical modes with the
transverse electromagnetic field at wave vectors on the order of -»roJc,
wherecisthe peedoflight.lfthewavevectori trictl yzero. h wever,the
trans,·erse and longitudinal optical mode freq uenci in cubic hetero-
polar emiconductors have the a mc va lue by _ mmetry. When cJ == ·'ro l e.
the splitting of .,;TO and ;,;,.' w become apparent. Since ...:r /1 is v r '
small compared to wave vector. at the Brillouin z nc b undar_. the tran-
sition to identical values or wro and wuJ as q - 0 an not ~ en n th
scaleofFig . 7.11.
The interaction of a transvcr. plic~1 1 pill n( 11 r mall \\a '\'C t ) f ~\-i t h
an electromagnetic '"rave i. co n veni ~ ntl ~ xpr s::. din tam , rth' 111L dtlted
relative displacement w given by

I
(7. -o)
w = ( J1 ; n( J1 u,

·
v.here U is the relative di:,p)aCCI11 11 1 r !he l\\0 lllll ·
. tn a
1it ·
Ul L
11 and \1 i-.
their reduced mass. The eqwili on )J 111 '1tiLHl l'l r H' is

7.51
 (7.52)

The parameter 1721 i a modi fled el ctric cha~ge a_n_d is equal to brz (Born and
Huang 1954). while b-22 i am difi d polanzab1hty.
L t us a._ ume tha t w £ and P va ry as exp( - iu-•t). We can then eliminate
w from Eq. (7. ~) u ·ing Eq. (7.5 1) and obtain

P= bTz ) (7.53)
( h2z - L7 11 w-, £.
Introducing this result into the expression for the electric displacement 'D
given by
1) = Eo£+ p = EoE(u-·)£ , (7.54)

where F(w) is the dielectric function , we see that on eliminating P,

E (W ) = 1 + -I ( b22 - bT2 J ) . (7.55)

Eo btt w-

Let us consider the limiting case w ___. oo and E(-.v) ___. E.·.· Then

bn = Eo (Eoo - 1). (7.56)

For transv~rse opt~cal modes of long wavelength and frequency wm. the
macroscopic electnc field E vanishes, so from Eq. (7. 51)

btt = -w~0 . (7.57)

Using this result and settine:~ w = 0 in Eq . (7 .55.), we fi n d t hat

= t:o(
1
b12 s - t: )w~0 • .58 )
where E . = t:(O) Th d. .
·' . e Ielectnc function now takes the form

(· ( ') = t: - + (E, -, r - )w~o

~.
W]·o - w-
W e now take tl1e ct·1vergenc f D
mndes f lo ng wavelen h . ~ 0 . and focus on longi uJ1n II pri ·at
gt and frequency uJLu:
v
· 'D -
- ~'"or (Wtu) V. £. • Ol
For lorP•itLtd .. 1
• "' tn,t waves. V. £ ..
space charge. V . D = 0 C . =I= O. but II the sernic nd u~ t l r
· nsequentlv ( . ) 0.
-· ""'lu -==- a n~ 1
0 -o: , , (,., __ , l...'-' - I , ,
-.\ '\
r "",-T,,
.
- . . . .,- c' ).
 lottie dynamical models for semiconductor 139
111 th1 11.' ·ult ''~' th ' l dd one - Sac hs- TeII er re lation

I \

..... rr'
f • ~'/c ...,· ,). Thus. the limiting value~ or 10 and l-<J /11 <IS
k t~.: rmJtlcJ b)· the stat1c and high-frequency dielectric cun. tants.

S First-principles methods

intcd t ut in Chapter 2. the potential energy for the nuclear motion is

~.: tr\ nic ~nnmd stale energy as a function of the nuclear coordinates
plu. th dir ct int~raction between the nuclei. When the nuclei occupy their
qmhbnum p(lSlttons, the electronic ground state energy can be calculated
u Ill.! Bl lch'., theorem and ah initio pseudopotcntials (Bachclet cr a/. 1982)
\\ h ~ p.H meters are determined from atomic data only. When the nuclei
Jre Jt-pla ed from their equilibrium positions. the situation becomes more
L mplicat d and requires a more elaborate analysis .

.5.3.1 Frozen phonon method

F r c rta in normal modes of vibration. particularly those for q = 0 and for
q n th Brillouin zone boundary. the atomic displacement patterns are still
p ri die. but with a unit cell that may be the same size or larger than the
primitive unit cell. One can therefore still use the Bloch theorem to calculate
th lectronic states. By varying the size of the atomic displacements and
tting a parabola to the results. one can obtain the force constants that
control the motjon in that particular mode. The calculation of the fre-
quency of the mode is then straightforward (Kunc and Martin 1981 ).

7.5.3.2 Linear response method

A procedure that provides full phonon dispersion curves without fittine:
parameters to the experimental data i the linear response method (Baroni
era/. 1987. Giannozzi eta/. 1991. Quong and Klein 1992). The first step is to
calculate Bloch functions ·1, (r) using the density functional method in the
LOA as described in Section 3.4.4. One then expand the Hamiltonian in
powers of the ionic displacemen ts to yield a first-order change H (' l {r of the
form
vflr'l ··) + v ' 'l (,·)
.\L
7. 3

where Vh(l )(1·) • r h(l )(r) ' and Jl.\((l ) ( r ) ()I"C the fir t-ord
.
"r hang
.
in th~
electron- bare ion interaction , th e clectr n- clectr n 1nt ract1 n , · nd th
exchange-correlation intere~ction , re. pectively . The hang in I tr 11
concen~ration n ( l ) r ) due to the first-ord r change in th H amill ni ·•n is
given bv

(7. 4)

where/~ is the ermi Dira occupation number ;,.tt1cl Ev i. th Bl ch tat

energy.
Lattice vibrations in semiconductors

Since fl(ll (r through the terms u -, ( n (r)~ and

c )nta ins n( 1l (r )
cl J r(lr'n(r') j 4?TEolr - r'l in Eq. (3.48)._one ~ust s~lve Eqs. ~7.6J\ ~nd
(7 .64) self-consistently 111 order to obtam t~e conveLged values of 11 (r)
1
and fi (Il (r). An important point is that thts procedure handles non local
ab initio pseudopotentials \.Vithout difficulty . The second-order change In
the electronic energy of the system is specified by

E.,,~ ~) = I
L-t.!rII ( IJ j/ b(-l
"""' IlJ) (7.65)
11

where v hU) is the second-order electron-bare ion interaction. Adding the

ion-ion interaction to Ec~~l and expanding in powers of the ion displace-
ments to second order, one obtains the dynamical matrix from which
phonon dispersion curves and other lattice dynamical properties can be
calculated. Phonon dispersion curves for Si obtained by the linear re ponse
method are shown in Fig. 7 .12.

7.6 Normal coordinate transformation

The basic characteristic of a normal mode of vibration is tha t all ·1toms
vibrate ~ith the same frequency when a particular mode is , · ·ired. l n a
harmontc crystal there is no transfer of energy from one n rm~1l m~ ~.k to
another. Each normal mode can be associated with a normal coordinate
Q(qj) which is a linear combination of the physical displa ·m nt ,(' · ·
The normal coordinate transformation which carries the lin (ft. ) int 1 th ·
Q(q; ) IS gl\' CB by

l l
Q(qj) = N : - L M l. e""( lJ.i k - iq·R!'' u., lH.
lhn

' here the cot:l'licicn ts e ( - ) . . .

J , . . · .. 1 . . · "'· fl.! die the eompo m:n ts ol'th ·ig~,.·n ~.: t th
) Jl<~mtc,t matnx mtmduc. I - S. . -
Eq.(7 . llJ) , th~.:i ' "'·· · .. _cl 111 ' _L'L'ltl)J1 7. 1. Usin..! th· dlsliJ' r l.lt 11
ll\t:Jsc lJ,tnsfnrmatJon ~.·an be 'lh~ \\n lL' be
 Vibra tional spe ific heat 141

ll (7 .6Xj

th J t 1 1 th(' 1~ dt'Ih'tin!! a ~irst tim~ derivative. Carrying out the normal

d111.111. tra n"l mna11lln w1th the aid or Eqs. (7.1 X) and ( 7.(1 7) viclds the
r~ 111l ·

H = ~ L[Q:!(q i) + L<);;Q2(qj )]. (7.69 )

q,

, that the transformed Hamiltonian is a sum of independent har-

t •

nH n1c 1~ Jll..t lllr terms. The Schri..kiinger equation for the nuclear motion,
q. (.2.-0 . can then:forc be solved by separation of variable . The total
ihra ti 111Jl t>nergy Er is the sum of the harmonic oscillator energie~ asso-
ci:tt \\ ith the normal coordinalt:s .

E/' = L h...;q;(nq, !) , (7.70)

qj

" here the 11q1 are the harmonic oscillator quantum numbers given by non-
negati\e integers. The quantum of energy. n:..Jq.i· of a normal mode of
, ibration is called a phonon.
A phonon can be vievved as a particle-like entity that serves as a carrier of
\'ibrational energy in much the same \'>•ay than an electron erves as a carrier
of electrical charge. The group velocity of a phonon is given by

(7.71)

7.7 Vibrational specific heat

Using statistical mechanics and the energy giv n by Eq. (7.70) nc can
calculate thermodynamic propertie. , such a the sp cific beat and entropy.
as functions or temperature. The first step i. to omp ute the no rmal mode
frequency as a function of \Nave ecto r. The peci!'ic heat ' :t!l then be
evaluated from the average energ_ (£ 1') u ing the rcl at i n

')(£,.) ) ( .72)
c~~ = ( JT n.

where the temperature diffen.:ntiati on i at co nstant volum - · he av n ~

energy can be expressed in term s of the av~rage os ilhtor quan tu m nu mbt.:r
( n 9 , ) by

(E,) - L hv.Jq ; ( (n111 ) +~ ( 7.73 )

Ql
Lattice vibration in semiconductors
- .. 1en(\emble. one obtains
, 'er·w1ng · n,,, l!)\ "'·~r •ol Cc 0l)111L
....

(7.74)

) yie lds the ·pccific heat in the form

0111 buung qs. (7.7- }-( 7 74
fiWqJ .) 1 l!fr,;yJ I";T

s = k B Lq l ( kBT (e"""'oq,/ k n T - I )1 0
(7.75)

At an arbitrar tem p ra turc the calculation of Co requires a numerical

'ilculati n based n a knowledge of the q-dependence of wq;· The e~a­
luation is much implified at both high and low temper_atures o At high
temperatures where ks T > 1i qi for all qj, the right h~m?_side of Eqo (7075)
can be expanded in pow·ers of 1iwq1 / kuT to g1ve the 1Im1tmg result

Cn = ks Llqi

= 3Nrks, (7.76 )

where N is the number ofunit cells and r is the number of atoms per unit cell.
This result is the Dulong-Petit law.
At low temperatures where k 8 T « n:..v111a 1· , only lmv frequency modes
contribute significantly to Cn and elastic continuum theory can be used. We
must recognize, however. that elastic continuum theory yields an infinite
number of normal mode frequencies with no upper bound. whereas a finite
crystal has a finite number of normal modes frequencies. Debye resolved
this discrepancy by imposing a maximum frequency wv on the elastic
continuum modes such that the total number of no rmal mode- eq uals the
total number of degrees of freedom :

j
OJo}/J

F( ·) d~o = 3Nr. ( 0 7)
()

Takinuo the. isotrop·c

1
· ctppi oxnnat1on to an elast1c continut m. \
0
• • • •

Eq. (7 .40) mto this l!quation and solve for wf).

. .. ·

~) ] I '.> .., s )
(' ;
l f2 l.. l

For diamond and zincbl ~ d ~ . . ; ,

h~ ·. 1 . ~;;n cstlucturestheratwO /i r h as th~o: lu ,r c .
w ere u I S t1c lattice can s t · l Tt· ~ . . ' .I
· nn · 1t speeds 0f tnns\ ns ·u•J loll!.!JtuJ II1•1
s0 unL1 waves can be co,dculo . - . •
. .
~
Section 7 4 otncl .ttecl lrom the elastic modul i .rs d nh "' 10
dVCI aged over v· .· . . .
0 • '

· '
It i~ conveni ' nt · ct·. . .utous L1InXtiOns \.>1 pn,r a:.lll• n
0

. • 1.: 111 ISCUSSII1g the , o·j~ - h · h ot I

l'> lic tempc ratur . H k ~ speLl IL' eat tt'l Ill lrt u · 1 11
~.: nown ·ts th ~ D b
c • t e ye temperature h th 1 l.ttl n

/j._,_,/1 - /,. II (-:) .

 Anharmonic effe t l.ct3
I '~'Ill )

PhS
21il
PhTl' I (,J Ci:1l\s 145
CdS 21:" (i:-ISh 26')
273 <'dSl· IXO In A s 24~
2.) l dTl' 162 lnSb 200

~ ,, \d"lim! .~
t h~ sum in E4. (7.75) to an integral~
hy mea 1.1s. o f tl1e p11onon
L

Jl·n::.Jt. - (-sta tes. \I>'C can express the spccitic heat in the form

cl = 9Nrk B (T)
8
·'.fo/• H
T .\· e-' d\
4

(e·'· - I ) 2
0

(7.80)

A::. th t "mperature is lowered toward zero. the upper limit on the inte!!ral
can xtended to infinity. The value of the integral is then 4i14 / 15 and

71
4
Cn = -)1- ' NrkB - (T) 3 6
~
.. 5 8 (7.81)
/ ,---- ~ilicon

7/
This is the Debye T 3 -law. It is well satisfied bv solids at vcrv lo\.v tem-
perature . Values of 8 for representative sem-iconductors a;e listed in I /
Table 7.4. As the temperature increases. the specific heat starts to deviate 7/
si£rnificantlv- from the T 3 law. This behavior can be attributed to the exci-
. 7/
200
ration of higher frequency modes. including optical modes, whose fre- 10
Tcmpcratur I Kl
quencies are not well described by elastic continuum theory. The phonon
density-of-states develops peaks due to Van Hove singularities. The specific Fig. 7.13
heat curve flattens out tmvard the Dulong- Petit values as the Dehye tem- Specific heat fSi nd Ge v··r u
a h ~o l utc tcrnper:lture (, ft r Ki tt I
perature is approached. Figure 7.13 shows this behavior for Si and Ge. 19 6).
Further increase in temperature to well beyond the Debye temperature
leads to a renewed increase in the specific heat. This increase is due to
anharmonic effects associated with cubic and higher order term. in the
expansion of the potential energy in powers of the displacements.

7.8 Anharmonic eHects

7.8.1 Thermal expansion
If cubic anharmonic terms a re included in the latti e polential l!n rg_. th '
interaction potential between two ·ttoms bee m , asyrnmctri ·ith r sp ct
to the point of minimum potential. The potential rise. mor rapidl __ , · the
atomic sepa ration decreases hclow the value at minim um potenttal and
rises less rapidly as the separation increas~.:s above t hi. v~ lu . A th rn at
distribution favors the la rger values of separation . This b ha 'i r •· n b
illustrated by considering a diat mic molec ule ,:vith intc:raL'tit. n pot ntial
(7. _)
 lattice vibrations m semiconductors
· tlhe potential minimum . Letting II ' = 11 - ur,, we
\\ hct L: ,,, is the scpar tl 'n a . -
h<ne for the a ·erage scpar<JtH111 u
. 1\·e- r ·,,,j kn T dw
f
. - un
u ::; 1111 + f e- 1·,, /t.:IJTdll'
(7.83)
- 1111

To a gL d ·tpproxnnati n w can tend the l ov~e': limits oft he integrals to

<:~nd expand the int gral in powers of .·· retammg only the lowest-order
non a nishing term . T he res ult can be v ntten as
ii = ( I + o T )uo. (7.84)

where n is th thermal expansion coefficient given by

}·yks
0 : : : -J-- . (7.85)
4 -uo
00 We see that o: is proportional to the cubic anharmonic coefficient~( .
0.4
The foregoing treatment reveals no dependence of a on temperature.
00 0.2
0.0
Real crystals. however, exhibit a decrease in a with decreasing T at low
500 -0.2 temperatures. This behavior is associated with the chctnge in normal mode
- 0.4 frequency due to change in volume that is described by the Gruneisen
400 - 0.6
0
parameter ft given by
:lG -0.8
,
~

'00
I
::> 0 5 10 15 20 0
(7.86 )
200
where w; is the frequency of normal mode i . The therma l expa nsion IS
related to the Gruneisen parameters by (Mitra and Massa 19 ~)
0

a= I:r _c r_!_
(il
(7.
; '3Bof2'
- 200 ..__..__..__,__..__..__..__-1-J
no h c'i) · h
0 5 1 150 200 wb ere n 15 1 e specific heat associated \Vith normal moue i and BtJ is the
T( KJ ulk modulus An han11 0 · ·
11ICity enters cr throuah the volum pt:nd n ot
.
h ·
t e norma I mode freq · ~=>
Fig. 7.14 S . uencies and temperature thro uo-h ' 1
The rmal xp a n i n or
Si a , a function
th
em1conductors with th d··-
.- .
d . o ~~ ·
e Idmon or zmcblende struct ur h.l,. n !:!atn e
·
o tem perature: o pe n ci rcle , ermct 1expanswncoeffic ·,. t · ' .. . . - ,
ex p~ri m ~.:nta l data (a fter yon t: l ul., ors· ·b . len SO\eiarangeotlowtemp r·tture .Inth' a e
I , n ecomcs negative ·n I JO K .
1977 ). o lid ur' e. thco re ttca l r~.:w lt as showninFig. ?. I4 . The' .~· -. a~~become~p si t·v .again,lt....., _O ~
( al 't ~ r W an ~c r l'J82)
tran verseacow t" d GiuneJsen pa1ameters lore rtam lo\ -trequ m~
s Ic mo e a re nega tiveandprodu~:e thc n gdti\ J<Hld- Lf, ,.

7.8.2 Thermal conductivity

In s~miconduct:o rs witt .
. . . 1 VCI y low C·t 111 . .·
t:-. pnmaril yassoci·llel .·h. ' erconcentratio nth lfdl1 1
I . . ' l \\tl then, ,, 0 1- _
llt po tcnttal cncr~v . I . )\\ phPnons. rh o.tnh..tnn
l..;l
ll .LS ·I O II~ hetwcen ~,
nl
Pl•\lLICe In[ ···
.
·
I.: I di:tiOn __: OC (\\ ' ·n Ill I Ill I
C . '- •. 1o no ns. Pho . .
cc pt tlltder sp \ :ial .·. , nnns tht' rdv r ha \ 'a Uh. I
I. dill'usi vc rathl'r tJ·,.,~~~ILtllnl1'>l~llll'..:., lhL' flp\ t t ph on I ' Ill I'
1 <1 l ~ llL' 111
· na turl'. ThL· I ·.u ll u (: ,
< "
 Impurity effe ts on lottie vibrati o ns
145
T hy Fourier's low of heat conducti o n

{! - - 1.VT.
(7 XX)
lh. thermal conductivity. Ttl derive ' Ill ''XJl "' , ·
. . ' , .. IC~ S I011 OJ lo. Wl' U '{:'
r· .
l..:·tll.'l tL lhL'tlr~ m onc-d11nension. Let 11 ( · ) 11 tl , , . .·
. .\ C 1t: cnctl!y dcnsn v
n n .11 p lllllt x and 1". the speed nf sound
• ·
Tl1 .~ 11 , 1 1 t Jl~
" l:
-
lea u x can be
\ Jtlld1

I
Q= 6 [u (x - ,\) - 11(.\ + ,\)]·1·, . ( 7.R9 )

E I .111 iing u( x ± X) in powers of>. and ret(lining only linear term s. we get

Q = - ~ du VsA = - ~!!!!._ dT r,>.

3 clx 3 dT dx ·
I ciT
= - -3 Cot:,>.-
.. · dx . (7.90 ) - I0
:.<:

Com ·ring Eq. (7 .88) with Eq. (7.90), \;>,'e see that
I
K. = -3 C oV
.. ,\-A. ( 7.91)

An appraisal oft he temperature dependence of l'i. can be made by notin!!

that at low T. Co"" T 3 • v c::::: constant. and.>..-::::: constant, whereas at high 10 10 ~
T. Cn ::= constant. 1.:s c::::: consta nt , and .>.."" 1/ T. The phonon mean free H Kl
path ,\at low Ti s determined by the sample dimensions or the impurity
Fig. 7.15
concentration . but at high Tby the inverse of the mean number ofphonons Th ermal co nd ucli\ it~ 1 10p1 a ll}
iipJ; = l / [exp (nw/ keT)- 1] rv T. The thermal conductivity as a function e nriched Ge vc r u ~ l mpera ture a fter
of temperature is roughly a bell-shaped curve as shovm in Fig. 7.15 for Geba lle a nd Hu ll I - ).
nearly isotopically pure Ge.

7.9 Impurity eHects on lattice vibrations

The introduction of an impurity atom into a semi co nductor ca n take place
either substitutionally or interstitially. We shall focus on the substituti onal
process in which a n atom of the pure crystal i,· rep laced by an impurit y
atom. In general, both the mass or the atom and the force con. !ant · u-
pling it to its neighbor. are changed by the sub, tituti on. In th e a. [
iso topic substitution, only the mass changes. nd er certain c ndition · a
localized vibrational mode arises in vvhich the amplitude of vibrati n i.
large at the impurity site a nd decrea e. exponential! goi no a\ a fr m the
site.
To illustrate the situati on in a simple wa y. let u~ co tLider a m nat01 1ic
linear chain with nearest neighbor interacti ons aml a . inglc i:- topic
impurit y at site f = 0. The equations o f m tion ar . assumin ~ a tim
variation exp( i"..JJt ).

M :.J~ u, + cr( II { . I + II{ I I - '2111 ) = 0. e=I= 0 (7 . _a )

J'vf' :.,} u0 + a( u_, -1 u,1 - luo ) = 0, (7 .:29b)

 lattice vibrations in semiconductors
1
A.f' e the ho t mas. and impurity mass. respectively. We
where ;\/ anLl " ar . h h . d h fi
- ~ ..,r N + 1 at ms 111 t e c am an t at xed end
h
as~ume t at th e1.: ... - .
b )undary conditi n!-- . re <~pp lted :
lfN = l/ _ ,v = 0. (7.93)

lutions t 7. 2) tha t sa tisfy Eq. (7 .93) are given by

A _in(N - f)¢ (7.94a)

=
{ Bsin(N
llj
+ fl)dJ. (7.94b)

Substituting either expression for U ji into Eq. (7.92a) gives, for e> 0 or
<- 1,

M u} = 2o-(l- cos dJ) . (7.95 )

To determine A, B, and ¢ , we substitute Eqs. (7.94) into Eq . (7.92b) for

f = 0 and into Eq. (7 .92a) for t = - I. The resulting equations can be
simplified with the aid of Eq. (7.95) to yield

A[2(Q- 1)( 1- cos¢) sin N (b - sin(N + l) c&] + Bsin(N- l )q> = 0

(7.96a )

(A - B) sin N ¢ = 0, (7.96b)

where Q = M' I M. From the second of these equations we have

A= B (7 .97 )
or

sin N = 0. (7. 8)
The case A - B c 01. d
· - respon s to even modes of ibrati n m whil'h
ILl = li p. From Eq . (7.96a) we have

(Q - I)( I - cos ¢) sin N ¢ - cos N Sil1 =0

Fig 7.16
Graphical soluti o n fo r lo ·atizcd
or
vibrationa l m od~.:s . ur c :1 : cot
o.: urvc b : (Q I ) tan ',Jf-· Q > l ;
curve c: (Q - I ) tan t/J/"!.. Q < l : curved : cot iV({> = (Q - I) tan (ci>/ 2). ( 7 9)
- tau ,,,/2 (arter Muntroll and P Its
This equation specifies the . II .
1955)
phical solut 1011 sho"'n. F . cl O\Ved values of ftlr e\ n m I
modes. For ~
Q_ 1 yy
111 tg · 7· 16 ''l'd
1 s• m
• understanJm • _ th r 1
- one h·t tl1 · -
cot Ncp = 0. For 0 , 1 '· e pcrtect Iatric " nh tt ·d
-1 · . - ___.. on\! has ·t h · , · ·
0
Qanci ..J,) arcdownshil'ted b . ' e,l\•y tmpunt~ at 111 . th.: .til
lor(! < l . unchLisa ltght . Yan~mwuntpfO(I /., .• tnJu I '
upsiJit'led h v 'ltl . t111punty atlll11 the •til )\\ I tltr '
J' .anount oro l/1. ' ~ •
LUI Vl·.., lur cnt( J\1, •) . .J •
. . .

1 1
<lh(O
l I)
\ l. hut the t 11 :;:. 1
u h~-:.., rtll
, 1
- tan( o / :2 ) n '\ c r a 11 1 th I
 Impurity effects on lottie vibrations
147
- I 11 hat lw" happ~:ncd In th . .. 1 . ,. , .
llo I' d 'b .
• co •ze v1 rational mod . 11
l n ... l mud . I h • .rrrsw r I 7r--.--------------~
e \\11 1 a Clllllpkx va lue o l ,•, 1.(,

C) :.. iT t i(. l .'i

(7. 100)
-':' I 4
..; 11 1 Itt Ill'' th i. f~._wm fnr '' intt..) En"'~' (7 ·99) ·we 0· t)tarn
· Ill
. the limit i 3 u
12
(I - Q ) coth ((/2 ) = 1
(7.10 I ) I I

"hu.:h k t 1111 111 :: the value o r (and hence the value of th .. f · . 1.0 '---~--~-~-...::::::~_)
c 1 eq uency v ra
Fq . ( - _") .tllu. 1 ,, 7. 1(l!l) .· · () () 2 0.4 (1 ,1) 0.~ ' ,(J
Q
Fig. 7.17
(7.102)
Diagram of lm:a li7cd m d~: a nJ perfect
Ia tti ·c freq uenci~:s fo r M' < ,'vi . .._., 15 lht:
The I cali1ed mode. F.frequenC) lies above
. the allowed b·md of the per f'ec1 max imum frequency of the perl e l
b ttic .1. shLnvn 111 1g. 7.17. The displacements of the localized mod are la u ice and Q = \tf' f,\4
•'i \t:ll b'-
:=

.4 (-I )""-' sinh (N - C)( (7 .1 03a ) 1.0

ll · =
{
' A ( - I )N·-t sinh (N +f)( (7. 103b)
·~ 0.5
which describe an essentially exponential decay going away from the
"
impurity atom as illustrated in Fig. 7.18.
The case sin No= 0 corresponds to odd modes with B =- A and I
ILi = - u, . The values of (j; are given by o = nn / N . where n i an in teger,
and are the same as for the perfect lattice with .A f' = M . The frequencies of I I
the odd modes are unaffected by the impurity. This behavior is consistent
with the fact that uo = 0, i.e ... the impurity atom does not move in an odd --0.5

mode.
For a heavy mass impurity, /\If' > M , the normal mode frequencies are
lowered and no localized mod e with frequency a bove the all owed ba nd of
the perfect lattice can appea r in a mo natomic crystal. However. a resonance Fig. 7.18

mode can exist which is not a true no rmal mod , but which can per-i ·t fo r a
D l·placemt:n t pa!lern nr :1 I caliLetl
vt brd ti nal m d .
considerable period of time. It ha s a large amplitude at the impurit, and a
frequency within the allowed ba nd . In the case of a d iatomic or p lyatomic
crystal. the replacemenL of one of the lighter o nstituent atoms by a heavi r
impurity can produce a loca lized mode ,, ith frequency in the forbidden =ap
between acoustic and optica l bra nches. Replaceinent f ' l heavi r · n-
stituent atom by a lighter impurity ca n (l )so lead t a I C'~ l i zc d m d in th
gap. A lighter constituent atom replaced by a o v n li ghter impurity gi
rise to a localized mode with frequency a bov th ma xim um frequen f
the perfect lattice (M aradudin C' l a/. 197 1).
Localized impurity modes in three-dim nsi on· I latti s can b
veniently analyzed with the aid of Green·, funct i n. (Me I I r II <nd otl.
1955· Maradudin e ta/. 1971 ). T he qualita tin: fe·n ur s a e sim.lar to th · c
of one-dimensional la ttices. In a di amo nd st ruct ur s~:m i ondu t H such as
Si. the replacement of a Si atom by a B at m I :1d-. t a tmpu ri t: · mode
localized about the B atom . Such locali zed mode:-. ca n b ' ~t u di "'d hy optit:a l
techniques as disc ussed in Cha pter I0 .
Lattice vibrations in semiconductors

7.1 0 Piezoelectric eHects

me cr , als hu e the pr pcrty tha t if the crystal is strained, an electric
dip 1 m menl ami a - · cia ted elect~ic field develop. This p.henomenon is
all d piezoelectricity. Only cr stal ·without a center of mverston can exhibit
it. nd r the in ver-ions_m m try operation the crystal is transformed into
it ' elf and an hy ·ica l pro perty must be unchanged. The electric dipole
mom nt N/ i an odd function of coordinates. however, so 1\11 = -1\1 under
in er_ ion . n eM = 0 and piezoelectric crystals cannot have a center of
inversion. Thus, ·emic nductors of the zincblende structure such as GaAs
and of the wurtzite structure such as CdS exhibit piezoelectricity. but dia-
mond structure semiconductors such as Si do not.
The coupling between the elastic strain and the electric field is char-
acterized by the third-rank piezoelectric tensor e,-.,1-. according to the relation

(7.104)

where Jn ii is the stress tensor, Cn J"f, is the fourth-rank elastic modulus

tensor, u-, is the particle displacement, and £ 1 is the electric field. The
equations of motion take the form
2
0
p--= L
Un "'"' OJ0-.:3
-
3t2 [3 OXJ

- "'"' 82 u d£.
- L Cn3- 0 . , - z= e.,~.d -.- . .105)
1-r< .\.f 0 .\ 0 h 8.\' i

The
. constitutive
. relatio n mvo
· lvmg
· t h e electnc
. dt.splacement V ~ nd the
d te 1ectnc tensor E0 1. whe 11 · . . . "
· ptezoe 1ectncny ts present is

'D " = 2: , a ud
f a ~. - + Eo
8r
I: . co
0 1 1
'
.1 0 )
!'1-, . I I "

" ., eq ua l ton
Combining this relation with the· M·tx"rell .

yields the c;:q ua Lion

which is to be .so l v·~, t .· I

... ... simu hneo ·I . . .
Asaspl:cifi\.: ex· - I ' . llS}\Vllh [ q . ( .10')
· , dlnp e let u · . ·
S!XIuld axis parallel I 'I - s. LllllSil1L'r lhL \\ lll l L i l L' (~,l! Jl
~ J.. . u tIe : -dire ·t ·
-- ll~L'IIUil ~llld
I)I'LI ()' to · . . . L IL\11. l)l' L'hhtil: \\ ,L
I . - d ,.,.. I I 11 l! I 11 II ' . I . .
1
~
11
LPILI.OL'hxtrictLTt\o · t H; \ -( II'Ccltl)n .th•r •t 1 111
. J .
.Ill d ln g l • L'kmLIIl or
I I) )L' L'l' n . I . . .
Ll~,.• d ' . • ~llU\.(J. ~~ 11\ ' llti )JI,tll I I I
IL ll:l(l(L' h:n. ( IJ
•
fJI. . I. ql ! (I
 Effects of stress -induced a to mic di placement
149
111

d
,_
'11

"'
! ' l '
( 7. I IJI:.l )

n~ll: c'J£
() -- (' 1. -:
) -1-
( , ._
+ tor , 1 - i)_y
I
. (7 I I 0 )

h ~.: the appropriate clastic modulus in the t· t. . ~ 1111-

ltl.l(IIH!:
44 p ..
. ' •
th' 1. ·rn~.: held from th equationiJfmotion ·
yL..,I."t
~
\\I ' obt·dill
1
11 0 <.1 1011 .
-
· t 11e wave
· t:
l.'ytl ~ l i 1l

•))
u-u- - (
) , li-
P ~= C.:~4 --- (7. 111 )
dt - a .r1 ·

'' ith -+4 the effective elastic modulus specified by

(7.112)

Taking the ela stic vvave to have the pla ne wave fo rm

u~( x , r) = U cos(q.Y- u.:t), (7. 11 3)

the di spersion relation is found to be

(7. 114)

where c, is the speed of the w·~ve . Jt is clear that the speed is enhanced by the
piezoelectricity. T ypicall y. the enhancemen t is on the o rder of 1- 3 p rcent.

7.11 EHects of stress-induced atomic displacements

Thea pplica tionof a n ex ternal str s toasemiconductorcrystalpr due sa
number of interesting effects. If the stre s js unif rm pressure. the cry tal
contracts with resulting change in lattice co nsta nt , elec tronic cncrgie __ and
phonon frequencies. The symm try of the cry'ita l i, unchang d . . o th
degeneracies due to symmetry a re unaf!'ectcd . In cubics miconclu tor ~ the
energy gap between conduction and va lence hand. a t th ·· ra nd L pc int :
increa es with increa in g prcs::;ure. whcre<1 S it d cr a · · at th Y p int . ln
th~ case of phonons the frequ encies of T :\ miJdes at -~' a n d L deer ·ts with
increasing pressure, \Vhereas fo r TO mode. a t th fr qu n 1~..:~ in r a:-. .
LO modes show the same he ha vio r as T mod .' excc:rt for i (M :min z
1980).
If a uniaxial stress is applied to a cubic cr. stal. the at ms t pically di. pin l:
in such a way as to reduce the sy mmetry and thcrl'by re movin g degen-
eracies. In addition. di spla emenL wi thin a unit cell can occu Lh : l ar
reft: rrcd to a. internal displacements ur internal strains.
Lattice vibrations in semiconductors

. tre 11e ap[')h d in the [Ill] direction of a diamo nd r

L eta un wxr1l A p·lir r neare ·t-neighbor atoms along that
· ble 11 te ·tructure Lf a 1·
• , t
' . · ·
<

zm
u·r L '
ctitnwtllundergo~Lcla
• , , nge
1 f -e paration whtch wtthm the framework
, , .
. . · t , tl eor)r wmdd b L:l.dt. However, tt turns out that
ot c:lJS teal la ttc Y 1 . ·r
· , . -u· ' t th ~o r is n t .Hdequate
I 1 .
•
111.1<.:f0. COp! C1LIS Cl y .
to compete y spect y ~d 1 •
Microscopic the ry ·how. that f:..dl IS gJvcn by

(7.115)

'"l1er · the Kleinman internal displacement parameter (Kleinman 1962).

lS . I b I '
ing a latti e-dynami al model with nearest-ne1g ~ or cent.r_a forces
¥Y

ha\ing for c n t·1 nt a, and tetrahedral angular forces havmg force

const;nt aa , o ne can show that (is given by (Harrison 1980)

(7.116)

It is evident that ( = 0 (ac = 4a0 ) corresponds to no internal displacement

and that 6d 1 is then fully described by macroscopic elasticity theory.
whereas ( = I ( a 0 = 0) corresponds to a full cancellation of the elastic
displacement by the internal displacement.
X-ray diffraction can be employed to measure(. One finds that the values
of ( are 0.73 for Si (Cousins et a!. 1982a) and 0. 72 for Ge (Cousins el a!.
1982b).
Application of a uniaxial compressive stress to Si in the [I 00] direction
lowers the energy of the two [100] conduction band minima rei tive to that
of the other four minima. Compressive stress in the [II I J dir crion in Ge
lowers the energy of the [111] conduction band minimum r lativ t th· t f
the other three minima. In the case of the valt:nce bands. unia. ial ' tress
removes the degeneracy of the light and heavy hole band Piku and Bir
1959). Degeneracies of impurity levels can also be removed by unia-.;:ia l
stress. T~e three~ fold degeneracy of the optical phon n: at q = 0 in i a nd
Ge 15 spht ?Y umaxial stress as a result or inequivalent hange in the for~.·e
constants
. .m the r·h1·ee d 1·rec
· ·t·
1ons o f' po 1anzat10n.
· · n opt1· a J m d ,·...'
polanzcd m the direction or the stress and the other twc are poh1n d
normal to the stress.

Problems
I. Consider a nt~-Jimcnsim1··J 1 . . . . . t
as the [Ill j ,. . . .· . ' moe1e lol St that has the same <ItO mil: tl1~lnt n
lll ect ton of the tin ~(' ·1· · hb r
appro xinHtio 11 t . t: -L IIl1L'nstonal crvsw!. In then ~.ue~Hl"tg
wo 1on:c co ' t·
L
'· . · • ·I 111
c rrcspo11 1· ns <~nts (T l •md (T' · tlt ~rn· tt..• diL n_ t i.J
· 1 two diH·· ·•
l lll !?. to l1~: , . . - ' . • -
(a) \V ·t ·· 1 , . r~.nt lh:~trcst - nL'J g hh) J 1.., 1,mct.'
rt 1.: lll\\ II the equatio 11 f' . .
(h) u · . . ~ 0 mut10n f1)r t h • l\\ 0 al m an th t
~mg<~pl.tnc - w·tv· s l . -
- , ·c . u llltnn o lthl· t'orm u ( !) 1/ I'
t.
- I ·-, ., •uve 1 1.l rther ·, ,.,-.'I· •
, . •. · Jcq Llt.'lll'V -'-' a ~ a J'un
\• CI ~ ll ~lffO r rT 1 = I!I!IN j . . .
( ) I I m .tnd , - (I
l' ~~ ~ap ill the j" •
~ I l l'J'C , - - ·- I
-· Rc pL:at pi o bh.;n, I I I rc qu'-lll') '- l l:l' t r un,·.• II ~' h ,llJ II
fit I ' )II I ilh lit. I
. I clllt ,\J . ' IH hlsc llil' . ". \\ t . l l ll n1 S Ill Ilk 0..1 h lt.l
m.ts~c tn hl' tit I
I ' Sl' I I ·' I
 R fer nc s 151
11 h t! lh -tl ' 1~ \ • 11 a m on a t m i~ ·h ~1111 1\ith "Ill' , 1t" m , p 11 111 111 .,. 1
11 1 11111
, I

,/u(l) )
l 1 (
_, ..,,r, lu ll) II ( I lf 1('1' -1 ~") l l~ '
- ,,, . - <---J I

rh~ cqu·~ t ll1 n" l~ motinn. The quantities ,.- 1 and ,, 2 arc the 11 rst-n ~::I~hbnr
j tl\l
nd '-·-:nnJ -ne1~hb~ 1 r fpr~~ c~•nstants. Using a plane wave ~nlutton. find the
1 qu ·nc_ \ C r~u~ wave vector n.:lat1o~1 anJ plot this rdatH 1 n for 17::. =- 0.2'irT
1
~nd,. =-.07.rTJ. Is th e ma\.tmum frequency alwa ys at th~ Brillouin 701w
hl•ll nda r .1
~ ,IJ IItng f l 'lll the equalio.ns of motion o f problem 3. pass to the continuum
limit J.nd ,,ht:tlll the _elastiC equation or· mo ti o n. \Vhat is the ~ peed or so und
r r·~o;;ed 11) terms ol ITt. a:-. Af. and a')
~ •\n .:\.pres. it)Jl for the rrequen~y· distribution function in an .1-dirnensi onal
~~ . t.:m is

Cal uh le the frequency di stribution function for the monatomic linear chain
\\ith nea rest-neighbor interactions. The singularity in the result is an example
r a ·m Ht ve singubrity.
6. sing a two-dimensional version of elasticity th eory, derive an expression for
the low-temperature specific heat and obtain an expression for the Debye
temperature in terms of the speeds of longitudinal and tra nsve rse waves.
7. Consider a monatomic linear chain with nearest-neighbor interaction s
characterized b ,• force constant a and with a defect bond between a pair of
nearest neighbors characterized by force constant a'. Derive expressions that
specify the frequency and displacement of a localized mode of vibration. For
what values of a' /a does a localized mode exist?

References
G. B. Bache let, D. R. Hamann. and M. Scbliiter. Ph_rs. R el'. B26, 4199 ( 1 90~) .
S. Baroni. P. Giannozzi. and A. Testa. Pin-s. Rer, Leu. 58. !R61 (1 9 7).
K. W. Boer. Sun•ey ol Semiconductor Phl •sics (Van Nos trand Rcinh ld.
Ne\\' York. 1990).
rv1. Born and K, Huang, Drnamical Theory n( rr sral Lallie s (O xfo rd niversit y
Pre ·s. Oxford, l 954 ).
\\!'. Cochran. Proc. Ro r. Sue. ( ondo n) A253, _60 ( 1959) .
C. S. G. Cousins. L. G.rwald . .1 . S. 0 1 en. B. Selsmark, 'md B. J. Shcld 1 11 . J. Appl.
Crrsrallugr. 15. 154 ( 191<2·:~).
C. S. G. Cousins. L. Gcrw<:.tld , K. Niel s n. J. S. Olsen . B.. lsmark , B. J. -·held tL
and G. E. Webster. J. Pins. CIS, L65l 19 ~2 b).
B. G. Dick and A. W. Ovct:hau ·er. Pl11 ·s. Re t'. 112. 0 (I 58) . .
c- 1·1 1'S ant 11_/(·rIll·(,t··1·t' lnt ernalt n<ll
G. Dolling. in Jnclosric Scal/l!ring 1 ~ / ·. l ·utron. Il· l .)(J
Atomic Eneruy Agen cy. Vienna . 196_). V I. II . p. 37 _
T. H. Geballe and G. W. Hull. Pln •s. R r. 110, 773 19 8).
P. Giannozzi. S. de GirL n..:oli , P. .Pavone. an d' . B:uo111. , P/1· 1 ··· Rl 1'. 843. 723 1
( 1991 ).
J. E. Hanlon and A. W. Lawso n. Phn. Rcr. 113.472 JL 5 ).
J. R. Hard v. Phil. Alag . 7 315 (I 6:2). . .
W. A. Harrison.
J
Eleclrunic .1·)rmcturc and the Proper/1cs o1 n1I 1· ( W · H · r eman ,
San Franci~co, 19)')0).
Lot ice vibrations in semiconductors
11 1 5o/tell· 8 405 ( 1959).
1
Jh:nnan J.P.~"~'· ~'·. pj;, . ..
Rc v. 181. 1272(1969).
\. 1 Karl' an J. R. 1-J,uu. · . A 178 17 ( 1941)
vr K IIerman. !'lo!. Ror oc. (London) . . . :.
c~ Killt.l. ]ntrmlttcl/011 to oltcl Stole Phystcs. Sixth editiOn (John Wiley.
Nt: crk. ll,h)
1--.lc nm<lll. Ph) Re1. 128. _61 ( 196
->·
1

K. Kunc. Jill. Phys. .tri) 8. J ll (1973- 74).

1.-... Kunc and R. M. Martin. Ph.,··. R_e r. B24. 2311 (1981).
K. Kunc. \11 . Balkcln ·ki ·nd M . Nu JJTIOVICJ , Phys. Re v. 81 .2 , 4346 (1975).
K. Ly n. G. L. Sali nger. . . wen · n, and G. K . Whtte. J. Appl. Phys. 48.
~ 65 ( 1 77). .
. . Ma radu in. E. W. M ntrull , G . H. We1ss. and I. P. lpatova. Theon· of
Lolli e n 1·11 un1i ·s in rhe Harm onic Appruximativn. Second edition (Academic
Press, e~ York , Ic 71).
G . Martinez. in Handbook on Semiconductors, Vol. 2, eds. T. S. Moss and
M. Balkanski ( orth-Holland . Amsterdam. 1980).
S. S. Mitra and M. E. Ma a, in Handbook on S emiconducrors, Vol I. eds.
T. S. Moss and W Paul (North-Holland. Amsterdam , 1982).
E. W . Montroll and R. B. Potts. Phys. Rev. 100, 525 ( 1955).
G . Nilsson and G . Nelin , Pln·s. Rev. 83.364 (1971 ).
G . Nils on and G . Nelin . Pins. Rev. 86. 3777 (1972).
G. E. Pikus and G. L. Bir, Fiz. Tverd . Tela I , 1642 (1959): S ol'. Phrs. Solid Srare
I, 1502 (1959). . .
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H. B. Rosenstock and G. F . Newell. J. Chem . Phy. . 21. 1607 ( 195.1).
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(Academic Press. New York , 1969). .
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W . e er, Phrs. Rev. B15, 4789 ( 1977).

('
 • •
rge carr1er scatter1ng
d transport properties

Key ideas Transport properties

ha rgc C:l rricrs in SC11l icond llCtors arc cha racterizcd by their IIICll/1 (ree 8 .1 Elementarytransparttheor't
p 11/i. rdcnation rime. and mnhilit_r. ·
nc B 1{/::lllll/111 equation governs the behavior or the carrier distrihution 8 .2 Baltzmannequation
/IIII I Titl11.
The moht!it_r of a carrier is proportional to the average re/asation time . 8 .3 Electricalcanductivityandmobility

[ n g ncraJ. the re/axa lion I ime of a carrier depends on its energ.r and on the 8.4 Energydependenceofthe relaxation
nature of the sca!terers. time

• t £1 1/ering IIII..'Chmrisms SUCh CIS those due tO ioni::ed impurilit'S and phonons 8 .5 Reloxotiontimesforspecific
contribute to the relaxation time. scalteringmechanisms

The el clrical conduclil'ily i . modified by an external magnetic .field. 8.6 Magnelolronsportproperties

The Hall efr c 1 enables one to measure the carrier concentration .
The presence of a temperalure gradiem gives rise to the S t:eheck Ljf~·ct. 8.7 Thermoelectricphenameno
An elec!ric current can produce a hemfiux through the Prltier effect.
Free carriers contribute to the !henna/ conductiFity of a semiconductor. 8 .8 Thermal conductivity
Using deep impurilies. semi-in.w!Oling semiconductors can be produced . 8 .9 Semi-insu lotingse micondudors

In high electric field\" , free carriers have a hight'r eff"cctil'(' temperrtll/1"(' 8 .10 Hotcarrierphenomena

and a /mrer mobility. Ncgatire difjt>rential conducriviry can arise that

produces Gunn oscillafions. High-energy canins can generate
additional carriers by impacr ioni::arion.
In disordered semiconduuors at lo\\' tcmperatur ~ . th(' electri a ! S.ll Variable-ra ngehoppir>g nducltvtly

conductivity can have an cxp (- BT - ~ ) depe ndence duet ''ariahlc-

ranJ<e hopping of carriers .

Transpo rtpr perti ~ u ha sclcctriLal nducti \ il p !J ' acrttcta l r letnthe

applicati 11 1..1 f e micond u t rst o dcctro nic d vic . . ln_tht:, cha r _t r \ hall
be ncerneJ wi thth t1, t' <t JUantit y , u ·ht~s I c t nccharl!, tn n:::spcn'
an externally applied l·orcc s uch a s that J 1 l< an cl ·tri_c 1 :d.
The
carrier or electric charge or int e r s t in scmicondu ' t\lrs ar · pn n anly cnn-
ducuon e lectron s and h')lcs.
Charge carri r scattering and transport properties

. henomenological introduction to
8.1 51mp1e P
tran port in semiconductors
We tart our dl. us .1 n f transport with a simple phenomenological
~.: · · . .
approa ~h. When an extern. I rc 1s applted_to a system of free charge
· , tl t:,. carrter · arc disp laced under the mfluence of
earner the field, and a
. _
t re ·ult . The external force may be due to an electnc held producing
curren . d.
an electric onduction curren t. t a concentratiOn gra tent giving rise to a
diffu ion current. or L a thermal gradi nt leading to a heat current asso-
ciated with thermal cond uctivity.

8.1.1 Electric conduction current

To a first approximation a system of free carriers in an energy band can be
considered as a gas of noninteracting charged particles. In the absence of an
external force the charge carriers execute Brownia n motion resulting from
collisions due to the interaction of the carriers with impurities. lattice
vibrations. and other perturbations to the periodic potential. During a
collision, a carrier may undergo a sharp change in direction. but between
collisions its motion is essentially rectilinear and characterized by its mean
speed. For carriers obeying classical statistics, the mean speed is the thermal
speed s,h specified by the law of equipartition.

1 ¥ .2 _ 3k T
2m sth - 1 B ,

or

( 8.1 )

where, m* . is the carrier

. euect1ve
A' ·
mass. In sermconductor
·
·. u has St.· w here
h
t e earner effective mas
. ' ses are on the order ot the free electron mass mo. Ihe
r •

t herma! speed ts on th d f 7
Th e~ average
. ·. e or er o I 0 cm js a t room temp ratur .
th ·
time bet . . . . . .
ween successive colhsions IS t he reloxotron timer L)
r
e earner. It depends h . . J
on the t on t e punty and perfection f rh " mat nal an
emperature T · l 1 . . 1 r: ,
The mea d. . · YPI_ea re axat10n tunes lie in th ran_ I I 0 :;.
n IStctnce a earner t . ' I b . . . ~ h\
givcnby ta\e s e t\vee n~.:o lh s ll n s t · ttsmeonfreepot ·

and typically lie in the .

· .
tl1e d In.:ct1on I an ge I 00- l (-)l"C>A
of a carrie. . . · ., • . 1_n the e:ts .
rsotroprc sc
ttering
dn·eetron with eqL· I I llllmedlatel alll:-r a u IIi i~. n b· all .an
l.t proh'lbilt T · ·r ·
I,o rezero. ' 1
y . h e meonvel o city~.ft h
When an de~.: I ric fi ~ I .
s uh . . ' 1: d £ IS llJ1 r I
· J <.: llua lur~,.·l· F -:: ~ . P lcl at Il l e r 11 • a .tttl
v ' kl~.:it CO
. illpuu("nt
. , ' £
). . l- or a c.:· ·
d l n
~ Ill . :-. ht:l l I
1
llllh j 1 .
"' l r 'Li t ~ n o I II l' ti ~.-•I I "'
•• (
 Introduction to transport in semiconductors 155

f11 11 n (. ·~ Eq (4 14))

. "' ·.. -
Ill -

I ntcgra ting this equation from r0 to r0

( r) -
dr
. ~·..
_ (,<..

- t. nne gets
•.l• l vv
. e,.£
l',, (f) = - I. ( 8.4)
m·
Fig. 8.1
This component increases linearly with time between two collisions and is Velocity component vcr. us time for
r tu rn~::d to zero immediately after each collision as shown in Fig. 8.1. a carrie r undergoing colhs wns
Suppose that there are N carriers traveling with speed s in a given
d irection. The number of collisions made by the carriers in a small time
int r val dt is proportional to both Nand dt. H N(t) is the numher of carriers
which have not made a collision at timet. then

N(t)
dN(t) = - - -. dt , (8.5)
r (s)

where r(s) is the relaxation time . Integrating this equation , we have

N(t ) = Noe- ' f r(s) (8.6)

where No = N(O).
The probability P(t) that a carrier has not made a collision at timet is
given by

l
P(t) = - e - 1/ r (s) ' (8 .7)
r(s)

where P(t) is normalized to unity:

(8.8)
l )
ex: P(t)dt = l.

The mean time between collisions (t) is specified by

(t) = .l tP(r )dT = r(s),

(8.9)

so r(s) can be interpreted as the mean free time. Similarly, one obtains the
mean value of the velocity component vn (t) in the form

(v,.) = {

1·
'n.,(t)P(t)dt
Jo
e,. £ eJr(s)
tP(t)dt = - -.,-
= -;;;: I) . /71
(8 .1 0
= ± J.l( s)E,
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
156

1-
\\here Jl (·' i the fr e carrier mobility gi vcn hy

e1 r(., ) cr(s )
/l·(s) = ---;;;;- - 111 • ·
(8.11)
l
2
The unit of , ar convention llv ta ke n to be cm / (V s). In the Drude model,
1
a ll arrier r a given ma..; have th sa me speed , so r (s) and J.L(s) are con-
·tants f r such carrie r .
he rn ilit i · by efini ti n positive and depends linearly on the
rela ' a tion time. F >r a gi .n semi cond ucto r the effective mass is a known
fixed quantit • . The mobilit y th refore va ries from sample to sample
thrOLw.h its d pendenc on r which is a function of impurity content and
temperature. The hi ghe ~ t alue · of rand hence of f..L arc obtained in very
pure material at low temperature.
In semiconductors \Ve can have positive charge ca rri ers, holes. with
mobility f-lh and velocity v 11 = p ;,£, a nd ne2.a tive charge carriers, conduction
electrons. with mobility JLc and velo~,.;ity v" = - J..Le£. The displacement of
charge ca rriers under the influence of an applied electric fie ld produces an
electric current. The current density j is d fined as the charge crossing unit
-··
surface area per unit time. For electrons and ho les we have
'--

(8. 12a)

(8.12b)

where nand Pare the co ncentrations of electrons and holes, respectively. If

both .electrons and holes are present. the total current j is the sum of the
mdtvtdual contributions, so tha t

j = je .h = a£ . (8. 131

where the electrical conductivity a is given by

a= nef.Le pep;, . ( 8.1-l)

Using Eq. (8. 11) we can re- expre

· '"s the conducttvlly
. . as

rr =e1(17T• +PTh) . (J . L-)

m,. m;,
·quat ion (g.l3) is a micr . ". . . . . -
geneotL semicon :l .. oscoptc st.uemen t ot Ohm 's law Ft r a lw111Q
c uctor slab or 1 , ·h r l ·
volt a!le V ·1pplit;d. engt r and cros:;-sedi( n.d .tr~LI \\ 11 1 •1
sta te; th at. .tcross the length. tht: corneniio;1·tl f rl11 l1f0hm'-· b''

I. = I R. I ...; It'
\Nh.:r~:· I i s· tl1e curreni 11 .
0\\1111.!
~
and R ·-. h
I:-; l C'
.
l'L'SIS! <tn ,; .!,!1\ '11 !"I\

f
R --
 lntrodu tion to transport in e micondu ors 157
Tabl~ 8 .1 ~'"'Ill 1 ·mr~rdlu rl Ill• bilitil·~ "' u11 1 " 1.d 1 ., h.rll t·l 1'11\ tq

St { fl' l'l"ll c
IJ'iO xooo }~ flO
4 ' () _:~ no If 10()

IL i a g n ral obsl.'rvation that the mobility of electron, is signillcantly

l1n! 'I than that of holes. This can be attributed at least in part to th~
;;1... ncra lf~, la rger ctlectivc.: masses of holes compared to electrons and the
n l.'r. r la ti\.lllShip of mobility to effective mass contained in Eq . (8 . J l ).
1\h,hJlit• 'S tend to increase rapidly with d ecrea sing temperature a a
• 11- qucnce of longer relaxation times at low temperature than at hi 11 h
temperature. The trapping of free carriers by ionized impurities and the
de ·rea ·cd amplitude of atomic vibrations at low tempera ture both tend
to d c rease the etlecti\'e collision rate and increase th relaxation time.
om representative mobilities at room temperature are shown in
Ta le 8.1.

8.1 .2 Conductivity effective mass

The expression \:ve have obtained for the mobi]jty. ,~1: , contains the
conductivity effective mass m x. For a specific semiconductor it is necessarv
to determine what types of carriers are present and how their band structure
effective masses are related tom' . As a specific exa mple we consider n-Si for
which the conduction electrons arc distributed among six equivalent val-
leys. Two valleys have their minima along each of the x-. y- , and .:-axe at
+x 0 . ±y0 , and :c::0 . Each valley is characterized b a longitudinal effective
mass m t and a transverse effective mass m 1 due to the anisotropy of the
conduction band constant energy urface ~. The total current densit is the
sum of the current densities associated with each aile ,

( . 18)

wherejer is the current density from electrons in the two valleys with minima
along the i-axis, i = .r , y , ::.
If the electric field is in the .\:-direction , the electrons in the two minima
at ± xo are characterized by the long itudinal effective rna s m , whe r a s
the electrons in the four minima at ± .1'(1 a nd ± .:o are charact rizcd b y
the transverse effe ti ve ma. m 1 • We therefore have th e followin g c n-
tributions to the current den ity u sing Eq. (R.l2a):

nr - r,.
·. = 2(n j t1 )ep,. £ = -
. { \
- £
11/t
(• . 19a)
'
.19b )
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
158
T he total cu rent ensity from Eq . (8.19) becomes

1
j =
t
~3 ( -m,+ 2.)ne
m,
2
r,£. (8.20)

Referrir g back t q. ( .12a) \.Ve see that

I'· · = ~3 (-1
L mf
(8 .21)

which upon comparison with Eq. (8.11) yields the inverse conductivity
effective mass for the conduction band:

m~
I = 31(1me+ m,2) · (8 .22)

For carriers in the valence band we have to consider the heavy hole and
light hole bands which are degenerate at k = 0 and will both contribute to
the conduction process. The current density due to heavy holes with con-
centration Ph and mass mhh is

(8.23 )

while that for light holes with concentration PI: and mass m 111 is
1
. _P e - r"E
leh- , (8.24)
mu,
where we have assumed that the relaxation times for light and heavy holes
have the same value r 11 • ~
The total hole current density jh is

}.h --Jeh
· +lhh
· = ( -Ph + -Pt ) e -r11 E, 1
(8.25 )
m;,h m r;,

which can be written in the alternative form

1
. pe-r11
}j, = - £.
111 ('

where m;. is the conductivit ff .

k s und
!') = 1)1' + fJ 1 Co . Y e ect1ve
·_ mass for val~nL ~ bdncl h
· mpanng Ec1s (8 ?S).
~ · ·-- .tnd (8 ._6). w~ ob ta m .

_I__ Ph Pr
or - - - + -
,. /)111"" /)11/ ill
In equilibrium the cone . . .
tiona! to m 31'2. 1 V :! entr.ttlons ol light and hea\'\ hl J•.., 1 pr 1' -
"' <~nl 'II'"' , n:spl'cti vely, so

I
;-
Ill ~, , , ~,
-Ill ' =
,. ' ., \ .
IIIII - + Ill -
I t Ill
 Introduction to transport in semiconducto rs
159
1. Diffusion current

h 'I th' rr_ · L·arric•.· distrihutio n is not uniform in space, the a rricr:-. tend
dtllu L'
. . . rc~wns
lnm1 . ~ . 1.1f high
~ , . to 1·eg1
l'Onccntntt.l1D ·011 s- o f 1ow con-
nlr tllll .
.
Dr II USillll
.
ts Q:lWerncd hv Fick 's hw w11 t'cl1 states tl ttl
~ _ ·· , • .. . 1a
·
1e earner
11 .1,, 1 proplll·twnal to the concentration gndicnt 'J'11c fltt
. . .. ~ ' . xo f.
c1
·
partlc-
ul." ~-- p~.:. ~I carr~J·c_r '. ~: the number. o f ~uch ~arriers crossing unit area per-
pu dr~.tr l.lr hl t_hur dut:dron ofmotiOn 111 untt time. In one dimension Fick'
11" tJ I-.~s the lonn

J Ul = -D dnci
II \' I d.\' • ( 8.28)

' here D; is the diffusion constant for the ith type of carrier. In three
dimen-.ions. Fick's law becomes

(8.29)

Associated \Vith a ftux of charge carriers is an electric current called the

diffusion current whose density ji is e(';J,~i) . For conduction electrons and
holes. we have

(8.30a )
and

(8.30b)

The total diffusion current is

(8 .31 )

When both an electric field£ and concentration gradients are present, the
current densities satisfy

(8. J2a)

(8 .32b)

The mobility f.L is a measure of the e·1se with which a carrier responds to
an electric field , whereas the difru ion consta nt Dis a measure of the eas
with which a carrier responds to a concentration gr·tdienl. From the form of
Eq. (8.32) we see that the quantity Vn j n play the role of an effective "field''
which produces the dilfu sive ri1otion of a carrier. It has been shown
(Einstein 1905) that there is a direct connection , c·tlled the Einstein relation ,
between the mobility and the diffusion const a nt.
If we impose the condition of equilibrium on a semiconductor. ampl .
the current density of each type of carrier must b Zl:f'O. Taking electrons a.
an example. we have from Eq . (8 .32a)

ne11,.£ + eD,.Vn =0
Charge carrier scattering and transport properties

or
llfl ,.f = - D,.Vn . OUJ)
The electric field£. j relat d to the ekctric potential V(r} by£= - V V(r),
o q . (8. 3) become
1/( f i,. "V V = D l! Vn. (8.34)

F urthermor . the c nd uction band edge becomes£( - e V(r), and under

non-deg n rat c nditions, the conduction electron concentration at
point r can be xpr ed by the following modification of Eq. (6.1 0):

11 (r )
-
= N 1 (:'
- i[£ - eV(,. )- Ef·
' • •
(8.35)

Since the Fermi energy Er is the chemical potential of the electrons. in

equilibrium it must be a constant and independent of position . Taking the
gradient of n(r). we obtain

Vn (r) = en(r)V V(r ). (8. 36)

Substituting Eq . (8.36) into Eq. (8.34) yields

f.Le kaT
De = -8 = - - /.Le , (8. 37 )
,' e e

which is the Einstein relation. The corresponding relation for holes is

kaT
D1r = -- p~~. (8.38 )
e
Taking
. into considerat Ion
· h E' · .
t e m ste1n relatiOn. we can re\Ynte the
.
~xpressJOns for the electron and hole current densities !!iven h) E ~s. ( 8.3~)
m the form ~

i. = f.te(en£ + kaT Vn ) (8.39a)

l11 = J.L11(ep£ - kB T Vp) .

Thus. the current densi 1 ·,
sion is ta k ~ ·
.
' Y Is proportiOnal to the mobilitv Hn
en mto account. ·
,,h n fifl"u-

8.1.4 Displacement current

Up to this point we have fot: . . .

mdepe ndent pheno . . used on electnc;,d cPnd ucu a Jinll'-
. menon IJ ·t sv -t . ,
e ectnc field that 0 . .11 . ~ ·. .' ~- s em ot tree c 1rn rs 1.
I ut'IJ'-' "l t~.l .Ill
su "lk 111 tune ol' the J'n rm

£ = £,£-' - '""·{ . . ..Jl)

d'
is . .
I •
a •splacement current
. Sl. t lip Whl)SC JL•nsi l \ . .
. - J.J ~~ =-1 ~ll b)
. 'JV
'" = --
t}{ •
 The Boltzmann equation and its solution 16
1 lh electric d tsplocement The electric dtspl ,IL\:111Clll j, rclatt: 1 to
11 · I I h~ the cquatii'IJl

( X. 2)
h , ;., h~, dich::,ctric L·onstant and (fl is the permittivity of' vac uum
· - ' Nm - ). C'Pmbining Eqs. (~.40) ·- (R.42). \Ve obtain
12
Ill

it = - ia .o:....£. 0:~.43 )

ddin2 thi-, n:·:-.ult to the static contribution to the current density l!i ven bv
Eq. (•' L' l i~ lds -~ -

.i = (a - iffouJ)£. (8.44 )

Tit: 1 1I· cement current contribution is important only at relatively hjgh

r quencies such as those found in certain electronic components and in
l ur al phenomena.

8.2 The Boltzmann equation and its solution

In order to go beyond the simple treatment of Section 8.1, it is necessary to
recognize that the relaxation time is in general a function of the energy of
the free carrier. Furthermore. in the presence of an electric field , free
carriers are not in equilibrium. and their distribution over energy is not
specified by the equilibrium distribution function discussed in Chapter 6.
but by a nonequilibrium distribution function that is determined by solving
the Boltzmann equation.
The classical distribution function(( v , t ) specifies the numb r of charge
carriers having velocities in a unit range about the value vat timet. Since
a carrier is characterized by its wave vector k. we replace v by k :
f(v. t) ____. f(k.t ). We shall deal only with spatially uniform ystems, so there
is no dependence of( on the spatial coordinate r of the ca rrier. For the
moment it is assumed that only a ingle type of carrier is pre ent.
A charge carrier moving in a perfect crystal with a periodic potential an
be taken to be in a particular Bloch eigenstate of the p ri die Hamiltonian.
If the periodic potential is perturbed by the intr duction or impuritie or
other flaws or by the vibrations of the nucl i a\ ay from their quilib rium
position . the carrier may undergo a scattering tran. ilion to another Bl h
state.
The distribution function f (k. , r) can change with time t a. a r suit of
collisions or as a result or .an explicit cl r nden e n r r an impli it
dependence due to a dependence of k on r. The t tal dcri a tiv~:. U \i ith
respect tor can therefore he written a.

(8 4 -)

where <.!1. 1 is the time rate or change of l due to collisio ns and th ~ mimts
ciT mil . . · · · . d 1•
sign in front or this term reflects the I act that colltstons tend to 1 uce t le
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
12
.· . func tion only of the carrier energy £ 11 , as is
ccurancy of ta c k. Lf ./ t.
fr qu ntly th ca · . the
8/ fJf BE" (8.46)
ak" = aE" ak., ·
Bl
8t = O, (8.47)

anJ

dl _ ai [L aEkdko.] - dfl . (8.48)

dt - 8£k rr 8k 0 d! dt col/

From the basic equation of motion given by Eq. (4.15) we have

~dk,1
11
_- F
0' • (8.49)
dt

where F is the external force acting on the carrier, so Eq . (8.48) becomes

df 8f
- =--F·VkEk--
df l (8.50)
dL n8 cit Ek coli .

But from Eq. (4.8), which specifies the group velocity of an electron wave
packet,

1
Vg = tz VkEk. (8.51 )

Substituting this result into Eq. (8.50) yields

df of
dt =f)£ F. Vg -
dfdt ! . (8.521
k col/

In a st~ady state the two contributions to the time depe n d n~e n the right
hand stde cancel, so that

elf
dt = O, ( ~ ..-3 1

and

of F . Vg = ...:._
DE d!' l . ( ...-.J I
k d! ' ""
For small deviations oflfr .. .
that the time ntc - ~J · om the equlltbnum dislri twn u. ' I:'~ urn.
01 ~.: 1 angeofthed ·, ··b · · lilt , , fl. I
proportional to the d .. . _ 1st11 utton luncu n du t
L
I '

. evtatJOn ot th-' d ., .b . . . , uthh

1
num value : '- tstn utt o n t unciit n I 111

·(II
-
1I - I
---
I
- (I ' '
I • ull r .
 Electrical conductivity and mobility 163
"" II ' 'r" ' o fth~..·pr~ 1 PI..ll"llt1 11ality um..;t <Jnt i~ th • rcla • l1Pntimc r .
.-4 l ·an t lwn he rcwri t ten a:-

;}f / - t;,
._,-l :- F · v .. - (' .56 )
r' ;~ ·' T

, Ju h 1 the B~)~t7mann equation in the relaxation time approximation. It

1 u ... r l" cm pklst 7ed that a rela xation time cannot al\:vays be defined. pa r-
IlL ul.trl he n the earners are 111 alllsotropic energy bands. A discu , s10 11 of
h f'ltlllfC lll 'Il lS t'1..W lh1.. C:Xi:' tence O f a relaxa tion time can be found in the
.II'IJd. b) R\1lh ( J9l)2) .
r the prl1hlcm of electrical conductivity. the fo rce F is

F = e,.£. (!5.57)

' here c, L the carrier charge and £ is the macroscopic electric field in the
cr} ·tal. The Boltzmann equation becomes

i.J(
BE' k
e, £ · Vg = - f-- -
.fi)
(!5.58)
r

whic h can be rea rranged in the form

. ,. [){
f = JO - er r~£ · v~.
oE~; ·
(8.59)

If we assume that the perturbing electric field is weak, then to first order in
£ .. we ha e

. ·:::: r:(, - e r-£ · v

ato (8.60)
·f n t aE" .!('

which is an explicit so lution for the perturbed distributi on fun tion/ The
d viation off from its eq uilibrium value is proportional to both the electric
field and the group velocity. Thi:s solution can be used to calcula te the
average va lues o f ph ysical quantities of interest uch a vg.

8.3 Electrical conductivity and mobility

The total cu rrent density} is an average of the currents a~~ociated v.:ith the
individual charge carrier- and is gi en by
.6 1)

where n, is the concentrat ion of charge carrier. and the· angular brack l.
denote a sta ti . tica l mechanica l average oft·~:

( _)

The carrier concen tra tion can be exprc, sed in terms of th distribuli n
function. Combining the result f r the gro up cloci t ( ~ q . (X .~ l)) and the
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
16.4
Boltzmann qua tion (Eq . ( ~ - 0)), we can write

.
j .l d'k = ~-~-~;~ --- e,r (~~~ £ · ~ \hEk
• L
l d'k. (~.63)
The C'n ro Ek i an even function of k. but its gradient is an odd function.
ti
Sine b 1 the relaxnti n timer and the equilibrium distribution functionj[ 1
dtq end on k only thro ugh £ 1( . the second term of the integrand in Eq. (8.63)
is an odd functi n . f k . a nd it~ integral therefore vanishes. Hence.
} fd Jk = j j (1 13k _ T he di st ribution function _is the Fermi-Dirac dis- /rl
tributi on function. T he ca rri er concentration IS gtven by Eq. (6.3):

(8 .64 )

One can ·implify the integral i_n the numerator of Eq. (8.62) by noting
that vg as expressed by Eq. (8. 51) must be an odd function of k. whereasj1) is
an even function. Hence,

If
. vgcI 'k' = JJ · 0/rl - vg v"d -k
~o- ecr'-JEk·E I l·
=
I
-c,.
EJto
T () £k (£ · Vg )Vgcf-1k.
•
(8.65)

The average value of the group velocity, Eq. (8.62), nmv takes the form

( )
Vg =- 47T-'n,.
e, I '1/u
T f_)£k (£. Vg )Vr:d-'k.
. • (8.66)

The quantit~ (ug) is called the drift velocity which is the a verc ge va lue of the
group veloctty of a scattered carrier in an electric field. B\' vmm tn we s~:e
that 1f k enters
_
r onl),. th.IL)Ug h t h e energy Ek. the onlv n· nvnnL
~ . .~
hmg com-
ponent
. ,
ofu
. g
ts th 'tt
'
pa 11 1 t 1 1 . . . . -. . . ·
ra e o t 1e e ectnc fleld £. It£ 1s m the x-dtredJllll.
Eq. (8.66) can he re\vritten as

( v ~ '; = f v ,,;' = ___e c _ ;· i'£') .(')j.

I) .c ~ l ,~k- (8.6 '7 )
c ' ,, .. T \ k - - I' '
4rr·'nc ')£!.. '-'' ' ·

The mobilitv~ fL is delined

·
h\· tl . I ..
.i 1e 1e at1on

(?·,,)
,-.. ,!
= (e. le )f' ,,
i. I t \.

Comparing Ell'' ( 67
· "· ' -) ) and (8' · 6l') .. o b t:11n
0 • we .

I' = _ _ e ;· . t.· ) U/tl

. . , 1
471 1 }1 . T( ~ )£ /'~ .tl !...
·- { . ( 1.. ,. . ~
fhl.! mnbilitv b · ·
. - -. ~.:. mg prnp nti~l . I -
l11ne bctwcl'n L' 11· . . Il.l lu th · SL':tlt ' 1'1 111! 11111 ·
. c 1:--Iun s Is ion . -
ckl'lnc cnndiiL'livitv fT . . g .tnd lu \\ whl'n t h.: lll ~·
Is ckiirh: ~l h\ ()11 . 1
IT! '\ :1\\ .
.
.

I =- ~·-
 Electrical conductivity and mobility 65
' I 1 h '' h n '-·,,mhme I \\ith Eq (.. 61) and (X.6X) yield
(T : - II,Cfl. (X.71 J

I l1 lt.·trihutinn functi,,n/o is the Fermi· Dirac distribution function

(X.72)

, hH:h upt1n ditrerentiation yields

Jj(l ( £") de ~( "' - r::,. I .

i)Ek
=-
[c 1(1:, - , ) + tf - ..
- -t3fr( l 1··
o -. o). (8.73 )

~ub: tJt ution of Eqs. (R.51) and (8.73) into Eq. (8.69) gives the mobility in
the tNm

(8.74

which is valid for both parabolic and nonparabolic bands.

For the special case or spherical parabolic bands with£,. = (112 j 2m* )k2.

t/·
(V~.Ek),.
.
= -m ..• kr , (8.75)

and

fJ· =
')

n-e.
4 7f•311JI'r'" 2
J . r(Ek)/o( l -fo )lr,.d
1 3
· k..
.
(8.76)

Since k ,. is a dummy integration variable, we can replace k_, by ky and by k :,

add the three expressions and divide by 3 to give

.. ,.,d 3 '
2
I' =
fi e!3
12r. 311cl11 - *' ; · . .(
r(£~.)./o I - .1o)"- '' · (8.77)

Introducing spherical coordinates, setting E = (TP. / 2m' )k 2 , and noting that

the integrand in Eq. (8. 77) depend s only on£, we integrate over the angular
variables and obtain in the classical limit

(8.78)

If we define the average value of r (E ) by

fr (E )j;,£1f 2dE
R.7 )
(r ) =. JJj,£ 3n rt£ ,

we can re-cxpress Eq . (8.7X) in the form

fl - e[J (21'.11;') 1!~ (r )j ..f(,l:.'v:. dE. (8 .80)

- 3 7f 2 1lc l11 '
 Charge ca rrie r scattering and transport properties
166
T treat the C<.lce f ellip. oidal parabolic bands. one ·'sphericalize-;" the
neroy u -ing the tra nsformati n in Eq. (_6.21 ). The mobility tensor element
II"'' i~ ot tain .d f r m ~q. (8. 0) by replacmgm" bym;, and (r) by (r,.), where
IT.= f l" ' .
1 rder to pr ceed further we must evaluate the integrals in Eqs. (8.79)
and (8.80). h range of integration is from zero to £,, the maximum
en r!! , f th band of interest. For not too large carrier concentrations and
not t~o high t mperatures, the ex ponential decrease of.fo with increasing E
enables us in good approximation to replace Em by infinity. For semi-
conductors with temperatures, carrier concentrations, and effective masses
satisfying the inequality (Tolman 1938)
J

nc
l/ 3
< (m*2rrk T) 2/fi
B
1, (8.81)

it is satisfactory to take/0 to be the classical Boltzmann distribution given

by ~

fo(E) :::: Ke- Ct: - Er ) , (8.82)

:-'here K_ is the normalization constant determined by Eq . (8.64). When the

mequahty 1s not satisfied, the full Fermi- Dirac distribution must be used
in Eq. (8 .77) with the consequence that the intecrrals must be done
numerically. o
Restricting ourselves to the classical case, we find tha t

(8.83a )

n, = 2: 2 (
2
;3•y/2 f .!oE1dE
I
= 4(r.f :J) Jf _ h2
(2m")~/:!
Ke Er
. ~3 b l

Eq uation (~.80) for the mobilit y then becom es

= e (r ) . . '-l )
11 m· t• .
Thi s result is a gcneralizat" . .
ca rriers are ass umed to.h·H).:1 ofo that lor the Drude model In\ hi ·h til ,_.-h,tr~,
case we must k . ave the same r regardless f enl.:'r..!\ I 1 th' >!~·nc·r.tl
. --
o r~.1et to eva luate (r . . 1 hts rr~
. now r( £) 111
Sicle red in the n~xt s• t .
. .. l :C I On. W e ·ee th · t h . .
p.tldfneters. the · tv ~-. .. .t t e rno h1l! t\ 111\ \1 .: 1
, t:la ge n:. •hx·l(j) l . .
cepcnJ
I o n the m<.tter"·J . ' ' '. Lll Ime anJ the ll~lll · n
- . ht . 1 11C c fl e ·t , .
pu• e rnall:n,tl . hut tl , . l IVt: mass IS ~s n ll,dl .t
· 11.: dV~o:r H!. · • )
llllpunth.'s a 11 d oth ,. . . ' l II: cl.\<.t tl cll
ll 1111pcrli:d 11..111~
 Energy dependence of the re laxatio n time
167

8.4 E e gy dependence of the relaxation time

.ttl nng l'\ ·nt a current C<lrricr mak.cs a transition frorn the Bloch
1;\ I~' the Bh,~_·h st:lt ' In'!.:') . F1)r the present we restrict oursd c. tn
1 trob nd scattering ft,r \Vhich n' =- 11. The scattering rate W(k - ·1.:') is

1 1 nmni.'J 1ua ntum mechanically from Fermi's golden rule . The rate of
h.lll!..t 1 I the dis tributinn function due to collisions is !liven by

·; I ;·
<< = - { l·V(k ~ k'){ (k )[ I -f (I.:') I
( ''" .
- H'(k' __. k)f (k')[l -f (k)] }d~k' , (8.85)

, 11 ·r the first and second terms on the right hand side correspond to
:c.HL ring t)Ut of state k and scattering into state k . respectively. Note that
the Paul i principle has been taken into account. At equilibrium , the net
c "IIi ·i 10 ratl' vanishes. and \ve obtain the principle of detailed balance:

If (k-- k:').l(,(k)[l -.f{,(k')] - H1 (k' __. k).fi,(k')[l -.f0 (k)J = 0. (8.86

A more convenient form ofEq. (8 .85) can be obtained by using Eq. (8.60),
"':hich we re\Hite as

()"
f = fo- tp(k) ~-~k , (8.8 7)

where

(8.88)

Substituting Eq. (8.87) into Eq . (8.85) and exploiting the principle of

detailed balance yields the result to terms linear in <p

~r
dr
I
mil
= j'{ w(k --" k') [zp (k ) ofo(k) [I - ./o(k' )J- (k') {J~~:.')lo(k)]
8Ek

+ W(k'--" k) [;_p(k) f!/o( k )fo(k')

c Ek

- zp(k') ~;i:.') [I - j(,(k)J] }rt 3k' .

. now use
If we , Eq . (8 .73)
- and again take advantage o f detaile i bab n e
obtain

~- ~ = -jJ ; · W(k - k' )[ (h: - (k')].fo (k )[ l - ;;,(A' ]d Jk' , ( '. 0)

cull ·

which upon making the substitution

W(k --) k')[J - ./l)(k')] = Hl (k,// )[ 1 - /o(k )j g. I

 Charge carrie r sea tering and transport properties
1 8

b c me.-

i!f I = -r1;· W (k,J.:' )[ (!.:) ~ i.p(k') ]h(k)[l -Ji)(k)]d k'.

3
(8.92)
{) { ( t l!f •

Again u ·ing E _( '_ 73 . we can revvTite Eq. (8.92) as

J_l == U(o(A) ; · W(k,k') [<p(k) - i.p(k') jd 3 k'. (8.93)

() l coli fj £1, ·

We consider two important cases for which a relaxation time can be

defined (Roth 1992):
1. Elastic or inelastic scattering which is characterized by W(k, k'), being
an even function of k'. This case is referred to as "k-randomizing"'
(Herring and Vogt 1956).
2. Elastic scattering and isotropic energy bands with vV(k __, k') depend-
ing only on the angle between k and k'.
For case (I) we note that since W(k ____. k') and JO (k' ) are even functions of
k' . W(k, k') is also even . On the other hand 'P(k') is an odd function of k'
because Vg is an odd function of k' from its definition in Eq. (8 .51). Con-
sequently, the integral involving i.p(k') in Eq . (8.93) vanishes, and

(8.94)

Use of Eq . (8 .87) yields

81)''1
at m/1
= - U - to )
. .
I
.
f ·
W(k. k )d -'k.
' I
( c .95 )

whi~h upon comparison with Eq. (8 .55) gives the inverse rela -.:ation time in
the lorm

I
r(Ek) = ;· IV(k.k' )c( 3 k ' .

Thus, forca
. se (l)the in\'eJ·se re 1axaLion
- time
- d e pe nds nnh l n tht> 'l'dll n !1'~
rate H/ (k,k'). · · ·
For case
, .- (
(2), we .use
_ ·
the sPleiJ<.:a
1 -· . 1parabohchand
- vn lu "C rr: .. 1i/.. / 111• -··11d
\\lite 'P k ) 111 the lorm

tp( k ) = X(k ) · v~ = X(kl · lik / m" ,

whe re

X(k ) = e, r (E~.; )£
Substitulin~ I hi s cxpr . . - .
~ . -· ~:ssiun ~~~r ;:'(k Inll) Eq . (~ _l ~l '''-' 'bt In

i)~ ~ - h !Jfn\1..) ;·
i it '"" 117 ,jj._-A . II' (J.. . k ' l[X(J.. ) · (k f. )I C
 Rela a tion tim es for specific scattering mechanisms 169

r " · h 1 \ ' u_t1 li1l.J th_t' !act that l•'r t•I:Jslll. ta lt ··nn
'- , /·.,.
., , JJk :1111.._1
nL1. ). 1 h ' l l'rm 111 squ:m: hrad.ds c· m he written :1 s

\(l..)k(cllsf1J. x ens. () I. ..x ). ( X.I 00 )

h r · f 11. x ~~ thl.· <tn gk between k and X(k ). The integral over k' is eva luated
u mg sp h ·neal l.',_ll)rdmatc~ with the polar axis in the k-direction . Then
~ f}J. he ~()lllC::\

C(LHJ.x. = l.·osOu.:cosfhx - sintt,. _,.. sinf-J,. _xcos ( J. ' - 0x)· (,'.101 )

Th it:tcgra~ of the term containing cos ('t-- "' - -P x) vanishes becwse bv

a . . . um ptlon n depends only on ek.k' and not on f k': ~

(R.102)

. e of Eqs . (8 .97) and (8.87) yields

ufl
iJl . ·) ;· W(k , k )[I -
= -U - to 1
cose"k']d -k'.
1
(R.103)
,_·u/1

mparing this equation with Eq. (8.55) we see that

I .
l

I =.
r (Ek) W (k,k ) [I - cose,. _k'] d ·k' .
I 1.
(8.1 04)

Hence. for case (2) the inverse relaxation time depends not only on 11-'(k. k' )
but also on the factor I - cos B,. _k' \-vhjch represents the fraction of forward
momentum k that is randomized or lost in each collision. The relaxation
time involved in low-field transport phenomena is the momentum relaxa-
tion time that is specified by Eq . (8.1 04) .
In the classical limit to \Vhich we restrict ourselves, W( k,k 1 ) becomes
equal to W (k ........ k' ) and can be calcul ated by the Fermi golden rule for the
scattering mechanism of interest. We discuss the calculation of both
the scattering rate Hl (/i , k' ) and the relaxation time r (Ek) for a variety of
scattering mech a ni sms.

8.5 Relaxation times for specific

scattering mechanisms
There are a variety of sca ttering pr ._es o r importance in semi-
conductors. They include sca ttering by ic niz d impurities. neutr:.1l impu -
rities, other charge carriers. acou stic piH nons, and optical phonon s. a h
scattering mechani sm leads to a charaGleri<>tic energy dependen ·c: of th '
relaxation time.

8.5.1 Ionized impurity scattering

If the weakl y bound electron of a don o r impurit y uch asP in Si is .' itcd
into the conduction band . the positive impurity i( n that rcm:tin s serves H::. tt
Charge carrier scattering and transport properties

. f" fee ·arrier:. Since we typically deal with ·y ·tern

caltenng cent r r r . . . b C I .
. -1 l oncentr'llion of tree earners, t e ou omb potent 1al
c ntammg a mJ c ~ . , . .
· · · purit ion 1s screened by the free earners. The mter-
du to t he po. tt1ve m1 • ·.
acti n Hamillonian J therefore ol the form
1
- Ze- - qulr - RI
11int (1·) -- , (8.105)
4 7rE J ,,. - Rl e
wber R is t he p itio n ector of the ion, Ze is its charge, E is the dielectric
constant ft h · m iconductor, and lfo is the inverse Debye screening length.
If onl y a ingl type of free carrier with concentration nc is present, q0 is
specified by (Debye and Hi..ickel 1923)

(8.106)

Similar considerations apply to an acceptor impurity such as AI. but in

this case the impurity ion is negatively cbarged and the free carrier is
positively charged.
If we neglect multiple scattering and use the Born approximation.
Fermi's golden rule (Fermi 1950) gives the scattering rate as

( k,k
I)
= h27r I(k I . 2
IH;I/[(r)lk) l o(Ek' - Ek)g(k ),
. I
(8.107)

where the 8-function expresses the fa.c t that the scattering is ela ·tic and the
3
density-of-states g(k ) is S1/(27l") . Taking the Bloch statel k ) as the product
1

of a plane wave function and the periodic function uk (r ). the matrix element
of l-h11 becomes

( 8 . 10~ )

The pr~duct ujA r)uk(r) has the periodicity of the r. tal ~In l can b~
expanded m the Fourier series

u;.(,.)uk(•·) = L f!iGr B~o.·dG ). ~ .I OlJ l

G
In this equation

Bkk G ) --
I (
nI ; ·
e- iG'··· . . '
ll~o.· (r)uk(r )d -' r

and G is a reciproc·ll htt" . l ( .. 10 ')

an<..l evaluating· tl1e . 't JCceJvector. Substituting E I· (~ . 109) m t
~ 111 egr~1 over th 'I -. · ·
l: l: eL trontc C(hlrdtnal . 1~

(k' I H;m(~') lk) = 0 L (;

Bn(G' )rt(k' - k -G' l Jll

whercH(k' - k - G) ·· ~.
rs th~: t-:LlllriLT transii.lrrnn )f II,, r :1\

H(k' -- k _ G)
I = -
I ; ·
~2
I' •14 I. C> rf/ (. 1
1111 I <
',,
 Rela ation times fo r specific scattering mechanism 171

\:tt )i n _• intcral.: li(lll pt'll.:nltal th e impnrta nt f-ou rier

mp n ·nt ,11 tho:-' ,,f sn w ll :-.rgumcnt. We m a thcr ·~ ·lie ncg lccl the
,. llkd u m h.la pp ll'rm~ with G /:- 0 . Using spheric!! cnonJm tcs w ith
h 1 !~11 ~LXI · para llel I~) I. k' and placing the impurity ion at the ori gi n,
n lth J t H( /.. ' - I.) is given hy

(R.ll3 1

In thl' a bsence of umklapp terms, we need only deal with the coefficient
B 4 /.. ( l . The periodic function u,.(r) depends weakly on k for the states with
high ca rrier occupancy near the band edge . Hence. we can approximate
u_dl') • u,. r) and from the normalization of lk) obtain Bk'k(O ) :c:: I jrt.. The
matri. element of Hinr simplifies to

2
(k rl H inr( r .) 1k = }{ (k , - k) = - -Ze [ 1, ] . (8 .114)
lk - k'j- + qJ
.-
EoEf'l

Th total scattering rate can now be obtained by substituting

Eq. (8 . 114) into Eq. (8.107) and multiplying by the number of ionized
impurities ¥ 1 :

(8.115)

If we assume spherical parabolic bands, we are dealing with the second or

the two cases mentioned in Section 8.4. The relaxation time is there[t)re
specified by Eq. (8.104) v,;hich. with the aid of Eq. (8.115) and setting
n 1 = N 1 j fl. becomes

(8. 116)

We introduce s pherical coordinates with the polar axis parallel to k and

note that since £,., = t_·k , we must have k' = k and therefore

(8. 11 7)

The inverse relaxation time then takes the form

2
l llj /'[ Ze /fuf ] -
r(Ek ) = 41f211. 2k2 ( t - cosfJ) 1~
1 ( '. I I )
x /5( E,. - £,., )( 1 - cos B)k' dk' sin 0 dO dtp.
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
172
. . · Lmg /.,, 10
llmm . f·<tv. r f ::,
k
u ·ing Ek' = t/·k' 2 /2m·. and carrying ut the
integra ls o ver Er an ~ give:
~ 1
2
.!!_}_ (~n: ·.) ' j· f· l [
3 2
_l_ _
rf£k) - 4 ;r/i lr
,
. 1 2k- ( 1 - cose) + q0
Zl:' /r:n. 2 ] ~ £l(l - cosO)sin0dO.
' (8.119)

Tb e integ ral over cos fJ can be evaluated by elementary means to yield

(Brooks 1955)

- ) 1J
I+ (li-q0 /8m"Ek)
l
.

(8. 120)
This result is the celebrated Brook s- Herring formula. For small q0 (large
screening length, low carrier concen,tration), the relaxation time is to a good
12
approximation proportional to £;,' . The average value of r(Ek) can be
evaluated starting from Eq. (8.79). The result is

~(4;rto r-)
2
(r ) =
1rn 1 Z 2 e4
x J:' £ 3 [Iog(l +8m*E / n2qJ)- ( 1/ l + ( 1i 2
qJ / 8m~ E )) ] 1
e- 1Ed£
j~ £ 3/1e- SEd£
(8.111 i
The factor in square brackets is a slowly varying function of E. whereas the
3
functionh(£ ) = £ exp( - E)issharplypeaked. Wema_ ther foreobtain
a good approximation by replacing E in the square-brack r d fac tor by its
value at the maximum of h(E ), i.e. , 3k 8 T . The integrals that remain in
Eq. (l:L 121) are proportional to gamma functions: ~

.fo{ E e- EdE =
3 4
f(4) = (ksT )4 r (4) ('. J~2a l

lor ~ £ 312e . Ed£ _ .J- 5/2 f

- ·) (5)2 = (ks T )-
.; -r~ (5 ~

Using the values r( 4) - 6 and f (5/ 2) = (3 / 4) Jr. \\t: bt.tin

4(47rFoc) (~k 8. T ) 3 /~,;nr [

2
(r ) = ( T 2)
n3l2 n,z ~ -1 log I + T :. - --~~-:-:-
o
lL• I - -''
\\' 11 " ' • ., ,,
t: Jc ti = , ,
1-e-n
,
( '4 · k,
The b. I. -"1 (llf 8 and n, replaces ". in
' -
1110 I Jt y ' LSSOCJated v/tJ . . . , . . ' .
1
ob tained by l11LlltJ. nl . E I St:tt:encd 1 0 1lt7~d Ill plll ll_.
t• YIIIQ ~ Ll
~ .
(X 1"~,)
. - -'
t
)~ ('Ji ll :

1
 Relo oti n hmes for specifi c co ttering mechanisms 173
'' ll If II l \'1111ra t ur~.· d l' pc nd l'll · · c11 the mnhifil\ i-; l "« nt ;ri ncd rn
I. r ' '.Th • in~..-rt'a: · in llh)hiht _' with inc rc;r-.i;,!! tcnrpnat til l' i"
1 h I I lth til~.· I ~Jd that Cc1U inmh ' l':ltiL'ring ,.., mnn: dl ·c live r r
1h.tn r) r fast <I ITi\.'P'. Hi ghn tempe rat urc~ prnducL:
1 .n ncr ... and I her ·1"\WC larger a vcra~c rl.'lax.a 11 1n t imc a nd hi uhl'r
"'''lltl) . ~
h •n •In - the in' c~o:;c rci:Jxation time has a lt)!,Writhmic divergence
t).
+
:I.e .0
htdl ~~ ,: h.lra · knst~~: (1 1 the bare Couk"~mb interaction . An alternative
(I

m a 1 ' f hminatmg the divergence is prov ided by the Conwell Weisskopf

llt..'tlh"~d ( o n\\ L'll and Weisskopf Jl))O). It is assumed that the Coul omb
dd "~f .1 ~lrli~..·tJiar inn ceases lt) be dkctivc a t a maximum impact param-
IL'r " , ., SL'l: Fig. ~-~) equal to one-half the mean distance between impurit y
Fig. 8.2
I )fl
vcomctry J"o r i ni7l·d imrunl )
callcrin g .
IJ/1111.1 I
= ~ Ill
1/J
(~ . 1 25)

rrespc,nding to hm.n is ·1 mimimum angle 0111 ;11 between k and k ' specified
h) Ridky 19~~)

I
h/Jicl\" = (Z/ k )( Ry' I £~; )1 cot(Hmiu / 2), (8.126)

\\here Ry· is the effective Rydberg. The evaluation of the inverse relaxation
time proceeds as in the derivation of the Brooks- Herring formula except
tha t q0 is set equal to zero and the ra nge oft he integration over eis restricted
e
to Hmiu ~ ~ r.. The result is

(8. 127)

For small impurit y ion concentrations the dominant energy dep ndence of
r(Ek) is£}/~. just as with screened ionized impurity scattering.
The average value of r ( Ek) a nd the va lue oft he mobility can be obtained
in the same manner used in the Brooks- Herring treatment . T he result for
the mobility is

( . '- )

The experimental verification of Eq. (~.124) or q. (R . l ~8) i compll-

cated b severa l factors. In materials such as n-Si and n- e, the en r.s.'
bands ~re ellipsoidal, not spherica l, and it is oece ~sa r ' t rc: pla e n 1, h '
an appropriate density-of-states mass (H am 1955). Ot m ~- i rn~ n~n ­
is the fact that at high temperatu res scattering hy laliiCt 1bra uo ns
dominates. whereas a t very low temperaLUres most of the impuri ti s a r
neutral rather than ioni zed , so neutral impurit y sc-ttt ring mus t
considered.
 Charge carrier scattering and tra nsport properties
1 :.4

8.5.2 Neutral impurity scattering

.· . " ltte r db a neutral impurity, there is no long range
If a charue ca t ner t,. - c. . . . . .
c ul m b tnterclc
.
. b
. t. 0 10
10
· v lv J . The effecttve mteract10n potential ts hort
. .
deled b a squa re well potenttal. It IS known that a
ran an d Cd n c m . . .
neutral b dr 0 a to m can bind a second electr?n w1th a bmdmgene~gy Er
of0. 7 R . . B ch j ng the square well P?tent.tal to reproduce ~he bmding
energy £ T. '"' t r '--1sorl'lbl
· (.
v realistic
- ·
relaxatton time can be obtamed whose
·
mver · 1M ' the f rm (Sclar 1956)

(8.129)

The corresponding mobility is

I' -
_ (2m '/n)2c£j.l [ 1 I (k T)2l+ (Er)2I] ·
8
(8.1 30)
,
1Tz- 31fn -
Er kaT
It has a weak temperature dependence with a minimum at T = Er / 2ks.
T his weak dependence on tempera ture is in marked contrast to the strong
dependence of ionized impurity scattering on temperature.
The values of the scattering rate are found to be sma ll unle E Tis small.
Consequently, neutral impurities that bind a carrier into a d ep level will
not act as strong scattering centers and will not be important in determining
the mobility.

8.5.3 Lattice vibrational scattering

8.5.3.1 Acoustic phonon scattering
The v ibrations of the nuclei in a semicond uctor produce ad \iatio n ofthe
carnerpotential from periodicit y that scatters free char_ ~uri r . lf Rand
Ro den.ote the nuclear coordinates in the displaced an- ~4uilihri um Cllll·
figuratl~ns, respectively, we can expand the carrier p t nti ..d in po\\ r s rics
m the displ acements R _ Ro,

V (r, R )= V( r, Ro) (R - Ru ) ·VRl '(r,R )iR- Ro+· · . (l' . J3 1

and stoy with the !~near terms if the displacements a r null. Th~.: fir'\! 1·nn
on the 11 ght hand side of Eq. (8 . 13 1) is the pcriodil t nti~ I tnd th · ~·~. n~. i
te rm IS the deviation f 10111· .· . d'ICil . tl ·akul. tl' tht, r.l 1~, ·1t
. y. Our task 1·
. . peno ·
wh1ch C'lrne r · · ·
. . s .li e sca ttered o ut of ·t part icular Bl ·h '>l..ll b th ... J '' •
1 111011
Fo1 lo nl! wavelength v'b 1 .. 1· _., : . 1nd
.. · .~ . .~ ldl 0 11s~ ,, >> I ) O il e L <lll ll S"''I.l ·ttL"Jl\th ·~o.f\•
'-Ie. u1be thl: v1bnt H)n . · .
• s In te rms ot the strain tens r t ' Jdin . . 1 h

,
( /II'
_
-
1(a"s• I- - '
-:, - .-
- Ux,. iJ \
i Ju ·)
, •
Jl . t ' - r. r,_ I ·-
' ~

"I
 Relaxation times fo r specific sca ttering mechanisms 175

'lh d f rm tin potential pr•'\. ' 1urc. lhl· Bluch ~tal~ cn ·rg_ b j..,
.m I • I 111 1 ' " cr ,,f 1111.~ , ·1,, :
I \--,
. ( "., ..k 1,f, ,.c 11 , \- - · U\.1341
...__, ''
!II '

I 11 ~·ul i 1.Ty ~ l ~ ls. •Hlc can simplify this expression tn l!.ive

(H. 135)

\ 11h ~the dilatitm given by

D. = )
L.......J
e
1'1'
= au,
.,
__I o,-)ur I
, iht:
') . (X.I36)
I' C _y ( 1' (!::;

h r spherical bands. c2 = 0.
Since the atomic vibrations of crystals arc described in terms of normal
Jlh)des.\\C introduce normal coordinates Q(qj) by means of the normal
CL1ordinate transformation

u(r) = -r.n
I-
. .
. . .. .
L e(qj)e'q.-Q(qj). (8.137)
VPH qJ.

where q is the wave vector. .i is the branch index restricted to acoustic

branches. and e(qj). is the polarization vector. Equation (8.11.7) is an
adaptation of Eq. (7.46) to an elastic continuum of volume D and
density fl - In the limit q --+ 0. e(qj) is related to e" (qj) in Eq. (7.46) by
e,, (Oj) = (AI,.) L" 1\Ih Fe(Oi). As will be seen later. the important values of
1

q are very small compared to the zone boundary value "/a. so we assume
that this relation holds also for q =I=- 0.
In evaluating matrix elements involving phonon wave functions it is
convenient to introduce creation and annihilation operators a~, and OqJ by
means of the relation

1i
Q(qj) = ( -_- ' -. ,, -) ~ ( oq,. + a
-U-!q I
(8.138 )

where wqf is the normal mode frequ ency. Eliminating Q(qj) from
Eq. (8.137) yields

. 11
u ( r) = ( - --
_)~ "'{e(_qj
~ - - e
). tq·r
uq 1
+ e· r.:;-
(qj )
2p0 qi ,} »q i V uJq I

where we have used the relati ons e( - qj) = e (qj) and -V - qj ) = '-'- '( qj ).
The dilation specified by Eq. (~.136) then takes th e Corm

-'' ( ,
W. r)
··
=_I·(-11-·')· ~ L_
)rA~ £Jt
{q ·
.
e(qj)
.
ju,'q;
t
,., ilq I _ q e'- (v ) (,
J~uq 1
' 'a+l
q J
f
,
(8.140)
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
176
. . ·b· ,., tb ~i nteraction of a carrier in a spherical band
T l c lJarnilt nr n d e, cn 111
\ ith the a ·oustic m es o f ib ration can be taken as
(8.141 )

We 11 , alc ulat ~ th ra t - r scattering of a carrier ~rom one Bloch state

10
an th r. We ITS riel urselvcs to intralx~nd scattenng_ and suppress the
b·tnd ind . The full wa ve function 'P(r. Q) for the crystal1s a product of the
Bloch function for the carrier and harmonic oscillator functions p for
the normal coordinates Q (qj )

w,w (r. Q) = e1k''uk(r ) n

qi
rllq ,[Q(qj)], (8. 142)

where n stands for the set of harmonic oscillator quantum numbers nq ; of

the normal modes qj and Q stands for the set of normal coordinates. The
scattering rate i. given by Fermi's golden rule as

(8.143 )

Since H 1111 involves the scalar product q · e(qj) . only the longitudinal
component of a vibrational mode contributes to the scattering. We restrict
ourselves to elastically isotropic systems for which the modes can be clas-
sified as either longitudinal or transverse. We then need only deal with the
longitudinal acoustic modes and can drop the branch ind , j . For these
modes the scalar product q- e(q ) reduces to

q. e(q ) = q. (8.144,1

The matrix element of lhll that appears in Eq. (~.1 43 ) inv h· ·s the
product of an integral over the electronic coordina tc,. a nd inte!!f'lL L> \ a the
normal coordinates Q(q). The evaluation of the integnl , -r the normal
coor~inates is facilitated by exploiting the follcnvi~n-= pr pt:rtie~ L)r tht'
creatiOn operator a(~ and destruction operator aq (Maradudin e' a/. l l 71 l:

I
(/q Pn~(Q(q)) = 7/~ Pn~ - l (Q (q ))

~ I
aq 'Pn~(Q( q )) = (n., + I )'S' 11~ -'- 1 _ (q )l.
The matrix clement of H 1111
· .
Cdn llO\V
. ·
be readily e\'·tl uutni tl• ;r •

L-
I
i\ f.'n' ll lI l l/ lk. Jl ) - iC I/i
- - - ~ C(
/
\-11 ., .;:::;;;

,J
' .
L' tl. ' • 11 , ) [
1. \ ,. I'
qr
1
( n., r I
I
<' 0/ ,. I
1
=~ ,
lq ("• " • I
Jl'•A r· IIJ.. (I'r/ 1'
 R Ia ation times for specific scattering mechanisms 77
1 I he ·k I r•l l1il· ~ •1 rdinatc c •n h~.· "itn[' hli · I by u:-.in' the
1 ft 1 114 \~" 11~(1'). Fy (S IOIJ) . ·ttHI ncgl· ~: t i ng um kla pp term s
•'fll:'>
1 h • r· u lt I 'r tlh: mat t ix 1•.' kment is

I. 1 II 1 !t.n) =

(8 .14X)

h r / 4·A (I ) can h~? appr~.1ximated by l /0.

h ·firs! term in th~.· squure brackets corresponds to phonon emission in
·.ttlcring: process and the second term to phonon absorption. The matrix
mem \'a nishcs unless the harmonic oscillator selection rule 6, 17 =
'
11 - llq = ± l. is satisfied. The normal mode q therefore ga ins or loses
dl rg~ it th amount fl'"""•q and, by conservation of energy , the carrier must
1,- or gain an equal amount of energy. The scattering process is inelastic.
H1.1\\ 'er. the energy oft he acoustic phonons of interest is typicall y so small
cornpar d to electronic energies that it can be neglected in the delta function
iu Eq. (8.14~). Scattering by acoustic modes can therefore be treated as
ela.' tic a nd falls under case (2) in the discussion in Section lL1 if the energy
ba nJ of the carriers is isotropic.
The carrier part of the matrix element leads to a selection rule on the
~.·a rrie r wave vector, k'- k = ±q, where + q and -q are associated with
j,n = - I (phonon absorption) and + I (phonon emission). respectively.
This result is the conservation of crystal momentum in the scattering process.
The ingredients arc nmv in hand to calculate the inverse relaxation time
bv combining Eqs. (8.104). (8.143), and (8.148). The scattering rate for
phonon emission t a kes the form

(8.149)

where u.'q = c1 q and c, is the longitudinal speed of so und. We now,pa ss to

the classical limit. so that ll~ (kn ~ k - qn' ) = W,.(kn,k - qn ). Tht:
inverse relaxation time is then obtained by starting rrom Eq . (8.104) a nd
averaging over initial phonon states to give

pu s )

where ilq is the mean phonon occupation number intr ducedin E~l · 7.74).
The argument of the e nergy -conse rVIng ddta fu n ·tion 1s (ti I - 111 )
(q 2 - 2kqcosfh.q) for sphe rical parab li band s . In order to hJ a 11 n-
zero contribution. it is necessa ry that

th 1/ = !j- .
if .1 51 )
cos
( I

-\
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
7
. , (} . th ra nge -I < cos(} :::; + l, the magnitude of the ph non
S111ce L s 1te tn
Cfmax = 2k. Furthermore, fr m
-
·· vc vee t t r n s·t l'te ,· 11 t h ranl1e
o
0<
-
q ""
-
Lh ge m~try hown in Fig. .3. we see that

q1 = k'!. + ik - q i2 - 2k ik - ql cos Bu- q· (8.1 52)

Applying 11 rgy con rvation gives k = ik- ql and hence

Fig. 8.3 q2
\\ave vector dmgram for ph no n I - cos fh, .k - q = lk 2 . (8.153)
COliS.! n.
Utilizing the result s just obtained, we find that Eq. (8. 150) can be reduced to

_!_ = C? ;· lf 7 (11q + I )b( Ek - q - Ek)d 3q . (8.154)

r,. 8r.2 pc 2k-
At this point it is helpful to make an appraisal of the maximum energy,
n:v'max = nct{jmu. = 211cr:k , of phonons that a re etTective in scattering a
carrier. As in Section 8.5. 1, we assume that the carriers obey nondegenerate
statistics and take k to be its value specified by equipartition
n2k 2 /2m ' = 3ks T / 2:
I
nk = (311'( k 8 T )2. (8. 155)
I
The maximum energy is 2c£(3m*k 8 T )2 and its ratio to k 8 T is

( .156)

Defining a characteristic temperature T~ by T,. = 12m' c} j k 8 and taking n(

and ce to have their values forGe, we find that T~ :::: 3.9 K. Con eq uently.
for T > 4 K the ratio given by Eq. (8.156) is les~ than unit.; . an we rna)
pass to the high-temperature limit:

(8.1 57)

\1..· 1.~ ')

0

Introdu~ing spherical coo rdinates with the polar, .T p.1r JJd r /. :tn i
mtegratll1g over the azimutha l angle Y · \Ve get

_.!._
r~
= <?k ,T 8
'I)Jrhpc-/.; 2
[,q..,, . ; ·~ 1 lf ~ tl [ (li~k'J)
-- ( -
q
_
I · ll . I Ill . :!,k
_ C?ks T (
- '6 rrhf1 ·? 1, ~ 112,_
111 · ) ;·-k 1
'f d'f
' 1\ • ll

=-
 Relaxation times for specific scattering mechanisms
179
1 HI. ' n~tl 1:-. can bL· L;rrrr ' I out f, r ill'tlll"l1L' phnnon ;rh~nrpt inn.
· "' • p ' lldlll ' 11, , . 1 (X . I:'\~) i"

-
r II
I
-
(. ~
I
X;r.C ·-
111 I .
I .
q
I
r.·
1I 1 11 qL\Ci. r q
_ ,,
~· ~
- l~t.)d lf
I
(R. I60 )

ht 1.111 the lu uh temperature limit rcdLI''•~·s t•l tJ 1 .~ s·1111 e L·x)

• 1 1.cssron
. · as f or
'"""· ' ... d

o..r H "' n l!l •n b~ Eq. (S.I.'i9): T_

he total inverse relaxation time is the sum of
, ·I 11 .th::.o rptwn and emtsston :

(8 .161 )

T' d •tt:rmine the temperature dependence of the mobilitv we m11 · t

'alu<tk (r,1 , . smg Eq. (8 . 79) in the nondegenerate statisti~s appro~-
imati n. we obtain

(8.162)

\\hi h upon e\aluation of the integrals becomes

l ) _, '/2
( Tact, "'Srr2
-
1ipc; (
1
17- )
(8.163)
JC 1- 2nrksT

The mobility for spherical parabolic bands now follows from Eq. (8.84):
l ? ? 312
_ ( e ) 8n21ipC( ( Jj- ) ·
/fa( - - ( 8.164)
m* 3C? 2m*ks T

The T - 31- dependence follows from the simple consideration that the
a\·erage relaxation timer varies as A/ (v) . where \ is the carrier mean free
path and (t:) is the mean carrier velocity. Since A"' 1/ 11,1 "" 1/ Tand (t ) "'
T 1 2. (r 11, .) ,.._, I / T 312 and f_Lac"' 1/ T /2 .
Our results for both the average relaxation time and the mobility exhibit
an inverse three-halves power dependence on the temperature. A decrease
in mobility as the temperature increase is to be expected physically. · the
temperature increases. the mean amplitude of vibration of the at ms and
the perturbation of the periodic potential caused by the vibration incrca e.
The rate of scattering of the carriers therefore increase, ' ith increa. ing
temperature, whereas the average time bet\:veen c Iii ions and them bili ty
decrease.
The case of degenerate carrier statL·tic- can be h·111dl with th ai of
Eqs. (8. 72) and (8. 77) and tabulati ns of Fermi- Di nt in t
nonparabolic bands require that the ener2:y dependenc
mass be taken into account.

8.5.3.2 intervalley scattering

In the previous section vve discu . sed th 'C'ttteri ng o f I urge arri~.::rs
between states a sociated with u ~ingl e energ ex tr mum r ·· <II "d nc t
 . . and transport properties
Char e car r cattenng
. . h . 11 tic ph non . We know from Chapter 3. ho~ _
tl 1 r II t ·r t1 n \\ Jt
c' . . .
u 11 ...,n b·tnd of ~C ITIJ onducto~s ~uch as St , Ge, and GaP
1 \' multiple valleys whose m1mma are at or near the
. . b ·I.. r Ph non- a i ·ted intervalley scattering is pos ible
BnU1HJtn zo:1 unt •· _· .. . .. , . .
. I · for ·t lr ll1 1tt n tr Dm a state near the mmtmum of one
111 sue 1 rnatcn · • ' . . .
vall y L a tat m:ar th~ mmimum oJ a dtfferent valley, the change '.n wave
\ector is rclati\l~ l ~ larg and nu y be on the o rde1~ of a no~zero rectprocal
latti v ctor. The phon n freq uency correspondmg to th1s wave vector is
ah. large and nly weakly dcp ndent on the vaiL~e of the wave vector.
The interaction giving ri e t interva lley scattenng between valleys a and
h can be characterized by an interaction Hamiltonian of the form

(8. 165)

\vhcr~ /'vf 1 and :\h are the masses of the two atoms in the primitive unit cell
and M is an etrectivc oscillator mass. The displacement u(r) is an effective
relative displacemenL of the two atoms in the unit cell and is related to the
normal coordinates Q(qj) by

~
u(r ) = JNM
I .
~ e(qj) etq·rQ(qj). (8. I 66)
Nlvf q;·

The deformation potential Dan is in general a function of the v , vector q

and can be expanded in powers of q:

D ah (q ) -- D (O)
ab T
I
D elf/
(I )
L q + .. · .
• (8. !6 )

Both optical and acoustic phonons can be involved in intenall ~ atterin.;.

Selection r~les determine which, if any, phonons are a ll wed f r a partic-
ular scattenng process (Birman e ! a!. 1966).
Zero-order(Olintervalley scattering is determined b · th t rm "irh th~
coeffictent
. ,
Dab in Eq · (8 · 167.) · If u (r ) ts
· chrmna · t h~
· · ted t-rom· E ' 165) with
atd of E (8 16c. ·\
f . q . . · \)) andthematrixelementsofH cvalu~t d !lhrh' ''a''
unctiOns gtven by Eq. (8.140), the result for ze;:~-or~ r c~ t ring is

(k' n'JH,,11 Jkn j = I ( . .· 'I

J N(l14 1
"""D(UI
_ M -.) L "" · e q J)<n Q (t!J 11
- qI

.fc \ k' 1. -ql·•·u~, (r)uk (r)c/''r. 'I

. The integral over ,. can be ,. . ' . . .

mating Q ( ·) · f, , e\ ,tluatcd Wtlh the :uJ "1 b.] lun-
q I 111 <~vor o f the J)h . .
anu complct '111 ., tl1 · . unon creatt1111 and .1 11 thtl t n
C CV'I 1ll':H )
""
~ , , ILn o f' t· hematri.xt:km •nt.\"'i

= 2:J.:.2:=..,"('1il '\
I
(k' u' ii·I,," ik")
'I I \(2 / 1 iJ-',!I• ~ ~(ll. ' l. ({ 1 • 1 ~"~ Ill

d " (G ! .
I I
 Relo ohon times for specific scatteri ng mechoni ms 181
ll\ .
/) II t' ( q I and '"'' IS I h~ Ill l en
al ll:' plwn Ill rn.:q u 'Ill }
ph'"' lh h.I\L' \\ O.l \ L' \L' ·t·ll·s that arc an apprt:ciahk lr~ILIIPil ,,r
lllll 1llll' h Hlll l a r~ \\'<1\L' \ l 't:lol in the -;;nne dircctilln. The
~~ r. ,,. ' n q 1s \\l' .tk and \\ill he neglected
Ill~' th~.: ·""'ll'c rc ult r,,r (l.·'n' II",,IJ.n ). we find th~ scattcnng rate to he

(X.I70)
>' ·
;:;;: I 04
r•
h. r or phonons and
·the u~ pt r ( 10\\Cr) sign refers to absorption (emission) E
.neragt'\·aluc or ~.,,, (qj) multiplied hy Bn(G')O . Since Ek' and
'-'
=. I :111
h n" W\k ~ I>' ) are even in k', zero-order intervalley scattering i::;
"·rlnd) m mg. The mverse relaxation time is therefore specit1ed bv
Eq (~ - ( . The- result including hoth emissillll and absorption of inte 1~­
' all ) ~ horwns is (Roth 1992) I O·'

so 1no 200
Temperatu re (' K
(8.171)
Fig. 8.4
Mobility vcr u~ temperatu re f r n- 1

\ here (x ) i. the Hcaviside step function and Z is the number of equivalent (after Ferry 197(: ).
,. lie\ . .
In n-Si with conduction band minima along the principal axes but not at
the Brillouin zone boundary. there are two types of intervalley scattering
processes. Scattering between valleys along different axes is called f-scat-
tering. and that betvveen valleys along the same axis is called g-scattering.
UrnkJapp processes involving nonzero reciproca l lattice vectors G are
important because the transitions can cross the boundary of the first
Brillouin zone. For example. g-scattering in Si invol es Gtoo- whereas
./~scattering invol\·es G 111 . It turns out that f-scattering \Vith a phonon
~

"'
energy of 0.054 cV(C-:->n = 630 K) is the dominant process at temperatures ~ 1()4
'"E
above 200 K. (.)

>.
However, experimental mobility dat·t can be fully understood only if
first-order intervalley sca ttering a ssociated with the . econd term on the
right-hand . ide of Eq. (8 . 167) is included (Ferry 1976).
We shall not discuss first -o rder scattering in detail , but impl n tc that 10-·
scattering by LA and T A phonons of energy 0.016 eV ( - n = 190 K) has
been shown by Ferry to contribute appreciably ro th total scattering in
n-Si . A plot of the mobility as a function of tcmperatur i gi en in f irr. 8.4.
The individual contributions or aco ustic and intervalley sc~1rtering a r
~ mper:.uure lK J
plotted in Fig. ~.5. Acoustic pho non scattering dominates at tt:mpcratur s
below 200 K. while zero-order intervalley scattering do mina ! s ab v~ Fig. 8.5
200 K. ntrihullt no\ Lt the 111 htlit~
l)f n- 1 <1'- funcll ns ttf Lt.:mpt.:ralllrt: .
.: 'lhl iL intr:1 at h.: • JntnhuttLm . oJ(l·
8.5.3.3 Polar optical phonon scattering 7 ·n -( rJer u1ten ,tlk\ ~·.,tHrihutt lHl '
In Chapter 7 it wa s pointed out that the normal nwdes of vibra tion in l 0. fi r l-t~rd~ 1 tnt ~n .Ilk\ \. lllt.'l b Utl 11
t:rr) t9"t,l
"cmiconductors include optiLal as well as acoustic mod es An impo rta nt
 . and transport properties
Charge corner scattenng
. l. modes that distinguishes them from acoustic
charac1Ln tiL I I np I ' 11 . . ·h . . .. h .
.. · f., uenc 1es d 1 n t app1 o,H.: zew cts t e1r wave vector
mode, 1'-i th,ttl I1t: l tL:L1 • •• ., . h , . . .
. E cept .1tlm!h t ' m peicitllleS, t e cctrner-optJc,ll phonon
; prr0 J ·t1c zcrL ' ~ . . F h .
. . L be trc·1tcd a: m la st1c. urt ermore. m polar scmi-
mtentLIIO!l mu. '- . . . .
~ til, 1·11 tcr'Ldion is pn manly Coulombwn . The scattering
conouctor t: ' . . . _ "'
d pends 00 the angle between the 1m lJal and f mal wave ~ecto_rs of the carrier
and i 11 l k-ra nd omizing. Neither case I _nor case 2 of SectiOn 8.3 applie .
·md the r Ia ' Htion a 1 r , im· ti0 n time IS not valid (Roth 1992). Under
~h se circum tanc s th B ltzmann equation is customarily solved using a
ariati nal mcth d (H warth and Sondheimer 1953, Ehrenreich 1957).
Hmv r. a t uffici ntl high t mperatures the mean carrier energy greatly
that frh ph nons, a nd the phonon energy can be neglected in the
energ, nserva li n condition . The interaction then becomes elastic and a
rei· xation time can be introduced.
It is beyond the scope of this hook to discuss the variational method in
detail. We content ourselves vvith a treatment based on the relaxation time
approximation that gives qualitatively reasonable results.
Compound semiconductors such as GaAs and lnSb have polar character
with the two atoms in the unit cell possessing effective charges ±e[. There
is a strong interaction of charge carriers with the macroscopic electric field
of longitudinal optical phonons of long \.vavelength. The interaction
Hamiltonian can be written in the form (Ridley 1988)

(8.172)

where Em, (r - R) is the electric field in vacuum at R due to a carrier L)f

charge ec at r given by

£ ,. 1,.(r- R) = -V ( e" ) ~ . 173 )

4n jr- Rl ·
and
by P(R) is the polar·tzcat·ton dt
. R due to longl(udmal
. . . phonons gnen
opttca] .

P(R) = ei u(R) (· . 17~ )

no
Thedisplacementu(R)i ' h ~ .. . . . . ,
unit cell at R . d ~. · s t t: •el.tttve displacement f Lh" t\\ '.ttom:- tn thL
,\11 t:dn be expre ~ . d ·
'
· sse 111 terms ol. normal Cl)L)rdllli.llt'-
. b~

u(R ) = ( N Nt )- j L eop(qJ)ei"R - q j), l ' !75)

"'
 Rela ation times for specific scattering mecha nisms 183

pu 76 )
' h r q h.h hc~..·n rq"~laced h~r -- q in the terms involvin!!. 0 ·.
rt h.'j . ( ' . 1 2 ) ( ~ . 17-l) arc cnmbined and an integration by part s is car-
riL i til. lh result ts

I J7 uu ( l·)_ -- - ('; e, . ;· I
1 n
"t7i( ()Ht) .
I,. - Ri V' · u(R}d ·R.
1
( X. l77 )

, hicb. urwn using Eq. (8.176). becomes

H mt( R ) -_ - icLe,.
-beoLo
1i -
( --
2N M
)5/' h;ir - Rl
I

.
L.
qi
1

[q · l'up (qj)t?iq·Rrtq 1 - q · < ,,(qj)e iq·Ra~] d 3R. (8 .178)

Just as in the case of deformation potential scattering, only longitudinal

modes contribute. although 110\V we are dealing with optical modes. Taking
e,.r(qL ) = iqj q. w·hich satisfies e;';1,(qL) = e p( - qL ), we obtain 11

I
_ (I ·) -_
H 1111 el_ t>, ( 1i )2
4 7rEO no -
2./V !if w LO
."'"" Cf (etq·Ra + e- iqRa- d 3R ' (8.179)
./ ~ jr - Rj q q

where -..vLo is the longitudinal optical phonon frequency assumed inde-

pendent of q. The integral is simply the Fourier transform of th Coulomb
potential. so

( , _ el_ el' ( h 1_2..:: I (

qe
) iq·r
(' .180)
Hill/ r) - Fnfio 2N !ifvJuJ q aq +

The analysis of long wa velength optical phonons at the end of

Section 7.5.2 enables u to rel a te the effec.:tivc: charge ~i_ to the ~ t a tic and
high-frequency dielectrit: constants. It w'tS point~:d out that f ( w ) = 0. so
from Eq. (7.54)
,.I I )

Eliminating£ from Eq . (7.52) and (R. I Rl ) a nd utili zing Eq. (7. · o) yield ·
the relation
I

P= Foh·11
II + h 12
(M-flo ):: . II l~ - 1 _)

Making use of Eqs. (7.56) a nd (7.58), the: fac t that h'2 , = hi'!. · and
the Lyddane-Sach~- Teller relatio n, we can xpr • P in tht.: f rn f n
Charge carrier scattering and transpo rt properties

.q. (X.I74) with

( I I)]:
l

[ 0 ,\ii£1 0 --;- - f , WLO· (8.l~B )

. rn intencti n wit h lonl!itudinal optical phonons, it is called

Smcc e1 c m.:e < . ~ • • •
the longitudinal effective charge. Jt ts a~so known as the Callen effective
charge after the per ' n wh introduced tt (Callen 1949). .
he sc~1 tte ring rat J!V (kn k n ) can now be calculated 111 a manner
1 1

' imilar 1l tha t u d r r d fo rmation potential scattering. The result is

----7

2(cl ef 4nt:o/ [- .
•
W (k II --+ k
1
11 )
1
= _ :2 11 ( W LO) 1
+ =1 ± 21]
0.oMwL ik - k I
X b,'(w·w ).n(..;w )±ll)( Ek' - Ek ± h..uLo ). (8.184 )

where the upper (lovver) sign refers to optical phonon emission (absorp-
tion) . At thi s point we make the approximations that the scattering is elastic
(valid in the high temperature limit) and that the energy band is isotropic.
The terms ±liwLo in the energy-conserving delta functions are thereby
neglected, and the situation fall s under case (2) of Section 8.4. A treatment
that does not neglect the ±nwuJ term s is given by Ridley ( 1988). The inverse
relaxation time in the approximation being considered is given by
Eq . (8.104) and takes the form

-- =
I
2
(e~e) [2n(wLo) , 1 ± l j ;·t- cos()kk' (Ek' - Ek )d 3 k'
r (Ek) 471Eo O.oMv.ho . !k _ k 1 f 2
., J I
ef_- e- (2m • )2
., _ .!. [il(c.v·Lo) + 1 ± ~] . {::i.l851
8rrt 00. 0 MnwLoE1

Adding the co~tributions from emission and absorption f optiutl phonons

gtves the totalmverse relaxation time for polar opti al phonon scart ring:
.., 2 I
e~- e ( 2m ')~ _
r (Ek) = , , _ 1 [2n(..vw ) IJ.
8m 0n0 M hc.v•w Ef

The value. of i1r '1 <·mel tl1 e mo b.t I.tty

, - can be calculate
(X .HO). Takmg n(u..J 1 · ...__ J,· 'T j l . .
, .. .· • . . .u> - 'H twu1 and usm g ~.:la :->st c< I "!Jll
Celli let . we ob tam lor the mohilit y ~

11 = _t' . 16 \/~ ' •) / ( 11..~,.'

..:. 'lrfijLo/\ "
1
.,
1 )'
' ,-
"- s r )2
Ill '
1c, - ,. ~ ( 111

A s in th . Cl'\i: u fd e furmalion 1, ·. • .
th~.: t -·mpl:r·,tu . . · . •. . I ( luHt.d SLaltcn n g . t h~.: m 1bthl\
, ll: lllLro..:.~::>e~ hut Wttl1 I 'll'
I •nqx·rattiiL'. . all (' J\.'111 r \ L'l '·'' I
 Relo otio n ti mes for speci fi sca ttering me honisms 185

rfl I I 11 '1\l l :tli HI i. '> lllllCil'll(l . f:1 r ' C th' ri1•ld d u • [p lfl ' IIlii '
• n 1 t-ll l l ·td.n c;11ncr \\ill he SLT l" lh.' d by thl' 11thc1 car 11 ' I s 1 h ·
1l n I 1 1 ·nt 1,il 1n l q . (:-: . 17.1 \ is then 111 he 1111)dilicd h y multipl vin 11
1 d R . \\h·rcct,l is1.klincd in ·l!. (R . IIlo). Thc c ilculati tm o·r
1 II''' -., tr~n g ht1~ 1 n\arJ. huttl'dious. and will IH'~t he pre nted he re.
J lui. tu 1. 1 I l'icl.·trnn nwhilit y in (JaAs ha s been carried nut h ,
J (I)" lw ..;c thc1)retical rcsull s t0!!etht>r with experiment al data arc
1 Hl Ftg .t' .. t thl' highc·r tl'mpc.:·raturl.'s the mobilit y is dominated hv
r 'h 'lhHl .:.111 ~ri n ~ . · ·
1 0 1 ~--~--~--~-L--~-
100 3()() 500
, .:.3.4 Pi('zOd('ctric scattering
Tc mpc ro.~tur· fi K J
·1111 'trnd. en iconductl.)]'S vf the 111 - V and II- VI types lack center or J

1n, r i n "~ r 1 m etry and are consequently piezoelectric. The cia tic strain Fig. 8.6
. 'CL.ll d ith an acoustic mode is accompanied by an electric dipole Ek ·tru n mo bi li ty vee u~ ll:mp ratu rc
for 1\s (after Rl'd~ t970.
m ·"n ·nt :~r lcctric pnLirizati on. The electric field arising from the polar-
-~lli '11 in t racts with charge carriers and produces scattering oft he latter. If
the ~~ ncentra ti o n o f ca rriers is signi ficant. screening of the polariza ti on
li I m u::: Lbe taken int o acco unt.
The piezoelectric effect exhibit s a co mplicated dependence on the
dir ctio n of propJ gation o f the lattice vibrati onal wave. It is customary to
·arr. ut ave rages over direction sepa rately for lo ngitudinal a nd transverse
\ \ :1\' s. For zincblende structure materia ls the interaction Hamilto ni an in
th a bsence o f screening ca n be expressed in the form (Ridley 1988. Ro th
I 92l

Hm1 !r ) = -i:L:'c;[-2 (-A-11- --- (fU 88 )

v
where the prime o n the sum indicates that onl y aco ustic modes are included.
The co upling co n tants Ct<11 fo r lo ngitudina l (tra nsverse) modes a re given
b\

(c .189a ) eflicienb t'p

and II I
)
I
Il l V li - Vl
( ~) ~e, e l 4. I'l l 1' 14
(c l c b)
35 Eo· !).1 '7
-l -

The qua ntit y e 14 is the single no nzero piezoe lectric c ffi icnt G r the O .u:! ~

ll \l.H
zincblende structure and r: is the dielectric con ·ta nt. Va lues of e 1 f r s me
IJI - V and IT- VI compo und a re li sted in T a ble .2.
From the interacti o n Ha milto nia n the sca ttering ra t an bccalcuhted in
the usual ma nner to give

q/

[n("-'q 1 ) + 1 ( .'. 190 )

 . and transport properties
Charge carrier cattenng
6 . r: r emission (absorption) of ac u tic
~.
1
r) H!n re1e 1
(I 1 , . . .
, •here lh'- Ull · ·matio n of elasttc scattenng by neglectmg
W 01 ake th' . ppr XI .
phonon . - . delt · function. Carrymg out an average
· tl ·n ·r••y-\,; 'n er mg · I 1· · t' h b
/l(J)q; .111• • u! eo • • and passi ng tn the classtca 1m1t or t e p onon
L' r mttt I ph< non .. tc.
stattsttc .. we o tam

(8.191)
H (k-+ k'

. k . . - c ·q N oting that case 2 of Section 8.3 applies,

where we have ta en v - J · . . . .
· . r e rela atwn ttme wtth the atd of Eq. (8 .104). The
w evalu te t 1c mve ·
l . . .
• b. ·no the contriblltions from em.t sswn and absorptton of
re u1t ;1 f ter c. m mt o
phonons is
I
e 2 (2m )2ksTK 2 (8.192)
- - I
4m:0 t: n- Ek
') ")

with K a dimen ionless measure of the piezoelectric interaction defined by

(8.193)

I l)8 ,.--,-,.--._.,--._.,.---
\---Without pi e:welectric scauering
\-with piez.oclectric '~ anering We note that the energy dependence of 1/ r is the same a, tha t fo und for
polar optical phonon scattering.
\
\
~
The calculation of (r) and the mobility follo~:s previous pr cedures and
yields the following result for the mobility:

e 16J2;tz2 t:0 t= ( ' .1 4)

p = - . ------'~--
fl/ 3e 2 (m' k. 8 T)2K 2

so 100 150 Although the mobilities for polar phonon scattering and pi zo l · tri~·
Temperature T ( K) scattering show the same temperature dependence in q:. l .I ) an j
(8.194). respectively, the latter equation remams alid t 'l mu ·h l w.er
Fig. 8.7 temperatures than does the form er.
[t fe t f ptez.oclec tric sea ti erin g on
elec1ro n mo bilit y in G a sand InSb. In lightly doped n-G aAs and n-lnSb. piezoelectric caueriog d 'mimt l
Pula r o pucal a nd ck fo nn;.~ ti o n p o t ~;: nti a l th_e scattering. of thermal electrons at low temp rature~ . 11 \.: intl u n ·
<tu> U ~ llc :;ca u.erin g ;.~re incluckJ (ai't<::r ?1 P•ezoelectnc scattering on the mobilit y in thes m;1L ·n 1· 1 tllu. trJI J
R dt! 1 70) . 10 F1g. 8.7. .

8.6 Magnetotransport properties

8.6.1 Magneto res is to nee
In.. ' hapter
.
4 it '"'as show Il tl1,1. t l hl' :t ppiJ~a . [lOll
. f <1 n ' t •rn,lf
k <HI •~ phen men·t su ' h .
.• . . . . ' · l as cyl·1~~trlln r-..:s nam·e \\ ht h
u \! l C illlll11ng b ' ISll' n ·t . ~
.. • ' ,., l.lln~.:tcr-.. sud1 ~i s c-fli.' ·( J\ n ,\ \\
d k ·t• ll a magn.:t i~o: t'lcld Pll th , ·1 , .. · I
~.: 1.: tl:llll~l · n lu ·tt 11
 Mognetotron port properties 187

d t!
£+ Bl.
I ( '( ,

- 11 - (V (X.II.J5)
dt r 11 1' , .

ar th~::' applied ckctric anJ nngnetic field~. respectively, and

. .md ran: the ca rrier d1arge. mass. and relaxation time, respectively .
it _ m the .:-din.'ction, the equations of motion in component fo rm

d1\ I e B e, .
-+-v , - - l r = -[., (8.196a)
dt r 111 m'

d }1
(8.196b)
dt

du- 1 C\
_ ·· +-v-=- £-. (8.196c)
dt r - m~ -

\ see from the last equation that the motion of the carrier parallel to the
11a=: 1etic tield is not affected by that field. Thi s is a special result for the case
Nh r the inverse effective mass tensor is diagonal in a coordinate system
c ntai ning the magnetic tield direction as one axis.
~- ~

Let us restrict our attention to stationary situations for which we can

igno re the time derivative of v. The equations of motion can then be solved
to 'ield

(8. 197a)

., _ ec r (+werE, + E.r) '

1 + w 1'
(8. 197b)
l-r-
.
.
111" :- T - t

er
V-
- = -£-,
m• -
(8.197c)

where the upper and lower signs refer to holes and electron s, respectively,
and we is the cyclotron frequency eB j rn · . The components of the current
density are obtained by multiplying the velocity co mponents by n e a nd
may be expressed a s }n = L Ja" 1£J. where the non vanishing elements of
the conductivity tensor a n: are given by

a _\-x == a_,.l. - - - · 8.19 a)

111

(R.l9 b)

(< .l 8c)
 Charge carrier scattering and tran sport properties
1
li n Experimental data are usually pre ented
.
and 11 i ·theca Tter wn C'lllra
t.: • ·
' c • f . et ,re i t·1 nce rather than magnetoconductance. The
1n terms o magn c • . ·
. .
re 1 tn ll) ten
·. t l
r1s ,
imcrs· of t he conductivity tensor and has elements
(J \"X
(8 .199a)

O'xl'
(8.l99b)

/) -- = - = - . (8.199c)
-- cr:::: O"o

Magnetoresistance is ex pre ed as D.p/ p, where D.p is the change in resis-

tivity produced by the magnetic field . We see immediately from the last
equation that the longitudinal magnetoresistance is zero for a spherical
parabolic band.
The transverse magnetoresistance is given by

D. p Pxx- Po
(8.200)
Po Po

To simplify matters, let us first consider low magnetic field s for which 'vVe
can expand quantities to second order in w(' . Starting from Eqs. (8.198). we
have

(8..201a i

..201 b)

Since r is in general
· ene rgy d epen d ent, we must average th onductivit_y
tensor elements over energy:

" ..2U.2b)
Replacing cr,,anda, . inE . l .
· ·' q. (S.I96a) by (a.,,) and (a, 1 ) \I ·ld ·

(Pu) = Po [1 ·'ri..V'
3
. ,2_ (r- ) - w 2 - .::1 (r~)
' (r ) ' /r ~ '
I

whcrcflo = m '/n .e~f r ) Fr .

·
res1stancc ' ' · o m th1s r· · 1t t'o 11 ows th e Iran
l:Sll

u,) . ,( , '
, e .) _ r - -
;:; = ( -;;;-: (;T ( I - I )6- 'l •
 M agnetotransport properties 189

{r )(l)
(X. 204)
(r 2)-

1 CliO.: I g~ - i ndc p~..·ndent rel;l\ation time . .4 - I and the transverse

n I r ' "' ' . tll1.'1..' 'anishcs. The enngy dcp~:c·ndcnccs associated with
1 · unptlrl ,ml '-Ctttcring m~:chanisms lcaJ to A f. 1 and a nonvanishin~
1r n. 'r t.: 1 1agnctnr~..·sistancc. F()r r varying as (l:.'/ kRT)'. A = (3r ~//
., ~ ) '1- - - .
Jn thc ~.-..tsc \'r high magnetic fields(..,;, r » I ). we see from - qs. (~.198)
h. l , '>'-> , , , • S\.l

(l::.205)
x iO"
The tmn verse magnetoresistance then becomes 2.5 r--.-~------,---.
T =7~ K

-t:::.p =
Po
\1)
-
r
(r }- I (8.206)

whi h correspond t l sa turation as B._, x.

herical nonparabolic bands can be handled by noting that the effective
mas · 110\Y depends on the carrier energy and that the combination of r j m *
a h\"l.'S occurs. One therefore averages thjs ratio over energy rather than r
al ne.
The case of ellipsoidal parabolic bands requires the introduction of a
tensor relaxation time (Roth 1992). One must also take into account the
multiple \'alleys that typically accompany ellip··oidal bands. The full
treatment is complicated, and the reader is referred to the article by Roth
for details. The principal qualitative results are the followin g. There is a
finite longitudinal magnetoresista nce. The magneto resistance is aniso- Fig. 8.8
Magnetor . istance in n-Si as a ·lm ti n
tropic and deviates from quadratic behavior at finite B. At large fields it of angle R between th current and the
saturates. The anisotropy of the magnetoresistance of n-Si as measured by m:-tgneti h ld (aft ·r Pear on and
Pearson and Herring is._hown in Fig. 8.8 . The magnetoresistance of holes in Herring 1 54 .
p-type semiconductors is also anisotropic. primarily due to the ,.varping of
the heavy hole band .

8.6.2 Hall effect

The Hall effect was discussed from a simple point of view in 'haptcr 4. \\
nov.·· examine how the Hall coefficient is modified b cnmplicati n su h
a an energy-dependent relaxati on time. For small magnetic li I is.
Eqs. (X.l97a) and (8.197b) for 1; \' and ''~- can be reduced to

- t, (r ) £ "":r:: w1.(r :: 1, t1~ )

( __()7-t )
(u,) =e,.
Ill

(R.207b)
 . scattering a nd transport properties
Charge earner
0
after averaginrr over the carrier e~1 rgy. In the Hall geometry with the
:Jpplicd electric field in the ,_Jirecll n. (r\ ) = 0. so

(8.208)

liminating f,. fr m Eq . (tt_07a) and solving the resulting equation to

lowest order in B. \ ·e l<ll n

(8.209)

wher (j,) = 11 ,e (v ) and th Hall coefficient R" is given by

(8.210)

We note that this result for the low field Hall coefficient differs from that
2
for a constant relaxation time by the Hall factor rH = (r- )/( r ) . For an
(l:;j k H T )' dependence of r on energy, rn = (2r + ~) ! ~ ~ / [(r 2) Since + !f
different scattering mechanisms dominate in different temperature ranges.
the Hall coefficient can vary significantly with temperature due to the strong
temperature dependence of rfl.
For a single type of carrier of concentration nc, the conductivity 11 defined
by Eq. (8.14) is simply n ce/-l . The Hall coefficient is related to CJ by

(8.211 )

Instead of introducing rH. one can define the Hall mobility I'H b_

where. ~1·11 = /-ll'ff . Thus, Jl JJ is the product of two directly m us urable

quantittes. wher~as_ the conductivity mobility 11. is not.
The ~a ll coetfictent exhibits an interesting va ria tion with curri ·r CL)Il-
centratton
.·, , when both . elect tons
· an d 110lcsareprcsen
'"" ·
l. Smc th t \ l ~rt:~L)- t'
canters conduct . . 111 P'lrallel
· , we~ must add thctr . condu ll\'l
. . tl. s to gl\
· ' t h"'..
total conducttvtty 'tnd th , · h ,.
.d f' . en mven t e latter to a j,·e the resiqj , it\ . \\1 tt l t h,t
<II o Eq . ( ~ ') 0 7 b) r01· (. : :- '- .
c

. . ·.- n,).wccanexpressther-compon nt,fth,~t\ ra~'

cut rent denstty as ·

(r )£ •.) r ....~- ' -'-'

when: we have l'tk·~
• ~ 11 111,e avectge ·c· tt, .· ·
carriers. lmpn ·m!.! the II· 11 ' lr '~ s •1 _ ~ttng ltmt· t ' ' th . lm
~ " ~.: cctcl)th.ltlton (i.) - .tnJ . lhin_

IIJI.~) •
 Mognetotronsport properties 19
•n /1 ,u · th~.. n~ hd ill t:: ~\fdcdrun o.; and huks. l"CSJ cctiwly and
1111.
~
But l1nm
•
·h.]
. •
()'..; · - t)O) ••
;;r • <- 1
R II L~' \1 . 1· r ) - . R II l'VTI) c,. , 10
. t \ m pa n ng tlu~ I..'\ pression with that or =q . (~.214) yields

I""" = r11e , ,
, (!'Vi, - lift '~) .
rrII- ( 8.215)

lmun. ting r.rr1." obtain

(8.2 16)

"tth h = p, l'h· The Hall coefficient therefore changes sion at carrier

c 1 '111 ra tit)ns that depend on the mobilitv... ratio b. b
..

11th' C(lllStant energy surfaces are ellipsoidal, the Hall factor is modified
to r~l ' d he anisotropy. Introducing the longitudinal (transverse) scat-
tenng tim r 1( r,) and effective mass mf. (m; ). the anisotropy constant K is
defin y

K = r,m*
(8.217)
r1m;
a d the Hall factor is given by

(r? K(K -+- 2) / 3)

I'H = --=----~-;,.
(8.218)
(rt('2K + 1)/3) 2 .
If r , and r, have the same energy dependence, K is a constant and the Hall
factor reduces to

(8.219)

A similar analysis can be applied to light and heavy ho les in p-type

semiconductors. Heavy holes have the higher concentration due to the
higher density-of-states, but light holes have the higher mobility. The light
holes contribute strongly to the low-field Hall effect.
The Hall coefficient exhibits a dependence on the magnetic field . The
low-field limit for a single type of carrier is given by Eq. (8.21 0). The high-
field limit can be obtained from Eq . (8.197a) by le tting u.-·, _., . Averaging
over the carrier energy gives

(8.220)

The defining equation for the Hall coefficient becomes

£~ = - -
B (.J_., .), ·s '"I
( ·--
tiJ!, .

so
I (8.222)
R-
- -.
 Charge carrier scattering and transport properties
12

8.7 Thermoelectric phenomena

•
1tacrv . · 1·••., ,-Jn r e c·trrier<;;, a n electric current is set up not onlv
IJ. 1c n 1 1111 1'"'" " • c < • • • . . _
,- 1· ·'r·
•11 •an e"' cell..JC tiC u
, ...
~1 -.u
-rier
1 c ncentra tt on gradtentt s prescnt
.
, butalso 1fa
1
tempra t ule . '•Lr· ient is· pr . :;e nt · T .here a re several electnc . phenomena .
a!'i ·uc.:ia te v.ith . tempera ture grad1e nt. They a re descnbed by the bas1c
eq ual! ns
j = a [£ - u V T ] (8 .223a )

Q = (a Tn )£ - hVT. (8.223b)

, her n is the Seebeck coefficient or thermoelectric power. Q is the hea t flu x.

and ,. ,. is the therma l cond uctivity. Und r open circuit conditi on. o that
j = 0. the Seebeck effect is the electromo ti ve fo rce developed by the pres-
ence f a tempera ture gradient in a ma terial. 1t is the basis of thermo-
couples. If, on the other ha nd . there is no tempera ture gradient. the Peltier
effect can occur in which a heat flu x is prod uced by an electric current.
Q = 1il' j. where lip is the Peltier coefficient given by the Kelvin relation
irp = Ta.

8.7.1 Thermoelectric power

We start o ur analysis with the Bolt7.ma nn equation which must now be
generalized to include the spa tial dependence of the di stribution function:
f (k ) --r f (k , r). The total time deriva tive of/becomes
d{ - c?l . dk
. + V kf · -
d t - Dt + V ,.j· . · -ddrr - -ofr I . ( . ~ .2-q
dt cull

Now the terms in volving the gradients of f a re proporti onal tl th" pcr-
turbmg forces, .a nd therefo re to firs t order we can replace l by fu in the ·e
terms. Proceed mg as we did in St:ction ~.2 and restrict in•• ur-eh ·es W
steady sta tes, we rewrite Eq . (8 .224) in the fo rm ""'
D.liJ
''L' F. v~
(){._ I
v r f o. . v = _
Ul
I
V" k .
<oil
where
. v = dr/ dt · The velocity· v 1· t1e · vel Kit v and nu\ b~.: 1d nll·,::" J
1 ea rner
wtth v~ . · ·
The crmi- Dirac distr'b t' 1· · -. . ·
,, .. . . . , . ~ 1 u Ion. u co n ta ms the Fnm 1 t: OCP') Ef "hi'h 111
ge neJ,III ::; .I function ofr. Operating On/;, with V ,. th 'r hr~ it:ld

V',j;, = V,. [c·IEA L ,) " '• ' + tJ - I= - iJ/,, [ . ~EJ. -II ]

' IE V ,.l:. r r - v rT
( " T

Ccmhinin)!. Eqs. (,'.2:25 ) ~llld I\,., . ., . .

.
L"qua l H)[J ( . __ (> ) Pll) dUl'l' ·" lh ' '"' '' I' , ti l '
_ ... ! ...

i )/,, [
. . v,. F
I 11- ~
 Thermoelectric phenomena 193
lllll 1h.11 .lt\ . b\;lll\111 litnl' r ~\lsts. ll"ing t:q. (X 'i ) Wl: L<tll wril
th • ' tlL' ralt7cJ Hnlt / mann cquatitlll as

I =- In
.
t -r
,,,,,- v .c- 1
(
I
'} /
;.k g " • (X. 22 X)

\ h

( .22lJ)

,u i ' c ha\ ' used F = c,.£. The drift velocity (tg ) is calculated in the same
f1 hi 1n a.- 111 SectH")n S.3:

(X.230)

Elimmating d!o / iJEk v.'ith the aid ofEq. (R.73) and restricting oursclve~ to
ph ri al parabolic bands and the classical limit,

(8.231)

Introducing the expression for £ 1 gives the result

(v{!) =
.
~
111"
[(£- _!_ V,.EF)
"n c
(r)- ((r£)- EF (r)) V
e" c T I
.r] '
(8.232)

where (r) is defined in Eq. (8.79) and

(8 .233)

Equation (8 .232) can be rewritten in terms of the mobility f.L as

8._34)

where a is the thermoelectric power given by

(~ .n5 )

A physical interpretation of the thermoelectric power is provided by .,

sample in a temperature gradient unda open-circuit condition:s, so that th
current density j and hence (vg) are zero. Under these conditions rh ample
 . d transport properties
Charge carrier scattenng on

. .. . . hence Er is uniform throughout the sample and

rei am <; m cqUJhbnum. · .
V rEr = 0. Equation (8 .229) then yield
£
(8.236)

. th e thermoelectric po wer is the electric field produced by

In other wor d s,
unit temperature gradien t wh n j = 0. . . _.
1
An explicit e ·pre sion ~ r n ca n be ~b~amed If r(~) rv E and we
a, ume that the carrier o be_ classical statiStics. EvaluatiOn of ( r) and (r E)
yield

(8.237)

Note that the sign of n· depends on the sign of the charge carriers.
Measurements of thermoelectric power are therefore useful in determining
the conductivity type (nor p) of a semiconductor sample. Having obtained
the thermoelectric power, the Peltier coefficient can be calculated using the
Kelvin relation.

8.72 Thermoelectric devices

A very familiar device based on the thermoelectric effect is the thermo-
couple, which consists of a pair of junctions involving two dissimilar metals.
The junctions are maintained at different temperatures T 1 a nd T> As a
result of the temperature gradient, a potential difference ~ r exi't bet\veen
the two junctions given by ~<p = ( o: 2 - o I) ( T 2 - T 1 ) . where 1 nd n:~ are
the thermoelectric powers of the two metals. By maintaining n junction at
a fixed reference temperature, the temperature of tht: other ju nction ~, n be
measured.
In the case of semiconductors a thermoelectric device that ha , r . eiv d
considerable attention is the thermoelectric refrigerator. It j ba , d on th~
Pe~t1er effect. Under open circuit conditions we us· Eq. (8. _ ~6) t :~ dimina t~
E. lrom Eq. (8.223b) and write

Q = h(ZT - l ) v,.T.

wh~re Z = ( /."''P
2
z
and fJ = I/ a. The quantity is the thermoelectricfigure of
ment. ln a refngerator heat is pumped from the • 1 r gi n tl rh \\.mn
reg•on, so one wants ZT large. Materials with small the.:m tf n\. ti\ it~
ancl e~~~~ncal resistivity, bu_t _large thermoeledric p " r . .1ft: d rr.1bl '- \l
th_e pr~::sent tnne these;: condrtwns are best fulfilkd at fl om l r Ult.' b)
Te_ /Sb2TeJ <~lloys with carrier com:entratit: n "" 1 1' 1 ~m
81 2
1•
Thermo~lectnc refrigerators are hig hly rel i'tbl
Vl"nJl:nce of port·1hilitv Tl ~ 11 · '
_
Ietednrs . • · · lt:.y •1Ve lnund apphc·1t10n
l and n :ntral pru~:essors in ' .
I g
t1111
.
a s be ve rage stl\1"\~
·
R . m1pu t .r ., , • •II a:-., I 1
~ . - , . ever. tn~ the dll\.' 'li )
utrrent..: ln v ' l'h the r..: frigentor ,.lll ~~- I l
' l •' ~at cr.
 Thermal conductivity 195

rmal conductivity
1 b..' I - t h ' ~-'' '"d uctJ '11 \''I he a I by phonons was d i scu-;sed . W c nn\:v·
1 ~I · 'ntrihuti 'lll..lf frel' c~rriers t.1..1 heat ~oncluction as dcscrihccl by
r r . 1..1' . T hl' he~ 1 flu' assocta ted WIth I he motion of charge earners of
f 1: gl\' n h )

(~.239)

wd i: 'Y.ual t) the heat energy flowing in unit time through a unit area tha t
1, perp·nd1 ula r to the temperature gradient. On comparing this resul t with
th t f r v. 111 Eq. (8.232), we see that

Q= <·[(t:. - c,j_ \l,EF) (r£ ) -

11
111
( (r£
2
) - Er (r£ )) V,.
e,.T
r]. (8 .240)

\\'h r

(8.241)

Thermal conductivity is generally measured under conditions of zero

current and hence zero (vg)- Setting (vq) = 0 in Eq . (8.232) and eliminating
£. rrom Eq. (8.240) yields the result

(8.242)

Comparing this result with Fourier's law, Eq. (7.75) , we obtain the ca rrier
contribution to the thennal conductivity

(8.24.1)

2
Recalling that the electrical conductivity a ts nc (r )/rn . ' e can
re-express '" as
(8. _44)

where£ is a dimensionless quantity known as the Lorentz n umber given by

8.245)

1
For a nondegenerate semiconductor with r(£) = uE •

Since f(x + 1) = xr(x), we find that £ = 2- s.

 Charge carrier scattermg and transport properties
1
· cnntrihu tio n nuU he added the lattice vibrational
T the eJ~?drnmc - . • . .
.b · 1 tl e lll , 1111 -tl conduc t!Vlt . ExL:cpt <.~t 1ow temperature ·, the
Ct)lltn UtiOll 0 l
-1 1j T w 1Lh 1 . < x < 2. (Ashcroft
L ' . . .

latt1ce conlll. hu l ll)fl v·triLs

' • .
and Mcrmm
1 ?fl) . 1l 1 ~ picaliy dom in.ttes tl c ele~ t ron1c cont~tbutiOn. except when the
earner concentra ion i. c;;ufficien tly htgh due to htgh dopmg levels or htgh
tempera lUre~.

8.9 Se mi-insulating semiconductors

In th modt:rn micro I ctro nics indu stry considerable use is made of
de\ ice co n ·i ti ng o a thin layer f semiconductor grown epitaxially on a
sub tra te. The substrate is gener«:.dly the same basic material as the thin
lay r. Ho wever. in order for the c )111ponents grown on the substrate not to
be short ire uited. the substrate must have a very high resistivity, i.e. it rnu ·t
be semi-insulating. The industrial problem is to produce the semi-insulating
substrate in the le~ t expensive way with the easiest technology. Let us
consider a possible procedure for attaining this objective with GaAs.
The electrical resi tivity of a semiconductor is the reciprocal of the
electrical conductivity and is given by

(8.247)

where J.l~ is the mobility of electrons with concentration n and ~Lit is the
mobility of holes with concentration p. For GaAs the mobilities at room
temperature are (Table 8.1 ) : J.le = 8000 em:! j (V s) and Ph = 300 em~ j V s).
We now consider several scenarios that may lead to high resistiYity.

8.9.1 Pure GaAs

Pure GaAs is a possible candidate for a high re isti\·ity mat rial b 'cause it
contams no donor or acceptor impurities that can ~ u g-men t th carrier
c?ncentrat10ns beyond the intrinsic value 11 i . Th~ [, tt~ r j · p cifi d b:
Eq. <6 ·17 ). For GaAs the energy gap is 1.43 eV at 300 K <tnd tb-.: tr cti\e
m <~sses a!-c 0.07.m f~~- electrons (Table 4.2) and .7m f r he~l\) hoi s
(T tble
. .4 ...) ). To s1mpld)'
. the-· c·a I·cudI· r·1011 we neglect the L nt nbullL· n L t·1·1g ht
holes. s mc~.:: the1r co 11 ce 11 1 .. · ·
• . _ ldlton IS small compared to th tt of he.n \ htl ~
(ct. Eq s. (6 .30) - (6 ~4)) Tl1 · · · · - i
r E ·- · e mtnnst earner concen tr-t t n 1 th ·n t •un
rom ·q. (6.17) to ben = '6 JOfi , , . . ~ .._
' -· em · .Ther~sJstJ\ l l)l · t,t.Il£'t.n 11 )

fJ = [ll ;f' (JI ,. + Jl iJ r'

wh ich yields the result = J.~
11
10~ ~lcm . Thi s is a \ 'f) hn~h j ll II) •

8.9.2 Impure GaAs : shallow impurities

T~:c: hni call y it is irnn 1 s .·hi ,
e lt1 produce Ci · J\ . h
IJilll ll '''Cr I han IO ' ~ . .t. s ' ' 11 an 11llpll1 1
, • . :-.1
,
'-
-. lt;dlllw dun e rs ~lltd tl . .
111 011c ~..··, n·
. ' .tssumc thdt I ll\: r ·:-.1 lu. I m J
" t till..' 1111 pu ri 1
1
JlnpuJJI )' JUJIJ /ttliuul:ncr , F . . ~ P•\l ·nt1.d 1 11
\V JIIJ / I I . \.?.) -,t l sglh'nhv hL· •ll·ct\ r
\II t.;, ,\~ \\'lllt I I ·t •
l h.: '- n c 'lllh t.tnt ,
 Semi-insulating semico nductor 197
II . \ llll'h
. .
IS smalkl th:ln lhc \'dill,'
' -
-.(1 . In I ·V
(I
I 1\I { { r (I I
htr. l ' IL'n .... lll· c,,n,ullratiPnn
1 . . ,'
ddinedhyJ· .
({ '
l 1" · l ,_
7) ·
,1111
t(r1 ~7 1 )

t l1' hl. I . 1~ 11 l "\ ' "h1ch l:n l''\Cccds I he res1du~tl imp urit_ ·
1 ... 1111, 11 I "' Ill \.'Ill . l ""Ciltl:tlly all the impmitic-; :11'\.' iPni;ed in
r .111 l' \\1111 l •q (C' .S!l) . anJ S\l II '""' ll ,f. The n.:sistivity is then l!IV\..'n hy

e --- . (R.14'J )
llcfC'JI, .

' ' ' - ,· 12 l' 111 This\ aluc i~ rar IP\\er than that l,)r pure Gat\~ and r;Iis ·~
th u' ll\.'11 l)flh..'\\ t1 1 rcdtK'L' the effect ul'the rcsidu~d impurities in order to
bt.tm ·mi-in-..ulatin!! material.

8. . Impure GoAs: deep impurities

\ I lS:ttl· rrocL·dure for in~..:rcasin!! the reSJStlVtly nf' GaAs c :llltainin2.

r·-tJ tal ·hall\.)\\ impurities is to introduce deep impuritic. th·tt \Vill brin~
th F- nm cnerg~ down to ncar mid-gap. Such ad ep impurit for GaA · i
duomw m" hich has :1 doubly degenerate ener2.y level sittnted 0 . 7 eV bel w
the C('IJldUCtiOI1 band edge. It iS therefore aJmOSl prCCi ely in the middle f
the f r idden gap. Electrons in shall )\\'donor states will drop down to the
l r Jc,· I and thereby lower the Fermi energy to the vicinity oftlntlevel. The
concentration of 1.:onduction electrons ther fore decreases and the resis-
ti\ iry increases.
The conduction electrons origitnte either from the valenc band. the Cr
k' Is 01' conLcntration nc,., or the shallow donors of concentration 11". The
concentration of electron · trapped on the Cr lev Is is P 1crn ,. . where prr
is gin·n by Eq. (6.46). Similarly, the concentration of electrons trapped
on the shall w donors is Ptn.t . The condition of chctrgc neutrality can be
ex pres ·ed as
I - P .ltf)
I lit! = 11 - pI I
ll c,- (, .250)

Since the Cr l:Oncentration i the high~.::st I. a 11 . n< ·,. ~ I 0 17 em - -' > llci ·l!·f·
thi equation can be simplified to

( 1 - P 1 ') = P, ·,. '. _51 )

or P 'r = 0.5. ReplaLing P in Eq . (6.4 J) by t hi- rcsu lL'llld

1
~ the £/ ,.
energy or the Cr len~L we . ee that E r - ~r :::::: I I j = k n T. t r om lCill-
1

perature k 8 T i · ·mall com1 a red to E'i . -, ~ Ec ,. ne 'i<t s that the ermt

energ~ is pinned at £ ( 1 · v.·hich is cl t: 10 t he center r the gap.
Thefreeelectronandhole n Ln t rati nsJi cnb_' j .. (6.10)andl6. 14l
can be rc-expressed as

= ( -'
11 1'. ) ,. , II F.., l (. 2.-.2 )
11 .vot
Ill

j r. , f. , ~ __) _ )
") -

p= l) ,
 . . nd transport properties
Charge corner scottenng a

where ., 1 / i
.-n = 2(mk 8 T / 2-rrh-)" ' - . (R .2 4)

. . 1 .. 1 ~s of the 1•)arameters for GaAs and taking T = 300 K

Su .tl!Utmgtle au... ·. 6 . _, ·
we lm . d t l·
1a t 11 ""''"'
- - -
O'icm- ' nnd p• c:::: S . 10 em ·. so fJ=l.S/
(~ Tl · ·tluc of rJ is four or lers ol magmtude larger than that for
10 5 ~' m. 11~ ~ ,. . . ·" l del . .
G ...~ A " ,'tl1 residual hallow impunt1es. fhus. . . .
t 1e a 1t10n of chromium
· r·
make po ·ible the production f hi~h rests~tvlty matena 1 ron: a semi-
conduct r that neces a rily ·onlatns tmpurtttes and has a relattvely low
re i ti vity. The high-r i. tivi t ma terial is a semi-insula_ting_semiconductor.lt
an be u d a. a ub tra te 11po n which can be grown epltaxtallayers of good
cry talline quality \vhose electrical properties can be controlled by appro-
priat doping with shallow impurities.

8.10 Hot carrier phenomena

In our discussion of electrical conductivity vve have so far assumed that the
applied electric field is weak in the sense that the Boltzmann distribution of
the carriers is perturbed only to first order in the field . The drift velocity of a
carrier is proportional to the field and the mobility is independent of the
field . As the applied field is increased. the quasi-equilibrium of the carrier
with the lattice cannot be maintained . Consequently. the carriers acquire J
higher effective temperature than the lattice tempera ture. The . attering of
the carriers by phonons increases due to their higher temperature. Their
mobility therefore decreases.

8.1 0.1 Distribution function in high electric fields

To develop a quantitative treatment of high electric field eff, ts we turn to
the Boltzmann equation whose first-ord er solution is f!iven b · Eq. (8.601. A
solution valid for higher fields can be expressed as a ~0\\· r n s in ::'\:
f == fo - e, fi£ . a;;) + - 2 c2 EP!;> e, - J c) J 3f(J , - -1
e ·' UL·x
!:\, , ~~ c., x .
OV-,\ - - I'
e c., . -
1
-.
~!:1 ,. •
+ ... ( ( ·-·".:'l '
Uc.\'

where i1 == erj m•· The· drift vel () C.1t y v" IS· given
· hy
t•r~ .:= ( u ,_,)

= (! n, [/iJ - (eJe )jit ,.(8/o/ Ov_,) + JL:!.f~(i. ~/1 /Ut':

. -- ( e,. I(') I c\ [; ( i) ~fo Ii) I·~ ) + . . .Jd 3 I -)I/ td ' ( .
Notmu that 1· ( ') ·. . .
ev~n lunct· i o rl o t~
b . II I Is .tn
1\. we c1 I'~ la .i n
 Hot carrier phenomena 19 9
,, 1 · I'''IHi lll !l J c tinit j,,n~ fpr hichn 1 On! . 1 ,. . •
V UI11,CV'Illll,< ;tpp .. tr
- , ~
, 1 · ·
fh,· ! .t r~·nthc l" Ill q (:-\ 25 ). Writin 11 ,. - 1 ( ,. c . .' '. 1--1- 1--
' . .... ,/ 1 ' \I<,, \\' 1.lCIL'f d <' ) '" I fl'
1--
1-
11· I ·p ·nd l' nt llhlhd11~. we s1.'1.' 1hat · ' 1-- ·-
·~
t~
1--
. . .) . )<!., I-I
If.-
1-- ·-r:..
111 1. tit' l'(' d lkicnt .-). • IS pnsJti\·c. the nwbilit\. dcr •. . . \VII 11 1ncr
c c.tscs · ·a. Ill"
•
~·llYifll ltd I. .~~ slwwn 111 hg. ~ - C) lor n-Gc.
, _ J
I:'
,__I-
10 I
\n.dk'llla !l\'l' procedure replaces the J1Crturbcd B1llt7 . ' r· . .-.. .
. . . . . . 111,11111 ( ISlJ IOU I lOll l fl J ()~ 1()1
1,
-
.Ill •qllJI bt llll11 dlstnbulll111
• . . •
a carrier tCtnJ1Crcttttl·.
\\'llh c e T,. 111g1crt1ant
· 1 1 hc I '/c ml
bltl1.'~ k ' lllP rat
.. ure 7. . The dlllncncc
. hctwel:'n
. T - -•
,. ' 111 u Tc- 1 •. 1 t . 1
,111 1c 1e a eu to t 11c
1 11 ~.-rc.t 1 1 dn!L n:kK'll)• ~' '" 111 the dtre~.·tit.111 of the held by
Fig. 8.9
i'v1 0 hil it y " ' a l'unLIHH1 f a prl icd clcl.lne
' }~
_l.
• ,,
.::::: 1/1 l 'd o;,.J,.I'd = C'Tilo ·' c. , - ...
(' J c -l )
= '!:_ f,B ( T, -
•
7' ). ( ~.260 )
lick! f, ,r n-G.: ( ~t rter ( <>n w ·II 19-\l.

"here I' 1u = _11(1t,. ~~·;~ = ':" ~ r,fn. and the quadratic term in D.Ptf has hccn
negl ·~.·red . It the cmly correction term needed involves 2 . the arri~.:r arc
wJ rm. whereas if terms with higher-order coelllcicnts are needed. the car-
rier:-; Jre hot. The field-dependent mobility can he written in the form

( ~.261 )

\\here ( ( T ) invnlves (1nly the lattice temperature and the scattering I

mechanism . /~
I
lc>po: p 1
I
I
I
I
I
I
8.10.2 Gunn effect
In certain semiconductor such a. GaA.. the conduction band minimum at
the r -point may be lower by only a small amount of energy than that of a
subsidiary minimum a t the L-point. Jn GaAs thi s energy difTcrence is
0.)6eV . A conduction electron accek:rated by a high ~lpplied electric fidd Fig. 8.10
can acquire sufficient energy to make a tr~u1 iti c n from tht.: vicinit_ of the r nft \ ·to • it~ \ ·r lh lt:ctw fi ·ld.
[-point to the ,·icinit. of the L-point. The effective mas. i~ hi 11her ne·u· the
L-point. and the mobility is lower. In fa t a fic:ld rang" can exi::> t in \\ hi h
the drift velocity decreases v-:ith incr asing fi eld as she '"'n in F i!!. . lO. he
difierential conducti vity is negati ve. an in. ta bilit; Gtn ari t:. and ·urr nt
oscillation can occur. These oscillatio ns a r aile I Gu nn oscillatio ns aft r
(/

the person who first observed them ( unn I 9 - ).

The ph y ic<11 origin of Gunn oscillatio n. can he described a. G lkm ·.
Associated with an instability i. a llu tuati n in ekctri · li ld as ·hl \\11 in (}~-------+-----------
fi!!. 8.11 a. Thi hi!!h-fi eld d~main drift s \\ it h the ·urrcnt carri~.:r-; through h
th~crvstal. Most of the carriers inside t he d l) main: rc ir th~,; -point \all _ · II
\\ hile -those ouhde the domain <trc r rimaril y in tht: 1 -pnint \all ) . The
moving leading edge ol' the d om:t ill V rtah. 'S IJght t'-dC ·tron · hich.
because of the hiQh electric field. art' c n ~ rtcd l<J hea\- _ l-ck ·tnm · Th~.·
Ia tter have low m~bi Iit" and ~tccun u Lt t ~ ; t l l ht: u··!lltng edg' ul I he d(,mtl in.
The electron concentr<~tion profi k rs ..,h >\' n in I rg. (· II h b l!ntuall. Lilt'
d omam . .
d1sappears ·
11110 the anud c : .t I a nt:\ J om<~m " ·ner tl ·J J I I Itt:
. 1' t:-.
,'-a
.. th o d e. Th e pcno· d.tc appcaram.:c anu. I u. J 1..,,·1pn •·tr-·tJ'''t: 11 d( ma111' .,;nll-
1.1,;. • '"
.· . . · · 1 ·r ·I it\ ·1nd L 1 th • ..,<tmpl
stJtute Gunn osclllat1on ·. If ' '" 1 ~ L11c n 1 \t: 1 L • • ·
 Charge carrier scoHering and transport properties
5
len th the Jrcqu ncy 1, 1, ofGun n oscillations i~ v,t/L. For n(~ ::::: 10 . mjsand
g ;, ,._ JOG 7 whrch lies 111 the mrcrowave regron. Microwave
1 = 1d ttm. t',, - .
' h ·ed on the Gun e ect are known as Gunn d1odes and have
gt:ncrator~ a~ . ." .
r ... t · i ndar and tel commumcat10ns.
llHlill1 CJPP 1tc~1 1011 · 1 '

8.1 0.3 Field ionization

··- The applivtlion or an ex t rn a I electric field to a semiconductor containing
d nor or acceptor impuritie.· tilt the energy bands and leads to a lower
i nization eneruy f the impurities. For a donor impurity with a pure
C ul mb po tent ial pia din a co nstant external field, the potential energy
as a function of position is given by
z,,
e 2Z
V(r ) = - - e£::. (8.262 )
47f sEQ/'

fig. 8.12
lm rurity potential versus position in the
pre cncc of an electric field .
where the field£ is in the :--direction. The potential energy along the .:-axis is
plotted in Fig. 8.12. ln the positive .:-direction the potential starts from -x
at z = 0, arises to a maximum and then decreases as .: increases. The
maximum is determined by dV j dz = 0 and occurs at Zm given bv- ~

Zn1 == ( eZ )~ (R .263 )
4n sEo£ ·

The potential energy at the maximum is

I
/ 111 = -e
(eZ£)
--
2. (8 .~64 )
' 1l'EsEO

In zero external
' field the max1mum
.. · . eneroy 1s
potentwl . zer at ~= ~. In the
presence of th e fi eld t h,t: he1ght
· · ~-
ot the barrier that traps th I ct ron is
lowered by the amount

8£ =IV 1- (eZ£)2 Ill - t' --

1l'E,fo •
ll .·-16". )

and the probability r th ·a ·t r

exp( /5£ ). 0
erma] ioniza tion is enhanced b. th

Exercise. A critical field[. .. · . , . . . .

settmg hE - I· T C ,, lot thcrm,tl Iomzatmn ('<111 h
Answer l -:;- \Iii 0~ v- ~/Llc.·ulatc [,,. for P-cluped Si at .30l 1--. I
· ._) em .

8.10.4 Impact ionization

lJ' an ex ternal c let:tric fil'!l . . . .
earners, thL· L" trrt· . . . . . . L ts .lpplt..:-d kl a sc miL·,,n lu ll t
• ers,trcac:ccl -. ' .
,·, c...:cJs the i,JniL·ttt o - C' t.tll:d and galll t:l1cf!.!\ I th
. . , . .. -~ n cner••\ ,f . ~-
p.t-;se:- 'UIItctentl )LUSt:((llh
. ·I . '= - l
·
..tn
.
tm p un£\• lC m
c tmpunt ) , cnc ~ L.l l1 h
 Hot carrier phenomena 2 1
h .t ._. ll l tct lr:tppcd all he: impuril ) . lht:H..' h\ 1'\ci lill 'lhL·t• :tplwd
I• Ill , nd~I L'I~•. :l ~~I' \,;tklll'l' b:tnd . ' J he: 1\C:\\! frl'c 'ilrJ:j T lhu o., pn
1 " ' If ht . tu.L k1 .llul and cause the j" 1111 . 1t , ,. 1
. ' • 1c 11 n vc 1 ~~ n cll H.: r
1 h · nu nh·r 1ll. lrL'L' L';trrrn..;. mullil)lic: · • 111 11 .•~ 1l•., , ~ 11n g. -11 ova 1one he 1
1 n ' 'lCt at ·J ~harp!\ ttKrc 1s 111 e cut-r-c 111 · r'AI vc I-y h.II! h L' u r -
\\tlh :1
n lltl.' It ·I clru.: hrcakdtn,·n can occur whi•' ll ,.• -11 11 · . ~
• - L · ,

. • ... t::-. 'm s1ruc lura 1

111 1h' m~llt'rt:tl. In narr(l \\ -2 ;11) scmicnndu··1q1·.- 11 · ·, .·1· 1 -
. '" " ·' 1, lh'~'I ) t 1nr an
1 1t d ~.\ITtt'r It) aL·qlllr • cnnugh cncrl•v to cxcit·· .111 ··I. . ·
. ~ ~. · .. • ... cc 11 o n 1rom 111c
I .tnJ t,~ the cnnductll)J1 band with the crcc1t 1' l 11 "' ' .. . . · -
, ' 1 " pd 11 n 1 1rcc

, . 10. 1 Impact ionization of shallow impuritil's

lh~.: ,b,·nau n of impact ioni zat ion is l'acilitatcd by opcratin!! at lov.
1 'I 1 1.nurc ''here tht: impurity states arc well occ upieJ . the mobilit is
htfh . Jll i 1he m :an l'ret· path is long. In n-Ge a 1 tcm per at urcs below 10 Kin £1 km>

(i ·l ll1 Lh' lrder of IOV;'cm. impact ionizatio n occur a · . hnwn in Fig. 8.13
L \ note that as the temperature ri se , the low-field pan or the Current vc r\u~ ckl.lnc field I r n- Jl!

·un • n ·- :1. a resu lt of thermal inni zati n of the impurities. ( HrtCr <LU tZ 19{)]

8.JOA.2 Impact ionizafion by interband transitions

Jn h absence of phonon interactions an accelerated carrier must have an
en'~'~! a t lea -t equal to the band gap to produce electron--hole pairs by
im r a 1 i niza ti()n. If the details of the con,·ervation of energy and
momentum are considered. however. one find s that the threshold c n e r~y
can h larger than the band gap.
L t us consider the situation shown in Fig. 8.14. In the initial state there i ·
an initiatin~ dectro n in conduction band i with wave v tor k 1 and an
electron in \·alence band r with wave vecto r k 1 . In the final state there is an
elcctr n in conduction band c with \ ave vector k :_ , an electron in con-
duction band c' with wave vecto r k .~ - and a hole replacing the electron in the
'alence band. The basic problem in obtaining the threshold ene rgy is to fi nJ
the minimum energy of the system co n. istcnt with ::-iven al ues or tht:
energy E,(k ,) and ,,·an: vector k i or the initiating dectron .
Conservation of energy and momentum giv the r la t i on~
Fig. 8.14
D 1a!!ram lur .\lllnlp.t~\-llllll;ttlllll
prP-. ., (.tlta nda un .tnJ rl'" ·II
jll-_)
(:-l.266h )

To ll111111111Ze t I1c e n e rgy 0 1. til"._ fi11:1l

• p:tt-LJ···I
- " · \''.... Lake the \aria Lion ~)i
Eq:-:.. ( ).-66) and obtain
( 2c ~a

0 - dk~ dfq dk,.

where we have used the dcfinitH . n t") ,. t l1' g.tl ll

(1 ·] Li l l!l . 11 l I ll. (... - I
Eliminating dk 1 from Eq . ( 11 .'2()7· ) ) il'ld

0 - dk_ · ( v~ - v1) ,//\ 1), I .

Charge carrier scattering and tra nsport properties

in e d/,._ and dkJ are 1me.uly i c endent , we must have

V1 - V = VJ -

The ref re, a nece , r cond1tion tha t an initiating particle have minimum
energy con ·i "lent with pr !duct ion of electron- hole pairs is that the final
ar ticles a11 have the - ~nn e gro up velocity (Anderson and Crowell1972).
Thecaku l lion fthe th re hold energy for a realistic band structure must
be d ne num rically. H wever. for the case of spherical parabolic con-
duction and a lence ba1 ds. a simple treatment is possible. The group
v I ity j~ lh n nk/m . s the equality of the group velocities gives

k:.
(8.270)
mt.

and

(8.271)

where 1 = mj m;. and m;, has been taken to be positive. Using Eq . (8.266a)
the energy of the initiating electron takes the form

(8. 27~)

where the zero ?fenergy has been taken to be the bottom of the conduction
band. Alternatively, we can write E,-(k;) as

(8.:273)

Eliminating tz 2k},j2m*
- c fro m Eqs.
, (oo._7
7 ....
1 ) and (8
·
173) v1eld
·
· the rhreshold
energy £, 11 ,, : ·- • -

(~; . ~ 7 ~ )

1r the elTective masses of the con . . .

and one obtains the --L b- d _ d.~tchon dnd valence ban d arc equ.tl. "· = I
. . 2 cln · gap rule E - 1E
When the Initiating particle i. ~ rh .c - : g·
energ· y f' ·. · . s a hole one can shov>" th ·1t Lll thr h~.. ld
-rh .h IS g1ven by ' •

E·th ,h = ( I +2 ) . ,"1.)
E l - .
(I + I ) ·g ·

whi c h also reduces to tl , J b·

-- - . 1t: , - .tnd~·~ 1 ·t·
1 o ohtam reliabl ~ ~ · ,- -. ~ ' p rue I ! = I.
. . e n.: s u ts torr "· I ._, . . .
111lu ;Jl'l'Ull11l lhl' d•· t·l · l ~ j b t:,·\· St:llllllllldUUll i'S I t L IlL' 1
" ' 1 e~.. ·md ·t ·
an d umklapp pr o~..:~.:s · ·· I •· s lllcturc Is Wl'll a p h, n I I
• I ~ . . st:s . n <~ "rt:·lt .
t: c eec:-. ~ (And ers un . .. e ' lll<~ny '-" ls~:s th e hL'llf mul 11
' 1110 IOWdl j<J7~) .
 Variable-rang e hopping conductivity 203

.1 a iable-range hopping conductivity

.1 I" 'tn t ' i t1Ut inthl' la-;t SL'Liit'11l,fChaph:t ::.. impuritieo;; n rll hc r lr: tp
1 · 1 11.'1 s 111 a scmi~..·\'lll.llll'tor form ~• Ji s\'1nkrcd S\ s tem in which hot h
1, ~It ._. t .wd d h'cali 7cd staks appear that ~•r' scp;,11:at c I hy the mobtht
, If llw Fermi energy L'r I he ckct rnns IlL'. bl'llw; th e nwl~ilit ~~ edge 1n "'
1111 -d1111 ' ll 'lt n:ll. n- type scmic nnJudnr. the c~mdu c ti vit y a t lo\.v tcm-
1' t.l llltl'. '\:curs b~ variable-range hopping (l\1 o ll llJ6C>). Tl~ ·rate ofh(lp-
p ng l'f .111 ck~..·tr\'11 be tween t\h' traps a distaill'e R apart is prt purlil'nalto
thL \,1\ l' run., inn overlap factor C\.p ( - 2(\ R). \ here n is an ilncrse clfel'livc
Bl h• r.1diu~ . In addition there is a te mpcrature-dcpcnck nt factor an-;in e.
,. 'Ill .111 a ci 1Yalit)J1 encr!!.y . The Jailer can he c:slimated by no tinl!. that if till'
'I ·m. n jun ps a distance no greater than R. t.hc number of states in th e
r:lll!;" elF. i:; t 4fi R3 / 3) .'\' ( I~) dE. so that th e a\·erage spacin•• between energies
i II = _, ~;- R:..\'(E). The activation energy is taken to be H'. The h 11 pill''
1r 'qu '11 ·~ ''tre~r is then gi \'en by

(8 .276)

Th ~ mtl .' mum frequenc y 1/~:;,, i obtained b y varying R to give 2n =

l9 .t;o) R~ ."l\.- { £ )k 8 T . Eliminating R fro m Eq . (8.276 ) yields vf1~p · T h e
·on uc ti,·it y. which is proportio nal to f/1~~:1'. takes the form

8.277)
I
CJ ( T ) = Aexp ( - B/ T ~ .

This beha,·ior is exhibited by a m orphous G e at low tempera tures.

Problems
1. The inelastic character of aco u tic phono n altering C' tn be taken int ac unt
by replaci ng the energy co nse r\'in g delta functi on in ELJ . ( .149) b)
<\( Ek - q - £,. . II ·q). where --.;q is the fre4uen~y fthc cm1tt~d a~ u_t1c: phon _n.
Deri\'e an expressiOn for the inver · catt ntH~ ume a. soClatcd w1 th the \.: Jnl. -
"ionofacou ticpho no ns. Rept:a tthc dc ri va tio n f rthc a · o f ac u. 1i phonon
a h<> rption. ,
') Carry o ut a deri va ti o n anal gous to tha t ol problem lf I lar
optical phonon sca ttering. . . tn the invc r. e '>C, tl ~.: ri ng titn ·
3 H mopolar ·emico nduct rs hav ~1t nh u u ~ n .
rac11011 with opt1 al pill non .
that a ri ·e fro m a def rmation p t nu al-t 1c 111 1
The interacti on Ham ill nia n ha" the fo rm
II.'"' = Dn · 11 •
. . fl" . ' d th f'llll \ C dhplacc ll1CI1ltflh'
\\ h re Do 1::. the ltlle r aCt iOJl ( e 1 Jcnl dll tl I \,: . . . ' r01.
IW( atoms in th e unit cell . Derive e prc:-.~i~ 11 r r the _Ill\ f'>C" allcnng.umc
· h th 1 th lasllc ..,catt·ring
optical pho no n emissio n a nd ah<;orpuon r c
approximati on a nd for t h~o: incla ..;uc.: case , h
4. For a n i ntrin~ic . cmicunducto r. :-.hO\\ th<l he thcnnt ckctnc P ' 'r J. J:!I\ ~.:n )
the ex pression

where the !-.UbScriph II and f rercr t<

re pecti vcly.
 Charge carrier scattenng and transport properties
20

References
C · L · ,.' cr on. an dJ CN· R · e V1ermlll ·Solid Stole P1l_l'SICS
n well. Pin's. Re v. B", 2267 ( 1972).
· (H o It. R.me hart and
N \) . r sh rol l ,,n 0· ·
Wtn,tn , Nev,; YorJ.... 197 ). ?O .1966
. M L· . . nJ R Loudon Pln•s. Rev. 145. 6- ( ).
J. Btrman. . · d\.. a
· , · .· · , . .
ElectrtJII I t '\' ond Election
PI ..
lhHC\.
· .. Vo.J 7 , ed . L . Marton
H. Broul< ·, 111 •.,£1I'C/rl('(',\ 117 ~ · ·
( LadcmicPrcs., ewY rk , I )5) ._. .· . ,.
P. . Butcher, w. Fawcett. and . HJicsum, But. J. Appl. PhJs. 17. 841 (1966).
H . B. lien. Plqs. Rer. 76. 1394 ( 1949) .
. M. m ell. Ph. ·s. Pe r. 90, 69 ( 1953). L ~
E. um: ll and V. Weis.·kopf. Plzys. Re t•. 77, 3~X (I~)()) .
P. Debve and E. Htick I, Phrsik z. 24. 305 (1923).
H. Ehr~ nrei ch , .!. Plzrs. hem. Solids 2. 131 ( 1957).
A. Einstein. Ann . Physik 17. 549 ( 1905).
E. F rmi . 1\ uclear Pin-sic. ( Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago. 1950).
D . K. Ferry. Phys. R~ r. B14. 1605 ( 1976).
J. B. Gunn, Solid State Commun. 1, 88 ( 1963).
F. S. Ham. Phrs. Rev. 100, 125 1 (1955) .
C. Herring and E. Vogt, Phr . Rev. 101. 944 ( 1956).
D. Howarth and E. Sondheimer, Proc. Roy. Soc. (London) A219. 53 (1953).
C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid Stule Physics, Sixth Edition (John Wiley.
New York, 1986).
G. Lautz, in Halh/eiterprobleme, Vol. 6. ed. F. Sauter (Fried. Vieweg & Sohn.
Braunschweig, 1961).
A. A. Maradudin, E. W. Montroll , G. H. Weiss, and I. P. lpatova. Thenrr o(
Lallice Dynamics in the Harmonic Approximation (Academic Pre s. New York.
1971).
N . F. Mott, Phil. Mag. 19 835 (1969).
G. L. Pearson :tnd C. Herring, Physica 20. 975 (1954).
B. K. Ridley. Quuntwn Processes in Semiconductors. Second edition ( larendon
Press, Oxford, 1988).
D. L. Rode, Phys. Rev. B2, 1012 (1970).
L. M. Roth. in Handbook on Semiconductors. Second editio n. ol. I. .:d.
P. T. Landsberg (North-Holland. Amsterdam, 1992) .
. Sclar, Phys. Rev.I04.1548 , 1559 (1956).
R. C. Tolman, PrincipLes of' Statisric t! kfechanics (Oxfurd ni\er it~ Pri.'SS.
Oxford, 1938).
 properties of
•
I nductors

yideas
Surface Properties
Th 11 ,/It · /1111~ I i on 1111/jllif 111/c l)j' clc ·c ·f run i t' sur/tit'(' sf a f es deere a ses s Lro n!.! Iy 91 Surface effects 011 electronic states
fr m the .-url~l ce to the' interior ofthl: crystal. -
fh' ll 'tliC ,/itllt'fi(J /1 t1f a .\W/ace slalc ill the IICar/1 · /t'('(' (' /cc /1'011
.lfJII'r immiOII is con-·tructed frum Bkll.:h functi o ns \viih : '(1/np/ex li'UI'e
n < 10/T The e ntTg .l· cig(" nra/u(' lies in the g ap between the energy hand-;
fthc bulk cr~·s t a l.
In tb rir:tht I in ling m ethod the: surface st'tte wave fun ctio n is a linl.'ar
comhinarion of'a tom ic orhiwls wi I h coefftci en ts tha Ldecay exponentially
t Ya rJ the' interio r of the crystal.
'urf(ue e/asri ' 1\ '(fl'C'S h ave displacement amplitud es that derar 92 Surloc e e llectson lollicevi brotio ns
..:.rpon 'llliul/r from the. urface to the interio r. Their l·c/ocill' is less tha n
l h 3t f hulk li'Ol'e. .
ln di· tom ic . cmico nducto rs swface modes ojl'ihrurion ca n occur \Vith
r qucncie::: in the ga p between aco ustic and optical branches.
Th h II moch /.the hond charge 111odel a nd ah initio merhods can be used
t c lc ulatc the pro perties of :-.urface m odes in real ·cmicnnduct rs.
Surfac 'ibra ti o na l modes ca n be -tudi ed experiment a ll y
u ~1 112. Brillouin sca ttering. Raman sca ttering. l'lectrrm '-l'Jitcring.
helium a1 1111. ca ttering. a nd inji·orcd ·'P <'trnscopr .
Th , recomhination of eleclro ns a nd holes can b ('/1/i({// ('('d ::~t a su rra c or 9,3 Surfoce recombenation
interf~tce o f a ::,emiconductor.

The ph) i t.ll h unda ri f a 'icmi ·onduclor :lfl.: r Hill I to p n)dlJCl.: ig-
nifi ·ant effect. on it t: kc tronJC and \ ibrati( na l pr pcrlic . lf th · hnundan
t: J ar·. tc tht . . emit:,1n uc tt)r frum 'a ·uum lr :1 ~<h. 1t 1. n.:rt: l rL·d I{ a.., a
surface . It' 1h cmiconduc lt r '"' '>CP~ ra tt.:d fnm <t liqui I t-' r a ..,l1ltd ll1L·
boundan j ca lled a n in terface . 1a ny 01' the lcchnoingica! appltcaiHlJl:-, o!'
'>emicur j u ·t r :n c ba. ed n ..,urfau.: ·tnd intcrfac' ~.: IT·c t In the pr ':-. ·nt
cha te r \\e f LU 11 -; u rfacc cJT •L' h :tnd dcf'cr Olll' C0ll'lith::ralll11l lt 111ll'rracl..'
effe ·t t ) ' h: pter I ~.
 . f ·conductors
Surface propertieS o semi
2
Hects on electronic states
9.1 urf ace e ,
• _1 • c·J , t ·r ,., tile a ll wed states of an electron moving in a
\ dt ·c l ''iSCu In 1:.1p t; - · f .
. . t· 1 lie in energy hands w1th. orb1dden energy ...,gape.,
. .

, • fiL) d H.: cr;-, s .t ·

1
pt!r1c~.:' lb .1 1 he qu·llllative ffect of creatmg a free surface is to
I:Jcl\tCtl dllu ' . _ , ·~· ! ' · .
. f t tes ( unm 1932 ) wbo~e energ1es 1e 111 the forbid den
mtroduc sur ace sa ' , . . .
• rferl crvstal The wa e f·unctJOns associated With surface
g·1r o f t 11c pc • · ,
·tate · ha\' amplitud s that arc larg a l or near the surface an_d decay to
c~.e ntially zero n the interior of the crystal. In two- and three-d1mensional
crystaL. the surface state may f rm surface energy bands. .
The natur of th atomic a rran 2:emen t a t and nea r a surface can vary
wiJ lv from ne t p o f cry tal to a nother. Jn the simplest situation. the
spaci~g 1etw en adjac nt atomic layers re t ain~ it ~ bulk value right up to
th surfac Ia_ er, and the at m ic a rrangement w1thm the surface layer is the
same as that in corr .-ponding interior layers. More generally, the interlayer
spaci ng may change as the su rf'ace is approached, giving rise to surface
relaxation. Furthermore, the alomic arrangement within the surface layer
may differ from that of a corresponding layer in the bulk as a result of
surface reconstruction. Both surface relaxation and surface reconstruction
occur rather frequ entl y in semico nductor surfaces and can lead to sig-
nificant mod ifications of the surface energy bands.

9.1.1 Nearly free electron approximation

A number of the qualitative aspects of surface electronic states can be

developed with the aid of the nearly free electron (N FE) approximation and
the two-band model. We first consider a one-dimensional semiconductor
that h~s energy eigenvalues specified by Eq. (2 .56) withE;, having some real
value 111 the gap between the two allowed bands. but k bein!! complex:
k = \ ± io_. Solving the resulting eq uat ion for the wa v v ctor~k. we find
E
that <, = Go/ 2 and hence that

k= 1c0 ± 10· .,
~
(9. 1i

where n is re·ll
• · Th e resu1tmg
· exp ression for £ , is
1

Exercise. onsider ·• ~ . .
va lue V1 (/ ~ / "l ) ' L>lk~Uim~.:nsJonal sy t tn \\ith K h.nin~ th·
I 1 , -lli(G' 11 j "l) - · . . .
(io / 2. Ca kulat ~ tl . _ - ~ 11 t~sponcl 111 g ll th JnJJ Jk tll th ~· 1 ,It
... . . ~ lt:v.duc o(· "
:.,ns"er. n =[l l· ('" , · , 1
Fig.9.1
. ~ . '•1 + l norj 1·,.-,.j- / h") 2. _ ~ (,' ~~
fht heha vi,1r n l' tl1 ' - - II
l11c rg} v~r~u' l0 iltj1h..;; W:J\1! \<.:LI •>t I•>J ~ ~nerg · p . . · .
1" ~ht) Wn 111 hn L) . · - ~ <~::. .t lunL"tl, n , I l he e Hl pi
lh• Oillo,;• JIIut; ll t<m;d ,....,,, 1 . 1nJ 111,,.1..: 1. 11 <=-· · 1 1t)r t hl· t 11 . 1 .
h .: ed ge ~ or ll . t. I l:-l l ll1l:TIS lll 11:.tl ~.(-;,.; lll th I I
\\ u )~l nd ~ .~t II 13 .· .
I ti l n Il l 11 L 11 • ~to till f I
 Surface effects on ele ctronic states 207
IL' th . 1 l ' J, 'P"' n ·nt ' d alnng the imaginar. a xis Ill the t·qmpl c · , a ' C
1 hl I.J l 1 ' '-I' ( lA ' ) in thl' llloch fUill· ti t""~ll th n dor a cquir •.., th ·
I ) ' ). ' hH:h. "llh ]1f"1)pcr choice nr I he al gebraic ."l gn. ma kes
.1 url~t cc state.
Jllu t ra tc the c ;t kula t iPn pf the "a vc fu net ion and en e rgy or a ~u rfa
ttnntc ·ta lL'. '' ' consi(kr a one-dimen sional monatomic crvstal with
!.Ill u'mtan t a. rhc Pt'll'ntial energy I ·(x) is assumed to have- the fo rm

I '( .\' ) = , ·o
. -')J 'c;., cos ('~
0n.\' ) • (9.3)

,, h ·r , l\lh I ,, and I 'c,,, arc real and negati ve. The LTystal occUJ)ics the
Fig.9.2
r'!!l '11 y ' 0. a nd' acuum occupies the regi on _,- 0. as hown in Fi!I. 9 .2. Gcnrm:Lr c>f, cry Lal ,., 1111 a . urfacc.
The :1 ·u um Je\·1."1 is taken to be the zero of energy . ~
' ' tak e the waH' fun cti on o f the electron •vithin the crystal to be a linea r
,mhm,tti n t'f Bloch functi o ns with complex wave vector such that the
, :n fu n ti n decays expo nentially in the direction away from the vacuum
ir tL th crystal. Within the two- band model the appropriate linea r com-
binati 1 11 follmvs from Eq . (1.16) by retaining only the term s havi ng G = 0
and = Go .

(9.4)

\\ith k = ~ Gu - ia and Y < 0. The wa ve functi on in the' acuum region is

al· loca lfzed at the interface with the crystal and ca n be written as

(9.5 )

The quantities u a nd a 0 a re the decay consta nt s describing the decay of the

wave functi o n from the surface int o the crystal and into the vacuum .
respecti vel y. . .
The bounda rv conditions a t the interface require tha t ·(x) a nd 1ts first
derivative 1. l (x ) he co ntinu o u . ing Eqs. (9.4) and (9.5) leads to the
equa ti ons

1:1o = C(k ) C(k - G .6a)

- oo'l.,:o = ( n i G
2
o) C(k ) (u - i ~) '(k - o) . ( . b)

Eliminating v 0 yield s the equa ti o n

(o+ no + i ~0 ) C(k ) ( 1\(

. (I)
- /2 (k - ' o) = 0. ( . 7)

The complex co njugate of the last res ult is

(o + o o - i G
2
u)· (k - Go ), (9 ~ l
 .
Surface propertaes o sem
f iconductors

, v.it h Eq. (9.7). shows that one can take

wh1ch upon'-' mp r1 11

c (/. ) = C(k - Go). (9.9)

E. )rc ·st ns ~at ~o;fyi ng tl11S conditio n an:;

C( 1.)
..: =
c- e il)
(9.10a)

(9.lOb)

wh r - is a r al n rrnaliza tion constant and b IS to be determined.

Substitution of Eq.. ( .10) into Eq. (9. 7) gives

Go
+ (Yo = tan 5. (9.11 )
2
The quantity b is a measure of the difference in phase of the wave function
components with amplitudes C(k) and C(k- Go ).
Another relation between a: and fJ can be obtained by substituting
Eqs. (9 . 10) into Eqs. (2 .53) and eliminating Ek - V0 . The result is

2mVc .
Q: = - ? . Sin 20, (9.12)
fz-G 0

where Vc 0 has been taken to be real in accordance with Eq. (9.3).

To determine !5 we take the boundary condition expressed by Eq. (9.11)
and rewrite it as

1
(
- ----p;r-
2nzE
= a: - TGo tan !5 ) (9.13 )

where we have used the fact that in the vacuum region E and ll . re relaw.l
by

1 ")
E = - tiI Q(i ( 9. I~ )
2m ·
An additional relatio 15
·, . .
Eq (2 53 .t). d I" . n ptovtded by substitut ing Eq Q, 10) inW
~ . . ' an e tmmatmg Ek using Eq. (9.2): ~

E"( >I - - I - 0 - ]
2(G'' ) [IVu., l-") - Cm) ]-I} ,,, + I
li ~ ~ o;
tz-
{ 2m 4 " 'f = ll.
) I' ,
T h~.: unpenurb~d energv t: (II ) ,. .
" or k ~given lw
. J.
~ ("
It) tc ' I'.-.

I.
 Surfa e effects on electroni totes 209
IIlli I 1 I l I · a n I hkt lll.! the rl'al p;trl 1 I IlK· ~" ullin ' ·q tiJ -

•t~l Ill r' (9 . 17)

q . ~.1.\ and diminat -• both E and nGn tan /1, the result is
, Sm
sec- ( = - - .- . ( I ·,1 + V )
t/·c-,T ··· . (9. 18)

\ h1 h pee l s r~ in terms of the potential energy coe111ci~.:nt s ·tnd the zone-

ound .tr~ " a ·c \'I:'Ctor. Tht: decay constant . nand no can now be calculated - 1 ~------~--------~
0 0.5 - I
fn.."m q . . ( . 11) (lnd (9.12) and the surface state energy eigenvalue from v 11
E . l~.l-+) .
Th n rgy ei!!envalue £,as a function of the coellicient VGn is plotted in Fig.9.3
Fig ·- for I 'o = - I in units ofli G~ / Snr. The boundaries of the forbidden
2
Surfac tate energy vcr. u_ 1- un r
coeffi ient of the potenual energy ~ r
gap ar a lso shown. The surface state energy lies in the lower part of the gap
Vo =- I. Dashed line~ : b undaries n
~ nd m \CS farther from the midpoint as V ,0 increases. A plot of the decay the forbidden gap.
• n. ta nts and oo versus I ·(,11 is given in Fig. 9.4.
The ne-dimensional case just considered can readily be extended to the
three- imensional case (Goodv. in 1939). lf the surface coincides with a 0.5 . --------.-
, - - - -----,
r ri J ·ipa llattice plane and is normal to the reciprocal lattice ector Go the
k : equatif)ns are simple generalizations of those for one dimension. We
"'
~
;;;
c;
ov-==- -
introduce a wave vector k given by 0
(.)

>.
i3 - 0.5 -
(9. 19) '.)
Cl
- \ L__ __ - JI_ ______~

\\·here k ~ is perpendicular to the surface and k 11 is a two-dimensional vector 0 -I

parallel to the surface. Similarly \Ve introduce an electron po ition vector,.
bv
Fig.9.4
(9.20) De ·ay · nstarw v r u- r urie r
coefficie nt of th p tentt, I 'ncrg~ for
1"'0 =- I. · per un·e: no l'c,. I w r
The expressio n for the\ ave function in Eq. (9.4) is replaced by curve: o / J·G• .

liJ(r ) = e'"·'' [C k ) + C (k - Go) IGn·r ] (9.2 1)

with k _ specified by Eq. (9.1 ). Similarly. Eq. (9.5) is replaced by

lk .,. (9.2_)
' (I' ) = t !1]£'
- (1 ,.
u .

Key equations (9 . 11 ), (9.12). a nd (9. 18) are unchanged, but the term
li-{2 j 2m must be added to the right ha nd ide f Eqs. (9.2). ( . 14) a nd
(9 . 16). Thus, when Go is normal to the ~urface . the n t Freet i impl t
superpose the translational kinetic energy parallel to the surra "' L n th~.
energy of the motion normal to the surface. When Go is not normal t th
surface, the situation is more complicated, but ca n be hand l d by
the methods just described.
 Surface propertie of semiconductors

9.1.2 Tight binding method

We have een in )hlpter ~that the tight binding method pr~vides a simple,
·t· · ,. p- tur of h :1w energy bands vary as the lattice constant is
q u. l1 cl " c 1 . . . '
t.:hanged. It al ·o pro e useful In the chscuss10n of surface states (Davison
and teslicka 199.2). ..
.s Let us consider a one-dimensional model of sthcon (or other diamond
-dim 1 nalmodcll I ·tltcon structure mat rial), long the (I ll] direction as shown in Fig. 9.5. There are
two different separation between adjacent atoms that alternate along the
chain. w a ·sum t h :.~t a plane normal to [Ill] cuts the chain midway
betw en two adja ent atoms in neighboring unit cells. The orbital at a
lattice site i ta ken to be an sp hybrid of the form

s
±(r) =~( is)± jp,:)) , (9.23)

where the + and - signs alternate from one site to the next and the chain is
p aligned along the .:-direction. The orientation of the orbitals along the chain
is indicated in Fig. 9.6.
The Hamiltonian has the tight-binding form
sp
t/·v2
H= -2m- + ""'v(r-Rr-
~
) (9.24)
Fig.9.6 ph
t(

Hybrid orbitals in a one-dimensional

model of silicon. where v(r- RtK. ) is the atomic potential energy at site €K.. Since the system
under study is not periodic, the Bloch form for the wave function in
Eq . (2.74) is no longer appropriate. We write a solution to the Schrodinger
equation ~

H (r) = E (r) (9..25)

as an expansion

1/;(r) = L c ,_<p"- ("- R( f K)).

ft:

where the coefficients . are

· · (""' .- to be detennmed.
. The parumet r ;-;, takes t)JI
t he values + and _ w h
o for e = and ""= · ec oose t e ongm ofcoor lin ·1te 'U('h tha t R(fK ) :::::
0
h . .

Substituting the e~pansion h.1 1, • . .. • .

multtplying the . b .. c ~- t) mto the S hrcH.I rn~er ua ttLln.
resu 1t ·Y'f'J (r), and Integrating err.\ br.1in

~cr,. / ' * (1')H ,, (r - R(fl.,· )) ,~,.

= E L c·r,,· ;·
I h •
. r ) d r -- R ( lt-} ),/ r

It i~ convenient to rcwrit, . .
e the Harntltonian as

1-/ -· flo + L /' ,.

,. , ' (I
H ( l ,.;'
 Surface effects on electronic states 211

li ~ v '2
Hn = -- - - + 11(r). (9 .29)
2m

(9.30)

an , :Jn r,.
a re the energy eigenvalues oft he s-and p-orbitals. respectively.
1th thest' re. ults Eq . (9.27) becomes

7 ~ r·~+ cr" ./ yJ~ (r) v(r- R(C'1-t')):p~(•· - R( f K))d 3 r

= El:::cr,.
( ,.; '
I :p~ (r):p,..(r- R( £"'))d·'r. (9.31)

This equation can be simplified by exploiting the localized character of

the atomic orbitals 'P~- (r) and the atomic potentials v(r) . We make the
::1 pproximations

(9.32a)

(9.32b)

and retain only those terms containing v(r) that involve a single atomic site
or two adjacent atomic sites.
Equation (9.31) then reduces to

[E - ~ (r:s + Ep)- J - J ']co+ = Kco- + K'c- 1,- · (9.33)

where

J = / cp~ (r) v(r- R( - )):p (r )d r

3 9 .34a)

J' = / cp:_(r) v(r + a - R( -) ):P+(r)d r

3 (9. 34b)

K = / ~.p: (•·)v(r- R( - ))cp (r - R( - ))d r

3 (9 .34c)

K' = l :p" (r) v(r + a - R( - ))'P- (r + a - R(- ))d r

3 (9 .34d )

and a is the primitive translation vector. Simila rly , for an arbitra r y va lue
of the lattice site index f, we have
 Surface prope rties of semiconductors
2
The iutegrals .1 an j ' a rc called Coulo~b i~tegrals because t~~y represent
he oul m b nergie f a chargedtstnbutlonp(r) = I<P+(r)! tf v(r) i the
poten t al of a poi n charg ". The integrals K and K ',on the other hand, are
exchange integrals b ca use t he electron is "exchanged" between two dif-
ferent atomi. ite ·.
econd q u.1tion can be obtaine~ by multiplying the Schr6dinger
equation y 'P~(r- R ( -)) and repeatmg the same steps as before. The
result for arbitrary F is

Introducing
(9.37a)

17 = K' jK, (9.37b)

leads to the set of equations

Xcr+ = ce- + 'T}Ct-1.- (9.38a)

Xcc- = rJCf+ l , + Ct -- · (9.38b)

Equati_ons (9.38) describe a periodic crystal if etakes on all positive and

negat1Ve mteger values. A solution can be found by setting

(9J9a)

ce- = Aut (9J9b )

and substituting into Eqs. (9_ 38 ) to yield

Xt/ = A(t/ + 1Jll f - l ) (9A0a )

AXu f = 17t/+ 1 + t/.

Eliminating ,4 fro m th ese equations, we find that

I { ¥ ,- _ ~
II = -
2r ·
7
(I + 712 ) ±[((I
.
+1r) _ X ~) 2 _ 4 , 1 2:
I

Since we expect to get Bloch , . ". , ,

crystal, we let st<~tes tor the wav e tunltllll

11 = 1, rtl.

where tJ = ka and k i . I ,
s t 1~:: wave veL·tor. Inverting '4 · l :tl)

.\" :::: ±[. 1 I,, ,- I

..
'
I - 1/ L'" ' ' ,
 Surface effects on electronic states 213

I
211 ens op. (9.44)
1- -
'JH.:rg · CI!.!C~' ah11.:~ are _thus seen t0 lie in two bands corresponding to
.tnd - s1gns w1th fl 111 the range 0 :5 0 :5 rr. A plot of X versu~ (J is
1-
n 111 Fig. 9 . 7 !'or '7 = ~ ·
turn to the question or surface electronic states or an atomic
tn \\ 1th v1-hybrid orbitals. As mentioned earlier. the "surface" is crca ted - 1 1- -
an l ur\. n.::-J imensional nwdel by setting to zero the parameters that couple
t l ad.t<t -~n t atnmic sites. Let these sites be 0 + and -I. -. Equations
{ .: l fo r i = 0 take the form -2 l
0
()
X' co, = t o (9.45a)
Fig.9.7
(9.45b) Energy parameter ):: ver;;u. reduced
wave vector IJ ~ r ,1 = ~·
"h re
X'= X+~ (lJ .46a)

~=J' j K. (9.46b)

E]jminating c0 _ from Eqs. (9.45) yields

(9.47 )

For a surface state it is necessary that the amplitudes cL+ and c _ tend to
zero as · _, oc . Such behavior can be achieved if we take ein Eq. (9.42) to
have the form (J = 1r + ict. Then
(9.48)

where o is the decoy constant. From Eq . (9.39a) we obtain

1 - lo (9.49)
Ct+ = ( - 1) e .
which has the desired limit for large t Equations (9.43) a nd (9.47) then
become
) ! (9. 50)
X = ±[I + rr - 2ncosh n)1

.'\v 1- - I -!- Av <,c = - IJe- n

.
(9.5 1)

Eliminating X from these equation gives

If1 - 211cosh n ]-~ -c.., = 0 .

I c
().52)
IJ - f'" ± [I 77

which is the surface boundary condition that specifies n for given values of ~
and 'IJ. To have a surface state, o must be real and positivt or complex with
 . of semiconductors
Surface prope rt tes
2
( . 9 5? ) j a cubic equation inc" wh e solut 1on
positive real part •quJL ~~l~·ntll, ·Arter 0 is determined, the amplitudes c
1
b pres..;cd ·tna v Jc, '. 1

t:<tn e LX • • r ca~ be calculated from Eqs. (9.49) and (lJ.SO).

and cncrg] parameter .
rc:pectin!ly · . follows from Eqs. (9.39b) and
1\n e pre·sion for tht: amp!JLud e. ( f

(9.4 ')·

I - In
c _ = A( - I ) e . (9.53)

T h co n ·tanl A is determi ned by substituting Eqs . (9.49) and (9.53) into

Eq. (9.3 b) to g ive there ult
-1
(9.54 )

A special case arises if ~ = 0. From Eq. (9.52) we see that '7 = e" and from
Eq. (9.50) that X= 0. Equations (9.38a) and (9.45a) then lead to the con-
clusion that all c1_ are zero. The surface state for this case i therefore
Fig.9.8 associated with X = 0 and TJ > 1.
R:.mg ··of~ and ry ( haded regi,.m) for a
Only certain ranges of E. and 17 correspond to values of o that are con-
urfa tate. The shaded region extends
indetintt ly b ·yo nd that shown . sistent with a surface state if !rt! < 1. These ranges are shown in Fig. 9.8. The
energy parameter X 5 for the surface state is plotted versus '7 in Fig. 9.9 for
~ = 2/3 and 17 < I.
In treating real semiconductors one must take into account the three·
dimensional character of these materials. The chains of atom paralkl to
the [Ill] direction are coupled together as a result of th valence bonds
coupling atoms in adjacent chains. In the absence of couplin g. the surfact:
states of the various chains are degenerate. Introducti n o f the coupling
splits the degeneracy and leads to surface state bands. Their theoretical
analysis is conveniently carried out with the aid of G re n\ funct ion~
(Garcia-Moliner and Velasco 1994). Photoemission i · a p w rful tC'l1 l
for investigating surface states experimentallv and i disLU ::.eJ 111
Chapter 10. ·
As a result of the rupture of chemical bonds th a t occur:- in the -reatil1I1 l 1t
a s~miconductor surface. the surface atoms have dang ling b nds -on winin~
0 0.5 a smglc electron each . Tht:re is a tendency for a pair f ~idJ.II.:~nr bn~itng
IJ bands to pair up their lone electrons to form electr n-p.tir 0Lll1d •. omt'-
quentlvJ• forces ·t -· · tl
< Itse 1at act on tht: surface atoms lL dt (("lrt th~:. . ur '
r· • ·
Fig.9.9
oeometp: and · 1
pr oc uce sur ace reconstruction. A l'l'l' n lrt d ... J _urta t:• ·,t.
f · •
Ene rgy parame te r X , vcr ~ u s 'I ft>r c- . J : .
c - 2/ "1. The curve end, at rJ = -/3 Shownmhg
. l) JOt') s·I)Q()
~· · c r 1, ) and 1s ·
charactcnzed · ··1J tl1l(
b\ ~~ ·u 1.1 u 1 t "~:. •
\\he re'' = IJ. F r ,, _. I there is an 15
l<~rg~r than that of the unreconstructed surf~1c . If-the LttL ·r1 '1( tull l '1111
addilt•>n al brarKh o f tht: curve \Vit h 1s subJected to s 111·t ' thl 1 t ·I
X , IJ . . . ·. . . ·. , c 1eat trcatnlt::nt. the Si( 1 )()) .2 I r· \' .;tru~ l \
~UI
·c . f<~ce
ll f"
anscs as tllu s trated in Fio () IU 1'11 ~ . tt ,
} . . :::.. . . 1.: r.l
h b I
ll"ll \ 1 I
n , ! th .• t
I s;:_ ~~~11 t 1C parnng up of" dangling ht)J1ds.
x.pl:lllncnt~llly "I v·llu·1ll I . .
1ow energy electron ·. ' ' ' 1 e kl: 1111Lfllt: l1.1rd t ·rmintlh! u
diffr f l , ~ . ~
2UOeV)In\' ' I~B · . . acton( . El::Dl. k·c t r~.)n ') I\
Ll~; I OI! 1ICW ·t\"l h
' 'c ~:.· n ~ t s \.'11 t h 1. • rd ~ r f t p1
'
.tnL pcnL·t r:~tc on I a 11.:\ , .
. j . ~
. . • II
ll:tdH n J1~tlkrn tl . . .\ .ttullllc Ia 'rs tl1l ll Lh. ~.n I d
~ 1.tt -tic L'h·1r· 1 ·t. · •
' • L \.1 hllc I the 'lll"Ll ·
 Surface effects on lattice vibrations 215

Side view
Fig.9.10
lor a nd side VI e \~ f . 1(I Ofl) urlacc .
(;\) ld~.:a l I I : ( BJ ~ mmclm: ulmer'
( uns t<~ hlc): a nd ( asymmctri d i m~.:r<,.
Small circks t p vi ·wJ a re third row
positions. Or~.:n cin.:lcs ( ide ie q are
po. itions that wo uld be occupied b the
atom if they were tn the hu lk. Ha tchmg
indica te<; degree <.If f1 lling uf urfacc
Ideal . urface Symmetric uimers .tbymmetriL· uimer~ bon d~ (a fter L.: Lay 19' ).

9.2 Surface eHects on lattice vibrations

A- int d out in Chapter 7, typical semiconductors have both acoustic and
optictl modes of vibration as a consequence of having more than one atom
p r unit cell. If a surface is present. surface modes can arise from holh
a ou tic and optical branches. In the following we treat each of these types
of modes.

9.2.1 Surface acoustic modes

Surl~1cemodes derived from the acoustic branch can occur with \:vave-
Iengths varying from much greater than the la ttice constant to being
comparable to the lattice constant. We start by considering the long
wavelength case which can be handled by the rather simple but genera l
procedures of elastic continuum theory.
We restrict our attention to cubic crystals, the clas t wh i h the more
common semiconductors belong. Denoting the displac ment component
of a material point at (x. _r • .:-) by (u, , ,,·), we can \lv'l"ile the cqu tio ns f
motion as

!!__ (au
i:J:: D::
;~'_',.')]
I

fJ 2 ·t ·
p - 2= C44 -
fJr
-
fh dy
() (Uu Dv) + -fJ
-ox D)'
(c Du
p -
- Dx
. I
~~ -.-+ C ,2 ~
l'
)-
(}II')
( -

+ C44 -
[) (;}n
-.
UIV)-1--
.5 h )
iJ.:- iJ: dy
 Surface properties of semiconductors
21

(J I
r ---.-
( ,.
, _.
J
- +illl')
c [ u (Du Dx c
. (ch.1
- + !_}_
Ov D: +
-
1')- .
°"") l
f)
Y

-
I (
(I~.-
0/t c1- rJ.I'
()!:
'l -
OH') ,
+ c,l -::l
i):: X o:

vher the den. ity an C 11, C 12. C44 are the C_ubic elas~ic moduli in the
I; j

01
gl 11
tatiL n. ll should ben ted that the elastic mod~h actually form a
fou;th-r·lnk ten 01- that 1 ad to anisotropy of the elasttc properties. The
\el ity ol pr agali n fan acoustic wave theref~re depends on the
ire rio n of propag' ti n r lative to the crystallographtc axes.
Let u~ o n: id r u rface ave · associ a ted with a free (00 I) surface at: ::: 0
and ek s lutions to the equations of motion of the form

1r
( 1..J
1;
r· .
w· )t' -~7n ::+ iq ( f"X+ IIII'- CI ) , (9.56)
( U , U, \1' ) =

where U. V, Ware amplitudes associated with the decay constant o and q is

the wave vector. The wave front in the plane z = 0 makes an angle() with
the x-axis specified by e=cos e, In = sin(}, Substituting Eq. (9.56) into
Eqs. (9.55), one obtains a set of linear homogeneous algebraic equations
for the amplitudes U, V, rv whose nontrivial solution requires that

I)
f:n1(g1 , £a(g2 ..J... I)
£m(g2 + I) e 2
+g,m -p2 - (r J 2
mo. (g2 +I ) = 0.
J:a (g2 + I) mcx(g2 I) p 2 g 1o 2 - I
(9.57)

wh~re g, = C11/C..14, g2 = C,~ j C44, p 2 = pc2j C44 . The quantity pis the
rat1o
. of. the s' Lir'"a · wave
1 · ce · ve 1ocJty
· · to that of transverse bul - \\a\·es prop.l-
·
gatmg tn the [100] direction.
. Equation (9 ·57)·IS a b.ICU b.IC m
· a and p. To a given alue of p corrcspond
three values of o.'2 that we denote by n~, j = I . .2. 3. The di·pi<IIX'I11ent
components
.
u v H ' giv 311 b . E ( _ )
' • ~ t: Y q. 9·.) 6 decrease towa r /eW .1 ·:: wcrca::. '
J - . , .

provided
. . the
. const·tnts
' - ctte
n; . - poslttve
. . real number~ or compl ' nunll•I.I
a...,.,
-
Wilh positive real p·:t 1·ts F . · J ,
or a grven nf , the corTt pm1ding ampht u ·
,. vJ, iliff, <11e specll1ed by
. , . . _ . ' ·

uJ vj iiV ·
-;:-
' .
...,,
=., ,-
.
=,..-J -- K i·
I l, j
j = L ?,J
where

4 J
I - I -

1
/1 = f'nt( ,a, r' 1 )[ ' (
-t I )
I - p -j
..,_ n I- ,-,"'_ - .i;'J

,l.!J)
 Surface effects on lattice vibrations 21 7
.lr' u)ll, (.tll h In he J 'I CrmirwJ by the hiJlllld <H\ C llldilrt 1 J1 <; ,
.tl ''lllll1Tl ro r th' Jt : pl acmcnt co mpone nts is ~

\ II/
• •
' ill·) - .._, , .
,, c.,' ) n1" t ' ,,,.,- ,,; f i\ !IIJ I "- 11)
~ 1. 1 1 . ( 9 .60)
I I. . \

1 b\'U ndLtr. ~·o ndit~ons to be imposed correspond to the vanishing of

tl r 'c1.. mpm1cnts ot stress at the surface~ = 0 . They ca n be written a
nd \ 11.)5: )
9 tr ()u
-. - + - = 0, (9.61 a
.\" 8:
Dtt·
C 11 -
')
+C t~-
( :
(au- + -au) - 0
u.Y
::l ;..")
u)'
- ' (9.6 1b)

~l: = 0. u stit uti on of Eq . (9.60) into Eqs. (9.6 1) leads to a set of three
hnelr homogeneo us equations in the Kr Setting the determinant of the
c,xffi ·ients of the K, to zero yields

D( Jl) ::= l.fij·j = 0, ;,j = I, 2, 3 (9.62)

wh r / 11 =f.(;- o_J~J · _hJ = m(J- o_j''Jj , and .f3; = ~J + mr!i+

( 11/ I ~ ) ·J- Equation (9.62) determines the velocity parameter p for given
\ a lues of the elastic moduli and direction of propagation. The actua l cal-
culation o!'p for a general direction of propagation proceeds as follo\\S. An
a~ umed value ofp is used in Eq . (9.57) to obtain the three D'J - The latter are
then substituted into Eqs. (9 .59) and thence into Eq. (9.62) to obtain a new
value of p. This process is repeated until convergence in the value of pis
achieved . The resulting solution is a surface wave only if the final values of
the o.1 have positive real pa rts.
For illustrative purposes it is worth while to analyze the special case of
propagation in the [100] direction on a (001) surface. Then m = 0. all
r;J = 0, and v = 0. There is no dependence of u and 11 · on y. The displace-
ment vector at a material point lies in the sagitta l plane detlned by the
propagation direction and the surface normal. Equation (9 .57 reduces to a
2 x 2 determinantal equation \Vhich upon expansion takes the form

( .63 )

The two solutions of thi ~ equation, ~~<T and ~ , lo rm the basis h r the
general solution
t! )

where

~J = (I - V -
J
n; )( P + g1 n-7 -
·) ' J I)

(' = nj(,g-:! + l )( / t rrj - I ). ( . -b)

1
 Surface propertieS o sem•c
. f · onducto rs

ntrivial bo undary condition equations require

at1.· f a t 1on :lf the t 11

tha
, ( , ,
g_:( .:!
2 (l-p2\ u2n.2o2 - g\~2(1-p-) O'!+o2+nJrt2)
P ,., I I -
_ ~IL 2 J r·)n 1< 2 = 0. (9 .66 )

•.
The quantJtlC • 1
,,2 + "·
. . -_:und o:!1 a~- ca be takendirectlyfromEq.(9.63). They
ar givt.:n by

(}T + ·~ = [gl c~~- r/- ) + I - P2 - (gl + 1):!]/gl (9.67a )

CTO~ = (.gJ - /)( 1 - p'2)/~l· (9.67bJ

L
Eliminating these 1uan titi s fr m Eq. (9.66) then yields the surface wave
velocity equation

P'2) ·
T

E
I 7 'J )2
( J - p~ ) g j" - g'2 - g 1p- .
1 . (
= g IP4(g I - (9.68)

Only one of the solutions for p'2 , when entered into Eqs. (9.67). produces
values of q 1 and q2 that are consistent with surface waves.
In similar fashion one can obtain the equation that specifies the velocity
of surface waves propagating in the [110] direction on a (001) surface:

q (1 - p 2)(gig) - g22 - glp 2 ) 2 = glp4 (g3 - p -)' . (9.69)

Fig.9.11 where g3 = Hg 1 + g2 + 2) .
Lo ng wavelength dispersion relations
for longitudinal (L) and transver~..: (T)
An impo;tant special case is that of an isotropic elastic solid for which
bulk wa cs and Ra yleigh ( R) surface C11 = C12 + 2C44, or g, = g:z + 2. The surface wave velocity equation then
wa \·es for an isotropic elastic solid . The reduces to that for Rayleigh surface waves (Lord Rayleigh I 87). The
elocities of the waves are given by the velocity of Rayleigh waves is always less than that of both longitudinal and
slo pes o f the lines.
trans~~rse bulk waves as shown in Fig. 9.11 . Jsotrop implies that the
velocities of these three types of waves do not varv with change in the
direction of propagation. The two decay constants of~h Ra} I ie:h \vave. L/t
and q2 are always real a nd positive.
In the case of anisotropic elastic solids, which inclu s mo ·t r al -rysral·.
the qualitative
.
behavio 1· ol· tl1c sur
-. f ace waves IS· smular
· · h
to t at
tl ,··sQ-
tropic case
·. if .the ehstic
' mo d u11- 11e
. · · ,- ·~
111 a certain range . FLlf -urta ·e \\a ·
propagatmg In the (100) direction Oil a (QQJ) Slll·fa e the nteri n fl r
Rayletgh-hke beh·- · · ·
avior IS to a good approximatilm (Ga 1 d /. 19
l )."'t1 l
On the other hand, if

II < (' 12 -1- 2 ('44. l). 1

the d ecay constants (/ 1 . . I .
mary parts ->r
·
.
.111•d <~n~-. <f-' tun11 •·t
1.. ifl ' q2 cause th · r ~
·
)·U)lllp
1
. l'\ ~ llJU!-!- tl
·
osctllatory fash il!n , . . .L l tsp .1~ rnen t L llnlpl 1 nt
inthl: R a I ig),,,. go ll1 g,twaytr, mthesurl"~tL·c ii . l aJ l1
· ·v.t V cc · tsc W. ·
Lls a generalized R 1 '. · h. t: n: lt:r to t ht: l$ 'til a t 'r lu..1 1
ay e•g wa ~f. l
ve. IL' hl tnd ,u·~ hl.l\\ n 1
 Surface effects on lattice vibrations 219
1:11 (l " ''''" rr, q a •. rlio)(l Ill lht: I lOll( ilnd lllllj
• I 'ari••ll \ ~cmi cn n dut.:lnr'
----------------
G a '\ <; (laSh lnSh PhS
II .S]q ll.~ IR ll ., 04 0 .'17
O.Sh2 O.R:'X n.x. s () % R

U_' le1gh \\ :..1\"C regions is V~ry close tO l he line of is trory in the

e ,rg 1 and o 2 .
urf~K~o: \\a ·e,· r pagating in th~ [110] direction on a (001) surface can
,, rn ·e... tit:-al ' in ·1 similar manner (Stoneley 1955. Gazis ct a/. 1960).
R'lh ordinar_ Rayleigh waves and generalized Rayleigh \~•a ves can
1.. 1·1 ''Ill riteria for their existence very similar to those in Eq ' . (9 .70)
•.Hld (4 71 ).
"'enucondu~..tors oft he diamond and zincblende structures such as Si, Ge.
and ·a xhjbit generalized Rayleigh surface waves. The tetrahedral
tnnd: ha\·e high resistance to deformation of the bond angle, thus causing
th r;. tal to have high resistance to shear and a relatively large value of
~ . The Ia tic anisotropy produces a variation of surface wave velocity
\\ithdirection ofpropagatjon. This is illustrated in Table 9.1 which lists the
urfa c v. ve velocities in the [I 00] and [II 0] dir ctions on a (00 1) surface for
eYer I semiconductors. For the diamond and zincblende structure semi-
{ ndu tors considered the surface wave velocity in the [llO] direction is
larger than that in the [I 00] direction, \vhereas the reverse is tru in the rock
alt structure semiconductor PbS. As the wavelength of a surface wave
d creases, the group velocity decreases and typically becomes zero at the
surfa Brillouin zone boundary. Lattice dynamics rather than elastic
continuum theory is required to properly treat this effect. Another result
fro m a lattice dynamical treatment is the existence of gaps in the frequency
spectrum within \vhich surface modes of a differ nt character than Rayleigh
waves can appear. These gap surface modes are usuall y highly localized at
the surface with the amplitude decaying to negligible values within a few
atomic layers of the surface.

9.2.2 Surface optical modes

A monatomic semiconductor such a Si has two atoms per primitive unit
cell and consequently both acou tic and optical mode of ibration. Th re
is no ab~ olute gap between the acoustic and pricc.tl branche , . inc the
longitudinal acoustic and longitudinal optical branch s meet t th
point. In a diatomic semiconductor uch a InP. howeve r. rh rc is an
absolute gap as a consequence of the different masses of th tw ' tom · in
theprimitiveunitcell. Ifasurfaceiscreatecl.thcoptica lm od . a t lh b tl m
of the optical branch can drop down into the gap ·:~ nd be me a surface
optical mode (Wallis 1957). We demon strate the cxi ~ t nee [ such' m d
with the aid or a diatomic linc::1r chain of atoms "vit.h masses M, and Af:.
nearesr-ne1ghbor harmonic interactions with f'orcl; constant rr n l ' t fr Fig.9.12
nd as shown in Fig. 9.12 . Tlli model de cribe l ne-dimen. i na l aCI Lin.:ar Ji,.Hnma lhl
tree .:mi.
along the [I I I] direction.
 . f · onductors
Surface p operhes o s m•c
22
s ,f Ol•,twn L)f the i.ltoms are given by

(9.72aJ

1~ 1,::)] +tr[u(OI) - u(02)] (9.72bj

t.._u( -) or11\ I 1
\1, i.i l {I) = a[u(l2) - u II )J + a[u( f - I, 2) - u(e I)], £?.1 (9.72c)

Ah i.i (f1) = f1lu(l + l. I) - u f '"')] + a [u(€1) - u( f. 2)], e?. L (9.72dj

where 11 { !{. ) i the displac ment of the /1".th atom in the ~th unit cell. We
as urn that M 1 < 1\112 . so th atom at the end of the cham has the lighter
ma . Sine a urfac mode can be expected to have displacements that
decreas ponential ly from the free end, we take
u(f l) = eti h + io.)- iev•t (9. 73a)

(9.73b)

where a: is the decay constant. The constant A is determined from the

free end boundary condition that can be expressed as the difference between
Eq. (9.72a) and Eq. (9.72c) with £ = 0:

u( - 1,2) = u(Ol). (9.74)

Substituting Eqs. (9.73) into the last equation yields

(9. 75 )

Finally, o can be related to the masses 1\1 1 and M~ b substituting

Eqs. (9. 7~) and (9.75) into Eqs. (9.72c) and (9.72d) and rakin::- the ratio of
the resultmg equations:

-o M, (9.76 .1
e =-
1.0 1\tf?. .

-+ Alj-l Since we are assuming I'vE, 1 f .

0.5 - - • A 2j < 111 2, u is real and positive. Thl' d1 p! .tcemenr~
can now be expressed as

0
:1 " t
• + 9.7 ,1

-{1 5

2 4
5 7 ';) 2j - l

10 ?.j
u((i2) = ( - J) h -1 (/vi,)'
M~
1
,-i~·1
.
Fig.9..13 A plot
··
or th.c J lsp
.. 1
a~.:ements v, - .. . -
-
M ; xu nun • :·•t ~c>mio.; di , pb ·e r11enl ve rs u ' rhe ~urfa~.:e char·t''[ •· . . l:ISUs f 1Or ,\[ , -= ~ 1/, j h
· <l.: e1 o t th ~ n - l · . -
''"''i"'' ih~ lun i..:e tu 1 lhe vtewed as th·tt lll··. . c 1\)t. e ts evt I nt N l te 1h 1
<Ill array ur I'
.!I•J 11.. 1 111
' ll l ..t<. modo.o qf .t II UI I H 1..: d1 ~1i 11 ' . .
YH.:ld no nl:t t'nrc~.: ·•ct - ( •atomh.: mokL·uk:s i ll lh\:1
• lllg bet weet1 tl\ ' \l I
' · L'L"ll es.
 Surfa ce effect on lattice vibration s 221
.llllh)d ' f"n.:q ll~-: 11C\ u.\ tl ll b~ 11bt<lin •d hy :-uh!'\ tllllllll g
.. Ill!\ .Ill~ ,,, L 4. (1 7.2) ·

,-
' (l). 7X )

p n11 fth i. I"C 'llll With the fr~:.•quencics at tht• edge~ or th~:.~ forbidden
n in Tab I ~ . 1.shcl\\ s that in term s of frcq uency sq uarcd. w~ lies a 1
1'
th .. ntd t)l t h ~ rbHhlcn ga p . That the surracc mode can have it s rre-
u~:n • lnth~:.· rnrhid d~n gap is due to tb~ surface breaking the periodicity or
thL • I 111 .

. 2.3 Surface vibrational modes in real semiconductors

In l rd ·r ll " lop a comprehensive picture of surface vihntional modes in

rt.ll ''lllJC 'nductors, it is necessary to go beyond elasticity theory and onc-
dml n 1 na l models and treat the latLice dynamics problem in three
101-..n ·i ns. For homopolar semiconductors such as Si and Ge. reasonable
r ult :1 11 be obtained with the: shell model or the bond-charee model . In ~

th ca. f heteropolar emiconductors such as GaAs, it is nece. ary to

in ·Jude the Cl1ulomb interaction between ions. On a more fundamental
k el an i11irio calculations based on density-functional theory in the local
den it_ a pproximation provide the force constant tensor from which
normal mode frequencies and eigenvectors are obtained . Specific results
frnm -uch approaches \\•ill be presented in th e following section in con-
necti on with experimental data.

9.2.4 Experimental observation of surface vibrational modes

9.2.4.1 Brillouin scattering

Brillouin caiterin£ is the inelastic sca ttering of light by elementary exci-
tation - such as acoustic phonons. Both surface a nd bulk pht nons can be
studied . Monochromatic light of frequency ·; and wave vector k i i. incident
on the cry tal urface. As a result of the modulation of th e dielectric con-
stant by acoustic vibrations, scattered light app ars. By ·malyzing the latter
with a monochromator, one can observe peaks in the scattered int ·n it y
which are associated with surface acoustic mod es of fr qu nc ' · and
parallel \Vave vector q. Hy conservation f energy and para II I mom ntum.

ti , = 1/w, ± 11 79a)

( . 9b)

w here ..J,, an d "'·, 11 are t 11e •r req ucncy a nd tl'lC we., v · vt"'C t r pa ral k l t lh.,
surface. respectively. of the -.cattcred radiati o n.
The plus signs refer to Stokes scattering. in which a plwnnn is excit d h
the radiation. and the minu s signs refer to anti-Stokes scattering. in whi h a n
air ady excited phonon gives :1p energy to th e radi ·1tiun . From m cJ ~ur d
values of ~·, . w.,. k , ,a ndk, 1 . unecand e termin e~· andq o rth esur Ltc n I.
 . f · onductors
Surface properttes o semtc
222

- l.S R
~
E

lSi\
~

Fig ••1
Bull Ulll .ttl ring rfl1m .m i!O I)
. ur ,IC' \\ith obli'}UI! in..:it.lcm:e hght
lln . .:rt). R rder to the <t) lt:igh phon n.
T and 1 to tran. ,·erst: and I ngitudinal
buiJ...piHnon :ntering.r . p'cli,.cly.T h 11(GHzJ
.~.:altered mtcn It) isc:-.. re· ed in unit s l'f
cl;unt per '-t: nd per ·t..:radian per unit
10 Jdent pO\\ er (after Sandcn..: ock 197 ).

An ·example of a Brillouin scattering spectrum is shown in Fig. 9.14 for

Si(OO 1). The surface acoustic mode ( R) as well as bulk transverse ( T)
and longitudinal (L) acoustic modes exhibit well-defined peaks.

9.2.4.2 Raman scattering

Raman scattering is the inelastic scattering of light by elementary excita-
tions such as optical phonons. The main application of this technique to
surface optical phonons has been to polar semiconductors in \Vhich the
optical phonons couple strongly to electromagnetic radiation to g.~ve
surface polaritons. This subject will be discussed in Chapter 10.

9.2.4.3 Electron energy loss spectroscopy

In ~ectron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). relatively low energy electrons
(E < 400 eV) are scattered inelastically from a crvstal ·urface \vith the
concomitant excitation of a surface phonon. This t;chni u ha- been used
more for metals than semiconductors. However, in an earl) e ·ample ofth~
EELS techn1que, a surface phonon on the Si( Ill) :2 " 1 rt:c nstruct~J
surface was observed at 55 me V (l bach 1971 ).
9 ·2.4.4 Helium atom energy loss spectroscopy
Heltm~ atoms have the advantage for surface studies t at the .tr ' scat! n:d
~.
pnmanly by tl~ surface atoms of a crvstal pro id d th ~,r .n •rf! i~ ;;ufli-
cb·•ently low (£ < 20 meY). Highly mo.~oen~rgetic h ~ tium t 111 bl.'a 1' -.!11
e produced ·I · · · ~
. '" 1U~c mela lie Sl:attering from a crvst.tl ..;ur ' "nab!' S l,n
to determme surhc-, 110110 . · t. ··
0.5 () () 5 0.95 .· . · • c P 11 l.IJ version curves iW~: th ntlr' · ur .ll~
Wave VC(; Ion <A I) B1llloum 7.o ne .
lncla ' l1c hel 1um at . . ~ .
Fig.9.15 f-~ , .. . , om SCdtknng has b~en a pp lii!U l th
\u1IUL1C ph11110 Ill Ji ~pc:1 ._j, Oil C UI Vc' It:qlll:11<.:y urlacc phonnns on s· II 1
dtspt>rsio 11 t.~cs . ..
~ .•. su1 1ace ph)
· t( I)- · I ( Ha rtt·n 1 l
1<11 S1( Il l J 2 , I a! <1111 K . 'm..lc,·
:-hl)\\11 tn FJg. l).15. In tnonwa s vb~l:.r\'ccl \\llh .ml.n ·r
pcrll"o.:fl la l p()lnl~ . ' IL1dcd 1cga" " :
l ull 1d ll! ..t l h a ll -m •uum uml <~r the ranL!inu frum l II \ 1 .tddttJon. Slll lac~.· :tl· ~\U, •~ Ill d
e
... · . . le to I"~- t11 l'V \\ercluud .
1 l< a .llfcd J •l..t~' d ue ' " the liJ .S mt.: V !\ \,!Jitly uf thenp •t .. , . . -
" ' ' "'' Liller ll .lrtcll •'l ,If l'J )o(, ) I natur~.· .11 fth. ·r... II. , ( Ill\ L' Sltl!.'l[
Ill.'
I
~· ll)Jh l a \
l.: su• :tee mudc. a t 10.5 an I " nw
 Surface recombination 223
•'lllllnl'll l <ln l ~:) lllSI)Iorth • 2 . 1 reconslmct cu ·url a c.
m mnd~. '"at t n hut ~d to' ibratinns ur the clnins per pcndi ular
rl , ' h r u' the - ::" nwV mode im )lves longitudinal optical
1 n '~ the '!l~tms_ Jn ra llel to the surface (Ancilotto et a/. 1990) .
I. th'll l I \t1l'lll1ttl1_e1 a/. r veal that there is a large dynamic
d rg <1 •• ''-'l;tll'd With th_e 55 meV mode that leads to strong
t' ckctr -..ns a nd the mode s larg cross section for inelastic elec-
t n rtlft in!.!

.~.4.5 Infrared spt"ctroscopy

n 1th'1 pticL !technique that is useful in studying surface vibrations is
infrJred IR) ~cct roscopy. In Chapter 10 it is shown that this technique i
'er_ \ J.luable r r the experimental investigation oflong-wavelength optical
phont.m:-. in u lk s('miconductors. The application oflR spectroscopy to the
''Le l f.· fa ·e ,·ibrations. however, encounters difficulties associated with
th l~ pic all _' small surface-to-volume ratio. These difficulties can be over-
m hy using: m.ultiple internal reflections in thin layers which sub-
_tanti<lly enhance the sensitivity of the method (Chabal 1994). Of
patti u l r interest are infrared-active modes associated with chemisorbed
atoms such as H on Si surfaces.

9.3 Surface recombination

Linder certain conditions a urface or interface of a semiconductor may be a
wry effective site for the recombination of electrons and holes. Indeed, in
semiconductor devices excessively high surface recombination m ay be a
pr blem that must be avoided.
Let us focus on the rate of recombination of holes whose concentration in
the bulk is p. We need to calculate the rates at which holes flow toward and
away from the surface. In the classical regime the Maxwell- Boltzmann
distribution of velocities can be used to calculate these rates. For the rate of
flov.· toward the surface, one obtains the result~ v,p per unit area, where· ,
is the average thermal velocity. In considering the flow a \ ay from the sur-
face we note that incident holes ma y be reflected back toward the bulk with
a probability rand that holes may be generated a t the ·urfact: ·tt a rate S
per unit area. The total rate offtow from the urface is theref r +S. im,p
At equilibrium one must have

4I u,'/J I) -- 41/.'I,' ,P 0 So ,

where the subscript zer >indica tes eq uilibrium values. Solving f r o yi ld

Away from C4Uilibrium the net rate or trapping of ho i s , is given b

9. ):2)
 Surface properties of semiconductors
22.4
The qmu ti t. ·' = ~ (1 ---:- 1 ) 1•1 i.. ailed the surface recombination velocity.
Then t ratl: Lakes the ~tmp le I rm
S = s!:J.p. (9. R3)

,, Under steady state conditions the net rate of trappin!!

' h ere D.p = p - I'll· · . . ~
1
r les mu t be equal l L the rate at wh1ch the holes recombtne with
el ctr ns. . . . .
In t he bu lk th n t rate of r- combmat10n R ts proportiOnal to
~ A
1 11 - 11,- =(no + 6.11 )( po + 6.p - n,- = D.p(no Pu + D.p),
R = AD.p(no + Po + LJ.p ), (9.84}

where 6.n = D.p and A is a constant.

The dependence of son the carrier concentrations can be obtained if we
assume that the recombination rate given by Eq. (9.84) applies to the sur-
face case. Comparing Eq. (9.84) to Eq. (9.83) gives

. = A(no + Po+ LJ.p). (9.85 )

Experimental data on Ge (Schultz I 954) are consistent with this rela-

tion. Values of s vary from 102 to 106 cm / s the smaller value being typical
of etched surfaces and the larger value of sand-blasted surfaces. In the
latter case essentially all holes that reach the surface are trapped. so
s ~ ~·ur ~ 2 x 106 cm/s.
The variation of the excess hole concentration near the surface is
described by the diffusion equation

D, d2D.p
_ _ _ _ D.p _ -o
(9.86)
1 .
(1:x-
? -
Tp
"-'e ..

where ?his the diffusion constant for holes, Tp is the hole li~ tim , · nd 'R, is
the untform generation rate of excess carriers throughou t th ampk. At
the surface x = 0, the net rate of diffusion of holes must equal the net r· t' of
trapping of holes

dD.p
D~r --
c/.y
= sD.p.
while in the bulk x _,
·.the excess hole conccntra tion i , unif m. iitru~i 1 11
is negligible, and

D.p = R .. r 1,. l l)·t{~

The solution of the d'IT .· .

.
ell \
. .
.)C IS
1
· UsJon equation subiect to th · b un
J
.u: \ dt!I Hl

~n 111 ' J
 References 225
nd ~h m m a t in g DJi . \\ C linJ that

•:::,p, ___
-' R r ,.
'
2

( 9 .LJ 1)
L" sr,,

II'-

(9 .92)

· • ~ut the exce~s h~le concentration is reduced in the surface region

Ju 1 ~ url<u.:e recombmatton at the surface,

(9.93 )

The regi n or reduced ~p extends over a distance on the order of L 11 and the
ma!!nitu of the reduction depends on the ratio sjv1, ' \"-'here ·vf' = L 1I flrf' ·
~ .
For G e typtcal values are L11 = 0.05 em, r,
= I 00 fJS, and hence uP =
500 cm j s. If s is much larger than Vp, the reduction in ~pat the surface is
large.

Problems
I. CarT) out a tight-binding treatment of electronic surface . tates for one-
dimensional [Ill] Si in which the "surface·' is created by cutting the bond
between atoms 0 + and 0-, i.e .. atoms in the same unit cell. Compare the
results with those for the cut between atoms 0 , and - I. - discu, cd in the
text.
1 Set up a tight-binding treatment of surface sta tes for one-dimensional
[III] GaAs. Note that there are no w two a to mic potenti als. 'Vr., 0 (r ) a nd
t , r ). of atoms in the primitive unit ct:ll. Consider the two cases mentioned in
problem I.
3. Show that the surface wave velocit y equations for the [100] and (110] directi ns
reduce to the same equation if the solid is isotro pic. alculate tht: red uced
velocity pas a function of the ratio 11 j C14 = g 1 and plot p vcrsu · Rt ·
4. lnve tigate surface modes of vibration in ont.:-dim nsio nal [Ill] Z nS. alcu iat
the force constants that couple a given atom to it n ·ighh r~ on a h ide b
fitting the experimental LO and LA bulk modt: freq uencies a t lh L-p in t
given by 338 and 200cm - 1 • respectively. Determine the frcquenci~, r ·url'a c
modes, if they exist, for the t\ o possibilitie o f cutting bond ' t
"surface."

References
F. Ancilotto, W. Andreoni. A. Selloni , R. Car, and M . Parrinello , Phy.1. Re1•. L 11.
65. 3148 (1990). '
Y. J. Chabal, in flwulhouk 011 Semironducton , Vo l. 2. ed . M. Balb nsk1 rth -
Holland. Amsterdam . 1994).
S. G. Davison and M . Steslicka . Ba. ic Theory u( . urf'occ S tate' · rd
niversity Press. Oxford. 1992).
F . Ja rcia-Moliner and V. R. Velasco , S111/ S ci. 2991300. 332 ( 1994 .
'6 Surface properties of semiconductors

D. c. Gazis. R. Hem1an. and R._ F. Wallis, Phys. Rev. 119, 533 (1960).
E. T. Goodwin. Pro£'. Cmnb. Pitt!. Soc. 35, 205 ( 1939) .
. Harten, J. J>. T eonies. and Ch. Woll, Phys. Rev. Lett. 57, 2947 (19S6)
H. Tbach, Phy ·. Rev. Ull . 21, 253 (1971). ·
G. Le La_ . in Semiconductor !n1e1j'aces: Formation and Properties, eds. G Le
J. Der i r. and N . Boccara (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1987). · Lay,
K . C. Pan dey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 41, 1913 (1981).
Lord Rayleigh, Proc. London Math . Soc. 11, 4 (1887).
J. R. Sandercock . Solid State Commun. 26, 547 (1978).
B. H. Schultz. Physica 20, I 031 (1954).
R. Stoneley, Proc. Ro_v. Soc. (London) A232, 447 (1955).
I. Tamm, Physik. Z. Sow). I , 733 ( 1932).
R . F. Wallis. Phys. Rev. 105, 540 ( 1957).
 I properties of
onductors

Key ideas Optical Properties

TI1 fi ! Trh tensor 'ii characterizes the interaction of an electrically 10.1 Electromagnetic response
p lanzable m~dium with the radiation field . The dependence of 'f on
\\ 'e \ector k is knovm as spaTial dispersion.
The pr 1pagalion of an electromagnetic wave in a medium is characterized
b~ the rt f;·a crire index N (;;..1) = \ /E(t.t.J ) . The phase l'elocity oft he wave is
l I J • { ..,_•) •

The rl'/ra rile index is a complex quantity: N(w) = n (~·) + iK(w) . The
im ginary part K(w) is the e:rrincrion coefficienT. Two measurable
quantiti s are the n~fiecrivity and transmissivity. The latter is
determined by the absorption coefficient.
The oupli ng of different types of elernentary e.Yciwtions to the radiation
field give · rise to characteristic forms of the dielectric fitnelion .
The intrin ic absorption coe.flicienr increases sharply for photon energies 10.2 Intr insic inte rbond absorption
above th energy gap. In direct lransitions the wave vector change of the
excited electron is zero. In indirect transitions it is nonzero.
Free carrier absorption of radiation varies with wavele ngth,\ as A' . Free 10.3 Optical properties of free carriers
Carrier ref/ec/iVilJ' is )arge be)OW the p/asnwfi·eqUCIIC_l' Wf' .
Impurities an give rise to optical absorption through the excitllt ion of 10.4 Impurity absorption

either eledron or phonons.

Lattice rihratirm ahsorplion is sharply peaked at the rransrcrse optical 10.5 Optical prop rties due to Ia trice
vibrations
phonon frequenc_v wr0 . Lattice vibration reflectivit y is large hel vt:cn
o,J.}JO and the longitudinal optical plwnon.fl·equC'nc_r wUJ ·
Radiati1•e recombination of electrons and holes can be direc t or inclii'C'( r. ft 10.6 Radaolivo r comhinollon

can be spo111aneous or induced.

Coupled e lectron-photon and optical phonon- photon e, ci tation 10.7 Surface pol ratort

localized at a surface are sw:f'ace polaritons.

Raman and Brillouin scaltering provide energies and ~.- m metrics of 10.8 Light sea I nn

elementary excitations.
Phoroemission provides experimental information about energy hanJ 10.9 Ph I "'' ;On

structure.
 Optical pro perties of semiconductors
228
. . perties fm· tter whether in the form of a solid, a liquid or.
Tht: (lpl1ca 1p1 o · . . ~ .. d . .. . ' a
ga .. ;ue a~s ciated ."vith the ab rp t1on .. d~~p~r·s·IO~.. an scattenng of el.ec-
·- · . 1 · • liOn Thl: e pr cesses dfJse cts d result of the perturbation
t rnTllJgne l I uU 1~1 · . ~
~)I the mat~nal "~ Lcm b] the dectromag~et1c lteld. The perturbation can
im oln: the elcclrontc statec;; or th vibratiOnal states or both and leads to
Llans•tions betv.een tate. . ro m cal ·ulations of the transition rate one
can evaluate the par meter: that ·haracterize the optical property under
L'Onsid ration.
hapter we fir·t pre en t a general formulation of the electro-
ln thi
magnetic re pon e of matter. W then focus on semiconductors and di cus
a number of pecific pr cc , that lead to important optical phenomena.
These ph n m na in ·tude intrinsic interband absorption, free carrier
·th. rption. im urity ab orption. lattice vibration absorption and Raman
s at tering, and .I tr nic Raman scattering. The subjects of radiative
r combination, surface p laritons and photoemission are also discussed.

10.1 Fundamentals of electromagnetic response

10.1.1 Maxwell's equations
The basic equations of electrodynamics in the presence of matter can be
formulated within the framework of Maxwell's classical electromagnetic
theory. Maxwell's equations for a collection of charges can be \V;itten.
using M KS units. in the form ~

( IO.I a)

V x £ = -p,o -JH ( IO.lb)

ot
V -1i = O ( IO.Icl

{)£
r7
v X
'"1.J
IL = o- + J, ( IO.ld J
01
where .t
£ is
. d
the electric
. .
A ld '"1.J 1·
l e · ' L S the magnet1c field , rJ i, th ekctnc har~e
. • .

dens· 1 Y, an J 1s the 1 · .· . . . . ,. . .
mittivity co t · e ectnc cullent den It y . The J Uanw~ tli t th per·
ns ant whose e .·
1/ 47!' - _..., c• • JOY xpe11menta 1 value ca n be pr ss~d · ~
1
·
' Fo - '-' newton t 2/ ,
i detined to b _ 7 me er coulomb-. The p rm 'ab1 ll. l 1n: t:lll t I'•
4 10 webeJ " ·/ ·ampere m e te r.
In th e . , e .
71
c,1se nt ma onet' . . _.. ~ . 10 J
( lO. lc) should be w .· o _tC ma te••als, Maxwells qu ti. n llll. l bl •
. IItten m the form

, I
t iU _ .t

wltcre B ·IS· 111C rnaglh.:tic ,-,1 lllLII

l . .O !l L .
I .
~.: .
ll lc rna g netlc di lui ·
L
. L' t us .lnt r du~... th I
rn ·· .I I ~.: nll1111t:nt I .
~:: I ll i C •h~•r , l'l . . er llllll \ 't !u rn ~. .. 111
1 . 1<.: maun · tl '
-
l
111 L U L' ! Jl) l) h • I I\. ' I
 Fundamentals o f electromagneti response 229

( I 11.3)

. th m.tg n 'lt/att 1 11 and mag.nc.:·tic field arc related h ,

l\1 = \,,. ?t,

( 10.4)

th 'ma gncti~ susccptihility tensor. From Eqs. ( lO.J) and ( 10.4)

....-+
/t= I \Ill ( I 0.5 )
• unr t tenSl)J'. Ft1r nonmagnetic materials. \,11 = 0 and B = Jl.o?t .
, 11 11 1 th
To • t.1 li. h the relations which characterize the interaction of the
r.1d1.llill liclJ \\'ith an electrically polarizable medium, it is convenient to
mtn Juc th polarization vector P. defined as the electric dipole moment
p r umt 'olume. and the electric displacement vector D. which is related
{l) f .llld p by

D =Eo£+ P. ( I 0.6)

Wh n a crystal is placed in an electric field £ . it acquires an electric

dipd e moment and hence a polarization which is specified in the limit of
linear re ponse by
~

P =co X · £, ( 10.7)
-
where \ is the dielectric susceptibility tensor. Substituting Eq. (I 0. 7) into
Eq . ( 10.6) yields
......,
'D = Eo( I + X ) · £. ( 10.8)

lntroducing the dielectric tensor '7 by the relation

~

C'= I + \ , ( I 0.9

we obtain

'D = cu T ·£. ( 10. 10)

The dielectric tensor characterizes a dielectric medium and LOn tain s the
information on how the medium responds to an electromagnetic 11eld . Tn a
cubic cry tal the tensors, \7 and 7 , are scalar multiples of the unit t ·n. r.

X = Yl ( It). I 1'1 )

( 10. 11b)

and the medium can now be characterized by the scalar quantiti ~s \ and t- .
In general. the field quanti tie £ , 'H, V, and 13 are functions of hnth
position rand timer. If the field quantities vary in time with a frequency .J.
Optical properties of semiconductors

. 1 pctr
the matena , . me ter · \ ' F: and 71 are in general function of ..v. Jn
.. E ( 10 6 ) (10 7) · nd ( I 0.8) we have assumed local respon ·e by
wr
1 11
.t h g
w 1uc we m Ll
lJ e"Il.ih.attt 1 c ' field quantities
• .
on each side of the respec~iv
•

·
quat I ns are . eva lua ted :11 the, a me position r. We do not deal wnh non-
local respon e in thi volume.

10.1.2 Propagation of an electromagnetic wave in

a conducting medium
I n a conduct ing 111 dium the t tal electric current density J 1 is related to the
electric fi ld £in th lin a r response approximation by

.J, = a£, ( 10.12)

where a is the complex electrical conductivity. The total electric current

density contains contributions from a steady part due to the motion of
unbound charges and from a time-depend ent part due to the motion of
bound charges. The contribution of the latter to the current density
is 8P/ 8t, so we may write the sum of these contributions as
f)p
J = Jw nd + [)I • ( 10.13 )

where l cond is the steady contribution to the current density from unbound
charges given by l cund =a£. Substitution of Eq . (10.13) into Eq . (IO.Id)
and use of Eq. ( l 0.6) yields
[)T)
V x H= -0/ +Jemu/ -- 1 I . ( 10.14)

In considering the optical properties of semiconductors one is dealing with

time_-dependent currents . Any steady current J ., ass iated with free
earners b ct· . d · , . .
. can e tsregar ed tn hrst approxtmation . One c·m then a soc!ate J
" nd
entirely with 8P/8t,

( 10. 15 1
and write Eq. (10 . 14) as

10 I l

In what immediately follows \V, ' h· II . E ( 10 t ) r.Hh r th.Lil

Eqs . (IO . lci)and(IO . l4). , e s d use ). .
Another relationship th · t .- .
derived by takin 1 tl . . ..t .tpphes to an ekct ricall) nt.'l rr 1 '- IJJ ·~t b~
lC ( 1IVergenc' ofE
J
e
l: q . ( I 1)_6)
' and using Eq I ( .1 I) l gi I ~

V' . D - P I- V · P. ro r··
li'Ec1 (I() t·) ·
. . IS substituted intt
the equati,m ) r~l ntinu•t
fJp
o/ f- V . J -= u J I
 Fundamentals of electromagnetic respo nse
231
h.tl

( I 0. 1Y)
• 11 t IJtU Jn' l·y. I 10. 1 ) in to Eq . ( 10. 17) givl's

V' · D = 0. ( 10. ~0 )
11 1 ,mil tc. the deri,·ation .
of .the electrodvn· n ·c ccILia. 11ons
- •1 11
·
1-o r an
c:~··tnctll n~.:utra l polanza hk. mcdnun with ·1cond neui"'Lt b \..
'cl
L: .
•t u 11 ' ' turn
. l)LJr attentiOn
. . to the deriv·ttio
' · 11 ol· tile .
wave cquat1on·
ti.1 r ~~ n nm<~gndll" mcdtum . If _we take the curl of Eq. (IO. Ib) and usc
Eq ( lfl.l \. \\ t? c l tamtht equation

fl- D
£ = , Dt2
/.11) - -
. ( 10.21 )

At thi p ""~lil t we restrict our attention to cubic cr ·st·ds. so that

( I 0.22)

with t a scalar dielectric constant. Then Eq. (I 0.21) becomes

I
where c = (JtoEo)- 2 is the speed of light in vacuum. With the aid ran
identity from vector analysis. Eq. (I 0.23) becomes

") fl·£
V(V ·E)- v-£ = ---,. -, - . ( 10._4 )
c~ 8r 1

U ing Eqs. (10.20) and (10.22) we can reduce Eq . (10.24) to the wave
equation

( 10. 25)

Let us eek a plane wave solution to the wave cqu·'ltion of the form

E(r, 1) = Eo exp[i(k ·,. - wt)J,

where Eo i the electric field amplitude, k is the wave ve tor. an ,_,__. is th

frequency. Substitution ofEq. (10.26) into Eq . (10.~5) yields the foil 111g
condition for a nontrivial solution:

( I 0 .~ 7)

Equation ( 10.27) i the dispersion relation for electromagnetic waves p r )-

pagating in the dielectric medium. Its explicit eval uation requires a
knowledge of the diele tric function t'(w), whose determination we discuss
in later sections of this chapter. Using Eq. (I 0.27) we ca n rewrite Eq . ( 10. _6)
Optical properties of semicond uctors

in the Corm
. (N
E(r, I) = Eo exp [ tU-' (w) ,
- (-. - k . r - l
)] , ( 10.28)

where k i: n umt vector in the direction of k and the refractive index N (:.v) i
given by
I
N w) = [~::(w)p . (I 0.29 )

h phase velocity of the \-vave is c/ N( w ).

Equations ( 10.2 -)a nd (I 0.27) a re valid only for crystals 'vvhose symmetry
is at least cubic. For noncubic crystals, one must use Eqs. (I 0. 8) a nd (10.21 ).
In the foregoing discussion we have associated the current density 1 with
the time rate of change of the polarization and have thus been able to
characterize the propagation of the electromagnetic wave in terms of the
dielectric con tant c Now \Ve need to take the conduction current density
into account. Doing so leads to expressions fo r a complex conductivit a
and a complex dielectric constan t fi which can be obtained by equating 1,.
in Eq. (10.12) to its expression in Eq. (10. 14) and using Eq . (10.10) with
the assumption that D rv exp( - h.){). The result is

ii = a- iwEof . ( IOJOl

We can rearrange the expression for l r to give -i.JJtoi. E where

f. = f. (i j EQW )a = (i j u:Eo )i.i. ( IOJI

10.1.3 Optical constants

We
. have see n 111
· . Sect1on
· l 0 .1.2 that the propagat 1. . n hara ' t nsucs
. . · ol·
,m electromagnetic
.
wave 111 · a nonmagnetiC · cubic c r Y. tal tr d l m11n~t · l
by
h 1 _thedlelectricfunction
b ~:·(· :.v) andbvthe
• f t" 'd - ·l~· 1 = [·(
re rae 1ve 1n ex t ....
·)J ~ . ([
1
1
. '~ a so een seen that €(u.,•) must be trea ted in gen r;1l 1s 1 'LHn rl~'-
quantny , and hence N( ) ·-. 1. . . '""'
· 1s a so 1 complex quanllt~ . \\ , \ rll ~

f = r:(t.:) = 1
F ( · ) ic"( ,,;)
and

N(u..·) = n( u..}) iA" ('""'·L 1n.: 3

whnc K (· ,) ll "' ·. .
- ~ ' 1t: •magmary ) . .1 -
extinction coeffic"e t s
·· b .. 1d I 0 1 I he· refraL'l i \l; 111 I . •·~-'·
· 1 n · ll st1 tt 1t 111 F lh , ,u.t ,I
lo n n u f Eq ( 10 1 ~) • . g: . q s. ( I 0 . 3 ~ ) .1 d ( I 0
·- . we ohtarn th . n: latroll$

r '( ~· ) - n-' - A
1/
' (._. _. l - 2n
 Fundamenta l of electromagnetic r esp o nse
233

2c..>K ("'·-')
u(w) = . (I 0.35 )
('

, Jternati 1~ . d (...-•) can be expressed in terms of c" (w) with the aid of
Eq. 1l )..,4b):
..Jf(w)
11

o(w) = . (10.36 )
rn(w)

Frequently e''(....,•) possesses structure in a frequency region where n(w) is

.:;lo\\1. varying. The structure in t"(w) is then revealed directly by u(w').
The reflectivity at the surface of a semi-infinite crystal can be calculated
by. considering incident and reflected waves in the vacuum and a trans-
~

mitted wave in the crystal. By applying electromagnetic boundary condi-

tions at the crystal surface (continuity or the tangential components of E
and 1i and the normal components of 'D and 13) one can obtain an
expre ion for the reflectivity. This expression is somewhat complicated
f, r an arbitrary angle of incidence and can be found in Born a nd W If
(1965). We content ourselves here with the case of normal incidence. Th
amplitude of the electric field in the reflected wave, [,t!f , is then related t
that in the incident wave, £ ;/1(, by the equation
(l .

where r(l.4l) is given by

n + iK - 1
r(w) = p(w) exp[it9(w)] = iK + 1 . 10.3 )
17

p(...;) is the modulus of r(w) , and t9(w) is the phase diflcren ~e betv. n
the electric fields of the reflected and incident '"'aves.
The experimentally measurable reflectivity. R(v.-·). relates the in idetll
and reflected intensities, line and /,..:,,
Ire/ = R(w)linc• ( I .39)

where
1 ,
(,11 - I) -+ K - ( ll).40)
R(w ) = jr(w)j -= p-(w) =
' '
-(n_+_ l )-=-
2 - 1\.- 2
 Optical properties of semiconducto rs

· e both n a nd K we need a . econd piece of e pen.

l n order l d c t enn 111 . . . · .. .
. r . t. TJ1e two p 1eces of mforrn.ttlon can be obtamed ht
mcnwl mtonn<.~ l n . f. ,·d· . ;
.
measunng L1e 1 1e . fl c ct'tvity '·1t two <ii lT rent
. ..
angles o mc1 ence or with Lwo
.
·n- t l· .· a · - t no n-n nnal mcidence or by measunng both the
d 11 crcn po d rt1 11011 · ~1 . .
· ·
re Aect1v1ty a n d lra 11 -missivitv ·1l
-• _ n rmaltncidence. We assume that nand K
have heen determined y on I these me_thods_and refer the reader to
Born anJ Wolf(l965) ~ram re general discussion.

10.1.4 Dielectric function of a crystal

In a polar diel ctric medi um an electromagnetic wave is coupled at low
photon ner j with ptical phonons and with free current carriers if the
latter a r pres nt. As the photon energy is rai sed. the electromagnetic wave
0 5
will eventually start to co u1 Je to electronic transitions between valence and
conduction bands. At very high energies in the far ultraviolet and X-ray
fig. 10.1
Tmagina r pa rt f the dielectric function
regions. coupling will occur to atomic core levels. Each type of coupling
v r u frt:quenC) for electronic makes a contribution to the dielectric functi on of the crystal. The situation
tra n ·iti n in CdTe (afte r Balkanski is illustrated in Fig. I 0.1 where the imaginary part of the dielectric function
19 2). as determined from reflectivity data is plotted against frequency for CdTe.
All peaks shown there correspond to interband electronic transitions. At
much lower energies the same procedure yields the dielectric function for
transitions due to phonons. Figure 10.2 shows the dielectric function var-
iation due to phonon transitions as a function of the frequency for CdS.
160
In cases where two elementary excitations have nearl_ the same fre-
-= 140 quency, strong coupling between the two excitations can occur. This
CdS 290K
-: 120
£j_c
may lead to significant modification of the optical pr pertie and thus
-~ 100 provide a means of obtaining experimental information abou t the coupled
~ 80 excitations.
-~ 60 In Fig. 10.3 we show the modification of the retlecti it pe trum a th
plasma frequency is shifted into the region of the normal mode fr ucnci
o ()
1
40
by displacement of the Fermi energy a~ a functi on oft mperatur in HgTe.
~hen the plasmon frequency is close to the LO-pbonon frequenc). th ·
dlstmctJOn between the pure plasmon and the pur lomrituJina l llpll~.:a!
ISO 200 250 300
Wave number rem I)
phonon ts no longer possible. ~

Fig. 10.2
I mag~ nary pan of t he tliclectric 10.1.5 Optical spectroscopies
fun lion vcr us l'rcqu.:ncy for phonon
The optical propertie r 1· l -1
tra n'> lli ns in dS (aft"r lhlkanski elect ron . . . · _D a so 1 are manifestati )11s fthe tnt r ll'tH n f llt'
l lJ7~ J th .. . 1 1
!:i dn~ nuc el ol the sc lid with the ra ii:1t ion fidd \ h .tn d1~cll t
IS mteracliOII IS presented ·ts . ,~ . .
rrcqucncv th ' d . . a lii1Ctl011 o t th dedr ) 1
- , e proce ure IS term ~d
L

excellent tool ro 1- . b ' t: spectroscopy. r lfl}

pro HH! the mi - -~ ·
pic. a solid n1 -1y . b . · h~ · I.: I O:s~.:op1c char:lcter ol 1
,
SOl 'l ph 0 t
d j'
raised to·
. .
_, .. · .
energ • t· . on
.tn t:Xtlled
ru m th
, . .. .
lcc trL rna .n
luncllon of frcctucn ., -:_I·! .ttl.:._ An.tlys rs l1! t he .tbs rpu n
. . . lY Yle l : rnt nn· ,. ~-..
t I u: 111lltal and 1~ . . · · .t ll n al ' ut the 11 r
rn.t 1 stalL's. In th , ...
spectroscopy, which t . <:tis 't Is tlsc \\' 'Ire J tlu
whc'n ll s ph(lt('l!1 , '11 •. r~sonan ce spectra cop
·· ~ ~.: r' · 111 i
l r: llt'>JIIull 1 ,f' 1 h(' so lid ~ t:l \\ llh Lh i1L'H!\
 Intrinsic interband ob o rptto n
235
' 1<11 i "ll h . -c.dlc I lementary excitations. In
t r• no; th d~m ~nt .n 1.'\ 'll :J ih 11 in ·lt1U-• l:• .Slll · 1
g l · j'l!lrll 1C
l ' _" ' ll ,ltt,,n-. lh..'h as !1l,tSll1Pil<:. and l'kclrun hok pair
h t ut ~'ll " In ~ he ~..· ~l.l'nlnucki tht: l'km nt ar , , cilall , 11 .., ~
,
,,,,
1 td tn th ~. . · ·' tl l llla !!nl'lic S\' Siellls \"ll•'r•~ 111 • • ·t l t
- • · • ·• '- '- l: t XL' I et ~ ill : E -+II
. l h. , Jt'' 111:tg ll(li1S. '=
'"'
0:: "l(l
nt.ll ' 'J t,tti~'n ~.·an dt>~e~ y with the emission of a photon . In thi!\
ttl' i sp~.: clr'-'~copy _Is emission spectroscopy which i. also a f> 1\0 lf~ l I '!I 1111 16fl IKIJ 21 ~ '
- _, .. 1. L )~1). I_t IS particularly useful in rrovidinl!. infonnati 11 Walie numh ·r 1 -rn ''
,tl' ut h Jtr ~..·tt mcs ~,1 exctted states and forms the basis of recombination
spectr sc p d io;;c uss d i~1 Se~tion I 0.6.
X7 K
\\ h ·n th · t.tdra tto n held ts scattered by an e lemullary excitation. one
k al · " 1th ~..,1 1h incident and scattered light ''-'hose frequency difference is
·hJrJCt ·r '"ll · ~..)f the elementary excitation. This spectroscop y is light
scattering spectroscopy.
\\' n " d rscuss the various types of spectroscopies and the information
th ) can p r 'ide J.bout semiconductl)J'S. 2U 411 60 0 I 00 120 140 160 I 0 :!JJ()
W ve numb r (cm 'J

Fig.10.3
10.2 Intrinsic interband absorption Rellectr it pe lrum f H{ c rn th
regi o n f pia mon- h
When phowns with sufficient energy are incident on a pure semiconductor
(after Gr nhe rg ~~ af. l
ry. tal. absorption of photons can take place with the simultaneous crea-
tion of electron- hole pairs. i.e., the excitation of an electron from the
\ alen~.. e band to the conduction band. This process is known as intrinsic
interbond absorption. The threshold photon energy required is related to the
fundamental band gap. The absorption coefficient increas s rapidly above
thre hold.

10.2.1 Absorption coefficient

Since electronic energy bands are essentially quantum mecha nical in
na ture. it is convenient to employ quantum mechanics to calculate the
ab orption coefficient. We consider transitions of an electron between
tates of the same or different energy bands. The rate of s uch transitio .. W.
can be calculated by perturbation theory using Fermi's golden rul . We
now consider the relation between the transition ra te and th ab o rption
coeffi ient a(w') .
Con ider a beam of electromagnetic radiation of intensit I incid ton
a sample of thickness dx. The :tbsorption coefficient is defin ed b _ the
equation

dl =- I CI'(w) dx, ( 10.41)

where dl is the change in intensity of the beam after passing throuJ1 the
sample. If A is the cross-sectional area of the sample, then - Ad/ 1s th ra t
of energy absorption in the sample:

dE = -Ad/
dt
= Jn(w)Ad.r. ( 10.42)
Optical prope rties of semiconductors

But th' rate fent fe\: h rptwn is also given by

dE= hwW. (10.43 )

dt
qu.1tml!. th ct., J r~ ult y•eld the expression
nv.; W
( (» ) = Jfi:• ( 10.44)

\\here 0 = Ad\· i the v lume f the sample.

A omenient mea ·ure of the intensity is the mean value of the Poynting
v t r S = £ x 1i. Th el ctri fi ld vector£ and the magnetic field vector
1-£ ai b xpre ·s"d in ter ms of the vector potential A . Using the Coulomb
gauge, on hu.

£= - -
aA ( 10.45)
81

J-Lo?-l = V x A . ( 10.46)
Taking A to have the form of a standing wave
A= Aocos(q · r- wt ), (10.47)
we have

£ = -:vAo sin(q · r- w t) ( 10.48)

1--to?-l = - q x Ao sin(q · r- w t). ( 10.49)

The Poynting vector now takes the form

w
S = f-Lo Ao x (q x Ao sin 1 (q . r - ~:r )) . ( 10.50)

Using the identity f

(A . B)C yields rom vector analysis A x ( B C )= (A · C )B-

s -- Po IA o12qsm-
. )( q. r - v..:r), ( 10.51 )

where use has been made of ,

Neglecting the ima . . t~e tact that q and A o .m; L rt lwgon~ll.
· .
ttOnmEq.(IO ?7) gmary
d part ol the re f ract1ve
· 1ndex.
· th d p r ·wn re.l· I·
. . ·- re uces to q - ( 1 . · h
magnitude ofS, we o b tam
. - w C')n ('-<-' ). Takmg ~
the r un~.- t\ ra.!- 1f l t

10.52

I h b lfp(l Ill

I I• '
 Intrinsic interbond absorption 237
I uiJll t' ll t lh~ , JI"', orpllt'll ~-,, • tli~,.· 1 -: 111 -. · ., 1
1
t

l ,\ L.l ' Jf 1 l:Ljllll l:S IW CV:Jll<Jilnfl

111< 1 I 11 u l II)

nsition p robability

1 tl. t th~.: intL·n.-;il\' t,flhedectwmal!netic ndi · t · ·. -. ft"IC!enl

·
. - -~ < <1 10 11 1::-> Sll 1V
h lilt · r<~c ltL'Il
.
bet\\.ccn an electron and tlv-·
-. 1·aci ·1"'l. l
., 1011 can 1e
-
'!'t tr a tt('ll theory. _In the semiclassical approach thc.:
I a n ·kctn)n movmg 111 the radiation field can be '"'ritten as

I '
H = - (p + eA)- l(r)
2m
p-' e e-' '"'
· = - + - (p·A+A·p) - A" + V(r). ( 10.54)
2m 2m · - 2m

\\ hc.:r p th electron momentum. A is the vector potential of the radia-

1.
ti()l . md r l'' is the potential energy of the electron. At low intensities \Ve
~an n gle t the term in A and take the interaction Hamiltonian to be
2

e
H i11r =1( p·A + A·p). ( I 0.55)
.:..111

The wave vector q of the radiation of interest is very small compared to

rypi al electron wave vectors. \Ve can therefore neglect the term arising
from the operation of p on A and rewrite H 1 as ,1(

e
H,11r = - A·p. ( 10.56)
m

Using time-dependent perturbation theory the transition probability of

an electron from a valence band Bloch state !k1·) to a conduction band
Bloch state !k'c) is given by Fermi's golden rule as (Fermi 1950)

( l 0.- )

We take A to be given by Eq. ( 10.47). The interband matrix element or H im

for ab orption processes can then be expressed as

(k'c!Hi111 !kv) = (e j 2m) (k'c!Ao · p jk v), (I 5

where we have exploited the smallness of q by setting

k + q ~ k. ( 10. 'i9 )

From the ere ults we obtain

(10.60)

where PAis the componen t of pin the direction of A .

 . f iconductors
Optical properties o sem
t m matrix element we utilize the Bloch form
T valuate the m men u lk' ·)·
. oe . ~X l f r the eigen.:;tates \kv) and c .
•"Jven b)' q · ( - ·- '
:::-

(10.6) )

. . . . t· l · to unit cells leads to the alternative expression

Dn·1dmg the 1 d 10

(10.62)

E ploiting the periodicity of ul/k(r) and PA· we let

,. = R(t) + p. (10.63)

so that
(10.64)

Then

(k' c! PA \k v) = L ei(k- k') R(tJ;· ei(k- k' )·p

l cellO

X u;k, ( p)(ikA + PA )ll ,.k( p)d 3p. ( 10.65)

Using Eqs. (1.1), (2.14) and (2.28) the lattice sum is found to be Nbu··
where N is the number of unit cells. Noting that utk(P) and u,.k(P) are
orthogonal, we obtain

( 10.66)

£ In typical semiconductors the integral over the unit ell depends only
weakly on k, and can be approximated by a constant. lntr ducing

l iO.o l

the expression for W(kv ._. k' c) becomes

Fig. \0.4
l i w.:ct ll..ltt~llt uu ll<~lllilll: \' ,de lle:<.: hauJ
lll I he I.<JnllU\.IHJll h<Jild
 Intrinsic inte rbo nd absorption
239
I .lllh Jllnupk . Th • rlstllt i:;

-- 1.
" II (I. r __.. 1/ c ) lA , ( I 1~ ·, )

!
,-. --tn -' f' ' ; · c'( Ek,· - E~;,- - hw) /; .(I 1· ) I 1/
1 1111 . · '" - . kc ( \ • ( I 0 .69 )

ha~ 1 the I ~rmi-Dirac distribution function ( q. (6.1 )L a fa ctor 01

1,, , ha' I ·nmtr "~ducd for spin , and the sum over k ha s been convened to
,111 nl ·~r:.1l If th spin nrbit interaction is important. a s it is in many
s 'Ill I ''-'' u ·tt : ._the eig~nstates k t ' and k' c must be labeled \vith · pi~
inJ 1 -. .•wd th factor L't two must be replaced b y sums over these indicc .
Furth rnlL r . the operator pis to be replaced by the o perator TC defined in
·txLil)ll -; _:;; _2

.\. p.Hticul::-t rly simple case to treat is that involving ze ro temperature and
·rhl'nC;JI. arabolic energy bands with the spin -orbit interacti o n and the
de~ neracy of the \'alence band neglected. In this two-band model ,~,,.-e have
11. = I. /k,- = 0. and

( 10.70)

\\here 111 ' is the reduced effective mass of electrons and holes. The integra I
O\·er kin Eq. ( 10.69) can be evaluated in spherical coordinates to give

k~fJ (E~ -
11 2
~)
2
_( (£1. · - £,.,. - nw)d 'k = 47i / /iw + dk
- Ju w 2m•

( 10. 71a )

= 0, nu.) < E.f!, • ( 10. I b)

The total transition probability and the absorption cocfticient c~t n nc w bt.:
obta ined explicitly. The resull for the absorption coefilcient is

ll (u...') = ___e-=-2-- (-
'211_
~·)1/~ p2J!iw - Et: . ( 1 0. 7 ~;-~ }
2;r 0cm'2wn(w) !i- ·

= o n..J < t~!( · ( 10.72l )

This result justifie the stak ment at the beginning of this scction that
radiation is not absorbed due to interband transitions if the phot n energy Fig. 10.5
is less than the band gap and the Coulomb interaction between elcctrlHlS
and holes is neglected . A q ualita tive plot of n(w) versus nw Js shown 111
Fig. 10.5.
Optical propertie of semiconductors

10.2.3 Oscillator stre ngth

. . t , • (li.-;, u ...,ing the magnitude of the absorption coefficient
1us Cl nvemcn \\ 1c: 11 • •
. d d r 1
t mt ro Ul:L' a 1 t: ~ 11 ·innks
•
· qu · nttty called the osctllotor strength which is·
ikn ted b:y ;., .1nd ddi ned hy

. 2l(kci PAlk ") 12 2P2

·/,. = - m( Eke - Ek,:) .
( 10.73)
mhuJ

ln term f th o·cilla l r trcn th the a bsorption coefficient takes the form

( 10.74)

An order of magnitude estimate for j~,c can be obtained from the fsum
rule (Bardeen et a/. 1956), which shows that if we sum the oscillator
strengthsj;1;(k ) over transition s fro m the state lkv) to states} with the same
value of k in all other possible bands, we get

( 10.75)

Since the smallest value of IEkJ - Ekvl typically occurs when vis the highest
valence band and j is the lowest conduction band c. the largest value of
f ,u(k) is}.;;c and Eq. (10.75) can be approximated by ~

( 10. 76)

The hole mass·m" can generally be approximated by 111, • th t.f;, is of the

order of ma.gmtude two. With this result we can estimate the ma,:nitude of
the absorption coefficient.

Example 10.1: Direct interband absorption in Ge

Calculatetheahso·1 f . ~ . . . ·
' P ton coel
G e ror nw- £!!, = 0.01 eV.
ftctent for direct int rba n :J tr.In uwn::; tn
Solution. The va 1ues 0 f h .
. _ . _ t e pertment parameter. r( ·) == -L
./ ,.,. - 2, dnd ?m / m C>t 1 S b . . .
- - · u SIItutmg mto E J. 10 .74 ). nnJ that

XTrfoch·
For hu - £, :: ()OJ .y .
.~
a I)SOrption cuellj ,·. \: t ' 0
.
-
-
I ·•l '
I ()4 L'lll I
.
III~ I
. llt:nltrlalt~ · · ·· · I .
p-llk~.: valenl'e h · - .' s~nc talt:l \\ ll h d tll'l' l 11 n 11
.tnL1 lu an \'-ltk ' · . I
\: l:tllluliL'll n ba nJ
1
t)\:!W t~.: n othl·r h· I . I If
-•nl s pr dt 1 . . d J .
I IL'qu~.:,, · 1 ~: ~ \; a ullh nu l ..t l l lJ 11
 Intri nsic interbond absorption 241

P' •k t~·d till..' t ult,mh interact inn hctWl'Cn an electron

t1 n I ,m I a nJ a lwk in the \-a knee hand. ffthis interact inn is
tllll. b 'U ild states nf an ckctrnn hnle pair arise which arc
t he I u nJ states t)fa hydrogen atom. A hound electron- hole
.111 e citon. A pht)ton with energy slightly smaller than the

011 mm 1 1 t: nt:re~ -=-·'P can b~ absorbed with the simultaneous en:·at ion of a n
'-' n.
L t . l..l n iJ r the case of conduction and valence band s that are
pll 11 .tl .11 i pa rabolic with extrema at k = 0. In the presence of the
t'Ul ,mh ·nkraction, the wave function li•(•·c· r 11 ) of an electron- hole pair
1' , riucn as {Dimmock 1967)

( 10.77)

:\ h r ,. and''" are the position vectors of electrons and holes, respectively.

and Lh functions 11.t1(r,.). ul'o(•·h) are the periodic parts of the Bloch func-
ti ,n- ;lt k = 0. The function <l> (r,., rh) is the envelope function and is a slowly
HH\iiH!
. - function of its anwments.
- It has the form

( 10.78 )

\\ here Rand,. are the center-of-mass coordinate and relative coordinate.

respecri,·ely. of the electron- hole pair and K is the '"'ave vector of the center
of ma ". The function '-Pz(l') is the localized. hyd rogen-l ike wave function
0 k
that satisfies the Schrodinger equation
Fig. 10.6
Exctl m energ~ 1 '\ciS forK - 0.
( 10.79)

The energy eigenvalues £ 1 correspond to hyd rogenic energy levels with the
effecti ve Rydberg involving the electron--hole reduced mass (fr". The tot al u.----.------ -
I
energy of the electron- hole pair, Ec11 , is given by 1.1
4 I
... I •• ••
: ·. I

,.,.. _,....... .
••••
~I •• •""
\
( 10.? ) 10
.
.,E ll.Y
igure 10.6 displays cxcitonic energy levels forK = 0. b
Experimentally, evidence for excitonic effects is provided b.' an ? o.:'
ab rption peak just below the band gap, as shown in Fig. 10.7 !'or Ga A~ ·tt o.~

21 K. A the temperature is increased. the exciton peak broadens and

become difficult to discern at room temperature. 0.6

10.2.5 Burstein-Moss effect

Another complication that may modify direct interband absorpt i_on aris ~ Fig.10.7
from free carrier , due to donor or acceptor impurities. At high dopmg levels tku1ah'l)ll'\1 n
with small effective ma ses and low temperatures, the carriers may be h:.md g.1r ( 1.~-.1 ·J hu
,llo.:!l
degenerate and the Fermi energy may lie within the conduction hand (a fta ' t rg
 Optical properties of semiconductors
2
. , tnnd (a ·cept rs). Turning to the diagram ~ r lhe
ld nor..,) l r the v Iencc ~ . . . .. h· h P· . . .
. .· . .. . . 110 , 11 IJ1 Ft . I0.8. we see l at l e dult pnnctple
3

Jcmor tmpuJ 11 · ~..:<~:.o~e • .. ·

. - ti )t s f r ave vectors lv111g 111 the range 0 < lkl ,. k
block. veruca 1Lran 1 . . -. h d 1 • - • .- t·
The lues I1o lu·• v. .. v·e vector k 1 IS ~!!tven 111 t e egenerate• hmtt b•
., , . . E E . Til pho ton energy at the threshold for all wed
1 = r - (·
11 - k~ ~Ill ,
tran ill n. i. giv n b ·
n k~
2

)m 'I '
-

Fig.10.8 g
+ (Er - Ec) (I + tn•)
_c
n~
/'
. (I 0 .81 )
Energ} k\t>l diagra m for high do 1 or
impunl) con entra tl< n. The rise offl abo ve Eg with increasing Er and carrier concentration is the
1

Burstein-Moss effect as shown in Fig. 10.9 in n-lnSb .

10.2.6 Indirect interband absorption

The threshold for interband optical absorption is associated with direct
transitions if the conduction band minimum and valence band maximum
occur at the same wave vector. To a good approximation this situation
l
i applies to a number of Ill- Y semiconductors such as GaAs and InSb and
II- VI semiconductors such as CdS and ZnS. However. in other semi-
/ conductors such as Si, Ge, and GaP, the band extrema do not occur at the
Eg - ·-·- - ·- ·-- _//
same point in the Brillouin zone. as we have seen in Chapter 3.
d Ji
I
10"
I I I
IQIS
I I
llJI9
I
ln the latter materials direct optical transitions do not occur between the
n (cm-3 ) band extrema. However, there can be thermal excitatio n of electrons from
states near the maximum of the valence band to states near the minimum of
Fig. 10.9
Bu r tem- Mm,s effect in n-InSb (after the conduction band. The energy gap between the extrem· can be deter-
Bur s t~in 1954). mined by measuring the temperature dependence of th I ctrictl con-
ducti_vity ~nd_is referred to as the thermal gap or indirect gap . diagram of
the Situation ts given in Fig. 10.10.
Weak optical absorption is associated with indirect transitions b tw~en
states near th~ band extrema. In order to conserve crys tal moment um or
wave vector It IS necessary that phonons participate m th ab~t r tion
process. Wave vector conservation can then be ex pr · ed t -

k c = k,. ± tf,

where q is the pho 11011

· ,.
\\.tve vedor. Conservatio n

Fig. 10.10
l! Uif~<.:l g,tp 11 1 l h~.: energy
IJ II<:LI JIIU
h'-!nd lriUU1<:•1l~ ~IIIL"II Uli<; Jo 11
 Intrinsic interbond absorption 2A3

, .d 1 '' th • 1h rpt11 n nH:IIi~.: i cnt for inrltn.·~.:t int rhan 1:

1 n n b\; ~arne i <lU I h~ ~ t a rtmg \\ ith a mnd!li cationofl::q . ( I 0.69)
.I tr,tn 111m pr ba bility. A Iactor involving the ~4u are nf the
th arrn p nat~ dectrnn- phonon interaction matri x clement
m -. ·rt i t th e krt \)f the integral. The argument of the delta
r1 1 u t b changed t<.) E,.(k, ) - E,.(k ,.) ± 17.;._,1111 - - hw. Furthermore. a
r m (ll\ lllg th mean number or phonon s il"" = 1/[exp (.:J/it;._•,,,)- 1]
1
1 1
tlU"I h~; 111 -crtcd hcf0rc the integral. The absorption coetllcient then has two
l l, rri uti ns <\. ('""'""•) which can he written as
11

( 10.84)

"here H,,, is an effective electron-phonon interaction matrix element_ K ll

c )nta.i s universal constants and P ," is the momentum matrix element. The Fig. 10.11
fa to r CL)ntaining ilph imparts a temperature dependence to the abso rpt ion Vertical and nun verticaltr, ns.ItiOn m
crossi ng an indirect gap.
c efficient.
We take the zero of energy to be the valence band maximum and set

(10.85 )

''here E is given by

( l 0 .86)

and k co is the wave vector at the conduction band minimum. The valence
band energy £,. is

( I 0 .87 )

Introducing the conduction band density-of-states N, (E ) given h

I
N,.( E) = N",£2 ( l 0.8 )

and the corresponding valence band density-of-states N., £' )_ the expres-
sion for the absorption coefficient becomes

( IOJ19)

Evaluating the integral over E gives

(10.90)
 · onductors
. o f semlc
Optical propertieS
2
, . l ·t nluc uf £ ' that makes the integrand real :
\vherc "' IS t lt: 1arges ..
( 10.91\

- . E' .. 111 t)c evalu· ted by elementary means. The result for
The mtegn11o\cr L< . .
LlK tot"ll absorpti n l' dlicient ( Y ' (uJ ) I L (w) IS

, ..,
t~(w) = (rrK / \.J) IP,.~JI Har i -N,.,NI'"
'X [np11 x 2&(x) + (il.ph + I )y2l:l(y )]. ( 10.92)
..
:T 1- 1 1-3 l-4 h re 0 x) is the Heavi id step function . .x = liv.) - E~ + tzwph· and
1-0
, = hw _ E~ _ r, -ph·
:.r
eV)
1
plot f o:(u...•) I /1 versus w should be nearly a straight
Fig. 10.12
.lin a - i sh~wn in F ig. l0. 12 for Si .
lndire t interband a b ·orption m i {aCter
rvtacFarlane and Roberts I9 - -).
10.2.7 Extrinsic interband absorption
In Chapter 3 it was pointed out that the valence bands in typical semi-
k
conductors have a complex structure involving light hole, heavy hole. and
split-offvalence bands. At elevated temperatures or in heavily doped p-type
- - -- EF
hh material having the Fermi energy below the valence band edge, intervalence
band transitions are possible from the light hole band to the heavy hole
band and from the split-off band to the light and heavy hold bands. i.l5
shown in Fig. 10.13 for degene rate p-type material. If the bands are spher-
ll ical. and T = 0 K , the light to heavy hole transitions are restricted to the
wave vector range from k 1 to k 2 . The split-offto light hole band and split-off
Fig. 10.13 to heavy hole band transitions occur in the wave vector ranees 0 to k 1 and 0
111\ervalencc band tra nsitio ns in a p-typ.; to h, respectively. The intervalence band transition- a;e f rbidden at
semico nducto r. k = 0, because the valence bands at tbis point are p-like . Direct (vertical)
transitions become possible for k =1= 0. We speak of th se transitions as
direct forbidden transitions. The momentum matrix ekmen l f r these tran-
sitions is pro?ortio~al to k. They give rise to broa d a bsorption b·m ds whiL·h.
10'1 111
the case ol sphencal band s. have high- and low- frcq uenc} ut lis. lf th .
valence bands are nonspherical, the sha rp a bsorption edge at th cu toft
frequenc1es are smeared out.
§, J02
,..
10

u Ou"t:l,.l Jb
• l·lh:... t e lL
• Dn><!<
o ( -,tpl:m.tr
!Ph
' 'h"-\11'\d

1.2 I4 I (, I. X 2.0 _:!

Fk VJ

Fig.10.14
Ab" " pt uJn ~.:nl!l li c l cnl vc1,u ~ pl'l•• l<Jn
~m,; r 6) 111 " -Si H Lll lc1 he h.;,,., ul.
I'Jl-itiJ
 Optical properties of fre e carriers 245

10 tical properties of free carriers

r e carrier absorption

rn r tr 1 ': ~ ·n t in a scmic 111Juch·,r as a result or int c rband

n (r 1l 111.1:.l tll)ll tlf llll puritie~. ahs0rption or
clectr mag netic
ll tal...' plnce a. : J result or
transitions or
th e C'trricrs between
f tilL :..1111 ' cn rgy hanJ. To get some insight into these intraband
3

opttc I onsitions. _lc l us c0~1sidt>r a carrier with wave vect0r k. in a spherical

p.tr !J~,. hat d lt tht' earner makes a transition to a state of wave vector k 1
inth . m P~tndwJththesimultaneousabsorptionofaphotonofenergyh.
c lt · k (l. hoth energy and wave vector must be conserved. The
u)n. r. ti~'n 1f energy condition is

fi-
li1'-'-· = E
I
- E = -2m ..
(k - -
I' J
k- ). ( 10.93)

Th ~on. en ·ation of momentum condition is

k
1
= k + k0, ( 10.94)

"h r k,, = e
(;".m (...J) / c)e and is a unit vector in the direction of propagation
1fthe photon. Introducing the angle() between k and k 0 • we can re-express
the wa \·e vector conservation condition as

( 10.95)

Eliminating k' from Eqs. (I 0.93) and (I 0.95). we obta in

(-(c)) (-c)
2
liw = 2 [111"' +lik cos()] . ( 10.96)
11 w n (w)

Taking m· = 0 .1 m, n(w) = 3, and k = 0, we find that m '(c j n u.:)) ~

4
~ I 0 eV. The photon energy is therefore on the order of I 04 eV, \ hich is
much larger than typical widths of energy bands ncar the fundamental ga p.
Rad iative transitions of the type just discussed cannot account for in t r;.t-
band free carrier absorption.
In order to achieve intraband absorption, it is necessary to on ·idcr
e ond order processes which include the scattering of free carrier:; by
phonon , impurities. and other defects. [n Chapter 8 expressions for th ~
mean relaxation time associated with a number of scattering proce_se ' er
derived. The e relaxa tion times can be incorporated into a classical tr ··tt-
ment of the electromagnetic response of free carriers using the Drud
model.
The clas ical treatment gives a good approximation to the main features
of this process. We hall first deduce the dielectric response of an cledron
gas and then calculate the absorption coefficient. The usefulness of
renectivity spectra in determining semiconductor characteristics such as
free carrier concentration and effective mass will be discussed.
Optical properties of semiconductors

10.3.1.1 Dielectric re ·pon e of an elc~tron g~s ., ,. .

. d I ran elcd ron uas 10 a so ltd IS obtamed by consldenng
A very stmple rnJ e '='. . · ·
· •ctron J.ri in!!: from the macroscopic e1ectnc field and
, nl'> f rces on t 11e c1 - ~ . . . .
· d c .,.,. 5 ·ucb as colhs10ns. The c 1ass1cal equation of
from ampmg pro <;,.,-.. .
moti n of Lh, ith electron can then be wntten as
(I 0.97)

whcr x _ nr 11 'Y arc the p sition vector, effective mass, and damping
1
c nstanL r ' P ctively, f th ith electron, and we have assumed that the
effec tive m:l i i .. ot ro pic. If the time dependences of£ and X; are taken to
be £lf) = £,0 e p(- i t) and x;(t) = Xio exp( - iwt ), then Eq . ( 10.97) can be
sol d to yi ld
e£
X i= m •w(w +h) . (10.98)

The polarization or electric dipole moment per unit volume is given by

/1(/·£
P = - e ~ x;/D. = - . ( 10.99 )
LI m " w(w + ir ) ·
where n is the electron concentration. The dielectric susceptibility and
dielectric function can now be obtained using Eqs. (l 0.7) and (I 0.1 0). The
result for the dielectric function is
"}
ne-
E(w) = I - . ( 10.!00)
Eom*w(w + i))
In an electrically neutral solid \Vith free electron · one has. in t~Kt. J
plasm_a with equal concentrations of positive and negative charges. the
negative charges being mobile. At a displaced positi o n ~- the electrL1n is
subJect to a restoring force proportional to the displaceme nt. This I ' ds [Ll a
harmonic ?scillation whose frequency. the plasma freq uency ...·r· can be
evaluat c' d t rom th e equation
· of mot1on
. neglecting dam ping.

m t ~ = - e£. ( 1t . !01 1

and the equation of continuitv

-.
11 - V . ( 11 ~) = 0.
Let us \vrite

" = n + ,r, .
where,-, Is the mean dc~.:tm I ~ .· . .
charge dcn sitv T. •· n lt:llstt~, and en IS qu~tll
J. Icc~tm!!, both 11 1
becomes, in lirst- . . . .~ _ 1 anc ~a ::. snn ll [U.IIlllll
. url1cT .tpproxunauon
 Optical properties of free carriers 247

expl-iv:t . we obtai n

n1 = - iiV · ~- ( 10. 105)

L t u n 1W take the di vergen e of Eq . (10.101) and use the Maxwell

eq all n
v .£ = - · C'llj
(10.106)
fl)

We then obtain
l

-- m ~ ......,:!V . ~ = -e\7. £ = e~nl ( 10.107 )

Eo

which. with the aid ofEq. ( 10.105) becomes

• ,
......,-v. ~ =- e i1 V ·~
2
- m ( 10.108)
Eo

or
., ., l -
e~ n
~- =w"" = - - ( 10.109)
P t=om· .

If n in Eq. (I 0.1 00) is interpreted as iL we can then write the dielectric

functi on fo r the free electron gas as
, -l
E(~) = I - P . ( 10.11 0
w(w +h)
In thecae of a solid such as a semiconductor. it is necessa ry t tak int
account intcrband electronic transitions. If . . . , is less than typic::il interband
tran ition frequencies. one can replace Eq. (10 . 110) by
l
w,; ( 10 . I II )
t (:.u) = f x; - .
· i..U (w + r y)

where f repre ents the contribution of int erbanJ transiti o n to th ·

dielectric con, tan t. It is convenient to redefine the plasma frequ ency by

(l 0. 11 2)

Then we can rewrite Eq. ( 10.111) as

dw) = (
[
I -
w,~

w(u) -1 if·}
l l . 10. 113 )

The plasma frequenc y a defined by Eq . ( 10.112) is the frequenc y at which

the dielectric function he omes zero in the absence of damping. he plasma
 Optical properties of se miconductors
248
• . . . 1• . na l g u to ww in the optical phonon case. One
treq uenc v Js t 1lt:JeO JCc . . I . d. I .II .
, (1'1 ,, ( I) r , . ,-, ~ t th· t pi ma 0 cdlattons are ongttu ma osc1 at 1on:-.. The
can :-.h )W. Jll 1d«..: - a · . • . •
zero since the tree electron eo<~s
17
cannot support a
ana logue o f WTo L · ·

shear sLre ·h d · · ·
A pJol of f(..v) r r the fre~ e lel'l:o~ gas_\VIt_ out ~mpmg IS given In
ig. 1O.l5. We note th the d1e kctnc functiOn ts.negative for w < ~p- The
di p rsion relati on d l.:rt bing w:.~ ve propagatiOn for :.. .; > ...:? can be
obtaine by subs tituting Eq . I 0.113) mto Eq. (I 0.27) and takmg -1 ::::: 0.
The re Llll i,
c2k2
Fig. 10.15 = .,~./+ -- . ( 10.114)
p
D•electnc fu nct i n 1·er us freq ucnr) r lr E .

a Cree ·lectron ga. 11ith ut dampmg .

Thi rel ation applies to tra nsverse electromagnetic waves in a solid such
as a s miconductor that contains a plasma.

t 0.3.1.2 Drude model for electrical conductivity and optical absorption

Highly doped or degenerate semiconductors are characterized by a
relatively high electrical conductivity due to the presence of a high con-
centration of free carriers. The conductivity is in general frequen~.y­
dependent and has a nonzero value as w ---t 0. The Drude model based upon
the equation of motion given by Eq. (10.97) provides a simple phenom-
enological picture of the conductivity due to conduction electrons in a
parabolic band . If one differentiates Eq . ( 10.98) with respect to time. one
obtains the velocity of an electron in the form

. ie£
X; = - . {IO.Il5 i
m ' (w + h)

Multiplying the velocity by the electron charge. -e . and by the eJeL·tr n

concentration n. gives the conduction current density

( l .116\
J n >nd = .. ( . )·
Ill' w + II

Comparing' . thi s result vvith the equation 1 = ("f( ·)£ ,, e thJ t th<-'
1
con d uct1vtty is given by
...~

Ill. II .,

In the limit of z ·1·0 ,.. "' ~

_ l: tequ~::n~.y. the real part l'r the
the standard e.\pression fllr the DC' l' O ll\..I liC II\'11\
.

, li t' ' ~
1/( ·- r
rT\ 0 ) = - -- 1 II
111 ; Ill"

I h is lhL· SCI li t-r ing ttmr .

 O ptical properties of free carrie rs 2..d9
1 n ~~r nrt_t ·al r r_,rertJe" we need the real anJ im ag ma rv
tn~ l unc!H lll \ h 1ch fn ll w fr11111 q . 110.113): -

( '( ...:) -
( I --
..... -,
"
~..~.,.: .:! + "')2
) ( 10.119 )

( 10.120)

A limit t 1111 rest i.:; th t where ~ « . . .,.. Then

..,
r w- ~,

r'' (w) _'"_ :_

, _'
w" .
~
( 10.1 2 1)

If one in trod uc s the absorption coefficient o·(w) with the aid of Eq . ( 10. 16) ,
one finJ. that

f \,..r,) ';1·
n( w) = r 1 . ( 10.122)
cn (w )u..: -

Consider <:1 emiconductor at frequencies such that w » !JJ, . Then from

Eqs. () 0.34) a nd (10. 113) we find that the refractive index n(w ) ~ t 1t -.
The absorption coefficient should therefore vary as"'"'.- :: or as ).:: ' here .A i.
the wa,·elength. Many material exhibit such a quare law dependence
on wa\'elength, but there are al so ma terial s in which the absorption coef-
ficient varie as N, where s > 2. In the latter case this behavior may be
attributed, at least in part_ to the fact that the damping constant 1 and it s
inverse. the cattering timer. are frequency-dependent. The develop ment
of a proper theory of this dependence requires the applicati on oftechniquL:s
(Holstein 1964. Wallis and Balk anski llJ86) that are be_ond th sope
ofthi book.

10.3.2 Free carrier reflectivity

It was seen in Section 10.1.3 that the normal incidence renecti vit y ca n be
expressed in terms of the real and imaginary parts of the refracti c inde x
by Eq. (1 0.40). The latter quantities in turn an.: r lated to the re:d and
imaginary part of the dielectric functi o n by ~ 1· (I 0.34). U . in g the
expressions for / (w ) and /'(w) gi ven by Eqs. (I O. IILJ) and (I 0.1 20) we can
determine all of the quantities necessary to ca lculate the n o rm:.~ ! inci l n
reflectivity.
The simple t case to consider neglects scatteri ng of the free ca r ri ~Ts. s
that the relaxation time is infinite and the da mpin g. CL nstant ~, is zero . The
dielectric functi n is then real, t" (w) = 0 a nd K = U. II' :..) > ...vp. r ' > l .
n == v? > 0, and 0 < R(w ) < I . On the uthcr hand. if v.J < L<J,,. < 0 ~ he <
real part of the relra tive index n is then ze ro. since / ? is pu re Jmagula ry
and n is by definiti n rea l. The imaginary part of the refract ive: index 1\ is
given by K = - f'. and the normal incidence retlecti vit. is umty.
 O ptical properties of semiconductors
250
. r h, " -ricrs
0 j,. n w taken into account. -r' > 0 and,, _..,. 0
If . c· tt nn go l 1.: dl · ~ . ·
The p IC 1c n. t· nt. a re -;pc~.:lfi d by

( 10.123a
I
K'J_ =H- I+ ( t2 + f"2)2] . ( 10.123b)

Bot! II~ and K 'J. li ft' r i ive regu rcll es or the . ign of c' and R(..._,) < I except
:.t l ...; = wher R(w) = I .
pl ot f th 1 o rmcil in iJ n retlectivity as a function of frequ~ncy is
0
ho n in Fi l:!. 10.1 ~)f b th = 0 and --,.. > 0. In both cases R (~...:) IS rela-
tiv I • . r all .... r ...; hove wp · F r · < :..u1,_ R ( ..~..: ) is relatively large. It is close
tn un it . if « ·1,. The l're tuen .. dependence of the reflectivity provides
Fig. 10.16
orn13l mctdcncc renccl!l ll) 1·ersu ·
frcq uenc) for fre ' earner for = 0 ;I
a u ef mean · r cl termining p'Wun eters such as UJ" from experimental
(da.hcd lme.) and = ...:rf: measurement s of rcfl cti vity. By varying vJp and / ' to give the best fit of th~
( hd curve) .
theoretical curve f r R( to experimental da ta. experimental value · of .J.Jp
and ·an be obtained provided t: "" is known. If the carrier effective mass is
also known, the carrier co ncentra tion can be determined from Eq . ( 10.112).

10.4 Absorption due to electronic transitions of

impurities
It was pointed out in Chapter 5 that there are localized electronic states
associated with impurities in semiconductors. The energy levels of th~ se
states lie in the forbidden energy gap betv,:een the valence and onduction
band s. The energy levels of donor impurities typically lie near the con-
duction band edge, whereas those of acceptor impurities t) picall) lie ncar
the valence band edge.
Effective mass theo ry shows that there is a correspondence between the
localized impurity sta tes in a semiconductO r and bo und states vfan i s olat~d
atom . In certain cases such a P in Si. the locali zed ·tate. correspond to
those of a hyd rogen ato m and can be labeled a, Is. 2p . 3J. tc The lo,,er
symmetry of a crystal compared to that of ani alated at m. h \\e\er. l'<tn
lea d to a splitting of impurit level. that \VOuld be cit ~ n 'rat , i a n atom.
.---.
~
Optica l transitions can o-ccur bct\'Vec n l1xali zcd impurity 1 ~ -. 1· \\ lth
'-
c
sekction rules similar to th ose th a t apply to isula t d at 1111 - B ·a u ~c th ·
•i= 50 bmd mg energies of im purit y carriers arc typicall y m u -h ·mJII ~r than rlw''
;::
of elect run s in atoms, the frcqu~nci es of ph t ns ab -orbJ.:J 'f nIt · i 10
~ 40
tranSitions between impurity levt'ls typicall y lil' [n th infrar·d r.llhcr th:J n
~ 30
·r the vr 'lble or ultra viol t. Opticaltransitiuns L':tn ta ke pia · IWL ~'nl. fn'll 1
?
~ 2
one lm.:ahz J state to another lucali zed stat ~ . bt1t a! rr m, Joc.1hZ ·d ~ t,l l-:
to an unhL)Ltnd state lying aho,·c· lh. band J~e . .. u ·h 1 [J.tJl.llT n ~·l fil'-
-~
) ()
§
e- spo nd s to phutpionization < f tht' irnpurit) carrier •1nJ c.ll _ ,lilt 1 ·r '.I ' 111
0 IJ 05
0
"'
.t::.
l) II! ()
the dcctncal conductivit y 1.lf the Olal(' fiaJ. \ .tri 'L\ ~ 1 I fr J 'l. 'll' 1'
<( Pl1nwn en ·rgy (e VJ
an.: hasnl un this t lkct.
T h~ c\pcrim cntal absurpLi,) n cuL"fli ' ICnt
Fig. 10 .17
.1\h <irplloll o.. •JCili 1..:n l v..:r,u ph " L" ' '
-. hown 111 Fil.!~ I 0 l7 I' •· - 11 ·<11 -11 11 '..I "-1 ...; CI' I I' p 11 1 l ~
• • •
1
'- •'

~m:r •, l1 r hnr•ut "P J "II'-• n ~o tl l ~t I< o..·a ll / ·d o.; taks. and lh(' h wa d tail :tl hrgh r ph 'l 111 11 1 'I
Blll li:IIJ , ., ri l' l 'i(, I r <lll'>l ll U il s In unhuunJ stat ·s . ~
 Optical properties due to lattice vi rations 2Sl

1 • ptical properties due to lattice vibrations

h<th :-~~n th:tt th L· ~;·q ualitlll " ,,f"mntinnnfthc alP m'i in a
1 f, 111 · '11 h p·tin It · bt'lllldar~ L·nnthtinns have rwntrivial :-olutruns
h1d till lr Jlll'llL'\ -...· i.., specified h) the dispcrsiCtn relation as~~ · n-
u u IHlt..lll ll ' 1 t h~;• \\a\1..' VL'Clnr q \\'ithin the first BrilkHiin / nne. F- r
[,I. 11h l\\ t .11 '111S pn primiti\ t• unit ccllth~;' snlutinns f'all into twos ·t:--
h • .., 'I 'tra t ·d by a range of fnrhiddcn frequencies. The three low-
u ·n I r.tn ·h ' . cnnstitute the ac(lUStic branch . T\.vo or the branches
t11 1 I l.'l.t'\. lfl d as transwrsc and the third as lonl!itudinal if the svmmctrv
, ul 1~.. iLill I~ high. ThL' threc high- frcq uency brancl1cs cnnsti t utc t l~c optic~;!
tr.m ·h \\tth trJ ns,·rrse and longitudinal modes as in the acou ·tic case. In
p~..l.u ~ r~ -ta ls the TO modes of long wavelength interact strongly, ith the
r.l itall 1 fi. ld gi,·ing rise to characteristic absorption a nd reflectio n spec-
tr.t. l mt~ ing experimental spectra \Vith ., theorctiol anal ysis enables one
tl'' d t 'nmne the frequencies and other characteri stics oft he optic·tlmodes.
Light .-c:.~ tte. ring spectra are a Iso of interest for determining these quantities.

10.5.1 Dielectric response of polar lattice vibrations

Let us consider a n insulating polar crystal where the lattice is made up of
positiwly and negatively charged ions. For simplicitv v.-'e restrict o ur
attention to cubic crystals with two atoms per unit cell , one positively
charged and the other negatively charged. Tn an optical mode of vibrati on.
the 1\\ o ions in a unit cell vibrate against o ne another a nd produce an
electric dipole moment. Particula rl y important are the optical mode of
\'Cry long wavelength \.vhere the dipole moment.. in the vari o u unit cell s are
in phase and add up to give a large macroscopic polari n tion . This polar-
ization can be written in the form
( 10.124)

where u 1 and u 2 are the displacements of the tw ions in a unit c II. N i the
number of unit cells in the crystal. n is the volume of the cry tal. i" the
transverse effective charge. and r -..._ is the dielectric constant a t frcquencie
high compared to the optical phono n frequ encies. The co ntribu tion ro-
po rtional to£ on the right hand side or
Eq. (10 .124) is due to int ·Tba nd
electronic transitions.
In order to obtain the dielectric function we mu l calc ulat e th dis-
plac ment difference u = u 1 -- u 2 a a function of£. We extend the u-~at-
ment given in Section 7.4 hy including phonon damping and \ rit th
equations of motion in the form (Born and Huang 1954 )

1\1 1 (ii 1 + f'tii) + l iT(u 1 - 11?.) = ej £. ( 10.12.:-a )

Jo..f:.(ii'!. + ru 2) 2a(u_- IIJ ) = -Vi · E. ( 10.1 25h )

where M 1 and M 2 are the masses or the two ions in the unit cl:IL 1 is a
phenomen logical damping constant, and iT i~ the ciTecti\ e Hook ·"
law force t:onstan t for the interaction bet wc~.:n neare~t neighbo r itms.
252 Optical properties of semiconductors

M ul li pl_ ing the first eq 11 atioo by. M2 , the second by M,, s.u~t~actjng
th second of th rc: ult ing equatiOnS from the first, .and ?IVIdtng by
M , + Jll~ _ield.: tl e q uatio n of mot1on for the relative displacement
II = II[ - 111 .

1 (ii + f it ) -1- 2611 = e'T £, ( l 0.126)

whe r !'vf j ·· the r d u d mass of the positive and negative ions. Dividing
Eq. ( 10.1_ ) b ' J\!f con rts it to

ii + r;, + wj.0 u = (e~/ M)£. ( 10.127}

where wm = / 2ff / M is the frequency of the optical phonon of long

·wavelength that is exci ted by the coupling to the external radiation field.
This optical phonon is transverse because the external radiation field is
tra nsverse. To solve Eq. ( 10.127), let

11 = uo exp( -iwt) ( 10.128)

£ = Eo exp( -iwt) . ( 10.129 )

Substituting into Eq. ( 10.127) we find that

(e7) Nl)£
u = --:;--'---
., ') : - -
. -
1" . (10.130)
uFfo - w - - IW

Combining Eqs. (l 0.124) and ( 10.130) and using Eq . ( 10.7). we obtain from
Eq. (10.10) the following result for t:(u.'):

t:(w) = ( 10.131 )

whe.rd~o is th.e volume of a unit cell. Setting ~· = 0 i11 Eq. ( 10. 131)) iclds th~
stattc dtelectnc constant

f., = E(O) = t'\,;

e~~ / AdDr1£n
~
u.;:j'()

The transverse
·
elfect IVe
· , c hatge
. ca n then he e:xpressed :1 .

which
El' involves
. . experimentally. me·lsttt··lhl
' . ' I:·· lJll.lll
. 1..Ill~ .
amtnatmg th quantily- ~' 1· .:!/!l-
11) ·.
· ~ -ot n 1il)ll1 ~ Q .·.
. n 1 11 1 .~..:1
g1vcs
J(
'l
1 1

c' 'ru l ( \ '

u...' fp ..... ~ - i. . . ..'l 1
•
 Optical properties due to la ttice vibra tions 253

r '-
I fll I . - - - , - - - - - - ,
'J(' (dS :!~IJ K

( (....' = •
I
( lll . l 3.5a)
KO ·
~ ] (J
11, 1

( 10.1]5h )
~. 60
5 so
~ 40
~ 30
__ _)
()

8\ Jt 10g \ i[ UeS for the four parameters f, , I',, W f{), and on e can r. 10

c~l,u!.te , .... )and re"( ' asfunctionsorfrequcncy. singEq s. (lll.34)and I 50 20!l

( 1040 1.. n ~.-Jn then cakulatc 11 '-'--' L K (w ). and R( tcJ\. By adjwtinu
t •< • n .tnd r 11..1 give the hcst fit of the calculated reflectivity c un;e to a~
~x r nmental curn-. one can determine the values L)f these four parameters Fig. 10.18
d.
fl1r o.1 p.uticula r ma terial. An example of such a procedure is shown for CdS R e1lectl v 11 . vc ro;u wa\enumberfl1r
at 2') K (after B<d kan ki I 72)
in Fie 10 l t'. For further details see Balkanski ( 1972).
ll k frequent ly not possible to obtain an cntirelv satisfacto ry fit betv.:een
calculated and experimental rel1ectivity curves. One reason f<;r this is that
the damp111g parameter r is not reall y a constant, but is a fun ction of
frequen ') . Anharmonic interactions provide a mechani sm wherebv r
become.· frequency-dependent (Wallis and Balkanski 1986). ..
If Eq . (1 0. 134) is substituted into Eq. ( 10.27) we obtain the di spersion
relati n for electromagnetic waves propagating in a pol ar cubic crystal in
the fr quency range of optical phonons. Let us for the moment ignore
damping by setting r = 0. Then the dispersion relation becomes
I. l
-t- :. :..rTO\r r--' -
1 1 . ,
c- /{- _
__ f .)
;x.
) -- f:x. ') 1 (10.13 6)
..<J- w :ro - u.)-

v.here k i the magnitude of the \vave vector. This e4uaLion may b e sim-
plified by introducing the frequency oflongitudinal o ptical ph o no ns ofl o ng
wa\'el ength. J..'LO · through the Lyddane- Sachs- Teller rel ati on gi ve n by
Eq. (7 .62 ). One then obtains

mg values of t: ,. t -x . and v..: m determined from ref~ ecrivit y mea urt m uts.
one an ca lculate the value of u)J" O ·
The longitudinal optical mode whose frcq uency a ppears in Eq . ( I -13 7)
is characterized by an oscillating macro. co pic electric fie ld even in the
absence of an external radiation fi eld. If the latter fi d el i · 1 r . then
the electric d isplacement 1) is zero. Since 1) = -(1 £ + P and P is giv n by
Eq. ( 10.124). etting 1) equal to zero gives th e result

£ = - e{ u (10 . 13)
1'1)( -,_ 0n

Eliminating £ from Eq. (10 .127). 'Ne obtain the equation r 11l(lt io n Cor
longitudinal optica l ph onons of long wavelen gth:
ii 1 I'i1 + WLJu = 0. ( 10.1 39)
 Optical properties of semiconductors
254
u, r ·1nrne tcrs 11f hctcropolar semiconductor,
Table 10.1 p lll ·1I m () ~: ' '
(,,ncr llur tdn 't ul. 197 1
·I
-'-' FO l:Tn ..:1 n cm ~'7- /e

IJ.1-: 3 440 501 2.2R

9 II j61 404 2.-'
I (J:~ 1 l.o ~19 340 1.93
• .5 10.7 367 40~ 2.04
I (). 12 l) 269 292 216
14.4 16.1 no 243 2.15
9.6 124 304 345 2.55
12._ 14.9 _)' 241 2.53
15.6 17 1t\5 197 2.42
5.1 8.7 271 352 2.15
ZnSc _-.9 s.o 207 253 2.03
ZnTe .3 9.9 17 206 2.00
JTc 7. 10 .~ 140 I 2.35
H gTL: 14.0 20.1 116 139 2.96

16()
,.
•'
I..SO d 2'0 K ,.•' where
120 De •'
'' '.
100
0
- --( ~I j' .'.. '' ')
v.rLO- =w-TO
?
+E el
.J

- ( 10.1-tOl
' " -~ -fq
0'-;x: IV . ~ - 0
60
0
~0 ) \.
w£
This result for 0 also ari e if Es is eliminated from Eq. (I 0. 132) using the
O L-~~~~~~~~~-- Lyddane- Sachs- Teller relation. For heteropolar semiconductors such J5
1 0 - ) 250 300 GaAs, Er #- 0, and wLo > w 70 , whereas for homopolar semiconductors
W, \ number ( nr l )
such as Si, Er = 0 and ww = wr0 . OptiC":tl mode paramekrs ofheteropolar
<!

Fig. 10.19 semiconductors are listed in Table 10.1 .

"{...1) and (- 1/ r{.u))" vcrsu- wa e We note from Eq. (I 0.135b) that "(w) has its ma:\imum ell_,_• =.;,'ro-lf ·i
num her fo r dS at 290 K (after is eliminated from Eq . (I 0. 131) with the aid of Eq. (I 0.1-JO). LHle can obtain
Balkanski 1972).
the quantity (-I / ( ·))"in the form

( 10 1~ 1 \

vvhich peak s at w = '·'hO· The hehavior of "(u.:) and ' - 1/E:{ ,•.!) " i:> ~hl'l\\11 in
Fig. 10.19, for \iS (Balkanski 1972).
Equation ll 0.137) ields two "Olutions. ""' + and ,,· . ''hie ,tr ~ I)(( J Jj
functt o ns ofk in Fig. 10.20. We see that ·- lie. in rhe r !!illn -· .. L, J Jth
..~.) in the region w < ..u 1 n . The curves fnr w .t n 1 , l\ pi ·al of tlh"' .t;t:
arisin~ from interacting systems. In this case th mtcr.tLli;1.! ~ ·t ·m. a '
phutuns and transverse optical phonons. The u 1u p kd nh k. ,w.' Ill' " n.l'
poloritons.

When lkl » ' ru ~ -; ·L the Sli)Uttn ns ti.l Eq . ( In I J ) . I

and. w :=::::: . , ., , . Tlv·
~
· 1ll(ll)J1
fit-~·' t so · l'l)J'(' ~ Pllthb ( I .I I 1ll
charackrLII a phut\)11 with \'el 1_~\..'it~ c j t l ~ - hL . . 1 d :-. 1lllll 11
0
a polanton havuw, I I
</
ltl
-
the L'h •tt.·t··t
• • " l'l
.
Ll 1\ ()
f.
I IL.I l
Fig. I0. 20 ...; Ill· h'r small values 1)1' ~~ ~ . the L"t1l'r!.!Y f th • 'Ill l
IJJ p u ,Joll nil\\. ln r 1111 ~:d nt l.!chatJtL·aiL' Ill:t '\a nd ('hXIt'L'Il' ' . ~- II
'- •d !,; lll'll " L l1l: r!! ll Ill
pi 11lilll •')•lli,;.tJ jlh11114 1111111 k ' , nl 111L' ·hanJc;JI cnn~y L:''nl<ttliL' d m tlk
 ttcol prop rtt s du to lottie vibrotton 2
11 h
1 - --
1
J[ l I ( •-'/.;..'7 r• )·j
( It) I 2)
-{ ( (..,.•j .....·,ol']1 (t, - ( ))
1).5

I'\ !tan h . ....: ~tn d u.' . \\ c ki\'C pl ot kd in Fit!. 111.2 1

lundto n l r Jkl.
c 1 f-ig. I .~0 \\' 11(11' that nn eb.: trn m a , ncltc wa ve
t l r\ '-l<il in the frt: LjllellC_ inte r va l bet\ ccn v.J Jn a nJ ..JJr_ q
ncglecte . T he LT_ :;tal i· thercf n: tPiall v rcl1 ·ctinl! 111 thi"
Fig. 10.21
r d radta t i n of brnad bandwidth i. reflect ed repvcatcdly
FraCti<Jil r tht' mech;tn ical Cll<.:r"y Ill
I a h tero p l ~1 r r. stal, o nly the fr'q uency ranl!e between th ' to tal <.:ne r o f a r c•la rit 11 vcr-;u,
m.Jin in th' r n'Cted be~tnl. This racliati~ll~ co n; titu les the \\'a Vt.: VCC I r
1 reststra h en.

n ( fpr pag·Hi n in thl:' reststrahlcn rel!ion can be under tood

the diel tri ru nctiun. "bich is plotted in Fig. I0.21 as a ( /)

f fr u n _ '' h n I' = 0. We sec that bct\veen "'-'TU and JJL the

!l1dl n i n - ti ,·e a nd hence the refracti ve index from
nsequ ntl y. from Eq. (10.28 ), an electro-
lllJ!!Il l nt c n the cr tal will decay exponentia lly into the - - - - - - - - - - - . - - - - - -II)
1.0

cr~ L l.nd' ill not pr pagate. Therefore, the crystal is lOO'Yt) r ~ ft ec ting in
th r 1 trahlen re2:i n in the absence of damping. Experimentall the /._ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • - - - WT(J

m;, ur·d r lle tnj t ' i not 10 % due to tht presence of damping ctncl
rea · a tafrcquencyb tw . n ro and....,•w. ltisworthnotingthat ww isthe
fr quen ~atwh ichtb eli lectricfuncti ninthea bsence ofdampin ggoes to ( (111)
z ro and ....:m 1~ the freq uency at wh ich it goes to infinity, as may be seen
fr 111 Eq. (I .I ). h r . t. tra hlen region is evident in the reftecti ity data Fig.10.22
h \\ n in Fig. I 0.1 fo r CdS \:vith w 70 = 240 cm- 1 a nd ww = 300 cm- 1 • Dielectric function ver ·us frequency in
the optic:l l phonon region fo r r = 0.
When damping is included in the dielectric function, the dispersion
relation ann t b s lved to give a unique plot ofthe real part of wversus the
real part f k . On ca n ta ke u.. rea l a nd olve for complex k o r take k real and
ol\' for mpl . f r exa mpl e. The di spersion curves obtained with w -
real and k ~ mpl x t r a zincblende crystal are shown in Fig. I 0.23. We note I
E r--.,.._---=-=:...::.
Lhat th di p r_ i n urve exhibits back bending in the vicinity of wm and ~

that it pa s , ntinuo usly thro ugh the restslrahlen region. The back-
b ndi n; i n t f un I if o ne so lves for complex u.J\Vith real k. Whether or not
b· k b crvcd depend o n the experimental situa tion .

5.103 I~
10.5. 2 Lattice vibration absorption Ro I part

tronQ ptic;,Il ab_o rption is observed at the frequency of the transverse_

Fig.10.23
pti I 111l d ·70 . The power absorbed is proportional to the real part of Rc:al anJ imag in~1ry parts of the \\ a\ e
lh lc riLal l.'O nducti vity rr'(""·). The latter can be calcula ted fro.m the vector versus frequenc~ f,>r r ::t 0
xpr i n r 11 gi ven by Eq. ( 10. 130). Since;, = - i v)ll, we can wnle the (al"ter Le Toullcc 1 96~) .
urret 1 den ity 1 a-;

( 10.143)
 Optical properties of semiconductors
256
tl h"· J -- {r_,-: ,)£ is
Th c nductl vt y .Ie ne
• -1 fi
.J

ie / [w(cJj. - w 2 + iwf )]
( 10.144 )
f1 (:.t:) ~ - Aino [(~J- - -)2 w2P ]

The p \.Ver ab orbed I prop rtio na l t >

{1 0.14" )

~,v hich ha a L ntzian ·h·apc with maximum a t w = · TO ·

A!th U l7h horn pola r · mi nduct rs ha ve no first-order infrared
a s rplio~, t h y d ha -lattice vibrati o n ~1 bs~rpt~on arising from second-
ord "r term · in th xpa n i n of the po lanza t10n m powers of the atomic
di plaet: m nt s Laxand Bur t in 1955) .This processenables thetwoatoms
in t h unit cell t d lo p ffecti ve charges which then couple to the
rad ia ti n li ld a nd producc; ab rption over a broad range of frequency.
If the em i~.;o ndud r co nt ain · impurities. loca li zed vibrational modes
can occur as d is "LL . d in C hapter 7. Since an impurity atom can acquire a
charge through io nization of a cha rge ca rrier, a bso rption of radiation can
o cur a. a re, ult o f the int raction of the vibrati ng impurity ion with the
electromagnetic fi eld (Lax a nd Burstein 1955. Maradudin and Wallis 1960).
2 -t Exp rim nta l observation s f loca lized impurity mod abs rption in
~
~ ~ '------~.....:...:::;__.....__~~-~~---~ semiconductors have been made by Balka nski a nd Naza rewicz ( 1964.1966)
and by Spitzer and Waldron ( 1965). who studied boron-doped silicon
compensated with lithium. C ampen ation is necessary in order to prevent
Fig. 10.24 the free carrier absorption from concealing the impurity-m de abso rption
/\ b. orption pe !rum of silicon doped The s- ions and Li. ions tend to aggregate to fo rm s - Li ~ p irs. Th~
with boron and lithium : <.:urve I. pure absorption spectrum can have lines a ·sociated with impu ri t) modes du to
sili n: curv - · B a nd Li in natural
isolated s - and Li+ ions ·md to s- Li pair . Experim ntal ata are ·ho,,n
1 ·ot pi abundan (after Balkan ki
a nd za rewi z I 16). in Fig. I 0. 24.

10.6 Radiative recombination

10.6.1 Internal quantum efficiency
Theint.e~ba nd optical absorption pr) ess lead , t the pr dudton f fr·e
ea rners 111 the onduction ·md \·al nee band . T h .·e fn:e c.trric-r.:> . ~-ln ·
stitutingexcited state. , have re la tive!\ sho rt Jjfe t1J r -and Lt:nd Ll r 'Clll11l, in'
with the emission f' photons. This j)mce ·s is viii d radi.tll\' r '-' ml in.t·
lto~. One can mak the same distinction:s in ra .li,llh e rec1 mhtm til,n •1• 111
Opll a l ab~ l rption a CCl rding lu the bam.! Sll'l.lL'ltlrL l f til~ m a t rtJ I.
n dtatr ve rec( mbination tr~m.· iti n L·~m be d u· ·t r mdt ·t <.kren !tng lit
\~hethe.r or nut it is ph ) n on-assis ted . In a :ii rt:L"I g.tp til l d \\h ·r · th:
conduLtH>n . •
and vale nce h <·t i1LI. e .,'t r ma Ct) .tn ·1 tl 111 I d t JI I'
• •
l'cL· mbrnutrun c l'Ult'' , tl . . .
··c. . . , , ., ~·\I lOU[ p 1lllllC\ fl <t rt iL'lp,ltl n
dtrecl. T he l rt:quenc~ t)l lh emitt ed ii !:!.ht • 'IT . nJ l
g;1p energy.
In an 111 lir ct ...l!a 1, l11'' tl -ri·tl t ~ I
• 1nc c ll • - ~, rrt 1
• .

c l ll ll(.:l un han I tninirntml h 1

• \\ lL l [~ PI \.t il\ lt
 Radiative r combination 2 7
1
I .1 · 111 ]1 ' 111 1 ' db:- ph1 non ~tnl'i.., l l 11 11r :d1-.n rp 11 111.
'r thl' 111< ll1Ul1Uill ~.: h a n g,· t•l tiJ ~ ~_· ;~ rn ~.: r B • ·;1u o;
~ 1 11" 1\ 'I Ill a h.lnd - 1('-h:tnd lk:~.:trnn hnk I. o) JTih l-
111 'l'lllll lll ,,(the cn11t!cd piH ten i:-. 11c:1 rh /.ern. the
111 1 1 1l lll~ a rr ier mo muna mu ... t h~.: matt.:h~d bv 1 hL·
h 11\)11 pa rtiL·ip~ttin!!~ in the J)ro · ·• ··• 1'11L:· I'~r ()·J) d. 1l l.,·I.t () f'
II ' l''C 1llh111alinn is much lo w er 1'1'1' the indirect -g ap

\ 'hen th~.: excitation is caused hy a lic.ht heam

k tr n hole population.
IL l '. W h n th · cxcitati n is produced hy tlectron
•
1 1 ,t·nu·. W h n the ra diati\ ~ recombination occur · a ~ a
I(' lrrt ~r injl:: tion in a p n_iunction .

pul.ltion cr ated b any of these is ·m exces' electron

1'. equal to the excess hole concentration ~P - The time
f the e\.c carrier concentration is go erned by the rate
quatiL n

dD..n
( 10.146)
tit r

"her r 1· the carrier lifetime. Integration of this equation shows that the
oncenlration va ries exponentially with time:

D..n(t ) = ~n (O )e l/ r _ (10.147)

We hall find it nv nicnt to introduce the recombination rateR defined by

d611 D..n
R =- - = -. ( 10.14l:) )
dt r

The ·arri r li~"tim is determined by the fundamental properties of the

material. a well as by the defects present. It is an essential parameter in
radi ti\' r mbination and determines the main features of an electro-
optic d vtc . The lifetime r represents the average time a carrier spends in a
given bJ nd before recombinine. It should be clearly distinguished from the
relaxation time o r characteti'stic time in transport, corresponding to
imraband . cattering of a carrier. The relaxation time is the time between
t\\ o collision. in which the carrier changes state. Generally.lifetime is much
greater than rela xa tion time.
Fr carrier recombination can occur at the surface, giving rise to surface
recombination, or in the bulk, giving rise to bulk recombination. Surface
recombination pro esses can be more important than bulk recombmatton
pr ce ~c-..
.
The th erma I1Zat1on o t' earners
· IS· no t exc 1us1.·,,ely r·td!·atl·v
'
.... Nonradiative
"'·
r c mbination may occur through the successive emission of phonons,
 . f 'condu ctors
Optica l propert1es 0 sem•
258
,h uuer processes where the energy produced h
I
uc· 1g heal or Llroug h. h . I
rr od · .
. t inati n t . tran<>1crre
to 1 third earner. w 1c IS e evated into the
C>

,
•

.
recoi . · ·r. . 11 c1 ctr n or towered mto the valence band if 1t 1
ond ucuou han 1 I Jl
3 bole. d. binution ra te in a material per unit volume be R
Let Lhe nt 1a tl\ e rel: 001 . . ·
· b» R Tb L tal recombmat10n rate for the sponta-
and the D mra tatiVC '- nr ·
ncou' proce: t s
R.~r = R,. + R",. (10.14lJ t

T he int ~mal quantum efficiency is just the ratio of the radiative recom-
bin ti n rate to the total re o m bination rate

R,.
1]1 = ( 10.150)
R,. R11 ,.

Assuming an exponential decay. the lifetime for a radiative recombination

process is r,. = D.n / R, . a nd for a nonradiative recombination process i
; , = ~n / R ,.. The internal quantum efficiency can therefore be given in
11 11

terms of the carrier lifetimes a

r; I ( r,.) - 1 10.151 1
1]i = - 1
T,.
I
T
- 1-
T 11 ,.
I +-T11 r

For good quantum efficiency the ratio r,. f rw should be kept as sm;:tllas
possible, i.e., the nonradiative processes should be minimized.

10.6.2 Carrier lifetime limited by band-to-band recombination

10.6.2.1 Dependence of radiath•e lifetime on carrier concentration
For a nondegenerate material, i.e .. when the doping is not to0 high. it" illb
possible to use the measured absorption coefficient t calcula te the radia-
tive carrier lifetime when the recombination is direct bar -to - and . Thi.' !.'
because the absorption and radiative processes are rdat db~ th.:- prin~ipk
of detailed balance (Van Roosbroek and Shocldev I : ).
The spontaneous recombination rate is din~~tl · pwpt..1rti n. l It' h ·
product of the free carrier concentrations. and it · n · · t..1 fl t ~ funJa-
mental properties of the material expressed bv a ~ha ra~.. ~,.ri Ill' p.1ra111 'C'f
B, [cm~ / s] : ·

IP 152

At ttwm1al c<..tuil
·
.tl)t'l.ttn 1 tl1e. t10 1~..· and dectn•n · )nt.. 1
;m~ rdated hv f't'l7o - 11 2 ,,,]1e · 1 · t 1.
. .' ' - ' ten, t..t..•notcsthetntrm. 1
Out
•
ol e4t11hbrium wher·~ '- 11 . 111 1 ' .
~ -l. •
1
l :..J./' .tr~..· Pfl' ll "u "
. 1 ...

lmn. the spontaneous re~.,:,)mbinatilln rah: h ~ Llntt..'

H., I I
 Radiative recombination 259

. ,, 11 -lli,,n ;,l.I L'S" the ~.lp. '-'w ,~ 1 ,_ Lettm l.!, be the

-:· .,. _lf, . ~,1 the in.JL'l'lcd C\CL'S" . _·:lJTilTS .. \-h' have .

N.. , :.-:: R11 -1 R, ._, , (_ Jf) 154 )

-'' ,, .
1 1.:<' .. l'~'nl:tlh' ll\ls recnmhinati()n rate at thermal equilibrium .

( 10. 155)

R o,, - B ,nul'o = B,.n~I

,
( 10.156)

.·.
.,, R n
,, = _,, ·- R ". = B,C.n( p0 .- no + ~n). (10 .157)

:t •' { I 0 l ..fS i

(10 .158)

£1.::[- .'- . .>iDi!- on tht:' relative importance of the injected and equilibrium
ca;-6,_:·t L\." '-'~~1 1trations. t1ne can distinguish two limits for the radiative
!ifr: nms::
I. Hi!!ll b~jecrion r te:

!:l.n > no or p0
r, = [B, (.6.n)rt.

Thi i the bim o lecular recombination regime.

- · L ow injection ra te :

!:!.n < no or p0
r, ~ [B,(nu + pn) r '.

For p-t ype material: po » no, p0 will be the determining factor.

For n-typ~:: material: no » p 0 • no will be the determining factor.
For a ny type material we can use the relation n0 po = 11~ to re-express r, as

no (10.159)
Tr = , , .
B,.(n 0 + n-;)

A plot of r,. versus no is presented in Fig. 10.25. The longest possible

radiative lifetime corresponds to no = n;, i.e .. a pure intrinsic material:
1
r,(max) = (2B,.n;) - • (10. 160) Fig.10.25
Radiative n:t:ombin"til111 time H'r u~
condudion dedron Cl111ccnt rati(•ll
If the material is made n-or p-type, the radiative lifetime is reduced.
 Optical properties of se miconductors
260
" b· nd structure of the material. Direct gap emi-
B depend un t l1c ·
C)
'
l Li Jet r
. ..
Ht \d..: .l mu
ch
L
h rger'
B and consequently a much smaller r.r than
,.~ . d. . t ·tp ·ctnico ll uc t rs Br can be deduced from the mea ured
uo 111 n ee g< kl -
· . .r . ·pnt y . R br cck and Shoe ey 19)4) or by micro-
ab: )rpl! n cot:J II 1" _
-- pic cal ul ation Dumke I .J_ 7 ).

10.6.2.2 Radiative lifetime from measured absorption coefficient

We f 11 v th tre· tment r Van Roosbroeck and Shockley ( 1954). If a
mi o nd u<..: t r i~ in uilib rium th " principle of detailed balance (Tolman
193 S ta te tha t the rat of ph ot excitation of carriers across the gap in 3
fr q ue n y inter raJ c/ 1; mu t b equal to the rate of generation of photom
in dv b el dr n- h l • re mbination . The rate of photoexcitation R~, is
gt en b

( 10.161 t

where c' is the velocity flight in the materiaL p(v ) is the photon densit} of
the radiati on. and o (v) is the absorption coefficient. Since p(v ) increases
rapidly with wavelength , the main contribution to the integral comes from
the vicinjty of the absorption edge where the absorption is relatively weak
and the dispersion is small. It is a good approximation to ignore dispersion
and take the refractive index n to be a constant. One then has c' = c/ n and

81l'v 2 n 3
p(v ) = c3(e'"l /kHT _ 1) · (10.162 1

The Planck function for surface emission D(1/) is related to p(v) by

( 10.163

Eliminating p(v) in fa vor of D(1/) in Eq. ( 10.161) and n:pbcing the inte·
gration variable v by the wavelength,.\ = cj v . we obtain

R~~(' = 411 2 ;·:x. D (A)u( A) /).. .

.u

Invoking the principle of detailed balance.

( 1 l lb5

quation ( 10.1 -2) then gives the result

Rn
B, =~ tll
II ~

whiL'h upon substituting intu Eq. ( 10. 1110) ..! i\ ~

...
II, ]l
r , ( ma i - I'
_2RII
•,
 Surface polariton 261

· H li~ tim{ fr01 t mh.:n : cupic ' a le la ti ""

tlu:llhlll d till r '-' lia11\ · lir tim e un1 kc 1 57) invl lve
lhl. f;)IC \,, 1' O lll hi11 d ll n r ckctrl 11 '\ a n I h 'll s I v a
r t' th.ll em I _ din ._c ti 111 1\l ...c f( ll- d irc ' t and i ncli r~c t
rpti'm In r '. ckLt n ns c-;cit ed 1 ' 1he I west nd ucti o n
t lh I r1.. int '\ ;lll d t he h ig!Kr minim um ~ll the r p om t an
t 1 h 11 IJ llllllrccl ~ nd di ~.: t tra n si1io ns . r spedi ve] ,_ The
ridt.ll l e lifc tim ·s T I a nd r r2 ca l •tll a tcd b D u mk ro r
r' 'm lcm pe ra ture a rt> IUS s and 1L9 s. rcspcc li c lv . T he
lifc.:tmH~ r • pccih cl hy •

I I I.
-=-+ - ( 10.168)
r r1 r ::

hil h L' n be mpared to the va lue 0.25 s determined fr om

I b. orpti n data I y V ;:~n Roosbroeck and Shockley ( 1954) as
HJ~ n r I 5_-).

IO.o.2. combination via traps (recombination centers)

' gap
Wh n deeo energ} l \' L ar pre ent in the materia l, having the possibility
to c turc. dectr n r h les. th radiati ve recombination rate will depend
on th ·apwr cr _-s tio n r these centers and o n their concentra tion.
Tht: th f! ~ r r m bina ri o n via traps wa s originall y wo rked out by
h kle_ and Read 19 -2).
Th general n fo r recombination thro ugh traps is

R uup = [ ( I 0.169 )
<Jc II

\ h re , and <Jh a r the electron a nd hole trapping cross-sectio ns respec-

t!\ I):t•,,
i th therm a l velocit_ of the electrons, n, is the trap concentra-
llon, and£, i- the energy of the center (which is o ften near midgap "' ~; ).
R rnbinati n via tra ps often competes with the indirect gap recombi-
nati n ' n will therefo re be important mainly in indirect ga p materials.

10.7 Surface polaritons

ln S cti n l 0.5. 1 the result of ~.: o uplin g a phot o n to an elementary excitation
uch a an optica l ph o n n to gi\ e a pobrito n was di scussed for the case of
bulk materi al . If the system o f interest has a surface or an interface between
L\1. m terials. a surface polariton or a n interface polariton ca n a rise in which
the fie ld amplitudes a re loca lized a t the surface o r interface.
Let u. consider a system with a planar interface between two materials A
and B th at are c hC~ ra cterized by dielectric functions t .., (:..v) and t s(w) ,
r pe ti tel r_ T he interface is taken to be the pl a ne: = 0 with material A
<.:cupying the region :: > 0 a nd Material B occupying the region :: < 0. The
lectric vector o f the radi a tio n field must satisfy the wave equa ti o n in each
 Optical properties of semiconductors
262
material:

( 10.1 70)

. k _ 1 t ' . l 1 th wa ve equation that are localized at the interface

W s ::; UJ n . h . f
an that pr paga t in th . ·-di rectton parallel tot e mter ace. Such olu-
tion, ca n b " ritte n a.
0 c
£ ,1 = ( C... l dJ·
~ ),- ,. ,: ,) /.:x-i...:l
,C, A:Uf: ( (1 0.171 a)
co _ ,. O ~1 ),.ps=eikx-i..:t
( IO.I71b)
c, 8 - !JxO ' , c- 8:0 '-' '

where 'A and £J are the decay constants for materials A and B. respec-
tively, k is the wave vector. and w is the frequency . Substituting Eqs. ( I0.171)
into the wave equation, one finds for nontrivial solutions that

( 10.172J)
,
., ., w-
'8 = /c - cs(u.i) - , . ( 10.172b)
c-
In order to obtain the dispersion relation for surface or interface polar-
itons. we must consider the boundary conditions at:= 0 which we take w
be the continuity of tangential E and normal V:

EAxO = Eaxo ( I0.173a )

l iO.I 73bl

To complde the specification of the field ~..:omponents we in\'l1 k~

Maxwell's equation 'V' · D = 0 for zero space charge and obtain

ik£.ho - o ..J£4:0 = 0 ( 10.17-b l

ik£s.,i) ' ts£&o = 0. ( 10.1 ~):l l

The condition for a nontrivial solution to Eqs. ll 0. 1 _ ) a nd ( t0. 1 -1-) is

·.·rlw) <<.., ( 1 0.1~5

B(u...') =- Ys

Eliminat~ng n ..r and os with the aid of Eqs. ( 10. 172 1 I I the J isr r' tl n
relation tor surface or interface po larito ns

from which w as 'I run 1011 I' I ,j .

_ . ~ • ~.:' D " ~.·a n h1.· ~.·~tku l :ll l'd I '' 1
t u w). II m~th:nal 8 is t·th·n t•J )1 - . I I
. ' ' l' \ .t\.'LIUI1l ,,n ' '" .
po Iantlltb asso\.·lat\.·d \\ ith n1 · l . . ·. I I
'I 1.: l 1.1 . l H • !IU l ' d •
 Surface polaritons 263

th~. f'rc- JU ' lJ •• ,r l h · pt l« ri t• r I r g i \~ , f, WL nn

,rrnplc:-. \)l'~u rt ,~ 1: pnlanlllll :-. .

urface plasmon polaritons

In I 'cmic"'n duc t:1r pnduce a ~.·o ntrihut io n t~) the dielectric

11 ~ f q: (I( . l l. ). r\"~r Cr ~quencics kss tban tiK pla. ma
h lr ·I ... ·t n~.· functh)n ' - negative, su \·\ ·t' can expec t to h ave I

")" -._-=;-=-._-:. ._-=-/ =-~ :-= ._;;. --.-:. .

I

I 111 lhr s r·m!!c. Ta kin g 1 n = I for vac uum and solvino0

the di ·per --J n relatio n in th f rm f 'l, I o

'
kJ. = ~ . I 4 lW)
( .2 { v..: '• + 1. ( I 0.177 )
::r
·~
u..
= - I. k = corre, po nding to a non retarded surrace
·--Theory
If' 2:iven
, b o o Experi ment

'11 ( 10 . 17~ )
2
Wave vector A.

isle-;. tlnn JJp. it lie in a region of high reflectivity.

.... P Fig. 10.26
nd limiting c· se js J.: ~ w". Then w-:::::: k.c. and the dispersion Surface plasmon polariton tlispcrsion
curve for n-lnSb Cin:les: experimental
('Ur 1 \ ery clo t th light line. A plot of the dispersion curve for n-1 nSb
data. solid curve: th eo re ti~.:al re ult . .;;, IS
i _hO\"n in Fig. 10._6. ..-~,~ (a fter Mar chall e1 a!. 1971 ).

10.72 Surface optical phonon polaritons

Th diclectri fun tio n associated with optical phonons is given by

Eq. (10. L ). Sub tituting this expre ·ion into Eq. ( 10.176) yields the dis-
per ion r lati n ~ r urface optical phonon polaritons. Considering the
limit k - with .-1 (JJ) = - I , we obtain the nonretarded surface optical 105
ph non fr u n • ..,;.,np : 104
!.:L.. I 03

WWf' = [
2 l
TO-
I
~ ( 10.179)
Wru
102
101
I 00 L__L.._..,__..__.___.__._~__._..___.........._
l.O 3.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 11.0
Wave vector k
It i ' vident th at w , is between ""'• 7-0 and W t- 0 i.e .. it is in the restst rahlen
~ f1)

r ion f high reftecti vit ·. Ask decreases from large values. the frequency Fig. 10.27
Surface o ptical phonon polarito n
r the . urface optica l phonon polariton dec reases until it reaches the dispcrsit n curve for GaA5 L) ll a
<I nc: w'ro a t the light line where k = wr0 /c. For smaller values of k. sapphire substrate o f dlcctiv'
Eq. ( 10.1 77) ha no soluti o ns co rresponding to real u..J. A plot of the dis- Jit:lcctric constant ""'· C ro ssl·d dt>ts:
per ion curve for surface optica l phonon polari tons in GaAs on a sa pphire experim.::ntal data: solid curve:
theoretical result (after Evans l'I ,Lf.
ubstrat is given in Fig. 10.27.
197-')

10.7.3 Experimental observation of surface polaritons

- have noted above that the surface polariton frequency lies in a region or
high rellectivity of the material being studied. However, if the frequency
and wav v ctor of radiation incident on a crystal sa tisfy the dispersion
 Optical properties of semiconductors
26.4
. ~ . .r. , . ,. rito n. the conditions exist for a transfer of nerg'-
relall nl or .lSliJ taCc 1 a , · f· , 1
~ j ·· . - the cry ·tal and the crecttton o a surface polar-
trnm tl c r~ll 1:t tl n 1Ie1 1 . .
. . · . 1- . roce se-: can ca use thts energy to be retamed by the
1t n. 0 I 1p.l IVe p ·' . . -
crv ·ta I anu no re
.• t
' llected h·tck into the racllatton field . In other words one
. . .
1a· attenuate dto t a lreflectio n (AT R) assoctatedwtththecreatJOnofsurface
. _ _ .
I
-
po Iantn L'. t- ch·Lra terize
.1.1 1. •
v dtp 111 reflecttvtty
·. . . _.
when the
.
wave vect. r
and fre uenc "ttisfy the urf· ce polanton dtsp~rst on re~atton . By varytng
the wave \ecto r and I tmg the frequency at whtch the dtp occurs. one can
dett:ml.in the eli p r. io curv _T he A TR method was used to obtain the
·p ri mental p int in Fig. 1 .:26 a nd Raman sc~tter_ing, _to be discussed in
the n xt s tion, wa u d to b tai n the data pomts 111 Ftg. 10.27.

10.8 Light scattering

When a monochromatic light heam passes through a transparent medium.
a small part of the light is sca ttered out of the incident direction with a
change in frequ ency. The scattering processes are usually classified into
three groups.
I. In Brillouin scattering the light is scattered with a small frequenc_ shift
that varies continuously with scattering angle.
2. ln Ramon scattering the light is scattered with a relatively large frequenq
shift that is independent of scattering angle. The possibility of observing
a given transition , however, depends on the orientation of the crystal
relative to the polarization of the incident ligh t.
3. In Rayleigh scattering the light is scattered without frequency shift. In r.h.is
-1.1 case the scattering is elastic with the incident and scattered frequencies
+ equal: wi = W s - Rayleigh sca ttering is particularly useful in the ·tudy ot
critical phenomena or aspects related to the size and polarizabiltt) ot
particles.

Fig.10.28
Diagra m bowing li ght cattcring a t
a ng l ¢ a nd Braag refl ec tion at @h_
m ving thermal wave .
10.8.1 Brillouin scattering
Brillouin_scattet:ing is caused by the interac ti on of Iich t \\ ith th acl)ustil'
modes ol vtbra t1on of l he crysta l. Let us consider an ·tcu u ti ~ \\a\' ' of fr ·-
quency W u propagating with veloci ty ± 1 as shown in Fig_ 10 :2 '.Light \nth
incident frequency w, interacts st ro~gly with aco u ·til' ,~a' . -a wf~ tn: th~
Bragg COl~dition u = ~ 'i (v/ c) n sin (0/:2) . where 11 is tht: r~?L IL'l!H 111dc\ llf
the matcnal and fJ is the angle of deviatinn or the s ,ttter~.;d b J n. ~i n(' · tl ·
acou stic wa cs are moving with vclocit ±t• th, l 'LLUt'f ln.ht utT ·r" '1
~opplel: sh~rt i~ l'r~qucncy and ex hibits :, rr 't~ u m:} J()ull ;1 th' ,111gl ·
1
1
-"'en hy the Bnlloutn equation ( Brillt)Uin 1 9.:!~)

' •,- '--<-:,, = -~·, ± 2.u1 (t '/ ·)n -.in(H ~ . ttl I l1

In terms
.
or
__
a Ljll'llll
' um
-.
Pll turc, Bnl- lL1tt Jn "L'' tll • 11
sca ll en ng ot IIh.:i~.kut (1ht t I' I' ll1 . • I
. ~- • • , • s t: r 'lj u •n '\ ~· .1 r
L
~ u tter t.l phutu n s ,)j 1l"I.:Ll ll'-'llL'\ ' , J . ·
h · , - w, .111 \\ , l l' \ l'Clll
<.• s lf PI l O ll o l an Ut.:~tusltL· ph"n•H1 •)l' fn.:\.l ll
 l ight scat nng 265

Ph..nr·n
It lh~ ) lw n '11 U11 1S:-.io u ·asc '" Jtv~.:n in I i •. 10 _l. I h ·
t1 11111'
(l)fl.q
11 ll111 ·r eLl Ill IS s l )\\ n in t'i g 111.30 . It ·onsist r Stoke
1 I onti-Stoke (u.·, - ...,.,1 u.'rt · 1mpcll1cnts co rr . pl nding

1 i 111 and :J h: 'rrtiPn. r ·pc ·tin:lv.

htl't j....·, - ~,:, I f·,r a wl.'ll -ddine(i scattering an2:lc (1 direct\ S d
IlL pill l1l ll frequency and veh citv. The v idth r or the
::tiler
rhotn n
1 11etll < ( the speLlrum i;;; a measL~re of the damping 1r
,.,,.k,

Fig.10.29
Schemat ic rerresent~li o n or ligh t
an scattering sea \I ring hy acoust1c pho n n .
1
Jfl 'renee etwe~n Brillouin and Raman scatterin'• is that in
ring the in id nt light heam is scattered with relatively large Stokes Anti-Stoke
rf ind pe de nt o r the scattering angle. The sa1ne basic con-
pi) t Raman scatterin!! that apply to Brillouin scattering.
,e~tru m ha toke~ and anti-Stokes branches corresponding
\
nan a b )rpti n, respectively. of an elementary excitation.
f ekmen ar_ x itations are important. They include optical
nd in the a of magnetic materials. magnons. Also of interest
r '111C ex ita ti ns uc h as intraband single-particle excitations
Fig.10.30
Lltation . nd collective excitations (plasmons).
Schematic diagram of a Brillouin
spectrum .
10.. 2.1 Theory of Raman scattering by phonons
Quah tilt.' c n idera rions
Th bd IC mecha ni m of Raman scattering is the modulation of the
dtele tn u ·c t ibi li t tensor :\(u.,•;) by fluctuations associated with an
lementary . cit ti n. We start by treating optical phonons as the ele-
mentar~ excitat i n . For a particular phonon the atomic displacement u can
be expre ed a
u = uo cos(q · ,. - wqt ), ( 10.181 )

whereq i. the phonon wave vector and '.JJq is its frequency. The susceptibility
ten ·or i a function of u and can be expanded in power series
( 10.182)

\\ h r V _____, is a third-rank ten or with elements

0 )(rdl
)(_,, [-J~, = ~ . (10.183)
ull-, u=O

The incident radiation has an electric field that can be ex.pres ed as

E = £ 0 cos(k; · ,. - w; t ). ( 10.184)

This field gi es rise to an electric polarization given by

P = ~'"II x (w;, u) · E
~Eo x (w;) · E +Eo X1(u) · E + · · ·,
0
( 10.185)

where ~ , ( u) = (V ~) · u .
 Optical properties of semiconductors
266
. . . ·e cnts ·w oscillating electric dipole that radiates
The pnlan zati n ' P' - h · ·
.~ , ith rrcc1uencv w_,. The ti rst term on t e ngh t hand
< •

elcclrornagncttc \ht e .· . . · · h
side of Fq. (IO. IX5} corre ·ponds to Rayletgh scattenng w_lt :..;, =_.;,_.The
. . .re.s1J t )Tl • to first-order
sec n d t rm cor ,
Raman
. .........,
scattermg and will be
labeled Pi. In view of -q. (I 0.1 R I) we can wnte .\ I (u) as

(10.186)

mb i ni n ~ E q ·. ( 10. 1 4) ( I 0.186) yields the following result for P 1:

P1 = * (V \ ) ·Ito· Eo{ co [(k ; - q) · ,. - (:..;;- ;...,'q)t]

+ cos((k, + q ) · r - (w; + wq)t ]}. ( IO.IR )

The wave vector k, and Crequency U..\ that characterize P, satisfy the con-
ditions k , = k ; - q, u.: = 1 - w0 for the Stokes branch and k, = k ; + q.
cJ., = , ..v0 for the anti-Stokes bnncb. A phonon is emitted in the Stokes
bra nch and absorbed in the anti-Stokes branch . The hjgher-order terms in
Eq . (10.1~5) correspond to the emission or absorption of two or more
phonons and describe higher-order Raman scattering. Since the wave
vectors k; and k in a typical experiment are very small compared to those at
the Brillouin zone boundary. first-order Raman scattering yields infor-
mation only about optical phonon s near the zone center. This restriction is
relaxed in higher-order Raman scattering.
Let LIS introduce a unit vector ein the direction oft he displacement II. Tht?
quantity V '7. ·(! is a second-rank tensor R(c) called the Raman tensor that is
associated with the phonon specified by u. The Raman ten so r relates the
polariza tion of the scattered radiation to that of the incident radiati1.1n. Its
nonvanishing elements are determined by the synunetry of the cr!stal.
The analysis of second-order Raman scattering can be carried ut 111 an
analogous manner except that the energy and rn mentum c nser ·arion
conditions involve both participating phonons . The presenc f impuntil'::-
in a crystal gives rise to localized vibra timn.l modes wh o Raman edrum
allows the identificati on of the impurit y and a precis d · Ti tion L fi b
environment.
Semiclassical !heory o( Ranum scaltering
The modification of the su c ptibility assoc:i~1 ted wit h Raman 'ca tt ·rin~
gives rise to a quantum rnechanical transitilHl betw en imti.d .1 J fi n..tl
vibrational stat es It') and jc ') characteriLcd b\ a nl.llri ·l'rn('n
('t'I( V \) ·ult ').The ~nergv scaitcred pe r unit run .p r uni,. r .I pN unJt
so lid angle at a lar!!e distance R fr om the scatteri n2. reg 1 , 11 I!)..!.\ 1 b\ ( Bl)rn
and Huang l ~54 , Hayes and LL uJon 19 7R) - - -

( Jl I

where an~~ vcrage LW c r a 'ihra t i, lll,d p 'I ll )d has h . ·n l.tk I' 1 II

rol
. .
u n7Ullun veunr llr li1L' •~\."• ttl L 'I"••... .._l •"\ I ru l ll n . J r. t I1
I I S th~· V<)lum ' ( r th . iiiUillintt. lj' ' I t I I
'l:l '•H l l l i:L"l . ... ll
 Light catt ring
267

;;.,; '
~ ~ ·c {I I'"d I'- • ( Ill I I'\ )

nsideri ng t w~
nl ' pre,::;in ns l'nr lh t: e nergy scatlcr ~cl pe r unit time
h '11 llt . , l S in ·iclcnt o n a rea drr:

dF, " ,
--= .J~- 1.~ = . ;d a . ( 10. 190)
dr
•quat ion\ e hav~.: made the simplifying approxjmation
g' J :.t ppr .\ ima tinn under typical situations in which
l:tble regi n (tiuJ rv 4 e ) and Ju i ~ in the far infrared
mg the 'l b v ex pre " i n for S, and S,, we obtain the
tll:nng a , .' t j n inth form

(10.191)

\\here r,, i the unit pohriza ti n vector of the incident radiation. For the
q ~ 0 optiL I ph non f importa nce for first-order Raman sca ttering, the
di pia ~.:menlui· th rela ti ve displacement of the two atoms in the unit cell
u1 - u2 • Intr ducing reation and annihilation operators as in Eq. (8.176),
e\'aluating the \'ibra tio n, l matrix element and averaging over a canonical
ens mbl . ..,-e btain fo r the diiTerential scattering cross section

( 10. 192)

v.. h r ff i th reduced mass, &0 and 'o are the unit polarization vector and
fre u n [ the optical phonon , the factors Fio + 1 and i10 refer to the
tok and anti-Stokes processes, respectively, and iio is the phonon
opuJati n fac tor given by

(10.193)

Th rati o of the intensities of Stokes and anti-Stokes scattering is

~= ehwf} / kuT ( 10.194)

fa.I

Thi expression sho\NS that the Stokes scattering is always more intense
than the anti-Stokes scattering. The asymmetry increases as T decreases,
until fi nally the anti-Stokes line vanishes at T = 0.
Quanrum theon· of Raman . callering
In develo ping the quantum theory of Raman scattering, one goes beyond
the ph nomenological approach of the preceding section and treats the
ystem on a microscopic level. An inelastic light scattering event involves
 Optical properties of semiconductors
268
. . Jf··, pll'Jtonoffrequencywiincidentfromalightsource , the
t I1ed cstruc t1011 L "' '
cr a ti on of a scattcre plwton of frequency :.,;,_ an~ the creation or
d o;;tructiul o r an optical pho non of freque.ncy ~o · The first two proce ·ses
. rise rrom the clectrun- n1diation interactiOn gtven by Eq . (10 .56). It is
~ nw nienl in eva luatin g the required matrix elements to express the vector
ntenti ·1l in Fo urier senes

( 10.195i

where ak and at are ph oton destruction and creation operators. respec-

ti vely. The las t process ari ses from the electron- phonon interaction that we
treat using a n optical deforma tion potential specified by

( 10.1961

where a is the lattice constant and:=: has the dimen sions of energy and is a
function of the electronic coordinates. We shall consider in this discussion
the Stokes component of the scattering with rw'i = :..v·., + wo. The properties
of the anti-Stokes component can be obtained by making appropriate
Fig. 10.31
Fey nm~n dia gra ms for two first-order
changes.
s a ttering events. Figure l 0.31 shows the Fe" nman diagrams for t\VO typical first-order
scattering events in a perfect semiconductor crystal. Four additional dia-
grams arise by interchanging pairs of vertices. These diagrams correspond
to third-order terms in time-dependent perturbation theory which ha"e the
form

·., l

+ fo ur similar term s} · ( itUl) 7)

where the subscripts a. h on the matrix clements o f tht.: k ctn nic m 1' 0 -
tum opera tor p and the defo rnntion potential param t r :=: r f r w d t\.'-
tron- hoi pa ir states with energies 1iu:,, and fi."'-·l·· and th ~ ~ubsLTip t 0 r kr · r )
the eiectrom~ ground state. The subscript s (1 and -1 n n R .~ret 1 Jl l.trl ' dti,,n
dm:ctwt~ s ol _tht' IIKtdent an l scattered phl) t ns. r•spc>Lit I). wJ th ·
:;uperscnpt ~~ lS the polari za tion dirt'clil>n or the ph n )11 Th lrl \ ·1·-
rne nt s Po:, and 1'11;, o riginate from the matri.\. ~.:1 m •nt~ th
radiatiun intL·ractiun Hamiltunian.
The q_uantit y l( '. J( tv,. u.:.,. "'-·u) is the Ram on omp litud
\ ., r dchned Ill q . (IO . I~Jl . U nd e r cin:u m t .llh."" ·u h
unL· has ( lla ycs ~1nd Llllld on 19 71\)

\ It l
,,
 Light scott ring
269

lhat lh~ Ra 111 .111 a mrl itu h: hn.., th • ·y1 111 1...1ly
',. ,:,, ) l 1 ~ i n g the ..,_ 111 m ' II i •s I'·• 1 f' 1,
'\'ll"l!nati:'lll ..._:,- ..J11 ""''-· e n · ~....n Il l\\
(..._·......-_ , u.•11 L mhini n~ thcsL: t \.\C res ll
sl \'. th at the R a lll dll a m p h t 1 c i'>
or theJ)ho ton I ol;, r iZ<ILion ·
R,,l- ·, . ...;. ). he diJfe r nti a l . cattcrin g c r s·
l 1 tcnns 1 f lh~ Ram an amplit ude G ll o \ . fr m
I . Jl l\ ). The res ult fo r Stokes s ·a tterin ~~

(I 0. 199)

with th 'll1l I ------. above it denotes a third-

ffic enc) 1 rel<H d to the attering cross section by

S = _.!_ da ( 10.200)
<~n·

\\h rt: A 1 the r a illuminat d . ·ing Eq. ( 10.199) we obtain

I'L(n0 ' 1) ( e )4
S = 3~rr- ~f rwoa2 fi 3 -;:;;:.
X lr]s . [R(- w, , 0.:, , wo) . co] . lJ,l ' ( 10.201 )

L b ing the len th f th illuminated path . Loudon has made numerical

e timat rhat indicate Raman scattering efficiencies are typically of order
JO-b or !0 -7
Th re ul t given . (10.201) applies to both TO and LO modes in
homopolar emi nductors. It also applies to TO modes in polar semi-
ondu tors provided cq » W TO· but must be modified for LO modes whose
I ctric fi ld leads to an additional contribution to the scat-
t ring ro cti n. The macroscopic field is a consequence of the Coulomb
field of the i ni charges and gives ri se to an electron- phonon interaction
who Hamil t nian i, specified by Eq. (8.180).
· ing third- rder perturbation theory we can write the differential
scattering cr ~ , ction for the Stokes component of polar mode scattering
a·

da
-.- ::=
Vll (nw+ l )
, < -·
(e)41i- ~, · [R(_ - Wj,W,,<.v'LO) -l>w ]· f]i
cL (47rt:ot2!i 1Vf ww me a

(10.202)

\\:here P( -~..J.,• 1 . w.~ ,w) is obtained from R(-"-'·1,w,1 , w) by replacing=.;;, by

Pna/(wh- <.v'u) with similar replacements in the other four terms. Due to the
pre nee of the macroscopic field term Pin the scattering cross section for
LO phonous, there is no simple relationship between the scattering
intensitie for TO and LO phonons in polar semiconductors.
 . f micond uctors
Optical properttes o se
270
. ...... in )o l~ 1 r semiconductors it i necc a ry to 1. k
FnrthereU101CCI/--'-m 1 . ld h .
°
d t
- - n· tLLre f the coupe p oton-transv r e ptic· j
· ·nu nl the p 11a ' 11 11 · · i:1
tn to iLL des and their a ·s )Cia ted macroscopic cle_ctnc_ field (Mill and
ph Lm on tlll Th' 1 c tric fie! i, related to the relattvedisplacementu b
Bur ·tem 1974). ce c . . . . . - ~
. . · .11 . •1s the pL)ianton frequency. The uscepttbJiit\ 1·
Eq. ( I . ' - 0 } lfl \\ liL ..... - ~ . . . . . ~
. b . co. a n:sult nf th el .ctro-opttc effect. The expans 1 n that
modul;Iteu ) c.. ' . · ·I d . .. ·
u...,) m u t be b!eneraltzed to me u e powers ot £:
· ·
d ( pear· 1n Eq . ( 10 · I'"- ~

" i (W; . U,
£)
- 11" J
.) -
i.l.i, - L [i:h'111-
...,
-
~
I>
-
~
1
ll-
+ if'(,. _;
(')[.J
C' ]
.
C..-

( 10.20_

,, h rea,.-~" ·pecifi · the a t mi LCii placement c~ntribution and_b, ;- pecifie

the ele tro-o pti con tribution. Making use of Eq. ( 10.130) with r-== 0. w~
c·tn elimim t £ in fa r f u and obtain

~[ 1
--:- (Wj·o - u.r)b, ;-,
1 ]
11-, . ( 10.20-t)
eT

From here on, the derivation of the differential scattering cross section
proceeds as before, but iL is now evident that the Raman amplitude h· ·
contributions from both mecha nical and electro-optic origins. An excep-
tion occurs for the lower polariton branch with q » JJ·ro f c and v.-'::: ....·ro·
Then the electro-optic contribution is very small compared to the
mechanical contribution. If u...· > ·ro as in the upper polariton branch.
destructive interference between the mechanical and electro-optic CL1n-
trihutions can occur.
10.8.2.2 Selection rules in Raman scattering
Not all elementary excitations in semiconductors .' Catter light. The Ram.m
active modes are determined by selection rules established using grLwr-
theoretical methods. The various no rmal modes in a ~iven crvstal cNr ·
spond to various symmetries of the vibrations o r the ~~toms in- the cryst,tl
at~d are characterized by the irreducible represcntati n~ of the ::;pa~o:e gMW
ot the crystal lattice. One can show that an rmalmod ~.;, n pan i\.· ipat~ tna
first-order Raman transition if and only if its irre u tble r r ·ent,l[ILlfl 1.
l~e sa 1:1e as one of' the irreducible reprcscnratinns t h~H -cur in the r du·-
tton ot the representation of the Raman tensor.
An impo~·tant res ult or group thLnry is the rule f mutLtal e elusion \\hll.' ~
stales
.
that 111 CI''~'S.l·tl"
- ,. . . •
\". lh
• ,·' • I a center ot· mversto · . .
n, " \.Ctl.tlt 1 1 11• • t'll' ·
n · tla ' •
mthc ltl st-ordet tnlrarcd spectrum ar· inaLtiH in th·l r H)rJer '1111.11
spectrum. and co nv~.::rsely. excitations that arc a~.· t\L 111 th tit.·Hlfll·r
Raman src:_trum are inactive in the first-()J';.Jer inll lr L'lllll1 In I'· •
ttcub r, the ltrst-ordcr sp·~L 'tl·· tLI-t l ~ t. l l
L: I' Op IC ' I J" 1 11 111 I I
I I ' I , Ill t.ll
<lctrve hu1 R-.1111 . 111 in· -.1· .
· ' " '
' . ' ' ,lc lve . \\' 11L'reas 111 St the . ,11 m
Raman al'IIV • Tl ·. 1·1.. . -
- -- . L:. lis'- I krcnL·c Is n:lak II' th . l'ud h
N_aliiS;tct·nttTl)l'invcrs iun·mtth . I
1 . ' ( l.';tL· t'1\'l'll liLa J
1
'' 1~.: 1 •aseac ll1'11dpoint hL'I\\ 'L'I1 I\ . tl
., ut....r
, ul lflVL'J Sillll an I tl . . " . . 'l' l1~.:..tr .
stn·r•
h . dl £t\c l' fl lh.:al ph, tl\11
l
l
 71
light sc ttenn
f{o~
t hcr~.· •~ ,,., , .,.111\' 1 1 1 " '' ., ..,,, 11 ,
·d ll hl l~ . lllLIII ;r~._• tl\ l' J'l11· 11111\ 11<>11\', 1111..,111 11'

~A
' "1111 •'II ;rr,· th,· \I' ;tnd "' ,·knll'llh. I (
1 11 p~t.•pa~·;Jiillt! inth · .:-dirn:tiu n.
•11• 1 11
I I tlh' llh.: id,:nl li~hl p :rr;dl·lt,, lhl' \ -axis
fl .11 11'll
1 •ht \ ll h its l'•'l ;u i ;tlil'll p;tr:dkltn th~._· J'-a\is • J 1-...,; "'! I
I()( I 2211 , 'I) '1)0 \ 1)1)
ll ~'I l r l.'l11l'-l r:rint ~ :lpplil'S Ill TO phonnns .
'vV:" ,. r11111lh• ·r •,h rll l l l ll 1 1
troll ·d Ill Fi~ 10.32 rlH' (;;lAs .
t n n p r ·c "l'S in \\'hich scv.::ral plllHilllls pariH.:ipall.:. Fig. 10.32
I r~._dth.::'ihl ' rq1r..:sentations of the plwnons invulv~._·d R:1111:111 \p' ' 11"11111 !'111 11pli ~;: rl plroHII•Il ' Ill

'·t .m 11 r d u ·ibk representation nt'tlw Raman ll'IIS( r. (i:l s (art.;r M•"•r:uk111 :111.! 'v n ·hi
J l)(lh) .
c:ro up representations can be found in the

/.
al a pect f first-order Raman scattering
' ligh t call ·ring hy optical phonons in transparent
nc in ::1 ge )metry in which the linearly p o lariLed inci-
d ntltght • n 1 direLted a ! ng. sa y. the x-axis and the scatt~.:recl beam is
ol·L ned Jl ne lh y-a\.i · (sec Fig. 10.33). When the crystal is not trans-
par nt. ;1 i ften the a s in miconductors. the observation is made in
the ba ·k ·cJttering g m try in \vhich the scattered beam is observed in
!]1e oppo ·ite dire li n to the incident beam.
Th calt ring geom try affects the range of phonon wave vectors t.hat i Fig. 10.33
G.:uml:lry t'or lig ht \t:all.:ring
a ibk in fir-t-o rder Ra man scattering. The conservation of wave vector
c xrerirncnt~ in lran ~ rar.:nt cry\tal, .
ondition i
k ; - k.\ = ±q, (10.205)

\\ her q i th phonon \ a\e vector and the plus (minus) sign refers to the
Stok ~ (anti- toke ) p r e . The Stokes geometry is shown in Fig. I0.34
and ha the~ llowing r lation satisfied:

q- = k j ,
' 7
2k 1k,cosfJ. (10.206)
~
k~-

Forward scaHerin g i- haracterized by (j = 0 and a minimum value of q given.

fo r 1 otropi m dia. _
( 10.207 )
wh r 11 _ a d n _ are the refractive indices oft he crystal for the incident I} :':J( J
and n r lihh . Li. I ~ . and k, 1 = n (w•11, 1 )w,hd c. An alternative
expr - ·io . or q _an ai ned fr m Eq. (10 .205) by writing k { a Fig. 10.34
Diarw m r; r Slr,h . prcJCc;,c .
()k l (JJ
- - '.J.:; ). ( 10.20 )
fJ~:

. or m.a I

tl -- 11· 1- r/
'
'• ()/ IJ II . { 10.109 )
1/ "
 Optical properties o f emico nductors
272
n r"Yconservation condition for Stoke catterin~
'vVh~rC Wt: h <l e U ed tl1 C e ~,; e ':'
u.i, = :.U\ U.,'q · f r () = 0,

(j - Dk l
~
. ~ (lf>.2J() ,
uw ...,,Wq·
which pe~.; i fi , a truight li~ when w ·11 i plotted against q. This line has the
same ·I a. the di ·p r. t n curve o~ the i~cide~t light and inter e
th lower branch of tht: ph no n -polanton d1spers1?n curve as shown in
Fig. l .35 ~ r GaP. A (} i m rea ed from zero,_the hnes from Eq. _( 10.209J
app ar to th right f the e = 0 lme and also mtersect the ~~!anton di·-
Fig. 10.35 per·ion cur The e inte rsectio ns correspo~1d t~ the cond1t10ns for the
Phl n n - 1 laritun dispc -io n cun•c exp rimen tal ob n;ation f polaritons. It IS ev1dent that the polariton
in GaP. lid line ~1r theorettGll curves disp r ion cur e to the right f th f1 = 0 intersection can be determined h~
and da~h e-d !Jnes are u nco upled pho to ns
a nd ph non . Ex perimen ta l da ta
Raman scattering.
den ted by 0 . D.. o (a fter H enry Back scattering i characterized by the maximum value of q when 0 == I 0
anti Hopfi ld 196 ). and is given by
q1110 x = [n(u.l;)wi + n(w ) s]fc. (I 0.211

For typical light scattering expaiments in the visible region the range of the
incident wave vector is 0 < k i < 10° cm - 1. This implies that for first-order
scattering processes the accessible range of q under conditions of wave
vector conservation is small compared to a nonzero reciprocal wave vect r.
Light scattering experiments yield the fr~.;quencies of optical modes at
essentially the center of the Brillouin zone.
The energy and momentum conservation rules have to be modified when
the lifetime of the crystal excitations are strongly limited by their decay intl)
other crystal excitations. Momentum conservation bn::aks down in
imperfect crystals, in solids lacking translational symmetry like amorphou~
materials. and in crystals which are opaque to incident and scattered light.
In those cases where the incident and scattered \Vave_ are damped in ·id
the scattering volume, such as occur in small gap semiL onductors that ac
opaque at the light frequencies involved , k 1 and k · m l'L1mpk:x. Th'
inelas tic scattering is due to excitations having a rang~ vf \\"1\t: ' ctor

!J.q = /Im k i[ + jlm k 2 / ( IO: '-

a~out q = Re(k1 - k 2 ). Effect associated with su h a \\"L\t~ \ cwr utKl"f·

t.amty ,have been reported in Raman scattering sp cn.t l r II \ ' ~em'·
~.:onductor compounds (Buchner and Burstein 197-t).
10.8.2.4 S{'cond-order Raman scatt{'ring
Second-order . .
R ·ll1l'' l'l sc·ttt .· . ·
' u " e t tng m vo 1'es tw o p h< nt n · r
phonon
. . ·t.s. 111 ftrst-ordcr sc·ttte 1-.1·n
. ' g. TJ·1e pnss1
. .hi 't:C nt- r
1
the lollmvm g· two pho .
. ·. I1L ns may be LTearc-d , Q i \ in~ .1 t•
thl.· scattcrcdll!!ht ,L) runeis c 1·e·lt·t· . J
.• ~ · ' l.:l .tnu r11C'ul~11·rJ~ - ~tr
or atllt - SlL)J... , component · or h Llltn.t\ tJ· . ht.'L] ~..,tr
L· <~mt ullt'lll. ~~r C;tch nf th ~ . .. . . .
. . . s l.tSes there are th
tt ~ l -1 td ~.: t c lt.:~ i rllll phun 1) 11 . • . .
. Ill 1I.: I d dlllllS I J , , Ill •I
]1 J L)J1 HI II l ' :IC(l\)11 . -
 Li ht cctter'ng 27

r I .uno.ln ,._.:,tt ·t1n • lh ',, L H~ll 1 ..:un-

!1 \ h -r · q 1 .1111 q, t • tl lh' \\.1\'C v •LLu r -. ul
n Ill illll pl.ll'~" n 1 r-·,t nclll n un the magni-
1 " t l \ d r..... th ·r l h:.t n Jq 1l - jq2 J. which i
1 ,~attcrng \\ here tf ....... O h ~... l .sihl· ph n m
\. 1.11 ·J \\ 1tb -.cL'(' nc.l -1.. rtl r p r :>c ·~ e. · re ....... 1 + ...;2.
.....·~ ~d itr-rc ncc ba nd), and 2...v 1 (c e t o n
- , cr :. .JIIcring "P Llr 1m L:O er :1 hr lad ra n g~
•r (' pc~t rum pr :wide. i.l H1 a ~ u r or thl' ph o non

• :xperiment
rt\:ring t cur. ,~·h n th incident r scatter d photon - IRlml F

... nt'rg fan inlerm diate electronic state relative to

100
, -tHe. C rtain term , in the Raman amplitude given by .::
n i,ag leadingtoa r Jar!! scatteringcrosssccti on.We .Q
uu
r• nee o ·.:ur in t he tokes ·pectrum when liw,. = liw0 and '/;
v.
n....,, == 1 he halon energie resona te with the excitation energies of the
/ ,
0
u
....
int."nll~: ate t le- a or h. If a and I a r the -arne state. resonance occurs ~ 10
near!. ~rmulf n t u-1~ for both.~.·, and...; and gives rise to a particularly E
0::
0::
tron.:c enh. n ement of the ' Ca tt ring efficiency. Jt is thus clear that the u
.:::
re.- n. nee ph nomen n is pecifi t the nature of the intermediate state :;
ez::
~

and It m,·c ·tiJ:ltion leads t baj info rmation concerning the electronic
tate_ of the y-tem. We hall n w e ·amine the resonance behavior in
2.4 _.6 2.8 3.0 3.2
-everal ca e- '"here th int rm iate tares are carrier Bloch states. free Incident photon energy (eV )
ex iton . or bound ex iton .
Fig. 10.36
R mumce ar the .ftaJL~zmemal band gap Rama n cross section as a function
The divergent b havior f the Raman amplitude is associated with the of incident pho ton energy for a llowed
factor (17._·1 - Eg) 1 , wh re E~ is lhe lowe-t direct band gap of the material. first-o rder TO-pho no n scattering in GaP
at roo m temperature. The experimemal
R onanc at thi gap in GaP ha been obse rved experimentally (Bell eta/.
results (crosses) ha ve been adjusted to
19 "). The scattering cro . ection a a function of incident photon energy is agree with theory a t 2.64eV (Bell t'l a/.
h " n in Fig. 10. "6. 1973).

Re. onance ar f ree . -citon states

Th Raman int nsity a< a function of the incident photon energy has a
Lorentzian lin hape in the range of a single intermediate state. It is cen-
t red t lh r n nee freq uency and has a \Vidth determined by the lifetime
f th intermediate state. The distinction between scattering at resonance
and ca trering off resonance in the \Vings of the Lorentzian is that at
r onance the intensity i.s determined by the exciton lifetime, whereas off
re onance it is determined by the frequency separation from resonance.
· ince in m ny instances excitons have very long lifetimes, they can lead to a
v ry large Raman cro s section at resonance.
Re 011ance ar bound exciton states
c lt ring induced by the presence of impurities involving bound exciton
ta te~ has the following essential features: (a) observation of sharp reso-
nance at the en rgies of the bound exciton which form discrete levels below
 Optical properties of se mico nductors
21
. . nc· . (b ) dependence upon impurity concent
r ··1ton
the fl' ~x~.:
rc )11< 1 ~;;.
fL )ph)non f wavevectoroftheorderoftheinv
ratr
( ~.:~ 1•11 hemt:llO . . !ius Re nance at boun d exc1ton . re
energie ha ~-.._
th, in1 P 1 •11 ): li.Jh... r a'-ind~ced r s na nt Raman scattering bv
b e . ·d 111 mtpUII ) 1 . ~ -
LO
phovte
n0n
~ . d lwh 971 ). The resonance IS centered at the ab
Ill s Dat lCll .111 • . . .
• th . 1 11 unty -.. t, te c.l nd hds ,1pprox1mately Lorentz1an sh
•
.
r

1
tlllpa
Ir t
.
'-"'r• , ·..e~ . c ll a I c.thzcd
1111 Uri 1y g 1\ 1 .
... ·, c1t1ona·I mode. bound .Xetta or,
v1·b1--.
am.Ln scatten g due to t_he local mo?~ can occur. -\a
rc on<~n t: ha, b n found tn CdS contatntng Cl impuriti .

10.8.3 Anharmonic effe cts on Ramon spectra

In a perfect ry tal who· vi ra tions are harmonic and which is transparent

(a) to the incident and catter d ligh t. the Raman line shape is a delta function
cen tered on th ptiLa l phonon frequency. Experimentally one finds thJt
Oj e en in r, tal f ver high quality, the Raman line is broadened into a
roughly L r ntzian hap - v ith a width that increases with incr a. ing
tempera ture. This width can be attributed to anharmonic terms in th
vibrational Hamiltonian.
(b) Let us consider the cubic anharmonic terms in the expansion t)f the
nuclear potential energy given by Eq . (7 .1 ). If normal coordinates ·r
Oj
introduced using Eq. (7.66) and then creation and destruction operuto ·
via Eq. (8 .138), we obtain a number of terms. one of which contains th
product ao;a~1 , a 11~;; . This term gives rise to a Stokes light s~artering
process involving the absorption of a photon fi....:i . the emission of J
photon fiws, and the creation of an optical phonon Oj \vhich then 'a!.
Fig. 10.37 via cubic anharrnonicity into two phonons q 1_it and q2 j 2 . Energ) JnJ
Diagra ms repre enting three-phonon wave vector conservation give the relat ions w, - .,:_, = ..~.·11 L,. + . ..:~:': JnJ
anharm nic pr c ~.; contributing to
th e deca f the Raman active optical
ki - k~ = q, + q~. respectively. A diagram representing this pr · · •:i
m )de. shown in Fig. l 0.37a.
A second process of interest arises from the pr duct ao/t11 l, a;:. ·111J '
re~resented diagrammatically in Fig. 10.37b. In t is ~ ro~.-e~s the phl'11
q,;, IS destroyed rather than being created . Th L nserv·1til'I1 Ct'miiuon ':.
wi - w,.· = -w.1/i /.1 w 1/;Jc. and k. i - "1. s = - q, + q, .
It sho u ld bcnoted t1attheextremesmalln
1 , - fth hl)ttm\\ :1\ t' \\, 'll -
1

k. ' ·1nd k. s leads t o th e approximate · wave veer )f · m:l!n<llttHI ~\' · n ltll•'rt'

q ::::= - q, and q~ :::: q,. but no restrictil)n 1.m th m.t!..nttmh; l'r ql '11 ' .
2
other than q 1 ,....,
- (/ -) · 011 sequent
~ . tH..:n, . h1 f~l · - ~· l ..•111 ,ar, ''
1y. t h c trcq
a range about woi and thereby impart a nonz n.. I Hh t~.) th , ,t lll·ln ltn .
treatmg
, .
the "·1 nh •·11111
. 0lliC· terms as a p~:Tt u rb.ttJ )Jl. 1.. n '.Ill ' t lH 1 :tl
hall-width at h·tlf . · .
' -m,tXIJ1llllll <ISSOCI;tkd . t 1r ,j ' •
\\ ith CUhH.. tflh nlh)Jlll.l
wavelength optical 11 h ) . .
~ l nons Is g1v~ 11 h~

,.
f ~, ""' I - """"",)
 Light c tt nng
275

nd ,,n 11 . 111 d ""' lHI\l: pia ·c 1 q ' ' a n I q I'·

:!. l tLm ' '

0 •
10
· ) ( J \j ~o
( - q):!. f ,.·1'f
~ _,.,, ) :!.e
l tq RU')
· Rl ' ,,. 1 . ( 10.214)
5
r ~ndence r th
line width is d et rmined by the
wr~ n 1 ~1nd the temperatur approaches ze ro,
/h. f _oo 4110 "'no xno 1onn 12110
T(K)
r '· and th wid th appn aches the value due to the
the nuclei. l l ~ mperatures abo ve the Debye tem- Fig. 10.38
t: o ~ubic · nh a rm nicit y becomes proportional toT. The quantit, 21(0/. w) versu · a hso lute
· 1t~ impart~ a T - dep ndence to the \vidth which tempe ratun:: the r ba sed on cubic
nl ar wr) high t rn p ratur ~ · The experimental data in a nharm onicit_ (crosses). expenment
(o pen and so hd circles) (after Haro
1 enc f b th c ntributions.
et a/. 19R6)
hr adening a n ha nnonicity causes a shift of the fre-
mt ·n it} to lower value.. as the temperature increases.
c n~rih ulll n t the :hift pr p rtio nal to T and T - arise in the high-
temperat ure r"gim i'rom ~...ubic and qu a rtic anharmonicity , respectively .

l 0.8.4 light scattering due to electronic excitations

10.8. . I Light cattering by plasmons
Pl mon,: are 1milar to LO phonons in that they have a macroscopic
le tric field . ocialed with them. The field modulates the electric sus-
ptibility and gi\ ri t R, man scattering. The difference in frequency
r th in ident and sca tter d light is equal to the plasma frequency u.,•,
- c1fied b:y ,.~.)} = 2 n/co ~ 111 ', \·v here n is the electron concentration, m ~ is
their ffe ive ma . a nd c is the high-frequency dielectric constant.
To a] ulal the d iffe rentictl "·cattering cross section one must deal with
the o ulomb in t raction between electrons. This can be done using stan-
daJd ma n. -b d _ techniques. The result is (Wallis and Balkanski 1986)
1
d CT (w·
lirG 1 ) , • J
--._-= ~ ~ (ei·e5 )-[n(w)+l ] [ReE(q,w),
i'i1 w ( 1 __ '±' w1
]
(10.215)

where ro is th cia sica! electron radius e214nf0 mc 2 , <P = e2 I Eof .- V(/, Vis
th volume. n('-'--·) i, the Bose factor [e 11"-'' l k!JT - I] - I, and F(q, w) is the
Lindhard dielectric function for the interacting electron gas. In the regime
or mall q, Re F(q.u..') can be approximated by

',2)
(
. wp
f(O,w) = f -x: I- w::! . ( 10.216)

Thus. the scattering cross section has a delta-function peak at w = w,.

Th s is the well-known plasma resonance in the scattering cross section.
 . of semicond uctors
Optical propert aes
276
'dth of the plasma resonance line in the
non-zer w J . . . P e~n
T) n 11 l.LJn 1 ._ •ces ary to include mteract10ns of the free c·
,lppr ·imallnn. ll L nt: - . . . 1965) arn r
. . r phon 1n · Pl..ttzm,w ·
'' ith Jmpunlle". -,...<.JLICn ·y · I LO p h onon f requency lh
1• close tnt 1c
\\'h~.;n th p Iu m.l 1 t.: • • . . • ere1
nintcract i vwthemacroscop1celectncfield that!
a pla"m n- ph~ n . . Th' b . ead
l cl up Ied mo c ' d ., ·mJ forc.:c'i the fr LJUencies apart. Is ehav10r i e ·d
1 erp
in fi£. 10.34 fM n-G• As.
fig.10.39
R • n p~llrtl:ll Jor n- '~' \, t tfto:r O. .4.2 Light cattering a. ociated with interband transitions
1
I radaJn.1nJ I \\l•rto:rl<l, The p!Jsmon. J~.:.LIL \ rith in the preceding ectio~ _are a? intraband type I
_. ·itali n. 1. uf inlereL t are interband transitiOns m which a earner
F under•.,.oc
0
a tran iti n fro m on band to a different band during the Jt-
tering proce ·.An cxa pie i · provided by p-ty~e silic?n in which an 1 .
C11ndu lion
hands tron mak a tran ·ition r m a n o cupted state m the light hole band t an
um , upi d . tat in the h uv hoi band via the conduction band as ·bo11 r.
in F ig. 1 .40. F r tb e ca of isotropic bands the scattering ellicienc\
spc trum ·n 0 K ha harp eJ ges. If the anisotropy of the valence band ;~
t· n in t ac ount, th sha rp edges of the spectrum are smoothed out. a.
- -- -F
vI can be s en in iu-. I 0.41.
alene.:: band The experimenta l R aman spectrum for p-Si exhibits the broad on-
v2 tinuum predicted by theory but the comparison between theory and
f ig . 10.40 experiment is complicated by the presence of discrete Raman lines uc
Electron• tran ition..:cu rring in optical phonons. The resulting distortio n of the spectrum is associated 1\llh
imervalence band Raman scattering. Fano interference that occurs between the discrete phonon lines and the
electronic continuum.

(x,y ) p= 1.1 3 I 0 20cm·3 10.9 Photoemission

. -•• \ p= l.60 I010cm·3

( .y) '-···<.~~88nm 10.9.1 Direct photoemission

The pho_toelectric effect is a \veil-known phenomenon in me-tals. Th.: L·Qr·
u
~= V) •,
~ci
~es~ondmg effect in serniconductors is known as photoemission. lfu ph~.' 1 ' 11
"
E (X ..-l)
li1CH.i ent on a semiconductor has a sufficientl hi gh ene-rgy. H ·;w
~ o~~~so~o~~~,o~oo~~~~5~0o~
\Vave nulllhcr (em·' ) ~tbsorbed with the si multa neous ejection of an ele~t ro~ from a ,·akn~~ ~,ll'l
1111 0
the vacuum outside. By <.H1~ l yzing the energies and mom~ntn th" °'
fig. 10.41 pho
.
to · t'on11a ti·o n a bout th · ~e nen,:\ w;n e \ c•L·t 1r r"- ·
n <·md the e··Ject.1 on. Ill
ln ll:n·ale nce band R·lllnn pc~.:trum for tton of the va lence 1...a ll n
d unc1e r cons1deratr
· · n 'an he ~b- .u·ne~I·
ani o tropic ha nd, at 0 K (a ter K· nchisa Let the photo 1 1 1 th •rn•·
et of. 10. 2 ). , . . n 1ave e nergy fiu..' and wan; \' ~L'lL r k.,. atlL 1 , •.
conductor be tntnn s-1·c. ~ (' .
- onscrva tJOn ot• enert'\ then 1 a J · L1 !h,c ,.,,"~ u,tll
;::-,

fiw £, .~; = 1.·~ + \ + t.' 1.:.,

 Photo mis ion 277

thand

Td.,,,, h" IIIli

( ( 0 .21 9 ) I

tl ,,t thl ·jcct ·d ~:led ron The ph~ Lon wave vc l r i-, spe- r--·•- -.- - L,
ltt n 'flhe inl·tlknt hghl h~am anJ hy it m •nit udc gi e n
Lh luc l( r• can b~ obtained from the mca:ured va lue ol
Tb dt r ti n t v 1. J t rmined by experiment. The info r-
h nd to d du c Lhe elecLr n wav~ eclc r k fr m
Distance
pcrimenb with val ues f/lu..~ abovc th re" hold a nd using
........, ......,~m= mcu-;urcd '.Iuc of Eu. o n b lain, va lues of/;;,." fro m Fig. 10.42
hu , othA anJ £,.~.. c n bed lermin db h o Lo emissi n. An Band d iag ram howing the rerttne nt
, l i c band slructur btaincd in l hi w<J y i. rrive n in Fig. 10.4:~ t:nergies fo r photocmi io n .

mi ndut.:t 1r i h avil d op d \Vith impurities so lhal the high est 10

d -.tr n tatei.nolonger th va lence band ed ge£ 1·,Eq. (l0.21 8)
~ Ge
hr h ld photon nerg_ m u l be modifi ed. ln the case of don o r
6
tmpunt uh th F m1i e nerg I ing a bo ve the conduction band edge by
n amt unt !l 1• !1 1 i gi en by 4
2
( 10.220) CBM
0
>
a· hown in Fig. 10 .44. For a epto r impurities, on the other hand, with the ~ -2
:;.,

Fermi an amou nt b.p below lhe valence band edge. one has
0{)
energ~ ~--4
WJ
-6
( 10.221 )
-8
a h wn m J!!. I .4- .

10.9.2 Inverse photoemission -14 L.___ _ ___.J._ _ _ __ _ _ ,

L r
o far we ha di cu . sed the use of photoemission in the determina tion of Wave vector k
energie f ba nd stat e ' tha t are occ upied by electrons. W e novv turn to the
inv r p roccs w hich en a bles one to determine the energies of unoccupied Fig. 10.43
Energy bands of Gc. Solid lines arc
t t : . Inverse photoemission consis ts of injecting an electron of known theoretica l results. Expe rimental
n rg_ and wave vector into a solid and measuring the frequency of pho- res ults are denoted by c . f::. . 0. 0
to n emitted in a given direction. The injected electron is trapped in an (aftl:r Ortega and Hi mpsel. 1993).
empty tate \Vhich is typica ll y a conduction band state . lJ the latter h as
eners'Y 6.ok above the conduction ba nd edge, conservation of energy leads
to the relati o n

hw + 6.,k =X+ EAE (10.222)

wh re EA·t: is now the kinetic energy of an incident electron and liw is the
energ_ fan emitted photon. From a previous ly determined value of y and
meas ured valut:s of£/\£ and liw, one obtains the value of bonk· Conservation
o f momentum yields the value of k. Experimental results for co nduction
band energie in G e are presented in Fig. I 0.43 .
 . f ·conductors
Optical properties o semr
2 8

J: It· 10.9.3 Surface state energies

_. . ·nm~nts in ·oiving electrons in the l 0-40eV range
PholocmJ"'>tnn e. p . ._ . are
.
\\cll·uJtcl1 L 1 s
nr . _ -~ •
b
tl tudy dedr rue surface states ecau e such electr
. on
. . . ths n1_ 0 ly a I_ w <~tomtc
ha H: mean rrcc I•" ·
1dyers. Conservation
o
f
nl•'mcn t um 111 •\ , 111 ol ·e·onl\ thcc, mponentofwavevector
. . . . _
paralleltothe
urta~.:c.Ane mpl ul urface ·t~te · r s grvenmfJg.l0.46tor Ieancleaved
,, :\ ilO). n 1 , 1• ct that th ·"uria e state band closest to the valence band
d!:! li, in.:iJc the, It:ncl: band is ue to surface r~constr~ction . Without
rc'"~on trucltL)Jl 1 v uld lie in the gap and be assoctated with the danglin 2
h , d 1.."1f the urf~tLC~ at m · ~
Fi .10.44 \er interl:l\lin~ e. ten ion o f he photoemission technique i to surfaces
land d1a ram fot n-t)p.: matcriJI \\ ith u··orbed al ,ms ( ebt!nnt: 1994. Himpsel 1994). The large number o·
:.~d orbatc ,pe~.:ie a\ aih le ma ke · possible a rich variety of sy terns and
phenomena lObe xplored . T h re are two general effects due to adsorbed
E·HC ----- - - - atom . The fir t i. the liminaLi n o f da ngling bonds and surface states
a soci.lt d with them. The econd is the generation of new surface states
I
that ari e from the p r ence of the adsorbate.
£~ +1.+ An xample o the latter ituation is provided by the alkali metal i'ia
1--+-----.f----Ec
ad · rbed n Si( Il l . T he a lkali s-electron can be viewed as pairing with the
ingl electron oft he dangling bond o f a surface Si atom to give a Ione-pair-
lik occupied surface sta te labeled by S in Fig. 10.47 and an unoccupied
f---L---t--- £1 ~
- ----~- - - · !' alkali state la beled bv U( in Fig. 10.47. The ' e states have been explored
ex perimentally by photoemission and inverse photoemission. r specti\el~ .
Distan e
with res ults indicated by the crosses in Fig. 10.47 (Reihl eta/. 1 99~).

Fig. 10.45
Band diagram for p-t)·pc ma te rial. Problems
I . D!scuss the tempera ture dependence o f indirec t interhand ahsl)rplion in I nn.
of the emission a nd a bsorp ti on o f pho nons. Derive an e~pre · ion fl1 f th'
ab. o rptt on coefficient tha t gives its explicit tempe rature depend nee.
2. In the semtconducto r Cu_O th e co nduction band minimum and \ akn-:e ttJnJ
maxm1t1m occur at k == 0. but a t thi · p oint bo th bands haYe e\ en pant~ anJ ~n
elcctnc dtpole transition between them is forbidden. Fl)f k r 0 l)dd pant~
states a re admixed into the wave func tion s a nd the inkrba nd matri\ elemenr_'
the momentum operator takes the approximate form (Bank ·n d '1 · I ll:-~.
(c[Pi t )~ (lll / mj )hk, when; ~~~~ is a n effective mass !'t)r th tran iti ' 11 · [)enl•
a n expressiOn for the interband abso rption L'L)ellk t nt nt~·l that n:' ._,bIt'
freq
. ,
uencv• depcncten···· ' ~x r)l . ··tl u• . . .
"" c:. t l~t y. vv 11at lttnctll)n un o h111g 1(...:1 gt · • · ·
\ · ·1 .;tr JJ\!
hnc when plou cd a!!_ainst ,.,
~ - T he r ·t d • · 1~ · · "".
. _Irs -o r ct poa n zatton given by Eq. (10 . 1 ~-H ha. n,) lhrall 'tlJI ,,.,1·
lttbLttlOJl 111 homo•) :l)· , ·
t L .tr SC I11ll'O ilduCtl)fS StiCh a .'
, . 1.. .. ,
I ,llld Ul..' l''I...ILI:-1..
t·· Pl 1.trt
However. a s..:co nd-l1 1.Lt:r • .L.atto
. n dl)C!-. ' \ t' [ 11 thc ),)nn
.

Fig. 10.46
~ Li t <t<.:C tate ufdc,,n ' a/\~( I I OJ Solid
'"·' ' J'"'' 1
and da I ctl l inL'> arc t hcun:t1c il 1 'Ml lh .
pcnllll; n l I d:ll;t :Ill' d <: ti u l cd h y J ub
latter c l l't tn,· ltJ'I.tJ
 Refer nces
279

k.ll ur·sol l h ;d"1rpl ton !, ·i r um! Rc l •rc:nu: :

Dcn\1..
.u r (, L rlasnH 11- I f ' C:l' p 111.:a J
1· r d ·c lrnn C"l ll en r<tli 11'> ~uch
is L' 1\ll'l<.?d . P l l) L Lh rr ~q UC ll ' J('S

• . errecL w hc 1 tht'

Fig. 10.47
Surface sLa te- ofSi(l LI)- a. Solid lin~s
an:: th eore tical tr ults. · xp rimental
ferences data are denoted by cro ·es (after
H imp-el 1994).
B. bele:. C R. Wr n ki . T. Tiedje, a nd G. D. Cody, Solid Stale Commun. 36,
:r (I 'OJ.
1 Balkan.ki, in Optical Prop rtics o{ Solids, ed. F. Abeles (North-Holland,
Annerdam. 197_) p 53 i .
1. BaiJ...an~k1 and W. azarewicz .!. Phrs. C hem. Solids 25, 437 ( 1964).
, 1. Balkan ki J.nd \ . Naza r wi z. J. Phys. hem. Solids 27, 671 ( 1966).
J. Bard n. . J. Blatt. and L. H. Hall, in Proceedings of the Photoconductivity
Con{ere11ce held a t tlanri City, t:ds. R. G. Breckenridge, B. R . Ru ·sell, and
E. E. Hahn (Joh n ile_ . Nevv York. 1956). p. 146.
M. 1. Bell. R. N. Tyte. and M. ardona. Solid State Commun. 13, 1833 (1973) .
.J . L. B1rm n, Ency ·/op edia nf Physics . Vol. XXV 12b (Springer-Verlag. Berlin,
19 -+ ).
1. B rn and K . Huang, D.nwmicaf Theory o/Crystaf Lattices (Ox ford University
Pr .Oxfrl. l9 -4) .
1. Born and ~ . \Volf. Principles of Optics, Third edition (Pergamon Press,
xford. I -
. Brill uin . A nn. Physique 17, l:H:l (1922) .
. Buchner and E. Burstein . Phys. Rev. Lelf. 33. 908 ( 1974).
Bur ·t in, Phys. Rer. 93. 632 ( 1954).
Burstein. G . Picus. and N. Sclar, in Proceedings of' the Photow nducril•ity
Con eren e held at Atlantic C it1•, eds. R. G. Breckenridge, B. R. Russell. and
E. E. Hahn (John Wiley New .York. 1956). p. 353. ~
E. Burstein . A. Pinczuk, and R. F. Walli , in The Pln·sics t!f' Semimerafs and
Narro11· Ciap Semiconducwrs, eds. D. L. C rter and R. Bate (Pergamon Press,
Oxford . 197 1) p. 25 1.
T. C. Damen and J. Sh·~h. Phr. . Re r. Leu. 27. 1506 (1971).
J. 0 . Dimmock. in Scmicomluctors and Semimetals, Vol. III. eds. R. K . Willardson
and A. C. Beer (Academic Press. New York. 1967). p. 259.
W. Dumke. Phys. Rn. 105. 139 (1957).
D J. Evans. S. shioda. and J .D. McMullen, Phrs. R er . LetT. 31 , 369 (1973) .
E. rmi. ucfeur Physics (University of Chicago .Press, Chicago, 1950), p. 142 .
1. Grynberg, R . Le Toullec. and M. Balkanski. Phys. Rt:'l'. B 9, 517 ( 1974).
E. Haro. M. Balkanski. R . F . Wallis. and K. H. Wanser, Phys. Rev. 834. 5358
( 1':1))6)
W. 1-Jayes and R . Loudon, Scallering ofLight hy Crystals (John Wiley, New York,
197)) ),
J. R. Haynes. Phys. R ev . 98, 1866 (1955) .
280 Optical properties of semiconductors
. od J J. Hopfield, Plzys. Rev. Lett. 15, 964 ( 196~):
C. H. Hem Y a · · H /.Z Jclk 011 Semiconductors, Second edttlon, Vol. , .....
F 1 Hm1psef, JO U/11 Jc ' 994) 2 ""
. M. B~llka nski (North-Holla nd, Amsterdam, I .
. I · Pl! n 29 ..t-10 119M).
T. Ho stem . ·4 Ill/. d n ) A208 352 ( 1951 ).
· • ·.
K. Hua ng. Proc. Ro_1 . Soc. (Lon
.
•
° · .
R F W·tllis and M . Balkanskt, Phys. Rev. B 25, 7619 09B2)
M . · K ane 1wa. · · " 97 19 ( 1955) '
M . L· x and E. Burstein . P/11.\. Re ·. ·- ·
R. LeT Ltllcc. The 1s, Pan (I 6 ).
G. . MacFarlane and V. ohert_s. Phys. ~ev. 98. 1865 (1955).
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111
M. Balk n.ki orth-H o llund, A m t rdam, 1994).
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W . van Roos broeck and W . Shockley. Phys. Rev. 94, 1558 (1954 ).
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(North-Holland. Amsterda m, 1986). ·
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 nd
nomena

EHects of magnetic and

electric fields
f til m 1g11NO<on luctirit_r te11sor ·rr '-'-') satisfy the general
· -
11
{•.•.:) wb h res ults from the reality of the electric 11 .1 Frequency-dependent conductivity
tensor
1 · lmion l{')r lon gitudinal propagation
~..,... --
is c2 k 2X = w 2 t: - . 11 .2 Propagation of on electromagnetic
c the effect1 ·c dielectric constants for right circularly wove in the presence of o magnetic field
P) a nd left circularly polarized (LCP) light. respectively.
ti\t: di k ctric nstants for transverse propagation arc the
n ii ulur or V igt d ielectric constant r- ..L and the parallel dielectric
n tant
Th~.: Far da_1 d}ect L the rotation of the plane of polarization of a 11.3 Macroscopic expressions for
plane-p lan7ed I c tr magnetic wave as it propagates parallel to an mognetodispersion and magneto-
absorption
extern. I magnetic fie ld. Faraday rotation is expressed in terms of the
angle of ro ta t ion per unit sample thickness. The extinction coefficients
for the t\ · circula rly olarized '"'aves are different: an initially plane-
polarized light b am becomes elliptically polarized corresponding to
magnerodrchrni 111 . F araday rotation is a nonresonant phenomenon
a nd o ne rn wave propagation. Afag11eto-ahsorptirm is a resonant
phen mena n and can have intraband and interband contributions.
Th 1·oigr effeu is the phase difference introduced by a magnetic field
b~t w en the parallel and perpe ndicular components of a plane-
p !ariz d wave propagating perpendicular to B 0 .
a raday r tation is a convenient method to investigate effective masses
a nd band tructures at moderate magnetic fields in the infrared region 11.4 Faraday rotation due to intraband
transitions
of the sp ctrum .
I n parabolic hands the etrective mass is independent of the free carrier
concentration and is equal to the efl'ective mass at the band edge.
In nonparabolic hands the effective mass is a measure of the band
cun·a ture at the Fermi energy. By varying the ca rrier concentration one
a n explore the energy band.
o r el ctrons LCP radiation is associated with cr~ and gives resonant
a b::-o rption at the cyclotron frequency we· For holes it is RCP radiation
tha t ::ives re. onant absorption at w,.
In the presence of a magnetic field the energy eigenvalues of free carriers
11 .5 Electronic eigenstotes in a constant
are quamized into sub bands or Landau le vels. For parabolic bands the
magnetic field
 . I nd electro-optical phenomena
Magneto -ophca a
282

e fro 11 chang s in the refractive index that are

.. 1
,\ P• fi 1L Fo · lane polarized light the material
e
1 1 1 .'cmiconductors with a center of inversion
hibit th~ Po k Is effect.
l'
Th·· Ko t/( a · t: lr m thir -t rdcr nonlinearities and is quadratic in
th • ppli.~d I ctric 1eld.
h Fran K.t!Jvsh efJ~·cr i · th -:hift of the inter band ab orption edge to
IL) \ er photon energie under the influence of an applied electric field.

Application of an '\t~rna l el ctric field modifies the optical reflectivity

11.9 Modulol•on spectroscopy Jbove Lh absorp tton e ge. The relative changes in reflectivity show
b h ·i r hat can be u ·ed to give information a bout energy band
. (fliC IUrt:'.

This chapter is divided into three major parts. In the first part magnet -
optical phenomena are discussed from a classical point of view. Oprical
a b. orption as exemplified by cyclotron resonance and disper ·ion a·
exemplified hy the Faraday and Voigt effects are analyzed . In the second
part a quantum mechanical treatment is presented. The theL)ry f the
Landau levels of an electron moving in a uniform magnetic field is dt:\el-
oped and appl_ie~ to optical properties. In the third part the etT ct· of an
external electnc held on optical properties are discussed.

11.1 Frequency.dependent conductivity tensor

The .presence of a mao-net·
~
. t- ·Jd · · · d ··
H.: tt: · mtroduces an amstrop,· tnl t a ~L)n u~.;llllf
medn1m. In. the case of '-1 cu
, b. I· ·
1c att1ce wtth a umtorm magn t1 · lleld p.1r.t. 11 I
· .. - -
to the .:-axts, the conductivity tensor a is given hy -

a ( ~..<..') =
(
cr n ·
,...
I J

0
\' \
(T_\1 "

rr ,

,.,.,
()

\
~ ) II

The d:ml'nlsofrr ( ' ) . · ·

Jj ·c u -.~. "'- '> dltSI ) i.l IIU111 \!r u i" g~.,•n r.tl
 Frequency-de pe ndent conductivity tensor 283

p1 p ~ rl t ' <; nl- sem i<.: m du to rs . th ~ <tp pliccJ

tin •cJl('J ,Jl ,·tnctly nwnnchrtH11alic. Tht ·lcc trit: field
d 111 1he ft-, rm

( I 1.2)

i· then

J
;u) = -::;-- [T'- a (w' ·
.
c( )e '_.j' d(;). (I 1. 3)
_1f. - 'X'

Th , frhc 1 ctri lield E(r) and the current density i(t) lead s to the
3

p rt)

( 11.4)

f r 311 th I ·ment of the tensor a.

E pli ·tt pre s1 n~ ~ r the elements of the magnetoconductivity tensor
a oci,ned' 1th fre a rri r · in pherical energy band can be derived from
the ·las ical equatio n f motion
... dv m*
m -d + - v = ec[£ + v x .Bo], (11.5)
r r

wh re c i th ·arrier velocity, £ is the applied electric field , and .B0 is the

applied ( tatic) m agnetic field in the .:-direction. Were-express Eq. ( 11.5) in
ompon nt ~ rm a

( ll.6a)

(ll.6b)

( 11.6c)

Assuming that v and£ vary \.vith time as exp( - iwt) , we now solve Eqs. (11 .6)
for the components of v in terms of the components of£_ Multiplying the
components of v by the carrier concentration 11,. and carrier charge e c yields
the components of the current density j. Comparing these results with the
defining equation for the conductivity tensor a.
(I 1. 7)

we o btain the components of the conductivity tensor,

ao( I - iwr) ( 11.8a)
a,.,.
·· = a \'I' =
·· I - w .:.~ - w,~")) r -
( 7
- 2.1wr
ao ( Il.8b)
a -- = .
-- I - /WT
(I J.8c)
a xy = - ayx = I - (w2 - w,l)r2 - 2iwr

a .c = a :x = ay: = a :_1• = 0, (11.8d)

 . nd electro-optical phenomena
Magneto-op t 1ca1a
284
,7 / III a nd 170 = 17, c· r jn(. It should be noted that w is n
2
wll c r ....:,
. .
= £'1 .~..-.n
c .
.' . c-
s an d n ga 1ve for conductiOn electron . The elemen•· f
0\V
1,
pn I (I\ I! I' I L1 1C . , .. . .., 0
. . ten~ r , 'oil J rom Eqs. ( 1 1.8) usmg the relatiOn
the d ~~ 1edlll ,

= I + (i/Eow) (j . 01.9)

1. Propagation of an electromagnetic wave in the

re en e of a magnetic field
11.2.1 Longitudinal propagation, k II Bo
In theca l. of prL pagatton of an electromagnetic wave with wave vector k
p.tr..tlkl tu th~.; m<tgn ric fi 1J 13o . substitution of the plane wave solution
g1 n by Eq tl0.26) int th ' ve equations specified by Eq. (10.25)gen-
ralized to ten or 7 yidd the coupled equations
• ~ f- -
( '~ x = u..·
I '2 ( ("
Exx'-'x + Exy0("y ) ( ll.l Oa)

( ll.lOb ).

\.vhere 'vV have used the relations Eyx = -Exy • Exx = f 1 y, fc = Er= = 0. and
k = (0. O,k). Multiplying Eq. ( ll.lOb) by ±i and adding term hy term to
Eq. (I 1.lOa) we find that

(11.11 )

where we see appearing the radiation fields

£ ± -- J,.1
'-'x
± ' C"
l0 y ( ll.l~l

a nd the associated dielectric constants

E:= = f,_.,~ =f iExy (l 1.13

which characterize circula 1·I , 1 · .
factor [ · E ~II ) po_anzed light. Cancelling out the l:Ommon
111 11
rop·ooa±t. . q. h( : ) we obtam the dispersion relation for longitudinal
P ' '::o 10n m t e torm -

( 11.1~ )

We shall follow the tr· d'1 .

detine rioht circtll· I Ia . twnal convention ( BDrn and \ If I9o5) and
0 c~r v po anzed (RCP) 1·
rotates clock 11 ·i\'e wl ' . " 1ght to han· an I ctrh: ,,:wr wh11.:h
. ·
Irum which the lioht · . ~
1en VIewed by .
e- lsLom u F
. <~n
b
r ..
.
°
server looking bttt · 111 the- J1r~; 'lll' n
-
clectnc vector rnl'\t "" . 111 e- · or 1e l nrcularly p lari /'d L p h~h . th ·
.
. ~ ' es counter ·/111 ·k .
sp~::ul!ed by Eq. ( 10 .., ) . . . . < ll'l.\'t' .
Th e ~k tn · i II l lllJ n ·nl
·-6 ~.lllsty the relati,)ns
RCP · f r, - ._ 0 ,(' i( l.r ·-''
II I
l ,' - ~· .~ '
I -
"""' - J'o,c'l"··
. I
·11 II l
 Propaga tion of an electromogn f c wov
285

_ •
, n, t ,11A r ,•/)
( ll . l 6a )
I~ ..:::: 1 ,.II ,(1[/: r . •t) ( 1 l .lob)

\.IC;.ll W i th r·al rath er than complex fi eld cnmp o-

al p;Jrt of ea I f the. e equations we 1btain

~ ·,=&ox cos k·r -wt ) (II .17a)

t:: c = "n ·in (k · r - wr) (ll .l7b)

Rl' ~x = o~ co~(k · r- ....1t) (ll.18a)

{ R .. r = - u\ sm (k · r- wt). (ll.lRb)

lf \ 1tute Eq. ( 11.1 - and (11.16) into Eqs. (11.10) and refer to
Eq \e ee that €+ and _ are associated with R C P and LCP
radi t1. tJve1 .

11.2.2 Transverse propagation, k l_ 130

In thi. La e the propagati n vector k is in the x-y plane perpendicular to 130

whi h i ahvay· taken long the z-direction . Since Exx = Eyy the dielectric
~on taut i i otropic in the x- y plane and k can be taken in they-direction,
fore ample. Th n qs. ( 11.1 0) are replaced by the set of equations

(11.19a)

(ll.l9b)

C
2k2c _ , 2€ c ( 11.19c)
":. - w z:."::·

D e to the pola rization of the medium in this case, an electric field com-
po nent appears along the direction of propagation, given by

( 11.20)

It is n ar to distinguish two cases depending on whether£ is perpen-

dicular or parallel to 130 . In the first case, £ J. 130 • one has £:: = 0. Sub-
tituting Eq. (11 .20) into Eq. (11 . 19a) gives

2 2 2 ( 11.21)
C k .L = W
(
Exx + -c;Y J )

Exx

Fo r£ ll13o, one has from Eq. (11.19c),

' 7
c -klf =w - E::·
J (11.22)

Equations ( 11.21 ) and ( 11.22) are characteristic of transverse prop~gatio~.

The effective dielectric constants are the perpendicular or Voigt d1electnc
 . d electro-optical phenomena
Magneto-ophca 1a n
286
c< n tant '
2
u
r = fn + -f\x (11.23

, r ·tll.,l dick tric t:o n l ' nt ' II given byE::::· For spherical bands f
a J1{ I t I1 I .t " - Jd d. 1 .
t · L n e1.1I ual to the zero tie te ectnc con tant f ( w') .
I
. I dcp J1
d ' 1 l) 1 CJ •1

.acr scopic expre ssions for magnetodispersion

an magneto-absorption
11.3.1 longitudinal propaga tion: Faraday configuration

1 h, F·trada~ onfigu ration is represented in Fig. 11.1. Introducing the

optict~l ~ n tarns n(..v•), r fracti e index , and K(:..V), extinction coefficient.
which have ben defined in tion 10. 1, Eq. (11.14) can be rewritten as

( .:. ,,1 :r.:>_.

- ......,,2 ":t:: ( ·)-
- = .
·..v·2( II· . -t-. l·K )2

The Faraday effect is the rot ation of the plane of polarization f a plane-
p larized lect magnetic wave as it propagates parallel to an external
magn ti fi Jd . It a ri ses because RCP and LCP waves propagate with dir-
feren t phase velocities, v::r: = c/n±, and a phase difference results between the
tw wa e . . A pla ne-polarized (PP) wave can be represented as the super-
position of R CP and LCP waves with equal amplitudes. From Eq ·. (ll.l"'l
and (1 I .18) we ha ve

Pp ·. { Re Ex = Eox[cos(k + · r- w t) + cos(k_ · ,. - u.·r)j ,.

f:>"e t~_~ = £ox [sink
( · r - wt ) - sin(k_ ·,.- wr )j. ( I 1·-:-

where the magnitude of k ± is specified by Eq. ( 11.24) and ki = 0. 0. k= 1

For typical situations of interest the absorption is \veak. so w can ignl're
the extinction coefficient K . Then k = (w / c)n :r. .
At z = 0 and t = 0. the PP wave is polarized parallel to th x-axis. At
::: = L, t.h e plane of pohrization has been rotated by an angl - rhat can '
determtnecl as follmvs. Using the trigonometric identities

cos 1.1 + cos u = 2 cos~ ( u + I') co s ~ ( ll - { )

sin 11 - sin r = 2 cos ~ ( u + l') s in~ (u - t',

\V C Can Write tan 8 as

. ,_, _ Re {, sin t (k
t(
l <1I1 \; 7 - ~ - - -'-7--- - -
Re E\ - Cl) s k - II -

- tan !(/\ I - A L.
T he angk (-) is therei'L)I'C'

f.l -= ~ (k - /, L )/ I
-I.
 Mogne odi persian a nd magneto-absorption 287

pr~ ·. <11 .1 ' ' - l'i'~lalil'll in Lcrrns ol' th · :m ~:tlc o l

n -. d c lm·dh

(-
0 = - = , , (11 - n ). ( I 1.2 )
L

ll a ell cb 1se ro tation for a n o bserver lookino hack

hinc ,, a\ to

Is"'~ h w.: that the extinction coetTicients forth "' two

\\J c· arc d dTc rent, a a c n ·equ ence of whi han
lur11ed v. a e I ccomcs elliptically polarized. Thi. effect is
odichroism a nd is haracterized by the ellipticity~ :
....: u.)
c = L:1nh - ( K - K_) _ - (K - K_ ). (11.30)
- C 2r +

·"\.pt. n 1cntalb . Faraday rotation is measured mainly under non-

r s nan , ~.. nditions. i.e .. ~ r frequencies far from resonance, where the
.orpli n 1· \ cak. In thi ~.. a se the angle of rotation reduces to

e= :.:.) ) c." .. (11.31)

2cn (w ·'-'

In t rm of the c ndu tivity tensor this angle is given by

() =
cl\1.
(11.32)
2focn(w)

Th prime and double prime refer to real and imaginary parts.

The tin ti n oetlicient can be determined from absorption measure-
m nt . Knmving that the a bsorption coefficient is given by

2wK(~.<-')
o( ·) =-~ ( 11.33)
c
nd that K(u:) = ' (w)f 2n(w) from Eq. (I 0.34b), we see that it is possible to
:pre' th a b rption for RCP and LCP waves as

(11.34)

Th ma£!neto-absorption described by this equation is a resonant phe-

n men n in olving strong absorption at frequencies equal to the resonance
frequencies of the system. This is in contrast to Fa raday rotation which is a
nonresonant phenomenon and concerns wave propagation. We can
th refore consider two different aspects of the interaction of the radiation
field with matter when a magnetic field is present: on the one hand the
magnetodispersion characteristic of nonresonant propagation in the
medium ~Iivc:s a measure of the intensity of the effect far from resona nce; on
the ther hand . the magneto-absorption is characteristic of the r.cs.o.nances
of the radiation field with electronic levels and leads to the possJbJhty of a
spectral analysis of the resonance frequencies.
 . d electro-optical phenomena
Mogneto- opttco 1on
288
-
th r ·l·ninn between Faraday rotation and ma
\V 1ltH'-' e an c c ' -
II e I . o.
c . _ rt ·m l to notice that there a twn concerning the ...._
·th'>o r pill n. ll l unpo • . E (II 4 h "IIIC·
' d ·ttviL'"·' tcn sur stated l1l_ q. - ) as an .analocn ... ,
o~ •or
1 ,[ t 11e c-on lll: - .
mt:n J ' . .,- ar)·p.t t t •f f+ and~ - - Forthelatterquanttttesonefi ...a.
till: re.ll un 1111·1.:- 111 ·~
ir f t:t thai
( -- ...: ) = f . (»). (IIJ ·

r• 11 ·q . (I I , 111 J ( 11.34) nc o btains the results

(11.36
c
r' 1 (w) = - -- /L. CL - n_cL ).
' ' 2w

ine Lh Kramer. -Kronig rela tion between t:'u· (-~.:) and E'; ) wl (Wallis and
Balk;nski 19c'6) we lit d that - -

(11.3

T hi equati on give · the relation between magneto-absorption and Farada.

rotati on_ It can be used to calculate the Faraday rotation when th(
magneto-absorption is known for a broad frequency range. in principk
from 0 to . Generally in semiconductors one distinguishes two types f
transitions that contribute to the rotation:
(i) lntraband transitions. These transitions are due to excitation of fre(
carriers within a band and determine the contribution to the rotation at
low frequencies.
(ii) Interband transitio11s. These transitions are due to excitation of elec-
trons across the band gap and determine the contribution to the rotation
near the absorption edge.
k

Fig. 11.2 11.3.2 Transverse propagation: Voigt configuration

D1agra m o f transverse pro pagatiOn in
th e Voigt co nfi guration_ The Voigt configuration is shown in Fig. 11.2. Equati n · tJ I.~Il and
( 11.22) can be transformed as follows:

c
2
ki. = w~ ..L = u..12 (n..L + iK ') 2 fllr ::.' _l B(l IU

c~k lf = w ~t !l = u.'2(n u + i/\.11 )2 f r .. liB~~- JJ..$t

A linearly polarized wave making an an~le llf -J 5 ' uh 8 1 wdl hJ'

parallel and perpendicular components with r spt:: ·t ll 1 p.ts:-.tng hrl g
the mcdtum with different phase velo~iti~ · c 11 'llh.i l 1 fh ' \\~1\~ th r
be~omes elliptically Plllarized. · 11 '
, 1 .1- - -
The Voigt effect is· tJ1t:plaseut 11 ·r 11L" l-l1lrld lll'
hct ween t hl' t wn c lll . T . ,
ll)(ll) l lpunt"nts. hisph asl'titll ·r·n ·1 •t ·1

l• - '"'"'' 11 }/ l
 Faraday rotation due to intr b nd tron itions 289

I. T penmcnta1 1_ th is eiTce l io-; 111 C'itl '"<t l d h

11 ~defined 1

.\, 1 cos.r' ' ((')

- .
= t~tn ~ ( 11.42)
1 + '0.'"
.::....1. - - -
2

tll1 ti n ~ efficie nts /\..' and K..L leads to a rotatiOn or

t1 n 1l,.h.: ~ giY n b Palik :1nd Wright 1967)

(11.43 )

·_ J.
Th efTect of the magnetic field in this
b o be tudi d using the absorption coefficient. From
9). md ( 11 .40) o ne fmds
u)
n .1 = - lm ~ forE l_ B0 , ( 11.44)
Cll 1.
1

a 11 = - Im for £ jjB 0 . (I 1.45)

_l/ 11

11 .4 Faraday rota tion due to intraband transitions

11.4.1 Classical model for Faraday rotation due to free carriers

\ utilize the expr ions for the conductivity and dielectric tensors given
in Section I 1.1. For a magnetic field B 0 in the z-direction one can calculate
the curr nt den it i i~ = J., ± ij ). relative to the RCP and LCP waves
a" ociat d with :r = Er ± iE1• • The corresponding conductivities a
ddin d by J± = :r c ± are found to have the form

(11.46)

wh r nc i. th ar rier concentration.
In th a1 proximation of weak llelds, w,. « w, and high frequencies,
...:r ~ I. Eq . (1 I .46) can be written as

(JI =--
ince~ [ 1±-+
111 "'
We
'
1 .
-.-
W lWI
l (I 1.47)

Since I'T _" = (I 12i )(a_ - a ), the macroscopic expression for the Faraday
rotation -given by Eq . ( 11.32) now becomes for conduction electrons
2
e 3ncBo e3n,.Bo>. ( 11.48)
0= - 2ton(;,.v)un· 2 w ..,=-8?
- 7r-Fon (w) c··3111 ~ -..,-

On substituting for the va lues of the constants one finds that

2
() = - 0. I 5 X w - l~
.., . ') [c/ em_]
n (.Bo>. ( 11.49)
n(i.J.J·)(m· /mt
Fig. 11 .3
. rada•, r t.Lil magmwdc wr u
w:t\ ~:lcr;gth ~q u:Jr d for~ ·~·era! ampk:
ofn-!nSh f 1an u arrier
oncentr 11on {afler Pidg on 1962).
11.4.2 Conductivity tensor deduced from the Boltzmann equation
Th di tributi n fun ti n (in lhe case of a homogeneous solid at con tant
temperatu re satisfie the Boltzmann equation

of
01
-1 F·'hf = -
h
(of)
Of collision.
(11.50,1

In the presence of an electric field £and a magnetic field B the second term
on the left is given by

bF
n
·Vk f = - ~ [£ + ~-r v xBo]· vk _r
h
( 11.511

Equation_(ll .SO) can be linearized by introducingf=j(, + g. where g is :1

~ertu~bat10n to first order in £. and fo is the equilibrium distribution
l unctiOn

t
JO = :-- -7:-- I
- -- - - ( I J.5~ l
1 + exp [( £- EF)jk 8 T ].
Introducing· a relax·'tJ·o 1· . . . .
" n nne r, we can re\vnte the coJIJSit)ll term a~

(%) .:olhstllth T
( 11.53 1

With £ = £ ex (- . ) .-
.
Sin!! "I cl
u ·p ·lw r d.nd ~ = g 0 ex p ( - ,· ·r) ,,., ha \ iJ(dr == - i.... ':!
~ < r axation linle rflnnw d' e fi ne d 'h y u..
r''n me -
•
' _
'''"
r i ·. we ~an wnt~
Eq. ( I 1.50) as I

:.fi [£ - v Bu ] · \1. t' =-.

£:
r'
lu li rs t ·1p 11 r . · .
. , c XImatu>n we can t,·l' I .
"- - /11 an I gl..' t
 Fa ada rotation due to intraband transitions 291

th r~.:s JIL

I
V = h~J.. E . ( I I .: 6)

Substituting

) i lo
v dE ( I 157

n b the expression

( 11 .58 )

[tJ.tll\ uffi ·i nlt r pice ~ b thevaluegivenbyEq.(ll.57)andexecute

th' diftaent \ ~ct rial operations in order to obtain the elements of the
conducti\ it. [ensor rr~ I r r ..JT » I:

( 11.59)

For ·pheri al energy urfa es thi. result can be written as

1
a \J' = ., 7r-J7
3
) ---1
l3o
1
C..J -
~·· -~ . [dE
. ()
./o d''·
I\
+ 2k
d
(.
2
£]
lk 2 dE. ( 11.60)

~ ith thi · xpre. i n we can now carry out the analysis of the effective mass
tained b; a raday rotation.

11.4.3 Analysis of the effective mass obtained by Faraday rotation

Sub tituting - q. (11 .60) into the expression for the rotation Eq. (11 .32),
and comparing the result with the free carrier result, Eq . (11.48), we obtain

!!.::..._ = -
m· 2 .7Tli. 3 ~ r. 4
1
-fc. { Q ·
0 [dE + 2k d £]dE,
dk dk 2
2
( 11.61)

where the free carrier concentration n . is given by

I.'
( ~

I
f1 c = -.- fod · k l ~- ~
= ----::;
I . "){'
1\ ~Joe K.
1'1, ( 11.62)
4r. 3 . . 'lT- . 0

Equation ( 11.61) and ( 11.62) offer the possihility of treating the following
simple cases:
I. Paraholic hands. This is the case where E = li~ k 2 /2m~, so that m ' = 1110·
The effective mas determined by Faraday rotation is independent of
the: free carrier concentration and is equal to m 0, the effective mass <'lt the
bottom of the conduction band.
 . I and electro -optical phenomena
neto - op t tco
F a d generate distribution the free carrie
tP rahnlu :nm.<1.\. o,r
n. ntnti 0 , 1s gtvcn b.

. 1 th \\ ,, ·c vector at the Fermi surface. In this ca e the

\ h re 1
ffi ti\ 1<.1 IS gi ' ' 11 by

(11 .64

The el cdm:mass obt· ined by xperiment will then measure the slope of
E k) at Lh~! F rmi urfac . By va rying the carrier density, which mean
shifting the Fenn i t,;ll rgy, ne can explore the energy band, determining m·
e ·pcri;1cntally a a functi n of k p. A detailed account of Faraday rotatton
du to fr c carri rs i, given in a review article by Balkanski and Amza\lag
( 196 ) , h r eft-e ti 'e ma e m~ for a non parabolic band obtained b~
differen t p rimental t cl niques are compared and discussed.

11.4.4 Cyclotron resonance absorption

In the preceding sections we have presented a discussion of Farada~
rotati on, which is a dispersive phenomenon. We now turn our attention to
cyclotron resonance, which is the corresponding absorptive phenomenon.
Since the optical absorption coefficient is determined by the imaginar)
part of the dielectric constant (cf. Eq. (10.36)), which in turn is determined
by the real part oft he conductivity (cf. Eq. ( 10.31 )). let us t-ake the real part
of a± specified by Eq. (I \.4 7),

\vhere

( 11.60
T

~~:~ ~evident from Eq. (11.65) that for electrons (uJ 0). RC P radii.!lil111
assouated W1th ' o· , · ' · ·,n
. .. . . a · bn·es nonresonant absorption \Vh r as LCP rad1.IIIL
<lSSOCiatecl Wtlb a' . , , . . ' . , . . •.
Th· , . . . .g•ves rcsondnt absorptiOn at the LVrlo t r "~n ln..: qut:11l~ ~
Is 1s the sttuat1on 1·) . ·1 ~ . •· . ,d h H
·· l i e e~.:trons whJCil ·t•·e tl•"o·ttl, .... ,, ~..":har!.! ·
postt1ve 1y 1 . . . d · · ' "'::o' '- . - .
. h . Cld1ge currentcarrierssuchasholes( . ...., . ll t sR CPrnd ~<IUl'n
W hIC gi Ves the r . . . c<- , • , 1'
knov.rn ·t . . ' I · eson.mt abso rption at ""'',. The r\:SL n.tnt ,ths rptiL n
, t:ycutronresunanccab·:'l t'
The qu·tntit . r 1. 0 . SL rp 1011 . .
absorJ)tion, 1· Y - s a measure of the \vidth L'f th LH.I H1l'll r''l 11 ·1 n~~
0

• lilt' . 11 we let r - 0 ' . . . . . lt ·ll.•

Junction: , thL: e. PfL:SSJ~)Jl lt'f rT f ' htl . , ll •1

I
rr I ( w II
 tr n1c igen totes i n a constant magnet ic field 29

l !he fin ~ iJ t iJ ~Lr • '>L::l tl •11 11 " nf th e

lnl 11 iii~' :l nd "· la tli cc.: Vlh ntions. Ill thL rl ll owtn'
p I lfll!1 I I f I 11. line.: V idth due LP b llice vihr j ns.
In hr )·tJ~n mg r~ sulL f'r '~llllwnparalwli c i ty Cthc
th arncrs (\· ;.~IIi~ 195X) . In :1 nonparabo h a nd.
It h: c.:.trn r. i n 1 l ·onstant , hut depend . n the cncrg ,
· ~ l n freq uency accordin!!l y is a lso not co nstan t, a nd
t.:c.:: lin~ 1 inh m !!cneo usly broadened.
,tn i.!xp rin enta l cyclotron res nance <tbsorpti n
lh.. tllll electron in n-type InA~ (Palik a nd \Vallis
t rpt1on at the nne:netic field where the eye! tron
n to 20 3n 40 ·o fO
u I t< the rreq uen ·y the radiation (111 em_ ,) i clearly 7( l
B 0 (k rJ
tn lme width in going from 80 K to 300 K m ay be
LO!llbinecf effects Of lattice vibration SCattering a nd Fig. 11.4
nonp.t Experimental cyclotron resonance
absorpti on pectrum fo r n-lnA s
(after Palik and Wallis 1961 ).

1 .5 Electronic eigenstates in a constant magnetic field

The de' dopment o far ha b n based on classical considerations.We now
turn to the quantum th r of magneto-optical phenomena. The starting
point i. the . et of eigenfunctions and energy eigenvalues of a free carrier
mming in a con·tant magnetic field . We shall work within the effective
ma appro-ximati n ( uttinger and Kohn 1955) that has been applied to
the problem of impurity sta tes in Chapter 5. We restrict our attention to
carrier· in a ·impl pa raboli band with effective mass m~ . The effective
ma - Hamiltonian a n be written as

( 11.68)

where p i th momentum operator of the carrier. e, is its charge, and A(r) is

the v cto r p tenti al giving rise to the magnetic field 13(r).
or a ~iven magnetic field . the vector potential is not unique. since the
two qua nt itie ~ a re rela ted by

B (r ) = V x A(r). ( 11.69)

The vecto r potential can be expressed in terms of various gauges, all of

\\ hich give the same results for J3(r ). For a constant magnetic field 13o in the
: -direction. the Landau gauge specifies A (r) by the relation

A (r) = ( - yBo, 0. 0) . ( II .70)

The Schrodinger equation obtained by combining Eqs. ( 11.68) and ( 11.69)

take the form

( 11.71)
 . I nd electro -optical phenomena
M g to-optlca a
• l u. ·ti e ma. wave function. In the coordinate rep
I. r ,: (1 1 t ne e' •1.:1. 1 re.
thl~ l qt tli n becomes

__ (crBu)-
t ll'll .

,. )
,
7
({2 ()'2]
-h- .r- i.Jy2 + 8=2 F (r) == EF (r ).
D.,
( 11.72

~.:ci"lhze to the case of electrons with ec = -e and set

(11.73 1

Tht quantity , _a the dim n io n of invers~ le~gth squared. Its inverse

squarer ot 1 a mea ur of th cyclotron. rad1us m the ~round state of the
carrier. Eliminating B(J fr m Eq . (I I. 72) m favor of s y1elds

li2 [ :. 2 a ,1 8 2 0 2] .
- - -.-.., T-:- s_r -. - ·-_r-
2m* x- t x
+ 8y- + a-7
?
,. . -
F(r) = EF(r). ( 11.74)

The presence of the coordinates x and : only through their respecti\'e

derivati ves suggests that the eigenfunction has plane wave character in the
x- and :-directions. We therefore substitute the trial function

(11.75 )

into the Schrodinger equation and obtain

-2::.[~,: - (sy - k,)'] \?( r) = ( E- ::~!) \?( r ) t II. 6

The quantities L '" and L:: in Eq . ( ll . 75) are the dimensions of the sample in
the x- and .;-directions and (L,L:.)-~ is a normalization factor. Equati n
(ll._7 6 ) IS seen to be the Schrodinger equation for a displaced harml 01 •
osci!Iato r. BYmd. k.mg the translormat1on
. .

17 = .r - k .\ .js (II.

we reduce Eq. (11.76) to the form

~ n-J.. ~ t II ~~
:=::
( E ----
2m
"t'*' ..

:Vhich is the Schrodin •e . . . · . · II· t~'r ' 1

frequency , L ' . g .r t:CJU.!lJOn for an ordrn ·rn h,lfllll'llh: ~- ~ 1 •1 .
t....l .. ror sunphcit\' ' , .
as a positiv . . ·1 \\~.;return tt1 tn.." tll. ng.t. h, '\ (1tr n t'r~;•J~ ll~' ll' '
e 4ll.tnttty and \Vritc

II
111 '
 uon um m chanica ! theo ry of cyclotron resonance 29S

' 'I· th· cigen l1111 ' l i l lll ._ l l h j. ( 11.7X ) l ·1vc

(' )

H~ rm1t • pn l. n 1mial 11" orJcr I with 11 a nonn - ~ati vc

1!!~.:0 alue... :ln i C~cllT SpOil ling elfecti mass !'unctions I.

.r

£(1 J . ) = fiuJc f
I
1 - ( II ., I a)
2111

1
F r) = (L.>.L: ) ~'t't ( .., ) exp(ik\x + ik : ::). ( 11.81 h)

In th ah en c of th magn tic field, the energy eigenvalues of free car-

rier. Jorm a l: ntmuum: in the presence of the magnetic field, they are
k.
quantized inl 1 s tbbands r Landau levels characterized by the harmonic
0 • illator quantum num b r . Each Landau level forms a parabola as a Fig. 11.5.
functi :-~n /.; _ A · hema tic representation of the Landau levels for a simple Diagra m of Landau levels for a simple
baod 1· giwn in fig. 11 .5. It should be noted that the energy eigenvalues are parabolic ba nd.
i ndep~nden t of k.~-: h nee. all states of the same f. and k: but different k x
are degenerat . Th d generacy can be specified by requiring that the
center of the cille: t r. which is determined by k~, be within the confines
f the ample f l n1Hh L 1 tn the r-direction. One then obtains for the
degenera ·y S 8 :

eBn
8 = - h L\L,..
.
( 11 .82)

We se th'\t the d generacy is proportional to the magnetic field.

11.6 Quantum mechanical theory of

cyclotron resonance
The phen men n of cyclotron resonance can now· be interpreted quantum
m chani all . Tr \ Ve include the vector potential of the radiation tield,
A R(r). the total ector potential can be written as
( 11.83)

\\ here A o(r) specifies the external magnetic field Bo. The elect:on-
radiation interaction Hamiltonian to first order in AR(r) follows from
Eq. ( 11 .68) withe, = - e :

( 11.84)
 . I d electro -optical phenomena
0 0 o-opt1ca an

in the electric di o le approximation we can neglect the

1 A (1' d Od Wrt l

!I
IR
= _c
Ill
A R · lP + eAo(r)].

1 1 aturbati n theory ~he matrix ~lement for an optical

• 1•t '1..·d state i ·m d a final state} has the form
n. ,,1 111

(ll.&6 J

·h ·ret) I c l order in effective mass theory,

1/-•,, 1 r) = Fti, f( ,. ·)11o

i.f( ,.·) '
( 11.87,1

and u 01J ( 1. 1• the Bloch functi n. at k = .0 for the

..
initial or final state. The
int gral requir din the evalua tiOn of (J IH £RI1) IS then

11 = f F/' (r) u{(r)[p + eAo]Fe~ (r)u~(r)d 3 r. ( 11.88)

By exploiting the fact that u[ (r)u0(r) and u6.* (r)pu0(r) have the periodicity
of the crystal lattice, one can show that

/1 = IF{* (r) ( p + eAo)Ff, (r)d 3 r ;·u6·~ (r)u~(r)d 3 r

+ /Ff *(r)F~ (r)d 3 r j u{"(r )pu0(r)d r. 3 (I 1.89)

Excercise. Discuss the result in Eq. (1 I .89).

Answer. The orthonorma1ity of the Bloch functions u0 (r ) means that
~h~ _first term on the right-hand side of Eq. (11.89) is zero unless the
llllttal and final state bands are the same. This term therefore describes
intraband transitions, i.e., cyclotron resonance. On the other hand.
the second te_rm describes interband magneto-optic effects, which will
be taken up m Section 11 .7.

The case of cyclotron resonance requires the evaluatit. n of the integral

where = \ or I' Th f' • . ~ . .

1 ~ cvctluatJon,
, ·. ·· e unctJun .ft(r) IS gtven by Eq. ( 1 1 . ~ I b) arr_y ing ul
l1e one obtains

WhLT the upper sign r t't!rs I) - , .

quant 1ty 11 -= 11 ·) 1• · L 1
- .\.the lowe r :1g.n r.: •
t ur 11 - \( I' ).
 nt m m chonicol h ory of eye otron resononc 297

tJ ' C.: h.:Lt i 11 I ti ·~ l"o r L cJ1 (f\111 rvmna111.:'

, 1 l' c.:tii.Jtor quanl um numh rl-~..: h o.t t r ~hy I aml
11 ~ .tn l /.. Tl ic· 111\.'a n. lh .. tt l c.: l tr 1 r som nc '
t.:~uncd in .-: 1g. 11 .5 hy " ' rtica l <J r vs cu nnc tin , a
111 .tu k el t tl ~.: 1 t'ints dire ·LI above l r below in th
I 'lllCC the crtical 'ncroy ep ara ti n r a dja nl
. 'I Li.lll b n Cro m ·q . ( 11. Ia). the rrcquc ;1c; r
· ·I )tr n re · m1ncc i. , . ju. t as in th ~

~.:It pn11.:nt an r dil gencrali/cd to include elec tron

ll'Il tlfthc spin'' it h the ~:xtcrnal magnetic field co ntribute·
lilt man or t h c rm
H . s = g11sS ·Bu. ( ll.92)

h L nde g-fa l r, f-lB is the Bohr magneton !liven by en j 2mc,

1 th pin pent r. I f the magnetic field is in the .::-direction, Hss

( 11.93)

or cle ·rron in s lid . n find that it is necessary to use an effective

.a-fa t r.!! . whi h and ia t ignificantly from the value 2 for electrons
in acuum. inc th i !!envalue~ of S= are ± !. the eigenvalues of H 5 8 are

( 1 1.94)

and the xpr i n for the energy eigenvalues of an electron in a magnetic

fi ld given byE . ( l l. la) must be generalized to the form
f' =2
1:= I
( 11.95) [ =0

Th effective -fa tor depend on the energy band just as the effective mass
d e . In emi nductors, a~ can be large in magnitude and negative in sign,
e . ~· · onducti n lectronsin InSbhaveg· ~ - 50 . Thelargevalueofg~ isa f =O
on,eq u nee f the large spin orbit plitting of the valence band in lnSb, as C =l
[ =2
is r ,·eal d bv the formula due to Roth el a/. ( 1959),

0' = 21 - -117 -1 ) D. ]. ( 11.96)

o [ (
m' 3£.'1 + 26.
Fig. 11.6
Diagram o f spin-split landau levels
'~he r D. is the pin- orbit splitting of the valence bands at k = 0. Asche-
for simple parnbolic bands.
matic repre entation of spin-split Landau levels is shown in Fig. 11.6.
Th a naly i of Landau levels presented above assumes that the current
carrier occupie a parabolic energy band that is nondegenerate aside from
·pin. The complications introduced by degenerate bands, such as the
alencc bands f group IV and Ill- Y semiconductors, were adequately
tr at d for the first time by Luttinger and Kohn ( 1955) and by Luttm~er
( 19 ). When the degeneracy of the valence bands at ~ = ~and the spm -
c,rbi t interaction are included in the theory, the followmg picture emerges.
 . I end electro -optical phenomena
neto-op t &ca

t h. nd . ~.,'"o rrespo
<l Ienc, . nding
. . . to light and heavy h le ha·'e '
,_ _
d ' neJm:\' :.J n - vv
l " '1
1 n _pm 1s
.
mcluded
•
. In the presence of a
' 11 r•u r · cL~ o 1- and uu l vd. s anse whtch .
arc called ladders. The
1
th ·
·l n n e1 .... •
,. · ,-~ 11 h dder t. not untform near the valence band
f quantum effects. The Ia tter lead to a complex _structure in
n,tn ·~.;; o.;pedra f hoi . at low temperature m material .

f 0 1nr-•raboli ily. whi ch is pa~·ticularly striki_ng in the con-

• · h 1 to r 'ducc th :eparatton between adJacent Landau
dt • I t i 1 1n - . . ~ .
1 1 . . h ncr<: f a cond udton ele tron maeases. Consequently. a
br ~ad c ng 1 1' ~:\:•·! "J'-
tron re ·onanc peak
.
a ppears on the low-frequencv•
· .1
sluL t 1tat •I 1.f·e·t
• •
... · the t mperature mcreases.
es ..... . .
Furthermore.
.
the fre-
~lucn y of the peak forth n __. n + I tra nsttwn decreases as n mcreases. in
contrast to the parab lie ca e wh re 1t IS mdependent of n.

11.7 lnterband magneto-absorption

In th pre ding ·c ti n, we noted that the matrix element for optical
tran itions contu in s a l rrn tha t co rres ponds to interband transitions. This
term ari. e. from the , e ond term on the right hand side ofEq. ( 11 .89), since
the integ ral

( 11.97)

vanishes if u6(r ) and llo(r ) are aSSOCiated \Vith the Same band and is non-
vanishing onl y if the initial and final ba nds are different. In a crystal with a
center of inversion such as Ge the two bands must have opposite parity to
give a nonvani shing result. The highest valence bands and lowest con-
duciion band at k = 0 satisfy this condition. a nd hence one expe\.:tS inter-
band absorption associated with transitions hetween these bands.
E
In addition to the above integral. the second term on the ri gh t hand side L)f
~~- ( ~ 1. 89~ :ontait~s a ~l?tor consisting of the overlap integral uf_ the
eflecLive tndSs functi ons 1' 1 (r ) and F/( r ). We note that thes tV/L funL·uons
both mvolve the function :P~~tO, which are defined by Eq. ( I I.XO ) and \\hich
form an orthon orm al se t. Using the expression for F. (r) ~ :)ntained in
Eq. ( 11 -~ I b) . we obtain the result

I '= (J
whichspcciries th~se l ~ . · . f .
· · CL 110111 u1es ormterband transit i ) s· ..J.r 0 . ..J.
f' = I
[l
6.k _ . . '
/.. I' = 2 ' -- 0. Ty piCal allow~:d interb· ~ ·· II ~ [h,:
1 . . .· · . . ·
r.tnsJtton cnerutes 6.t:U k l f II
-, :
c1nu transltt o ns arc shL '' n 11 I J'
.
L> 0\Vlrum Eq . (ll .lJ_ ) an l.l ..
_l,
·n ... ,
l'
Fig . 11.7
!:"

IJn . " .-d lllw~.:J lfi i Lr h;IIJd f<J J I ~Il J" n . l" r
'llllf'lft fl; r<Jhuiu. iJ.JrJJ . 111 J HJ:Jg li Lt ll:icJ
tl
 lnterband magneto-absorption 299

nus t'l ckl.ln 11\ an l l ks, g, and ~. <H(! II l:

I 'n . 111 i lwh:s ;1n i ,,, j..., 1 h , B lha n 1agncltll1
l'lr
J ll llc ZcJ 'li ·ld hand <.J ~: c'ccur in b 1th t h ~.: · b c
nct. th ' r ' i . .Ln 111 Te;1 o;;~;: in Lh lplica l b·tn g;1p du
11.:1 <Burstcm ct a/. 11.)56). Th~: ficiJ-d ep nd nl gap
r n h:J.(II.95) b_ seLtm gf' = k - = 0:

= El! - - --1)'
heBo 1 •
]J/r . .:: ' ( I I. I 00)

I n r th anda u lev L given by Eq. ( 11 .95), we ec

r
nMg nettc fie ld behav as a free carrier onl . in the
the fiel<.J. In lh directions traarver ·e t the fi ld , the
I\\ O·dim n. iona l bound cilia tor. hi s one-dimen·
rce carri r mo tion in a magnetic field produces a dra-
the tran iti n d n itv- f-stat es (.6. £), which vari s as

jV( E dk=
,...._ - -
d.6.E' (11.101)

L ing Eq. (I L 9) we find that

Equation ( 11 . 10_) tell · u that the transition density-of-states diverges

\\ h n the tran ition energy equals the energy separation of the extrema of a C= O C= l
I
Landau le\el in the nduction band and the Landau level in the valence q
I(
band v. ith the am n alu . 'I
'I
Tn Chapter 10 it wa shown that transitions between valence and con- II
II
duction band in the bsence of a magnetic field lead to optical absorption II
II
that in r a e · \\ith increa ing photon energy when the latter is above the I \ : \

minimum nergy ga p. The dependence of the absorption coefficient on \ I

' .....~
\, I \,
............
' ---~-'--
photon nerg_' lo ly follows the energy dependence of the tra nsition 0
d D' it -of- tat s: (6.£) "' (6. £- Eg)~. The monotonically increasing
b ha ior hi ited here contrast sharply vvith the singular behavior Fig. 11.8
xhibited b th magnetic field ca e in Eq. ( 11.102). Densities o f states for a simple
· id fro m a fact o r that varies slowly with photon frequency w, the semico nducto r forB = 0 (so lid line)
ab rpti n coefficient is determined by 1\ (/1w) which is plotted in Fig. 11.8 a nd forB > 0 (hem·y uashed line ).

~ r Bo = 0 an Bo i= 0. The singularities in the magnetic field case are evi-

ct nt. If damping processes are included in the theory, the singularities are
limi nated and repl aced by ro unded peaks.
When ne deals with real semico nductors such as Ge and lnSb, one must
tak in to ac unt the complica tions arising from the multiple ladders of
Landau lev Is in the valence band. These complications cause additional
tru ture to appear in the intcrband magneto-absorption spectrum . .
xp rim ntal tudicsofint erbandmagneto-absorptionhave beencarned
0 t f r a num b r of emiconductors including Ge (Zwerdling and Lax 1957,
Burstein era/. I <)59) and InSb (Burstein eta/. 1956, Zwerdling era/. 19 57) ._
h re. ult:. g1· e excellent coniJrma
, · of- t1e
tJon 1 ~ euec
,A" t.1ve mass· theorv.l ol
Magneto~optical and electro-optical phenomena
~r . - tl n int -ba d transitions and provide precise value
IIC 11 Cul!l 1:S · .
. r~rs
:11llI p.u a 111 -.. ~ ·
,t-1 a rticularly noteworthy study IS that of
·m, rn\ 11 ( 1':> h on InS h. . . . .
• arv to in terband magneto-absorptiOn IS the d1spers1veeffe t
11 11
• - 1 •L ;•1r·td'l
· tnt ·r ..till ' c.
rot· ti( n . The
.
discrete
_
nature of the
.
Landau
,, .. up in th )scillatory beh aviOr of the _Faraday rotatiOn t?at is
de ·pedmentally in Ge (Mitchell and Wallis 1963). The behavt?rof
th. rot ti 11 near the zao-tiel b· nd gap reveals effects due to exc1tons
an· 1ng
· t'
r m th c ul m interacti n uf electrons and holes.

11.8 Electro-optical effects

The ,1 pplication of a con ta nt electric field to an intrinsic semiconductor
lead to a number [ eff cls that arise from changes in the real and ima-
gmary part fthe die! ctric tensor. We as. ume that the temperature is low
~.:nough that the oncentration of free carriers is negligible.

11.8.1 Pockels effect

Th Po kels ffect arises from a change in the refractive index that is linear
in the applied electric field Eo. We restrict our attention to the transparent
region of the semiconductor well below the fundamental absorption edge
where the effects can be attributed to a single oscillator of frequency ~.~o'n
which represents the interband transitions. The equation of motion takes
the form

d2
mo ( dt 2 + u..-·0u + ,B:.u-
?) =
~
- etu. (11.103 )

where the term in fh is a nonlinear contribution that is essential for the

Pockels effect and mo is the effective mass of the oscillator. The electric field
causes a static displacement of the oscillator given by

- e£o
U=- - ) . lli.I04)
mou.,•o
where we - .
. .have neglected th enon 1meartermmu. Indusion ftll" latt·rkao 1.
toashJfttnthereson·tn"
. . ' ce f 1equency
· ·
that can be obtained b ·Jinea · · I h t:~
nzmg
nonlinear term according to
.,
IC = /Ill ~ U/1 + /Ill = "21117.
Substituting this result into Eq. ( ll l01) . ···' "" I . ~
fre (ue 1·1··y
'" .square
. d . · - . v. e St:e t 1<1 t t 1lt::
A

1s

I 1. I Oo i
where

""! ') I '

~( ,- ) _ - _ l ( (I
iL l) - - - - II ll'
IJiu v..'(l
 lectro -optical effects 301

r II\ 1nJc d u t 1 he :q plied ti ·ld a n n" · h ~

I Uil f, I th~._• P~l l pa rt ~1f the d1 [ ~ l r i c l.'l 1l :> I U11 d •
r pr·scn t·d 111 (.]. (IO . I .~ 5a) Rcpb cin " wfc h y
I tnJ th ·n c. p:1nding to lirst order in (w 1 ~) . we
Lh diclec tr i~._· l.."ll11Slant in th absence of dampinl!:

( 11.108)

\ hc.:t rcfnH.:ti\'c index n(En is th e square root or f'( 11 ) . The

·hJn:c first ler in En by

(11.1 09)

Jn the e c.:rimcntal arrangement for observing the Pockels effect,

th ltgh t b n propaga te perpendicular to the applied electric field £ 0 . If
th hgh i rl, ne polarized pa rallel to £ u. its velocity is determined by the
refra tl\e index 11 + ~11, v h reas if it is polarized perpendicular to £ 0 , its
, e]o tty i determined y n. h mat erial ha s become birefringent.
etmcondudor · with a center of symmetry such as Si and Ge do not
exhtl it th~.: Pockel ' effec t be a use Eq. ( 11.103) does not properly transform
under th im· rsio n peration u ----> - u, Eo ----> -Eo unless 2 = 0. This
~ mmetr} perati n d e ' not apply to semiconductors without a center of
ymmetr~ uch a. GaAs, so the Pockets effect is not excluded in these
mat ria l .

11 .8.2 Kerr effect

The Kerr ffec t ari ses if a third-order nonlinear term m 0 is inserted into
3
3u
Eq. (11. 103 ). The change in w6
due to thi s term is

. ?)
b., ( WQ" =
3
2 2
3e tv·
1112W4
£6 (11.110)
0 0

and the change in refractive index is

3 3 (n 2 - I )e 2 w 2 E~
b..n =- 6
(11.111)
2nm 0w 0 (tv•0 - w"")
? ? , . •

The leading tenn in the Kerr effect is thus quadratic in the applied field. It
can be observed in Si and Ge because the equation of motion involving the
z/ te rm tran. form s into a multiple of itself under inversion and therefore
behaves properly under this operation . Semiconductors without inversion
symmetr also exhibit the Kerr effect.

11.8.3 Franz - Keldysh effect

So far we have focused on changes in the refractive index in our dis~ussion
of ele tro-optic effects. Now we take up an important effect involvmg the
 . I d electro-optical phenomena
Magneto-opttca an
2 ... the shift in the intrinsic absorption edge
·
. on cnd l l ·ten 1. I.e.. h 19 . . under
a h en plt .• r: "l ( F r i.lflZ !9 SR. Keldys 58). Th1s IS the Fr
,tn ,tpplied clcctnc tiC G"z..
Keldysh eff~ct . tt , tl ) !1 to direct allowed transitions between sph .
-\. rcstnd our" ~.:t . . . , 1 .·. , enca1
. . .111 d conduct 10 n bands. The ana ys1s parallel that ~0 h
hl'l'c ·tl ll:t: ~ · Th b · rt e
I111 ' . ·ofnngnet -absorptiOn . ea sorptJOncoefficient
(tllf~ ( nJ111gca~ ~ tan
, 11 tt '1 · , tht: form

(ll.Jl2j

lL mtcrb. nd momentum matrix element and </>(r) sati fiesthe

Th \\i.l\'e function ·(•• i tha t for the relative motion of electron and hole.
£ is th c t mal el ctric field. and p· is the reduced effective mass. We take
£ 0 t be in the .:-di rection. Aside from the plane wave solutions in the x- and
r-dire tions. the solution in the :-direction has the form (Aspnes 1966)

¢ (:) = C Ai(~), (11.114j

where Ai(O is the Airy function , Cis a normalization constant

and E:: is the energy eigenvalue for the .:-direction.

The absorption coefficient is obtained by substituting Eq. ( 11.11 4) into
Eq. (11.112) and replacing the sum over i by an integral over energy. The
result is

( 11. 1161

Evaluatinno the I'nte•gr·tl

.... '
"n11'th th e. a1.d o t' t he asymptot1. expre · 1. n

(I J.ll

yields

n(w,£,,) '"'-' exp[- ~.., ('2/'I , ' ) t(£" - " '2/ ,]

n....• '"' > •
11 II
·' 1- .

For h ...- 1:.·~~ l he absl,rpti) Jl..: · .

cll:unL· tleltl Th -~ t n L'Oe u tt.:nt 111
lown pholntt . . .
• 1
~ tt: ult~..:urr J ·
·· t: P n s lu a ..,hilt l,
t:Ol.:t gil: ~ .
 Modu lation s ectroscopy 03

~..: lhL ha nd ~ <I J"' i t i\ LIP r ~ tkl'l l\'11 th n l j<; I pt-

• mp111 tlLC p ~tn ~ i n for tiP irv function that i:-;
n < h!Ji r s 1h ' rcl:ttt c cltJnge.in r c fl cc t i v i t . 111
~

:c:
( II. I 19) ~-1
•0 10 -eii iOOIJ
ell I 1 1OJ
Th1. c nbcs deca. mg ~c ilhtions in 6.Rj R that arc knovvn ·ts
Franz- illations. A.n t:x.amplc is shown in Fig. 11 .9 for GaAs. The
1r;l!l~ lli0n 1 ~trc from th upper va lence bands of r 7 and s sym-
metn t ht_ 1 dudic n t ands that are also of r 7 and rxsymmetry
rnt.: lfl 1 73 ). -IOL_~-~~-~~-~--'
4 .2 4.6 5.0 -.4
IJ.11J (e

11.9 Modulation spectroscopy

Fig. 11.9
w e h:l\e :cc'l in the pre i us section that the application of an external Franz- K c ldysh o scillati o n<; in the
1 tri field prodw.:t:s a hift f the optical a bsorption edge toward lower relativ reflecti vit y chan ge in GaA ~ at
photon energ1"- and modi fi s the reflectivity above the absorption edge. It 4.2 K (after Aspne a nd Studna 1973 ).
\\a · pointed out b) Seraphin (Seraphin 1964. Seraphin and Hess 1965) that

modulation f the refl rivity provides a useful technique for studying

in terba.nd tran ·ition. weU a bove the fundamental absorption edge. Since
th a sorption c efficient becomes very large and difficult to measure at
photon energie in Lhi - region , it is advantageous to work with the reflec-
ti\ it) which i · relativ ly easy to measure.
The reflectivity i gi' en in terms of the real and imaginary parts of the
r fra tiv inde · by Eq . ( 10.40). The la tter are related to the real and ima-
ginary pa rt or t h~ dielectric function by Eqs. ( 10.34) . The relati ve change of
the r flectivit ca n tl1en be expressed as

dR dr:' d e"
( 11.120)
RdE = O's dE sr.1".
-(.,
where s and ··a re the Serophin coefficients defined by

8 1og R
'S = 8 t.'
(11.121a)

8 Joa R
(ll.l21b)
.rJs = J. E~~

and E LS the modulating electric field . By using an AC electric field or

chopping the incident light beam one can take advantage of lock-in
amplifiers to obtain very precise electroreflectivity spectra. . .
Optica l parameters such as the abso rption coefficient. reflectiVIty. and
dielectric function exhibit Van Hove singularities at various photon ener-
gies at and above the fundamental absorption edge. The dielectric function,
~ r e ·ample. can be written nea r a singular point at E, in the form
. II (11.122)
e(w) = A ( liw - E)
1 ,
 . d electro-optical phenomena
Magneto - opttco 1an
. . t, d 11 take-; the values - ~. 0 (logarithmic), or 1 r
I , . ~ · I '" .
'1~:11.;
l )!l "n . ,, n• ·in .. .. - F h h . ~ •or
rnl cntJcal pomts. or t c t ree-d 1men.,·
,_ or 1 1 0
th~~;:e -< 111 ~ • "'onal
I Ill' · l \ \ I• ·
·a... e nm· ha~
I
= A(hw - £;) "
0 1.1 23

c/r( • . l dE;
-"'-'- -
-lA
~ ,,,
i"l'u.,I - E)I
"- I". ( 11.124
( / L" - (C.,

•'d rc!lectiv it •v ~ pectrum characterized by dEj'ciE ha ·.i1

l1U . IlC 11 1 II • t ... . . . . _ .
much 11 ,r dram tlic ingulurily than the reflcct_I~Ity ItselL which i har-
. d ._)'
< t, I IZ1.: II
t
· • 11
c dl11lJic fan electroreflectiVIty
. . .
spectrum
. .
is given 1·0
H!!. 11. 10 for CdTe. The 'iha rpness of the Singulanties Is evtdent.
A. numhLr of thcr phy ica l pa rameters can be varied to yield mod ulated
pectn.t. They include t mperature, stress, and frequency.

Problems
1. Sunin g from E 1s. ( 11.9) and ( 11.46). derive expressions for the dielectri ·
constants E+ an d f in terms of u) and :..Jc . Using these results. the disper ·ion
rela tion giv n by E I· ( 11.14). and the high field limit"'-''< r >I. show that under
the conditi ns w, > w and ·I' w. only one type of cin:ularly polarized \\ J\e
propagates. i.e .. k is real. Thi s low-frequency propagating wave is calkd a
helicon.
2. Consider the Voigt configuration v.:ith the radiation propagating perpen-
dicular to the external magnetic field . Using the classical equations of motit,n
for the carriers. derive expressions for r 11 and ~ J. · Taking r = x obtain the
refracti ve indices n 11 and n J. and then the Voigt phase shift C. in the small fie!J
limit u..·, ·~ . What is the dependence of b on /3 0 '.'
3. Investigate the reOectivitv due to free carriers in an external ma2:netic li ld in
the Farada y configuration. Calculate the real and imaginarv~ pans llt' th_e
refractive in,dex for n-fnSb taking the carrier concentration ~1, = 10 1 ~ Cm ·.
r = 3 10- '-' s. n7"/m = 0.035 and Bu = O and 25kG . Then c•tkulate th
reflectivit y for RCP and LCP radiation for frequencies in the vicini!) of th
pi<umt frequency and make a plot of reflectivity \'crsus frequency fl r '~~·h
case. \Vhat physica l quantities can be determined from experimental re·ulb lll
tl~e magnctoretlecti vlty of free carriers?
4 (Jencraiize the res ult in Eq. C:U14) for the ener!!V or a l'Onductil111 ell'\.' !flll :n
a n o nra~·abolic band to include an external" rna!!:m.'til' tield. lgnN th'
t ~ rm/d 1 ·- ,.. , 111 1 . ~ • l)fJ •
c ' i - ant replace the quantity 1!(Jik/m). l(cOip· lr·tl\1- t"lv fdf....- ~ l- .
where f 1S th · L· d . h
.. . · _ \.: dn .au quantum number. FL)r InSb ~ak: ul a tc t \.' en'11''
• • - ' • •
:-,
separ:ltlons lor th~:: transitions f = 0 f = I. (= I - · I - -· aml l == 2 ·.t __.
•111•d ~:ompare, the rc s·tilt s· to t·1lOse lor
- the parabolic l"• s '. J • F- ~ - - (I - -' _.\
111 IIII = (IU14. and l3u = IUkG .

References
r! L. A~pn~.:s, Pln•s. R,.,, Rl-17 .:;-q l)
D. 1-. A-..pnes and ,\ c\ S · ·· (I Dh)
M Bal~au-..ki and ·L..A. •. tuJn.l. P/n' R,.,.. B7. -t {I
I I·h 1111 and l; \ l :. .- ,m; .li[au PI . " - I I
- vv l> 11 . Prnt. :::-:., I '.' ·'· .·' ' ''' 'w tt 1 ]U
( l ~ t,nd )q ,.:;l. · ' / ' , ._, ••I Ot •tc,· , 1 huJ
 References
305

r H .\ tt.: hbic. and t-:. HI a It. Pill 'S . Nn. I 03. fL (, ( l lJ~ f, ).
II •
I R F \ ·,!Ills. :111d •· Blatt. Pin's. /?n·. 11:\. 1.) ( lt)5Y).
11
t ,;, La. -Hi4 (1ll5tll.
, J'/111 IT:Tf' 7. 77X (195X)
•.ud. 111 II I 1 Scmh·oll,fllclor Compo11nds. cd. D. G. Thoma s
• rk. 1 ~() 7 )
'/11.• n . 101. 1 30{19';6).
\ "-.1)!111. Ph_rs. Rn . 97. X!'lY ( 1955).
nd I·. Wa lhs, Ph_r. . Ret'. B131. 1965 (1963).
L \ ' al l ·. Phy s. Re t'. 123. 131 (1 96 1).
r I ~ . B. "' right. in S emicvnduc/(11'.1' and S emimetals, Vol. .\ ed s.
· , n. nd A. ·. B er (Academic, N ew York, 1967).
, 1 i1 ( Readi ng I 2).
1 J R. 1 . B ro wn . Phrs. Rev. 146, 575 (1966).
• ;1 , md . Z we rdling .. Phys. Rev. 114. 90 ( 1959).
hm. an Proc · •dings of rhe 7rh Inrernarional Co1!/erence on the Physics
• 1 ur•r, ed . M Hulin (Dunod . P a ris. 1964).
1 lm and R . B. Hess. Phrs. Rev. Leu. 14. 138 (1965) .
. 1. J. t·ph ·n. nd .B. id iard. J. Pins. Chem. Solids 9. 43 (1958) .
. Tcitkr. F D. Palik. a nd R . F. Wallis. Phys. Re v. 123, 1631 (1961).
R. F . WJ.IIi .. J. Phy. . hem. Solids 4 , 101 (1958).
R. F. \\.1llis and M . Balka nski. Many-Bo((l' A spects of Solid State Spectroscopy
( orth-H olland. Amsterdam. 1986).
S. Zwerdling and B. Lax . Phrs. Rev. 106, 51 ( 1957).
S. Zwerdling, B. Lax. and L. M . Roth . Phys. Rev. 108, 1402 (1957).
 •
1n

P- N iunctions
I ~ rcpr'SCll!S th ~ interface hl'lWCCil two regions. one of 12.1 Abruptjunctioninthermol
-t pc.: and th other 11-type. equilibrium

11 the intcrfac ckctrons and holes diffuse and recombine

n_ un 'tlmpcn::-:lted charged ions that constitute a span: charge
r t:1!uionla.1 t r. From the region of positive ions on then-type
.1d t u·J the region of negative ions on the p-type side exists a
h11 rlt-m tIt 11 h held.
The char.::- d n ity i. po. it ire on the n-trpe side and negatire on the [Hype
,,,,ft r the .·pace lnrge regi o n.
The ·nnta l p tentia l 1r dij/itsion potential is the potential difference
a ro .. thejun tion . i.e .. thedi!Terence in potential ofthe neutral1Hype
region and then utral p-type region .
Th band gap \Vidth remains constant throughout the space charge
rc!!ion. Thee:<. LJc:ma of the conduction and valence bands at a particular
point ar hifte l by an energy equal to the product of the electron
Lharg and th potential at that point.
The higher th ionized impurity concentration on a given side of the
j uncti n. t h~.;: -mailer the penetrati m of the space charge region on that
id and the total width of the . pace charge region .
Th c nc ntration of a carrier does not drop abruptly to zero in passing
from the neutral region into the adjoining space charge region.
mea ure of the penetration depth of the carrier is the Dehye /cng/11.
Under an applied external voltage called the hias volrage the ditrusion
12.2 P-N junction under on applied
current is no longer balanced by the drift current.
The bia~ voltage changes the width of the space charge region and
voltage

modi1ies the electric field.

nder forward bias the width of the space charge region is decreased. The
potential difference also dccn:ases and the energy band diagram is
modified.
The electric field arising from a reverse bias voltage is directed from the
11-type side to the p-typc side and is parallel to the built-in field. The
width of the space charge region is increased.
The clij/it.,ion currenT of electrons consists of majority carrier electrons
that difluse from the 11-type side toward the p-type side. The gl:'neration
08

i n ar a graded p-n junction i not uniform.

1 11

lf'itcmce which can be easily_ va~ed.

J

It i 1 , 1 d · t a rea rrangement of mmonty carriers as the

l' :11 ~cd. . . . . .
1 1
rpm t 11r·t arise. fro m rnaJonty earners flowmg m response to
h,m, 111 r - er e hia p tcntial.
utli~o:H.:'Uti} high tick! impact ionization and_ carrier multiplication
ta rlaLl' r sulunC' in avalanche breakdmrn or m Zener breakdown.

The pr cedi ng hapters have treated the basic physics of semil'on-

uctors. At this p in t we turn to the applications of semicondu tor
a nd th devices th 'lt arise therefrom. Perhaps the simplest semiconductor
d vice is the p-n junction which is useful as a rectifier. It also sen·
the basis for the transistor which has important applications as a
amplifier.

12.1 Abrupt iunction at thermal equilibrium

We have seen in Chapter 5 that impurities l)f different types can be intrL ·.
duced into bulk intrinsic semiconductors. If the impuriry is the sourc r
fre~ charge carriers that are negatively· charged electrons, the m~J teri,d t
designated n-type. whereas if the impurity is the soun.:e of pcull\ '
charged h_oles, the material is dcsignakd p-type . In n- ypc 111~1 1 rial th'
pnnctpal 11~t~urities are donors. and the majority ca rri ers are ~L ndu '!ltll
elec tr~n , an smg primarily from the ioniza tion r1f don or ·tt ms- In p-t~ '
matenal. the principal impurities are aL·ceptors. ~ nd th mal 1rit ~ l"Jrn :'
are holes~ cre·tted '
1:"
).r
tl1c transfer . ol. electrons fr m th" \ ·tl- n 'I? b·•1nJ Ll
accep tor atoms k·l\,. .. ~-.. nJ In
'·mg pos1llve 1v charged hnk-.. 111 th' ,.tl ' n ~ l'• 1
hot h tvpt.S or m· 1t .·. I . . ~ . - . . ,,
_ ~ . . ' en,l ,1 t nonzero tcm p~n 1u rc l' L n lucu 111 ·h.: li l n. ·
IlUics ansmg from tl1 , . . . ' · . .· "
_ . · e ~. : xntat•on nt electrons ' IC r s · th~· ~.:n 'I.!\ !!.l ,tr •1
ptesL'IlL The therm·ll , ... ·, . ·• · . ~- -. iu 1''
cJc . . · d Y t\Lih:ci huk:s Ill 11 - l \ [1' lllll ·n.tl .111d \ ll
L 11 u n s 111 p-I y pe IW •. - •
It · . . . ' 11 e1 l;l 1;1 re ca lied minority earner
IS p SS!bk (o sp•t(i· 1ll
inatcrial·tn 1 .. ,. ' ' Y L"t)ntrol thl" d t. tnh u11 t 1
L lll:dlt' sy-..t 'IH . tl
cuu-;ider ., 1., •. 1. · · l: s lal l'llllliJtll ht th 11- Ill l 1 -l
'

' -... L dll g u 1' lr sl· 1I1 r

( ]c. vvhost: let ll . ' ' () a flll r' und11pcJ n11 1 1
r 1 ,-., I; I rg •1 ITI • . I
f •' r ~u In ll s I 11 ·• d 11
.
 Abrupt jUnction at thermal equilibnum
09

·I J 1p ·I h) d illli'>IIH1 ul imp tnl · <1(11111'>

1 s 1.It 1..'11 s th ·pa ni ·tbr '' ' "C i ll \ hi ·h accrl" t·n
pl( IJllpttt ll '>ll ·h JS r<J is I p ):-,itcd l n the I n-h. nd
tnd a IPtwr nnpunty suc h"' " /\ <; is k pmt l ·<...1 111 th • r () n
'l itt nB 11\v'n:l\ h ,a t t h · s l~t h b_ putling itint a
1ll1111s \ ill d i!Tusc int0 l h ' int nri:-> r of th ·hh. ·ach fig. 12.1
1 n tronl Th~ l\\1.) tli ffLL i n Cront s wi ll m 1 t \ · rd the I ~· hn ·;JlHlll .,1 :1 p n !U IH.. tmn.

t itimC.lfthc bb i ·now rcm v ·Jfromthc fu rn ace,

r umd udot cln ng"' fr 1111 -typt It th I rt fp o. iti n
ht t p s1ti n 0. T his int rnal interface b l\: c~:: n p- and
Ucd a p-n junction.
Jlu· ti n ai led :m abrupt junction the conccnt r·H il n of
fl!!Cdiscnntinuousl from a unif rm value 11" on the
n thl:r unifo nn alu 11" n the 11-t ype , id . On the ther
d d junction the con nt n ti0n of doping a toms varies con-
r m ('ne .tde of the junction to the other. Jn this section we

t.

n
12.1.1 Space charge region
£ ,. 1 - - - --
W hall a ~· um that th - left hand side of the junction shown in Fig. 12.1
ontam. , hallo\\ ac pL r \vithasmallionizationenergy Ec; ontheorderof
k 8 Ti'or room t mpera ture. Then practically all the acceptors a re ionized at
room temp ratur . T hi means that the concentration of holes p in the naee eeee
£ ,,
\'al nee band i ' ery nearly equal to the concentration of acceptor impu- ++++++
p
ritie nuintrod u d into the sample.
imilarl . if the dono r impurities on the right hand side of the junction
are ·hallm . th y 'tre practicall y a ll ionized at room temperature. The free
l tr n n ntrati on n is then essentially the same as the donor atom X

on entra ti n nd. \ therefo r have free negative carriers (electrons) in the fig. 12.2
ondu ti n ba Dd of then-type region and free positive carriers (holes) in the Band di agram o f ·~ p n junctio n hefore
' alene band of the p-type region a shown in Fig. 12.2. The ionized donors eq uilibrium.
and · ptor · a re indica ted by encircled + and - signs.
It mu t b mphajzed that the p- n junction represented by Fig. 12.2 is
n t in thermal equilibrium. Very large concentration gradients of electrons
an h I • exi~t at the interface between the n-type and p-type regions .
... n quentl y. electrons will diffuse from the 11-type region into the p-type
region. and hole will diffuse from the p-type region into the 11-type region .
DitTu io n will continue until the basic criterion for thermal equilibrium is
attained . i.e. the Fermi energy is constant througho ut the system. As the
el ctr ns and holes intermix on each side of the junction. they recombine.
th rehy annihilating each other and leaving a region of vastly reduced
fn::e carrier concentration. The 11-type side of the region contains ionized
don r~ (positively charged), hut is greatly depleted of compensating free
electro n~ . The p-type side of the region contains ionized acceptors (nega-
tively charged), but is grea tly depleted or compensating free holes.
11

( 12.Ia,

( 12.Ib·

whcr D, and D17 are the iffusion coefficients for electrons and b 1s.
re pcctivel . lle and ll;, ar their mobilities, and }, and 111 are their currem
densitie~. Equilibriu m r quires that the current densities be zero.

12.1.2 Charge density variation

The charge density fJ(x) at any point x in the junction can be written a·

(12.2

The discus~ion of Section 12.1.1 leads us to the following results. In the

n-type neutral region X 11 ::; x , the conduction electron concentration 11,, is
given by n" ::::::- n", n" ~ 0, and the hole concentration f? " is eaiven bv.; the !.I\\ ,f
mass action (Eq . (6.16))
, ,
IF /1":'
Pn = -..!.... :::: - ' .
n,, llrf

A~~OO~,n;:::: 1.5 x 10 10 cm- 3 forSi.lfn" = I0 15 cm - 3 . p 11 .::::~.~ "- 10·\:m

w ~c~ rs very small com pared to n/1' Hence. t ht' el ctrons ;tr th ·
.
ma1onty carriers ·utd
• the ho 1es.. .u
. .e t he mmonty
. . earners . tn · t he n-t~ p..... tt""U
" tr.tl
regton.
On the n-type side 0 f tl . . , h.t h '
le space charge regJ ) I) ) ...... y - \w \\1:
= P = n,, ~ 0 and n -L 0 0
rv "'

dr · n t he p-type stde ':' ~)t": tht: . pac

- c1wr~ r = ''1''1
11
. < .
_,,, _ ·' :S 0, we have e;, ""' rv 1r .•• , ,,
r< " . . " - P = n" = O and n,, =,i= O. In thl: -t ~r nc:utn ~=-
. -- ,,, v.-e 1l.lve p1 ""' 11 11 "" (-) . .
' - "' .t = · and n,, •~ gtven b)
,
n,, =
n-
....!... ""
n;'
f't• 11,1

Tit~· hoks ar~ now lh~ . . .·

.:;uriet 'i . 111 1 01
' -' llY l:arn 'rs a n I tl tl ' I Ill
 Ab rupt junction at th rma l equilib rium 311

1ft' I hy l q . (I .:!. 2 l:<t ll t ' ' p rco.;o.; I :ts

( 12.5a J
() ( 12.5h ) ~ :
~', , () tf

r,. ( 12.5c )
Fig. 12.4
ft,r ana l ru )[[ - ll ·un ·tion tS shov n in Fi g. 1:?..4.
fo r a r 11 j ll ll C I l rl .

12.1. tentiol
r harg· dcn-ity d istributi :)n that exist' in the space charge
bmlt-i n t'lect ric 1 ld £. Thi - electric field correspond s to
f the lectro ··tatic potential V (r ) within the p- n

£ = -VV(r). ( 12.6)

The p t 'II 1al differ nc aLr . the junction is the difference in the poten- v ' v,
--~-J~~
tiaL ofthc neutral n-type regil n V, and the neutral p-type region VP and is
ailed the contact pote ntial or the diffusion potential ll,i v,
0
=
XI' X"
Td VII - V[! . ( 12.7)
Fig. 12.5
The p t ntia s in th variou s regions of a p- n junction are shov.rn sche- Po tentia l V versus position x for a
mati all) in Fig. I _.5. p- n junctio n.

W 110\\ c n ider a n ideal abrupt junction in 'Nhich the built-in electric

fi ld i nfin d t the space charge region. The electrostatic potential is
th r ~ re con t n t in the regions outside the space charge region . The dif-
fu ion p t n tial can be calculated by taking into account the fact that the
\'Stem is in q uilibrium. There are two ways to specify this condition:
I. r quir tha t the Fermi energy be con stant throughout the junction, or
2. r q ui r tha t the electron and hole currents he zero.
St rt ing \Vith procedure (1) . we note from Eq. (6.10) that the electron
concen tra tion in the 11-type neutral region can be written as

_ ,1 e d ( E1- - F,~" )
1 c· (12 .8)
II 11 - .."V

and in the p-t ype neutral region as

( 12.9)

where .- , is the effective densitv of conduction band states and the quan-
tities Ec 11 and £ Pare the energies of the conduction band minima in the
!Hype and p-type neutral regions .
The identity of £1- on both sides or the p--n junction means that we can
eliminate EF from Eqs. ( 12.8) and ( 12.9) to yield

Ecp- Ec" =-I log -

,{3 lip
(n") = ktJTlog - (n")
lip
. ( 12.10)
 . · onductors
P-N junctions'" semlc
32 . om Eq. ( 12.4), we obtain
· - 11 anLi n,, tr
ak tng "" - "
E - - Ec
r n
= 11clna)
ksTlog ( -.,- .
117 ( 12.tt)

and Fo. ar related to the potentials Vn and VP by

1

Ec, = -eV" 02.12)

02.13)
h.:nl~< 1ts Lhen given by

l
T'1r = V" - VP =- (Ecp- Ec,,), (12.14)
e
and fpm Eq. P . ll follows the result

, - log (11c1nu)
ksT
- -,- .
fit~ = (1 2.15;
e 117
15 3
r Si at 300 K and n" = n" = 10 cm - , Vc1 is found to be ""0.6 volt.
Turning now to procedure (2) we start from Eqs. (12.1) and use the
Einstein relation (Eqs. (i).37) and (3.38)) to eliminate the diffu ion con-
stants:

l e = J.Le[en£ + ksT V11] = 0 (12.1 6a)

1!, = J.Lh [ep£ - kaTVp] = 0. (l.2.16b)

For the one-dimensional case under consideration, these equation can be

rewritten as

~1 e e
-=- - £dx= - dV (12.11a1
n kaT k8 T

dp e e {12.1 bl
- = - -£dx = - - - dV.
p ksT kaT
Integrating
. Eq · ( 12 ·17 a ) f rom x to x across the \vhol pm;e l:harge region
ytelds " "

Noting th·1t 11 ( - )
' ·'n = 11' rand n( ·r" ) -- n;~ / 11" , w get

I. I

whkh agn.: ~ v. ith th. .

~ r suit lrom pr l.:euun: (I)
 313
Abrupt junction at thermal equilibrium

f• ld in he space charge region

tl" sp,lc' c h ~1rg r !!ion -an be o btaineJ hy solvinll
, 1 '1th t1c (h c.1rg density given by Eq . (I 2.2) The electric
fi
11~d I~ 1.: l-.i 11' th e nega tive gradient <)r the potential.
I
'
''' \ n·s equati o n is ~-r

ci~ V p(x )
( 12.20)
d.\ 2

lectric l 111 tant of the junction. The charge density p( x) is Fig. 12.6
. l2 o. v ra ll charge neutr-:llity requires that Diagram ·howing charge neu tra lity.

( 12.21 )

\\ hid1 mean. that th a rea o f the two rectangles on the left and right hand
_1de. 11f th r n JU ncti n in F ig. 12.6 a re equal.
We fir t c n, ider tb regio n x 1,:::; .Y :::; 0 where Poisson's equation has the
~ nn

dE en 0
( 12.22)
dx EoE

J n te~rrati n ~ IV s

dV = - E(x) = enax + CJ , ( 12.23)

d.\: EOE

where c 1 i · a constant of integration determined by the boundary condition

tha t £(.y) = 0 at x = xfl. The value of c 1 is

en 1xp ( 12.24)
Cj =- - - ,
Eo E

and hence

v) __ _ en 0 (:r -_ Xp), Xp :::; X ::;

Q
. (12.25)
E(. ~
EOE

On the n-type side of the junction where the space charge is positive,
Poisson's equation is

- - =- - ( 12.26)

Integration yields the result

dV elltfX ( 12.27)
- = - E(x ) = - -- + c2 .
dx fot
 . · onductors
P-N junctions'" semtc
_ . 1 c ~ is determined by the bounda ry condition tha
The in l gnJLIO ll ca nst ~~. f. - . :l to be t
. an ts ounc ·
£ ( \) .= Oa t' = \u
l:'ll{/.\"11
(·, = - ·
- fot (12.28 )

Tht: buill-in dectnc field i then

'l'lcl (-" - x,) 0:;
£.(x ' = f f
X:; X 11 •
(12.29

·u ra 11:c )ndit ion. Eq . ( 12.21), shows that E(x) is continuous

h
't

(12.301

F" .12.7
Rudt-m kdric fi ld £ \cr.;u,
£(0) i the nr im um ti .ld £ 111 in the depl~tio~ region. A plot of the built-in
lectric fi eld a a fun tion of xis shown m F1g. 12.7. We note that E(x) is
n 0oative over the entire pace charge region x":; x:; x,, in agreement with
Eq . (1 ___5) and ( 12.29 ).

12.1.5 Electronic energy bands in the space charge region

If the potential V(x) is multiplied by -e . the result is the potential energ) of
an electron in the junction. The electron energy is therefore changed by the
amount -e V(x); in particular. if the valence band edge E r· is taken to be
zero in the p-type neutral region, it has the value

Ev(.:r) = -eJ,..(x) (12.31 1

in the space charge region . An expression for the conduction band edge £l
can be obtained by noting that the energy gap£.., = Ec- £,-is a con ·tantin
real space: hence, ~

Ec(x) = Es: - e ~ ·· (x). l l -,, _,,,_

The variation of the band structure is thus specified at each pllin! vf th
space charge region.
To evaluate V(x) we integrate the equation

dV
-. = - £(.\')
r/.y
over the region x < ·<o ,· _ .
" - ·' - usmg Eq . (1.2.2)) ami oht:un

1.(x) = enu( ,. - x,,· ~

.., t- I r·
-fot-
whcrc
. w·-"'· t1,. 1ve used the h) . . .
n.:gtun the ~:kctt'( . . . . l Ut~d.try l ndtl tl n th ul 111 l
ls .ttt~.: pot "n t 1 I .
1
h 1r th~: r~:git 11 11 . t: '-' ts ~.: )ns tant .1 n I · 1 ttl
\ - \, w ll \: ·q . (] _ _l)) Ill Itt
 Abrupt junctio n at therma l equilib rium
315

L, ,.
I I'
I !" • .•.•,•,•, • • f.,,

\ ) ( 12 .34) ~ -~ - -------·---- -
,. .-=-._..,..,._- :-7-'--
k. v-- '

1 akncc <llld conduction band edges throughout

ltJllh~d b.' substituting Eqs. (12.3_:q and (12.34) into
L _ . re p ctivdy. In Fig. 12.8 are presented the var-
Fig. 12.8
n nd c nd uction band edges £ 1 (x) and E c (.Y) as Condud ion a nd valence band edges
t ~ct pre t usly the band gap£" is independent of x. ln ve rsus x .
• '' 111 the"tilting" ofthe band edges hy the built-in electric
fieiJ 1 '-'' 1 n .::.nee v.e ar considering the n junction at thermal
.:qUJlihriu 1. th F "rmi encrg is constant throughout the structure. If EFn
and £;. 3r 1 • quasi-Fermi energies in the neutral n- and p-type regions
befNe --quilihiium i· e tabi U 1ed , with EF11 > EF,· then after equilibrium is
. tahli. hcd.
( 12.35)

12.1.6 Width of the space charge region

Tb onditi n of ba rge neutrality as expressed by Eq. (12.21) can be
r .writt n in tern1s of W, = lx,JI= - Xp and ltf/" = lxnl = x":

(12.36)

Thi· r su it means that the space charge is wider spread in the less doped
r gJ n. Th to tal width W of the space charge region is

(12.37)

To alcula te W 11 and W" individually, we need to supplement Eq. (12.37)

with a ond relation that is obtained from the condilion requiring con-
linuit _ of l·'( x) at x = 0. Using Eqs. ( 12.33) and ( 12.34), this condition takes
the form

(I2.38)

or

(12.39)

Taking into consideration Eq. (l2.36) we get

( 12.40)
 . . emiconductors
P- N junctions'" 5
316
. . , . d W, separately:
ol\'l ng lor H n ,tn r

2foe v"
(12.4Ja 1
1

W,; = cntt( 1 + (ntt/na))

(12.4Jb,

. tth ' 1\ 11 h) , E<.J

:. .
( , -·
., 1 }. we ohtain

(l2.42a )

( l2 .4~b )

wher
I
2
LDn = ( 2Eo~k 8 T )
e-nd
(12.43a)

( l2A3b)

LD" and LDp are referred to as the Debye lengths in then- and p-type regions.
respectively.
The total width W of the space charge region is

For Si with f = 11 .7 and equal doping on both sides of the junction.

11a=nc~= 10 1s em _,· ,onefindsthat Wisabout
....
1.3 X w - -lcmat30OKTh . I)·
is a typical value for a p- n junction in Si .
One can obtain simple expressions for the widths of the space charge:
regions Wn and W" on the n and p sides of the junctiLm r.~ utililing the
overall
h neutrality
. condition na Wp = n d r.r, , • The t."t·tl
v ,
\\"idth l'f the spa~e
c arge region can then be writ ten as
11

W = W
,
+ u .r
~r "
r.v
= rr" + -fl a .
H 1, = JI ,
(.
I ~
II
1
IIJ l

from which we get

11,, = - - - - -
,.
1 -t n,, " d l
 Ab rupt juncti n at thermal eq ilibrium 17

JI, II - IJ 1, - ( 1_.46)
I

11 1 the la rge r the ioni7ed impurity concentration on

ll n. I he ~ ma llcr the penetration of the space cha rge

1.: 11 1 ""' the Jl-lype region will be the wider region .

q.( 1 2 . ·L ~l)is

( 12.47)

.t I1 11, = I em _ -, an d lit~ = 10' 7 em--1 , the extent of the

l>i

the n-type side is roughly

or O.lp.

12.1 .7 Physical interpretation of the Debye length

Th oncentratlon f electrons does not drop abruptly to zero in passing
from the neutral n-t •pc region into the space charge region at x,,. Some
1 ctrun d1rTu e int th pa e charge region, and their concentration is not
z r . ut dep nd n po. ition x: n = n(x).
T det rm in n(x ) w generalize Eq. (12.8) and write the electron con-
nt ra tion at an) poi nt x as
n(x) = Nce .:J/Ec(., )-E,.. j ( 12.48)

\\ h r . E (.y) i the onduction band edge at x given by

Ec(x) = Ecn- eV(x) (12.49)

and l '(x i the electrostatic potential given by Eq. (12.34).

In th . neutral part oft hen-type region, V(x) = V11 which we take to be the
z r of potential. Then we recover Eq. ( 12.8), which for shallow donors at
ro m temperature becomes

II (.\
·) = 11 = .N-cl:, - N( Ec., - EF)
11
,....., 11
-- d • (12.50)

In the depleted region the electron concentration is

n(x) = N e-·i Ec, - cf'(.I )- Er l . ( 12.51)

Rearra nging this e4uation with the aid of Eq. ( 12.50) yields
(12.52)

Replacing V(x) by the expression given in Eq. ( 12.34) with Jl,, = 0, we obtain

( 12.53)
P-N junctions in semiconductors

. . It· proYides a ph ysical interpretation of the Dcbye length L

Tl11::. I e. l1 ., r. d · ~rusionlcncrthan d 1same<t
. . . f I hn. It
urco t1epenetrat 1·c>nd
pl,l) t I1c rc 1 ~:: 0 1 • 1 1 '
v
0
. q>tb
l)l electro n::> int til space chargt: regiOn.
Example 12.1: Difl'us1on and drift currents in a p- njunction
at therm·d eq uilibri um .
(alcn latc the d iffus i n and dnfl cu_r~en_ts of electrons and holes in a
silic 111 p-n junctio n a t thermal equtllbnuJ~.
olution. In th neutra l n-and p-type regtons the net charge density
is 7 ero. the electri t1eld is zero and the electron and hole currents are
eparately zcr . At the p n interface, .Y = 0, the electric field has it
ma imum magn itude, an I the dnft CL~r~ent of each type offreecharge
carri~..: r a he large even if their denstttes are small. The drift current
of a particular t_p of c·trrier is ca nceled by that carrier's ditfu ion
curr n t which can also be large because the concentration gradient i
large.
A _i mple estimate o f the drift current can be made by considering a
· mmctric junction for which 11 0 = n"and the carrier masses are qual.
At , = 0. EF is xactly o ne-half of the energy gap: EF = ~ E~. The free
arri r c nc ntrat i ns at thi s po int arc the intrinsic concentrations.
The d rift current d nsity is J = ll ;f:!IJ-C. For Si at 300 K with n, = IOifJ
cm- 3 • J.1 ~ lOOO cm 2 V 1s 1, and na= n"= 10 ' cm - , one finds from
1 3

q. (1 2.39) that£ ::: Vd/ W::: 104 Ycm - 1 ifthe spacechargewidthis

I ).1m . T he current density is then ""0.0 I A;cm .
2

12.2 P- N iunction under an applied voltage

12.2.1 Qualitative effects of an applied voltage

When an external voltage is applied acros. a p--n junction. the equilibrium

situation no longer holds. and a n electric current !lows through th junc-
tion . This means that the diffusion current of a given type of earner i no
longer hal anced by the drift current. An ex tern a I volta2:e is referred to a J
bias voltage. ~
A bias voltage changes the difference in potential of then- and p-tyJX
neutral regions and modifies the electric field in the space charge region
Furthermore, a bias voltage produces a change in the ,., idth of th~ 'PJ(~
charge region . If the bias voltage is such that the n-tvp r·~i )11 bc(l)fil'
more negative, the junction is said to have a forwa rd bias. lf the rHH~
regton becomes more posi tive, the jundilm ha ~ <1 reverse bias.
 P-N junct'on under on oppli d voltog 9

1 • 1 n. \\L "~~.: t l a! 11 .1 i ng I he 1 - l y p - r 'g1o 11 nw r

Ill II. nd ~~~ ll C'Ut r;ll ll'\.: n m ~ f til ~ po I l i ve SJ1LlcC
llt-111 Lb:tnc.lkld b the am 1unt £ ,, _ ,.u/ lf'' In
l the 1' ult111! ~ kdnc licld 111 the sp;.tc c harge
he' ~ct lrs t: ~mJ '-' a arc antiparallel as rcprc-

Fig. 12.9
'idth of the . pa e charge region
D 1ag ram or r 1n •ard hia ~ volta ge
ell eel 1fan ~1p p licd voltage I···" is to reduce the ,.v iJth f ', a ppl icdlP ap- nJll nC li n
1~ ll, th v~J u I'J/ ' = H',; + w,;.
Thi s follows from
tn tidd. me~,; a mailer lleld mu st arise fro m fewer
1 ntl~.:d unpu rit_ ato ms in the space charge region. Con-
e harg~: r gi nn b c mes narrower, as we can see from
hil:h f I tO b r placed by Vd - f. 11 :

(12.54a)

rr-'I' = ( l 2.54b)

12.2.2.3 Effect on the difference in electrostatic potential between

the n- and p-t) pe reoion of the junction
TI1 diiTeren e in potential between the neutraln- and p-type regions can be
written a W 'E,/I'c · \ Vh re Em.,· is the average value of the electric field in the
pa e hareer gio n. ince boththeaveragefieldandthewidthofthespace
harg r gi n d r a ·e under forward bias, the potential difference also
dr r :ls . Th d crease in potential in fact is the bias voltage V ,. a positive
quanti! _. The J oten tial difference V"- V", which a t equilibrium is the Fig. 12.10
diffu ~io n potentia l d 1 now Po tential vers us position for a p-n
junc tio n with (solid curve) a nd without
(dashed c urve) a n applied fo rward bias.
11 -
T/
., I' -- j/ rf - j/ (I • ( I :2.55)

Th I ctr ta tic potential li(x) at point .Y in the junction can be

c· I ulat d by g ncralizin2: the treatment in Section 12. 1.5. The behavior
o[ f '(x) bot.h ~at eq uilib;ium and under forward bias is illustrated in
Fig L .I O.

12.2.2.4 Effect of a forward bias voltage on the

EF,, -----;--..:..
electron potential energy - e V(x ) and the energy band edges -.~--£\ .•
),:,,
The nduction and valence band ed ges for an abrupt p- n junction .at
e uili brium a re shown in Fig. 12.1 I as dotted lines. The ener~y barner Fig. 12.11
betwe n the n- ·md p-sides i. r:V". The application of a fonv ard btas has the Conduc tion a nd va lenL·e bancl edges
el1eu of reducing the energy barrier to the value e( V.t - Va ) an~ thu~ lea~s versus p ositio n with l·ulid c ur\'e) and
L. a m tfication of th e energy ba nd diagram, as shown by full ltnes m without (da:;hed cu nt') an a p plied
f-lg. l_. JJ. fon' a nl hias.
 P-N junctions in semiconductors

Reverse bias: n-type region biased positively

12 .2 .3
_ _ _ Effect on the built-in electric field
12 2 3 1
.. , ·r"e bn" the p- n junction is polarized with then-type sid
L m I~J 1e\ ~.: • .· , . , • . . e C(Jn.
·t ,.l I, the r 'ltti\'C lcrmtnal of the generator dS shown m Ftg. 12.11 T
-· he
nc.:L ~:u l
t..,; It:L l fl
w ,,.I ·.
.
•
.
, , , , ,
.
•
d.
c: ·trisin , from the btaSVO 1tage IS nOW trectcd from then
lll: U'-.r< • • ·l.J)e
and ts parallel to th b .1
•
.• , to thL' J)-LVP~ .;; 1dc o l the space ch.uge regton
1

lut: • . (' ld . h UJt.

• 1 1 c: t'nsetl ll ntly the to tal elcctnc te 111 t e space charge re
111 1l: l " • gton
the magnllude •
1

b " .

12.2.3.2 Effect on the width of the space charge region

1 here arc increa ed num bers of positive!~ char?~d ionized impurittes nthe
tHype 1Jc and t r nega ti ve ly charged 1mpunttes o~ the p-type side and
thenJor an incrca -cd wi th of the space charge regwn. The widths of the
11 • and p-typc regi n, are o btained by replacing Vu by - Vain Eqs. ( 12.54).

12.2.3.3 Effect on the electrostatic potential between

the n- and p-t)'p regions of the junction
Sin th ekctr static po tentia l difference is ~V'Eare and since both W' and
11
inCI·na,·
,.,. under rev rsc bias, the potential difference must also increase
T he bias potenti al Va is a positive quantity which adds to the diffu ion
potential v" to yield the total potential difference between then- and p-l ~pe
regio ns:
Fig. 12.13
Potent i ;.~l 1'-:r~u p ·ition f ra p- n VII- Vp = v.~ + Va· ( 12.:6
JUil ti n 11ith ~uhd curv ·) dnd without
This sit uation is shown in Fig. 12.13.
(d:t~hl·d rur\'e) an :tpplied reve r ·e bias.

12.2.3.4 Effect on the electron potential energy and

the energy band edges
The potenti al energy harrier between the n- and p-type regions. which ha
the magnitude e( V" - V") = e V" in eq uilibrium , is increaseJ under re\ N
bias to e( V" Vu). This increase in barrier height produces a change in th
energy band edges, as shown in F ig. 12. 14, and reduces the dilfusilll ·ur·
rents of hoth elect rons and holes. '"

·- --- - - £,. 12.2.4 Qualitative description of current flow in a biased junction

Fig. 12.14
o nductiun and vaknce band cdg~.:~
I ·r u, po 11 iu n with ('ol id curvt:) and
1q hout (Ua \ h 'd cun c ) an applied
rel'eJ•c hia .
To ~ escribc current ilow in a biased junction \Ve need tl) identif) mtW
r.rcctsely the na ture of the currents di scussed in Section I ~.l.l . Co n!-iJcnn~
tu·st electrons, we have introduced the diffusion curren t ·tensity d> V -
1~· 1 ' which consists of majority carrier electrons th• iilf 1. fr m the n-t~r~·
Side .to\.va rd tl1·~'" IJ- tvp.; e" s,·d
1 e <.llH.j t11at ha\·e sulucJ
'1:: .
·n en rg) ll' \ ·rL't,m~ •
th-
barner due to the diffusion potential. On lv ·t · .d l ft.tt:l il n l f tn..lJ~··
1 11

electrons
. . _- p·trticil1'lt
·' ' c"' ll1
· tl1e d 1"tl·uston· curren t.· · ttr •du '
CLHlJ L ur ·Lntll
1s a dnlt
.
ClltT"nt
· t:
\ ··th .
\t current lkllSllv 1 ·' _ CIIJI 11'1sl.
,. 1tlllll'
earn er electrons t'rom the p-tvpe ~ttir th·tt ltJL I ' 11 th
under the mli • . · .· •
· uence n l th hutlt-in L'I ..:L·tric 'dd F I h
'L'ncra tl'J by 1hcnn 1 . .
l•. .. a c. L'tta II n .1 cro~ I he h.ud
~~m L1nit currl'nt \\Ill be <t ha n l J i lnd . I
curr ent · Sltl
' CL'
tl1 • l ·
• ILJ1 ,I
' .' -= llllJ Ort l ) Cd rrH.:r ·h:ctr 'll" I
) I I g tli . Lt • \\ II h ' n aI c.; b \ .I. h
l: L l1 g t I Jl' II lh I' I
 P-N junction under on applied voltog 21

f I h~:m " rc :wept I !lin th ' 1 - l) J"IL sio..h.:. t he I' II

p nd nt 1 I t hl' b: rn~,.· , height. '-.:::.....:::...----

I h~ Jifl U:-.ton :111 J gu r ra l ion ' lliTC ill 1. p re~ nted ,, ,,,,,~

11 1d rat 1 ~ n . . ·\p)l t<1 t he .:urrcnt d ue to bed .. ' ,.,.,..,T>J"TJ/

Tlj"Tj-r,

11lt1 H'n ..tnd gc n era ti0n~..· urrcnts ;1r q ua l in tna l!-

,.)

Jil dtrcl.:lllHl C r both electrons and ht.ll · The n~t

nJ ~.:r the appli ati )11 r a fo n\·ard bia::;. th ~ n
c:rL·d ,lfh..l c.1 l.1rger Cracti0r1 of the majori tv carrier
~ unic1cnl to urmountthe harrier and flO\ -from the
h p-type r gi n. The diffusion current 1,. 1 t hercfore
1Uall~ \\ith bia - \'Olt agc I 'c~ · Sin e the generation current
nt t barrier h igh t and hence of I n - it remain · constant. Fig. 12.15
n1e nt:t u 1l lll! to electr n·. l e1 +
.!e"Y. · cunsequently increases. A Diagrams r (a ) udTu~w n cur ren t i,.1
unil,lr. n. I_ 1 • J pli~s to h lc. . The to ta l net current due to both electrons ~tn d I h) ge ne ration c urrt: nl J..l rnr
:1nd hole m r~, ponentiall_ a s the fo rward bias voltage increa e. . electr _n::, 111 a p n j uncliLJn (;d'ter Da! en
I CJ90).
Re,er' ht. i crea ~ the nergy barrier and red uces the fraction of
majorit~ L H i"r clecLrons that ca n ro ·s it. The diffusion current l e i from
th n-l) r .1de t the p-t} pc :id de re·1ses as the reverse bias increases. The
minority cJrrier curr nt ).;:. fro m the p-type side to then-type side remains 5
ra ti~nJl) con ·t;mt. E,· ntua lly a reverse bias voltage is reached such that
th~ diflusion current du to majo rity carriers is insignifica nt compared to
th 2 neration current due to the minority carriers. Since the latter current
i n. tant. th net cl c tr n current becomes consta nt. The same arguments
hold for theca ·e ofhol _C mbining th currents from electrons and holes
-5 eV,,Jk 8 T
5
)'i I the total curr nt. which reaches a saturation value at large rever e
bia ' oltage. The satura tion value is the sum of the generation currents of \_Rcver' e
l crrons and hoi s.
Fig. 12.16
r m the e on ideration one can conclude that under forward bi as the T lal current ve rsus bias V<>llage in
t t I urr n in the juncti on increases continuously with increasing bias a p- n jun..:tion.
v !tag . wh rea. under reverse bias the current reverses directi on and
reach a atu ration ·alue. Thi s qualitative appraisal is shown graphically
in Fig.! _. !

12.2.5 Quantitative treatment of current flow in a biased junction

12.2.5.1 i\'1 inority carrier injection

At thermal eq uilibrium. the electron and hole currents Oowing through the
jun tio n are both zero as a result of the bal a nce between the diffusion and
drift currents em bodied in Eqs. ( 12. 1). When an external voltage is applied,
the electric field in the space charge region changes, decreasing under for-
ward bias, and increasing under reverse bias. The carrier concentrations
al o chane-e_
. The ele;tron a nd hole current densities}, and 1J, are given by a general<
JZation of Eqs. (12.16 ).

l e = f-le [ en£
1 dn]
+ kBT dY (12.57a)

1J, = /-Lh
1 dp]
ep£ - ks T d,· ,
( 12.57b)
[
 P- N junctions in semiconductors
2
' · ~ tl l t·tl electric !icld equal to the sum of the built-in and .
vherc E ~~ Jt' l 1 ' . . . . ., . · · , appJitd
. . fi ld O fpar tJcular 1mpo1 t,tnct: m determmmg the net current .
clc t nc e · . . . . th ,k . . . IS the
. l1 '1'1 mi nority earner Jnjedlon. 1n e wea InJeCtion rem
proce'is no
. .
' 1~ . . . . ·
tlext the net electron and 110 t: cui tents are much mall h
e.•Tne to
d 1,_~.; u e
b~.:: • . . .. . d .• er t an
. ··d a l , ., nents due to chffus1on c1nc1 ntt.
t he1 r Jnli 1v1 u ~.; 1 1 . . . .
n- tkc . simple estimate ol the diffusiOn current densny
. in
0 ne can 1 • , , . •
the sp;.JCe ~.:harge r g 1o n. The gradient of the hole concentration can be
\ rittcn a

(12.58)

since t 1e c nccntration o f' minority ho les i_s much l~ss than that of majority
hlle ·. The hole diffusio n current density IS then given by

dp . }Jp
]J . = - J.i 1,ksT - = -JL1 J,sT -
'" dx W
kH Ta 1,
c rv · ( 12.59 )

wh re afl i, the conductivit y or the p-type region of the junction.

Example 12.2: Dilfu sion current in a p-n junction
Calculate the diffu sion current density of a junction with ap=
I 00 n-' em I a nd rJl = 1 pm = I X 10- 4 em.
Solution. At a temperature of300 K, ksT= 4.14 x 10 - 14 erg=4.14 x
10- 21 J. Taking c = 1.6 >< 10- 19 C and using Eq. (12.59), one obtain
I J;,c~ l =::: 10~ A jcm 2 . This current density is equivalent to 1 A per
10 pm 2 of cross-sectional a rea.
4

The current density of electrons due to diffusion is found to ha\e

approximately the same magnitude as that for holes. Both current den iti6
are much larger than the net current densities specified by Eqs. ( 12.57).1! is
therefore reasonable to set lc and liz e4ual to zero in these equation and
obtain the relations

dn e e ( J2.60a1
- = - -- £'dx = -- d~ ·
n k8 T k8 T

dp e
- = - - £' dx = - - - d t ·.
t.:
p kilT k8 T

E~Juations ( 12.60) are analogous to E s. ( L . l ) that a ppl) lL the ~a~

Without btas ·:tnd th at 1-or c1cctrons have4 the s lutJ o n
L

!.": I

For the electro n L O ~ .

·tnJ I J . n cent r<lli o n:- ' h a \ n( \ - I, II
,, a re thL' rnaJortt \ . d . .
riu m in LIJ · · at m m fll\ deur, n c n
ne ul ral n- .11 t.1 •
' P-l) pc rc_J ' n~ " h1 Lh
 P-N junction under an applied voltage 323

1
1/ ,1 C
Ill!
~ llr
-
t
- 1I
nT ' · ( 12 .62)

1, . 111l~ !!ratH n o l" Eq ( 12.h(b) yields

- -~ ( I .t1 -
I. )
1' = c
- - ( 1. I - f/ ) ( 12.63)
sl k. 8 T ' a·

,,her u n m·td' f q. ( 12.55). The majoritv electron con-

d~ lan!e and is little changed by the application of the
.1p 1r \.ima ti n n '(x" ) : : : : 1111 • The minority electron con-
L·cntrati n. J\ l . UJH.krgoe· i!!nificant change, and we set ll' (xp) = n;1 •
E ua llllll (1_. L) h ·c :-~me

_ "- I" = -I cT
-( ft ./1 -
lou
~
n,
1\ 8
f/ (/ .) . (12.64)

Taking the difference· of ach side of Eqs. ( 12.62) and ( 12.64), we get

( 12.65)

or
= n e d ',,fks T
Ill
fi f1 . (12.66)

A imil r trealment can be carried out for the analogous minority hole
con entrat i n p~ a nd p". It yields

I = p e eV, j k11T
(12.67)
PI I II .

We - e that the min orit y carrier concentrations increase exponentially

with increa ing forward bi as voltage. This behavior forms the basis for the
larement that electrons are injected into the p-type region and holes are
inje t d into the n-type region by a forward bias. However, under the weak
inj cti n conditio ns being di scussed, the majority carrier concentrations
are e ntiall y unchanged hy a forward bias.
Th quilibrium minority carrier concentrations can be eliminated from
Eq · ( 12.66) and ( 12.67) with the aid of Eqs. ( 12.3) and ( 12.4) to give

(12.68a)

(12.68b)

or
1
11f7
1 1 I 2 eV, j knT ( 12.69)
f' f1 = IIJJ
II II
= nI e'

Thi-:. result expresses the mass action Jaw under forward bias.
 P- N junctions in semiconductors
2
10 he case . r rt:·ver·e bius
. ,_the
. sign _ must
. . of V" . .he. rever
. ·ed in aceordan~
. E ( 1.., -6 ) The 111 monty earner concentrcttJOns then deere .
" 11 h q . - · · . . .. . . ose WJth
.tncrea ·1.ng, re ·c,·"e
, bns ' · vol!a!!e
~
and become less th,m then equ1·11.bnum.
. 1 . tto rl ·· n' < 11 . p' < p,. Electrons are therefore extracted fr
LOllLCfl f,l • · I' I' n . Om the
p-l) pc region und hole~ are extracted from then-type reg10n .
12.2 5.2 l\Jinorit,' carrier distribution in the neutral regions
ThL concentra tion · c r majority carriers in the neutral r~gio~s are uniform
on.:rth, regwn. and d not vary wtth b~as ~oltage . The mmontycarriers.on
the l)lh~r hand. ar n t un1formly d_1stnbut~d o~er the neutral region.
Their di tribull 11 can be c..d culated wtth the atd ol the continuity equatio
takinc 111 to account <.:a rrier diffusion and carrier recombination. n
f ; clccl rl n in the p-type m:utral region the equation of continuitv i·
- s
II 1 D/ctl (x ) 11- nf'
Ul e Dx Tn
{12. 01

wh r nfl and n ar the equilibrium and nonequilibrium concentrations or

1 ctron . ·,." i. the diffu sio n current density . and Tn is the minority electron
lifetim . inc the lectric field is negligible in the neutral regions. we can
neolect th drift current. The diffusion current is (see Eq . ( 12.1 ))
Un
Jed(X) = e De --;;:;-- . {12.71 1
ox
Substituting this result into the equation of continuity gives

un
--D -
U2 n n- n"
- ---'- ( 12.7_1
Dt - e fJy2 T
11

With a constant bias voltage a stationary state is established for whi h

Dn!fJr = 0. Hence.
')
U-n n - n"
p
~ n a:\.)-
-
L -~ = 0.
('

x, 0 x, .\
where L,. = { DJ )i is the diffusion length of electrons .
11

I
The general solution to this differential equation is
•- d
I '' -· , ~J
n (x ) - n1, = Aer/ L.. + Be- x L... (I-
Fig. 12.17
D1agra rn hL•\\ ing th · buundari~.:s of 'vvhere A and B arc constants to be determined bv th h undar) ~L)nditil)Jb..
thl! pa e ~:ba rge and neut ra l n.:l!illn ll l ,1
p n jun tivn . ~
The Iattcrcan be visualized with the aid of Fig. 1i . I 7. At .\,. the houndM~ ll
t~c space charg region on the p-type side, the ' ;,ll ut' )f n i~ gi H.'I1 ).
Eq . ( 12 ·66 l: n (x , ) =
n;,. As the minorit v electron: ditlu. • "' ,l) th 01 th
space charne r r ·. · • \\ tth
t:giUn 11110 t 11e neutral p-tvpe ruri )11. thL'\ rc 'llOll• 111
1..:
. • 1:'

rnaJonty ho les and their cunccntration .lr -rca. ·~ lL'" .. ~J Jt JUdi nunl
~~1-ucl~~·- ~e assume that II( X) r aches II" 'II .\ ,.._. .\ \\ h r r 11 ·t till . ._.,,nlJ
Lele_rdtes thl: r ~:um blllatiun ll·· J..., U!l ' n hit' 11' .I
therclorl.· pr ) L'L " '-"

== n'I' 'II

1/ .It
 P-N junction under on appli vo lt ge 325
It I

( 12 7h )

1!" lht: p-1ype neutra l regi n.

'nwde fl)r the cuncentration of min ority holes in
rb\: r , ult i:

( I 2.77)

I .
- (D,,r" -, a nd r,, ts the min orit y hole lifetime.
i n'> f r the minority carrier concentrations can be
n ti ng n', an 11;, u ·ing Eq . ( 12.66) and ( 12.67 ):

11 x) - 11
"r ( 12.78a )

( 12.78b )

If the llffmi n length L < and L11 are much rna11er than the extents of the
n ut ral reg10ns dP and d17 • rl_; pecti vely, a nd if the point .Y is not too far aw·ay
r m th pa e har- regio n. the minority carrier distributions take the
·im] I form. p(1 :,____!:.....__._.J
''
( 12.79a) np:
,' l : P,;
c ....... ' ,':
( 12.79b) ,"'a
' I '
I :
,.." I
. , b -·' :
1

11(1, ------ - :

which xhibit an exponential decrease of concentration with increasing

di st n from tb p-:tee charge region. On the o ther ha nd. if Le » dP a nd x,, ox, x,.
Lh» dn. the hyperbolic ines can be replaced by their arguments to give X

( 12.80a) Fig. 12.18

Concentratio n pro files of minori ty
electrons and minority holes in the
(12 .80b) p- a nd n-t . p~.: regio ns. res pcctin.·ly:
(a) a rbit rary values of d,. d,,: (b) d,. » L,..
The various results for the minority carrier concentrations in the neutral d,. ~ L;,: (c) rt,. « L, . d, << Lh
regions of a n junction a re represented diagrammatically in Fig. 12.18. (after Mathieu IY87).

J2.2.5.3 Minority carrier currents in the neutral regions

fn calc ul ating the c urrent through rhc junction we continue to make
the a::.sumption that the electric field in the neutral regions is zero and that
the current is due to minority carrier diffusion:

dn(x) ( 12.8 I a)
jJ r) = eD, - -
. l 1X

. dp(x)
.J
11 (x) =- f! Dh -
l X 1
- · (12 .8lb)
 P-N junctions in semiconductors
26
. . tl e ectuilibrium values n, = n7fna and Pn .::: n~fn .
Substttullno 1 h d·cr · · 1 d tnto
::- 1") RO) ·tnd carrying out t e tuerenhalton with respec
12 7
q ·· ( · ~ )- (h ~-~~ 1\o~~Ving results~ for the current densitie : t 10
.\'. we obtam t c o ~
r
I . arhitrar_r l'alues o cIp/'L t· and dmI L,I

cnf D,. (ecV, /k11T- 1) cosh[(x- x 1~)/L] (I

/·. l .\ ) = n, L,. sinh (d,,/ L,.) , 2.R2a

(12. 3al

(12.83bi
p ~
I I
n I
I
_ ___C____ I I I

-- - - - ·- ·- ·- ·- ·-
I £.: I
• -., I
,,', -~

1)
I
I
a / I
I
I

. =- - eeV !k T
I
I I
(12. -la
I
I
I
b ,.·/ :
I
le en7De( a.
8
-
' I
. naclp
.\'t

Fig. 12.19
Minority current density profiles for
( 12. -lbl
a p- njunction: (a) arbitrary values of d, .
d,.; lb) dfi» L,.. dn» L;,: (c) dp« Le.
d.. « L~o (after Mathieu 1987).
 - N junction under on applied voltage 327

lltr Il ls h ~y satisl'y th~ rcl <ttinn~

(12.:<5a)

p ml ', ' he ·' the lola I currcn l density is

( 12.R6)

be btained directly from Eq. ( 12.82b) or

· ,( \,) t:an
n in Eqs. ( 12.8Jb) and ( 12.84h). The
'· pr~;.;; · t
1. t: l 11\ niently evaluated at .Y , using Eq. ( 12.82a)
1
pre j n. in Eqs. ( 12.83a) and ( 12.84a). Equation
1 u .. to obtai n f.(x"). With these results the total current
lrm of the Shockley diode equation

j =j ( e l ,,/k 11 T _ l), (12.87)

\\ her j t. the saturation current density. The expressions for j, corre-

·ponding to the\ Jriou · relative values of dfl. L,., d,, and L~t are:
1. arhilrur.J r due., ot'dp' L,. md d,J Lit:

( 12.88a)

( 12.88b)

(12.88c)

Th beha,·ior of the total current as specified by Shockley's diode

quati n ontrasts strongly between forward and reverse bias conditions:
l. Fon rard hias. J , > 0. The importance of the potential barrier
decrease ·· under forward bias. and the current increases exponentially
with I u when I " » k 8 Tfe:
(12.89)

The resistance of the junction itself becomes negligible compared to

the series resistance of the n- and p-type regions.
1
Reverse bias. v" < 0. When the magnitude of V11 under reverse bias
reaches a few k 8 T/e, the exponential term can be neglected compared to
unity. and we have
( 12.90)
j c:= - .is·
 P-N junctions in semiconductors
2
Tl 1e L·urr L~ nt . den ·itv. has. .the
.
saturation value and i independe
.• • . nt of ~·
T he sat uratwn current 1s 111 tact the sum ot the generation cur
. d. . • j . S . rent o
dc-tn n~ and boles that were tscussel m . ~ctton 12.2.4 and i
n.Jern.:d tc a ~ the generation curre~_t. The_ va_natt_o n o~ the total curren~l
a runcti{)t1 lll th . pplled voltage IS shown m Fig. L.l6.

Our calcula tit 11 of th current is based on_minority c_arrier and giv th

dcctroo ·tn ~
11 te. currents 111 the space charge~
reg1on
. . Thee current
t g th~..:r \ ith th ·•r . .: um. the total current. are constant over thi
. . . reeJon
U nhk.e the 1111 n nt v earner currents. however. the total current i 0 nstam "
)\·er the en t 1re cvtce mcludmg tht: neutral regwns . The maJoritv .
• •. . . . n . . .

_ . h . . carne
~.:urrent · in ach of the n~utral rcgJO_ns can t ere! ore be obtain d b) ~ub-
trac tina the min rity earner c_u rrent trom _the total current. We focu on th
i.:a ·~. : d" » Lc. d, » L 11 whtc~ mvolves a sm~ple_ result and yet is ph) icalh
real istic. The min e rity earner current denstty 111 then-type region i' !!i\en
b · Eq . ( L., )b).\,: hich can be rewritten as -

i h( x ) = .h (.r,, )e -r x- ,·,J/L,. ( 12.91

ubtr·:tcting thi result from the total current density specified byEq. 12. · 1
. ields the m·tjority electron current density in then-type region

Jl?(x ) = )c(.Yn ) +.h (.rn ) - _ii,(.Y11 )e- rx-.,, L1,

p n
= )Jr,,) + .h (.r 11 )[1 - e- \\- x.J!L:,].
I I
I I
I I

where from Eqs. ( 12.83)

I I
a' '

,
= - - - ( t>'. .'" k,b T
Cllj D.,
. ( ) . ( ) 1 )
I
} e Xn = } c X 1, - J (12.9.1J
I
I
II a L,.
I

-l
I
2
D~r ( e'' ,., .t,.,s
, T
' I
-- --c-,-.~-:- +---k - - -- -- -
I
)h (x,, ) = _en,__ - I) .
n.rLr,
• f) () XII
X . A similar analysis can be carried out for the majority hole \.'urrent den it~
m the p-type region . lt can be written as
Fig. 12.20
urrent densities 111 a p n junctio n:
l;.q to a! ~urrent: u',) hllh: current: .ir,(.r) = .irr(.rn ) + ) ,.(x,,) [l - c -· ~ ,,.- d l. J
( t) e!t:ct ron curr ·nt: i = I ,
./r, (.rl' ) + ,i,.( r 1 )[I - (· 1'
=
d L a rbnrary . i - '2 , d » L i J . d «.. 1.
= 1

(aflel Ma thieu llJX7)

In Fi_g. 1_2 .20 are shown the total L'urrent densit\ 1- i (.\ ) h-l' > thr u;h
the cnt1re .
Jun ~ t· d ·
L JOn an tts electron and lwk \.'l' ll1P n " nl.' !.l y) an
· ' . 1 pl·
respcctiVe]v
.
·ts fu1l \.:tOnS
J• ' ·
·t· I' ·· . · ' ··~·11·
l) pOSlllOll .\'. It I~ ;t ~S Uilh.' lth.tt thd'\. I. Ill::
~rat1on or recomb·111 . t.
. 1 • ,,,, •t
" JOn o c1cctrons and h,,k:-. in th, p.11.: " 1.1r~ 1 :: '
t'
A t larue dJSt'tllL" 'S r
. _e · ' L rom t 11s re!!.inn rhe curr nt 1 L mr\ . · I "' lllll ·h·
I .
m~qonty nrri ·r .. ·I
B · · . ' . L s. L: eL·trons 1m thL' ~
n-t\ pL' o.;idl: tnd lu k-. nth ' J-l I · ' 1
ut 11 m:qunt)I C:lrri • . ~ .. , . . h. I
~ I ~ . .· .· LI l:lltl ~.:nls ilrl;' dnlt L' liiT 'llh 11 :lu ·I t
I;; LllllL: ltdll th<.tt . . . . . . I
· • . LXt s ls 111 t K ' llL'Utra l l'L'!!l 111 but\ Ill
Ill t 11l' dl'!'t\'lt ,. I ~ .
1 ' II h .,, .
' • tun ll t 11: L' LIJTent . () • .
. s. n " .t n t t.! 1r I t 11
.•
• .t I ' \ ll 1I l l I I h ' 1 . ' . t . • -
" I. ·t 1. 11
"' LL • tll' llll a lit~ 111 1 111
l: llJL
. , '11 •f n1111 !I'll 1•.' I tl
• ' 11 ) Ldrt'll'r llHhl l11 " 1r.
 29
U.!t1 n I r m \ hich lht: mitH•ril \ ·:1rri 1 , aa:
th hnu nd a r 11r lh~ n ·utnl r · '111!; lhc maj 1ri ty
h tl"!!l r '!_!T 111. p·t·. ,eros. it. <llld arc inj ect~.:d int~~
ppl l 1t~..,1 J . lhercbybccomin_: min rit yca rric rc;;.

·ma k on the abrupt p- n _junction

11 H.:rgi ~.:s bd\\c~..: n the n- and p-type regions lead · to
L harge r io n and ., ditTerenc -· in electrostatic
l l rcg1 ns. he energ) barrier thus pr duced can be
11 d ltagc thcr b 1 causing the current through the
ulatcd. The exponential increa e in current :mdcr
I \ c ltagc ·md the aturation current arising from
i,t 'oltagc lead to a nonlinear current- voltage char-
nlinem characteristic is responsible for the useful recti-
1~ rng pn a 1 n juncti n.

12.3 Graded p-n iunction

ln the di . .:u :ion developed in Sections 12. 1 and 12.2 the impurity dis-
trihuuon \\a con:idered t be uniform on each side of the junction. We
11 \\ con.td r th more g neral a e in which the impurity distribution near
th junctiot i not uni.G rm. and the change from p-type to n-type is not
a rupt at x = 0 but ur progressively. In order to present a clear
d ription and a im p! calculation of the relevant parameters, we shall
tr a t the articular itu· ti n where then- and p-type neutral regions have
\\ idth that are mall o m pared to the diffusion lengths oft he free carriers in
th r gion : df' « L.:. dn « L11.
\ t: h v - enin ction 12. 2.5.2thatifdf' « Leandd11 « L 11 ,theminority
c rrier di. tribut ion a ry linearly with position x as indicated in Eqs. ( 12.80)
and the min rity current densities are independent of x as indicated in
q. . ( 12. ' 4). Let us now calculate the current voltage characteristic and the
aturati n currentj,. of the junction.
W ~ u fir t on th n-type region where the donor impurity con-
ntr:Jti n i- n r1 . ·). The injection rate of holes is assumed to be low, so that
the maj rity I ctron concentration sa tisfies n(x):::::: nAx) and the minority
h le c n entration atisfies p(.Y) « n(x). The current densities in this region
n b \Hit ten a

. [ e dp(.Y)l ( 12.95a)
}h (x ) = {'D 11 p(x) knTE(x)-----;;;--

e dn(.>.:)l ( 12.95b)
j J y) = eD.- [n(x) k T E(x) +~
8

Replacing n(.Y) by the donor impurity distribution n"(x) and eliminating

E!. .) rrom the two equations, we get

(12.96)
 P- N junctions in semiconductors
33
In the n-typc rcgi~n the minority carrier co~centration p(x ) is much low
tl . 1 ( r) Therefore we can neglect the second term on the left-ha d . tr
1an 1 ". . n Sldt
and 'Tile

dp (x) d log nc~ (x ) ( ·) +j, (x) _

--+ p _\ - 0.
dx dx eD, ( 12.97)

rr we consider the limit of an abrupt junction with homogeneous n-

p-t}pe regi ns, 11"(x) is a constan t, its logarithmic derivative vani he.:~~
've recover Eq. ( 12 .1) I b). The hole current In then-type region is a pu I ·
-dd . . re-.
ditfusiv cuiT nt. In the case o f a gra e JUnctiOn we note that the te ·
involving the gradienr of nt!(-':) in_ Eq. ( 12._9_7) is proportional to p(x) a:
ma be int r pret d as con tnhutmg a drift current associated with th
ele tric field resulting from the nonuniform distribution of the doping ion:
n.t( x ).
The I uti n of Eq . ( 12.97) is facilita ted by the fact that when the width
f t he neu tral regions are small compared to the respective diffu ion
1 ngth . the minority carrier current densities are constant. Consequently.
) 11 .r) is independent of x: j"(x) = i11 - Equation ( 12.97) is a first-order. linear
differential equation that can be written in the standard form

y'(x) + a(x)y(x) = h. (12.9 1

where y(x) = p(x), b = - j ft/ eD11 , and

·) _ dlognr~(x)
(
a.\ - . (12.99 1
dx
The solution is

( 12.100'

where Cis the constant of integration. The integral of a(x) is triviJI anJ
yields

e' f' a(x )dx -

-
( ·)
11d .\ . ( 1~ .101

The minority hole concentration can then he expressed as

p(x ) = I- [ C -..!.!!__
nr~( x)
.
eD11
j . '" n
,-, '
1
( r ')d ·' l
_ The constant of integration Cis determined b\ th bl unJ.tr~ 'l nditilH 1
·' = x,. We have ·

1- I

-= II \, I' I~
 Grade d - n fUnction 331

r /( \ )·,,II it, /' ' 1/, t( ., 1)dy ' ]

er>, . '·· · ( 11 .105)

urrt:nt densityj11 can be obtained bv

- ,., where: the n-type region terminal sa t a~
, ) = p, ~1 nd solving fori;, . we obtain

c O~tl ! ;,n, (.r" ) - p,nr~ (x.;)]

•
r' n,J{ x ) d.\·
\ u . .
( 12. 106)

1 n or t he inj cted hole concentration p;, given by

um 111,. a.' be ~ rc that the hole concentration at the ohmic
uilibnum ,.a tue 11; / nrt(x,.). we can write.J11 as

.
lh = '\. 'ew; D" ( e v"1'k R T I) . ( 12.107)
I'
-
II Y)dY
. ,/ . .
• n

Introducing th a\erage alue of nd(x) over the interval X11 ::::; x ::::; x c by

'' get
.
Jh = --- - e "
en7Dh( eV fkT
8
- 1). ( 12.108)
llddn

Th ·arne c n id rations apply to the minority electron current in the

p-type r gion. Anal gous calculations yield the following result for the
.le tr n urrent density.Jc:

J. - - .'kBT - I)
- e ,,,
cn1De(cJ ( 12.109)
e - iiadp .

The quantity ilfJ is the average value of the acceptor impurity concentration
in th . -type region def1ned by

(12.110)

It is evident that the current densi t iesj11 and .ie speci 11ed by Eqs. ( 12. I07)
and ( 12.109) are independent ofx within their respective neutral regions. By
continuit _ the hole and electron current densities in the space charge region
must be equal to these values ofj, and .ie at the boundaries of the space
charge rc:gion with the respective neutral regions. In the absence of gen-
eration and recombination these currents are constant over the whole space
charge region. and their sum is the total current density j in the junction.
Hence, under the conditions d 11 « L 11 and dP « Le,
( 12.111)
 P-N junctions in semiconductors
3 2
where the saturation current density./, is given by

( 12.))2)

Thi , re. It r duces to Eq. ( 12.88c) in the limit of uniform doping or th

. e
neutr I region .
Example 12.3: Saturation current for an arbitrary junction
vith non uniform loping of the neutral regions
De\' lop a n ex pres -ion for./, for a non uniformly doped junction
with arbi tmrv values of d,) L" and d"/L e.
, olution. o~1sider the denominator of Eq. (12.1 07) for )11 • Using the
r la ti on . ·( = .Yu + d11 it becomes

For uniform dop·tge. the denominator reduces to n"d,1• We note,

however. that with arbitrary dn/ L11 and uniform dopage, the
denominator i:;; n"L" tanh (d11 / L 11 ) from Eq. ( 12.88a). This suggest
that vve replace the denominator in Eq. (12.107) for nonuniform
dopage by

Similar considerations for the p-type region lead us to replace the

denominator in Eq. ( 12. 109) by

The saturation current for an arbitrary junction \Vith nonunif rm

doping is then

I.· = )[
en 1~ LJ,1
· ·' J·x,, - Lhtanh ( d,,J L~,) ( ·) /·
. .r, ll.t .\ ( .\

InthelimitsLh» dnandL.., ~ d,,.Eq . (l~ .l l3 rl? ucc t Et (1.2.11 .2 )

12 4
• P-N iunction capacitance
During a chang"·111 . 1 . ,. . . _
.t: vo l.tgt: acro~s a p n run ·u n tl
'> old v to 1h ·1t d • -
. . ' . lll.: lu t 1l e 111Slant~ITl\; Hl'o
Pll..t '\:
LOI!lponen t which i , . =- •
.• J s prnp rtH n,tltu rh·· ttm· r Lt
1

s~;L un L' ) fl _'P\ nen t i-., a ca p: t '1. 11

0 I 1I - ~ urn:tl tndL·,
1L' f1 11 J llll t.: lJ L I .
 P- N junction apacito nce 33

• l \fl ' l l 1 C:lpacil allc _.,he rir ·t I Jl ' 1'\ the

IL
Cl once •11 diffu ion ca pacita nce wh ic h · tn s~:.., I rom ·
m 111~ ·1 1 ri~?l listnh uti(11l due tu diiTus1u n int u the
h ,,ft H!C is cha ng d . It is Jomi1wntundcr fo rwa rd
nd l )J"C l fjunctinn capacita nce is th e transition
•er capacitance . It is duct the variation of space
d 'I I ·tit)ll rc•"'io n and is dominant under re\'er'ie

12 ..4 1
J1c \ariati n of t h e number o f min ority carriers in the
•• pplled ltage. Fo r el ctron. the concentration is
l!i\t~ll 0 ~ q. L J L r the case of JitTusio n length small compa red to
L"Ol.\ r ofth 1 utt 1! p- 1de. Integrating this equation from - ~ to .Y" and
multiJI) i n~ b. th deLlron harge c: yields the stored electron cha rge per
unit area ·

( 12.11 4)

B) illerentiating thi,' re ult wi th r ··pect to va\Ve obtain the differential

wra!!e ap:Kitanc per Utlit area for electrons in the form

( 12.11 5)

tarting from Eq . I _. 7 b) a similar treatment can be carried out for

h I nth n"utral n- ide to give the differential storage capacitance per
uniI · n.:a f r h l :

( 12.1 16)

Th t tal t raQ capa itance per unit area is the sum of C" and C 11 :
1
e- ( L ) ,.v f k 11 T ( 12.11 7)
C .11o r = k T n"L,. + p 11 11 " .
8

Clear!) . th torage capacitance increases exponentially with increasing

~ n' ard bias l ,,. It is a diAe rential capacitance, because it is a small change
in charge due to a small change in voltage and not simply the total charge
di \'id d by the vol ta 2:e. The al~rna ti ve term diffu sio n capacitance indicates
the impo;·tance or diffusion in the proces producing the ca pacitance.

12.4.2 Transition capacitance

!~ nd r revers' bias the storage ca pacita nce decreases rapid ly towa 1~d zero
~nd i::. replaced a. the dominant capacitance by the transition capactt~ncc.
fhe lat r is a result of the flow of majority carriers that changes the wJdths
I·V" and Wr• of then- and p-type parts of the space charge region in response
to a change in the applied reverse bias potential V,,.
 P-N junctions in semiconductors
4
We start by combining Eqs. (12.39) and ( 12.56) to give

(12.)l

A relative! ~ impk result can be obtained ~fwe consider a very asymmet.

juncti 11 wi th. for example. 11 0 » lltf. ~akmg use of the condition of el:
tr n utra lity. Eq. ( 12.36). we can rewnte Eq. ( 12.118) as

(12.1191

Sol in ll f r W" yields

( 1~ . 1~0

lf the applied bias is varied. a variation in W, arises according to

l (2f.oe)
I
1
dJ1, =- - - ( Vd +,.-'a)
,, "_ltV
2
l a· ( 1~ .1211
2 end

The corresponding variation in space charge per unit area dQ is given b)

( 12.12_

Eliminating dW, from Eqs. ( 12.121) and ( 12.122) results in

from which follows the transition capacitance per unit area

C
I
= [
- I .,/ +
') (
EoH'II,f
J. )
I
l
I

~
.

Under the condition f ,, » I '"· the transit ion ca p·u.:ita nL·~ '~uie · a 1·~ ·

12.4.3 Applications of p-n junction capacitance

The d~pendence ofjunction capacit;.~nc un hia. \ lt.
m dcv1ces such a ~ th · IS . an abhr · hlli
. ~ e voroctor whtch
l·or. exampl e. t he b ulk). 'anabk
. · plat apa "Ill r Ill th
radto recei,,cr ·an 1... • 1
·ud ' • . ~ . llCiepa eel ~ amu h-.mtll ,
.t n l bt:n~lll l. I gr~:a tcr J ·penJablhL \ ,lf,td
p.tram~L rtl' am pltlit:r ·111 ' ' h -1 .
• u • 1 l ntL g I ·rIl l I
 I nche br a kdown and Zener breakdown 5

own a nd Zener breakdown

51
u I kcllic !lt:ld effects on carrier transport in
ut th,ll .tl ·uiTiciently high fields impact ioniza-
1 tli )n L 1 ·e plae resulting in avalanche break -
~ ~.:dn~.: fie f scan ari -e in the depletion region of a
• 1 tl kdm n is an important phenomenon to he
ur: u n cr r verse bi as .
h 11 acteriz avalanche breakdown are the ionization

1 dn
t, - - - (l2.125a)
nd.Y

1 dp
Ct'h = - -,-, (12.125b)
pr.x

,, hich ar the rebtiYe incr a es in electron and hole concentrations per unit
1 ngrh. r -pecti,.e)_. Vve a ume that the avalanche process is initiated by
h 1 \\i lh a current !,0 in i lent on the depletion region from the p-type
'ide be multiplication factor of holes Aft, is defined by

( 12.126)

an is r I t d to h and a " by (Sze 1981)

1- u1
JVl h
= ;·IV()
0:11 [
exp - 1x(l
(n h - l
o:<!)dx' dx . (12.127)

Breakdown oc ·urs at a voltage where 1\1 11 becomes infinite, i.e ..

.( · ,exp [-1,\o,- a,)dx'] dx = I. ( 12.128)

or emiconductors such as GaP and GaAs which have equal ionization

rates. a." = n = o:, the criterion for breakdown reduces to

J
·W
o:dx = I. (12.129)
()

Th~ voltage V JJ required to initia te breakdown can be derived by solving

Potss?n' · equation with appropriate boundary conditions. Fo~ an abrupt
JunctiOn with lightly doped and heavily doped sides, the result IS

')
. f.oEsE~, (12.130)
J! 8 = 2el1s
'
where Em is the maximum electric field in the depletion region and 1 ~B is the
- b·ac kground 1mpunty
Ionized . . concentratton - on t he 1·Ig11 tl Ydoped side.
 P-N junctions in semiconductors
336

12 .. 5 2 Zener breakdown
11. l 11~:: e 1ec tt·t't: ticld in the depletion region .exceeds a critical vatuc E
\
. ·tnd v·licn
l.'l 11 d uc11on • • ~ band edges are ttl ted to the extent th
~ . . a1 th"·1
·} , LhC ~,une cneroy al spatially separated pomt<; in the J ·UnctJo
. '
b.111 d s 1a H ' o . . .
· Fi , 1, 1 1 U n er these conditiOns a earner can tunn 1a nd
I10 11111 g.-·- . l I s·. . Cro h
f, r idJ~;;n gap bet\ ·ee.n the twc~ banes. n_ 1 Junctt?ns the critical field
0 t \: t:m and i. typtcally achieved only 1f the dopmg level is high
J
oruei t1
. r 10':-.: em ~ · T he phvsical
- .
separation of the valence and condon tn
o • , . • • • U<:hrr
band ~.;dge. dllhe same t: I rgy IS ~". 1 00 ~-At t~et ~al equihbnum the Fe
1
cnl:rg) i the same throughout theJu~ctio~ as md1cate~ in F_ig. 1~.2 1. butnr
lll!l current flows becau e the tunnelmg currents m each direction balan ,
each L ther.
Ld us now onsid r the effect of a reverse bias. The energy lev 1di ~·
take· the form 1ll . u tra te d 111 . . - . El ectrons can
. F.1g. l ....") ..T) " tunnel from~ i.llll
th·
E----... valence band n th p-type side to empty states in the conduction band u•
the n-typ sid r ulting in a net current that increases sharp)~ \\ llh
increa ing bia v lt·lge. hi s behavior constitutes Zener breakdown. Onlh
oth r ha nd, a f rward bias initially produces the situation sbo\\n in
F l !!. 12._". Electrons in the conduction band on then-type side can tunn !
int mpt y rat sin the valence band on the p-type side, and a sharp ri)ci
G rward current appear · that corresponds to Zener breakdown. Howe\ r
as the bias voltage increases further, the filled conduction band tat on
p n
the n-type side become adjacent to states in the forbidden gap on the
Fig. 12.22
p-type side, and the tunnel current drops to very lmv values. Eventuall~
nerg:- and diagram f t' a h e~n· il the bias voltage reaches values where the ordinary p- n junction urr r.
d I d 1 n juncti n under reverse bias takes over. The behavior of the current for these various regimes of btJ
after trectman 1990). voltage is presented in Fig. 12.24. ln typical Sijunctions the first breakdo·' n
process to appear with increasing reverse bias voltage is Zener br akdO\\D
~ ~

Above 4 Y avalanche breakdov-m starts to appear and becomes dl'min. n

above 8 Y.

Problems

Fig. 12.23
p
-·
11

_n.:rgy h a nd d !' ' ra m or a heav tlv

E

dll ['edp n J UOll iOI! umkr forwar~l hia ~

(a! I ·r ~ lrcd m a n llJ9 ()j.
 References 337

I """'llfll S 1 I' n Jllll ·ti1 >n with n,, = In 1 7 nn 1 () 11 one -;id e <1 nd
J h • \lh!.!r 'aJI.!. akulate the l(Lta~1- Fer mi encrgi ~a t 300 Kin
1 1l:~ll'l1' ll.·..: these resull~ I<' c;.~kubte the Jilrusion potcnti<JI
lh th • ,,,1uc .~btaincd in problem 3.
1 •n tor The t r::Jil-;iti o n capacitance thallllvulves o n! ' t (, E, a nd
til res ull with that fo r a si mple parallel pla te

l ,1\,d:mch h r ' a kdown in an abrupt Si junction with na>> n.;.

pr · 1 111 that rela tes the b rea kd o wn voltag Vn to th e width W of
1
I ~.:.. rcg1on. If n,1 = 10 1- em ' and the breakdo \' n voltage is 300 V.

Fig.12.24
urrent versu<> bias vo ltage for a
Refer nee heavily doped p- n junctio n.

R. [ 1 .. T'l lmroducrion to Applied Solid Sfafe Physics, Second edition (PI en urn
Pr . . . 'c'' Y Mk. 1990).
0. fraser. Th Physics ( Semiconducfor Devices. Fourth edition (Oxford
ni' nt\ Pr .. Ox~ rd , 1 ~6).
ro\~C. Physic and Technology of Semiconducfoir De1•ices (John Wiley,
\\ \ ork. 1967).
H l\fathi u, Phy. ique d , Semiconducteurs et des Composants Electroniques
( 1ass n. Pan·, I ).
J L MoiL Pl1_ni ·, miconducwrs (McGra\v-Hill, New York , 1964).
\ l ho J...le) . Ele and Holes in Semiconductors (Van Nostrand, New York,
1 50).
B.G . treetma n. olid State Electronic Devices, Third edition (Prentice Hall,
EnJew d lifts. 1990).
S. M . z . Physics o Semiconductor Devices, Second edition (John Wiley,
rk, I I)
 •
I C I n tr ns1• tor
1
e d as Transistors
I I {I I <I thr~C-( nni nal S miconcluctor device that can amplify 13 .1 Fabricationoftransistors
.m -j 11.tl .!Lrna l. In the hiJio iurjunction rransistur (BJT) a thin layer
' r -l) p~: -';t.:l1 CLHlOUClor. th hose. i-, sandwiched hetween two layers or
an n-1_ p :~mt~..:onduct r. thcemiffcr and the coi!C'cror. This is an n- p-n
BJT. Then- .mJ p-type ma t ria ls can be interchanged to give a p~ n-p
BJT T)pt~:JII). th em itter has a higher dopant concentration than the
' lleclL r. e.g .. the p- - n- p BJT.
For ard hta. <lt the p--·-njunction and reverse bias at the n- p junction 13.2 PhysicalbasisoftheBJT
'Oil'Lltule the fo nmrd uctil'e bias mode or ampl{ficalion mode.
Ampltfkatton i r -ihl because a small fluctuation in the majority
earner curre-n t can cau . e a large l~uctuation in the minority carrier
curr 111.
1odulatilm l1f the tn se current by an impressed signal leads t.o a 13.3 DCcharacteristicsoftheBJT
modulatton of the collector current. In an operation in the amplifica-
tion m de the modulation of the collector current can exceed the
modulation · f the base current, thus giving rise to amplification or
_ai n. Th ha sc-to-collector current gain is the ratio of the collector
c rrent nwdulation to the base current modulation. The emitter-to-
e ll t r '1//T ' 111 amp/ificationfactur is the ratio of the collector current
modu b.tion to the emitter current modulation. The emiuer efficiency is
the rati o of the hole current from the emitter to the total emitter
cu rrent. The ba. · trun.,porl factor is the ratio of the hole current
reaching th collector to the hole current injected by the emitter. Long
minorit\; . hole lifetime favors hioh e- eoain. Indirect -!lap semiconductors
are preferred for the fabrication of BJTs.
The signal is small if the output current or voltage response is a linear 13.4 Small-signal characteristics
of the BJT
function of the input ~ignal voltage.

In hapter 12 the p- n junction and the metal semiconductor junction

were di ~ u~scd. These devices are two-terminal devices which are useful as
re t i fi ~r:-. . bm cannot be used as amplitiers because they contain no mecha-
ni sm i r m o dulatin~ the electric current in such a way as to produce gam .
What i:;. needed i:-. a ~bird terminal to provide the necessary modulation.
 Bipola r junction transistor
3 0

13.1 Fabrication of transistors

. · . three-terminal semiconductor device that can. .
Tbe trans1stor 1. , • _. . • . arnphf
ned The tJ rst tranststor to be manufactured succ f I •a
~~~unca I -.rg • · · . . . . u I v,
•B deen a ndBn1Ltamtn 1947 . tconststedoftw sh
1
dt.:\ ~.: Iopec.ll1)' G . arp lllet
d
.
, ·L
1 ro . es m<lking c<. 11 act wtlh an n-type e smgle crystal at two "
- . . F. I 3 I . c1o~
paccc..l pl)int. 111 thL: -urtace as shown 111. tg. - . o_nc pomt contact •.
'li-1 ·edand th, the r wa reverse btased. Negattve tons pre e t 11
or \UI dl • · . ( "' · n onth·
url-l~c rep~.:! the elc~ Lr ns 111 the n--~ype. ,Je an_d cre~lt~ a p-type urfa
· ,ion lavLr T h tor vard-bmsed contttct (emrtter) 111Jects hole . ~
11n r • _.. . , .. . Into ~
• •1 nl·'\cr Thch l !dLalongthellnersronlayerunt 11theve t
1 \ er. l • • • . • n er th
···har!!ela ·er fLhcreverse-btasedcontacL(collector).Thehieh el ectn~.'
P L ~ . ~
ll.:ld ofth, ~PU e charg bye_r accelera t~s the holes_wh~ch then create num r-
u: de tron hole p;.1irs b) 1nterband tmpact exc1tatr_on . There ult i- thJ·
•111 im:reLL ·ing coli ctor voltage produces a onsaturatmg collector curren·
B The ne t tep in the volution of the transistor was the placement ofth~
111 tal electrode on opp site faces of a thin Ge disk by Shive (1948) to :
the coaxial transistor. o n thereafter, Shockley ( 1949) proposed the bip~la~
oilector junction transistor (BJT ) in which a thin layer ofp-Ge is sandwiched betw~t
Fig. 13.2
two la er of n-G . Electrodes are attached to each of the three layer J '
Di:.~g:rt1m ra bip lar Junctio n tr;msts.t r indi ated in Fig. 13-2. One electrode is attached to ann-type layer nh~
ba.e on G . emitter), the second is attached to the other n-type layer {the collector!. and
th third is attached to the p-type layer (the bose).
The technology of fabricating BJTs advanced in several stages. In h
alloy junction bipolar transistor two metal alloy dots containing an a eptor
impurity such as indium are alloyed into the two faces of a thin disk of n-G .
The In is diffused into the disk, creating thereby two p-n junctions. Th~
metal alloy dots form the emitter and collector electrodes. The grow
junction bipolar transistor is fabricated by changing the dopant impurity£!
Di ffuscd n-Si during crystal growth from n-typc top-type to n-type.
p-Si In none of the BJTs discussed so f~1r is the base layer thin enough ttJ
Diffuscu n-Si permit high-frequency amplification. T\ovo advances c~ntributed toO\ ~­
coming this problem. The first was the development of solid state dill'u~lll
Fig. 13.3 technology in which a semiconductor surface is exposed at high t mper.t·
Diagram of <t double-diffused silicon ture to a gaseous impurity which diffuses into the semiCl)nJm·wr. Th
lran ~i tc r
second was the switch from Ge to Si as the basic material. the b tr f\\ilh 1
higher melting point and larger energy band ga ps allowing the us~ fh,gh··
tet~:pcratures than the former. In Si very til.!ht ·ontr )ll)f the thKkl1~··
l'a»~ t vati 111 oxide
~tiiu.~edlayer~ can be achieved. making p~ssihle I ' pwdu ULlll'-' 1•11 ,
l.ty ei s With thtckness less than one micwn_ T h . e ud \ a!lt:L S ·ulnun.lt~l·
I the .double-diffu se d s1·1·Icon trans1stor . . d 111 . h!!.. 1.', -'·
, H ,, \ ·r.· I '
depict
Dllfu,ed n-Si
performance .
Of tJ1 ' • j co ·
Is t evtce W<:IS adverse!\ afl c t
• - - ·11 I l'f
h\ mt ·t.l
exposed .· .· - - r
/i' // ''/~ lj, /ll,(l//~1,/ - .· _Juncttun surfaces with air. This p bkm '' . . 'tl)h ,db: tn.- su
·I ·~ ] . . . . 1 tt ·
p-Si
poss1vot1on techniq
Utl lu J n-s. ". . ue v, 11L 1 pr11tects the lllnClll n ur .1 • \\ ll 1 ' 1
~:;,I own ( Xtde hy "'. tl · · h
•fl ,·~ · ' · t:I lat ts shown in h e. 1i.~ t th n · 1111
Fig. 13.4 ~-fflC ltldll P_lanar :-tripe g . metn \-\'il'- - ld pteJ t h.
I use OXIde . d .
Dl.'ll'"'', '''" d ·,uhl dt llu ,,.d l} ttll· I ro . passivate silicon planar tr In l
p..t I oil ,j Jli~llll pl.i l t;I J IT. II I l [,, ~ ~.:s<, 'ilJ fll t I the it purit\ in! r
111 1 la nt ·ttt
ra!-1ll:r than d i· T
1
11
'
 P yslcal basis of th BJT 3A 1

II 'P •r,d ' in fh lll il.'rt > \\ ~1\ (' I C~i <HI \\ll h ~ \itL h Jn 1 s p ·~.:d~
11•" ~· n Is ll,r 'i llg 111 ~ ny tl ( lh 'Ill Cllll[l kJ to ret ll Cf n a
it.. .111 integra ted circ ui t.
11 ·. l

I ba is of the BJT
(\ ·l k ct"r
the p- n- p c o n Ci g ur~Li<'n.
p n lH
1at111g lransi~h>r Lh co n fig uration r· nnt . mmetric in the Fig. 13.5
pant L:L nc~n t rat iuo of tll t' mitter and collector a re the D1 · gr..un of ~~ p ' n I' BJ T.

u:.1c~'-'· th ~;:mrtter ha:; the hig her c·n n · ' ntrati o n as ind ica ted in
n p BJT F r th is CJ. e th e co ncentrati c ns II{/ and 11,; or
nJ d m~.:r · in th mitter a nd ha<ic, respectively. sat isry

( 13.1)

In th b cncc oLlpplied bia . the Ia w of m ass action (Eqs. (12.::1) and ( 12.4))
require that

IF
)
II~
'
1
/If' = _I_ rv ( 13.2a)
£1;, /1(/

1 !

=
II~ 11~
Jlc _I_ ~ _.!._ (13.2b)
. lin fld

where nr and p, J.re the ncentrati o ns of minority electrons in the emitter

and mi nority ho les in the ba se , respectivel y.
We th refore o ne lucie fro m Eq s. ( 13.1) and ( 13.2) th a t
E B c
(13.3)
Ix, I" X" I
In othe r w rd s. the concentrati o n of minority· holes in the base is much ( Cil

la rger tban that of minority electrons in the emitter. From Eq. ( 12 .88a) the
sa turati n current den sity. when the neutral regions are much wider than
th e respecti ve diffu sion lengths. is given b.y £1' ------------------------------
E · ··········]
\· · ··•···· · · \.
~-~
; ··········
• c: D,.nf' eDhp 11 eDhjJ11
1 (13.4)
' = L<! tanh( dr / L,.) + Lh tanh(d L" ) ~ Lh tanh(dn/ Lh) ·
11 /

nder applied bia s VF between emitter and base. the density of the current
inJected from the emitter into the base is (cf. Eq. (12.87))

( 13.5)

thus establishing th a t most of the injection current is carried by holes. Fig. 13.6
The energy band diagram of the p 1 - n- p BJT with zero bias is shown in Energy banJ Jiagram fl>r ~~ r' n p BJT:
Fig . l3.6a. Wh en the p., - n emitt er junction is forward biased and the n-p (a) 1ero bias: (b) lh>ll/l:.'r•> hia,; (afrc·r
coll ectc r juncti o n is reverse biased. the energy band diagram is modified as iv1athieu 19~7).
 Bipo lar junction transistor

. . (ib T l e e ne n~v arricr for passage of holes fr m the ern·tt .

n tg. 13 . 1. 1 ~- . . h hI , I ertntf
. , h· b ~ n lovvercd. lcadmg tot e o e current I,~:; ,\cross th ,
thl! b,lse d~ GC . t' . t' h . . ep
. , . l , in Fig. IJ. 7. A certam ractton o t e InJected hole d' n
unctu.'m cp1c c . · A h . s tffu'le
·1 . h b· ..;e .111 l reach the n- p _JunctiOn . t t e n· p JUncti n a
~.:rn"s I! <l • h . tron
. - l.J xi ls tl ·t l s\veeps the holes down l e potential hill and i
'
'k:lllll 111.: u e . ~ nto theg
r Jducll,g ho i cutt ent h r· However, some of the holes in·
L ..

Fig. 13.8
Om gram of overall current !lows
a p- - n p BJT (after Sze 19 I) .
Ill
L Jl ector. P L
.
·~ . . .· ,
l ·'r'con binC tthmaJOIJt)eectrons. 1 , , Th 1 Jected
eeectronsthusl o tare
HloLne 1a ~..: ~..: .
r p1t:Ot I11.:·Jb)•t:l clr nc urr .
nt /, 11 th::Hflowsmtothebasefromtheexternal
trrl. 11 _ A ·111 ·1ar rc plcm h men.L takes care of electrons th~t flow from the
h·1 t.: into the emitt r, co n tttutmg electron c.urre1~t I,·.E· Fmally, rninoril\
~ twn in the L:tlllecl r pass across the n- p JUnction mto the ba e. gi•: ·
t..: I .. , • • h . . •tng
n. _ l1 the elcctr 0 urrent fcc · h1 connect1~n w.1t Ftg. 13.7 It rnu 1 be
em ph;, ·ized that a hole curr .nt rs m the ~a me. d1rect1on as hole flow, wherea~
an dt: ·tron urrent i in th oppos1tc d1rect10n to electron flow.
A ct 1,lgram . ho\ ·ing the overall current flows in a p n· p BJT is givenrn
Fig. 13.8. Th arrow indica Lethe directions of flow under so-called normal
operating conditi n, , i.. , forw ard bias at the p+- n junction and rver e
bia at the n- p j uncti n. These conditions constitute the forward active bio~
mode r amplificatio n mode. Also shown in Fig. IJ.g is the conventiona
s ·mb I f r this case . T he p - n- p BJT illustrated in Figs. 13.7 and 13.8 has
the common-base configuration with emitter and collector bias voltage'
corresponding to the amplification mode. Diagrams for then~- p--n BJT
can be obtained by rever ing the polarities of the bias voltages and th
directions of the currents.
The ba ic principles of operation of a BJT can be summarized as folio\~
Minority carri rs are injected into the base from the emitter by the appli·

cation of a forward bi as across the emitter base junction. An impressed lo\\-

input signal voltage modulates the flow of majority carriers into the ba·
from the external circuit. Electroneutrality requires that the minorit~ ·ar·
rier current in the base. and thence the collector current, be modulated Jls 1·
The fact that a smalllluctuation of the majority carrier current can au eJ.
large fluctuation in the minority carrier current leads to the possibihty 01
amplification. To understand in detail how these effects occur. it i ·nee
sary to derive the DC current- voltage characteristics of the BJT.

l3.3 DC characteristics of the BJT

13 3 1
· · Injected minority carrier concentrations
We consider · .. · n
. . . a P n- p BJT With abrupt ju ncli n.· in th ' mnw
configuration as shown in Fig. 13 .7_ The BjT 1::; a~ uml.'d w h,t .t unit
~~oss secuonal area A . so the <.:alculati 111 f t h~:: L'llrf 111 redu ~.· L
1
. mcnsio?al problem of detcrminin2: t h~: ·urn: nt j ·n lti · · h · 11
'~·giJJonsolthe eJ.nitter, base. and colh:~t r .tr . t un t
It: • \ tth all ot the
·)r th ~ · . · POh:ntl ,tl drl)p~ occu rnn<~ JLf'
l t: Junc:tJ m Th• . , -
liitrusi e .111 d · J . ~.: 11 c lio n o the arn~r 111 tl
' . llt n t ·u n:n
ur ba. lc IIJL:c t.l un: i .
lt 111 '-lu l' p t
11
.., l L tk LILtk th · L<tl
II m ,t dl 11 I h~: '- U n 1:111 I
 DC ho rocte ristics of the BJT 343

1 m• till l lll ll11 ritylhlksinthcncutraln:gil'f1nlthcha 'I"

I\'"- . m ~il 1):!UC or
the dlflusi "Ill cquat iun ~ iv n by

u-r "~
I -
- = 0.
/ II
'I -; - -~-
,- ( 13 .6)
"
( \ -

thl! equ ilibrium and nonequilibrium concentrations of

r1,l lh i. the ho i dilfusion constant, and r 1, is the minority
h ,;ene ral :oluti m of thi . dirTerentia1 equation is th e hole
- . (1_.7-f):

~p( \) = p(.r ) - Po = Ae' f L,, +B - lj L,,. ( 13.7)

1 h~: c.: and B c r determined by the boundary conditions at the

ILl' nL A
dr:e~ l"'f the n utra l region o f the base, x = 0 and x = Hl 8 • as shown in
~ ~

F 1g. L .. \t x=O. th h le concentration is that of minority holes in a

f(. m.trd-biased p - n juncti n given by Eq. (12.67). Converting to our pre-
ent nota lion. v ·c.: have

(13.8)

Ol

D.p( = p(O) -- Po = Po(e" VF. /knT -- 1) = A +B. (I 3.9)

t x= 11' 8 , the hole concentration is that of minority holes in a reverse

bi ~ed n- p junction

(13.10)

where J · is negative for reverse bias. Subtracting p 0 from both sides of

q. ( 13. 10) and using Eq. (13.7), we obtain

D.p( vVs) =p(Ws) -pu = po(e"Vc/ktJT- 1)

= AeWy / L, + Be - Wy f L, _ (13.11)

Equations ( 13.9) and ( 13 .11) can be solved for A and B to yield

( 13 .12a)

.6.p( W s) - .6.p(O)eWnf L,
(13.12b)
B =- 2 sinh( WB/ L,) '

from which. with the aid of Eq. (13 .7), we obtain .6.p(x) in the form

.6.p(x) = .6.p( W 8 ) sinh(x/ L 11 ) + .6.p(O) sinh[( Ws - x)/ L,]_ (13.13)

sinh( Ws/ L,,)
Bipolar junction transistor

. . "ctron concentrations
T he mm ont y e 1t:
in the neutral. regi n of the etnltt
.
. be derived m s1mJiar fashiOn, startmg from the ct·rr . tr
· . . . .

, nd c II tor ~.;n n . I us
. r ·lectr ns.Eq . (12 .73),andthegeneralsolutJOn.Eq.(l 2 74 10n
l.!quatll)n or ~.: . . . Ch 12 . ). \
. d' ··on f the p n JUnctiOn 111 apter , we a sume th
1n our IS u"s' at the
, t·dL·ts• t the emitter and collector acce1crate the recomb·lnahon
- con
met· II 1c .
f he 111im rily electro ns, so th:.~t n(x£) = no£_and n(xc) = lloc. At the
b ·tw en the neutral regiOn of the em1tter and the space ch
,( und · 1 ~ ~..: _ • d. . arge
r gH, 11 r tht: p - n junct1 n. the followmg con Ilion must be sati fied:
I)
~11(\·ca) = n (r£lJ)- no£-_ 1101:·( eeVdknT - · (13.14!

Th c rrt: ponding b nd ary condition for the collector is

( 13.15 1

The olut10n l the diffusion equation subject to these boundary con.

clition can be tak n directly from that in Eq. (12.76) by making the
appr priate change in the nota tion for the coordinates of the variou
bounda rie . r the mitter the result is

wh re W £ is the width of the neutral region of the emitter and LEj · the
diffusion length for minority electrons in the emitter. For the collector.

" c (-'·) = noc (eevc-/kn r

w.n - I
) sinh- [(x c-
'
x )/ Lc] . ( 13.1
smh( Jf c / L c)

where We and L c a re the corresponding quantities for the collector. If the

diffusion lengths are small compared to the widths of the neutral regions.
approximate expressions a nalogous to that in Eq. (1~.79a) can be
employed .

13.3.2 Currents in the BJT

ln our simple model of a BJT. the electric field is zero in the neurral re~ivn :·
~he~e is no drift of carriers, and the motion of rhe c·<uri rs is entir I~ dll·
lusn:e. The current density due to carrier mo tion i rh rt:fore prop rtilln.d
to the concentr''tl·o
" n gra. d.1ent o f t he earner
· as I!J\
· en bv Eq:. t 1,-· 1·11
• Jn
( 12.8 1b) for minority electrons and holes. respe ...tiH I~ . h curren£ den,ll'
due to holes 111 the base is

}lt (Y
I'

Making u:-,c of the expres· -~· n I. \

· ~ ur ~p( 111 Ll 1

lil LY ) == :...':..! { ~p(JJ 'B ) . h( . L~tl ..1 ()

Lh
'mh JJ 1
 DC ch rocteristics o f the BJT 34 5

d n l ,. )
J, \. l = c t>, ' · ( lJ 211 )
d\

(I J I :1 } ~llld ( 13. I 7) intn Eq. ( 13.20) yields th e cmittu

1 urr~:nt denoo;t lJ es i,. ~;_ (') a nd i· - (Y) ,

( 13.21a)

iln (.Yc ) cosh [(xc - x) / Lc]

(D.2lb)
L · sinh( W /L c)

nd De a re t h e lectron diffusion constants in the emitter and

w. n:. pecLI\ c ly.
\ e, reno..: in po ition to evaluate the total emitter and collector current
den ttie!). The to ta l mitter current density )r; is given by

(13.22)

if generatio n- recombination currents in the emitter-base space charge

layer are neglected . From Eqs. ( 13.19) and (13.2la),

(13.23)

Simila rl y. qs. (13.19) and (13.2lb) yield the total collector current
den ity Jc;

J = )!r(JVs )+ Jec(Xcs)

11 8 (J/f/
= -eD { .6.p(O)csch - ) - .6.p( W 8 ) coth -
~ ~ ~
(Ws)}
. . coth - - .
- -eD - .6.n(xc) (We) (13.24)
Lc Lc

If the widths of the emitter and collector are large compared ro the
respective diffusion lengths, the approximation coth( rVt.·! LE)::::
coth( W f L ) :::: 1 can be made. However. since a significant fraction of
minority holes must be able to diffuse across the base, satisfaction of the
inequalit:y H1B » Lr, would be detrimental. fn fact, Lh » r-vs is desirable.
Conservation of charge requires that the base current densityjs be given
by

is = j F. - k · (I 3.25)
 Bipolar junction transistor
6
- .d t"ties involving hyperbolic functi ons together .
Ma ktng use~
ot 1 en t
d , ) we write the hase current as
Yilth
q: ( 13 .23 ) un l 11- -~ 4 ·

./H _ eD11 [D.p(O) + f).p( W 8 )] tanh(~~,) + e~L:~· ~n(xf:B)

'W) ("'/
nc )
(1.:
L11 eDc
v t:O h --r Lc ~n(.Ycs) coth Lc . ( 13.26)

The c pl ici l depende nce of/E. .Jc. andfB on ~Land Vc ~s revealed by

, (O · wi' p( ~VR) - ~n(x £~ 8 ), and ~n(:xcs) by the1r ex pre · ions
I ~ 1Kill!! w..f1
' . ~d. _ ( !1 9) (13.11), (13 . 14). and (13.15):
conla tnc m q - - · ·

. D ( Ws) - (eeVc fk,IT - l) esc h(WB)}

L {
=~ (e<' l r /t. ,,r - l ) coth - -
1£ L11 L~r
It

+ cD EllUL (eel F / ko T _ 1) coth ( : ~:) ( l3.27aJ

L£ E

= eD;,p { (e'·l"t./kllT - l )csch(Ws)- (eeVc /knT- l)coth(WB)}

.I L;, L11 L~r
I0--4 ..-----r---.--------r--o---,
c1 ./ksT - l)coth(Wc) (l3.27b)
to-5 Lc

l
~ l

~ I 0-7 )s = eD;,po [(eeVt.fk11 T + eeVc/k11T _ 2) tanh (~VLB)

~~ ~~ ~-~-~-ft--~ L11 - II
1 ~9 + eD£1lu£ (eeVc/kaT- l)coth(W£)
LE LE
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 (112
\I£ (V)
+ eDcnoc (e.:Vc/"-nT- l)coth(Wc). Cl
Lc Lc
Fig. 13.9
ollector and base currents versus Equations ( 13 .27) constitute the Shockley bipolar junction transistor
emitter voltage for theory (solid lines ) equations (SBJT equations). They give a good account of the D~ currt!nl_ -
a nd exp ri ment (cirdes and tria ngles) voltage behavior of the BJT under hioh forward current operating condt·
0
With V( = 0 (after Jcspers 1977).
tions, as seen in Fig. 13.9. However, Sa h eTa/. ( 1957) have shov.. n that und 'r
low forward or reverse current operating conditions. it is nele ·s~r~ tl
include the contributions of generation- recombinatiL)n current. tn the
space charge layers. which are ...negkcted in the SBJT 1uatio n · The! gt!n·
eration - recombination current d;nsities . .ha and j 8 • in the miner ba
-
and collector base space charge lavers arc given bv .t h 149 1
"" '- -

and

1 tJ = ( n, IJ' sire a) I '-

Wht:re II i th t · -
. ' · ~.:In nn sl~ earn r c nccn tra ti
alnd r, /Ja nd r c n are th~d ccti\~ li k u n c~
l 1 :.t rg~:: h.l ·c r~ .
 DC charactensti cs of th e BJT
3.47

~.1: I 11ru.·J0n and gc n cra ti ~1n r cct lmbJnalt ~Hl c ur n: n ts

t th.1t unJ l.1rg · I~ rward h ias the gcncrat1 ~ n rec.·o m-
tr nlr . mall CL~ llll ar ~.: d lP th e dilfusJOil curre nt
nd ·r n~'rmal 1pcr:Hing cu ndition s with ron.vard btas at
n ti n. tlw dt ffusJ (lll ;..~nd g ~ n e ratJon recombination
,,min.Jku b th e c xp nncnti ;Jlt ~ rm s '.X p( e r "elk 8 T) and
T) re·pcc t l\ cl . T h e term or 1(2 in the expo ne nt of the
nn n;tl-..e rhe latter much smaller than the first term at large
r cqu~?ntl). the g ~.:n e r atio n-rec o mbination current is small
1 th d1ffusio n current under large fo rward bias.

13 3. Current gain in the BJT

\\t: hcl c nLL d earl ier th a t the ba se current / 8 influences th e collector
urr nt lc. lf the BJT i' ope rated in the amplificttion mode. the output
current I can exce d lh input current Is. thus giving rise to amplification
or _ain. The ba~ -to- !lector current gain /3 is defined by

lc Jc
(13.29)
Is }R

\here the se a nd fo rm applies if the cross sectional area of the BJT is

unifonn. The em itter-to-collector current amplification factor o: is defined by

lc ic ( 13.30)
0:= /= ~-:- .
E ./E

F rom th e rel a tionfs = h -ic follows the result

I 1
-=--I
j C\'

r
o·
(13.31)
i3 = I - o.

The parameter u is always less than unity, but in a v..'ell-designed BJT it is

\'e ry close to unity. e .g. , rv 0.99. The value of B is therefore high, on the
o rder of 100.
T o proceed further, we m a ke some approximations that are reasonable
for a typical BJT in the amplification mode. Since the base-collector
junction is reverse biased with Vc « 0, we neglect the current contributions
in Eqs. ( 13.27) that are associated with Vc:

(13.32a)

· :.-:: [eDhfJO
Jr·
L~r
(Ws)]
- - csch -
L"
(e' ·I'1 1'k H T - I) • (l3.32b)
 Bipolar junction transistor

. . . f n efficiency ,. ,_, is defined as the ratio of the hole c

Th em•tter .n1ec •0 • . • . urrent
·1r . 1 -(0) to the total emitter current IE·
from t hc enu er fll:
hE(O) }h£(0)
~r = ---= -.- .
h }E ( 13.33

Th~ ourn:nt den ity it,c( ) corresponds to the first term in Eq. (1 3.32a).
v tnd th· t
(13.34)

Another paramct r of in terest is the base transport factor B defined a the

ratio of the hole current reaching the collector hE( W a) to the hole current
injected by the emitter h .(0). The current hd W a) is A)hE( W 8 ) == Akwith
.ic gi en by Eq. (1 . 2b). Hence,

B = h r:( W'n ) =__}£_ = sech(Wn). (13.35)

h c(O) }11E(O ) Lh

Physically, B is the fraction of minority holes that avoid recombination

while ditfusing across the base from emitter to collector. Like the current
amplification factor n, the parameters 1 and Bare always less than unity.
For the desirable situation L 11 » W 8 , r and B can be written in the
approximate forms

r~ 1 _ DEnoE Wa (13.36a)
DhpoLE

( 13.36bl

We see that B is only slightly less than unity. If [ 17 = 10 W 8 • B~ 0.995.

An_expression for the current amplification factor o- can be obtained with
our Simple model by using Eqs. ( 13.J 2):
fc
0: = -
h

tU

Use of Eqs. ( 13 34) . d _ . .

· an ( 13.3)) yields the r lation
1I _'
n =. B < I.
Substituting this result im 111 111 th' h
th~: Ul
 C haracteri tics of the BJT A9

( r ntii L t, / DM'n L,_)cnth ( W,.. j 1 ) ]'

( 1 ~.40 )

1'- I -. inh .\·ta nh( Y 12) has been used . In a typica l

1 ll 1s much gr ater than the emitter diiTu. ion kn!.!.th,
JI l1-) = l. ~
ctl n ·tate I in - q ·. ( 11._) na bks one to eliminate the
nc ntrati n . . noting that the intrinsic ca rrier con-
3nd. 1: nl; n th t mpcrature and the energy band param-
r n-l.t r materia l and is therefore uniform throughout the
• 11 •E Po= n.,s 11,/J; an I

( 13.41 )

Thi. r -.ult ·ho\\ us ho\\' t choose the various parameters to maximize

the g;.tin . It i. clear] _ fa ra ble to minimize the ratio W8 / L11 by minimizing
the\\ idth If 8 and ma ·imi zing the diffusion length L 11 o[ the neutral region
of the ba e. Fr m th relati n

( 13.42)

w ee that L1: a n e increased by increasin£ both D11 and rP. This can be
a hi ,. d y minimizing the base doping ndR· Light doping serves to increase
th m bility f th carriers in the base, thus increasing the diffusion con-
rant D~z, and t increase the recombination time rfl by IO\-v ering the con-
ntration of recombination centers.
lt i al o id ntfrom Eq . (l3.41)thatheavi1ydopingtheemittertomake
llu£ larg \\i ll nha nce the gain. The combination oflight doping oft he base
and h a y d pi ng o f the emitter causes the space charge region a t the p+- n
jun ti n t extend fairly far into the base, thereby reducing W 8 . Note also
rha t the rn a - a tion law enables Eq . (13.34) to be rewritten as (with
c th( II '£ L c) = I )

(13 .43)

- reducing n<~a 'nuL brings the emitter efliciency r closer to unity. The
inver!:>e relatio n rup between doping level and diffusion constant suggests
that the rati o Dr:t Dr, hould be smalL thereby causing r to be even closer to
unit \ and B to be even hi!!her.
W have seen that a lo~£ minorit y hole life time r" favors high ga in. For
thi reason indirect gap se~iconductors are preferred for the fa brication of
BJTs. We abo note that increasing r 1,, and thereby L-11, brings the base
transport !'actor B closer to unity, in accordance with Eq . ( 13.35). A larger
lrauion of the injected hok are able to cross the base and reach the
oll u r.
Bipolar ·unction transistor

Small-signal characteristics of the BJT

13 .4
The BIT is frequently used a~ an _a~npli~_er ~mder s~a_ll-si~n~\ conditions in
c itl
'do> b·tnd or tuned circuits.. A s1gndl consists of a time-dependent
I t:f\1.... .. . .
plied to a a ir of tenmnals. The stgnal ts small if the out
' It <Lg l' a 1 . . . . , · . . PUt
~ urrcn t or 'vOltage r sp nse 1s a l~neat functiOn of the mput stgna\ voltage
T h cu rrents and voltage of the mput_and output can be Fourier analyzed
in time. 'nder the small -si_gnal co~lditiOn, the output reproduces a given
f- oum.:r l: mp nenl j" the mput With only 3 phase delay and without d' _
. fh . ~
t 1 rti n o th ampli ude or generation o armomcs.
Tl e major nonlin arity a rises from the exponential dependence on ott-
age ari ·ing fr 111 the Boltzmann factors !nth~ SB_rr equations. Since in the
. mplifi ation 111 de, the collector- base JUnc_tJon IS reverse-biased, the term
·p(cV .fk aT) i n gligible and can ~e omitted._ The_ ter~ exp(eVdksT)
as 'Ociat d with the lorward-b1ased ermtter- base JUnctiOn IS large, however
ll i handled by , riLing Vr as the sum of a DC part V}: and a time~
01

dependent fluct uati n (.; V E(t) . expanding in powers of oVF.(t),

e''''rJk 11 r--·
-
11
eev;,' ; k/jT (1 + eb V £(1)
kBT
+ .. ·)
' (13.44)

and neglecting higher powers of DV£( 1). Each of the various current
densities and carrier concentrations is written as the DC value plus a time-
dependent fluctuation. Use of these expressions together with the time-
dependent diffusion equation given by Eq. (12.72) gives rise to a set of
time-dependent equations that are linear in the t1uctuations.
To illustrate the procedure, we set

p = p (O) + 8p(t) ( [} ...[\

and substitute into the time-dependent diffusion equation:

Dbp(t) - D 8 2[p(O) .p(t)]

ar - " fJ.y2

For a Fourier component varying as exp(ir...-·I).

or

wh~o:re
-
r''--- T fl j ( [ + tu.:r,,)
· is an f1e li\t: Ill '-
· u•n'
L,, ""- ( D,' T, , ) I <' ld slut
' Ill: q uat JL)Jl

C)'! I [l I )
- .-) ' -
r -
 Problems 351

-, = 0. ( 13.49 )
"
r h l.ttler c,Ln llh: ref< r be carried ow r to the tim -
nMk 1ng the r' pl1 , m ent L1r ___. L11 •
m dl-. tgna l JX.tra meters an a lo gou · to tho se for the D
CI ',the.: sm 11- igna l ' urrent £!Gin r1,. i · given by

rf 0
1, = - . ( 13.50)
· 1n

~t.rtm F m the defini ti n f ' 111 q. ( 13 .:29). the foll owing relation
ht.>t\\edl 1 .tnd i can be de rived: J()-1

t0- 7 1()-0 JQ- - 10--1 I O-J 10- 2 L()-1

a
1 = - - -- - - --
Jc tA/cm1)
(13.51)
' I - (le i )( d3jd!c) ·
fig. 13.10
Current gain '-1 ver us collector current
lftheLurr ntgain.J i. inde pendentofthecollectorcurrent/ ,then /3, = . dcnsity)c for various space charge
When reLotnbinati n in the emitter- base space charge region is taken into regio n reco mbination ra tes R for a n
acc0unL. 3 do ' d p n o n f c as shown in Fig. 13. 10. Si transisto r (a fter Grove 1967).

Problems
I. Laning from E · ( 13.41) and ( 13.42) deve lop an approximate expression for
the curren t gai n that is va lid if W 8 « L 1, and 11 d 8 « l'l oL · The res ult can be
\\riltt: n 'l ~ = rl', r," v here r:,, is the transit time required for hole s to diffuse
fr rn th e ~ m iller t the collector. Write dow n an expression for r,r and
aleu late it va tu fo r a p+ n- p silico n tra nsistor at 300 K with W 8 = 10- em.
4

nd r th e innuence of a n electri c field the tran sit time of a mino rit y carrier
thr ugh th . bias re2:io n due to the field only is the drift transit time. What
p tentia l difference ac ross the ba se region wo uld be nece sa ry so th a t the drift
trJn it tim i ~:qu a l to the diffusion tra nsit time? _
-~ · F' or a p - n- p - - .,. . .I
~ 1co n tran . 1·tor will 11" =
10 17 em _ ·, . n.~ = 10 1-' em 1- .
4
r~ = . l;t ' . r" = l 0Jl .·. ,,, = 700 cm 1 /(V s ), p 11 = 440 cm 2t(Vs). Wn = 10- em,
and Wt » L· ca lcul a te:
(· ) the LlitTusion lengths L~t and Lr:
b th e en11tter injectio n efficien cy:.
4. alcu late the current a mplificati o n factor o for the transist o r of pro blem 3.
Hm" much of the devia ti o n of n· fro m unit y arises from incomplete injection
and h \\ mu ch from rec o mbination losses?
- F r a p n p bipolar tran sisto r derive ~111 expression for the change of the
n utr· I ba se width due to the collector ba se voltage Vc if Vc is much larger
th an the diiTu io n voltage v" of the collector- ba se junction. . ,
6. A p- n- p - silico n transist or has base and collector dopin g concentratiOns o l
I y !(J 17 c m - 3 and I ' J0 1 ~ cm '. respecti vely. Given that the ba se Width IS
l ,; I 0 4 111 for ~-'< = o. estimate the value of fl< \vhich causes the base width
to change by IO'Y.,. . .
7. f- o r the tra nsistor l)f problem 6. at 300 K calculate the capac1tance per umt
ar..:a of the base collector junction with f/( = 0.
 Bipolar junction transistor
352
References
J. Barde~,; n and W. H. Brattain. Phys. Rev. 74, 230 (1948).
R D, lven. Jn,:oducrirl!l to Applied Solid State Physics, Second edition (PI
Pre~s. ew rork , 1990). enuna
. . rov~:. Pltrsics and TechnologF of Semiconductor Devices (John .
New ork. i% 7). Wiley,
p A. e per~ . in Process and Device Modeling for Integrated Circuit D .
,J:1 F . Van de tcle. W . L. EngLand P. G. Jespers (Noordhoff Leyd 1eslgr,,
H. M thieu. Phvsi£flll! des .S'emiconducteurs et de.,· Composan;s Ele;~~ '!J7>.
(Ma ·.on. Pa ri s. 19 '7) . "IC/IIts
Sah. Ftmdumentuls
1).
f!/ Solid-State Electronics (World Scientific s·
· tngapore,
19
C . Sah . R . . Noyce. and W . Shockley, Proc. IRE 45, 1228 (1957)
J. . S hiw, Pflys. Rev. 75. 689 ( 1949). ·
W . Sh Lkle . Bell Sl'Sielll Tech. J. 28, 453 (1949).
M. z , Ph1·sic.1· of Semiconductor Devices, Second edition (John Wil
ew Yor k, l 'tX I). ey,
 •
ICe

Lasers and
photodevices
h1• • lt(lll b~ the . timulatcd Em.ission of Radiation = LASER.
1
...:ite<..l . tate is stimulared by the radiation field to emit
111 Ill I! 14.1 Generolleotures of stimulated
rhc rat~: or tim ubtcd emission is proportional to the energy emission

r the radiation. 1 larger population of excited slates than

tat .., m an · f1opu ! tti m invasion . vVhen population inversion
exi.t . lltnlll.lted emi.:si n can produce an increase in energy density
1 oprh ul r:ain If the optical gain exceeds the optical loss due to

t~tu rption. ampliticotion results. Stimulated emission is a coherent

pr L and lead · to spectmlnw-ro••·ing. The coherence is due to the
emitted radiation h ving its phase related to that of the timulating
field.
A p-n Jtm t1 n is a convenient system for establishing population 14 .2 Physical basis of semiconductor losers
im· r 1 n f nergy levels. DireCT gap materials are most appropriate
for ·emic nductor lasers.
Opll a! gai n can occur if the emitted photon energy hiJ lies between the
band gap energy E~: and the difference of the quasi-Fermi energies !:':::..Er.
Optical gain i - equjyalent to a negative absorption coefficient. Gain
m an nhancement whereas absorption means attenuation of a light
b ~a m .
At current densities above the Jransparency cUJT('/1/ densi1y , the optical
gain i positive.
The gain increases linearly \Vith nominal current density at a rate that is
inversely proportional to the temperature.
The threshold current density for lasing decreases w·ith increasing
sepa ration of the mirrors of the cavity.
Radiative recombinaton at p-n junctions in semiconductors provides
light sources known as light-emifling diodes.
Free carriers created by absorption of light produce an increase in 1.4 .3 Photodetectors
the electrical conductivity of a semiconductor that is called
ph(){ uconduct i l'i1 r .
High photocondu~tive e:ain is favored by long recombination time and
hil!h mobilitv.
The ~r>sponsi11i;r is the ratio of the change in current to the incident
radiation po~er. The detectil'ity is the normalized signal-to-noise ratio.
 . d t r lasers and photodevices
SemiCon uc o
35
_ d L...y . hrgc decay time. small carrier concentration
Jlt.· ~?11 11<11KC l'. 1 4 4 . 'llld
. ·c m.luct r thiCkness.
•
m. 11 ~.: ~ ,,e t elect romagneuc
1111 · energy m
· t o e Iectnc
· energy by mea
S 1 <.1 r L'C ' C ll
11 1 .. Ill
oft he p/rofO l'Of laic effect.

• cronym for light Amplification by the Stimulated E .

Tl1c tcrm Ias er I · '111 n11s.
. .

.
SIOn 0 0 f R d·
1at·
10 n ·
Th nc pt of stimulated
.
emission
.
is due to Ein te·
Jn.
wh sc ·tudie . of t . tali ·tical mechamcs of e~ectromagnetic radiation
indi ated that th u ual tr a tment_ based ?n m_d uced absorption and
·pontan ou emi. ion vi~late . th_e pnnc1ple ol deta1~ed balance. In order to
CO LT ct thi::. defi i n y. Emstcm mtroduced the notiOn that a system in an
c; cit d ak i timulatcd by the ntdi;;~tion field to _en~it a_ photon and drop
to a lower 11 .rg_, tate. T he rate of stimulated emtss1on ts proportional to
th nerg d n. ity u11 of the radiation, \vhereas the rate of spontaneou·
n1i ~ ~ i n i ind cndent of u J/ ·

14.1 General features of stimulated emission

Let us consider a system of atoms of which 1\ 1 are in the ground state of
energy £ 1 and 1 2 are in the excited state of energy £ 2. We assume that the·
states are coupled by electric dipole radiation . Under ordinary conditi n·
of thermal equilibrium, N 1 > V2 . If a radiation field of frequenc~
v,_ = (£:!.- EJ);Iz is switched on. a net absorption of energy from the field
takes place. However, if by some means the condition N'2 > /\~ 1 is achieved. a
net emission of radiation takes place. This condition is called population
inversion. A light beam of frequency l/ 12 incident on the system will produce
additional photons of the same frequency by stimulated emission ofev n
more photons. Consequently. the energy density increases in time. Thi:
phenomenon is called optical gain and is characterized by a negau'
absorption coefficient. If the latter is laroer in maonitude than the ordinar~
absorption coefficient that describes op~ical loss~ amplification of th ligh
beam res~llts. In order to achieve amplitication. the e\.citing light beam mu:t
have an mtensity exceeding a critical value neccssarv fL)J' the srimubt ·J
emission to overcome the losses. ·
An important aspect of stimulated emission is that :1 h >tLHl thu· g~·n·
era ted has- the S'IIlle
·' t'1.,.equency. po 1anzat1on. · · · · LI~ rrl1pag.·ttl.l11l · wJ
<.hrectiOU
pha. e as the .. inc·I.de " llt P 1oton. n other ,n,rds the r .-s ~ ~ coherent
1 1
However 11 the· ~· 1 1- . , , th ·
., . . · . muc ent 1ght hcam IS cumposed l l tncl h~.:ren P11 h 11-·
t~;sultlllgstunul · t "' l · · .
. . .L t::l emJSS)L)Il Wtll also he C0111pl d l 1111 · ~ h ·r Ill p hl ' t'il'
Tlle stmnllatcd , 1 · . ·
l

Clllsslon proc~s · favL'rs thL' pn uu ·u n ' I h n ~ · 1 1h1.

·
~- , _ 1
Pt:<~k nl the ~;nergy j, .· . . . , • t
. ~ Ll:llslty d1stnbut1un L)f th liH.. I I ·nt b '.til· l P
norrow1ng occurs.
ThL· t:'\hthlishrncnt .111 1 . . •
lakd h" ll . .. . ' l malll! ~ll n a ncc nl 4t 1 lpul.att
·' k r~;.t hsurp11111 I'·
'>late t,, l'l' • , .til e n tted phutPn b
1
L 1
L 1t:d e an .I It .111 I
l'llhancL:u h ' Ill t 1 ~ c LI L ~.: I lit
fl 1"L'Ing th~.· ..,~ -. t ~.:m lil I ' It I , I
 Physical is of e miconductor losers 35

n rh. t '' l'tdd 1'~li11..T\ 1 "., (ll: 1111 t'll ~ h th e I nu n lar_ j...,
, th I 111 amlt h tt. ltLts a htg ltcr p n h;lhtl il · IJ h ' tn g
h r 11 •It! j..., th. t! it t', l\~ll·s th ~ g rtl\Vth tl l a -;in glc mod ·.
h. fr qth: th.) ;lnd a 'in1;, k· pha..,c . IJc outpu t he~tm 1.
h r~.:nt \ ilh h i~hdt r lionali t a nd \C r n:trrm p~c lt" l
ll rc: nu:, '' hidt is a ch :m.1~le n s tic IC<llUJ'l: l ll' laser cmi s-
1~11.:1 thallh ·mi t led ra !t a li 111 ha, its phii st..: rclal ' d to

1 .2 I basis of semiconductor lasers

14 . .1 ual tati e aspects
Fig. 14.1
-..cm1 ndudf'~r p n JUncti 11 is a ct,n vcn ient ystem Cor establishin g B~1n d 'dgc: diagram for a dcgl:ncrate
r1pul.ttll n iml:t ion of nerg. le\el . In a h w il y doped junctio n at 1 n j un ti na t equi librium . The Fermi
qudihnum th~.: c 1nuucti n and ~ ct g ( n the n-t y·pe sid e is typically belcnv energy i indica\ ··d by th e l10riLc n tal
the, J.kn~.: · bJnd Jgc nth p-t 1 ·ide as ·hown in Fig. 14. l. Ira forward dashed line (after D a h-cn 1990).

b1a:-. I i rJitLd. \\h r I ·a== E!! e, the co nducti on <md valence bands are
·hiftc:J '' ith resp~ tt ea h th r a indicated in Fig. 14.2 . E·'l.ch side of the
juncll(ll1 ;n thi noneq uilibn um situati o n is characterized by its quasi-Fermi p 11

~nergy md1cated b~ a horizon ta l dashed line. In a na rrow region about the

mtdpoint ot thejuncti n. both onduct ion and valence bands arc occupied
h\ free arn rs that are abl ~ to recombine. The applied bias enables th
ele ·trons and h le to be c ntinuously supplied, so that the population ' t_ Region of
population
111,. r:-.Ion can be maintai n d n though recombination is occurring. InversiOn
In term of an energ I vel d iagram the no neq uilibrium si tuation can be
repre.ent d as h wn in Fig. 14.3. \A e restri ct o ur attention to direct ga p Fig. 14.2
Band edge diagram for a degene rate n
materiaL u has GaA \vhi h have a high tnnsition probability for elec- junctio n und er fo rward bia s V., ~ E~ "
tron hole rec mbinat i n. In indirec t gap materials, electron- hole recom- (after Dal ven 1990).
bination near the a b. o rpti n edQ:e in vo lves phonon-assisted transition s
that ha,·e a r lati ,· ly 1 tran sition probability. These material s are Elecrron
th ref r le attra tiv f rIa r app licat io ns than th ose \Vith direct gaps. energ y
It i I ar fro m Ficr. 14 .1 that rad iati\ e reco mbination can occur in the
ph t n ~.:n rgy r~ n - £" ::; lw ::; ~Ep, where ~Er = Er, - F.F"' £,.,. and
Er. are the ua ~ i - ~rn_li· energ ie f the co nducti on and valence bands.
re p tively. and th t- mperaLure is ass um ed lov enough to give sharp
rmi surfa e in th co nducti o n and valence bands. Optical gain is pos-
ible only in th is ran!le. This means th at the o utput photon energies
of emic~nduc t rIa er'": a re restricted to the regions near the band gap · or
appr priat mat ri als ~ uch as II [ - V compound s ·tnd their alloys. Lase rs --------~---------k
0
f th i typ arc possible in lhe visible a nd ncar infrared . \\1avt• ve..:tor

Fig.14.3
Energy le\·el diagram h)r the regio n of
14.2.2 Optical gain in direct gap semiconductors population inversio n (;1ftcr Dalvcn
1990).
14.2.2. I Transition rates
T analyz th~ performam:c or semit:.:onducto r lasers. it is necessary to
de\e l p exrres-.ions for the rates or stimulated emission. spont aneo us
mi'l:..io n, an d abso rption . We ass ume initially that th_e impurity c?n-
cer tra tk n of th e semiconductor is not so high as to invaltdate th e ve rtH:a l
 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices
35
.. ., ( nruleforinterbandtransitions.Therater,,forstim 1
tra t sttHln Se 1e t . -. , . h , .. Uated
· ,-olurnc as soctc~ted wit t 1 1e transition from the co d
cmt.·s1 n pet ut 11 1 , , . . . n uc.
3 _

. t. d . ._1 ) 1·en rgv £ . to the vdlence b,md state of energy E' c

u 1 11 ) d n s <~ ~_
1 ~- ' ,. an be
\\ ri Lteu a ·
l\ = Bc,.f:( £ ,') [1 - f ;,(EJ]Pred(hv)¢(hv), (1 _
1 4 11
. . ., (ll ··) is tlr- reduced density-of-states for direct interband tra .
'' 11e1~.: f'ml ""' · - . nst-
tion. _dht') 1s the photon dens1t y for t~e mode of frequency v,_ r; and.J; are
the distributi 11 fun Lions Cor conductiOn electrons and holes, respective)·
B, ,. 1 ~ the sti mu la l d mission rate constant that contains the interba:d
111 ._ttri' elcm nt. and /n; = E/ - £:.
The rate r ,P for spontaneous emi 100
per un1L v lum is iv n by

(14.2]
.,her Ac,, i th rate con~ ta nt for spontaneous emission. Finally, the rater a,
for ab rptive tran itions takes the form

l'ah = B,cJ;. (£,~)[ 1 - J~( E; )] Pred (hv) cp( hv), (14.3)

vvh re Bt., i. the rate constant for absorption.
A relation bctvvee n the rate constants can be obtained by considering the
conditi on of equilibrium. Then detailed balance requires that the rate of
absorption be qual to the sum of the rates of stimulated and spontaneous
emtSSI011:

l'ab = r .SI + l"sp · (l4Al

The distributions_/;(£,') and_f;.(£:,) take the Fermi- Dirac forms

/ ·. (' E',..) = 1+ 1
.c ' ' - £ r• )
e. ,Ji£'

. (£' - l
I t' ,;) - I
+ e·J( t:'' -- £ flo
l.
( J.t:bl

and in equilibrium E., .= EFt•· One can then show that

};.( EJ [I -- _1;.( £(:)] = .J: (£/) [I _ j ;.( E,~) Jc'v:' - 1:,'; . 1 ~.6l

Substituting Eqs. ( 14.1)- ( 14 ..3) into Eq . (14.4) and using E4. ( 14.6).
B 1-ct::Ji (fw )e -J·\F'-£' )
·, · = Ac,· + B,., .•> lu ).
Solving for rb(h,/ ),

r/) (/11/) = A <T 1~ -'

B l'l. ",, 1/u• _ R I I

wherl' the relatiun F' _ £' _ .

"- n<wn e4lt., h . ·, ~ , - lw h~ts hi.:~: nu:-.cd . ml .Ifill!! t
- 11numr - · 11 r
~o:su ror photons (Thl mp t n I Ill.
 Physical basis of semiconducto r Ia ers 57

111 11 the::.\ st 111, we Sl't.' that

H,.,- B, ,. ( 14. lOa )

.c, - B,,;n_ ( 14.J0b)

,rth n --,tiucr the dimensions of the various quantities

l In terms ol' volume 0.. time r, and energy £, the
cf 111b ha\·e d imensions n - l £ - lr - 1. while fJn ·d(lw) "'
- I . B, r ...... , - I • cll1
• d A ,· "-' f I . II' t hera d.IClllOll
11
.
ntm u u ra th r than a single mode, the photon density
ncrg_ inter\al is given by

' t,
;m - (In;
(I )
Pn/= • ( 14.11 )
(ftc) 3 r!'ilw - I,

\\her I i the refra tive !index and P(lw) has dimensions n-l E _ ,_
The r.lP LOn tant An till has dimensions t -I and sa tisfies the relation

(14.12)

HO\'>-ever. B, ,. now ha s dimensions 0.Et - I.

ith the rela ti nships between A u-·Bcl' and BU(. established. Eqs. ( 14.1)-
( l-l.3 f< r the tran ition rates can be applied to the calculation of the net
ra te timula t d emis_ ion and the gain.

14.2.2.2 Net stimulated emission rate

The net rate r -timulated emission,._;, is obtained by taking the difference of
the r t of stimulated emission and absorption:

r,,
I
= r,, - l'ah· ( 14.13)

Using Eqs_ (14_1 ) , (14.3), and ( 14.10a), we have

( 14.14)

This result can be cast into an especially revealing form if we eliminate

B ,,preAhl/ ) with the aid of Eqs. ( 14.2) and ( 14.1 Ob)

r,.,1 = !f\trs,(P(/II/)[1 - e ,J(/w

· - 6.Ef )]
' ( 14.15)

where the relation

./~ (£;) -_{,,(£/) = I _ /i( E,> £ ' - Er +Er,.) ( 14.16)

f. (£,~ )[ I - _1;,( £~ )]

has been used.

 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices
58
·n e s e. that net stimulated em is 1 n can occur .
Fro m q. ( 14 · 1 ) 1 . . .· · , . d h .. ., on 1y,r
. . ~ , re brac kets IS pOSJltve clO t IS Cdl1 be true onJy 'f
the quan titY111 • qu.t 1

/71/ < 6£;. = EF. - EF,. ( 14.17,

. . l 7) i- the Bernard-Duroffourg condition (Bernard
Equatwn 14 · . . ~ . . . and
. . . 1 6 ! ) P h )' 1cally. ttstatesth.Ittohavenetsttmulatedem1·ss·
urn f 1 uq! · . . . · ton.
th ph )t n em:rey. r the em tt ~cd ra_dtatiO~ ~-u~t. be les.s t~an .th~ difference
r the qu ·i-fe nm en~rgie •. r urthermore, as stet ted earher. It 1 ·necessary
1hat !Ill> Ex- i.e .. the rh ton energy must exceed th~ energy gap so that an
a IIO\-., d transi io n can take place between conduction and valence band s.
T hu s, w 1 ave the augmen ted condition

(14.1R

.4 for net stimult ted em is io n to be possible. Both quasi-Fermi energies

En rh"') b.md Jtagram ht \\ ·ng th.:
mdtt on" f r n't s limulat~.:d em i sion
(after Th mp ·on 1980 .
cannot h .refer li e ins id e the energy gap; at least one of them mu, t be
out id . diagra m illustrating the conditions for net stimulated em i ioni-
giv n in Fig. 14 .4.
An exc pti n t the condition /w > Eg can occur if the junction is heavil~
doped a nd a ho le impurity band exists in the gap above the valence band
edge. Then tra nsition s are possible between the conduction band and hole
states in the impurity band \vith transition energies less thanE~~..

14.2.2.3 Evaluation of the rate constants

It has been established that the three rate constants Buc· Be, ·· and A, ,. can
be ex pressed in terms of just one of them through Eqs. ( 14.1 0). In order
to evaluate them, a microscopic trea tment is necessary such as that for
inter band a bsorption due to direct allowed transitions given in Chapter 10.
Section I0.2. This treatment concerns an intrinsic direct gap semicondm:tor
with negligible impurity content for which the wave vector selecti n rule
k = k , applies to the initial and fmal wave vectors k r and k , of the tn.tn ·i-
tion. Under these conditions. the rate constant B = Bn· = Bee is fo und to bl!
(Lasher and Stern 1964)

4?Tne 2 Eg , 1~.19
B= ~I ., , 1"1, ., 1-0•••
111
fo Jn- l" c-'
where ' WL'c IS
· · t h e mterband
· . . momentum ma tnx
· ci m nt \ r·tgmg
· ,,'I -
over all directions in space and includin!! th pin- orbit pliwng ot th
valence band 6., one finds that (Kane 1957)

l\ iM /(. 12) lJ/' = 111 E.~.: [ EK + ...l1 (111

-
12 E ,+~ ...l m
' ' ~

The corresp nding xpres~i n f r B thl!n be

 hy teal basis of e miconductor losers 359

·n e · .'1 - I 42 c .

, - 1.2(, m E,
7. x ro:-: s 1 •
,j'\ \ '<rics littl from one Jirect-gap materia l lL)
u~.:n llj . the \ ariation nf B is Juc primarily t o the

n 11_ ·- f- ta 1 s f!nt( ) that appears in t be expr .ssion for

( 14.22)

whr..:n.:

for .imple parabolic bands with reduced mass il)*. A factor of 2 has been
in luded to a count f r the spin degeneracy. In Ill- Y compounds such as
GaA . both ligh t and heavy holes contribute.
In many ernie nduclor lasers there is high p-type doping in order to
provide a high co ncentra tion of holes with which the injected electrons ca n
r mbine. In the pre ence of the acceptor impurities. the wave functions
ar no lon!Z r pure Bloch functions, but are linear combinations of Bloch
f n tion ~ ith a broad range of wave vectors. Consequently. the selection
rul k,. = k, is not applicable. so transitions can occur between any occu-
te ndu ti n ba nd sta te to a ny empty valence band state. Let us replace
th r duced density-of-states by the equivalent expression Pc(E,')p ,(E/) 1
fflc(E') + p,. ( £,~ )] which involves the densities-of-states of the individ ual
vaJen e . nd conduction bands (1,.(£) and p,(E). The rate of spontaneous
mi si n then takes the form

,. p( £:' hu ) = ~ / Pc( E I )Pr( E:)f~ (£;)[ 1 - r;.(£,:) l

1
x [Pc(E/) + p(,( £ ,:)r o(£;- E.,' - lw)d£;. ( 14.23)

We an incorporate the relaxa tion of the k selection rule by taking the

a erage va lue of p,(E/ ) + p,. (E,:), combining it with B , and integrating over
E,' to give

~'sr•(hv) = iJ l.l Pc(E/)p,.(E,:).t~(E:)

x [I - .f;.( E,~ ) ]b( £/ - E,; - lw )d£/dE,~ ( 14.24)

c + p ' .(E
where: jj = B 1l [ /rJ' ( .(E') _.J n')]a u .
 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices
360
14.2.2.3 r,,aluation of op~ical
gain
The opti~~tl gai n g(u) is detined by
dl = lg( 11) dx,

. tl1e 1• 1~ tcn~il)' f the radiation at a point x in the y tern Th·

her\!. f 1
• ..•
' . h b . · ts
u-; t Eq. ( I0.41)thatde.mest ea sorptloncoeffic·
h

~..:tprtUCln ts .llh\ 1og . h tent

T

' . ( ) r ·phcina rr( v) . Pursumg t e ana1ogy further one

1
11 ,).hutv\Ill~'' ~.: ' c. . . ·. ' can
d~::nn: the f 1l win g e pre ·ston for the gam.
r's t
g( II) = (c j n )N (lw) 1)( hv)' (14.26)

,\1 t:re the numer tor i the rate of pho~on energy generation per unit
, olume and the d nomina tor i the rate of tlow of photon energy through
unit a rea. T b uantit N(lw) is the number of modes per unit energy
mterval given by

Substituting this result together with those for ,.;1 and cf>(hv) given by
Eq __ ( 14. 15) and (14. 9) respectively, yields g( v) in the form

v( ) = hc'J. •_ [ l _ ,J(hr, -- t:.Er )] ( 14.28)

ov 87TII-v-
7 ' 1 ·'P t: .

As we have already noted, gain can effectively occur only if Eg < hv < ~Ef.
The key quantity is .6.£Fwhose excess over£~ is a measure of the degree of
population inversion of the bands.

14.2.3 Transparency current density

Under steady state conditions the electrons and holes that are lo t through
~econ~bination must be replenished by the current tlowing through the
JLmctlon. We shall focus on the situation for which JEF·-:: :. 111' and t~e
spontaneous emission is much greater than the stimu!Jted emi ·sion 10
accordance with Eq. (14.1 5). If the radiative recombination occurs ina
re!!.1on
~ . .
of widtl1 ""/ ~"... 1•ounc·ttl1c JUnctiOn
· · and nonradt~lll\'t:
. · r " ·oml•
...:111·Ltt'
' "
•)n I
ncaltgrble
c- , tll ....
""' ,~ LIJ't·e t d · · · ·
n ens1ty J 1s gtven by
14
j = e R,l' d,. •
where R is the 1 )t ·11 • 1D
uvcr. ''' · c ' spontaneous emissil)J1 rak t bLun i h. ult ~rJ 1
• 111 photon energies:

A Clln ITiunl"
.Y
Lt \Ct1 COl\\ n( 11
r a rticul,u \\t dth cl, I 1t h h .• .dcuLtt · th
pm ~~~ I ''ulLin • qu.tt 11
 Physical ba sis of emiconductor lasers 36

. - . f'\,,
n
I nrmt <...
1,. ( L4 .3 I )

h p1e" 1 '11 fnr r,,(lu ,) !'rom Eq. (14.24) into Eq. (14.30)
n h.. mtegralover /11' yields

R,l' = Bn,p,., ( 14.32)

ncen tra tions of electrons and holes given by

n, = / r\ (E/)l(E.') dE,' (14.33a)

(14.33b)

and B1 B [P. '£<' + p,.(E/ )Ja1'· The nominal current density then becomes
( 14.34)

nd r typi al ~ondit ions the concentrations of the injected carriers are

much greater t ha n tl1e dopant concentration. Consequently. charge neu-
trality r quire tha t n ~ p ,. = nand
. - ?
.ln(lm ~ eBn-. (14.35)

Th Lhr ho ld value of the nominal current density is obtained by

d t nnirung the carrier concentration necessary to have ~EF satisfy the
B rn rd- Duraffourg condition for the photon energy hu of interest. Sub-
stitu ting thi _ co ncentration into Eq. (14.34) then gives the transparency
current densityill· Assuming simple parabolic bands and degenerate carriers,
the Uc i-Fermj energies relative to the respective band edges are specified
b

lr
EF··= - -
") (
3n,.)2/ .~
( 14.36a)
' 2m; 81r

EFl'
-
-
/I 2
--
(3_p,) - -
2/ 3
(14.36b)
2m:, 81r

For n,. = p ,. = n. the difference in quasi-Fermi energies is

EF . +E, = - -
z-
/ 1 (3 )~/3
11
+E~. ( 14.37)
I ·' 2j.l' 81r

Taking 6.£,. = hu and solving for n, we get

87r ?_m- . .. ] 3/ 2 (1 4.38)

II = - --~-(hi/ - Eg)
3 [ h-
 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices
2
an d

I ll
= cB
( 3
rr)_ _X
2
--,- (lw - E") ]
[2ilz*
h-
3

( 14.39)

T I1l!i expn!S:s.1· 11 1r' r .1·o is, restricted

.
to zero temperature. Finite tempera.
tures rcqUJn.: nlii)1 "~· 1- 1· L..' il integ:ratwns
. .:- that
, lead
. . to . results that .cannot be
. d · 1 51· m ple analv tJc torm. One finds ft om such calculatiOns th· t.
r.: }" CS St! II J .1: 2 , ,, a /r
. · 'til temperature apptoxJm<Ltely .ts T . For pure GaA at ro 1
. .. . • , , ..

rl S \ I . . . . • IX -· Ol}l
t 1111 r.Hurc th inj de earner concentrations are. r-v 10 em 3 and the
q u• Hit • , B:::? 1 x-11o I ll cmi s- . The correspondmg value of .io is
1

"' 000 A m - ~un

14.2.4 Current density-gain relationship

The to tal rat of ·pontanco us recombination R,P that determines the cur-
rent den ity i an integral or r,.f'(hu) over photon energy. As a functi on of
lw ,. (/w) start at ze r
·~
hen /w = Er: . rises to a maximum and then declines.
toward zero a /w - . This behavior can be characterized by the max-
imum alue r ,1,( m a.Y) and the full width at half-maximum 6.£. To a good
approximati n. R,1; ~ r,r(nw.Y)2:.E and

( 14.40)

The gain g(z-') is given in convenient form by Eq. ( 14.28). It has a maxi-
mum value gnw. that can be expressed approximately by
!z\.2
gma , = . , E.., r,p(max)f', (1 4.41 )
0 Kn- g
-
30(
where t= is the value of the quantity in square brackets in Eq. ( 14.28) and i
always less than unity. Eliminating r _,p(max) yields the relation
h3c2 r.
~fi:n1ax .---....., f.
300K - cs·· Ken-
"' , ·"' E · rwm .
'E -u
g
~100
At moderate temperatures the linewidth 2:.£ can be appro. imated by
6.£= qksTwhere q lies in the range I< lf
< 10. Then
2000 4000 6()()() 8000 . h\· 2t
.ln, n, Aicm·l!lm gma ,. :::::: · l i-HJ
8rren 2 Eiqk 8 T ·1"' 'm·
I)

Fig.14.S
In this simple treat . .
a m coefficient g,,u, versus no mmal d . . ment t11e gam IS proportil nal t th nominal \.·urren
ens1ty With a slope th· t ·• · T
curr l den>J t.y J,wn,· lor undopeJ GaAs
(alte r krn 19 73 )
o et,u. ·1ed cakulatJons
· . a Is Inversely proportional t th t"mp~r ..t tur~
(St" 1971 J . -
sented in Fi ~ · . ern . · l · upport th e condu wn 111 .1ft: r
. . . g. l4.) \\ h1ch con tams plot. f <' , r u · B th tht: hn •
MHy and deere··t-·e ~- 'I· . . ,.,"'"' -
plots can be well
' ·' n s ope
·
Wtth ·
In~.: r a mg t mperatur · .. r
repres ~.:nft:d bv

g,,u, = A ( j,, m - ju
One fi nd .s th · _,, \a n e ., I
. ,tt
aAs at r t· ' ~ nJ i:-. - U.U4.." ~.:m
m e per · Lur
 hysical basis of semiconducto r losers 63

c ndition in a Fabry -Perot cavity

1 I )J l,t ... r < n: a hric~1lcd in such a ''-'':tV that th e ~•ctivc
n nt c I ll . thi n platelet of sem iconducting material.
h:t I fl~llr nf parallel rcJlecting mirror. ~reated by
r II I ( 110) lan ·s. The width 1f a mirror i- generally
n r a rcd t 1 u h ight of a fe millimeters. The length o ft he
l tn1rr0rs a nd ' nnecting them is L » d. The naturally
r nl_ rartt II · rcfkcting. For example. the reflectivity at
r mt rfJ · 1. < .3~.
1 • tlc ntwn o n th r lation between the threshold gain and the
Jnt: ' t dcn 'it) . Since the longitudinal dimension of the cavity is
1. r~e .: 111p. r L l the tran. vcr. e dimensions, the modes of interest are
J('tlgt ltldm I fill de.~ which ar characterized by the number of nodes q
h l\\ ect rh I\\ o mirror · f the cavity. The number of nodes is the length
('If th J\ it_ d"\ 1ded by nc-half the wavelength ).., of radiation in the
' Cllll • nd udor:

2L
q= - . ( 14.45)
,,\s

ing the relati n A = >./n(v) . ·where).. = cj v. we obtain

( 14.46)

If w tart"" ith low current through the junction, there is spontaneous

mi ion and gain. Increasing current leads to increasing gain until the
thre hold fo r la ing is reached . The gain then satisfies the condition that a
Jj£rht wa\·e ~ mpletely cross the cavity and be reflected without suffering
att nuat i n.

R exp[(g 111 - n)L] = I ( 14.47)

wh r Ri rhereftecti ityoftheendsofthecavity,g111 isthethresholdgain.

and i the a bsorption coefficient e sentially due to free carriers and
1111 uri ies. Solving for g, 11 we obtain

(14.48)

F r a> g,, the light output is increased and emission of coherent beams
fr m the ends of the cavity takes place.
The threshold current densityj111 varies linearly with grh and is specified by
an eq uation analogous to Eq . ( 14.44) (Sze 1981):

.frli=Ag, 11 .Jo = .io ~[~x+ ±log(~)] · ( 14.49)

3
At n oderately high temperatures,./111 '"'"' T .
Semiconductor losers and photodevices

4 .2.6 light-emitting diodes

·r . d· · • for laser action are not attained. p-n junctions .
- \' 'n I I 11 LOll I11 11 . . . . <~n
·ull. -;crve as u .e rLtl 11·c,,ht ·sources known as J.ght-emtttlng. .
dtodes or LED
.,
'I III y ~ 1 mpo umls can be used to produce hght m the visible rang ·
II 0 :-; l
t r t:. amp Ic. GaA "o , P .4
" p produces re. d 1·1gh t. G a A. s ltse
. If 1s
. .
. a source r e.
•or
. t- .. · 011 Ga As 1 _ .P, w1th x > 0.45 1s an md1rect gap mat
1 rad ·. 11
1
11 , <I r 1 1 rat u ' < • ' · e-
ri tl "htch an be used t gen era ~e orcu~ge _(x = 0.65). yellow (x == 0.85). or
2'n:en ltght x = 1 0) if nitr gen tmpunty IS added to enhanced radiativ
r ·comhinaLion.

14.3 Photodetectors
Vc ha\e . ·en in hapkr I0 that an intrinsic semiconductor absorbs elec-
tromagnetic radia ti n v it! photon energy greater than the band gap. The
electr -n- h 1 pair thu · pn duced increase the electrical conductivity of the
sample and re ult in the phenomenon of photoconductivity. The increased
conducti 'itycan b m a ured by placing the sample in a suitable circuit and
pro ide h basi. or a de i called a photodetector that can be used to
detect the radi ation. The band gap constitutes the wavelength threshold for
the operating rang frhe photodetector. By exploiting the broad variety of
semiconductors ·lnd their alloys that is available, one can design intrinsic
photodetector that cover a wide spectral range from the visible well into
the infrared. A number of semiconductors together with their band gaps are
listed in Table 3.4. A particularly interesting system is the PbTe- SnTe solid
solution whose band gap as a function of composition is shown in Fig. 3.19.
The band gap is zero at a composition of34% SnTe; thus. this system can be
used in detectors that operate in the far infrared.
Another candidate for a far infrared photodetector is an extrin i
semiconductor that contains shallow impurity levels, e.g .. Ga-doped Ge.
Carriers localized on the impurity levels can be excited by the absorption of
radiation below a threshold wavelength and become free carrier . The
conductivity thereby increases just as in
the case of intrinsic absorption
The long-wavelength threshold for Ga-doped Ge is II - J..lln.

14.3.1 Photoconductive gain

The operation of a photodetector can be characteriz d b\ van lUS pJrJ-

meters. We consider first the photoconductive gain. tpp ' e that tht:
detector matenal ha the form of a slab as shown in Fig. I~.: El drod ar
placed on two opposite faces a distanced apart and;\ olt.t- J 1::. JP li~J
between them R d . · · -
· a tatiOn l incident on one f t h hru 1d 1..1 .., • nn ·dlO:-
theelectrode~ Free . . · , . ' b th
absor . : . cainersare gene r•tt d~ttarat ~pcrunll\ 1Uill')
·I "'-. ptt n of radtatton l)f uitable freyuenct b\; I ' I u l
~~~trons whose change in oncentrati n ' t. a r, ult l J
t:: electro n . thu~ produc I
J . .. a n r c mbin nh h I
ut nnpunttcs ..tt u ra te,. gi\ en b)

..:::.n
r --= - -
T
 Photodetectors 365

mrti('" ! 111~ . l Jndl'l stl·ady-sl;rtc · 1tH1itions,

' h
11

'
~ - - -
r, ( 14.5 1)

tr '11 \. lw.:entra tion 1. associ:Jted with a change in

h rc

v
''T /1 rl .
~ ·n -
\ I - ,.., , ,., ,
.::...l. n -
-
..... n ·n ( 14.52

1 ,, 1. th · I nit\ ·I )Cit.. and /'11 is the electron mobility. The number

1 f d't.:tr 'n cr ing the am ple per second !:1N is given by

(14.53)

' cct i nal area of the sample. The photoconductive gain

( 14.54)

\\'h r ~ - , 11 is th number ot photons ab orbed per second. Since the

cr ation f on dditional electron requires the absorption of one photon,
~~ ·,, n e expre·sed a

( 14.55)

u ti tuting Eq -. (14.50) and (14.52) into Eq . (14.51) yields

( 14.56)

W that the important material parameter entering the gain is the r"p."
product. High gain is favored by long recombination time and high
m bility_
An alternative expression for the gain can be obtained by introducing the
electron transit time ! 11 , i.e .. the time it takes an electron to move from one
electrode to the other. This time is simply the distance between the elec-
trodes divided by the drift velocity:

d d2 (14.57)
In = - = - - .
VII fL/1 v
The above result for G can then be rewritten as

G = r". ( 14.58)

'"
Thus. short transit time and long recombination time favor high gain.
 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices
6
. Jt.stance
Tl1e m edn ~
that an electron.
travels
. .
between
b
its generation.
and
rec mhi nation i~ its drift length p" whtch IS gtven y

In em_ of f w th gain is

c _ e"
- d' ( 14.60)

, ·hich how tll'l t mall lcctrode separation and large drift length are
dcsirabl for high ga in .

14.3.2 Responsivity and detectivity

T he variou cxpr ,s ·i ns for the photoconductive gain that have been pre-
s nt d are n t independent, but each provides distinctive insight into the
probl m f nhancing the gai n. In comparing the practical advantage of
ari us p hot o etector . however, it is useful to consider figures of merit
such as the responsivity Rand detectivity D"' . The responsivity is defined as
th ratio of the change in current /j.f to the incident radiation power Pi:

( 14.61 1

For ~I \ve have

( 14.62)
Using Eq . (14.52) we get
'-

~I = 16.n j n,

whe~e I is. the DC current given by -eiH'nA . For P; we have a simple pro-
portiOnality to the incident photon flux C.Vph·
"' ·

P ; = Ahv¢ ph· (l·HH I

The responsivity now becomes

R= I 6.n I~ o5 .
A.hv . p!J I1 ·

In the actual op . r1011 0 f . . .

choppeJ. t. f era .t photodetector. thL· mput II~ht
a a reljuencv v so tJ1. t th I . .
can be ampl'li 1 J C · ' a e resu tmg I un~..t J'n
e · ons quem! ' · ·
R th~.:n tak s th e t'orm-
' c::.
Y. ~~~ 1s tunc: Lh.:p nJl:nl. It m

R == ''IT
~diu l ·[ I
 Photodetectors 367
' th~ lin.:uit c~nd 'I 1 1h · Ira c1in 11 ,... th li •ht

u lb..: taken ale unt 1<; the cntnpc titio n b 'l\ e n

•I ·dn"1ni.: nni:-.c 111 tb c ci rcui t. The detectivit y D 1:-.
~ 11 -Ill i-. rati t .~, ·en b

( 14 .67)

qua t\: n 1St: current and C.u is the band width.

t-111"'~ 11-.
ll' ted \llh ra ndo m ftu tuation · of the current and has
• H1tnbut 1 n g n nlit n rec )lllhitntion. I/f yquist (thermal). and
piWil n n e ha m-.. . . . .
Generatio -recombmahon no t~e anses from the ra ndom nature or the
l!~nerJti 'n .md r t: mbinati n proce se undergone by a current carrier.
(V) '
The mean qt an.: 11u tuati n in electron current can he exp ressed in terms ' -,-
1Q- 14 f--~
'.
: .:_,__........._
)fthe pc.:dr.l inten ity. (1;) a (va n Vliet 1958) , ... £?- r
.:: I 0 I 'i
llf ',·
noise '
<r,
l Q- 16

( 14.6g)
Fig.14.6
Spectra l intensity versus frequency for
wh r \', S 0 . and . ' 1 a r the numbers or electrons, donors. and acceptors.
p-Si with two different rcc >mhination
r .:pe tl\ ly. in th dele t r element and r is the electron lifetime in the
11 centers: theoretical. slllicl curves:
nd u li n c nd . The freq uency dependence of S(1/) is shown in Fig. 14.6 experimental. open circles (after Bt)sma n
~ r a parti ular a e (p-type Si) that has two types o f recombination centers. I nil.
Th or lica l curve" for the individual centers a re also shown.
In I f n i-c the ~ P ctral intensity varies as the inve rse frequency. The
phy.i al rigin of I /.l noise is not yet well established. Nyqui~t noise or
thermal noi~e an from the random thermal motion of the carriers
(Nyqui. t 19_ ). T he noise power can be written as

( 14.69)

'' h r' R i.. the re istance or the semiconductor. The spectral intensity is
independen t of frequency at not too low tempera tures. Photon noise is
a ciated with the random incidence of photons on the semiconductor.
thu introducin g randomness into the generation of free carriers. The
P tral inten it; has the same form as th:t for generation- recombination
noise.
Returning to the detectivity D', we focu on the gcnention- recombi-
nation eomponent. In the limit of' small number of electrons, we can express
· \\ ith the aid of Eq . ( 14.68) as
I
1
0 1
[ T /).1/
11
] ( 14.70)
J\( = ( C,.J -)~ ::=
·
21 -liti4('
.
1 4 rr-1 u,.2 r 2) .
11
 Semiconductor lasers and photodevices
368
t.. ELlS ( 14 66) and ( 14.70) into Eq. ( 14.67) and assuming th
at
.
Ut""Stl
1
1u mg ~ · · · · .
= _ ..., obtain D in the simple lorm
T" 1..

LY " ''I- ( - r )~·

- 2hu . nd ( 14.71)

The detcctiv it , .is enhanced by a large decay time and small carrier con-
centration and semiconductor thickness.

14.4 Solar cells

solar cell is u d it e tha t ·o nvcrts the electromagnetic energy of sunlight
into electric c 1 rgy· by means of the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic
effect i- th pr ducti on f an electric potential by the absorption oflight in
theregi n fa m dium in o r nea r a potential barrier, forexample.inap-n
juncli n. It i n ce. ·ar_ t hat the photon energy be equal to or greater than
the band ga p. o that elec tron hole pairs are created . The built-in electric
11. ld f the junction forces the electrons and holes apart, thereby modifying
the pac cha r e in wch ·t V\a:y that the built-in electric field is reduced from
it equilibrium va lue [ t the value [ -£. Correspondingly, the diffu ion
potential is reduced fr om Vtt to V"- I7t~. The energy barrier to the pas age
ofcarriers i reduced to i?(Vd- (/ d).
The above discussion desc ribes an illuminated p- njunction under open-
circuit conditions. The qua ntity J?,~ is the open-circuit voltage of the junc-
tion. The maximum value of J/'" is V" itself which leads to complete
elimination of the built-in electric field.
From Eq . ( 12.35) we see that

( 14. 2)

For reasonable doping- · levels , £ 1-·n ""'

- Ec c.·-tnd £"'
,.J - £ 1 .., -oo
r p,....., ..., ·

( l-U3 l
 References 369

l,w h.t' 111' net !'timulated emission. Assuming equal

1~ ·mral t n'. Jcrl\C an cxrrcssion for the minimum carrier
llll d 11 1 gi\e .,,,pulati\ln inversion that involves the intrinsic
:; kub tc the minimum conccntrution for Ga/\s at
• 111. = 0.06C1 m. and m;. = 0.40 m.
lr I I \ampk 1-t I. calculate the net stimulated emission rate
1\. Ttl- Ill'= 1.45eV. and 6.£p= 1.50eV .
_,' l11 'pnnta n' u emi ssion for the situation in Problem 2.

t. 1 11•• I ga in f r th situation in Problem 2.

t ~ J' ''' l~,: 1110ll ti,·e ga in for a semiconductor infrared detector with
nH'bth t 1 =-I ' ~m: V ·). rc ·ombination time r 11 = I 0 4 s. electrode separa-
tion J-1 n m. .1nd \t.: ltag· r·= IV.
:tlcul.tk tl • ll'dt\it ~ l for the detector of Problem 5 with carrier con-
. centr:Htl n r = 10 ~.:m -'. fraction of a bsorbed light '7 = 0.2. photon wavelength
1
11

\ == I ) ~IJ1l .

References
M. . ;. . Bernard, nd G. Duraffourg, Phys. Status Solidi 1. 699 (1961).
G. B ~ma n . Thesi, niversity of Utrech t, 1981.
R. :.1lv n. !nrrodu tion 10 Applied Solid State Physics, Second edition (Plenum
Pr . . " York. 1')90).
E. 0 . K an . J. Ph_rs. Chcm . Solids I. 249 ( 1957).
G. La ·h rand F. t rn. Ph_rs. Rei'. 133, A553 ( 1964).
T. M ·. G. J. BurrelL and B. Ellis, Semiconductor Opto-Electronics
.John Wit •. ew Y rk. 1973).
H. 1 ~q u ist. Phy, . Rn. 32. 110 (1928) .
F. Stern. J. Quw1t. Eh:.Ltronics QE-9, 290 (1973).
S. M. Sze. Physic. 4 Semiconductor Devices, Second Edition (John Wiley.
1ew York . J9, I).

G. H . B. Thomp ~ o n , Physics ol Semiconductor Laser De vices (John Wiley,

ew York. 1980).
K. M . \ an Vliet. Phrs. Rer. 110. 50 ( 1958) .
 u u •
•
t te

Heterostructures
II ll ll'l i: 11SI I~ Of l\\-0 di fferent semiconductors in intimate 15.1 Heterojunctions
bt lt' I"O/WH :ion i a heterostructure with semiconductors
Ill t~ pe, e.g. .. n-ty1 e a nd p-type. A modulo lion dOfh' d
ll"lt rurl 1m ol e tw semiconductors, one highly doped with an
1011 urrt. oJ..tccrtJtnt) p t:, , y n-type onon~:::sideandtheothcrintrinsic
r )I _htl_ d 1pcd \\ ith J n impurity of opposite type, say p-type, on the
th ide ,,f the interface.
r

Tht: I,.'('TiductiLm hand ge on the p-type side can dip below the Fermi 15.2 Free charge carrier transfer
en rg~ and cr at a ' r narrow layer of conduction electrons at the
int rfa c that con.:-titu t s a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) .
. inl.e it i nt h . id of ncar!_ intrinsic materiaL very high mobility can
1 <h.:hie\ed.

The ledron energie::-, in 2DEG form e!euronic suhbands which arise 15.3 Triangulorquantumwell
fro m th ~ ntin me nt of the electron in the direction normal to the
juncti n int rface.
A qu- rc-q uan tum well i. formed by placing a thin layer of small gap 15..4 Squorequontumwell
emil: nd uctor between two thick layers of a large gap semiconductor.
Th ·u band eigenfunctions of conduction electron~ have even or odd
. ) mn1 try \\ ith respect to inversion at the center of a symmetric square

' II.
T h q uan tum well potential lifts the degeneracy of light and heavy hold
band a t k = 0. The hole effective masse characterizing motion
para llel to the interface are functions of the subhand quantum
number 11 .
The den ity of slates has a Slllircl/Se profile. At the limit of lowest 15.5 Density-of-stotesforquontumwells
~.:nerg) th~:: quantum well density-of-states retains a finite value. All
dynamical phenomena in a 20 system remain finite even at low
energ1e .
Th harge distributions or an exciton in a quantum \veil is ellipsoidal in 15.6 Excitons and shallow impurity stoles in
sh·tpe and is characterized by transverse and longitudinal reduced quantumwells
Bohr radii. The exciton binding energy is increased compared tot hat in
a 3D y tcm.
Tw quantum \\'ells with a common barrier between them constitute a 15.7 Coupledquantumwellsond
dnuh!f!-ll"t'/1 Slr//Nll/'1!. superlottices
 Hete rostructures: electronic states

372-~-----------~~=~-=-~-
In a 11e-we, 11 s·tructure there is a splitting of b th their ground
d(JL1 1
'lnd tl cir excited state levels.
' 1111~
oup . 1 )ge 111c~ r '.1 hrce
• ~ number of quantum
. well. leads to thecreati-.
..vq
• ~
1
) f ;1 .W JI C/" (I
·,
111 .(.
·
he cneray
· e
level diagram
· .
con .
1 ts of miniba.,.,-
. 'IUJ.
·. · · 'llld· decreases as the barner
Vlu I 11 0 1 , l 1111 11 1 '
•• 1
.
Width mcreases ·
In h tc ros tructurcs ,·/l(n·gc rransf(·r oc~urs with the result ~hat the charged
tm,url.t.Je", ,·trc not in the same . . regton the free earners · The spat·1a
. as .. 1
. CJ arat i 111 or carrie rs a nd 10111.zed un~t~r~ties leads to greatly reducect
impuri l) ~cattt: ri ng a nd ·ery l11gh !noh!lt I tes. .
Tht: u e (fan undoped spac r lay r mcreases the separation between the
1 ni .:d dono r atoms and the channel electrons, thus decreasing the
(', ulomb 1ntc r·1ction and therefore increasing the electron mobility.ln
a d . . hit h lt! rojunction structure the active layer is a wide undoped
h _~.~ 1 of, e m icc nd uc tor sandwiched between two appropriately doped
barreL·.
1510 N-1-P-1 t u.:tures Spatially modu at d d ping can produce a superlattice and causes a
fl !ding-back f t he Brillouin zone. A new energy band structure
al )ng the axis o l' the superlattice arises. Such structures are doping
n1prr/atrh·es an d consist of periodic n-doped, intrinsic p-doped.
intrinsic .... multilayers known as N - 1- P- J structures. At large doping
le\·el s the efl"ective band gap can become negative.

In the preceding three chapters we have considered junctions formed b~

taking a single semiconductor and doping adjacent parts of the sample \\ith
two different types of impurities, one acceptor and the other donor. W·
now con sider junctions in \Vhich the p- and n-type parts are differ nt
semiconductors. These junctions have some properties that are si milar ~~~
those of homojunctions, but other properties that are quite unique.

15.1 Heteroiunctions
A heterostructure i_ obtained \vhen t \VO eli fferen t emi ·onuuct )f~ tre pl.t1.~
in intimate contact. A heterostructure torm s a hetero junction it' th~. l\\tl
semiconductors ·tre of different type, e.g .. n-t_ p ,1110 - t~ pt: . A modulation-
doped heterojunction (Stormer eta/. 1979) l)nsi . . ts Ll '>t.:l11 ll't nducwr thJ!
ts he a vtlv dOJ1e· 1 \' ' I. t 11 · ·· , ·tnJ
. • J u • tmpunttes .
ol- a cert :lln tvp . .g .• n-t:~.pc'
semi onductor that is intrinsic . r li!!hth d pcli with tmpurillt:' f th
opposnc type . e.g., p-type. ~ -
Justa s withap nJ· Ltt1C·t·1011. a 11 ler .run ·tt.on m qutllbnum
F- . .
•• • thl\ t
mu ' '
etmt \:ncrgy cunst unt thr ughuut tl~ ..,, t m '11 itll- •
th L'lh:ruv t)'t ·J -. . - l
. - , cJ 'nc ::. ccurs In tb c victn it 'v { I th · 1111 ·rl
">~.:m lcnnduct o r s 11 . . ' . -
cn er. gv h· I - . I <I [ _P ll: i.tl l tlt d ll n thc n-l. r 't
~ _r d 11 g d p ' II d It d
intcrt'·tL. 1 . ·' c n uct1 n b mJ · • · 1
• r n)·tL' hc-u 111 1
c tic conJULLI •n
• 1.:
~ r -1 . . . • \
) p 111 . 11 ' I ta l IS hL· [ J
f rg I -i 1 u h
. ,_ \\hh... h . Il l!\\.., th ·~ncr!!
 Tri n lor qua I m w II 37'3

\I I s p- i.J :\ ~ rh ' hcnd Ill ,} ,, Ll ~ h:u I 1: Jg~ s IS

lh T' I 1 k '< I l l ' 11 1l l n tlll I in a \ i linl rrp ujun L·tiutt.
1 l!l.llJJducltu n ·I · ·t r1H1s Ill th~.: G al\, at 1hc rn l ·rl'cH:c
1 l\\ll-dl111~ ,l ,ll1J W I ·icL'tn n ~as ( 2D ~ ' ). Th · 2 D E I ( ~ ~~ \
tr 1 tJ ,IllSI~:r ~lL rn · s the · llll ·tit1!1 .

arge carrier transfer

n1 ~1111 ·onducto r:.. a rc placed in contact. chare.c tr::111sfcr
.... r lht: int rfac l ·qu~;li te th e Fermi ener!l l~(chcmical
n h th id '>. ElcctrPns fr()JT1 th ~:: do nor impuritic o f the hicrhl v
.1 1 Al, s in ·i!L I -. 1 are transl'erred to the conduc7io;1
"pt 1r 1111puriti I' the nc~trl y intrinsic p-type ·tA s until
qu hl llll r ach d. Pc ' itiYely charged donor iuns an:: therefore left near
th • mt r .h.c.: l n thl! n-typc id' a nd negatively charged conduction elec-
Iron. nd atll.:pt~.1r 1on · are left ncar the interface on the p-type side. Th ece
un mpl'n · ted charge. con ·titute a sp::~ce charg region which contains a
huilt-in de ·tri 11t:ld si milar to that found in a ilicon p n junction.
T11'- built-m elcctri ti ld causes the energy b::~nd edges to bend as seen in N, de ·Lron\
Fig 1: I. lnd r . uita I L nditi ons the conductio n band edge on the
p-t~pe :1dt.: can dip b lov. th F rmi energy and produce a regio n hose •
tJte arc o cupied by o nducti n electron s that form a 2DEG. Since this ••
regiLm i on th .-id ' jth n a rl y intrinsi materiaL there a re very few ionized
impurili . to · a tt r th ele Iron s, and consequently very high mobilities
an b a hi ,. d in the .2DEG . Part of the transferred electrons constitutes
the 2DEG . The othe r part annihilates holes and produce a depletion region
n the p-typ id .
(b)
Tb tran [! r [·ba rge carriers across the hcterojunction is of the utmost
importanc in understanding the ph ysics of two-dimensional electron Fig. 15.1
-~ tem and phcn men·• such as the quantum Hall effect. and for the rea l- Ba nd edge dia gr:nn o f a sd ec ti ve l~
iza ti n f n . uch a the high electron mobility transistor (H EMT) and d o ped Ga 1.-\ G a.As hetero5 tructure
(:1) befo re equilibnum and
the t\\ -dim nsio nal electron ga. field effect transistor (TEGFET). A
(b) at equilibrium . \ designates elecrron
unple anal_ i f th _D EG can be formulated by focusing on the con- :tflinit y (afte r Wci s bu~:h :md
du li n · nd edge as modified by the electric charge and tield near t.he Vinter 1991 ).
interface and the co nstanc_ or the Fermi energy across the junction. The
nduc ti n band edge as shmvn schematically in Fig. 15.2 has a minimum
a ~o iated \\'ith a pL tential well that is approximate!)· triangular in shape.
Th ·ta t ~ f an ch:ctron in su h a well can be determin~d quantum
me ha ni alh.

15.3 Triangular quantum well

The p t nlial \·\•ell ari ses from the transfer of electrons ::~cross the hetcro-
ju ncti na nd the electric field created by the resulting space charge. If .'\ l , is
number of electrons transferred per unit area. the electric fidel £ as given hy
()

G au~::.· · law is Fig. 15.2

Schematic re prc~entatt o n of the
N,.e ( 15. 1) conduction band ed !!e .tft t-r
£-
- -
· ' Weishud1 :111J \'inlt'r JLilllt.
f (J F r
 Heterostructures: electronic states
7.4
. ,. , littivitvol'vacuumandfristhedielectric constant f
where ~"o IS l 1le pcrn - . , , II h 'I , .. . o tile
. .· .· _ G·· As For a tnangulctr \\C t e e ectrosta t1c potential
near!_ ml1 Jnsic d · . .. lp{ )
is linear 111 ::: !"or :: > 0 anu IS given by
p (::) = -£::.
( 15.2)
An m!init po l ntia l barrier is assun~ed at_::: = 0. .
he Hamilt nia n fo r an electron m a tnangular well m G aA takes the
ftlflll

( 15.3)

where r· (r) i ·the periodic potential energy . Using effective rna theory as
J1 h . f .
di. u_:-sed in Chapte r 5. v.··e can express t e e1gen unctiOns of H in lowest-
ord r approxima ti n as
·:,(r ) = F01 (r)u,o(r) , ( 15.4)

wher lien(•·) is the co nducti o n band Bloch function for zero wave vector
and Fw( r ) i ~ the envelo pe function satisfying the effective mass equation

(I5.5)

The index n identities the eigensta tes. n ( is the conduction electron effective
mass of G aAs a nd E is the energy eigenvalue. Solutions to Eq. ( 15.5) can be
written as

Fen (,•). -_ e ik _·r , X· n (-)

- , ( 15.6)

where k 1.. is the two-dimensional wa ve vector perpendicular to the urface

normal, X11 (z) sati stles the equa tion

( 15.71

and

£ 11 = £ - P/·k i _ (1 5. '
2m+
A The ~o und~ r~ ~onditi ons to be sa ti sfied by ·tre: \ ,(0)= \ ,( ) -:::- O.
\ n(:)
solutiOn Salislymg the boundary co ndition at infin it} 1, th ~ ir~ funcU\ln

A' [ ( '2m· ) 1 J ]
I /j 2 '2£- l £: - E, .

The boundary c r·
flllll ) !1 at : = l) dete rmine:-. th~ .Ill

·,1 =-
 Triang lor quantum we ll '375

,, ( 15 I 0 1

(I 5.11)

( 15.12)

and , rn: pond to the electronic subbands of the triangular well. The sub-
t an~ arc t\\O-dim n ·iona l and parabolic \vith minima given by the £ 11 • The
groumJ.·tilte energ) is £ 0 . Jf the built-in field [is eliminated from Eq . ( 1'i.ll)
u ing Eq ( 15.1 ), cme g ·ts

(15.13)
Fig. 15.3
Subband energies and wave functi o ns
-hematic diag ra m of the three-lowest subband edges and the corre- in a tri a ngular quantum well.
·p ndmg '"a functions a re shown in Fig. 15.3. Jt should be noted that
th ·eparali n f 'tdj<tCent Subband edges decreases as 11 increases and that
the _round ta t energy £ 0 depends only on the number of electrons
tran. fcrred .1 •
For mall 's a nd T = O the tran sferred electrons fill states in the lowest
ub and up t a certain value o f k j_ that is determined by the two-dimen-
sional den it '-of-states p 2 n( E). Assuming periodic boundary conditions.
th allov.. d va lues or k. ., and k y are specified by

( 15.14)

I
where /}· and J'.i. are inteaers
· " I b
and kJ- = (k 2\ + { 2l )"2 . The area in k,. k,
V ce as oci at d with one allowed point is (27r)'2 / L,L,. With the energy E
gin·n by Eq . (15.12). the area in /.:.,.k, space betv.:een circles correspond-
ing to E and E + dE is 2;rk 1 dkL· The number of states associated with
thi s area is
?~' ' c'l'' L L ( 15.15)
d,\o = , .\
. 1 -II /'( .L I\ -
1
(27Tr ·
Th energ y change dE is

( 15.16)
 Heterostructures: electronic states
376
The density-of-states is therefore
dN m'
- = ---, L t Lr· (I 5.17)
dE 27rli" .

. ~~ f·•ctclr 1 for pin and normalizing to unit area, we obtain th

lntro J ucmg " ~ · e
I\ _0 1 11 3n'li na l den ity-of-states p·w ·

1'1'1 ~

('20 = -,'
7rli- (I 5.18)

\'h1Lhi indep n nt of the energy£.

The en rgy { l th to p of the filled states can be expressed as

7rli 2 N,.
N,
£ 111" ' = Eu + - · = Eo+--- ( 15.19)
Pw m
I
The corre ponding value ofk .1. is (27rN,y. Emux serves as the Fermi energy or
he ua ntt m well when the latter is at equilibrium at T = 0. Equilibrium
aL require that Emax be eq ual to the Fermi energy on the GaAIA ide
f the heterojunct.ion ' IS shown in Fig. 15.2. The latter Fermi energy is
depre ·sed by the depletion potential vd due to the depleted donor atoms
nea r the interface. Assuming that then-type part of the heterojunction is
uniformly doped to concentration n", the depletion potential is

(15.20)

where W is the depletion width. The change in electrostatic potential energy

of an electron at the conduction band edge at :: = 0 and :: =- W is

il: .2li

where N, = nr~W is the same as N.,. introduced earlier in Eq. ( 15.1 ).

With the aid of Fig. 15.2 vve can write the conduction band ofr·et .1£
at.: = Oas

"£ E
w, = o+ 7r!i2N,
171 .
·+ Et~ - el' f,
'
t 15.~~ )

where E" is the d onor b.mdmg

· ener!ly in GaAl s. Elimina ting oJ
J ·., u~tn::-
Eq . ( I 5. 2 I ) gives .... ~·

D.£, = Eo( N,) + r;h~ :V, 1." __•

111
E"
This expression rchte , ~E Jl
obtain··cl llt1d "'. ~ " s ' to tht· ~.:harg~: tran-,lt:rr
'- . I: I Inc ' I . . r h
unaflecll'd b tl . ·h~ ~sump 1 )Jl t at thl: f mll ·n r
.. , · k l Hge tn n rer. ~. ' t I
lr,trhkra nd• " lrlh · I ll1 L: --1 - I I
~.: L ~..:k ll1 1n I r
.
~.:ump(IJI nt... t 'l~~.,; Fr _ 1:l n'm lhc ·kLlll'll
... .

g I I 1· n~:" \. wn ·.II uI 11 •
 q or quantum w II 77

antu wei

'. II .'' I rm~.: I h\' t ~l I-_ in I " suni ' l c111l y I hm l;l cr 0
Jl&ll.lll Jl bC L\\C'll I\\'P thic J.. layer-; material B. The or
lu f! 'r than t h a t~''~' A. ·tnd the hand discnntinui tic~
th. l h 11h cond uct i ~ n electrons and holes arc co nli ned i 11
n 1.: .unpk \ l; -~111 tak.c a structure CUlL i. tin!.! or (JaAI/\ s ·
I ich i ' h "n sc hematicall y in Fig. 15 .4. ___. .n'-----L. f :: J

\) I
uction electron energy levels
Fig.15.4
I l fthc c:1nd ucti n band in the heterostructure represented SchematiLd ia ·•mm o f a
.111 b~ calcula l d using effective mas theory in the envelope a /\1 . h..:tcr <;lructurc.
prox"motion. lt i .~ :1 ·sum ed that on the scale of variation )f the
11\ I un ·ti 1 11 \,(.:) tht: interface potential is welllocali~~:ed at the geo-
mttn~.: lmt rf. c It i" further a · umed that the two constituents have~thc
.am~: cr_ t.tl trUI:ture a nd Lh same lattice constant. The periodic parts of
th • Bl ~.:h funLti<m at !. = 0 can then be taken to be the same (Bastard 1988):
H
r).
I
II { I (I' ) = II,.() (I") = II, n (

Th hetero tru tu re wave function for a conduction electron accordingly

t. !,.c. th form

t. · ( r =
c
eik_.,. u'0. (r ) v ·''- 8 r-:-)
_ An \ - ' ( 15.24)

1 here \ ,1(.:) appli . in material A and;.-..,~(::.) in material B. The envelope

run ·tion a ti fi ~ the effecti ve ma. seq uation

t/- d-
[ v (-)] . .. .1.8 ( - ) = E~Il l\v A.lJ (-- ) .. ( 15.25)
2m ' (.:- ) d.: 2
( - ~\.n .... 11

~~here T·, .:-) d signates the energy at the bottom of the conduction band
thr ueho ut the structure and m '.(.:-) is the conduction electron effective 1''·',,
ma . The h undar> conditions at the interfaces are the continuity of y,(.:-)
and f [l 111 : ][d\, (.:-)1d.:-] corresponding to the continuity of charge den-
. it _ an d urrent densitv. re pective!y. For the continuity of current density
it i n . ary to u ·c the condition stated rather than the usual continuity of
d\ , (::) 1:: alone. L

15.4.1.1 Infinite quantum well

r th ~:: deepest energy levels of qua ntum wells that are not too narTO\V or
. hali ow. it is rea~onab!e to approximate Vc(.:) by an infinite q~antum :e!l
having V, (:) = Oinsidethewelland V,.(.:) = c:x) outsidcasshownmFrg.J).) . Fig. 15.5
Expl icitly. fo r a well of width L. Diagram of an intinitc :-quare 11dl
potential.
L
1-=1 < 2
{ 0, ( 15.26)
v,.(.:-) =
L
1-= 1 > 1
 Heterostructures: electronic states
378
~· t -,enetrate into a semi-infinite region of infin··-
s·111CC •tn electron c.tnno 1 . f' h .. I~
<_ _ tl1 envelope function must salts y t c condt llons
potent tal energy. e

\n(~) = \n(- ~) = 0. (15.27)

. . 1ut-r0115. C)f the effective mass equation are

Independ cnt sn
I
y 11 ( : ) = (2/ L f sin kn:: ( 15.28aJ

= (2/ L )"J· COS k,::,

I
y 11 ( : ) (IS.28b)

\\her
I

f,; /1 =
2m*·£"):. (15.29)
( .
fj -

Th boundary conditions. Eq . ( 15.27). require that

11Ti
kn =L, ( 15.30)

\vbcre n ts a postttve integer. Even values of 11 apply to Eq. ( 15.2 a) and

odd values to Eq. ( 15.28b). The energy eigenvalues are then given by
)
r.-li-lr
1 1

En= ,· ( 15.31 )
2m*L-
Fig. 15.6
A diagram of the first few energy levels and envelope functions is shown in
Diagram of the low l nagy levels and
..:nvdopc functions fo r an iniinitc . quare Fig. 15.6. With respect to inversion at the center of the welL the e\en
\\ell potential. eigenfunctions involve cos k 11:: and the odd eigenfunctions sink"::.
If the tra nslational energy parallel to the interface is included. the full
energy eigenvalues are given by Eq . (15.12) \Vith £ 11 specified by Eq. ( 15.31).
Just as for a triangular well , the eigenstates can be grouped into tw -
dimensional subbands.

I 5.4.1.2 Finite quantum well

ln a real heterostructure. the conduction band ed2:e l)r m:Herial B i · nc' 'r
infinitely high compared to that of material A . Thi; fa t kat! · u.· l ' nsidc~
the fin~te qu?ntum well illustrated in Fig. 15.7. The n uLtt n band t:Jgc d
matenal B IS at an energy Vn higher than that of m; l rial \ .
0 1---~

- ,.(J
8 A
L
1.:-1 <-:;-
1', (.:- ) = I '\ -
- •,
I I { 0. 1.:-1/-.
L
- l.,- I. .,
-~,l~l: cfn vell lpe func:tt un in mah:ri,tl B a n: n
1..: d SS J ) l l~ 'I \ ~ll l) .l .
•I Ji111 1 ~ Uiirr. dlt •II O: hl tJ I \" II L h f Uu \\ ll h •-,pl: t I Ill 'I I
'" · •·urt ~.: '\enlu t
L I ll 'o. 1.: .Ill\ Ill lh' •ll lJ l
 Square quantum w ell 379

1'-' ' ::.k. ,.:.

( I ~ .:Ua )

~ ~ p [ - k n ( ~ - ~) ] ,
l' = > -')
L

- ~ e'p [k H (: + ~)]. ( 15.33c )

r· 11 th fpncti n . .

L
\ ,,(:) = 1 sin k 1: . 1=1 < - ( 15.34a)
2

,2 exp [ - k s (:- ~)], : >-

L
2
(15.34b)

= - C 2 ex p [k 8 ( : + ~) ]· ( 15.34c)

Th energ) eig nva lue for both cases can be expressed as

.2, )
. EI I- - -1-
1 i(8
Ol -. ( 15.35)
2m8

\\ her - Vo < E 11 < 0. Their precise specification is provided by the

b und ar co nditi ns at: = ± L (2 that x, and ( l /m ' )dx,) dz are continuous.
or th ven solutions we obtain

(15.36a)

(15.36b)

A nontrivial solution of Eqs. ( 15.36) requires that

(15.37)

Eliminating £ 11 from Eqs. ( 15.35) yields

t?-k~ n'2k1
- - + - -= Vo. ( 15.38)
2mA 2m8

Equations ( 15.37) and ( 15.38) can be solved numerically for k.A and k B•
which upon substitution into Eq. (15.35) gives the energy eigenvalues.
For the odd solutions, Eq . ( 15.37) is replaced by
15 39
4
(kA /m~ ) cot(k 11 L/2) = - (ks/m~). ( · )

The calculation of k~. k 8 . and £,now proceeds in a fashion analogous to

the even parity case.
 1 ctronic states
Heterostructures: e e
0
. _ , .- le situation arises if m:., = m8- Eq uations ( 15.37)a..'1\1.~
A pa ruc uhu 1)' st m P ·
( ! 5. 3 ) then bcco 1ne
/, t, sin (k_,L / 2) = kscos(kAL/2) 05.40)

anti
(15.41)

re peeL! ' d). while Eq . ( 15.38 ) becomes

, 2m ' Vo _ k 2
k-s = 11-
= ·o· (I 5.42)

For the ven states we sq u·tre both sides o f Eq. ( 15.40) and rearrange terms
to give
k 2, = (1!-, k1) co 2 (k ,., L/2) = k~ cos 2
(kAL/2) .

Taking the quare root of both sides. \Ve obtain

cos(k L/ 2) = k / ko , (I5.43i
Fig. 15.8
raph1cdl ,oJutiL'l1 of the qu:ttion tha t
\Vhcre we ha ve dropped the subscript A on k 4 . For the odd states a imilar
d term1n ·~t il' ' n r!!y igenvalucs fo r a
tini t ' 4uarc '' ell potentia l. For even procedure yields
\lU I · y = OS(/,. L"2) a nd f r o dd
ta t y=.l n (k /. ~).n identi fies the sin (kL/ 2) = k / ko. (15.44)
c nr pondi ng states L ,r the infinite
~qtnre well potential. A graphical solution ofEqs. (15.43) and (15.44) is presented in Fig. 1·..
Note that there is always at least one so lution corresponding to the electron
bound to the quantum well . As V0 increases the number of bound state .V,
increases according to the formula

[(-m T.- oL-)-I]

? ~ / ') '
N" = I + I nt ., , ( 15A5t
rr1Ji-

where lnt(x) denotes the integer part of x. Energies £, 1 gr.:ater than zero
correspond to continuum sta tes for which k a is purely imaginar}. The
electron ts not bound to the qua ntum well and behaves as a fr e partide.
The res ults for the infinite well ca n be obtained by letting r·n- '

15.4.2 Hole energy levels

In . bulk semicondL tc t ors t heva 1ence bands are t v pt~ al l\ m ' · >111PIKa ~
thc~n the co nductio 11 b· d .
Ch .
· · ·
an s and a re degenerat~ a t A = IJ .t" lll ~, u:-~"\
t'
atp_tbcr 3. Th~ hole states are described bv \\LL \ e fun~·i n" h.ll , lOIJID
C(>n n uttons fro th · · n
b ~ , ... , m e vanl>us degen rate ba nd-.. _ 1e tr 1.: th · .tn ~,.
1
. ~.: ~ alssthe_d as heavy a nd light ho k ba nd . d n i I ., "tth I t.d
angu dr ITlt)ITJCnt J = ~ ..,
In Lht: ca s~: of a qu~~ n~~un . ·II I
l ted · Lh ••1·1· . \t: · 11erl: ur · t\
· l.:l: t:Ciulthe '-Jl '
p~:rlurbatiun If . T l , t.tnrum '' ·II ukntt ..d I
" P· k '-JU..tn tum ' dl tl!l·ntt tl
 Squa re quo11t um w II 381
11 1.11..._ , 1- th · la nd s al/.. ll th · /
1 T I . ., L . . 1 ~l ( 1I •; 1\ v f
1 11.: 2 ( lt g h t h ukl h:llld :~s shrnvn Ill F ig. I "i L) ; ; ,
Ill 11 11 \\ell 1:- 111 the lOOI] dircct 11 , 11 Ll , .
, . _ •· • · · 1 " - mmctry ,d
I nl lt th .1! .l lt s i iH~ lrnm .1 uni·txi· 1 ·t· ... .
. . ~ . ' '· .t '- I !:SS :tppii Cd
I • I It 111 A . p pnturbatlnn thcnry· one ohtatns th e
hg ht hlllcs n '<H k = ()in the fornl. (C hcmla I nJ)
.
I " '''
T
,,2 l

-~ 111 [(-, • ~2 ) k i + ( ~- ~ 2·r2)k;] ( 15.46a ) F w, I ::±~

,:
I ii I

- -
2111
1( 1- .: )t, i + (/ 1 + 2 ;. ~)k~ ] , ( 15.4hb)

r the Lu_tti n ge r hand p·trame ters and ki = k ~ + k~. Thi s

r m r"-.tble tea turc that there are different effective ma sses in
n nd in lh (.Y-_r ) pl ane. The ''hea vy-hole·- hand has th e light
ma - 111 ( · 1 2 ) in the (x-_r plane. a nd th e "light hole" band has the hc<~vv /
m ~L - 111 (- 1 - ~J in th, t p lan . Thi s situation is represented sche maticall ~ (h)

111 f rg. J: .9b. It sho ul be no ted that th ere is a band crossing at

k : : : 'T\0 L pred icted y E1.r. . ( 15.46). Actually, the bands do not cross. E
:\.-more rellned cal ula ti n shoYvs that the bands repel each other and
·- - - - - ! - - -- "'
be ome nonpa ra b 1ic a , indica ted in Fig. ( 15. 9c).
Tht! energy lc\els L f hol s in an infinitely deep quantum well have been
obta ined anal\. ticall Nedozerov 1970). The energies of the sub band edges --, ~
~ ~

··-~
' -
for hea\ .' and light ho i . are gi ven by expressions analogous to those for I ' "

c ndu ti n electron : (c )

Fig. 15.9
( 15.47a) (a) Splilling of the .!, = ± ~ and ./~ = :1:!
ho le levels by a q uantum well po tentt al:
(b) k-depcn dc-ncc of the .1: = .:L ~ an d
./~ =±! hands: (c) ant•cr~l5s in,; be\;:1\' io r
(15.47b ) of the ~L = ± ~ a nd .1: =±~ band s .

The depend n e l f th e energy on k J. is specilled by a rather complicat~d

rela ti n. H owe ver. for small k .L the subband energies can be expressed m
th · paraboli · forms

(I5.48a)

(15.48h)

.. . pliC'lted functions of 11.

\~ I1er the elteCtive masses 111 11 and 11ln are com
1I t ! 2) , , ,
' .
Th ey hav the characteristic . h (It -~ prinnrilv light masses.
that t e mn ait: ' - .. --: .
,t ,. t' . . .. ,,, Tl thus tit 111 w1th the
\\nereas the m - ·ue pnmanly heavy m.tsses. 1ey . .
. ,.2. Eos (15.46).Someo 1
dfectl\\: masses that appear mthe coefhcienb ot ' J.
, • ,, L - • •
111 •

·• ·
•

. .. , _ _
.. -l"k ' )massesne<lt'' J- 0 ·
1
..
1he heavy-hole subhand s have posttJve (e 1ectJ 011 1 e
· · . . . d 5·is found as"· mueast:s
1 . , . ,. . , .

Very trong no nparabolic behavi or of the subban ~

IW b bu ch and Yinter I <.)91 ).
 Heterostructures: electronic states
3 2
Density-of-states of quantum wells
15.5
W~ ha ' L: se\.!11 Ill S .
. cC t 100
1- .•1 that
<
the density-of-states for a p,·1rah(ll.tc
l\\ (>-J imensiLn;tl · ·tem is given by
/11
( 15,41) I

fLH all encrgtt:s ·tb ,, the cncrgy t~reshold_correspond ing to k . . ==0. In a

quantum \\ell each ..;u hhaml contn butcs thts amount above. 1t thre hold.
ddllH! up thl: \ nt ri uti n fall the sub bands ytelds a statrcase den lly-
of- tat~:- profil a" ·how n in Fig. I 5.10 _for a _square quantum welL An
interesting omparison with the threc-dtmcnstonal case can be made
taking the 3D den tt. - f-states
.... F
' J. £ '!1
( !.n( ·
P\o(E ) = H 3 ( 15.50J
Jr- 11

eva luat d at£ = £,, and mul ti plying it by L. The result is indicated b) the
da bed Lurve in Fig. 15.1 0. At each sub band threshold, p_w (E)L coincides
wit h th t tal density-ol'-states of the qua nt um well : P3D(E") L = np-:_ 0 .
An import<ml difference between the quantum well and 30 ca ·es is
e\ ident as the lowest allmved energy is approached . ln th is limit p3n goes to
zero. whereas the quantum \veil density-of-states retains a fini te value. The
practical significance of this res ult is that all dynamical phenomena in a 20
or quantum well system rema in fin ite even at low energies. This remark is
pertinent to phenomena such as sca ttering processes and optical absorption
at tow temperature.
On the ot her hand, when one considers situations involving large ,·alu ·
ofn, such as in thick layers, the behaviors of 3D and quantum \veil system-
cannot be distinguished, in tine with the correspondence principle. Under
thes circumstances the term quantum well is not appropria te. and such
systems cannot be regarded as two-dimensiona l.

15.6 Excitons and shallow impurities in quantum wells

We have seen in Chapter I 0 that a cond uction electron and a hok . '' hi ·I
car~·y opposite charges, can be bound together by the o ulomb inter,tl'tiL1
to lorm a n exciton. Exci tons have a hydrogen-like ene r=-~ sp ctrum fh'
bhmdmg energy oft he low·est bo und state is the dTecti \ e ~ Jbag R) gi\ ·n
y

• ,, ..
R v = - - Rv
• 11/ t~ -'
where
. 11 is the reci
. · uceL1 e ,.,.ecttve
·
mass (lf the I t r t:-
d tekctnc. -
Lon s ctnl nt the sem JCPnductt)r and R\ -
' t. · .
R yd ber ~. The d lcct' ' B I . .
._ , .- . l\ 1.: o1r radtus \\' ht·h 1.
'r·
~.:pa ralt o n ol till' ckclr H I ·t rl I I I . I '
~ , L h) l' 111 1 w , ·it )n _;1

/J / t-
''n- It
'u.
I.., Lit . )(' Ill ~ll
1111 ra ltu
 •tons and sha llow •mpu nhe '" q an m we ll 83
. h,dln, dt~n' r 111 1pll ·1 tl~-. 111 h :lpl ' I 'i ' ' 'c I ll ; I
!It'll
.
an I l h ~ll nt a siJ·l ' '
l l 1\\' lll•._, ~- . I ll I1L C( lll -
t h,ll I h~..: d IL' ' II\ c lll<l l't . I f I h , lillie hccpm cs mli ll j k . I h
I I.:! I\ f{pJtr r·tJ .Jus n l an ''\ Clll II hcc~ ,".lll , til c (1111 C a-.
:1 \ lhlf f hc ·ftc ' I I ·c n~)h r r·tditto.; I') - . D . . .
. , . I L I '·' - ex !Inn IS
• 11• 100 . '>111L'e ( ~ l fl· anJ I' -"' () . 1111 . "v\IJ1en 1I1c
Ill' "IS lHl t iP lrdcr t f ur S!11 ' 11J ' I' tll ·.111 Ill 't
. ··• ' cexcJnnuJa- .l

th~: \ ,1\C' run 11 0 11 anJ e ncrnc.v I en.~ ls, o l'. 111 e> exu··t o n to h c
hld1cd
Ill llllin!tcl) d ep ]Unntum well who. e width is n :rv small.
m • ~an.l lhc c · c1t · n as t\\ o-d ime nsi o nal with an ~ll'ect 1 ve
_ . T h e groun J ·tate wave funcli n for the rela ti ve
nand h le ca n be expressed in politr coo rclindtes fJ. p a·

( I 5.."3 )
"> ~ I

\\htr' =I ")- + are the COl rdinate

)',.-Yilt]: and ·"c· 1',. and -"h · _1';,
0 4 6 10
of the ekct1 "~11 and hole, re~rec ti vel y. T he energy levels of the 20 exciton L la*
H
;]f' gi\ 'Tl b~
Fig. 15.11
I Rc.duced binding ent:rgy ra n exciton
En_'D = E ·..' - (
, R\:
1) ~ -
·. 11 -
-
I • -I ' . •• ( 15.54) vcr us reduced \\·ell thickne,.s for a
11 - , G a A IA s, G <JA; heteros tructure (al'ter
Bastard £' 1 a!. 19)<2)
''her Ill' the principal qw ntum number' ith po.itive integer value_ and
th zero for en 'rg) ha_ been taken to be the top of the valence band. The
flectj\e Bohr r, iu. ( (fi-) )!= ( ( w i /1 \II ) )~ is related to a3 hy ( (p 2 ) )~ =
{-' t ) a 8 .
3D exci ton
When L i on th o rder of or grea ter than o8 the charge distribution oft he n= l
.\ Citon i ellip oida l in shape and is characterized by transverse and n=2
longitudinal r due u Boll r radi i. Exciton binding energies and reduced 11=3
Bohr rad ii for tlti a. e have been calc ulated (Bastard er a/. 1982) using a
\a riati n meth d . T he result s for the binding energy Ry'(L ) are shown in
ig. l -.I I. )
E
Th n r a of exci to n binding energy is one o f the remarkable prop-
a quantum well. Even at room temperature the optical properties
I
,.-ba ed quantum wells are dominated by exciton effects. Promising
II=

2D excitun
applicati ns [roo m temrerat ure excitons are based o n features such as
n=~
opti ·al bi La bility, fo ur-wave mi xi ng, a nd la rge electro-optic coe!Tic.ients. 11=3
· the p ri nCiJ~a l quantum number n __, :x . the energies or the bound
exLiL n 1 ,·eL approach£,,. as can be seen from Eq. ( 15.54). Energies greater
than Ex rrespond to the,free-particle con tinuum in which the electron and
hole are not bound toaet her.
The d r;.L tic di!Tere~ce in bindin g energies of 2D and 3£? excitoi!S ~s
· 1a b so rp t'10 11 spec· ·t I··t dJ.spl·ty'ed 111. F1o.
(bl
t n'k·tng1y r v .aied hy the opt1ca ' - c e-
I Yl '- ·
. .
The sepa ration ol the II = I absorptiOn pcd · . k ,-.
I om r
the continuum due
' Fig. 15.12
l o mt·
rband tran::,lll . . -
ons 1s .
tour tunes 1a1.get. ,-or. ?- D excitons· " than lor Opt ica l absorpti<)il cudlicient \l'fSU>
plh1h>n enagy f11r ncitons in (.t) the·
30 cit ns. .
· . . . · , , ·-. ·ome\vhat comphcated 3D C~J se .Jlld (b) !he~[) c·;tsc l;ll·t,·r
I1 problem ol sha llow donor 1mpunt1es IS s . .. the Weisl:nrdl and Vint -r !lJlJ I ).
be aus Ihe bindin~ enerov ~ I::J.
of a shallow impurity IS allected by
 Heterostructures: electronic states
384
. . . - · rwritv to the potential barriers at the weU interfaces r:-
pro xllmty U 1 11 le II11 . . , . . f' . . . ror
a n 111 . r·1111·rc pt1 t,c 1111·.•tl ba rncr the wave. functiOn . o an 1mpunty . . ta te rn U~t
va111:. 11 a 1 til c, t1•.11 -1·1·.-r "' · Jf the impunty ts located at .a barner ' the w·av
. n c II'· n r· ) 1· til c~ E... 1-0 L1nd ·st·' 1tc should he a• truncated p-hke state. wherea•'"
lu , • or
. .· y ·tt omloc·1tcd ·1t tbe center ot the well the ground state h uld L. .
illl I lljlll l l 1 • ' '. . . . ' ut
~-l i ""c. l n the largc-wclllimttthe ground .state bmdmg ene~gtes for thee two
ca. e . -.. h )Uid be {;11111 ,A and l:,-11111 ,. respectively, where£;," IS the 3D impurity
hi ndin!! cnergv .
alc~thti n~ o f' ace ptor binding energies arc more complicated than for
d nor: bcca u ·c r the degeneracy of the valence bands.

15.7 Coupled quantum wells and superlattices

15.7.1 Do uble - w ell structure
Fig . 15.13 T b, d ub le-well structure res ult from placing two quantum wells side-bv-
dt.:mallc dJagr,J m < ( u d t uhk·11cll
. tructur.:
a
side 'Nilh common harrier between them. A schematic diagram is given in
Fi!!. I -. l3 fo r the ca se of interest involving finite barriers. With decrea ing
ba~Tie r width a \, ave function centered on one well will have increasing
penetrati on through the barrier into the second well and thereby increas-
ingly overlap a wa ve function centered on the second well. For not too
narrow barriers we can trea t the overlap as a perturbation.
The H amiltonian for a carri r in a double well is

H = T V1( .: )+V2(.: ). (15.55)

where Tis the kinetic energy o perator and 1/ 1(.:) and V 2(.:) are the poten-
tial energies associated with \:veils l and 2, respectively. Let \ 1 and \~be
the ground-state \vave functions for the isolated wells satisfying the
Schrodinger equations

(T 1/1 ( .:))~ 1 =£1\1 ( 15.56a I

(T + V2( .:))A 2 = £ 1 \~. ( 15.56b l

where~~ i~· the gro und state energy of an isolated \Veil . By analog~ \\ ith th
ttght- ~mdtng method o f energy band theory. \;l,'e write the cro und-~tatc
'..vave tunctton 'V for the double well as a linear combin~tttL n of\ 1 and\ =:

\{1 = U1 \ 1 + {I~\:>

Substituting into the Schrbdinger equation

I - ":-.

anJ laking matrix ekmcnts '' ith respect tu \ ' •tnd

(1:; 1 1- 1'1 - 1:. ) II f-( S - 1 r- r ·l J

( • '/:1 t J 1~ \f. lJ(

J I I
 Coupled quantum we lls and up rlottices 8

\I h } (I" tiC) a )

J I \ IIJ :-) J\ ,) ( \ ' 11 ·, -)1\ J ( 15.<10h )

i, -(\l l l( ~l ,)~( u r ·l( .: l ,, ). ( IS nOt.: )

lllll1111 l lthccu~fli i nt<-.oC r 1 ct nda 1 Ln;~.:ro.\\c htain l h~o:

( 15.6 1)

E _ E v _._ r·
1 _,_ 12
- I+ I ± ~ . \ J: .62)

·or '<al I. we ha , ·e tht: a pp rc : im a tc s )lu tions

( 15. 63)

Thec1u phngofth l\\0we1 1· th r foreprod uccs a spl ittin gof th eir e round-
tate I ' L b) "' 2 r ·12· im ih r conside ra ti n s a pply t ex ited :; tat es.
T he perturbed \\"3\ ' fun ti ns l]i a nd (fJ a re given by

(15.Ma )

( 15 .Mb)

1.:rr pending l tht: 11 r!.!;) eigenv:1Juc" £ 1 T r, . ,-

V,_and 1:.·, + f ' 1 - J ' 1- ·
r "Pe tJ\ ly . in \.\ ta k the zc r ol' cnerg y at the t p of th \\cl b. 1' 1(.:)
and I.::(.:) ar ne gn ti \t~ within the we ll s. wht:r ·t:.; \ 1 a nd \ .:: are positiYc in
at: nbn \\ ilh - q . 15.3_ }. r,
and 1 '1 ~ arc there!" re negative. ·o tlf is th e
ground -., tat \\a e fu nc ti n :tnd 'V is an excited state wave function.

15.7.2 Superl a tti ces: periodic coupled quantum wells

I ~. 7 .2 . 1 WaH~ functi ns and cncrl!Y le\'cls

ouplin!! t g t h~.::r la r!!er a nd la rger numbers or quantum wells lead s to the
creatiOn a superlattice ,,·ith an allowed band rl.'Ilcrgy le\ t'l-.. Fo r .\ \\ e lls.
the \ -d ·generate Le ro -n rd cr ta ll:s (CXLiuJing "pin) o f the unco upkd well-.
gl\e n e to <.1 banu f \' . tate. ,, hen c uplin g is impo cd. With -.rin includ ed
Lhc: r~: are 2.\ ·tate.., in tl c a nd .
---LflJ1I1J__ _
In Ftg I: . 1-t i p c-. cnteJ a J iag ra m o f a Ii nea r arr ~ 1y Lli" coupkcl quantum
\\d)-, tha L a r " equ: 11~ paced LO fnrm a -.upcrLitti cc. Tn ob tain thl.' -':·:1\l.' Fig. 15.14
functi ns and t!n~.: r g\ c iu ~.:l v·llue-.. . we impo-.e periodic bllUlldar. co nditH111 S l)i ;t_!;f:t rtl lli ,1 \U[)~'tl.ll l l~· .· "l'rllf' '' L'U •I
and appl) the tif)l~--b tnding mct hod in a manner l.' Xaclly anal ogPus to that L.<, ttpkd q u :t nl u rn " ·I I.
 Heterostructures: electronic states
386
. ~d - Cl . ter 2 to derive expressions for the Bloch functions a d
t:mplnye 111 ·- MP . . . h b' d' c n
b d . <Jf..1 neriodic lattice. lhe llg t- m mg 10rm of the Bloch
11 •ro an ~ " t • b
•·. ted with .1 subband of quantum num er 11 can be expressed
0
fu
.
nct1.'011 assOCld
.
•-
a.
\' - I
w,, , (::) = -I-, "'"'
L....(' ik '-pd ,\n-
_ (- /)
- {}(. (15.65)
,f'v p= O

vd1erc f,- _ is the wave vector, dis the period of the superlattice, and pis an
int gcr. Th energy eigenvalues are given by
(15.66)

wher

V1(11) = .!: :( 11 ( : : - d ) V(:)x~~(:- d )d.: ( 15.67a)

V L:(n) = .l~ n(.:- d) V(:)x,,(.:)d:. ( 15.67b)

and we ha ve neglected the overlap integral L~ Xn(.:- d )Xn(.:)d.:. Vdn)is

0 rr!d ca lied the transfer matrix element. The energy band described by Eq. ( 15.66)
is a miniband.
Fig.15.15
A plot of allowed energies versus wave vector is given in Fig. 15.15. Its
· nerg~ ve rsu. wave vector for a
uperlaui ·e of period d. shape is typical of a carrier moving in a periodic potential. The width of the
mini band is 4 V 12 (n) v..·hich is twice the separation of the eigenstates fa
double well. The factor of two difference reflects the fact that a given well in
the superlattice interacts with two neighboring wells and not just one.
The periodic boundary conditions require that the wave vector k =take on
the discrete values
1 1 ") .
100 k- = -1f)
> - Nd.
E
wherej is an integer in the range - ~+ I ~ j ::; {and N is ass um d l ~

1flfr() even. Values ofj outside this range -do not correspond to _tul s that an:
physically distinct from those associated with values in ' id th range.
.5 50 !.A Lu L_.._ Hence. there are N distinct state. in a minib::md. a ~h I \\hil:h (';tn
I L.1 = 30A acc~m1moda~e two electrons of opposite spin.
2 /..'\ = )Q ;\ 1 he transfer matrix element ~ ' 12 (11) decreases as the wid th of tbt; b:lfrtl!f
.1 LA = 100 A het\veen wells increases. Consequently. the widt h t Ll mimbanJ ;tlsl)
decreases as the barrier width inneases. as shO\-\ 11 in Ft~ I 5.1 r r th.
gr~und suhband n = I . On the other hand. th gap~ b~ ~, n -.LII..\.' •:-:-J\ •
Il111llbands mcrease as the harrier width incn:a-. ..
50 lfJfl I 50
B;.,m er ttucknc,. L 1j (A. I
15.7.~.2 Density-of-states in a superlattice
Fig. 1S.16 The I rmat1on uf· . . ·
· ·' s upu 1all Jet: pr JuL· ·a -.i~mfic tnt
\upcrlauilt: " ''JvmJ Lh 4 1 u l II .,, , ~us ot-.. . tates c mp·neJ 1 Ll • . "'
.. rnov. tJth / ,.( .,, thrccy,dJv. iJ III L' . .h • u lat ul a :-.mttl JU.Intunl '' II
ITllfll a nd e ltmJn at~-. tl ~ . . :-
1af1~1 B.1 lOJIJ I Y ~I ·1. . . 11.: ':'> tt: p-lun ll n UhL 111 111 uliJ
L 1.tral't~::n s t J L'~ )r mglc v~ l "
 Modulation doping of h terostructure 87

. trl ll'l r 'I PI: 11 II L uta I II) 1h 1.' 'll p 'I l.t Ill 1.: it I l

1 E. A • h

~n~:rgy E

Ill
\ , arc ll5 .70) Fig. 15.17
,-;II [ COSI I )-Ilf-~ l .tlt:'> \t:r ll' l'nt:rgy for,\
.. upc il .ltlilC a 2D <.jl i.JniLlm \\ell .mJ
JD I ~Olr<'rk S) l~m (after F.~ak1 II.J I)
r iot of the t.len: it - f- ta te i ~ given in
tht:r\\ithth scf~ra~Dqu antumwell :l ndl' ra i-otr pic
It 1 n 11 '\\l rth~ that the -;uperlattice dcnsit. - f-s tatcs h·t ::.ingu-
m 1b tkri,ative .In the limit of inlinit I , ide harrier betwee n
nt ''db. th~ Width or
th mi nib nd approac hes ze r , and we rcc vc r
n it) -1f-.·wr · of iso lated quan tum \veiL

15.8 Modulation doping of heterostructures

\ e h:n . e n in • eel i )J1 L . ~ th<ll ha rgc tr< ns!"er ca n cc m in h ter -
trut::ture. \\ ith the rt:\ ult tha t th harg J im1 uri t i e~ are not in th same
region a the free carrier··. ns q uently. th is patia l s para ti n r the
carrier and the ioni?ed im pur iti a n lead t grea tl y reduced ioni1ed
impurit~ .;; aLtering and \er hi rh n bil itie.. T hi" i ~ ne the principal or
r ·a om for the great inter t in hcten tru ture::;.
ln the Lrudurc G·tAI :; GaA . wh re th e w id -gap material Ga l s is
, trong.l~ n-t:pe. le tr n tran ·fer c ·ur to th · lay r until q uilihrium
i reached. The num r o f I ctro n. t r ~111 ~ rr d p r unit ar aN, i · rela ted to
theenerg~ LhAer nl: ~ £, l' th c nJu ·ti n band ed~ es fthe tw m a t erial~
b~ ·q (1:.23).Thi r sult\\a: obtai n d underth ·1 su mpti nthatth wave
runction c fan electr n in th a A ha ~ ne gli gi b le penetrati on in to th e
barrier and tl11.:re~ rc produce. n gl igi b le m dincat i n f the elec tro. taLic
p Lt:nttaL Calcu lat ions hm' th at th wa vL !'unc ti o n 1 enetl"l t - no more
than ~0 inl the b·urier. whi h i much le:; th a n th e \\ idth f the d pie-
liOn regi n in the ba rrier. h ~: el ctron ''a c l·unl"li n ace rdingl y san11 I s
\Cf) IIlLI r 1he depleti on re gi 11 <-Hld j.;; relative]_ una frected b~ h ~lr ricr
p neLrati on .
Tn deri' inu E . ( 1: .2. 1 it '"' a a s um ed that th e entire depletion li es in the
n-t)p GaA I~A. .H \ H:\ r. Lh r i. ah.\ a. somnc iduald opin2intheG;1A s
\l. llll~h h.:ad Ltl a depleti n regio n in the latt r ii'it is p-typc Associate I with
th1 dc:pletion re0.on i~ an ~ J c ·tric field that cu ntribut s ll) the !Jl'tentlal
Jif~·rcnce <lL I o . .~ th j unc li ) !1 . ThL depleti on charge N.~,,, in the GaA I S
speL1f1ed h~ th rela tio n (WI.'i-, bu d anJ Vintcr llJYI)

15.7 1)

\\ht:rc.: If ,, t ll c.: \\t d th of the depk: tiun r~.:g:i o n .

 Heterostructures: electronic states
88
At low impurity concentration the depletion width in the GaA s . .
. . . . . . h I'\ lllU<:h
larger than the w1dth of the depletiOn 1eg10n 111 t e GaAIA·. and its,
cia~ed potential can he considered triangular in the region of in ter Cl'i 0 •
l·s
. • potentia
J·1 rue com)THed toN 1 .1,. this · .· I .IS very· smd· 11 and
· can ·he ne t.1 Jf V
< c • . ~' ~ . ~ . .. . . . · . g ectect
11 the other hand. d N, < Nc!.:p· the Iesi_dual unpunty poten tia) i<;
•
·
important in determ_ining_ the electron excited stales whose wave fun t~~r~
e tend far from the Interface . n
The case of n-type re~idual doping in the ~aAs is more difficult
ana lyze because the Fermi energy_awaY, from the mterfac~ depend. both
0
1
°
the charge transferred across the mterlace and on the position of the dono~
leve l.
On often uses an _un?oped GaAIAs spacer layer to increase the
·cpa ration bet\veen the Iomzed donor atoms and the channel electrons. Th
spacer la ye r decreases th e Coulomb interaction between the ionizedcente ~
and the free elec tron s a nd therefore considerably increases the electror~
111 bility.

15.9 Self-consistent energy-level calculations

In the quantum mecha ni cal a nalysis of the energy levels of electrons in a
triangul ar potential well presented in Section 15.3, the Coulomb interaction
between electrons was neglected for simplicity. However, this interaction
can significa ntly modify the electronic eigenstates at electron concentra-
tion s of interest. It em be conveniently taken into acco unt using the Hartree
approxi mati on. The electron-elec tron interaction is described by a
potential energy VeA .:) that satisfies the Poi sson equation

( 15 ..2)

Physically , an electron is assumed to m ove in the aven-tge electrostatic fidd

produced by all the other electrons. The Schrddinger eq uation sa tisfied by
the effective mass function X11 ( .:) is

(15 . ) )

:vhere Vo(.:) is the heterojunction potential energy and , .imp( :) i:; th-:~.·h~mn I
Iomzccl impurit y potential ene rg y. Equations ( L- .71) a nd L- 2 mu~r b~'
-? lved self-consic tentl y. Thi s ta k ha s be n accom pli h d u ·in= the " 1 w·
tiO na! method (And 1982) with a ground- tat functi 111 oftl1l' f( rm
I
\o(.:) = Bh' h:: : > 0
- "'-H
= B' (I'' )1' e1,·-_ -, , \ l-
 Self-conststent energy- level ca l la tions 389

( 15.75 )

in ·rt~~~ti ma~~ in~id c and lllttsick the harrier arc

I.:' 1111 h ~" 1ng tbc grnuncl -5ta tc subha nd e ncrg_,. ~1 nd wa c
n Ill Fie· I .. I,'. T he l enctration~.)fthc wave !'unction int o the
nt.
c H finite l mp rat ure one mu t use the Fermi Dirac d i _
1
o 1on 20r1 100 400
1 (£) t d !ermine energy ll:vd occupancy. The ~urfac
·[1 '11 . I I
lt n l \..hann l ca r ri r ' .'\', is given by
Fig. 15.18

, - .Irf':t,
v}.r;(E )f ( £ ) 1£. ( I " .76)
alc ulatccl g r u nd tu tcenc rgy lc cl · nd
wave l'uncliun for a Ga I !!> G<l
ck:cti ·ly doped intnfau.: ''ith ~ pace r
thickne~ d 1 - 50A("t fLerAn<.l 19.2!.
111 thcden. 1t_- f"-:tat '::.P2o(E 1. aconstanlas sta ted by Eq. ( 15.49). us
,f Eq. 6 . 1) fo r {(£) yi Ids the result

k s Tm' [ !£ E . , ..
1 .= Joo I + I! -,- '"'1''B'] ( 15.77)
·' rrf/ · ~ ·

umbining thi xpres ion with Eq. (15.23) permits one to determine the
Fermi energ) EF·
The problem f Crt"'a ting design rules needed to obtain optimum per-
forman of ingle heterostructure devices can now be tackled. If the
n ntrati n ntt fdonor impurities in the barrier material is increased. the
harg tran ~ r is increased, since the depletion width We~ varies as n"- ! from
an quati n a nalogo us to Eq . (l5.7l)and

( 15.78 )

n mcrea d transfer of carriers lead s to more effective screening of

h nn 1 imp urities. but produces at the same time increased sca ttering by
th i niz d impurities in the barrier. The lali.er sca ttering can be reduced
b) insert ing a n undo ped spacer layer as in Fig. 15.18, but this lowers the
harf!e tr·'ltl fer. Experimen tall y one finds that the channel carrier densit y is
alway limited: therefore. o ther confi!!;urations such as the double hctero-
jun ti n ha e been studi ed .
In Fif! . 15.1 9 i given a diagram of a double heteroj unction in which the
active layer is a wide, undoped layer of GaA s sa ndwiched between two
a propriately doped barriers of GaAIAs. We ha ve here a double hetcro-
junllion which leads to a doubling of the channel carrier conccntra tion N,.
tvlodulation doping of multiple quantum 'vvells olkrs the possibility of even
higher concentrations and operation undt:r high-current conditions.
Another dinicultv that must be fa ced in the design of an efficient hetero-
tructure is the gre~l variability of do nor energy levels F, i_n Ga,. ,.Al,As,
·hich rant. from 6 meV at x , 0. 1 to 160 mcV or more tor md1rcct gap
mat rial \\~th x > 0 .235. This pi~ blcm C;.tl1 be a aided by taking rhc charge-
tran~~ rring side of the heterojunction to be a GaAs/GaAIAs superlatt•ce
\\ it h the GaAs layers . trongly n-lypc and the GaA IA::; layers undopccl and
 Heterostructures: electronic states
390

AIGaA.s GaAs I IGaA~

.
Neutral , D~:plctwn ,Spacer,
I
' Sp·u:er Dcpletn.m
: .. la~t!r : layer
layer , layer : layer ;
.- .
I
I

'

v,l
- '

Fig. 15.19
- -- - -·- .. - - - -·~·-':.._
E'

• .:-h matic dt>!gram of :.1 d, ubk

hcterOJUnciH.>n af cr J i);ll~uji ('I ul.
)9~\:1 .
z

thin enough to allow carrier tunneling. If the GaAs layers are very thin
also. the lowest confined level is broadened into a band and raised above the
bulk GaAs conduction band to the proximity of the GaAlAs barrier level.
Under these circumstances electrons can flow between the GaAs confined
donor levels and the GaAs channel to the right of the superlartice as sho\\n
in Fig. 15.20.

Fig. 15.20 15.10 N-1-P-1 structures

H te ro tructure o f a selectively doped
ra lA. ,Ga s superlattice a nd
If the doping of an otherwise homogeneous crystal is spatially modulated. a
und ped GaA.s {after Weisbuch and superlattice can be produced (Esaki and Tsu 1970). The spatial modulati n
Vinter 199 1). causes a folding-back of the Brillouin zone and a nev; energy-band struc-
ture along the axis of the superlattice. Such systems are doping super-
lattices. compared to structural superlattice . and consist of periodiL
n-doped , intrinsic, p-doped, intrinsic .... , multilayers kn0\\11 as N-1-P-1
structures. A diagram of such a stru ture is shown in Fig. 15.21 together'' it
the doping concentration and energy profi les.
The energy levels of a N- I- P- 1 structure ca n be calculat d using a · 11·
consistent procedure similar to that emplo ·ed in ·ti n 15.l). Th singl -
particlepotentialc:nergy V(.:)ca nbewritten as (Weisb u h ·:md \ int rl lJ ll
......
( J ~J J

~
u.:
where jllmp(.:) is the lectrostat iC pot ntial Cll . f)!\' d u . l(l iL11lZ d imr JriUC
11"(.:) i. the Hartre potential enenly of 1 ~. ~~on. a nd h I . Jn l I (:
i the exchange and correlation potential en rg_. 1 .(:l l' ·p··tt1 J l:l
Fig. 15.21 Poisson ·s e 1ua ti o 11 '
I 1- P r hand stru tun.:: h.1m1;t ( j, n .
Ia) dectrun~ Irum neutral O < ll1 •Jr~
~,;ombrm: wnh ho le~ llcu tral
a~,;t,;cp t ur~ to r rot.lw:e :.1 neL ~ ra~.:e Lll,tr ..!.C
!Ju~'n 111 to) I he e'til t 11 g h:tnd - g :tr ·- : nu I ' 11( .: ) h
J.I t<tll ·:m J.tH.I l:JUt~o; t ~· ·tn liJ t C: t e 11 1
Ill" hov.ntn Il l l .tlt ~r ., hu~: h t! ' I II :- l e-
J.lld lniU I f lJ<,()
el.:.: - - - - ,/
'u~' ,
 N-1-P-1 structures 91

( I 5 R2 )

ncen tra ti n. , it-ll'l' tilL' hl•l rrn -.,:-; I'> relat ive [
ccup} an tccc pl r im p ur it_ ban d . which ~-~
. )r th~ neg· lt vc l ~ charge I ;.~cc ·pt r _
·1 .m.: l)b tamed . ::; 1] \'in~ th , tlll -d im n!::.ional etTecti v·

( 15 RJ )

\\hCIL' mt a nd m , are th ffi c tiv masse of lectron · and holes, res pec-
th el~ C rta111 c nclu ·ion a n be drm,·n fr m the pre eding set or
cqua uon. :
l. In the ca r 0 f' l:Xa t c mp wa ti on. no fr ee carri ers exi st at lo w
temp rature \\ ith ul ·tern al excitati o n .
.., \\'hen there i · un qua l do pi ng o f don o rs a nd acceptors. free ca rriers will
JCCU111Ula te in the polentiJ l wel ls -soci ;. t ted with the dopant of higher
~.:o n entra ti n.
3. Fo1 . uffic 1entl~ lar£ d o pi ng. a nd spacings. the e!Tective bandg·:~p can
become negative. i.e .. rhe 1l p of the va lence; band in the p-t ype regi on
an e higher than the bottom o f the conduction band in the tH ypc
reg1 ns. Cnrri r tra n ~ rer thc:n tak es plac~.: fr om hole wells to ·l ctron
\\Cils until a zero bJ ndgap is ctttain ed. /-\. ~soc i a ted with this tran sfer a rc
band filling . r d uCLi n f th e periodic superb trice potential as a res ult nr
ha ree neutra li La ti o o by the tran sfe rred charges. and modifica tion of
the quanw d ern·g_ level..
-l. hen non qui li riurn co nd iti o ns ex ist su ·h as carri er injecti o n or
pho t ci tation. th e populations of electrons and holes in the wells
can in rease a n r r duce charge neutrali zation accompanie;cl by an
effe Li\ ban dgap in rca . es . Since the electrons and hL Ics are s pati~tll y
·r parated. th radia tive reco mbin a ti o n rat e is greatly reduced compared
to the bu lk r;t le Th is situation is remini scent of the rebti\'eiy Jm,
recombin ~ ti .n ra t . 111 indirect ga p SL·mico ncluct ors. Int crcstin!.! ly . the
rate f n nr<l d i<ili H' r,~ o m binati on arc ;- tlso gn:atly reduced . sp
rea onuble q uantum dficiencics ca n be ~tUain ed. One can therefore
<:l nlH.:ipale tha t do p d superlatticcs ca n fo rm the basis of tunable _ light
~(>urces < nd ph ( todetectors vvith large gain. To ove t"Ct!l11t' th e rt' latlvt'ly
poor m< bilit1 s in the duped re gio ns. undoped small-gap se mJcondu~wr
la y~r · ~an he in:-.ertcd int o th e middle oft hen- a nd p-d opcd layers td the
- . ·j -
superlutt tce. lh r • rca tm g mudubt w n-l upec c L ' ··
j]1'1 -'flS[J'UCIUrt'S· \\'Ilh
v ~.:ry high m obtlit ie~ .
 Heterostructures: electronic states
392

Problems
_, .d . . tri·lm!uhr
1. l.ons1 e1 ,, ' ~ ' quantum bwell · 1. 1
potential_ in a n-GaAIA s• .l·(ja
' )Stl-tlcture. Calculate the num er o e ectrons Iran ·ferrcd peru .
I1ete1t . .
0
, - _ {) () 1 y _ {) 1x • ~ nn ar
/V, usingthcvalucs.6.£, = 0.5eY,Ert - . _ e .n" - . 1 cm .. m· O.lmaea
. ·_ 1.., You mav so lve the equation for N , graphically. by Iteration · nd
11 - -. J • or on a

computer. . . .
") For the finite square well poter:twl show that ~he even pan~y elgenfunctionsar
. . . ~i·ttcd vvith odd values of 11 for the eonespondmg eigenfunction f e
.ls::.UL ' .. • d ·J . h dd , . . 0 the
infinite square \Veil potenu,d_ an IMt t e o p,mty eigenfunctions are
associated w1th even values of 11. 0

J. For a finite quantum well vvith L = IOOA. Vn=0.3eY, and m,==0.07

ca leu Ia tc the energies of the lowest even and odd states for m H == 0.2lm m.
4 A doubk quantum well consists or tw~ well~ whose mi~points are a di t~nced
apart a nd whose parameters have t c va ucs g1ven m problem 3. Takin
d = 150 A. calculate the energy of the electronic ground state and compare~
with that or a single well.
5. onsider a su pcrlattice comp9sed or quantum wells of the type in problem,
and ha ing a period d = 150 A. Calculate the energy E as a function of wa\~
vector k= for the lowest lying energy band and plot E versus k=. Compare the
lowest energy of the band with the ground state energy of the double quantum
well.
6. A quantum wire is a semiconductor in the form of a cylinder or bar or oth r
shape that cotlfine' the motion of a carrie; to one dimension. The tran ·verse
dim n ion is typically on the order of 100 A. Derive the ground-state envel pe
fun ction a nd calculate the ground stale,energy for an electron in a GaAs bar of
square cross section with sides of 50 A. Assume that the bar is bounded b\
infinite po tential harriers. ·
7. A quantum dot i a thin slice cut out of a quantum wire that conlines a carrier
to zero-dimensional motion . Calculate the ground state energy of an electron
in a GaAs quantum dot of square cross section with sides of 50A and
thickness 25 A. Assume infinite potential barriers.

References
T. Ando. J. Phys . Sue. Japan 51. 3900 ( 1982).
G. Bastard. A cta Electronim 25_ 147 ( 19 '3).
G. Bastard. l-f1ave !\1/echanics A pplied tu S cminmductor H t'tt'rOi trttc/llrt' ·
( Le Editions d~,; Physiq ue. Les Uli . 1988).
G. B·tstard. E.E. Menckz. L. L. Cbanl':, and L. Esaki. Pin's . R 11 r. 826. 197-l(l lJ 2J
D. S. Chemla. Heft•. Ph1·s. A cta . 56. 607 ( 1983). .
L. Esaki. in Rt'ccnt Topic in S em i ·unductor Phrsics . H. Kamimura anJ
Y. Tl~yozawa !World Scientific. Singapore. 1983)
L. .. akt and R. T u. IBM J. Dn. 14. 6 1 ( 1970) .
K. Miyat. uji. H . Hihara. and . Hamal!uchi . 'uper!u lfin• an.! \/icro >trutlur<"• I.
43(1985) . ~ .
S. S. 'edozc rl)\. Fi: . Trent. Tela 12 ...,"169 (' 1'1 70 )· '(11· Pllt\ - ol1tl tar 12. l 'I'
( I Sl7 1) . -- . . .•

P ~uden and G . H Dahler. P/11 .1. Rer. 827. 35~ ' Jl) '1)
f . S tc t~IL. Phy .1 Rn. B5, 4X9 i ( Jl) 7 ~ I.
H. ~- St rmer. R. Dingle. A . G s. c..t rd J L ~.II
.Seu~·, 11111 . Phl'' · 43. 55 (I LJ l)). ' j ·gnunn. . n
. \ ~.: ls~uch ~tnd R. VintLT. Ouclllflllll Ullit undut tur lru .'"
an D1 e6n. 1')lJ 1 J -
 u I ti

Phonons
tUL:e ur l\ c ")n,titu..:nl: the a ~ U" l i ~ bra nches overlap. The
ll 16.1 Ouolitotive osp~cts o f phonon) in
1::: p ma_ l)\crlap a: \ Veil. T hl! \)pl ical hra ch..:s mav or ma \ superlortices
..1 \\ ht:n then: i. C)\erlap . pho n\) n · ·an propagat • ~;1 ng th-,
dtrc ltnn . hese ar f11'1Jf Juga ting mocle.1. When th rc i · no
rl tp. tlh: phl non · ar LOnfined in indi vid ual layer:' ~1nd arc ca lled
t 11//lll J 111 tl 'I.

Th di p r 1 n.:urn~. are '>tnig htl in cs t ha t e.\hihitjo/ding oft he ac u tic 16. 2 El astic conltn uum theory of
l r. th.:h s in the fir. t Brillo uin ;one. Phonons can pr paga te in :1 low - frequency modes

!~Uperltttil: parallel L the in t rra~cs. T ht _ include mocks wit h pan icle

dL pbu.:mcnts localized nc · r th in terface. that are called hiler/a£·(·
1110 h .
Opll~ I rnod " how told in ~ r the ir di ·per ·ion curves within th fi rst 16.3 Dielect ric continuu m theo ry Qf
Brill uin Lone and gap at the zo ne e nte r and zone bounda r;. optical modes

un/mt•d oplic If moll ~. a re disp r ionkss and behave like the hulk
11odc )f u . ingle laye r ailed guide /-1W1't' 111ndcs.
omc nc.. rmaJ modt or a ... up rL..ttt ice h ~tve dtspla~cmcnl~ that var:v 16.4 Microscopi c the o ry o f optical mo des

rapid!~ with pl . Ilion n a n dto mic scale. They inclu d~j i1/dcd u ·owt ic .
propal{(Jfing O(llictd, an d Cflll/ll!£'d optic tl n1 n lt'.l .
In Lll·der 10 properly a cco unt for Co ul o mb int er~1 ct i(1n-. in polar
con. trtu nl of a superlatli <.: . a tlu e-dim~nsi nalmodel is required .

\\'e ha\· een 111 ha rt t:r that in a thr·c-dimc nsi n~d h (llllt g lll'nu s n y-> L.tl
the re are t h r~e I,rcqucn<.:y range~ Ll ,. 1111 Jltl- 1·t·,1 .." 1· ,. tl1 "'... nt·lrrn.
~ tl m t 1 k s n l
.
\Jbratt 11 c
lhr a llm .... h , lL, _ r qu cnL·y r cli 1.::C co ntallh the : 1 cu u:.;l ~ ~
hranc he. In <.:n~ta l L: ntam ' uHl
' l\\ t) : d~. ms P ' · · th e <JC
' · Ulli t L'l'll . OU :> liC
' J~ 1· . ·
hram: hc be hc\0\~ i.ll1 1111 'r lllt.: tall: r q u cnL ~ 1 ··1 ::-c· ·· n•J , co rrc-..,·
1 o llJrn l! I CJ :1
· ~ .
1ormdJcn !:!ap The hwh-ln::qu nc} r:tn !!c ' " , \ _ l
t , . 1· . h \ the n-
=' 1p :1nd ~.:u nwrn:--
.
~ ~:: . ., . th ·n: ma\ be nu tu r-
l h OptJLal lwan hes. ndc r c-: rt ;.1m CJ n.: u m:-, t:tnLc.... c ·
h.1dden gap e\ en th o u!!h op ucal mud ... c\.t SL. II' th re '·trL' 111\ll' ' th ~ tn t\\n
~ - I ,. 1·l 'dd ·n p·t r '- and ~c , ·e L 1
at m1 pt.:r mil ~l' lL there m .t) be c vt: ra ' ""lt ~.: <=L ·
lrequcnc.:~ ranges llltOJi n in~ opt ica lrn )dt.: s.
 Phonons in superlattices
394

16•1 Qualitative aspects of phonons in superlattices

In thin slabs of a material such as Gcu\s bounded-~~ (Ill) free. urlucc. the
frequencies of the long 1tudmal and ~ransve.rsc ~pt1c~ll modes of_t r Paralkl
wave v ctor very nearly comc1de w1th those ot the c~rrcspon~tng hranche-;
or the infinite crystaL prov1ded the number of atom1c layers 1s ten or mor .
( anellis eta!. 1nJ). One also finds se~cral surface-mo~e branch who ~
frequencies lie within or at t~1c edge ?t th~ gap. Reducmg t~e numb rot
layers below ten causes the tr~quenc1cs of th_e bulk-ltke optical mod to
decreas sharply while those ol two of the surface modes mcrease until the\
R A B 8 A med the frequencies of the corresponding bulk-like modes for the two- I y;r
case.
fig.16.1
up rl.nuce comp 1~eu llf t \ ! lll <ltcrials
Suppose a superlattice is created from two different materials A and B ~
nd B hown in Fig. 16.1. The frequency ranges mentioned above are, in general.
diJTerent for the tv. .·o constituents. In the low-frequency range the acoustic
branches will always overlap to some degree. A good portion of the for-
bidden gaps may overlap as well. The frequencies of the optical branches
for different compounds arc often very diiTerent, and they may overlap on!\
partially or not at all. Two cases can be distinguished regarding the optic;!
branches. In the tirst case the optical branches of the constituent com-
pounds are in two different frequency ranges, i.e., they are well separated
In the s~cond case the optical branches of the l\VO compounds are in the
same frequency range. and they may overlap partially or completely. When
there is overlap. the lattice-vibrational wave propagates through rhe
superlattice along the gro\vth direction or axi s. One refers to these mode~ as
propagating modes. When there i no overlap of optical mode frequencies.
propagation of optical modes along the superlattice axis is not possible. The
modes are confined to individual layers and are referred to as confined
modes. Jt is, of course. possible to have optical modes that propagate in
directions perpendicular to the superlattice axis. i.e., p<~rallel to the layer
interfaces.

16.2 Elastic continuum theory of low-frequency modes

For the low-frequency range _where the acou tic bran h O\ ria . l,t II ·
continuum theory can be applied to the ana lysis o the pr ptt~tating m l ·~.
lfwerestrictour elves t cubicconstituents and up rlatti~.:e -\\itha\ 10
the [?O I] dire tion, the equation of m ti n ~ r th di -placem nt 1r(:) )f ·1
longttudmal wave pro paga tin g al ng lh sup rlatti~.. J r p;

p(: ) . -,11'( : ) = .!!_ [ . 1

_:-) cJII •(_:-)l I I
') -
r)t - () -
- I I\
( - ·

where fl(-- ) ·,L-~ th•...." 11''tt

" c.:: 1.1·.Lt I d n 1·r1 a t : an
~1 ~lulu ., at =· D n tir g hy i the c n titucnt
II ltv rd ual la\:t: r ar 11 1 g··n•' ,~l r
J " ... l 1-.. \\~..: Lan' ntc.::

i) - 111 ::)
I'• · ,
cJt- = It
 Ela tic c ntinuum theory of low-frequency mo d es 395

( lfd a)

II'B -)' - - ( I·' - ,I 1: --L JJ .' - ·i; )e -

'··'s ' ( I 6.3b J
I IJ..<..'f
- - r /J '

1 r~ thl: efft: ti \ " w:1v \' ctors for propagation in media A and
\,.;>._,,_.._.~1 1~. and...; is Lhe rreq uenc_. Substitution of these expression .
l, _) giH·~ the relations

( l6.4a)

;-1 = I L'!J , ( 16.4b)

\\h r" l'l = t ~~ jp , )~ and t's = ( ' 1'~ /PBH are the velocities o[ long-
itudinal J C 1u:tic \\" · s in the two media. -
Th~ peri:1dicity of the . uperlartice can be exploited by a pplying Bloch's
theorem l th i p lacemc-nL 11";(.:) and the normal stresses C[ 1 11·,'(.: ):

( l6.5a)

( 16.5b)

Th rime o n ...; indicates the first derivative of w with respect to z, dA and d 8

·tr th thic knesse of the constituent layers. D = dA + d 8 is the superlattice
period . and k~ is the Bloch wave vector. We also must satisfy the boundary
ndi tio n · a t the interface .: = 0; namely the continuity of the displace-
ment a nd the no rmal stresses:

II'A (0) = lr!J(O) ( 16.6a)

(16.6b)

Sub tituting Eq s. ( 16.3) into Eqs. ( J6.5) and ( 16.6) leads to a set of four
lin ar homogeneOUSequations in the amplitudes J+·,.;. WA- · W B+ . and W R- ·
To l1ave a no ntri via l solution . we . et the determina nt of coefficients equal to
zero and obtain the dispersion relation for the propaga tion of lo ngitudinal
aco u .. tic 'Nave along the axis of a superlattice in the form (Jussernnd eta/.
19 6)

= cos
( d + w-
u.!-
·d
4 8)
2
- -f sm d.-~) Sin w-
. ( w-- _ , . (· ds) ( 16.7)
VA 'li B 2 V.4 VB

\\here

l p,-~t'. J - Psvsl ( 16.8)

~::=

· y f IS
Tl1e quantit · a measure ot· t h e nusma
· · tc J1 of· tl1c acoustic
·
impedances of
the different layas.
 Phonons in superlattices
396
· cr the solutions or Eq. ( 16.7) it is con. venic nt to u e the
l .. -~ lll.=-
In tJ.Lll!:i~ . · · d h fi B 'II .
r J ucc J ;on I? . L.11e 111 e in v.lhich
· k-- IS restncte
. to l e rst. n um zone··
- '1' {) ~ "= :S ;r D. The zeroth-order solutiOn corrcspondmg tor = 0 take
the imp l rorm
") 111 Tt 't '
w = ±ck: +=-o--· m = 0.1.2 . .. . ( 16.9 )

\\ ht:re [· i: the und \elocity of the average medium defined by

- I
d ., (I B
I'= /)(-+ -I 'B ). ( 16.1 0
L',.j

hi a ppr :inn ti n a~ umcs that the two m~dia are acoustically matched
Fig. 16.2
Ph0n n c.lr~p<:r~ll n ·un of th.: f' ldt:
(11 11 - 1 = f>H I'JJ ) and nor llcc tinn or a propagatmg elasttc wave occurs at any
ac u liL hranch •.11.:curJrn g 111 ·la,llt:ll) intcrf- tc .
th'M) 1n F ig_16.2 the fr eq uency ' pecifieu by Eq. ( 16.9) is plotted versus positi\'e
,,a ve ,.;ct r. The plo t con ists of a se ries of straight lines exhibiting the
e ·act fo lding ol'the di persion curves in the fir t Brillouin zone. The lowest
br~111ch (nt = 0) is the acowtic branch of the superlattice. The higher
branches are ·• pric·tl" branches that can be observed by Raman scattering.
There ::tre doubl degeneraci v es of the modes at the center of the zone and
at th e one boundary with frequencies given by

. ,(o ) _ mr v
J.)n - D . ( 16.11)

The index n is 2m for the zone-center modes ·~nd ?.m + I for the zone-
bound ary modes.
The solutions of Eq . ( 16. 7) for the more realistic case ~: 4 0 are onlv
slightly modified in the interior of the first Brillouin zone. The importan-t
qualitative change is the liftinJ of the degeneraci es at the zo ne center and
boundary. The dispersion curves dev~tte fwm linearitv for "'-' near
each nonzero value of w},U >. and small gaps are produced about these
va lues as shown in hg. 16.2. To first order in E the frequencies.,._·,. are
,,, (Jus erand era/. 1987 ) .
I \I
300K
fJI L "'
Z( ,.
I. IJ 9 ·V
12 t lo.t : l
where

A
:...l.u.ln _- :::C-
D
I . [ mr(
f t Sill I - . .Y cs·
( 1 -_r),.B .\'l ' t
Jj lb U l

and .\' = c/ ID is the r··. ·. I

-, • fir ·. t,lL!t o na co ncentration >f cunst itu nt B. 1 h' fr-
t.Jucnc y gap at Cllher the l) ~ ._ .
ill vcr..,L:] : . .. . < nc l Cnltt ot tlw lun~ b~Hlllkll~ "'~ ~-· .u lr
Fig . 16.3
. ) PI OJ10itton,tl tn the penod D uf th ., . • I . h.
"'lj) S \ . · ·) C Sll(1\.:f .t lt l l~ 0
b ' , ;jJlJ S l a( a Valu e nJ' .\' j.!; j\ ell h v \' =- ' ( • )
l< .uua11 Jl~·~·rru l1l (I I' Cl 1' I 11<..:J <I LII ll , l tc' T h . ,. I I ~ . . ' I lJ I I l'jj
C l) LL'd-bad. ll10dL'S ' l[ k () ..
Juuhkt rn , J CtaA, AlA~ "UJ1C!/.t l l t o.: ~ R'"llan scrttcnn~ . In Fi ' ]f,' , Ldll l' Pb, r •d
r:rJt r ( "h.r td , 111 ; /'Jxr 11 ·I - . ~,.;
•. ... . ·-' t!-o lll\\ n 't P(Jrtt un J' th
n l d LIJ Cl Jti lth.:C Cllf1SlSling l)J' altcrn,tlin n ld) 'I l J'
 ielectric continuum theory of optical modE'! 97

jlt nn.tll lll lhc f'r~qu ncic-; nf lh>! I< klcd <l u U'\llc
\ y. (I . II )d p~.:nd )Ill) { n LhC;J.\cragcso und \clc 'It
I' 'rH d D. he d, uhlct sp\itt tng depend.., Hl th · ratw
n par.Jmctcr-; a·o,;ocJatcd w11h th~,; inne r stn1cturt' 0 r th
mdn i hwl Ia~ ~r thi lncsses and s 1UrHJ \ 't i t Lil lC'I . hu .
f Lll' ~!\crag~.: d ublt: t freq uen y a nd wu\...: \ector enahlc
rmmc: ~111<.1 D Tlu" mfnrmall n c UJ I ~; l wit h mcasun.:rm:nts or
l phttmg and lno\\ kdge of the ind iv1d ual s und \d citie. and
II ·the dctcrmmation {'r lh Cractional co n~..:e n t rati n param -
thencc the mdi\ idual hy r thi kn · s :-; ~ ., .
m. ingk l<.t~er. vibrational mode - ~ a n p ro ] ~t ga t c in a ::.upt' rl at tl e
p.lr.tii'IIL the nLcrl.lce . ince there i~ n t) mpositio nal v·tria ti n m the
Jr ··troll 1. t' prtlpagali )11. no fr uency gap~ xi ~L \\:ithin the cia tic )ll -
tinuum 3pproximatlon . ome f the m Jc:. ha\ parLi le "lisJ Ia cnP n L
]~1calized near the interrac , and arc a ll d i nterface modes. whil th
re mammg modes are bulk-like mode · \Vith sign i ri ' a nt displa cment :nay
lnm the intcrLtcc . A mom! the b tte r. mod'S are h n£!i tu di nal a nd. tr:1n s-
~ ~

nT' mode of a n effective a\erage me dium .

16.3 Dielectric continuum the ory of optical modes

The optical mode of\ ibration or a po la r CT)'Slal contnbulc a rrcq u nc
dependence to the dielectric coirla nt a ~ !i ·cu eel in C ha pt .r lO. T his
dependence lead LO interc ·ting ·f_G ·ct · o n lh pro pdg:llio n f inirae d
radi:.ltion m upcrlalli en. C ia sica ! ck cLr mag nct i. theo ry can he u ~ d I )
analyze the chara tcr of the no rm al m ode::.. some of which a re inter face
mode ( amk and Mi ll. l R4 ).
lfretardati n is ignored . th electric Ci eld i, spccif'i ed by the cl "L·tros tatiL·
potential .,..(1·. !J \\hich .· ti. fi s La lac\ eqll'lt io n 111 each b er i = A.B:

( I o.J 4)

We are rmmanly int re ted in c; upcrlattic c n titu ents th<tl ~1re cu ~ic :tnd
hence optically 1sot r p 1c. h ~ ~ u ptrla tti cc pos · es~ e s tr:lllsl a ti o n~d Ill\ an-
ance parallel to iL i nte rra c~:. s a nd r< tati o na l tnvari a nL:c ;dJo ~It Ih :IXI::i
A oluti0n tn Eq ( 16 .1-+) can t her r n. b L' \\ rit k n w ith o ul ki SS lll ~CI1 L'rctlll y
ll1 the r rm

~t ( 16 .15 )
.,;,( r .f) = e
I /, \ (=I") • - I
·1 , \ - i -

d ~ r:IJ, (.::- ) ---

- - --
r.!. <fJ
I\ 1
( --), = 0. ( 16 16)
d::2
398 Pho nons in supe rl a ttices

I l .
<[•, (.:) - ( t" -

,, h c.:: r~ ( · a nd 1 Me l'l n-. ta n l tn be lkt c rrn incu

\ urLJ.tl d ~ term u1,1 L 1~10 l)l' thc • L" n-. t.tnt u.tn he tni.h.h.: hy im Pklll.! th
pc n o i cll ~ t""l l. the ·up rlal t i~.: ' 111 tht.: --d irccil n and \\riling <l>,t.:) m th
Bitch l"~>rm
•[i I ( -- - I
~
.1•1= [ I- •
</ - I ll. l

,, h 'I"L' cf i thL· .:-cl mp~_Hl nt l [ Lh' \\d\l: \"t!L'l l r a nd fnr <tn) inl cgt:r 11.

l :,l:.: 11 D = l_ .~ ' .: ) 16 I l

Within the: nth la\er lt" C~lll~litucnt A \\hich e t nd ... rrll11 : - nlJ t
.: = nD ...,- d 1• the pe-riodic funLtic'n L)( .:) ca n bt.: \Hittt' n a·

L 1 - ) rC~~ .~:: ·-111> ] 1f'l ._ll

"-
= it' : : - 110 1 n ll I -k
t'

for an interlace mode. <l> 1(.:) is then giH·n h~

( 16 _I

Similarly. \\ithin the nth layer l)fconstituent B \\ hich . tends frl1m uD d 1

to (II + I )D. <1, 8 (:.:) has tht: form

(F.
~'8-
( _) = ( ,tqno [c·s + (
,k :::- no - d , l

These expressions for <!> _.1(.:) and ¢ 8 (:.:) dear!~ satisf) E . ( I . 16J.
The four constants C 1. c-1. !.
and C!! are srecitied ~ t hl' hl'unJ,m
conditions stating the continuity across each interfacc or the clcctr t,ltll.:
potential and the normal~.:omponent oft h~ electric di -placemt:n t V Tht.:
conditions can be applied at : = nD and:.: = 11D -r / 1: the~ a r . athlkd .1l .dl
nther interl~tces as a result ofth~ Bloch form s r~1r ~) 1(:.:) a n <fln : )
Continuity of (P(.:) at :.: = 11 D gives the eq uatiPn

( ,•-
I
- ( ' ··I = (' ,,.n l·c·B l..iu I ~
·8c /;,/H"j. l(i-,

The normal component of the electric displacement i::- g1 ·en b) - t(_ l( d<l•
d.:). \\here rk ) is the dielectric constant at fn:quenc) - · lh ·omi null ,n
: = nD. ields the equatinn

From the continuity conditi o n~ at .: = nD + c/ 1 \\1.: l b L1111 .1 -.ecl'nJ r·ur 1•

·qua t io ns :

I tl 25

r 1 ...._>~1 l( . 1(,~./ , -
· I,
l
~d ' ] = r 11 1 -
1 ·
' ( ( li -
(_· /1 ) ( In.2t
 Dielectric conti .uum theory o f optical modes 399

( 16.~J) ( 1(I -6 ) h ;1 ~ · 1111111 ri\ nl ..,n lu t il n 111 1 1 IO

( 11 f' -- I ' I I' • 8 -
n , . ' an d I'> Z l: l"ll . • a l u c1L i ng
rclati L1 11 f 11' !h ' nnrnn ] m des: (0 I.I j

:-.h(!" /8 ) 190

c11(w)J . .
- , -) smh k.d, ) stnh (kc/8 ). ( I .27)
' ·I~ ..J

h~ k:t I hand ·jd I is in maenitudc k:s::-. than

r th is "quation -e- -170
the fir t term n tht nght hand . ide is 11reater than uni tv if u

"' n da mping i · neg! cted. _,(.....') ;__tnd c 8 (w) 3re rea l. Ol;se-
;;..,
u
c:
tr r-tll 1 ,(.t.') r n(...J must be negative in order for Eq. ( 16.27) to '-'
::;
cr
(0 )
.tl"ll ll) meaningful soluti 111 . The dielectric co nstant of o ne J: 300
~ n tit nt mu t e po itiv and that of the other constituent must be
ne_ ti\C, t the frequen c_ f intcrest. For polar crystals with two atoms per
un;t '11 ucl-t <ll'l th Ill- V compounds. the dielectric constant is given by
Eq ( 10 _ ) and i. negati ve only in the reststrahlen range wm < w wLo · If
the re"L trahlen r gi01r ( f the two constituents do not overlap as in G aAs/
lA . nonnal mod lutions o f q . (I 6.27) occur for frequencies in both
r . t trahlen regi n .
260
In Ftg. 16 . ~ ar plotted the normal mode frequencies versus wave vector k. () 2 3 4 5
for \ ari u~ \ alue · o f q. In each reststrahlen region the frequencies fall into kd
l\\ and· wirh a ga l between them ifd.-1 f- d 8 . From Eqs. (16. 15), (16.21),
Fig. 16.4
·mel (16 ._:2) v.e see that the modes have field amplitudes localized abo ut
Calculated in te rrace m de fo r a
a h interfa and are therefore interface modes. They are frequently GaAs/ AI s superlattice wi th d 1 = 20 A
refi rr d t a Fuchs-Kiiewer modes. and d 8 =60.A.: (a) A lAs-like mode-:
Merlin et of. ( 19 ) mea sured Raman scattering in GaAs/ AIAs super- (b) GaAs-like m od ~ . t/, 1 a nd c/8 ~~ r · tin:
latti e and obser d a peak bet\veen the TO and LO modes that ma y be tbicknesse- o f the Ga As a nd AlA s
la yers. res pectively. The + a nd - sig ns
attri ut d t the m odes discussed a bove (Sood et a/. 1985). More recent
indica te the parit _ ur the dectro -ta ti
Raman ttering xpcriment by Sood eta/. clearl y show interface modes po te ntia l wi th respect to the center o f the
in bot h th GaA a nd AlA reststrahlen regio ns. GaA~ layers. qD = 0. da bed cu n -es:
tting k = 0 in Eq. ( 16.27) requir . that q = 2Jrpj D, where pis an integer. qD =r.. so lid curves (after Sood el a!.
uch lutions corre ·pond to the uniform mode in which <I> A(.::) = 1985)

<l> 8 ( ::- ) = c nstant. More interesting solutions with k = 0 can be obtained if

ret· rda ti n j ~ includ d and the electric vector£ satisf1es the wave equation

( 16.2X)

m each medium i. Taking£ to be in the x-direction and to depend only on

.:: and r reduces Eq . ( 16.28) to the form

(16. 29)

whi h j co mpletely analogous t > Eq . ( 16.2) f'or the elastic m_ed ia case.
Th disc ussiOn of the latter case can be taken over to the d1electnc_medt~tm
ca e provided both t:: and Ea(w ) arc positive. Folding of the dtspers1on
(u.: )
cur ·e
_ A . . ,·l • -•• th ~
1t htn th fi rst Bnllouu1 zo ne anu g<tps a 1 t: 70
.
·
ne center and zone
 Phonons in superlattices
4 0
ccur. These l·cs·LIItsprnvide
- an example f photonic band
h1. un la r '
structure . . . .• h· .. 1 neoative dielectric constant at the frequenc~: f
II e 111L'L1'" e - . . " h h . .J
, , tr nn !!ndic vv~1 ve cannot prop.tgate t roug that med 1um
ne lll I ,ts ,
.
1 1 d.1eIec·tn·c con ·tam and·
mtcn.:~t. l lc.: ~.:
h ~ ~medi um w1- th t he posltJvc
·· · q

It t L nl111cu1 lt - l e
. _ , . ,
d. . 1
. f" d ode Such modes are 1spers10n e ~ and beha
'-' lll'lltltk ~~ con tne m . - h . ·} .. ~ II d . e
. t lk x i f ., ,; ni'k laver. w tc 1 dre ~.:a e gu1ded-wov
nllll.'h ltke the 1U nH L 1 ' 1 e . e
modes.

16.4 Microscopic theory of optical modes

'fl1C a~.:l Us.1·IC f1 1 Ll•''-'• de ribed by· elastic . continuum .
theory
.
and the mac-
·• 1· .1 Jtn)d - de cribcdbvthed1electnccontmuumtheorvd n t
ro. COPIL or l ' ' •
e hausr Lh • 1 ta lity 1. f n< rmal modes ot v1hratiDn of a superlatt1ce. _Smc the
J • • • • ".

md J\'1 d ua I 1.~011 t 1.t 11 nt ·

· lnw
'
microscO()IC
·
optical modes
.
not descnbable b'.'
lhc L nti nuum app r ,ach. it follows that a superlattiCe also must have .u'h
m 1d . qual itativ effect of the new larger periodicity of the superlattice
i. to J wcr th ymmetry fthe structure and produce folding of the optical
bra nche. in th first Brillr uin zone oft he bulk constituents. As a result ne\\
111 d~.: , ap pea r for~ give n alue of the wave vector in the first Brillouin zone
fth superlattice that are related to bulk modes of the constituents having
la r<'er W<· v vector va Iues.
Two distinct situati ons can a rise rega rding the optical branches of the
t\.vo constituents. In the first case the optical branches of the two materials
are i.n different frequency ranges and do not overlap. while in the second
ca e there i partial or complete overlap. Examples of the t\vo cases are
GaA I lAs for the first and lnAs/GaSb for the second.
In the GaAs/AIAs superlattice the AI atoms are much lighter than theGa
atoms. and hence the optic·tl branches of AlAs are in a higher frequency
range than those of GaAs. There is no overlap. As a res ult superlauice
optical modes in layers having one of these frequency ra nges cannot prL1-
pagate into layers ha ving the other frequency range. The nwd ~s arc con-
fined in either the GaAs or the AlAs layers. The confined modes d0 not
show disperuion.just as with con fined macroscopic L)ptical modes. fn som
ca. s of co nfined modes the atomic dit'placements are not rig(1J'L1 Usl~
loca liLecl _in one type of la yer. but penetrate int o the adjn · n l byers \\ ith
exponentially decaying amplitude. Confinem nl is n:'\ a kd ·p rimenl:lll~
by the d I ndence r the phonon frequencies onlv L)Jl lay r thid,neS5 and
_ t on, w·tve
no ' . vec-t<)l" · Dec·Iedsmgt . · 11e 1a ;c rthl·cknesscaus~sthe
· • ·· · ,1·
trcl liCilL'I ~~
the GaAs-IJke · ''tt1d ·~'\lA s-1 ' l.k e LO mo d es to shllt · - d~H\'n warL.' i h ·rtd , ' [h··~
corresp ndingTO rrequenciessh ift upward. Inaddi ti~. n o l)nlin~.l nlld
th e GaA
. · /AlAs
· ·"., S\' "[P 111 h· - · t ,.
'" ,1s 111 e r.ace modes ~1s d1· 'l ll.:::-.cd 111 l 1ll; f'L• ·Jtr1''=-
sectron .
lnthclnl-\s
• • _
'G·'1 • t) ' upt:·1-Ja tt 1ce
J.
· the t.req uenc v r:ln g, \)I th~.: L phL 11L II 1n
. d~b- h~s .cntlrcly w it~1in that or lnA s. \\:0 l } p , l,l· 11 let ft ". 1 (dll
.lltu n,~h.:l) · l. 11 '-' mvo lvmg pairs ,r li ghkr :t t ms , 1 lll~l h1.' tlh.'f
111VOIVI!lg J)'llf .. ,. I • . ~ h
[ p S . f . . , "·u 1LaVILT at<'llls ( In I") · I I I L. l t ,lL. • llh l I ·l
_F.' u tltt ert ~IL'L's ( Berddas and Ka n lli. JUJI) 111 ..1
con tned modes 11 . , 1 · · . 1· I I
LL: II Ill\\' lie 111\: l.!J~jl : t • ·m cnt.' ,lfl. I. I
 Microscopic theory of optical modes 401

hi~.. h. btk ·nwll in the adjointng layers nf tht: nthc r

'.I~ 1.? \ J"' l ' ll ' t1 lia11~ !!t)ing away rr~Hn the interrace:-. with
II
c;\ . . . . . . . . .-( }-__..'""'-.).--..~

Fig. 16.5
mea r ..:hai n ,J cJ or" ~ n pcrlatti<.:c:
r chain model wtt h con -.ti tu · nt~ 1/J anuACr r
li t = 2. 11 . = 2.
• 1r' for m vcsti!!ating the propagation of optical modes
I tllcc J is i · t ~mplo y the linear chain model with nearest-
ttons. W re. trict our attention to the case in \.vhich both
.md ..fC have a common atom as shown in Fig. 16.5. The
Jnd 4 C ar labeled with an index ,. ,_, taking on the values I
.....,...."",.'i 'I~. Th · s upcrlattice supercell contains lit la yers of A 8 and
4 he d i~p lacement of atom A are denoted by u,(,.,_,) and
t "'Ill B or (for" = 1 or 2 respectively) by vr(t;.). where f denotes
the It~ t fan ..f at m. A sociated with an A atom is a B or C atom which
t getlw "ith the A a tom form a primitive unit cell in a constituent layer.
F , r 1 gi\ ~u Ja~ er th e equation. of motion are

( 16.30a)

(16.30b

with a,. the n are ' t-neigh bor force constant. Since the force constants differ
littl from n III- V compound to another. we shall take a 1 = a 2 =a in the
foil "ring.
Th Jutio n of Eqs. (16.30) can be expressed as

( 16.3\a)

. ( )_ V if'!., a, - i:,.H (16.3\b)

1 "" - ,..e ,

" ·here k , is the \-vave vector, w is the frequency, aK is the lattice constant,
and L'" . V,. are displacement amplitudes. Substituting Eqs. (16.31) into
4 ·. 16.3 ) yields the pair of equations

(w .,-m .~ - 7)
_a "- a(i+c>-
' ik..a,,)V".= O n
(16.32a)

(16.32b)

whose solution can be expressed as

Urc = W,_a( l + e - ik,.a,.) (16.33a)

(16.33b)

with IV, an arbitrary amplitude. .

· . · h ·I· tt ' 'e we take hnear com-
To obtam the normal modes ot t e supet a H.: , . .
. . .f.. db E, (16'l)and(J633)wtthboth
b mat1on~ of the solutions spec1 1e Y qs. ·- ·
 Phonons in superlattices
.402
+ t "' <itld - k" .
-}/.. ,,tl. )()/ k , _L W' ~- !J'( l + eik., a,, )e Jf/,, IJ.
I 16.34a
(1,,
+ rr( 1 + e
II (f;) = ru
~ ,.. r "

-) - ( 1(1- - Ill zw' )

2 [r··"~ ;-"- (,'.,,~- ..a •. + "'-J/ .- e - il.,·a,] .
lo (16. 4b
1 I ( ~. -

'- · W I I w,-. W,+,

b ·• the ll)tl r p.tr<um.:'l"J'S and ~v~- are determined bv the
0
• ,
0

-. . . -
" etc _, _ ~ nclJ'tions At theo ngm f' = Owhereanatom oftype
· f-1ce l nu nua r'/ l:O · . •1
rnLer< - _: - "tB ·mdA CconstJtuents.we musthave
i . h.He hy Ia <eJs o 1 " <

110 ( 1 ) = uo(2) .

The equation of motiL)ll of this sha red atom is

_ 1111 ..J 2lll)( l ) = a-[o_ 1 ( 1) - u0 ( 1) +vo(2) - uo( 1)]

= a [t _ 1( I ) - llo( I ) , vo( 2)- uo(2)]. ( 16.3Sbi

t the interh .e = n7. we impose the Bloch condition and obtain

= (1)
' ASS (~
t ~~~~~~~~ "' )
u n2 ( "- u - 11, - e
iqD ,

2::~,~
~- -~
- -~ --~
.'\
- ~-- ~
- ---~
-- where q is the Bloch wave vector. Since the atom at f.' = - n, is shared by
\~ different layers, u_,/ (2) = u_,/ ( I) a nd 1 1

- - - - 1_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
( 16.35 l

- - - -'- - - - - - - - - - - - - - --- The equation of motion of this atom can be written as

:;.,
~
;:; s -m 11 w ~u11 ~ ( 2 ) = a- [L,11 ( 1)eiqD- l/11 "( 1) + · ~~~ - 1 (2) - 11112 (2) . ( 16.35dl
:::l
v s
tt A Substituting Eqs. ( 16.34) for''= 1 a nd 2 into Eqs. ( 16.35) yields a set of
!)

~ four linear homogeneous equations. Setting the determinant of the coef-

ss ficients eq ual to zero gives the dispersion relation for the superlattice in tht'
A. form (Jusserand a nd Paguet l9R6).
s
A.
( ltd l
I A~~
s
s \vhere
s
4 I - cos(k 1a 1) cos(k a,)
I)
'f'(//)
\Vavcvector 1f = - -
s in ( k 1 a 1 )s in ( k~z 2 ) ·
Fig.16.6
Lmc;n hain di pe r~1un c urvl-~ for an
A li), (A ~~~ ~upcrbttict:co rrc ponding
~his dispersion relation describes both opt iL·al and r ld d acoustic ' tbr:l-
1
" LO mud~; . Sand AS desi ~n:tte
IJons. Each folded aco ustic branch produces 11 1 +n~- I 1 ldttil n<d m~J ·.;
~ym m~ttn and :tnl i~y m m~:tnc rn ode~ ur at . th~ zone center. They are "optical" modcs 1.1f .'UJ ~?rl:lltt ·' anJ Jn th
!hi! l) J"le~- ( I J I ldr tl :t ·r,u,ttc mode. pnn rrl<:_ are observable by spectrt scopic kchni u, h pll -.tl 111 ' J.:,
(2 l'Xlend ~::d 11H•cll! \\ llh f'n:quctt cy in till: a~e conhne~ or propagating depending nn th l, rl.tp Lh' 1'1 ,t!
(1\'(:rlapptnt: regi Jll . !1) tonfined 1110d~o:
wi t ll t h~: highc~ r l rcq u~tncy (,tfrn
~ranches ot the co ustitucnts _ N umerical r"..;ul t. . t th J.tl llh 1'
lrL:qucnc,csJsai' .1- 1
0

. ,. . _
J U ~\t:riJI H.J JlJX7 ) . . . - LIIK Jon Ll \~ "vc \'t:L'lnr a 1'1.: pr, ·cntu.
,l superlatttcc \-hose C\'l1st it uc-nts ha\c p· t rlt<~ll.
 Problems 403
t' P l r 111\) I " , 11 • illrh. tr·.·tt•'tl
...
1ll II
ll:d -<H: nu '> tl( ,
, nd ,lnfin~ d ''Pli " I I

-dim ensio nal mode ls

Lkl a~ d ''\c ri hcd in the previ u · section cannot fullv

., ra l k atu r" r the vibrati onal properties 1f r~~;l
n IH! th' Jeli tC tlL·ies to be overcome arc the Jack of
_ l nd n ';..trcst 11 ighbors , the neglect of oulomb intcra __
I tndJ n to nc dimension. The ·c dcf'iciencies h; 1ve been
thr ' -dimen i na l calculations for GaAstAIA , superlauic ·
n [ 101] u _ing th~:: bond-charge model (Yip and Chan~ 1984)
h II m d 1 ( Rtch t r and Strauch 1987). In the Iauer work force
3

~. : ('11 •nt f r u k aAs were used for both materials \Vith no modifica-
ti n na e t tl,c mter ra es . This ·tpproximation is justified by the clo e
.nnilant. 0" l1 ·l~t tH.: n, tants of GaAs and AlAs.
The r~ ult of th sh 11 -rnodel calculations rev a! folded-acoustic and
c nfined l)ptical m de ~ ·t sociated with both transverse and longitudinal
branch . ALo pre en a re interface m des derived from both the acoustic
Jnd optJcal hran h s. T he LO confined optical modes can be approximated
a. tanding W:J.\e. wi th a vvave vector q1 given by

( 16.38)

\\her n,. and a,. a r the number of monolayers and lattice constant,
r pe tiv I~ . of tbe material with positive dit:lectric constant. The asso-
iat d di pla ment s behave as cos(q1::) and sin(q1.::) forj = I J.5 . ... , and
f= -.-l-.6 ... . r ~ p Li vely. Also present are guided acoustic modes propa-
g ting perpend icula r to the superlattice axis and interface optical modes of
the Fu h:-.- K 11 w r type.

Problems
I. alcu late th e fr quency of the lowest folded longitudinal acoustic branch
b. f\' R, man sca tt ering in a superlattice consisting of alternat111g layers
f a ~~ t h thick nes" of 15 A anJ AlAs with thicknel:i. of 10 A. The elastic
m d uh ca n be r unJ in Table 7.3 a nd the lattice constant. in Table 1.4.
1
With th a id I Table 10.1 determine what frequency ranges can support
int rf ce o rtital mod es in a superlattice composed of ZnSc an~ AlAs.
~ - F r a Zn e lAs superlaltice \\ith cl .1 = d 8 = d calculate the frequency a · a
fun ·ti n f /, I for all interface optical mode branches at q = 0. Plot"" versus kd
f reach brJ.nch. Abo cakulate and plot the amplitudes <1? .,(.:) and CI>rA.:l as
fun.:t i ns f.:. .
"' rh ·d -
r er o nfmed opnc::ll · a super 1at t·r~.:e
modes 111 ·· ,.,,
' ·th ·'111lplitude c:f>H(-)
- ~!!1\ren
b~
( 16.39)

hut •1, ., ~ .: ) g iven by Eq. ( 16.21 ). Derive the di spersion re_lation and cak:•;;e ~~~
a fu ncti n o f kd for the GaA , AlA s supcrlattiCe of Prohlem 1 an~J q ··
·1~ 1 ~ ·
La LU a L an d plot the amplrtudcs <1, _,(_) dll
- . d ,1, (-)as function s of.:.
~ R- ·
404 Phonons in superlattices

References
D. H rdekas and G . Kanelfis. Phys. Rev. B43, 9976 (1991 ).
R E . Camkv and D . L. Mills. Phys. Rei'. B29, 1695 (1984).
·olvard. R. Merlin. M.V. Klein, and A. C. Gossard. Phys. Re 1•. Lett
{I ~0). .
45• 298
B . .l usserand. Thesis. Paris ( 1987) .
. Ju -,era nd and D. Paquet, Phys. Rev. Lett. 56. 1752 (1986).
B. Jus cr;..tnd. F. Alexandre. J. Dubard, and D. Paquet, Phys. Rev. 833.
(! R ).
2897
. .Ius crand. D . Paquet. F . Mollo!. F. Alexandre. and G . Le Roux. Ph ·s R
83-. _,·ox ( 19~ 7 ) . _, · tl'.
G. Kan . Ills . .1. F. M orhange. and. M. Balkanski, Phys. Rev. B28. 3390 (1
983,.
R. Mcrltn. C. Co lvarJ. M. V. Klem. H. Morkoc, A. Y . Cho and A
•
cG
· · ossard·
Appf. Phys. Ll!rt. 36. 43 ( 1980).
E. R1 hter and D . Strauch. Solid State Commun . 64. 867 (1987).
A K. ~ood . J. Menendez. M . Cardona, and K. Ploog, Phys. Rev. Leu. 54
_115 (1985). · 211 I
S. Yip andY. Chang, Phys. Rev. 830. 7037 ( 1984).
 of
ure

Optical properties
Ill n tlwL c )nlribu t Lo 11p ti cu l ;tb ·l1rpt1on inL·Iud c 17 1 Optical absorption due to electronic
i 11 ul\itiflm bdween. L:.He~ L) a ' in !l le suh band: trorlSitions
ltrcm iTiom between ·ubband of th -.: same bam..l'
m. iwm. hcl\\ .:~..:n su hband s of i iffe rent band ~.
I tH: n b) a qua i -t\\ 0-dim cn. ic na l ::o <L o f fr e carriers in a
p rl t h l ro lTUClllfe i. r) rbJddcn . Ab. l rp ti cn ca n be induced h\
ph n n . impurille:. and oth "r defe ct . ·
T11 h. \i: a q ti 111 the radiation mu-r p ro pag~1 te parallel to the
int rlacc nf th quantum \\el l. lf the qua ntum \Veil has a pla ne of
rell ctit n . ymmetry. 1 I) tra nsit ion hel\veen subhanJs o f opposite
parit} r allow d.
Optical uh )rpLion due t > tra nsJl J ) l1S het'v\' 'e n subband s in difrerent
band. can occu r in heteroslr udu res >vvi th t_tp e I quon twn t\ ·c f/,
( ondudH.n ~.::kctrL)Jl ~ and holes in the sa me layer) ur \\ ith l )'ft II
cflltiii!WJI\\e/1.\ (conducti n electr r and ho les in dille r nt lJ. rs ). For
l~ pt: I lh\.: ab:-, rptJon ha a stairca pro !i le while for type II it ha s :1
·m olh pr tile and i · quite \\eak.
lnterband opllca l ab ·orption in ty pe I ·:tnd type l1 -,upcrb tticcs hu s
pn pertie:- - imilar to th ~e r the indi vid ua l quantum wells ma king up
the . . up~.:rlatlices.
1h.: e\c:llon erfect reduces the cfT-.:U i\c ncrgy gap in a 20 '-Y~Le m by an
amount \\ hich ,.., fo ur tim the reducti o n in a 30 ·y te m du e to the
d1fferences m exciton bin J !ng en er \ . 'A ith increasin g thick ness oft he
quamum well the ~.:ffed i vc- Bo hr~ ~·;tdius increases and th t: e:-.ciwn
hinding energy de T a '-= _ ." tr ng non/in('ur uh,o!plit ll/, t) bservcd in
quantum \\db is rda t d t he hll·- c . .:ilbtM strength ol the pmKlpal
e. ell on peak . 17.2 Photolumine sce nce in
Ph tolumi ne .c:et ce techni q u ::. in Ju de : _ two-d imensional systems
I .
fllll{fi/I{J)If11L',\(t!J1lf!Sf'L''
· h . 1
· .
f /' I.L II{7_1'111 \V I Lt :-l llll
--e i- ·H ., fi\ ed lrL·qucnc\'
• ' ' · -
:.md thL emitted ligl i · a nal yzed by a nu)nochn)Jlwt.or. . _
. . . . .. . •I · ' h 1s the mver-.c ol
f1 IIOlO/WIIfl/1!\CI.!II Cl' 1!.\. C!f(/( /t!/ l S flt'l'/1 tl ,\1 11{>.1 \\ 11L .
. . · . ... . r ·tlixeJ lrcqucncy anJ
Iummt. cenct: pec lrc 'oCo pv . The dele LUI ~~ sc 1 .t • ' , __ , - .
1 11
l he I.! XL 11 i g light is .;;c ·tn ;1ed th ro ug h,_'~l~~~n~o~n_:_o_L_'h_r_ _ _ ·_• _l _H_·· _l\_ _k_t:_d_l~_._ _ _ _ _________
0 111 1
_'_ __J
 Optical properties of heterostructures
40
. . p ·ctn inc.llcate that the various photolumine.
di lkren t c x~.: Jt all nn l: ' . . . .
-.<.:~nee lines h <L\ , di tfercnt p~l y!>rcal ng•~s.' . . .
• . 1 . ·ombin<Jll n the polanzcttl n selectiOn rule depend
l·nr h LJH.I· ll>- .tnt re~.: . d ,. h Th
- t' nrop·tva tiolll)fthc cm1tte 1g t. e -rree"' exciton
n tht ut1
rcd r n l t ' c-' . . 11
. .
1Ufl1tn • cl:llCe Ilrll 11 c 1
. s hid 1 intensttv
•
m a quantum
•
we due to the small
• •
. · ·h ,.. 11·n er and photons mtcract. Two-dimens1onat
\ l tli11C 111 \\ 11ll .... .
• rl n (<t tl be loca liLed by w ak d•sorder.

~or hulk s 'miClHld uct r:- the dl'lermination of the ~plical absorption
( cflidc n Lis relati\ ly simple: one measu_res the attenuation of~ hght beam
passing thr ugh a ·arn pl or suitable thickness. l_n the case ol q_uasi-two-
dunen iL nal ·truct ures the measurement IS complicated by the high aniso-
tropy of thee . tem · and their very small thicknesses . .
Twc -dim n ·iomtl ·r tems are prepared by the ep1taxml growth of thin
film of different materials none another. A quantum well. for example.
c·1n be f )rmcd from two different semiconductors. one having a small
cnergy ga p £ 11 and the other having a large energy gap Ea. One starts with a
r ta ti ely thick layer o f ' ingl crystal semiconductor Band deposits upon it
- b molec ular bea m epitaxy (MBE) a very thin layer of semicondw.:tor A
8 A IJ
\-\ ho thid.ness Li s on the order of I 00 A. On top of this layer of material A
Fig . 17.1 i- depo- ited by M BE a second thick layer of semiconductor B. The \ery thin
uantum \\l!ll fo m1 d [ r m tw
layer f. miconductor sandwiched between two thick layers of emi-
- ~ml ond uct<)l> A ~md 8
concluctor B forms a quantum well as shown in Fig. 17 .1. The direction of
epitaxial crystal growth is taken to be the .:--direction.
Optical experiments on quantum wells can be carried out in two different
configurations. The most frequently used configuration corresponds to an
electromagnetic wave prop ·~ga ting along the :-axis with wave vecwr q
parallel to 5 and perpendicular to the plane of the heterostruuure. luch
more difficult to carry out are experiments in which the light beam pr~.1 -
pagates in the layer plane with q -

17.1 Optical absorption due to electronic transitions

In Fig. 17.2 we show the conductiun and valence band nke · r th h~r n)-
tructure B/ Af B described above. Fre~ carriers in mat ri~l .--1 ar l·onlin'J
by Lhe energ barriers at the interfaces be t\vccn materiaL A ami B. It \\ J ~
shown in Clnpter' ·
1-c1 th ·tt
,
tl1e energy states ot~ the earn r I- rm '>U kh v .111 u. l ·
. ·ach band o f the bulk semiconductor has a set of subband · .t ·L l'li.lte~l ' irh
ll that are clistinotll.sl1 ··d b
.. • ·. - "". · c Y a su bt1an(i 1ndcx
· ·
11 . Th r 1.. t\pe· l'l (lpn~o. .
"II

tl ,tn:stll •r can be tdentilied immecliat ~ ty : .

~ - transiti ons bet\ ecn tall'S Of a singfe subnand

fJ
,
transtll
.
1l1S between subb·•ncl· 1l _ t~l
· ' ' l
t J
1 ' Silll'lC ':I 11
f ig . 17.2 .l . tran: •t•ons betwcl..'n subb·tnL
' '
-ls· 0 ,- l i'!'t' b
I ' I'C lll a 1.. S
I
f unduc1•nr1 anu ,~ h.: nc~: h~•nu cLig~:~ 111
We . ., haJI rc-kr to tr~tnsitions ~lt'tvj1C ( l) .,_, ·ntr bb d t
.1 hd~ I <J.!/ULIUIC /1 , I I)
:ts int bb . .. · · ' asu an ra
. ersu and Iran illons, and or t . PL (J ) .1.' 'nterband
 Optical ab orpt'Jon due toe Iectromc
. transit1ons 407

n di;Jgramm<tlK' alh. in I i' · 17 ··\ f'o t·. til.l.:l d~

. .' (
I' I.tn:c l
1 1 fr.tn llllltb .

n a ·: ci·tl
1(1 ll ~ d \\'itllJ.IltJ-·tsubb an d lranstlt
,
· ·o nstslhe
·
. L .t..,vn-
n I~ g L l the: !'rec carrier abso rpti o n th a t occ urs in bulk
fnr P~~r~ t heterostructure. th ab:'hlrJ tion by a quasi-
.' .,._11 c.a. t.tree ca.r ne.rs is for idden far the ame reaso n <L in
I .t •• t!1c 11111 ossibllity o f o n . erving encrg and momentum
u.l. dl~rm ~' the ph o to n abso rptio n process. Free carrier
Lm t c md u d by phonons. impurities. and other d fect s tha t
II= I
l r pr \'id in_ the momentum chan ge necess·trv for the carrier
n=-
11 =3

17.1.2 lntersubba nd transitions in the same band Fig. 17.3

Optical Lran it i o n ~ in a hc te ro~ t ruc Lure:
lnt r::.uhhJnd ab orption in v lves the excitation ol a carrier from one (I) intrasubb nd t r:.~ n s it io n s .
·ubband to a hi::oher sub band. We consider the specific case of conduction (2 in tcrsubband Iran itions,
eledron ·in an infi nit quantum well. The envelope function Fnk (r ) can be (3) intcrband Iran ttio n .
HILLen with the aiel of Eqs. (1 5.6 ) and (I 5.28) in the form

Fllk ( r = ei/.. 1 .,.- v

,-\_11
(
-)
- ,
( 17 .I )

wl cr
\ , i' .:-) - (2 / L)cos(mr:;'' L) , n odd ( 17 .2a)

.\. 11 ( .: ) = 2/ L ) sin (mr:/ L). n even ( 17.2b)

and 11 i a positive integer. In order to produce a transition between sub-

band · t he lectric vector o f the radiation must be in the :-direction. so the
radi tion mu t propagate parallel to the interfaces of the quantum well.
: erimentally. this condition ca n be achieved by having the radiation
in id n t n tb -- mpk at Brewster's angle.
n expres ion for the abso rption coefficient u(w ) can be obtained by
m in in.! Eq. (I 0.-3) ,.vith a general ization of Eq _(I 0.60). lt turns out. that
r Iran it ions within the same band. the simple product form F"" . (l·)u;o(r)
giYcn in Eq. ( 11.87) as an approximation for the full wave fun ction 'lh (r) is
inadequa te. Higher-order terms arising from the canonical transforma-
li 1r of etfecti,·e mass theorv must be included (Wallis 1958). The net result
• J

i that the free electron mass m is to be replaced by the effecti ve mass m' in
Eq. ( 10.6U). T he absorption coefficient is then given by

iJ (v.: ) =
7 rre2 N 11
-
\.----. I'
'().L.., j(i \Jl=lJ) - (l(£ 1
-- L"
L 1 -
1· ·) (. 1·
IW . , -
1·)
1 ,
( 17.3 )
EnC/1 w')v.J/11 -, • ..
' l. f

· · account has been II · - ' "' ILII11C P

'-~ere /'v w IS the number of quantum we s tn ' l• . . . . . -'· .
1· · th Fer1111. dts·tnbution lunctwn. the
I
· · · ·
La ken ot st1mulated emission. JS e . ·
· d. · b ·. ' · ·md n' k' respecti vely. and
Ill tc s i./standforthequantumnum e1s 11 J. ' ,1\ .l_ ( •
 Optical properties of heterostructures
AO
. . t' ~ l . . been in serted for spin. Using Eqs. ( 17. 1) and ( 17.2) reduce
a lnctL' I o - w s ·
the ll hl l H?ntum matrix element to the form
(nk LIP:In'k'J = b,._.k.'_(nJP.:In') . 17 4;

. r· th, qu ·wtum well is a plane of reflection , vmmetr\

1111.. thl' 1111 p I;lll C 0 t: " • . • •. ••
. ~ · 111 •1tri\ elements ol p - are specified by the selectiOn rule
the 1wn\ a L 11111g < · -

11 _ 11 ' = odd integer.

1n 11 hcr \\or d 'i. , 11 Jv ,.. sitillnS

- 1 111
L
between subbands of opposite parittJ are
alh •\\ed Ta ·ing 11 to be odd and n ' to be even. we evaluate the matrix
ekment or,= ~1110 l)btain

21lll' [·in (n + n')1r j 2 sin {n' - n)7r/2]

(nlfi_ Jn ) =
1
iL n + n' + n' - n · ( 17.61

qua tion ( 174) can be utilized to rewrite Eq. ( 17.3) for the absorption
o ITi i nL as

( 17.7 )

If nonpa rabolicity of the subba nds and the sca ttering of the carriers b~
defects are taken into account, the delta function in Eq . ( 17. 7) is replaced
by a peaked fu ncti on with nonze ro width.
Example 17.1 : Intersubband abso rption coefficient
Ass uming all carriers a re initially in the n = I subba nd. obtain the
absorption coefficient for excita tion to the n = 2 subband.
Solution. The matrix element of P:: is found fro m Eq. ( 17.6) to be
8h/ 3iL. T he sum over k 1.. is simply

2LJi ,.l = Nf .
HL

where N, i, t~1e number o f' carriers in subband 1 o f a g:i\'Cn q ua nt um

~ell and _rhe lactor o f 2 acco unt s for spin . The a bs(H·p ion ·--. ·tti( ient
IS then given by

n ( !.u:) = 1re~ N 1 N w
FuCII (w )wm •- n
( Sti)
3L
2
E
( ~·2 - £ , - h ·). I I Y)

rr the thick nes·

·· s· o r tl1e h eterostructure
- with i\ w q ua ntum \ IL I
LlcnU
I = LSwhereS
: i· ti "' · ·t· ~
s le sui ace aren t)l a wel l. qu.LllL n ['"' > ·.tn
t I1en be rewntten as
 phcol obsor ti n due t0 e1ectrontc
. tra nsitions
409
ll1111l h,r \ r c· rr i 'rs I'' . . .
. 1 Ul11t ar ·a 111 '> Lihh·lllJ I. I,
I t.liUillll ' 11 b the I ~.~r~'111 '1 ' 11l I' t. ,
• - L • llllC 1llll

(' l \ )
( 17. 11 )

X
~ ' ;1J1d r i.s the half-width at half-ma. imum . 1::
c
n
..c
0
./)
.0

( 17. 12)
0
JC:ll _ .,G· qua• ntum well. n( w ) ::::::: l- . -l · n 1· ""' 0 . 07 Ill.
r :::
II -
10 em - . L ~ 100 A. and 5 meV. The absorption pea k Phtll n •n rg vt crn l)
I
t h .:m,n
... :::::: 160 m V. .
If J\1 11 ·= I and. £ = l1tm t-- ')
et(' . ) "'
I...VIIl(l~ -
m :. pi t f t he xpenmental ab -orptJon versus freq uency is Fig.17.4
Abs rp tion oef tcien t er u r·rcqw.:nc:_
~ "11 111 Fig. 17.4.
fo r iht:n = l - 11 = - tr rvm i n ora
Ga s quan tum wd l (after Levine,., ul
J9lj ).
17.1 .3 lnterbond transitions

At thi. p in t \\' must dis tinguish between type I a nd type Ll quantum wells. B A 8
Ln a l) p I uan wm well a s exemplified by the system GaAs/GaAlAs, both
conduction lectrons and holes are localized in the same layer. as revealed
b) the band- d2: diag ram in Fig. 17.2. However. in a type II quantum \veil £1
a x mplifi d y InAsjG aSb a nd shown in Fig. 17.5, the conduction
electron and h les are spa tially separated, the conduction elect rons
Ed~!
T
6 1,
r iding in the In layer a nd the holes in the adjoining GaSb.
1
l7.1 .. l Type J quantum wells Fig. 17.5
Jn GaA s. int rba nd o ptical transitions are direct transitions. As di scussed Band-edge d iagram for~~ type If
in h<tpl r 1 L ~ u h tra nsitio ns are characterized by the second term of the qu an tum Wl:' ll or InA, ( ) <tnd GaSb
(B). The upper and lower u r ves a re the
matrix I m nt / 1 in Eq . ( 11 .89).
eo ve lo pe fu nc ti o n · f 1r c: lectrons a nd
ho les. n: pectively. t o le that EL· 1 lie_
( 17.13 )
below £ 1 tl·

wh r F, 11 and ~,.. a re now quantum well envelope functions of holes and

ndu ti on ·I -Ltron . . respectively. rather than Landau level envelope
functions. The function 111 is the periodic part of the Bl och functi on for
ith r th heaYy hole band or the light hole band at k = 0. '.vhile u, is the
P riodi part oft he conduction band a t k = 0. The matrix elem.cnt (u,J Pi t~, )
ver. large fo r direct tn.nsitions between valence a nd conduct JOn bands rn
aA
Th . overlap integ ra l (F/1 1f/) ca n be eva luated using the expression in
Eq. I 17. 1). T he result is .
· 1.11
I F hiF ''\ :=I nk Jn'k' ) = llJ.
. I I I I J. l. '
1.'
J. 1
• -
·.
L./'1
\',;' (::)\,~·, (::) d::. ( 17.14)

. . , h· "ither even or odd paritv.

Stn<..:e the functions ," (- )a nd .\ 11',(::)must .we c:::
are both odd or both even
·
. ,
their c verlap mtegra l can be nonze1 o only Jl t l C)1
. • 11 - · • • •
 Optical properties of heterostructures
A10
r. allt:rnati vely.
11 _ 11' = even integer. ( 17.15)

- - , -~-· tricl nur attention to rectangular, infinitely de ·p

urt he rm re. ' 1 we ' c., . .
·II ' tt1 ~ r·LtllL·ti ons \ (.:) are spectfied by Eqs. ( 17.?.) and ar"'
i u·tn um W L s.. t:- " . "
L ·h . .
L r t not m .t1.
valtntion
, '
t)f the integral 111 Eq . ( 17.14) leads to the more

r~st rid i\' clccli n rule

I
11 = 11. ( 17. 16 1

F or wells finite de pth. th latter selectio n rule is relaxed. so that transi-

=1
11 tions wi th
n=2
n::::3 n - n' = even integer i 0 {17.17 i

Fig.17.6
Jnterb..tndtran~ l t lOn \\llhn
1~ pe I quantum wdl
be me all wed. E en so. tra nsiti o ns with n = n' are typically much
' tr ng r tha n thos . with 11 # 11' . The n = n ' transitio ns are shown schcma-
n ' ~ r :l
tiLally in Fig. 17.6.
p l<t riza tion electi t n rules are determined by the matrix elements
(uJ ph). In typica l Ill - Y semiconductors such as GaAs and InAs. the
conducti n band has s-like symmetry and the valence band p-like
:symmetry . Matrix elements of the form (x jp, js) = (_r j p_J~-) = (.: jpJ s·} are
nonzero. Interba nd transitio ns can therefo re be excited by radiation pro-
pagating par·dlel to the quantum well axi s with wa ve vector q!l.:. They can
also be excited by radia ti on propagating perpendicul a r to the axis and
parallel to the interfaces, in common with intersubba nd transitions.
' ing the expressions for the va lence ba nd Bloch functi o ns at k = 0
given in Chapter 3, we can ev·lluate the matrix elements (u;jp JI'). \\'here u,
refers to either the heavy hole (hh) or light ho le (f h ) ba nd . The results are

(hhl p, js) = Pj J2 ( 17.l Sa )

( hlp_,js) = - Pj /6. ( 17.1 ~ b l

where P = (x jp , js). Since the a bsorptio n coeffici ent is pro portional to the
squa re of the momentum ma tri x element. the transitio ns o rhea v\' hL)I ~a re
three times more intense tha n those o f light ho les. .
( :?~~placmg the matrix clement o f P:: in Eq . ( 17.7 ) b y the .Y-C mponem )f
I, 111 Eq . ( 17.13). using Eq. (1 7. 18a ). and a ssumin!! thatth L't ndudtL ll
band levels are unoccupied, w e can express the abs;rpti o n • fti ·i nt r r
Interband tran sllio ns invo lving hea vy holes as

£,.11+ £"'"' r/·A:i

~
(-1/}/ /} 1
I'')
,. hlt

\.,Vhere L,., •·tnJ £- It/, '·tr.L th t' l:. ll l'rg ll'

. S L) l.. the S llh\ \111 d L'd.! ''o ,1
d n .lfl> ns andheavv• lwks. • r··r
., .

1.:
·t • 1~ • ill ,
1.: L I \ il I l
i /II .l fl.: I h
11
 ph I ab orption d e t electronic transitions
411
he · 1111 1 er

( 17.20)

\ 11 r-. t~(,) 1. Lht.: Hc:.t\ ,,,J ~tcp-function, 111 is the reduced mass of the
1. l . 1.-,111 an j h..• n. hole ,md ,\ ~; 1 \;1 ) has been approximated by unity. For
•. ~t\1..11 \alue or 11. the a bS()rption is a step-function. Superposing the
. ,;1tnhull{'ll l1fthe \ ari ) us va lues ofn produces a staircase profile to the

~b. 1rptil1l ~~ n 10 Fig. 17. 7. This profile is essentially a manifestation

Ill \\
Fig. 17.7
t'ft ht: _11int dciLi ly c,f t·ttes oft wo-dimcnsional su bbanJs. The absorption Ab ·o rption coefficient ver~us freq uency
thn.· ·lll11tl occurs at a pboton energy lu.J.Jo = Er:A + Ed + E11 ~r 1 • fo r inlerband tran sition · 111 a type I
A : imilar e:xprcssion can be derived for the absorption coefficient asso- quantum well .

ciated \\ith light holes. The constant coefficient is one-third that for heavy
JH 1e~ in ELJ .( 17.20).
Example 17.2: lnterband absorption in a quantum well
Discuss the interband absorption of a GaAsjGa 1_xA1\As quantum
\\'C II.
Solution. As can be seen from the Heaviside step-functions, photons
will start to be absorbed at an energy h(J..,' = E_!!.A + Eel + Ehlri · This
corresponds to a significant blue shift of the quantum well funda-
mental absorption edge with respect to that of the bulk A material.
This shift can be tuned by varying the quantum well thickness. Bulk
GaAs starts absorbing in the infrared at a photon energy equal to the
gap of 1.5192 eY at low temperature. Narrow GaAs/Ga 1 _ 1Al,As
quantum wells of thickness L = 30 A with x = 0.5 start absorbing
light in the red part of the spectrum at nw= E gA -'-Ee l T Ehlrt '.:::::
1.7~75eY .

The magnitude of the absorption coeiTicient n·~r~11 _ 1 f r the ase of a

single quantum well embedded in a structure of total thi kn £ - 1 ~tm
can be calculated using the following para met r : li..; = 1.75 eY.
m: =0 .07m. mhh » m ;., n(w)::::-3.3 , and £p = 2P -fm ~23cY . The r ·ulr
Is ohlll-.- 1 -.:::::64cm ~ . Such a feeble absorpti on i difficult to mei.l.ur ·
1

since the light beam intensitv is attenuated bv on! J - exp ( - nh/11 ctLJ :::::
0.6(/c. Hence. multiple qu~ntum wells m~1 st be us d to en hance th'
absorption by the factor /V w that appears in Eq . ( 17.20).

17 ·1.3.2 Type II quantum wells

Examples of systems with type II quantum \vdls are lnA ·'Ga band lnP•
Alfl -1 lnu s2As. The spatial separation of LOnduction electrc n and .hlles 1
Il~ustrated schematically in fig. 17 .5. The vcrla p r the c nlit~CtlO~ and
\alen e band envelope functions is o nly due to th ~..:xpon ntwl t.uls J tiPst
function in layers B and A respectively. In the limi t f la rge hth.:ncc
and 011 d.· . : . . . . ·1 tltll (•\ \Lt:nd
uct10n band discontmuilies, the overLlp tn Legr.l s ( n \n· l
to zero. On the other hand (x-(lr)l \ (':1) should incrcas.:: wilh i ncr~asmg 11
and I . · h ~· ' ·pl:clJ\t:
n · 'itnce the tails of the envelope lu nc uon::. mlt t t:tr 1 s
. ' . 1/ II ' . .

barncr!-t· becom more and more important.

412 Optical properties of heterostructures

lnterband optica )transitions in type ll quantum well~ in volve both the A

a nd B materials in a significant way, since t?e conduction _e lectron are in
tht . I material and the hoks of interest are 111 the B m~tenal, a .shown in
Fig 17.5. The princjpal task in calculating the absorptiOn coefficient to
1
cv~lu:tte the overlap integral between valenc~ band envelope fu nction .
l\iw.:b are extended in the :-direction in maten~l Band_labeled by a wa\e
vector k .. and conduction band envelope functtons wh1ch are locaJized in
the we ll. lf nc assumes that the valence band barrier~ ~ is high enough to
bt: im penetrable by valence electrons. one can use l\.VO linearly independent
\:lienee envelope functions given by

(I 7.21aJ

( 17.2lb)

o ting that L <.< £.these functions are normalized to unity over £./ 2 with
k,. = 211nt.j {. a nd n,. an integer. The heavy hole energies are given by

( 17.2.2 )

where the zero of energy is Ec for the InAs. It is convenient for subsequent
developments to introduce new functions which are even and odd with
respect to reflection about~ = 0:

( 17.~3a )

( 17. 23b )

. In treating the conduction band envelope functions it is necessan· to

Include penetration ofco 11 d let · ,,.. · . . -
have mterband
. abso 1·pt· l :iJOn. e .ectrons mto the B marenal1n
. order to
. band ground st·Jon
ductiOn · 1e1 our present assumpttons · For the con-
t lll1<.
1
• ct e Wt 1 energy £ 1. we can express the enn'll'rt'
funct1on
. . as "

,.kl(-) ,,
"- I -
'k I
=,,,COS ( -, ~ ) .
'
/:1s; )L
( I . .::-kt i

~:··l(o) ~ B, exp[-k{ _~)] 0

/ ~
(··) . ·)
\! (- =) = \\'(:).
.I .f. l
The wave vectors k 'tnd k' . .
'. ' , ctJe related by the ~:qua!iL)JI

(k: / k, ) tan (k,' l./ 2) = 1

l -
\~hich follow~ rr rn the co ntinuity nf 1<1 . -
f·or the 11 - 1 Sl hb· 1 .1 - \ 1 l - J tnd tis d n .111
. ' . •lnl. tl. v·tlu. lf/. tl .
• ' l I ' •· Ia ( IS approprt.lt • I th
 0 h eal bsorption due to electronic transition 13

Jl\) n '" in Eq ( 17. 24u . The overla p intc nra l

. ,,, I ~.-~ \ . .
\ I11 I 1, , \ 1 1 t~ gt\"\.'11 b)

1 llr'
, ,.,
t'l) . . . , -\/ _ 8 ,. k ,,
t I\ I - L ( I 7. 6)

till
~ul alc Lh l probahility PH(£,) o f fmdin g a co nduction
1 B mal ria l while in the £ 1 state o r the A ma terial.

rltr inte=-ra l in hand we can calculate the absorption coef-

mt uband tra n -itions from the heavy hole valence band o f
t h~.: n = I conduction sub band o f materia l A. The matrix
d nH.:nt r, u mv lves va lence and conduction band u-function of
m;.nerw l B fhe modified form of Eq. ( 17.19) tha t is needed for type II
quantum dls i

1\ ~·

_ n-,k ,~., 27 (
t1 k- 1 1 ) - nw) . (17.27 )
.. E
~·
[ ~)(A
·
- ~r + Et + - - + - - - - + -
•.
2 111hh 2 111 cA m irir

Tran formin ~ the -ums mer k ,. a nd k 1_ to integrals and evalua ting the
intei!Tal ver k J.. yield s

(17.28)

wh r m t he reduced m ass of m;.A and m'h tz and

= ---fP
2m* E) (17.29)
k-
1/W.\ . + ~ ·- 1 •
n- (hw - E!!A
Introd u in 2: x = kmax fk,. and carrying ou t the integral over k,, we obtain

2 ( 17 .30) hh ..... £,
e2 rfJ'II.l,.. .. P B; [ x +arctan :r].
( ~.:) = - 1
7rt cn(u.!)wm 2 11 D e,. l + x-
2

The o n et o f absorption occurs a t

( 17.3 1)
fll.;)() = ERA - ~ .. + Et ·
· · ' 'as shown
· ses as (w- wo ) -. 111 ,.,
Ju t above the o nse t the absorption mct ea. b d in indirect optical
0
Fig. 17 .8 . Thi~ behavior is simil ar to tha t . ~erve in real space under
. d. t o ptical transitiOnS Fig. 17.8
transition . Thus. the m 1rec . h , bsorption edge as the Absorption ..:oefii..:ienl versus frequcn~·)
. . . . th · e: eflect on t e ·' fL)r a ty pe II quantum well (~tfler Ba~!.trJ
d 1~cu 10 n ha ve a . umla r smoo 111~ . d 111
. C h ·tpter 10 for bulk
indi rect transitions in reciproca l space dJscusse ' 19!\8).

mattrials.
 O ptical properties of heterostructures
41
Since the ph ysical origin or this absorp~ion is ~-ue to the exponenttal
. . ·t· ~-... d envelope runctJOn outs1de the confined laver
atl 1 the c H1C1uc ton P<111 d. ; ·
. . t. · .. pe-tcd to be verv weak . Hundrc s of well-; may be
the a I1-.o1p tun ts • c . - . . ,· .
. ·J . · . thts :J.bsnrpllon to he tlbservdhlc. smce P 8 (F- t> 1· only a
m:c: d · ! 111 1ll CI 101 ~ • •
few pcrcL·nt .

17.1.4 lnterband optical transitions in superlattices

\Vht:n the b;1rri L ' . eparat1112. consecutive quantum wells become uf[j.
cicntl\• thin. th wells hcwrne coupled together ~u~ to the tunneling of
C<.liTie-r through the barri ~ rs. The localized states ":1thm the wells hybridize.
r rmin!! mi ni . nd alo ng the axis or the superlattiCC . Due .to the symmetr)
propcr~i c a nd the lra n~latiorwl in va ria~cc of the superlatt1ce po.tential. the
Fig. 17.9 pti ·al a hs rpti n in typical s uperlattice-_corresp?nds to vertic~) trami-
h~ rpll< n pe<:trum for a l) rc:: I
,uperlall1C~ '' ith no hroad ·mng. ('"hJ tt n. in th superlatti ·e Brillouin zone ·md m the Bnlloum zone ol the layer
cund and 1\llh broademng (da;hcd plan . T h rc:Jative ·pa tia llocaliza tion of ~lectrons and holes also plays an
CUT\ Cll After\' 01~111 (/ 11/. 19 ' ·I) imp rta nt part in the selection rules. One lmds that 111 type II superlattices,
a n allow d optical transition at q = 0 becomes forbidden at q = 7t d. whered
is the : upe rlattic period. Thi s rule significantly modifies the absorption
liocshap . In perfect structures the absorption line shapes of type I and
type II ' uperlattices should be distinct. as shown in Figs. 17 .9 and 17.1 0. In
imperfect structures in which damping is significant. the sharp features are
smea red out as indicated by the dashed lines in Figs. 17.9 and 17.10. The
lineshapes then become very similar for both types of s uperlattices.
To distinguish between the two types ofsuperlattices. it is preferabk to
I employ the magnitude of the abso rption coefficient rather than a lineshapc
/
/
analysis. As in individual quantum \Veils. the absorption in type II uper-
lattices should be significantl y weaker than that in type I superlattices. since
0 2 the former involves indirect transitions in real space. whereas the latter
h oJ- Ii (arb.units)
0 involves direct transitions.
Fig. 17.10 An example of an optical absorption spectrum in which important
b'orpuon ~p<.: trum fo r a tyr e II smoothing effects a re observed is shown in Fig. 17.11 for an InAs GaSb
upL·rluU1CC (a f'ter V 1 in ·t d. 1984). superla ttice.

17.1.5 Optical absorption by excitons in heterostructures

As discussed · in Clnpt • ·et· I 0. the C ou 1om b 111 · n bet\\ "--n ·we 1 ctr 'n ·tn
· tL'ractil
the conduction
. b·~nd. 1 .
- h 1,
am cl o e 111 t1e · 1 vaknce band leads t a b 1Und ~t Jll .
the ex ·non, in 'vhid1 the electron and hole revol\'e ar u nd ead lHhcr. \\ '
.have
b . ·ccn . tint ( cxcit~ns - . PI.Ol1uce obs~:rvahle ellcc·ts on th~..: mt ·rb.u l j
ct
. . tpt1on spectra o l bLI!'· ' " ·~ 1ucto
"- semtconc ~ · .·
rs. P<lrllcul·trh · ort.tnt 1· t 1,
nnJ 1t
<~ppearance r tnr ) p . k , · I . -
05 0.7 . ·~ .• 1 ca s 111 t 1e spectra ll)r pho ton n rgi . .1r f. that
/, ' re V) dll:: n o t present 111 the abs~o:ncc of the elect run h ll int ~rul'Lt 1
Fig. 17.11 Exciton clkcts in quantum wdls and superlat~~..: r til,!
than 111 bulk nnteri · 1· F . ·
h"Hfli JUfl fl<.:<.:tr UI! I Il l' :l !f 111 , j a h F . (R . . _ ·_ <Is . o r a stng k quantu m w II th tll\ I II l
Up~.:rfallJleJ t 4 "- F ,111 J 1/ J t i! O i l III/ I , ' • - ···-II ) can he ~l pprL x imat~..·d b\

kur<~J I<.IIJO h~.J I hole ~u b hLt liLk (.ti ler

( hun!f ,., ol llJii 1J
 phcal absorption due to electro . t ..
me rans1hons
415
m·t. . conrdinalt: and
.
111
.
r 1ll
1. .
''' cvecorinthe
" " l\i' ,
l1 .1· 1 th c rc h tivccoordinatcofth·~e) ·t·
" ec Ion ctnd
1 th' l: Ci ton quantum numher Fo 1· v
. ·· cry narrow
1, It:nor the t:!Tect ot the Coulomb intera ·t"
. . S .. . c ton on
1 1
The ll l i\C CHOllllgerequationsatisfiedb n (·)
· Hl l i\ .
\: · , y 'cl' 1J

,,,n ,,
p
I ,11 he " nttcn
\ '
,L

. -,
r,-v ,
c.•- ( ( I\ 11 (c) (.:c )/:!I\,,r'(.:h)/-d.:cd.:h
( h\ ~ } ,
- ---:- - - - - 1 I CJ)IIII (r )
. . tr,._..l + (--e - -h
- )- ] ~ "
"l

{ "~m
-
-l ~~toc,

== £,:~~~ <P;:. ~· u· ). (17.33)

t;?K)

£ 1111 ' .. E
= £ - Et:A - l'll
E
him' - _?( rw
'r. l. ), (17.34)
r
-

c
+ m hh
*

Jnd E is the total energy eigenvalue.

Equation ( 17.33) can be solved using a variational function for if>~n' (r J. ).
For the ground state one can take

(r . L ) = (2/rr>.. ) 2 exp( -r1. / >..),

II 2 l
<1> 1 (17.35)

\\here,\ is the effective Bohr radius. In the limit of a quantum well whose
thickness approaches zero and depth approaches infinity. one has
!\;<l(:,) / = o(:e) and lx\"l (:h)/ = b(zh) , so Eq. (17.33) becomes
2 2

(17.36)

\\hich is the Schrodinger equation for a two-dimensional hyd rog n a lom.

The energy eigenvalues for the discrete states are given b

Ry"' (17.37)
E[Il l = _ ( 1)2' 1 1
p = l,--,_ , . . ..
p- 2

\\'here Ry.. is the effective Rydberg for a three-d imen. i u· I I Y lr !! 1 "r t:

atomgiven by

iii e 4
Ry .. = 2 , .::
2 (47ifo) f - fi
The. eigenfunctions
. .
can be charactenzed
- as I s. 1J. · 'II
Parny.
F rthe ground state p =I the binding energy £/ 1
ol a ..!L, e
i L\.l fl I

!I L9

l.e.. rourt' . . . · · d. ·ncrgv •· Jm.: w

the Inle~ tha t ota3Dexciton.Thisincrea sci n m lllgc.: -· 1.
Compr · · · . .· " f rn the J 0 1
W t '-
es. t n of the electron hole system Ill pas!:ilf1,:. r
 . f h terostructures
Optical properttes o e
416
,
. . for the ,7 round state with K1..
ca c. T h tl)tu I CI1L"t gy e
= 0 is
. _ E + £ 1 + E,11 - 4Ry· .
F.' - 1!:1 (

. . ., tl Lt" r d uces the erfective energy gap by the amount 4

The c'"\Cit Jll . e11. t:C1 .1 . h ,D
I he reduction In t e .) case.
R~ · \\ hich l 'o (l1Ur ll tlle- . . h fC ·
1
. 1 1. 111 l um wcllts mneased. t e e 1ecttve Bohr radiu·
Jl'th~:: thtcknc · ' t e qt ' . · . . . .'
• , . , bind ing energy ol the excllon decre,tse . . Excnon1c
\ tncn:a-,es. ~ 1lt 1c t1le ~ . b .d .
· . ··uhl ·w ds wtth 11 > I ecome ev1 ent 111 optical
tran,tti 111 · til \ o 1"tng " • ·
absnrptil1n . . · . · ~t-t' ·
Intcrban d op l IL..cl 1 •·t h ~. rpli ·
on lllcludlllg exciton e ects ·
constitute.
a
' -elect ron p;·obl em. We shall not go mto the deta 11s of
rath~:r1xmp I '\Ill an . · . . . · , . .
th~ 'ol l UllOn.
· b U IL .· 11111 1
• 1.
r sent the. result f01. the. clbsOiption coellicient 1r
tht: f;.lul<lli
.1· · h· . ·t· ele ·tric vector m the x-dJrection . For the fundamental
11 d~ 1 :;,
peak of a ·i ngle \·vel I. we ha vc (Ba tard 1988)

~ , e2 2 1 (hl I\ {1(' 1) 2
( t ·) = nell (..v _,,;m-., L: j(uitll iP.,iut·)i h \1 1

11 .< j<r>: 1 (0)1:2 ( £~,.1 - Et!i + E 11h1 - 4Ry' - fi;.;.J) . ( 17.41 j

Simihr expres ions appl y to transitions involving higher discrete levels

specified by Eq. ( 17.37) and discrete levels associated with higher subbands
with 11 > 1. In addition, transitions can be made to continuum levels of the
J
£
< excito n associ ated with each subba nd.
-I Several reatures are appa rent from Eq . (l 7.4l) . The Kronecker delta.
- Ry bK .O · allows only transitions to an exciton sta te \ovith essentially no center-
of-m as moti on. The factor J<I>l 1(0 12 requires that o nly s-like exciton states
Fig. 17.12 can be created by optical abso rptio n. States with p-li ke. d-like . . . . character
chema lie repro! ent~t i o n CI he optica I
ab orpuon due t e. itonr..: tran iti ns
have a zero value of <I> at zero a rgument and hence cannot be excited. A
raft..:r Bd ~ tard 19 schema tic repre enta tion of the optical a bsorptio n due to exLitonic tran-
sitions for the n = I subba ncl is shown in F ig. 17. 12 in the absence L)f
broadening. ~
Phut n cnerg_ (t: )
The difference between the abso rptio n codTicie nt fo r no ninteracting
U I. Ui
:,orr~~----~~~~~ electron--hole system s a nd the experiment a lly observed absorption L'l)cftl-
cient shows that even into the continuum the noninterac ting piL·ture is not
c rrect. The: long n nge nature of the Co ul omb interadi n all 'cts the
3 behavior orthe ·JCC lrOn and hole even When thev do not f L)I"f11 ll bLlLli1J !at ·
~he fact that the binding energy l'o r 20 excit~ns is fo ur times that f~,.,r 3D
2 eXcllOns grea tly facilita tes the experimental ObSt: l'\ at iOn r ~it l1 pc: b Ill
the optical absorptio n by yuanlum 'vVell slrUL'[Uies. Th~ ·e r ;.II,. ha\'' c n
, ervecl m nnn
ob. ' .v unjLL)p"t L1 quantum wdl strudun:.'s ot, ht~h . .
qu,I 1ll ~ . ' 11
dL ro m tcmpe r·tttlt'" ( F..
-;
::.. {)
() . • • < . e. n Ig. 1'7. 1·'" arc cnmp~1re I the r) m ( mr~r.t t ll rl·
dbSO I ptto n spectra ncar the absnrptio n e d ~:~:e o f hulk : \ , .md l f 1111Uitipk'
X'iO J:jl J()
qu,.
uantum well :SLI'Ltl' lUrc. Llt J .d ,'\. A c· \
S J ~L' lA s. T he mtll.. h 111 )J~ k ul
c. I '1111~
- I
c: Xlllun j)C' l J..s 111 ti1C' l·tttr- · ·t ·
' · · \,.( ructun:· are qurt e c\ ident.
Fig . 17.13 In . quanlu1n well s lrttl' ·
lll . . . h. .. .
Ic:-. Pll t' n s e l\ . a .., LI'l l r\ P t nltn • r
h~urf11HtJl 'fl't:l l <l f ol r hu l~ ( ,;i i \ ' ; 111 J lhaiJ srl'htcd t, rl 1 · - \
o:J!\IA ' ; t :~~ IIHJ/ ri rlc ljLIHI l t l l rl
. .. ' ( le a r~c (lSl'tll:tll)l' Slrcn" th l ) f th . r in ll) tl
Jrt["
wh1 ch 1s wl'll '- ep·w 11 . 1 I'· .
· • · ' ' cL •um t 1lc c nnttllttum <tbs 1 t 11 n t hi I
:::>
\\ell ~truuun. (.Jfr..: r r h ·miJ llJX.-} . .
.I n.t rruw l requc n . ran". ( > ll .
o ' 1 1.: li(h .: l hund . .tl rll\'ll 1 1
 Ph t luminesc nee i t d
wo- imensionol sy terns 417
trL . . . . ~..·n tt<~ll \ li . I'L' i·tt I L1 ,.
111 • -, · • ttn n::e d .:c lrPtts ;tnd
., 1111 11:\L II ' ll pc·tks ·tr· 1 I .
· . ' · ' ~: nn '''"cr " u . ··,r ·sult
I 1 ppn.., • nl n As n ' ·
' . ., u,llltum \Veil . . is t:nh;tn~:~.·d \ ·ith

inescence in two-dimensional systems

ft~1tt: r , ! not only Ill providing fundamental phy~ io:s
Ct: I. I.

ut ul .1 the basts C r J)ractical lt."ilt E:

s lL . • , . PIlOlc-
, \. II Ces.
paun~: nt arc much eas ier to J"lerfon11 til· .~
• .111 O Jlll Ul 1
1 m~1 ·nt:. hut they are far mo re difficult to interpret. To
~ lum m's CJ,l ce th :x.ctted states of the system mu 1 be opti-
~,tl l~ p put ll ••md Ll~ey r no t 111 equtltbnum. De-excitation, involvin!!
r·turn t th equ!ltbn um ·tate. may proceed throtH!h manv differen~
~.hann I mcluding radi ati ve reco mbination of free ~carriers ~ and non-
radtatl\ r~: a .Hi n pr ' _ . : phonon emission, Auger effect. capture by
de p t:ent r , tc. Th Htctency of photoluminescence depends on the
li~ time in the C'\Ci t d stJ t with respect to the radiative and nonradiati vc
rela\:JlJon mcchani: m .

17.2.1 Experimental techniques

T' o ~imilar te hniqu are frequently used in the experimental inve. tiga-
uon of sp ntan ou. radiative recombination : Photolu.mrn ' nc~

I. PlwTO!umine ·cnce pecrro. copr. The experimental setup consists of

an inten e light ·our e a t a fixed frequency , a laser for example, whose beam Exc·ital ion pe rr;1
i f u. don th ample to be studied . The emitted light from the sample is
oil ted by a mirr r nd sent through a monochromator to a detector.
") P!zotolum ine~ cen c xcitalion spectroscopF. Excitation spectroscopy
s. ntially th inver e of luminescence spectroscopy. The detection
p tr m ter i tat a given frequency inside the photoemis io n hand, and
JJi I

th fr quen ) of the exciting light is scanned tluough a monochromator. I . (; \ )

Tim . th xcited di screte level s of the system under in vestigation are Fig. 17.14
p pulat d a t rales proportional to their absorption coefficients. Once \Citation and lumint: ·ccnct: Spectra of
P pulat d. th individual excited levels relax radiatively o r nonradiatively. a GaAlA GaAs quantum \\ell (after
An xampl fexcitation and luminescence spectra is shown in Fig. 17. 14. Bastard 198~).

On e that tbe excitation spectrum reproduces to some extent the

ab rptiun spectrum. but this is not necessa rily the case. In some cases the
xci tati n spectrum may be quite different from the absorption _pcctrum.
The cita tion spectrum may shmv peaks which are not found by ~~-sorp­
ll n . Thi o cur v.·hen the excited levels have significanlly dttfcrent
r I arion times.
· · · photo 1umtnescence
· · ~, spectroscop)' does not
xcttatton pectroscopy, ltke · · ·
l·e-
qutre· t h'tc k, samp 1cs. Ill· contrast t o a h st,' -. 1·pt
· 1'ot1 ·'"p·-ctroscon)'
~ ~" ·
and
. can .
~ ·
lh t t re he performed on smgle quc~ntum v. s.
f · · . ,eJJ - Moreover. excttatton
.
. .~ . .. __ b " .. wlyzed and exploited to
· P ctro copy has two 1req uenctes w111c 11 ~:.:~n c: ' 11 - , .
. . . . . . · - ·e t ignal.ll,for example,
rr Jl) th phys1cal om!m of the photo 1umtnesc 11 s ~ . .
t 1 phot lum111e:::.cencc band contatns severe~. 1 ped. ks· ·. by .setttng the, detev
·. ~ . ,.,
,1
bt . - exctt·:tt!Oll spectr.t \\ lOSe
Lt n lrcljuenc. at each of these peaks. one o ams ' ' ··
 O ptical properties of heterostructures
418
. _ .. . t. the v·1rious excited levels which give rise t h
~ 1· . ·lnractcnstlc o ' . . · 1 t:
" 1l.J P L c ' . ~ . -~nee peaks. If the excitatiOn spectra are mden-
lliffercnt hot )1umJn<:~lx . . _, h· h ~-'"••·
. • ·t· n rrcouency. one may dssume t at t e whole lumin ·
dun t th . (1dtL Jo ., . . . b ·r h ~- . . c.
. . . .· le physt<:al ongm. ut 1 t e exutatiOn pectra
cncc bm d h.t::-. :1 " 111 g · h h . ar
. . ••. , ()ne can conclude that t e \anous p otolum me. cen .
3 , , • •

111 ~ 1 rk~d ly d I 11Cl Cl 1• - . . . Ce

me~ Il ,l H.: dl
.t.J"ercn t nhvsical
~"" •
ong1ns.
I

. Quantum well luminescence

17 2 2
- Jve optiC'-tl transitions from the initial state li}. which 1
Lummc. ccncc 111 - ' . . . .. .
. .1 . L' t<J the fi n·d state 1 f ). ,.vh1ch IS the thermal equ1hbnum "tat,
,\ 11 t:'\Cllt:u 1d C. ' " · . '-·
. . ·. ,h. •. 1ct ·1-1-zed bv t he same momentum matnx element as th"'"
Tl11sprllCC " I c •11 •. J

,1h nrption r Le ·-- I. ..

( 17.-L

v. here J j . a unit vector in the direction of the electric field of the

rad iati n. Th matrix element (u;j(; · plur ) gives the selection rule for the
polari zati 11 of the emitted light. and the overlap integral (F1jF1) giv
rh el ti n rule for the subba nd indices which governs the interband
recombination . In quantum vvells with band edge profiles which are
symmetric in::. the onl y optically allowed transitions between subbands.
as for absorption, pr serve the parity of the ::-dependent part of tht:
envelope functions .
ln man y cases the photo-excited conduction or valence carriers ther-
malize among themselves mucb faster than they recombine. Thermalized
electrons acquire a temperature Tc and the holes a temperature T1z \\hi~h
may be different from the lattice temperature T.

17 .2.2.1 Band-to-band recombination

The polarization selection rule for band-to-band recombination depends
on the direction of propagation of the emitted light. For propagation
along the .::-axis, transitions from conduction subbands to both light
and heavy hole subbands are allowed provided n - n' is an eH·n intega
and the quantum well potential is an even functi n f : . For light
emitted in the layer plane with £1 !.:, transitions from ct nduction sub-
bands t light hole subbands are allowed. but to hea n h L k subbamh
are forbidden . ·
If : lectrons and holes an: assumc:d to be at them1al equ ilibrium " 1tb
Tc = l,-, = T' and if ksT ' is comparable ro the 'nerg\ :>~.: aratt )n
between
. ,st:venl
. · ' neM- . b Y su)lb ands, the phot lurn incs n·· .·p-.·~·r nun
tvptcally
.· . cltsph)'
· · • s· severa
. 1 1mcs
- . For examl"~k', in a s a I \s l tHlll l lll1
\VC![s With · ('· A .
Lt _er thtckness l)f -- IOOA a nd .11 ' · h \ '-'Ll l fl~f
· o ·
. . - . " -'•L'"\.s
lnJeciJon rate one :->b -~- , . ·· · f
. . ' t st: Jvcs ''"o hnes at fll0!1J t n per 1tt1r t.'il .:l·1t t
With rec,mbnntion 0 r 'I . hI ·
. 1.1 b ' ~.: ectrons mth holes in h~ th lu~ht ·tnd hL'.t' '
su
. bl ands.
. . At
. low t·mr·· c: c 1 ·.~ t UJ.~..:, t 11e n :'L'l)lll bma
• . "" 1 hI ·
t n tn\' 'h mg It~ 1l '
su ).tnds dtsapp ars.
At high injecti( 11 1.. 11 • . . 1 1
•. , .. ' ~.: .Jih ow IL'111perat ur ..·. hanJ -t ,_h 1
"
.. . "Ci.t!\11\s
· . "' quantum ·II 1
\\~..: ~ c,tn 1 l' 1 1 hs !"\~..: I und~.-·t 'il ith 11 ' t
1
~: Cl!lllllc L"lkL·t::- l:;ln Ill' dls r•' o ' ll.
- ~ .......
I~ I
l tl .
 Problems 419

r ·nmhin· li n
II~: J"l)l.: nu.d i.., s m mctnc "itll . .
• • • I :i pL·ct L11 :; - :;.
llll n I u I1111 1 he "a 11 IL ~ 1·c 1i 111 . 1, . . .
l Ill
.
S <I'-'
.
l 1H:' C. C l\ :1111 C
1
I II .- n a n. even ink"
(l .t il ~r I . II ' ,
·::- · n <~t crlron . nnl y
.rn rccr' rn? rnc ~-ddrati vcl y . T hi:-. mean:-. that the e:xci-
h 'IUIJ ons rst I d r cr ' l e lines· · Ill':)~
' ·
( lr'k'l . t· I I'
CV .c.IS II1l!C
r 0 •

I t the hand ga p · ~ ·

~E = I £ ,)
!!
( 17.4 3j

min.mt_ fc.:· _ur . I' the o ptical properties ofGaAs,G aAIA s

II 1 the hu!h rntenslty of "free" e -citon luminescence at lov.·
mpareJ lt th~l t involving impurities. This si tuatio n is tl1e
)rpNt h.1t i u. ual l~· o bserved in bulk GaAs. This effect mav be
d.tl 'd t the \Cr) small v lume in which the carriers and the ph ~ons
Jllll?lcli.. L m th~.: JUantum 11. nc created by recombination of an electro n
and a h le. the ph l n do s not have eno ugh space to propagate before
t ein!! r -.Jh orhed t r a te another exciton. as happens in the bulk. ·~
3 HHI -+ £ 1
In.tead. the photon aim t immediately strikes a bo undary and esca pes .e
"'
from the structure. ~·

In "g od" ample th m ax imum of the photoluminescence spectrum

~
c:
c"
'OillLJJe.;; \\ith th ma ·imum o r the absorption spec trum a t hw = EgA + "'uc:
£, 1 -+- £ 111r1 - -lRy . The Stokes shift. which is the energ separation "";;
<:>
between the ab:orp ti n p a k a nd the luminesce nce peak. is zero. In such a E
c:

·a e the ob en· d ex it o n a re no t bound to ex trinsic defects. In ge neral. a ~

2
Ya riety f cxp ri men tal r ults indicate some small Stokes shifts related to ~ ~~~----~----~----~
7 100 7200
trJpping of e. citon o n intrin ic interface defects. i. (I )
Two-dimen io nal - xci to ns ca n b loca lized by weak disorder. the toea-
liz. rion bein!! th re. ult o f constructi ve interference o f the wavefunctions o f Fig 17.15
ex iton catter d v rando ml y distributed defects. Photol um inc:;o : nct: · p~c r rum o f ~~
GaA IAs GaA · quan rum \\'ell sho \\'ing
h quality ofq u~ ntum well-structures ca n b judged by the line width of struclurc under the arro w Jue to
th fr . it n lu minescence line. The Stokes shift and the line w·idth are rl·comhllla ti n n at acccr~< ,rs (a fl er
: th broader the lumin escence line. the large r the Stokes shift. Bastard 198S l

17.2.2.3 Extrinsic photoluminescence

When the t k e · shift becomes large. ex trinsic defects may pia_ a sig-
ni fi ant r 1 in th . rad ia ti ve recombination. As can be een in Fig. 17.15. the
e. it ni~ r combinati o n line e 1 _ , hh I is accompanied by a \vea k line w·hich
i att ribUl d to thee I - acceptor recombination process. . .
· · I t
Gcn ra lly speakin2:. the residual d optng 111 a 1e et · "'·ostt·u·~ ture ts no t unt-
· .
" · ~ ·
1onn: impurities se!!re2:·1le near the inve rted 1nter ace.
t· TlHI,s· th ~re ts ·1
. t . <
·d ~ ~ · · ·
c n 1 ra ble e nh::m cement ol the JumrnesLence 1 ~ •·o
1 111 the recombmatwn of
·
c nd ucti n electro ns with acceptors o n an edge of the sample.

Problems
1 . - ·d . nd depth V0 that contains
· Con. 1dcr a finit e square quantum well o f WI t 11 1·- c1 _. • • , • -e~s i o n for the
11 .
. . ~ ''"'
'\' 1 ~ I~;;c. trnn-.. .111 th e lowest ~ub b an d o ,.. en~::r E Dt::JI\·C
e.; ~ r · . . c\11. t.:X
·.11j:)J11 ·' the lowest
. L . · -J v 1th transrunn ~ 1
u,~orp ti<) Jl co lCJcnt n( ..,; ) a~::.ocwtc \ . · ·f ,- 11 , > J ' 1 - 1:.·1·
ubbu nd lu th~: Luntinuum fo r ph o ton energ1cs sau::. )·rng "' - '
 Optical properties of heterostructures
420
. . k the continuum wave functions to be plane wav .
YPLI 111.1) 1a e
. . -. ·
J1 Lllnl cl 117,1 111111
.
length C... Takmg
- , ~
= II 0oA· •( •r,·)·o-
L - 01 v ·-
.. e . m - 0.07 m r_ _
eo; In
lrJ[
a
_ _ 1. rr::.h-j2m'L-. calcu ate n w •Or a range of fiw and pi
f" • ' -
_1 r ...
o.lflu '~ I 11 01 '•I..;)
vet ~u:-o /iv.:. ,· . .
, I I . .. " of .1 tvpe ]I quantum well v. 1th mterband optJcal Iran . .
'tlr t l l L,t • . . , . k . . h . . 'iihon\
~.. .
L'•'C \-1 111!
til.l ~ lectton rule 11 = 11 . rna e . a sc emallc . plot .
of the a. bso....._
· : - ·ien t ·er u~ photon cner!!y
(IL1llCl1 -. 111l -
that mcludes transitions with n -_ 1· -,·r .)
4. unJ 5. .
l. 1 M ;nl InA. a quantum well. se_t up the odd panty conduction band
L'Jl\lh1 l c r1111 ·t 1011 1:o.·1th one. node correspondm~ to n = 2. Evaluate the
• pprnr nate 0 1 • lap Jlltegral wtt h the _odd ~anty heavy ?ole envelope function
,
·tnd de\ Jnp an e. pre ··1011 .
for .the dbsoi •pt10n coefficient. At what ph oton
nenn dueo; th n·et I abso rptwn occ ur.1
4 . ~'.d..:'U'I.tt , the two-di mensio nal exciton binding energies for both light hole
.tnu he<l\_ h k , 111 G;.LI-\s. Take m;. = 0.07 m. miJ, = 0.08m. m;,,. .= 0.5m. and
f = l .5. U:e these re~ ult s l( make a rough plot of the absorptiOn spectrum
ncar the b~t nd ~ e o f a GaAs,'GaAIAs quantum well.

References
G. Ba la rd. Wart Ml'l'hunics Applied to Semiconductur Heterostructures (Les
·Jitions de Physique, Les Ulis, 1988).
L. L. h a tH!. . A. Sai-H a lasz. L. Esaki, and R. L. AggarwaL .!. J'ac. Sci.
Technn!. 19. 5 ( 198 1).
D. . Chemla, .!. Lwnin. 30. 502 ( 1985).
B. F. Levine. R. J. Malik . J . Walker. K. K. Choi. C. G. Bethea. D. A. Kleinman
a nd J. M. Vandenberg. App!. Phys. Lell. 50. 273 ( 1987). ·
P. Voison. G . Bastard. and M . Voos, Phys. Rei'. B29. 935 (1984).
R. F. Wallis . .!. Phrs. Chem. Solids 4. 101 ( 195g)_
 erties of
ure

ey Transport properties
h.I\C a la rge a11isotropy of their transport properties in 18.1 Effect of a constant electric field
pardllel and p rpeudicular to the growth axis.
p t I. eparatio n of conduction electrons and ionized donors
h , ul m b interaction and is largely responsible for very
;t
\\C<Jk er
h1gh el' tr n mobiliti s. lntersubband scattering becomes importa 1
· t h1gh cl tr n con n tr~ltions.
l "nder n .tpph d field a long the grO\vth axis~ the edges of the bands are
dcfl rmed. At hie-11 lectric fields t1.o me/ing of electrons can occur. For a
p 1t ntial LOtTe pond in!! to twice the difference between the first
ubband n r ~) a nd the conduction band edge of the emitter, resonant
!unnl'ling cc ur and lhe tunneling current is a maximum. For
pt tenual · e\ e d ing the resonant tunneling condition the slope ofthe
urr nt Yoltage curve is negative corresponding to a negatirt'
di{fi!renrial resis/Clnce. This produces an instability which forms the
ba is for h jJ1 -Cr~::quency oscillators.
With a magnetic field parallel to the growth axis i the carrier motion is 18.2 Effects of a constant magnetic field

uan t1z din the .:-direction by the confining potential and in the .Y- and
1 -dir tio1L by the m·lgnetic field.
Irthe magn tic fi Id is not parallel to the growth axis, a111irrossing of the
Landau )e\'el of l\·VO different subbands occurs.
The den ity- f-sta tes has point-like singularities separated by energy gaps.
When the Fermi energy lies in a gap. the electron system behaves as an
inulator. but if it lies on one of the energy eigenvalues. the system
beha \'e a conductor.
Th cond u....ti,·itv in the plane of a laver exhibits oscillations when the
. · · · · · · tl , hver nhne ·:tt low
magnet1c t1eld is varied. The Hall resistivity m 1t: '" t ' . • . ·
lcmperature. exh1h1ts . . a senes . o t. we 11 -t:lc fi I.1L.,d pl·•t•"IUS
• .... ·
TillS 1s the
quanri.:ed Hall ejji:ct. . II. , . tl ··
I . . nomcs as we ds .1 1 1t:
R . onance ab~orpt1on can occur at eye otron 1.:1 11
.. I
· .,
, . . . . · th ~ cyclotron rcsonanu:
I undamental ~·, . Osclllatwns appeal 111
. . . . _.
t: • . .. l·
. . . , t penmt seve• ,II ••me .1 u
t·
Im hapes when 1ts w1dth 1s sufhc1ent 1Y 1<Hgt: 0
lt.:v I. t cross the F crmi energy.
 Transport properties of heterostructures
22
, -t . of heterostructures containing tw -dimensi
fhe rc are two a. pee s . ..· 7 ·fi -· 1 . · onat
. k, t) ··ir transport propertieS Slgnt lcant y dtffercnt f
.,. ·t ·m tht t nu c lc . . , . rorn
· . d. ~ n s i o wtl structut es. Ftrst. hcteros_tructure have a Ia
1hose )I t 1lfce- nne • . . d. , . . rge
--
anl.·l lt I ~
r tll C,,·,. tnnsnnrt
, ~-
properties tn the trectJOns para llel and n..
. ·h h ' h ... ,... r.
. . . , rowth axts. Second. muc tg er mobt lilte can be
p ·n l11.u 1at tc 11 1
• hi, cd in · ch struc tures.
1

18.1
ERects of a constant electric field
\ ~ ·hall disting Li h Lh effects o f two differ~nt orientations of the ele tnc
iield: 11) ele tri~ fi ld app lied pa ra llel to the mterfaces and (2) electric field
ttpplkd perp•ndi cu lar to the interfaces.

18.1.1 Electric field parallel to the interfaces: £11.X"

he curr nt carriers are taken to be electrons that occupy subbands with
enerc-ie l!iv n by

( 18. 1)

wh re k is the co mponent of wave vector para llel to the interfaces and£,, is

the edge of the nth subband . Under the influence of the electric field£.
electrons in va rio us subba nd s are accelera ted . are scattered by va rious
mechani sms, and reach a steady-sta te di stributi o n. The current densit~ 1 is
given by Ohm's law as

J = CJt:, ( 18. 2)

where the conductivity a has the form

(7 = L'
II
(7" ( 18J l

and
,
11 11 C-T 11
(711 =--- ( I 8.4)

The qu antities
. -
n and r .11-e th
" < " '
· and scattenn!l
e concentratiOn · tunc-· o ,. ar1
electron m the nth subband · Tl1c co rrespon c11ng
l ' . ~ .
mobt hty p 11 rs g l\t'll ._t•Y
• •

er 11 [,' .5 )
J- Ln = - ,
m ,.·
o th a t
a, = 11 11 CJ-1.11 •

Th e to tal conuuctivit y· c all bp· r·

11 0 \' '
• ... writt en as

(T = ~ ll ,tl'/ 111
II

= llt'fl ,
 Eff cts o f a con tant electric field
423

Jl - 1111/1,
~()().
~
II
II ( 11-i .X
.E.. / r u;1,~;v '!
Jt,, I'
1 rLlll t:n 11(: n t ra tw n.
I" . f(ar n cr.· in thcco ndLt l~ t 111gc
dl:llll'l11. · ·I . .
lttnne 1mcludl'
hulk. mat, ·tal _ plus tho e th <·tt ar·.: dssnuatc
. . . d w ·th the
1
~. : . mo ng the I . rmcr are scattering by impuritie . . ~llluy
ph 111 )11 . whJk the latkr arise from interface rnul!hncss. ()()() 4 0f) 20(1 () :wo
•<ale \'O IL,tg£:: g (VJ
n ;, nd 1nLersubbancl
. .
transitions • In G··<LA , 'G·a!-\\lA :s.
..... s;
1 h_h \ re- td ual dc:p111g of' the GaA _ la yer( < 10' 5 em \
Fig. 18.1
lnn1 unt_ ::.callen ng o f electrons in the GaAs is due to their I Ia li m 1hilit , dro p in a Ga Ao;
1 ulomh nt r·tdi n \\'tt h i nizecl donor in the GaAIAs barrier. . The bet'!'( struct ure a l t h ~.: •nsl.:l f
IJrg' . p. tt I p.uation f the electrons and ionized donors weakens th e o..:cupa nc o f the £ '!. ubb,md. l' t and
11:. a r ' the mobdit tc fc lc tr n::. 111
mta:Jdt n ndt.l rg l ' r SJ nsiblefortheveryhighmobilitics(rv lO'cm:> /
the F 1 a nd E: ubband . r ·pc..:tively
l' )) h l h be n ac hieved in this type of quantum well at moderat~ (:tl"ler Stormer ct of. 19Rl i.
and ll'\\ tcrrper;nur . High mobilities are favored by placing uncloped
GCLA.IA "P c.:er Ia er.' bct w n the GaAs layer and the doped GaAIAs
arner .
attering b~· phonon- in the GaAlAs is relatively weak due to the small
p netrauon of the lect ron \Vave functions into the spacers and barriers.
The lack of penetrati n a ls leads to suppression of scattering due to alloy
di. order. Jf the nd ucting channel material is itseLf an alloy. as in the
InP GainA het r tructure, alloy disorder can significantly reduce the
\1e

maximum mobility. Surface roughness appears to be of less importance in

Jll- \' comp und h terostructures than in metal-oxide-semiconductor
tru ture (W i b u hand Vinter 1991 ). In systems uch as GaAs/GaAJAs
th imila · di I . tri constants and densities of the two materials make
mterfa phon n atteri ng relatively insignificant.
Inter ubb· nd ·cattering becomes important at relatively high electron
one ntrati n invol ving ~occupancy of higher subbands (n = 2, 3, ... ). A
£ , (:J
dr p in mo bility occurs when the n = 2 subband has states at the same
nergy a , c upied states of then = 1 subband , as shown in Fig. 18.1_ ·The
atteri ng pro bability increases beca use an electron at th1s energy m_the
n == I ubband can scatter into states of then = 2 sub band as well as mto
tate of th n = l subband. -L 0 L z
")

Fig. 18.2
18.1.2 Electric field perpendicular to the interfaces:£[[.:' Ellect ol'an el.::ctri..: field on the
\ 11en an external dec nc . field IS
. app 11e - d. a. 1ongr the ::.arowth axis 5 perpen-. conduction and ,·::llcnct: banJ t:dg ·s
. . .• .gy. b·lnds are deformed as o f a type I yuantum well.
dtcu lar to the interfaces. 1he edges o 1 t 11e enet ' · _ . , h
, t. te w·. 1 ve functiOn as t e
" lo '-'11 in Fig. 18.2. The evolution o f t. I1e gro un s '
I d 1 '·
ele tric field increases is !!iven in Fig. 18.3. d . _ ·.
. . (- )·nthegroun stJtell - 1 ts
At zer field the average electron pos1t10n _, 1
~
~ . . d, ·
. . , witive and ItS magn ttu e IS
zer ( to . 18. 3a J. As£ increases, (::,) becomes nee~ · · . ~· d
b :l.1 ol, moment ;VI tS crc:.t 1e .
propon i . nal to £ at small !1elds. An clectnc t P e
. .

c ( I ~.9)
M = - e(:: ) = toO''-·.
 Transport properties of heterostructures
424
,,, here n i. the pcdariz~thility. The shift in energy t:l.EI of then = I subhand
ca n be written as

,.
., c fC _ I c::!
= - fon <A '-' - - 2 Forh, . ( 18.10)
1: I- ./ )

This result corre r nd s to th e quadratic Stark effect. Furth~r increa e in the

fidd C<tus • the Ject ro ns to accumulate near the left-hand stde of the well a
Fig .18.3 1 \\11111 · f ..1~, . 1x• ~ b · T he ind uced d1pole moment saturates
.
along
.
with ..l£ I ·
l un~ l I< n in ,\
:-.1
<_,r und 'l 1 \J ~
Icc m: lil."ki
li"lhL bnrri~.: r i intin it ly high . the electrons bec?~e ~ocahz~d m a triangular
~.juantum \\ell l•lr i<IJ ~<.:r
,1nd 1bli.Hg.: ~.:kdn ' lldd
r 1 tcntial \\ell . Sin e r a l harrier · are ne1ther mtimtcly htgh nor_ infinite!~
thi k. the fi eld ca n v n tua ll y reach a value that leads to apprectable tun-
n lin!! r clectr 10'; thro ugh the harrier.
Th~ .· ~l;n ti~ tl idea · of electro n tunneling into and out of quantum wells
can b ill ust rat by a . ingle well bounded by two barriers as shown in
Fi . 1 ' .4a . Th regions io the left of the left barrier and to the right of the
righ t ba rrie a re n-G aAs a nd are called the emitter and collector, respec-
tively. \ ume that the quantum well is i-Ga As symmetrically bounded
hy a I , barri~:rs a nd is sufficiently narrow to place £ 1 above the Fermi
energy EF r the cmjtter and colledor. The temperature is taken to be
suffi ciently lov, that the electron s in th e n-GaAs are degenerate.
I 11 the tunneling process. the energy E and the wa e vector component
parallel to the interfaces k 11are conserved. The energy of an electron in the
emitter i

Fig.18.4
D1 agram ofLhr rc onant tunnel ing off\:c t ( I R.ll l
(a l ter oll ner .·t a/ 19, 3).

For the symmetric structure in Fig. 18.4 with an applied voltage l". the
energy of an electron in the \veil is

~ ~~ 7r~ k rr e v
L = £, +--
2 m~
- -2 . ( 18.1~ )

The two co nserva tion laws then lead to the relation

eV
2 = £1 -
(
Ec r/"f.;.;) . l· I oc• .I.~ l
?.n 1".
Th e voll'l!!c Ins its m· . .
. . ,· ~ ' · munum va lue when the qu<.mtit\ in par~ n t h
It lll UX IllHtm value Tl .. · , . .
· 1e max1mum value ol k ~ ts kF, rr sr n iing r
li }. /.. 2
E ..
-.!.Il
.,. - l r. = F:'-r· (r.· 14
'
SJh·nc~- \Ve ha v~~ tak~:n
the sys tem to h<tvL' E , E ".
u cyl:d onlv r1 tl , , 1. 1 ~f. \\c s Lh tl
- 1C dpp It'd vultage sa tistks the \ . ndJt i n

I l .
 ffects of 0
con ta,t magne ac field 425
I 4h \ hen t lh ' c qud lll 'il!.n hnld . . . .
m tunn I. hul Ill o he r\. ... J. - . -~· I c tr ''' " \ rth
/. ·tnd /.. ( -- Jn<.: rc, '>t:s ah )\C llti "
' -- L,tn tunnd Lh ·
(). j I 1. . I , . <.:t r nurn 11Cr inc rc:~t sin "
an e,_, ll..:s the va lue c-

l ' = ~(Et - Ecj_

( ' I X. l n )
lJ n r )f resonant tunneling COITCS J10fl j ' I .
. • L Ill!! tot 1c tunncltnn
f., 111, ·tmum value. For 1'> "( F ·) . F. e- Fig. 18.5
. . - 1- '- c e as lll J!!. I X.4c C mrc nl ~ n ltagc ch:,nn.:tcrr~ t l fnr
1 t h~. all ~ fl ed lor any real v·:tlue of/.· . d 1 · ·
. . · ' \ _. an t 1c tunnclin•'~' I'<.: Sll llcl lll tu nncltng !; 1 j, m..:a<.urc<.J
r . Th~ q uahtatJVebehaviorofthetun 11 ,_., -111 ,) ... /· c rd,ti \ e to 1,, (uft~;;r. olh er ct ol I >~3) .
- ~- _ '- -Lllll e lll dS
I. l10\\'n Ill F I -S!. I R..). where some Lh·~"' t-111 ,'11 bt·o a de lllll!!
.
ha~ bt.: n m L:i

\ c n H lh t the L n er a ti n law for tunneling from the quantum well

lO the oil ll r hd\e th r rm

li 2 ~.:; (' v
E( +-.,-= £, + -2 . ( 18.17 )
_/11

F ran) r· sJti f_ ing Eq . ( L .15) and £, > EF > Ec one can aiw'tV find a
\a lu of k:: that ati fi E . ( 18. 17). Therefore. no cutoff of the t~mneling
urrent ari ·e from u·mtum well-to-collector tunneling. -
Quanti tative treatments of resonance tunneling have been given by a
number of\\Orkcr tTsu and Esa.ki 1973. Bastard 1988). These treatments
tabli, h the effe t f ba rrier thickness on the 1- J curves and the det·ti!ed
beba\i r f the tran mi, ion coefficient as a function of energy.
n importa nt asp t of the current- voltage curve in Fig. 18.5 is the
negative differential resistance for V > 2(£ 1 - E )/e. i.e., the slope d/JdV is
negati and the do uble b·~rrier diode becomes unstable. This instability
an be xpl ited to produce high-frequency oscillators (Weisbach and
Vint r l 91). Bista bility can arise having a high-current state in which the
well I vel co ntain many electrons and a low-current , tate \vith few clec-
tr n in th Jllevel.

18.2 EHects of a constant magnetic field

Magn ti fi ld erG ct on the transport properties of bulk semi-conductors
h·l.\' b c:n di scussed in Section 8.6. In this section we analyze the n_wd-
· l 11a. t OCL~ ur <'
1.fiI 3 tl· 11 o r mao-netotransport propertieS ·ts ., result of the
' _
_(j .
L n mem nt ol current earners mto two
o - . d.
mlenston. · · s We shall
~
locus our
a·tlent,· n on the- conhgura
- - ha vmg
twn - t 11e ex t t:IJ
~ · 1 <- 1 Jm·Hmeticfield13parallel
' - _

to th ~rowtb
-
axis and .
perpendicular · t eJ-f·:tces
to t11e 1n ' , ot · the hetero-
_
"' . . . . · ~I . t' d In the growth (_)
l r uc tur~:: . The earner motwn IS cnttJt: Y quc~n lze · . . .-. . 1.
. , .
dJr ct1 on it IS quantized by the conhnmg P~ e~1
t ual Ji (-) \.,hde Ill tie
' - ·
indJvidualla yc:r~ it i quantized by the magnetiC held.

18.2.1 Energy levels and wave functions .

. . , Is associated with each of the
rhe er ge nstatcs correspond to the Landau le\•e . 1 ~ .· "ll narabolic
. . ·. I ·r·onrna
1 spl<.:IK< t
energy ~ubband _T he Harmltonwn ot an e ec
 Transport properties of heterostructures
26
cne g_ ~ nd In~ the form
I , .
H - - I [ p, + "A .. )~ _m· -+
-?- . p: J.-',{.:j, ( IX.lx
_til'

ti·d A is expressed in the Landau gaug

the \Cl:\'lf po tell . _ . ._ , ~ e
~ Ol 15 the clfecuve g-tacto1. {t 8 ts the Bohr mc1gneton. and
0
A - ( d~. . . g . . h "
r in c1uantum number w1t values 1 .
I
• t
I th -·~1 mroncO - . . . -
• • . r·tl l na ture ol H. \\e (;an follow the treatment of
D H: \ u f t 11L er~l " - .
. II • ,!llU. l \ T tte the wave I unctiOn as
- • 11011

( 18.19)

,, ht.:rc k , i the x-component of ~rave vector, 0 1(y) is the ma~netic wa\·c

fun Lil)J1 r r Landau leve l p spec!lted by. Eq. ( 11.80) and '"(.:)IS the quan-
tum well" :.nrefun tion f r ubba nd 11 grven by Eq. (15.33) or {15.34). The
nerrr0 • igenval u s ar
~

IL) (3 E { I! = 0, I' 2... .

+ .
I
12.1 ) E tucr, = ((+ -J fi...v·c +g!-'JW: 11 11 = 1,2,3 ... . ( 18.20)
£

As in the case of bulk semiconductors, the energy levels are independent of

12.0) k -.: and are highly degenerate with degeneracy given by Eq. ( 11.86). The
lowest lying energy levels for a particular spin orientation are plotted versus
Bas solid lines in Fig. 18.6. Pairs of levels cross at a magnetic field Be. If the
magnetic field is nol parallel to the growth axis, additional terms appear in
the Hamiltonian that couple they and z motions and lead to an anticrossing
0
of the levels as indicated by the dashed lines in Fig. 18.6.
8

Fig.18.6
18.2.2 Magnetic-field-dependent density-of-states
ncrgy vcr U" magneti field for states
11f1 with n = 1.1 and =0.1 . ~. The For the case of magnetic field parallel to the growth ·~xis with the~ and x.y
da~htd lines inJ1 at· anti ·ro ·sinQ.
'. == ( E~ E!)m'/he (after ~
motions separated , the total density-of-states can be expressed as a sum l)r
1:3 a tard Iyg ). contnbut.tons from the various subbands 11:

p(E J = LPII (E). ( L' .:1 1

II

The subband density-of-states Pn(E) is given by

f>n(£ ) =L ([£ - £11- (f' + ~)ftu:c- g ' /18 _[: ].

fh ,rJ -

Since the summand is indepenlient of k,, the sum O\cr k, L Ill b~ dl'n ·
Immediately to give
 Effect o f a
constant magnetic field
427
ncth (II l il In' ic\\ t'f lh ' .
1 n. th~ tkn ·i1 _ r-st·•t, . c 1.. mplc t ' <.J •• ·•ntJ7,t-
• t s "' 7ero l' . e 1 I
ll ( I ' 0 1 .. · · , . P .11 t 1 • enc r '\
•

• - . " lt:Jt llJs IllliiHlc. -

~:n ll\ -l r-1\l'l!
·
. 'tc t :1 lf•crent
i ~qui ' ·r f· 1 -
latt 'rvt" 1£ ) ·· . IOmtlatfor zcro
• I • th)n zcrofor£ > £ :1
h nC Cl tl . · ·,.anc thcelcctron
.. 1 lllllluoushehaviorofr~(£) I
11•' ''P'I I..lt ' d t1yencr£!\· !!ap Ifth F· - . ISrep aced
.... ... • . L .
. •·· ~
1<.:111 1 e 1l~t\csasanmsulator · e t:rllli cnergv IJc
\\'herc·t s J·f·Itl' ~- ,
, _ · ICs on one
n I u . t I1 . ~ \stem behaves as 'I c d
L

· · - • on uctor. Tn a threc-
n. n the ther hnnJ there is no . .
~ fi ~ . . · . · quantiza tiOn in the
gnettc 1 ld. hence. msulatin!! reoions do JlOt . b
-lg) li1....·,
"'• ~ c · exist a ove

18.2 3 Mognetoconductivity in a 2D heterostructure

on 1d ra _ • hct ro tru. ture placed in a strong... magnet
._
·c t- eld pdl
·1 1
. ··a II e11o
th gr \\ th a 1 J~d ·ubJ _ t to a weak electric field that is parallel to the
ll~ r pl.me E ~ .:). p J':thzmg the discussion in Chapter 8, Section 8.6 to
tl1 _D a· th re pon r th dectron gas consists of an electric current
\\hoe ~urr nt den. it_ · mponents satisfy the equations

(18.24a)

( 18.24b)

\\h r the a,. 1 are th lem~nt s of the conductivity tensor whose inverse is
tb re ~i- tn it v
t n r:
_-[
p = a (18.25)

It rnu t mphasized in the pre cnt context that the current density OB
mponent ha\' dimensions charge per unit time per unit length rather
+ I'
than harg r unit time per unit area as in the three-dimensional case. A
orre p nding chan!:!e occurs in the dimensions of the conductivity tensor Fig. 18.7
mponen t -. Diagram of thl· sample gc llllt'try for
Th xp rim nta l geometry i. sho·wn in Fig. 18.7. The electric current measuring Jht: re-i ti\ ity temor /1.

and fi ld mponents can be anal_ zed in a fashion analogous to t~1at 111

hapt r nder direct current conditions in the absence of scattcnng of
the arri r . th elements of the conductivity tensor of interest are
( 18.26a )
a_,_, = cr_~ y =0
'
n ~e -
18.26b)
= - CT n· = --.
111;.w.-
a _\\
··

1
~-2.3.1 \1agnetic field dependence of a\.\:
~hubniko,-de Haas effect , . .
1 . d - .. tte 1·ine of the earners 111
n rder t h<.\ " fJ . + O iti necessar tomclu e~ca ~ - ·k-~ .......
··•..:
c.· r , . .
1ht anal\ i~ . . a llerin!:! kads to broademng of the d' -·r 1-ot-statespea
- ~
ens• )
 Transport properties of heterostructures
28
1--·s :-: Close to a Landau .level the expre ·ion f r the den tty
1l, .c E._ ( · s ~) is replaced by (An do and Uem ura 1974) •
"hl " 11 111 . tg. 7
of--. tate gt' en 1 _ . . q . 1'- ·--

( fi!
11n
L '· l~ I
= 7r~ _..\ 1 l'n L[
/(T
(£- £,,"_)::!]\
I - -
r,
-
( ~ ~-2 '

f.
~ r:
\\ h~r~ • Lu rr
r
< ·tnd :2f is the width . A potential is associated ~ith
·nter · t1 1 -1r is canable of btndtng earners m locahzed tate
" ' '' . . . . •

th~.. t:atlenng t.: - ·• t . .. .

In partiL'U· l·•r the st·tt

<.1 ~ -
in Lhe tatls of broadened Landau levels can be
• . • • • • • _

c pccku ll be loca lizcJ. If the Fermt encr?y lies m a teg10n ofta~l state ·. the
Fig. 18.8 ~.:hxtron. nccup_ Lng the ·es tates arc localized and do not contnbute to the
Br ,,JI!mng ,,t 1 nJ.tu kHL 111 .1 .t
')-l<!ll1 1, ft..:r \\ ,hu~h m,l \ mta c nducli\ it . F urthermo re, at very low temperatures. electrons occupying
1'1':111 e'\tl'nd~..:d . late of t il~.: broadened Landau levels do not have nearby emptv
~'\tenJ~d states j 1 to whic h to make tra nsitions and thus contribute to th~
c miucli>v ily. · nseq11 ntl y. rr.n hould be very small for T::=O K. On the
ther hand, if th F rmi energy lies near the center of a broadened Landau
1 v J, mpt xt ncted sta te ::tre close to occupied extended states, and a \.\
an b ·xp ted t be large.
If the magn ric fi eld is va ried so tha t successive Landau levels move
through the Fermi en rgy . a, x is very small when EF is in a region L)f
lo ·nlized lev Is ·md relatively large when EF is in a region of extended
le els. In ther wo rds, a,., or Pu· exhibits oscillations as l3 is varied. These
are Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. which are illusirated in Fig. 18.9 for a
GaAs/G aAIAs heteros tructure at 2 K. Note that pea ks associated with spin
up and spin down electrons are resolved.
A quantitative analysis based on the self-consistent Born approximation
yields the following results for CJx x (Ando and Uemura 1974):
Fig. 18.9
cJJiations 111 a plot f /1,. ver u , CJ yx = 0 ( l8.28a )
fora Ga · aAI -; heter truuurc
(a ter Ba. lard 19 ).

otherwise. ( 1 ~.2Sb l

The eequationscle·'l-1 " s howt . heosctlht· o ry behaviorof \\a "<dun\.'tll)n

. · ot·
B.. It . hould be. empha:s·jze·d tlHt t t 11e osulla
. tt.ons a re duet th qu·wttz tit. n
o the ma crnettc J eve J ~ . i
f .
Tl _ , c- . . s dnc are not predicted by the das i a1 rudl.' th t1 r)
fi 1e m c~x tmum m a
. h. . . .
x L t pa t 1ICU 1ar va lues o t I and (T _ CLltrs at a maw tl
~
11 1 natecl by Bier_· From Eq. ( L'. 28b) we sec th~1t B i r· iti- d tn
e c Ct:St~
lile equat tun , ' .• -

Or

he
I
lrt 5+ g ft flCT 111 he
 Effects of a
con stant magnetic field
429
I ·• I r.nght lin(' , ith sill)). , .
t: • II 1\lt:ll by

\'n = - }!_' -
II i E, - E, ) . ( I X.J I )

t 1\-Jimen. ional ele tron .!!CIS 0 .

- ccupylllg the lo\\'est

l l
, ~ k.,
E r--·,
E =-
' 2nr ' ( I R.J2)

F rmi
·
\\4.1 \ e \' ctor. Using periodic boutld·
·
. . 1· ·
ctry COilulliOll S tO
· l uncn 1 na l wave vector k the 'trea .. ·
• • < pet d 11 owed wave
·h rc. t ts the a rea. o f the. -'D svste
-
s· . tl
111 · mcc 1c area ol the.
J,,... tb num ber ot occuptcd states N_, is given by
_ ilk f..A _ _m~ ( EF - £ 1 )iiA
' 1- 4 ) -
7r- 4rr 2
1
n- ( 18.33)

[ntr ducing a fact r or 2 fo r spin. we see that the areal concentration of

·I ~rrom. 17_1 i::. !!iven by

(18.34)

mparing thi, r ult with Eq. ( 18.31) yields the slope in the form
e
Sa= - - ( 18. 35)
Jr!in,~'

thu tablish ing tha t the slo pe gives a direct measure of 11_,.

18.2.3.2 \1agnetic field dependence of cr\T: quantum Hall effect

M as uremen t~ or the Hall resistivit y Px)· versus magnetic field B in
i-M SF T amples at low temperature (~ron Klitzing £'1 a/. 1980) exhibit
a ri r ~,.,·e ll-defined plateaus. Similar measurements have been made
n a ,·ari t ' of hetero truct ure .. The results for a GaAsjGaAJAs structure
are sh wn in Fig. 18. 10. The plateaus are specified by the very simple I-WOO ,...--~--.--~-.----r---.-~-
xpr . i n 12000

Jh 1onno
f)_\1 '
·
= -:- -,
1 c- £ 8000

r
t nOOO
4000

. e-
1
1000
- , _ ( 18.36)
CJ .Y." - h' 0 ::!0 40 60 su
H(kGJ
which involve onlv positive inteaers i and fundam ental constants. This i_s
1 - 0
d . ~ tureofthepat -
t le quantum Hall effect. It is independent of the ban struc . .. , . Fig. 18.10
-

ticu] .d h .1\B 0 fa given pia teau mcrea ~es H fllr 3 GaAs l•a lAs
1,,. \'t"rsus
ar "y. tembeinginvestioated.Thewi t .u. . . , -~ 11
a 1h , 0
. .
1 f the earners tavot s we - hete ros truc lllrc: 1;d-tc: l Pa.ll.men
s e temperature decreases. H1gh mob1 1ty
.
0
c'l ul. 19X2 ).
re\uh·ed pia tea us.
 rties of heterostructures
Transport prope
- h QHE ,1 .-ise when the Fermi energy lies in the .
T h,t: ph.. tl: '·l us• I td eL· l<i·tu levels where t he states are I calizectreg~on
a L nc a1 < · and
le \\rcn hn · ·J· ., ical Drude theory (see Eq . 18.26b) w have .
-

rr )Fn I l 11C l: , • 1.\'Jt

,r;
0 -ll ..tnd '. 111. '

n,e
rr,')' -
B

~ lie between Landau levels i and i + I and the den

If th . ~;en.
• l
h.;rmJ l'l1l.:fhY h , ,
by Eq. ( li.~L. . ). t e area 1concentration n 1..
'. .
_ L J· l "v~ l 1s ~, 1 ve•
'1

1, _ nl a ~ n .t u t.:: - o

~I t:'ll h.
.eB
n1 =ty,· (I J

C...nmbini ng Eqs. ( J X.37) and ( 18.38) yields the Hall conductivity in the
HEf rm

( 18.39

The abo e tn::Jtm nt. while giving the correct result, has a significant
tl aw: all electrons are treated as being in conducting states. whereas some of
rh mare in nonconducting localized stales. A more detailed analysis (Aoki
and Ando 19 I, Prange 1981) shows that the speed of localized current
carriers in the presence of disorder is modified in just the right amount t0
exactly compensate for the lack of conduction by the localized carriers. A
first . . principles treatment (Laughlin 1981) has established that the QHE
arises from the gauge in variance of the interaction of light with matter and
tiling factoriJ the existence of a mobility gap.
4 2 I 2/3
A useful quantity in characterizing the QHE is the filling factor ! 1

defined by u = nJd. where dis the degeneracy of a Landau level. So far in

our discussion, 1/ is simply the integer i in Eq. ( 18.39)_ However. at rery
low temperatures less than 4.2 K. fractional values of v expressible as
pf tf, where P and q are integers. have been obser ·ed for the lowest Lindau
2
level in systems such a GaAs/GaA!As with very high mobilities iTsui
et a!._ 1983). This is the fractional quantum Hall effect l FQHE). The>
expenmental data of Tsui eta/. are shown in Fi2.. 18.1 1. The early n:)u!b·
gave only . odd v··,.'l'Jes
'· · o ,. tf, b ut more n::cent results ~ ·
hav gt\·en eYen \od· Iu '·
of q (Willett l!f a/. 1987).
An explanatio n of the FQHE has been given \ L tughlin ti Y' ))
based on a ·o i . · ~ · '- . . J
. ' \.: nc. ensatton of electrons or holes in fi'l , l; 11! L'ltVe g.ll un
0 .l .tte .due to electro n- e~1 ectron '" or hole- hole intt'radwn · The gn un d
slate ISs panted f·10 , ~ \
I)
Tl .· . ( m t 1le nearest excited state b) t 1e u1~.:rg~ 0. l.' ·
cl~ _po. ~Ibtl,ty _of a repulsive interaction bet\\ ~en carrl...r~ l)f the ·' m·
II
() 2!1 'liJ 60 XO IIJO I 20 I 0 IIlii 11<0 200
1a~ ue tt c lidJ 11 (h( ; J ·I1'"'
. 1-~!.!e, ~.
g•vm}.!: nsc to
._ a conucnsation
.l
i · n:latt'd 1 Lh, 1 -dim ' It ll 11 •tl
c " "Lit.::t f the svste 111 Tl ·1 ·,
f ig. 18 .11 f 1' -· , · " · 1t' cond~ensc j phast:• ' lt1 J.'L L .l tp ll~
o I.tctll)nal charne c .' Jil 111 _ .., - . ·itl
1
/ , \'Cf~ U \ · l11f ;1 J..tl\\ , .J\ I \ betweL·n -enni Do .. ' · - ·'· · · · ·, that obey ,l.t 1 t .. n ·
ht: l ~:n , .,truu urc ar 1 - ..J xu . 1 .. II··' ll.tC and Bose Einst lrl h ·I, I :
L..t cu anyons St ·h . . .
1 (J
c.
. . Ic ,I condl.'ns:ttton I ~.
· -· "·.t ill
11. 14 1 i .d il: r TwiL'fu/ l lJ XI J
sysll:ms. L ll~: s n t
 ffects of o onstont magnetic field
4 31
nonce

been )l"l..;~.: n·cd ft..,r ck·ct nl!ls. 11 .

· a nl 10 1t')'. tn a number
Ill Julhllg \1' St aA IAs. lnP; C1 1 I A · .
- • n · s. dnd lnA-; t ''''' = l .fJXm V
•nd t ltd 1 para llcltnthc<•rowtll · ,· El
. t::- .tx ts. ' ectron <lnd
"11 <1htaJ n "'d ~ls well as informatiml on qof· . .
r .
1 t L- lll1CJL I n · I svstl;.'ms. A microsc· o · , .. 1- 1 ·
. ~ .n on ancI·
• . ·· · 11 ICLd cUalton o t
L1 ell-. ns1 ~tent Born approximation lAndo 1975 )
.th.., 'rrll0n a t cycl ot~·on hannonit..:s nw, as wel l as at the
F urtherm _re. cn:lllations aprear in the cyclotron re, o- ()
J
IJ ([
ht.:n the '-"'d th of the fundamental is sutliciently la rge to
, nda u levels to eros the Fermi energy. Such oscilla~i o n s Fig. 18.12
tc-. I~. 1.2. Cydlllftl n reso nance hne~ha rc fo r a
\\'hen tl"' c '' ma, of the carriers is very small and the bands are GaA~, GaAIA · hctc rosl ruclurc a l

hi~hl) IPllP· rabl1Iic a in lnAs/GaSb heterostructures, many subbands T = 2 K (after Voi> Jn eta!. !9~))

ma\ be p pul:.ned. Th n nparabolicity ca uses the subbands to have dif-

fer~nt c~ lolnn re nan effective masses. with the lowest subband
b.ning the h aYic t ma~ Guldner e1 a/. 1982). A splitting of the cyclotron
re:onance line o cur~ th at reveals the absorption of the individual sub-
band. ;,~: ~een in Fi~ . J, . 13.
lf the m·1gneti fit ld is perp ndicula r to the growth axis£. it can be chosen
in the y-direction with the vector potential taken as A = (:B. 0, 0).
egl ling 'pin cffe t the Hamiltonian becomes

( 18.40)

Th onfining potential V,.(:) inhibits the cyclotron motion and

pre\ nl t he~ rnn tion of degenerat e Landau levels for moderate values of
tb magn t i fi Jd . T o IO\\·est order in perturbation theory the energy of
ubband n i

1
EII (1\'-\ • /.,·I' ) -- E - -[(fik., + m xw :,,,,) 2 + fi~/c,~J
2nl
II
-
+ 1 . 1[ · '> · (- )2 j, (18.41)
2 177 u)~ ( : - ) 1111 - -1111

\'here

·L-l-
_1111 _ · d: x;J.::):x,,(:) (18.42a)
./ - L./2 R (Teslal

j
·Lj 'l. ,
(--, ,) =
- /Ill
d_:: \' • ~_::-
' 11
f )--,. (-)
All- .
(18.42b)
Fig. 18.13
. - L-/2 D<">ublc cyclotron rl'SllllilllCC' absorptil1 ll
labeled CR 1 and CR::. corrcsp,)ndin;; 10
, ~. . . (-)are even or odd
or a ·quare quantum welL the wave tundwns \n - . . ~ .~ the £ 1 unJ E::. subbands 111 an I n.-\s G:tSb
.
funct1ons .. . en!y due to the magnc.::t1c
of: a nd therefore : 11,, = 0. The shtlt tn en ~· hetcrostructurt' at~ K (afta Guldn ·r
field i · et ol. ICJS2l.

( 1~.43)

"" hi hi quadratic in B.
 Transport properties of heterostructures
432
. . tum well. on the other hand. the wave function d
F r ·t tn an!! u1ar quan h I . k d
J _ ...1.. 0 The suhhand para o am -, un ergoe~a hift
h
t ' . • ~, .
1 ) ha. c ptt lll)clll - 1111 - r · In
m lnil11um ~.:·t)JTC lwnding to
/ik. , = flk . + m'w,::,, = 0.

nr
Ilk \ = - 111 . u.~,. ::,,. (I .44 ,

The ~.: ha ng.e ·

In --· :·1t the minimum is
en 1-~-'__

( I. .4" ,

ro Lhe 11 = 0 t 11 = 1 transiLi o n. the a b orption line center corresponds to a

\e rticaltrun it ion from the bottom of the shifted n = 0 ~uhband_ parabola to
th 11 = 1 ubband parabola at the same value of k ,. Thts transitiOn energy is

6.£ 01 = £ 1 -Eo 1 m~w·;, [( : 2 ) 11 - (:11 / - k\10

2 2
• (:11o) (:,, - :oo) ]- ( 18.46 J

Th hift due to the magnetic field is quadratic in B in agreement with

cx pt:rimental results on accumulation layers in Si (Beinvogl eta!. 1976).

Problems
I . Consider variable range hopping conductivity tha t was discussed at the end of
Chapter 8. Show tha t in a two-dimensio na l system the e lectrical conducti\ it}
varies with temperature as exp - B'/ T 1 3 ) . where B' is a constant.
2. Derive the relatio n !3< = (£2 - £ 1)1n' j ne that specifies the magnetic field at
e
which the energies of the n = l. = I and n = 1. = 0 lew is cross for 6 : .
Generalize this result to th e case of crossina of le\ d s 11. f and 11 + I. l - I .
3. Derive Eq. ( IR.46) using Eqs. ( 18.4 1- l8.45) .....For a ma£!net i~ tield B = 2T in the
[II I] directi on and a triangular potential well o n n~Si. ~Yaluatc ..:J.£1) 1 using
simple forms \o(.:-) = A0.:-cxp(- .:- 1 ) and \ 1 (.:-) =A 1 ( ~o - .:-).:- e xp( -- :: n) f(1rthe
envelope functions of the two I west levels. Ao al1d A 1 are normalizatiL'll
co nstan ts. o is a varia tional parameter for the !!round stare. •tnJ \ ' i'
orthogonal to \ o- Th ·confining electric tield t is 2:
10_. \ em.

References
T. Ando . ./. Pln•s. Soc. Japan .'\8. 989 ( 11)75).
And~ and Y · Ucmura. J. Phrs. Soc·. .lupun 36. 959 ( [ l)
s· ,., ('C)l//11111/1 . 38.
Tl-l. .f)
. Okl and T I\I1do
. . . . .
• • tJ /( • (t/( (' l 079 ( I I.Jt-: I ).
I . B.U.t!d . H (/\'(' M -IF . .1 4 , . I , . L
Ed . · · c Lilli e · Pf> / e( 10 Scnucnndu ·wr f!•ft•r /111'11 /ur. ·.- t '
, - Ili o n -. de ph ysique. Lc.-; lis. ll)X L).
Bl:ln v1' gl. A. Kamgar. and J. F. Koch . Pl11·s. R l! l ' I-' ~.2 ~ (I
\\y•· G
.L uldner J p V ·r, p ·
. . . . . 1~.: ~.:n . . . O ISin , M. Yc.lo,; J
· 1.1.111, l I I•
1
· ~akl , .S! J/ul S !u tc· /11111111111 41. 75- ( I<.>!$ ) .
R. B. La ughlin. fJ/I_n . Rn BZS "iA'"'tllll' l) -
R B L· "I 1· ' - -' - '~ ·
. tu ::- 1 111 , Pln·s Rt'r , L •lf 50. l31J5 t llJS ~)
T. A . Pa~danc1 . [) C T . . • · ·
R ) · · ~ u1. .tnd l l "~ 11 Phr I' '
I range, PIJy ,,. Rn. B2J. 4X()2 ( [ l) ' I J. • . '
 References .433
,, \ I . Goodhue. P. E. Tannenwald, C. D. Parker. and
43. 588 ( 1983).
/' '; .. Ll'IT.
r )ssard. and W. Wiegmann, Solid State Commun . 41, 707
 Junctions involving
al-_o tdl- unicr>ndu 'lor _cupucitor (MOSC) is made by replacing metals
p.:lrt l I 1h~: 111 ulator Ia) cr of an ''rdinary capacitor hy a semiconductor 19.1 Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor
l a~er fht:-. mak ~: . th capacitance dependent on both the applied
, hag a nd th~.: rr ~l] ucncy of the impre sed sign<..~l.
Ln 'f jon an/ hiw the LH.: rgy band edges bend upward and the hole
l. n ntr,llwn incre:J scs as the oxide boundary is approached. Under
n r r l r ·tt, th~.: hand dges hcnd dowmvard . At large reverse bias
th mtrin 1c rmi en ~ rgv drop~ below the actual Fermi energy. so that
tht: clcctwn con 'entrat ion exceeds the hole concentration ncar the
b ndary . n im·er.,fun larer of electrons is produced .
Tht: d1ff r nc b t\\ n the intrinsic Fermi energy of the bulk and the
irHrin JC rmi energy at a n arbitrary point in the semiconductor
dt>fine a Pl't nt1al ~ ·(x} . Depending on the value of this potential at the
urtacc )f the - miconductor one can have an accumulation layer of
h lc . flat I ands. depletion layer of holes. intrinsic condition, or an
im er. ion lave r I' electrons.
The 1\IO ha: a capa ita nee contribution from the oxide layer a· well as
from the pac charge of the semiconductor. The relation between
t tal apa citance and gate voltage depends on the potential at the
ernie nduct r --oxicle interface and the space charge capacitance.
The MO has applications a s a variable capacitor, a component of
th ~ m tal- ·ide-semiconductor field effect transistor. and in the
~h .. pr -c u pled device.
1 metal-scmtcnluluclur (MS) diode consists of a junction between a
19.2 Metal -semiconductor diode

metal and J ~e mico nductor.

The declri · field in the space charge region and the bending of the
c nd ucti o n band edge produce an energy barrier called a S chollky
~~r . .
. · · ,- 11 ., -peeL tothescmiconductor
nder j ontardhiasthemetallsposiiiVC\\1 11es · .
· . f' , ·Jt- an electron lrom the
and th energv ba rner or passage t . . ._
• . :l Ul d ~r r , 1,en e hw~ the met<..~IIs
sem1 onducto r to the metal1s loweret . n c £ · ·

ne rati\ and the t:nergy barrier is increased. .. 11 .

The t tal curn:nt den sit v under forward hi as increases expone:lntJ,l. Y
. . - _ . , _, bias the currt:nt t enstty
\l,.Jlh · PI h d voltage. Under la1ge Je\t.:rse
 Metal-semiconductor devices
.436
.. . ,a luc prop rtionalto the thermal currem densit
r~a(hes ;t sa lll t.ttJon \ . . . . .. . y.
. 1. ·1 ·d by· the passage of maJon ty earners over tL-
fh~ Llttcr '" lrllt t.: . • •ee
, t'1·tl t,·trri •r due to therm a l cxcttal ton.
p , l n • .•·d, s•'miconductor tranststor.
t • MOS ET ·
d • conststs of a
·
The me la I- l l '\1 ~..: - . ... .
01
.
, 11 duclor field . . ~· II ~ l the " ole TJJarated from a .em1c n uctorlayercalled
mda I Ia cl l" ~;;L ... . . I d h
• .., . l<t vcr of insulatmg oxtde cal e t c gate oxide. The
thL Sllf'\{1 ({/( 1 ' 1 •
L • .
fl .
'Sf r T i.;; a ullifiU!llr t ramistor . The currc:nt w • . parallel to the
princi r .d mterrace l f the MOS F ET. . .
1\.IO Fl·T c haract~.:ristics t.:xph)lt those ot the MOSC. The dram current
i. n.:l,tted to b th th drain voltage_ and the gate v~ltage . ~or sufficiently
. ltu,.,.~ the J rain attains the saturallOII dram l'olw ge For
Ian!t: '1 al ~ " t:o'" . . . •
.. ,,~ti l ed ru nt vol tage t he drain current mcreases linea rly With drain
, t olt~H!C and gate , oltage. The smallest gate voltage at which a
l'L'nd~c ti ~ 11 ch;um 1i ·induced and a drain current can flow is called the
rhrc\·lw!d rzatt· l'olrage. With increasing drain voltage the drain current
Je\,cl.·olf,; nd rcac bc a maximum value at the saturation drai n voltage.
The 1w 11 s(cr clwmctl'ristics of a MOSFET are specified by the
dcpe odct~ce of the drain current on the gate voltage at fixed drain
Vl)l tage.

Among the most commo n heteros tructures found in device applications

are the metal-oxid e-semiconducto r (MOS) structure and the metal-
sem ico nductor (MS) structure. The former is used in the metal-oxide-
semiconduct or capacito r and the metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect
transistor, while the la tter is the basis for the metal-semico nductor dioJe.
These devices are referred to as unipolar devices. because current is trans-
ported by carriers of a single polarity. typica lly electrons. They are to be
contrasted with bipola r device such a s the BJT which in olve c:1rriers L1f
both polarities.

Gate 19.1 Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor

The metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor CMOS ) diiTers r m 1n n.l1 n:1r~
capautor
• .. . . .
h)'
_
h·tvin" l')' trl ofth IJLu
< . ::o ,. '
· 1a tor 1a_ errepLtced ~ ~ ~ ::' mh.' · mlll 1 ·tL
l,t\- CJ ds .s ho wn 111 t-· 1g·· 19 · 1· T yp1·ca 11 y. L11 e ~ l11 1CO· rH..I uet r 1 · -tt 1l'T n- 1 r
p-tVj)C Sl the 'd o. s·o
· -. oxt t:t ::; 1 ::!. andthemetaiL~ I ecl rud e:' art.: I. fhe ·kdPi ' 111
. n

. nlac lwJLhth ~u xiclei s- tllt' gate . Tl11::' 0 \.id

· C t.S
· ess.:-n tl;J II) .1 r ·rt• l..'t 111'- ll 1,It~ r
.tnd preve nt · anv DC . .. - . 1
B•,d : . . · Lllll t'11l lrtltn ll O \\Jll~ h [\\('Cl1 th (~L·trLL
A quahta!Jv effect I'll . . · - .
~u b,T J :.JI <' ., M S J tl ll ~L tnJ cu ndtiL' Iur Lt:ver i l l n ab. th ~ .Ip. Il.llh.'L'L

Fig . 19 .1
: ' . :. e~ e nd 111 upo n bnth the applt d' -,] t ,l~ an lth-. r Ill 1 ' \ L' 1 ·
11 1

lJJag,,ur uf ,t It >S <lll ~dtu n ,,, ft.._., ~ ~:~ cs-.cd 1 r~al. T he MOSC ca n lhcr ·I· 1re h u~L'U t) r~ni.I · 1' h t I
V,IIJ ,tb k c ·t(1 'l ' l
.. ,
··· l
UtlJS i rttlln ~t)k
.
CctrLttt ·in \ . I Flt.Ih
t'
\,I, 11NI)
tltd "tltLT elect nnJc llf111i.t ncc.....
 M ta l-ox ide - e mico ndu cto r co a cito r 437

plied bia on energy bands

I l. ':.thncu c I \ith p-S If · .
I, . -. · 1. "neg;lttvc hta -; V•>I Ltg 1-,
I • L 1\.: 1 ), I. ~ud tt'l he uudcr forwa db ' I
, , . . r 1as. w 1 c n:;1~ a
l: 1!1\t..:-- reverse biOS Under rorw·trd h'·· . tl r,
. ' '" s 1c cncn:v baud 1.,
·n I ur ;lrd ;IS the OX Ide bou ndary is "li"'J1roach~Jd . and
l llci.ll th ho undan a~ shmvn in F 1· -, ( LI 1 . Tl . h l·.,r
. - g. 7 . .::..d. 1e olcs <tr · I ,
- tilt: ~ulk reg~ n of the p-Si to the boundary wtth I he ox id e (ct )
.lr
the lt:dn c lte! J. due to tb e bi·1s "· Vl:1 lt·.':::,
1\)e . .A n accumu 1at1on ·
hu • re-..ult.. It · e\t stencc is• const'st·"t1t
• ~ ....
,•.•
.,
.tl1 t!1. t:• ,-ac ts tl1a t 111e
£1 · c 11"-l a n t thn.J ugl10
~
ut the structu1·e
· 1'11 til e" a 11set1ee o I' a
t . t the \ a! ·n ?a nd cdQ:e £ 1 moves clo ·er to f,. as the --=--=-- F.(
Pl fl ac he d. Slllc the hole concentration va ries as - - - - - - - - - . £, ,
E l] (cf. q. (6 .14)). th e hole concentration must increa se as r-:::=:=:= Er
r~ 1 C:~ppr ach
• • • • F. ~·

r ·e hta . h \V ve r, th e band edges bend downward as shown in

. and th hLI concentration is reduced or depleted. Min oritv
the bounda ry due to the electric field that is no'~.
dir'l!Ld r m th t: int o th e scmic mductor. At a sufficiently large
r \er bias the intrin ic F rmi energy Er-, drops bel ow Er. The electron
'one mraticn then exLeeds the hole co ncentration ncar the boundary in
. - -- - - - - - £ Fi
acwrdanLe '' ith Eq. ( .43 ). Thi s situ ati on constitutes inversion as depicted 1-<-- - -- EF
in Fig. 19.2c and i haracterized b_ an inversion layer of electrons. • • • • • Et,

19.1.2 Bias dependence of capacitance

Fig. 19.2
Th pre cnce of a n lectric field in the semiconductor nea r it s bounda ry
Energy band diag ra ms lo r th e ide< I
wi th th oxide indi La te that there is space charge in this region . In order to iVI OSC ' trtl ( lure v n p -Si: (a i ~ rward
d t rmine the bia dependence of the capacitance. it is necessa ry to evaluate b1as ( r · < Ol. (b) w~ak n.' ' ersc bias
th . pac charge per unit area Q., as a function of the potential l,:'(.Y). We '> 0) . (C) strong re, ers bias
( r

defin ~ •( Y) in t rm · of the de viation of the intrin sic Fermi energy En from ( r » OJ (after Sze I 81).

m \ al ue EF; far from the boundary : e h(.Y) = El; - Eri (.Y). The difference
/ Semi cond uctor
tw n EF1 a nd Er ca n be used to define a potentialvs by / surla•:e

e "B = EFix -
£F · ( 19. 1)

Th va ri u quantttJ es just introduced are shown schematically in

f ig. 19.3 . . . .
A th a nd ed ges E ~ and £ 1 bend under the action ora bias. tb~ mtnnstc
. .~ . c. . . . · b ~t .
en111en rev m·ttntams tts relative posttton e ween .
E and£ 1 a<;mdtcated
· •.
~- · ·t iea · thesurl ace
in ig. 19.3. T he potential ·typica lly increases 111 magm .uc :s ~ . . .. -~
o t, L1e
1 scmtconductort
· .s approac1e1 d an. d teac
... -he s· the v·,tlues
' · -'' at tht: :sut taLt: .
S \er I ca ses can be di stingui shed:
Fig. 19.3
1. ( · < 0: acc umulation la yer of holes E nerg~ hal1ll di.1 g r ~lln :11 the suri"a 't' ,.r
.1
p-type Sc'llliCO!lduct,>r T ht' Jl P I C'lll l ~l l ••I'
.., 1' = 0: 1iat-band condition
defined 10 hl' /eTc• 111 the· hu l .. 1n d , .
3. ' ' 11 > I \> 0: dep)etiOll layer Of ho)CS meas urect fr.•m the IIllrin, ic Ft•rm i
4. '·, = '· ·H: intrinsic condition at the boundary enngy E1 , (afte-r SL..: 1'1:-i I ).
1 , _..- o H: in ersio n layer of electrons.
 Metal-semiconductor devices
438
, f the electron and hole concentration · on position '" .
The dcpcn d enCl: o •:tre
·pc~:tll~:d by

( 19.2a1

, •( . i 110 itive when the band edges are bent downward and
11 re ' .\ · ·b num
· ·
. . . . d ·ne the equtll concentratiOns o f electron ·
the qua ntt1tes n1.o •111 · 17,_,o • .-. . , : __
an hoi . re: p ~cti vely.lar from the sut lace where 1 (_\)- 0. At the urface.

( 19Jal

(19.3b )

R tu nin Qnow to the calculation of the space charge per unit area Q,. we
util ize Pois-~ n' ·equation in one dimension:

c/ 2 (x) p(x)
(19.-l)

where r, is the permittivity of the semiconductor and p(x) is the total space-
charge de nsit~)'' given by

( 19.5}

The p-type semiconductor is assumed to be uniformly doped with acceptor

impurities and some compensating donor impurities. At room temperature
both types of impurities are fully ionized \vith concentrations n'J and n:; for
donors and acceptors, respectively.
In the bulk of the semiconductor there is no net space charge. so both
p(x) and .' are zero. Hence, from Eqs. ( 19.3) and ( 19.5).

( 19.6)

At an arbitrary position in the semiconductor '~'e can use Eqs. ( 19.~) w

express pp(x) - n"(x) as

( 19. )

Poisson\ equation then takes the form

I -J ,,I
(
--' == - - fl
dx-
('

.\
.
[ (o- .j,.,
''
0
"
•(x ) _ 1) - . (e
llpo
i,·ll l l1
,. \
.c'

A l'irst inteunl or rt1 -, 1 1 · ... •h

~· . , .o ' . e as c:4uatton can bl: l)bt:ti ned h~ rnulupl) ing
1
stc L::-; by dtl'(dx anclmtegrating to vield
L'
 Metal- x ide- semicond uctor ca p citor A9
n 1.11)1
.
I r 1111t:g
. :-
r at hlll . C ·IIT\'111<1
. ' • ~ ~
)
u
1 ll ' .
l\: 1n 1 ·gr:t1 w n 1 'r ,·
llllt lhl: hul l.. o t t hl s~ llll -~,nductn r. i'' = II and d, . rf,· -- 0.'

( I \I. I fl )
"'1 .Y) is ·
1 I(. ) I 1'
1.. ' x ,( '. ll oll o ws from Eqs . ( 19.C
)) and

( 19. I I)

lnt 'udng th n ta ti l n

G( 7..'- fJpO . npn) = [PI'tJ( .Jt·.:· + /:le v - I)

3
+ n1, (e " '· - ;3ct'•- 1)]1 ;:: 0, ( 19.12)

\\e Gtn expre-s th Je tric field at the surface as

c - 2k H T) 1 ·.,
'- s - ±(- E- G( lf., ,Ppo.npo) , ( 19.13)

\\hen. th p ltiVe ign applies for '\ > 0 and the negative sign for "< 0.
It j ~ n \V simple matt r to obtain the desired space charge Qs with the
aid ofGau ·'- law . \Ve consider a slab with one face of area A coinciding
\\ith the ·urfa e of the semiconductor and the other lying in the bulk region
wh r the ek ctrie field is zero. The sla b thus encompasses the space charge.
Gau · law in its general form.

ts i £ · ds = A Q,. ( 19.14)
10-' .---- - - -
p -1y pe Si i300 K>
- -- - - - - ,

bee m -s (Strong
inversim1 l

(, [£, · (-A.\·)] = AQ, I A ccumulalion )

or

Q·' == -
.c
Cs '-" .\'
I .
= ~(2r ,k 8 T )=G(t/'., /)1JOJ11,u ). ( 19.15) Eel"
10-9L-..J......,___J__.i.::......J......,___,__...._.J._..J..._J
- 0.4 - 0 .2 0 0.2 0 .4 0.6 (l s 1.0

The behavior of 10 ,I as a function of l •, is s~own in Fig. 19.4 for p-type

.. - ·h 4 10 1) -m 3 Inthenegat1 veran!!e
sJ!Jcon at room temperature w1t lla = x c .'
. CUI1HiiatiOI1 la)'er ol 1101es. 1~.::
~. ~ Tl~ ~ Fig. 19.4
.
of "(J 0 is positive correspon d mg to an ac Variatio n o f the spal't: charge dl' ll it~ in
'.' - ·' . , . E J?) is the first term , so that
dommant term 111 G as g1ven by q. 09 · - . . 1
we 0 = 0 and the semico nductor a s a funl'l io n n f th ·
s urface po te nlial ' ·, fN p -Si \\'ilh 11,, -
Q ,......, cx p ( j e l tl',l/2). At 4\ = 0, the flat-band condJtJ~nt,. we ·s1,depl~t,ed 0 is I0 15c m
1
at rlH.nnte mperalun:.
, th ~ hole concent1 a 10n 1 ·-' 4
E, =- 0. In the range 1)JJ > 11s > 0 · t: - G ·, )W domin·:lJ1t so t ' " i ~ u.:1·ined b) <'( ·n - t:,.,- /:'/· in

ne1!ati ve a_nd £ , is positive. The second te_rm 111 Is n~ C, doin',·n·t·l..'" the bulk (a fl e rS;.e l'.lSI ).
~ h r rth term 111 J ( "'''•
Q, r ~ - u~ 1 - . ]n the range t;i , » lf.J B• t e OU
' • ) . • i
 M etal - semiconductor devices
A0
? . d we hwe an inversion layer. The on ·et of trong
Q , . - e p 1 1n '·,I->· dn ~
· . ·1 0 oo.:ur" I1en '•_,~-
- ..,- -1/ 1 8 · .
tn\C J ~ ~ . . .. . ~it·mce per unit area of the space-cha rge region i
The J 1ffcre nlla 1 Ldr c L
1 •

defll cd hy

( 19.1 6)

Sub.tituting Eq . ( l lJ. ! 5) into Eq. (19.16) and using Eq. (19.12) yield the
result
r, . ! [Pr ,( I - c-· <T,) + npo(e'3c·•". - I) ]
= e ( -ksT ) G(l./•,.p,c,. np~,) .
( 19.17}

Under llat-bu nd ·ond iti ns ( t/' . = 0). C takes the simple form

c FB -- -J2c~
.1 LD .
-
( 19.18)

wh r Ln = (?.t, k 8 Tj 1pl'0 )~ is the extrinsic D ebye length for holes and the
minority l;arrier concentration npo has been neglected . Far from flat-band
conditi ons. 's exp ( el· _ 11/2),....., JQ,J. and C,. becomes large.

19.1.3 Evaluation of capacitance versus voltage curves

Up to this point we have considered only the capacitance due to the space
charge in the semiconductor. In addition to this capacitance the MOSC has
a contribution from the oxide layer. The oxide capacitance per unit area C0
is given by

C Eo ( 19.19)
o = Wo .

where Eo is the permittivity of the oxide a nd W 0 is its width . Since the oxide
and space-charge capacitance are in series. th~ total capacitance Cis spe-
cified by

I I I
-=
c -Co +-
C
or

The oxide ca p·tcit·tn-"" c · . , h

"II" ' ' ce o ts constant tor a J evice with ~i\ ·n td '' iJt
~ o. whcrl:as th ~ sp, _ 1. . , .. '"
Fig . 19.S _ . ~.: .tee c ldt gc capacitance C . d epl·nd · l10 1 · mJ h 'Ttl"\. 11
1 he: cucrgy-fl' " .ti o 11 l i" !:!rlllll nt ;1
1
t ~: •applted gate voltage v(,'• I '

"A -J(OC t m I"' "S.I. I-4 /111 •.·H it 1 /:., ~l fC lh\.'

1
F."
r ht:ILl rei a Lion
.
bet ween ~ · . i ,
t, <li1 L t \ can be esta hltshL·d \\ttl t
I ciHII cnc:rglc I" I he· IIIL:ta l ~llld 1
co" 7 · 5 whtch sho>vs th ~ . .
-UIIIL!III Ulll'l•ll 1 <.\fl~ ' li l- t'] (;dt ·r well. , th . . t enet gy V' rsus P~' Sili O n dt,l!!flll I'

S.ih I':I'JI J enl' r " ~ ~ e tmp~rtant rrupenics: 111L t;d \\ l rh. fu n ·ti n
gy h, '"' l'tntconductor l'leL"L r t n .I11•I 1111). \ , , I L I
1
 Metal-oxide-semiconductor capacitor .4.41

th·n 1dc l · Thcn1•'t·ti\\'

· ~ c l) I"kl.unL· l 11111
. 1st 11c l 1.111•c rcn c,
f ' 11 •I ' Cirl111 in \aCUlllll far from the mct;d a nd Lhc

1 ' nr --= E.:. r·,t· -

E~
~ Fn l . ( 19 .21 )

luct r c k ct rl'H afYinity is the energy required t r::usc an

m t h~ ~ n lu tion band edge to the vacuum far from the
t r·

( 19.22)

I!Lan n fro m F ig . \9.5 tlnt

er· + ¢ /1/ = cl G + \, - (EF, - Ec(O)), ( 19.23 )

\\hen.: £ 1 • t the ' mico nductor Fermi energy and Ec(O) is the conduction
band d!! )f th . s mico nductor at the interface with the oxide. Since all
thre~qu:mtit ie E ·, E,.,. and£, decrease by the amount e·tf.;, in passing from
the hulk r gi nor the semiconductor to the oxide interface,

( 19.24)

a nd

I o + m = eVe+ X. - e ~; + (Ec - Er:, ). ( 19.25)

The work fu n tion of the semiconductor (p.,. is given by

(19 .26)

lI·mt. tla t 1.J1cr

1:::'
E l'l/ C 1-I.OJn Eqs. (19 .22) and (19.26). we obtain
<Ps = Xs + (Ec- EF.,)· (19.27)

of Eq. ( 19.1) yields

( 19.28)
¢, = x., + e . s + (E - E Fi.x. )·
The qu antities $ , , cJJ ,, and x, are typically on the order of~ few electron
11
. . . . E ~ ( !9 ?5) and (19 ?R) we obtatn
volts. Ehmmatmg Xs trom qs . ·- ·- '
V<, = Vo + 4!.~ +(om- p,.) j e. (19.29)

. . . If f ·t" on of I/' . The oxide is the

The voltage Vo across the oxide IS ltse a unc I I t -od.,e· with charoe QM
. . · -b 1 . et· 1g· te as one e ec I e
msulator of a capacitor wit _ t 1e m ,1 j 1
on it. Hence, f/ 0 is given by
QM (19.30)
Vo =Co .

-·tor is zero we have

Since the total charge on the capau ~ '
( 19.31)
+ Q, = O,
QM + Q·' + Q0
 Metal-semiconductor devices
. . , t· 1 fixed charae in the oxide and Q1 io,; the charge trapn..d
1 to d
,·bert' 0 J IS tll: "" · · · Q f . ,....
-'.,.~ "'llliconductor interface. Ehmmatmg \t rom Eq .1 19.3f))
; L t he O\loe- ~.: _ ·
. J I 1f) 'lnd min!! Eq. (19.1 )). we get
.~ n ·-1 , -

r,£, - Qo - Q,
Jl o = Co ( 19.32 )

. . . ~ • tl , thrnuehEq.(l9.13).ThedependenceofVr; onr.· i
\\ h1C 11 I C 1 ~11 t: 1 0 1 1 ' ~

J1L:C11ied hy Eq . (I L .2Y) ".nd( 19.32). . ~. . . . ....

The · p~ICC- harge capacitance C and the t~t,d capacltd.nce C Cdn no\\ b~
.. . l.tted as function o r the gate voltage Ji (; w1th the atd of Eqs. ( 19.1 1
c. 1cu . · · 1 t
fig.19.6 L) ,0) In do in~ the calculation 1t IS s1mp est o treat 1\ as the inde-
Jn d ( I · -
1 - c:1pa 'lt.m.:c-H'h••-c ur- ·~
c ..
. - .
\J) k•\\ ircqm:m:\, t ht_'h fr<:LtUl!l<=~ penden t \'ari abl a ~d o bta in£.. ~"?· v_G. a~d c In turn. . - .
tel J p dcph:uon Result" for a typ 1 a t case are sho wn Il1 F1g. 1~.6. In the reg10n ot negat 1ve
1·<, there is a n acc unmlati o n layer of boles. Cis large. and C ~ C0 from
El}. (19.:20). s 1, . becomes less negat1 e._ the space-c~arge _density
dc:cr a e u n t il ~~ dt:plet1o n layer w1th lovv· earner concentration IS lormed.
B th c_, an C exhibit corresponding decreases to lov.· values. When J'(j
bee m . ·ufli iently positive. an inversion layer with high electron con-
ntr:ltion i. ' f rmed. and C becomes large aga in. The total capacitance
ri e rapidly until the limiting va lue Co is reached. The curves in Fig. 19.6
\vere obtdin d by neglecting the vvork function difference Om- )_,and the
charges Q0 and Q1. Inclusion of these quantities produces a rigid transla-
tion of the curves parallel to the horizontal axis.
The increase in capacitance at positive V c just described is found only if
the frequency of th AC signal is sufficiently low·. If the frequency is too
high , the rates of recombination and generation of electrons a re insutlkient
to enable the electron concentration to keep in phase v.'ith the applied signal
and thus lead to a large differential capacitance C,. Experimentall y. one
finds that frequenci es in the range of 5- 100Hz (Grove c:t ul. 1965 ) are
accompanied by enhanced values of C. At higher frequencies C remains
small and no rise in the tota l capacitance occurs at positive I .e.
An estimate of the high-frequency capacitance can be obtained as
tallows. We write the space charge Q,. in the form

where 0-" 1·s tl le t ota 1 C1.trgc

1. per. un1l· area ot. the electr '11 ::> m
. lht' 111\t'f
. ·
-IL'O
.layer and U '.,isthcw1.dtl1of'tl
· · 1c·dep·1et1011
· rcgwn.
· The pl)t ntw · l dun
· · ut ·11 1
m the depkt1on reo·io to
· · , b F · • .
11 IS spCCl et y :>OlSSOn s L't]U<ttlfll1
·fi :1

( '!Ia
=-
t I

\-V h sc s I t' b.
u ton su ~ ect to the boundary L'U1Hii t ilm ~

'( ) - d i '( .\ )
I .\ - -- - (l at \ - II
dr 1
 ~eta I-ox•·d e-sem1c
· nductor capacitor 443

\)~ ( 19.35)
""
( 19.%)

Jt nc~? )[ tb ·cmicnnductor is given by

' -- -
d IQ.,l
- = C'llu -dWd
lh, ,\
-
dt/1_-· ' ( 19.:nJ

, h~o.r Eq.~l .:'3) has b enused.Notetha tQ,doesnotvarywith ·'l_ bccause

th~ i•~' ~r. it n-la~ ' r l tr ns do. not respond to the high-freque 1~cy signal.
lnmn.Ltmg clrf ,, d1. ·. V\ Ith the atd of Eq. ( 19.36) and substituting the result
f, r into q. 1 ·-0). we obtain the total high-frequency capacitance of
th ~ 1 .·tru t ur :

( 19.38)

s hO\\ n in Fig. I . 1. the onset of strong inversion occurs for u·' '2:: 2 ·8 .
"here ~ ·8 i give n by Eq . ( 19. I). Continued increase of 1!\ ·beyond 2 ~'; 8 does
noLl ad to a ignificant increase in W", because the inversion-layer charge
mcrea:o and reens the depletion region from a n increase in the electric
field. The m aximum value of the depletion-layer width, Wtf111 , can be
·umated u ·ing the equation

( 19.39)

''hi h o il \\' from Eq. ( 19.36) . The Fermi energies appearing in the
d fin ing qu ation for v 8 can be related to the corresponding hole con-
entrati ns b Eq. (6.14):
( 19.40a)

( 19.40b)

.. . . . t'. II . all ionized at room tempera-

Smc the acceptor unpunt1es are essen Ja )
. · 1 . · f Eqs ( 19 40a) and (19.40b)
ture. p '2:: n". Taking the loganthm ott 1c tat•o o · ·
and using the fact that p; = n;. we obtain

(II")
EFi - E,.. = k 8 Tiog -;;: ·
(19.41)

' ' ' .

Sub. tnutmg mto Eqs. ( 19.1) and then
( 19 39) yields the result for
·
w",:
( 19.42)
 Metal -semiconductor devices
. . , th Eq (6.17). enables one to calculate W 1 a'
Tlu. t:~ l. tualH 1 'v\1
) Il.lngct1Cl . . R I "" a
, . , .• tration and temperat ure. esu t. for sev r· J
• t. 1 n ,j a cc~;; p t C'I Lonu:t1 . 97 a
lu nc J . . ture ·tre presented in Ftg. I . .
m c n ~d at ro. tn tcm per .t ' .

. . f the metal-oxide-semiconductor
19.1.4 App I1cottons o
. Lt · . ch·tJller use of the MOSC as a variable capacitor
\1 th~ bC"111ntl1g ) 1 11:; ' - · ·
c _1 t J~ c r .11J 11 lication concerns momtonng the qualit\ of
'v\,1 - mcnlt~ ncu . · no • ' . . . . . .· . . . ·. .
. . .. . 1-. c~ dunn (' the fabnc at1on o f dcv1ces. The MOSC 1,
' tdlzCJ 't 1I ()11 ur ,t t: . e . . .. " '
. , t j' t he meta\-OXtde-semtconductor fi eld etlect tran ISlOr
ll"clf~l ~ompr,nen . . . .
cr\ .me as t11e ga 1e L) t· itlput electrode. An apphcat1on .
that IS composed of a
-. f t:.1 s~.:
n urn be1 ··I'-J · p·lccd MOS ' electrodes .
ts the charge-coupled
. . .
device
' th 1970 ) It ·15 LISed as the 1magme element 10 VIdeo camera
Fig.19.7 ( Bo) I • ,m d 1111 · : . . - • • . . · ~- . .
\la,1mum Jcpku n la}Cr 1\ lutb \d'iUS nnu,J as •J .·gn·tJ del·tV
L 1e 1_ ' ~
!I n Ill dl!.'Jtal ,.llld ctl1a logue CirCUitS.
L -

lmpunt) c;;Oil cntra l111n for G • S1 unJ

a·\ und.:r llc.l} in 1<:rW~II 11 ul~n.,for
p-t~ p.: ,111 J ''J for n-l~ pc scmlc~lndul"l r. 19.2 Metal-semiconductor diode
taft•r. 7c (lJ, I
As it. nam implies. the meta l-semiconductor (MS) diode consists of a
j unction between a metal and a semico nductor. It i~ more hete~ogeneous
than a juncti on involving onl. semiconductors, and IS charactenzed by an
interfa~e that is imperfect on the atomic sca le. Many of the semiconductor
bonds are dangling rather than completed to adjacent metal atoms. Fur-
thermore, impurity atoms tend to accumulate at the interface to form an
interfacial impurity layer.
In the 1920s radio receivers employed MS diode rectifiers in the form of a
"cats \-Vhisker" (pointed tungsten vvire) pressed against a lead sulfide crystal
surface. During this period large-area rectifiers appeared that were based
on copper oxide or selenium as the semicond ucto r. World War II saw the
use of high-purity silicon in rectifiers for rctd a r applications .
To obtain rectification the work function of the metal c·) Il l mus-t be lanrer
.......

than that of the semiconductor ··., . Under these conditions. a potential

barrier exists that restricts the majority carriers of the scmiconducror.
typically electrons inn-t ype materiaL from ent ~ring the metal and the meLll
electrons from entering the semiconductor. If (JJ,:< ; ,. one has an l1hmic
contact and rectification is not pussible.

19.2.1 Equilibrium characteristics of the MS diode

t--'-1- E
.. t
( ,-~~~,- / )
/-r .\
W?en a met: I and ann-type semiconductor are brought d ' wg~t hl.'r. bul
bdore eq . utltbnum
.. · is cs·t·cl hi 1s .. 11ecl , the energy lew .I dtagram -. .lw.- th ·· I· ' flll
. hown 111 F H!.. 19 ' r01. ' I' - . .. ~-
~- ~ · 111 ..., c _,. I the metal and semt n i UL'l r ,trl' uut-
ctent 1y close touetlPr tl1. t 1 . • .
. ~ t: d tansler ol electrons c·m c'ccur b~L\\1.' nth~· t\\l'
matenal ~ e4uilib .· . ~ l . ,
, . . ·· lllll1l can 1c acllle\'t'd. From Fi~ . 1 . l ' 11 1 · cl ·~tr th.tl
e It:t:tt ns must mov " r· I . -
f ig. 19.8
tlll'ch• · .. . , ·e. t o n~t1eserrm:o nduct()rt o th e t tJIII1
. ~Lmtc.~l- pott:nlt,tls ( hTml eth.Tg it.·s Ev and £ 1. ) th · ,Jill
Baud Jwgram' ' ol " ruelal ;JJHJ n-typt o I. t 1h.: mtc·thn::
.' -1 · <·-' 10\Vn
's ]
111 hu ll) l) J\
· .. •
. · . . . I
\ LJllll"O t J udor bcf" J<.: ,...,,, tac t I> n J;tdc wtdth rv . .- ., . ·. ~- · · · Pl'Sit l\ :-.p.tcL' l. 1
..lll st:s Ill the p·trl o f(}1 .
"''d \\ll h J j,!<J p bet w~cr them (al l t•r int -1·· -~ " . ' L' semt..:\)nd u t 1 nc l t ' t
IJ,Jf- II J1.1 1JIJ ) l l .te e ,.... n ckL'lnc li ··]d £ ·- 1 . • .
II . I . . I h 1 1e Jcl 'J"C prl'scn t m thl. I l
l.t t-.; l t rCL"ll:d luw;trd I hl: I ... t·tl I .
'- ' · 11 \ ll.' \ ' I 1h~o.• d
 Metal-semiconductor diod 44
1' , 1.

. - -- - - -. t;

Fig. 19.9
Band d 1a gram ' fa
\ilm,hm i! IV W 111 · L~d-n-t ypc-,c iTJi <.: (> l1du c L ' tu n linn
'mal l g<tp - - "'.__ _ _ [" w1Lh <I van1, hmgly ~mi.! II ga fl under
cqui lih1ium LOn dil l< n!t ( ~tt'tn Da lven
D istance fl)l)(J ).

fu n tt n • nd th" equali a t ion of the Fermi ener!lics. \V C -ee that the

, a ~uum n ·rgie~ E, ,Ju'l : nd £ ,." .• of the metal and semiconductor, respec-
tncl~ . mu l be dill~ r nt ·tfter eq uilibration in accordance with E4s. ( 19. 21)
:1nd ( 1 ,_6)

. Ill ( 19.43 )

a re ult th electri c field in the space charge region and the

l)f
mitant nding of the conduction band edge as seen in Fig. 19.9 an
n r~) arrier ~ E.v 11 arises that restricts the motion of electrons from
the 1111 nductor to the metal. Since the conduction band edge is below
th 'a uum energy by the electron affi nity \', we see that at the metal-
mi ondu t r interface x = 0,

E (0) =£,.,11 m - \' ." ( 19.44 )

"b rea at the right-band edge of the space charge region x = W.

( 19.45)

li m i n ~Hing \ ., a nd using Eq. (19.43) give

6Es111 =Ec(O) - Ec( W)

= 0 /11 - r!J,,. ( 19.46)

Thus. the ener<Ty barner · for

· electron mouon · 111· t o tl1e 111et··'1l is· the difference
· t h e work 1_:::-
m ·
unctiOns. 0 n t 11e o t11er h an d , uPsee
e f'rl) l11fio::-: 199thatthe
¥ .. · .
· -1 th
energy barrier !:::,£111 , for electron mot1011 rom e n1t:· t·:tl '
mto the semi-
onductor i given by
( 19.47 )
6Ems = cPm - \ ,.
. . b . r 1.1. the space charge region
The eneroy barr1er IS called a Schottky arne . , ..
M barrier if the selmconduLtor Js
c ntain donor or acceptor Jons and a ott
t: .

intrinsic .
 Meta l- semiconductor devices
446
Current under applied voltage
19.2.2 . . . . ··t C volt age 1··,, across an MS di~de
prod uces a current
The ap pllc.lt to n t • . ~ over the energy barner between the se .
fr m c·Hner. pa :-, mg d b. I . tnJ.
rl tng t ' I 1 ue r .111 applied forwar laS YO tage, V0 _.. f) th
1 tt r ·tnd ml!l::t · 11 • · d · e
com Ill • · . . i th respect to the semtcon uctor. and th
01 l,ttl e 1 1e1.1I 1-. n1 e P_ " . 1e • d .1s shown m
0 111
· I 9 . 10 . Th e energy barn e
· Ftg.
P 1''\i d i agr~ ' '" 111 u l ' . h ':" er
t: '- ~- •. ·I. tr<'l n fr om the sermconductor tot e metalts lowered
Fig. 19.10 !L r p.t ·:a~ L' I , Ll\ ~.: t:
B. nd d1, grum '' the: and i giv n b)
m tal-n-t~ pc-,cmt ' ndu~:l r Ut ..:lion
unda.ln .tpplted lor\\,ud htJ I" ,).£"" ( V,,) = 6Esm - e VII
(~ mll:onJuc:Ll•r n )!J!I\C:J l,tftcJ = 111 - r 1 - (' Va· (19.4 1
D.1h ~n I •NUl.

U nd. a reverse b 1 ~ 1 ~ volta ge. V0 < _0. tl~e metal is made negative._ and the
resulting 'ner~ . diagra m is shown 111 F1g. 19. I I. The energy barner takes
th~ ( rm
t,'t,.-tJ-', +t: \ ~ , l D.E1111 (V11 ) = 6£111 + eiJ al
: \ £,,.

= dJm- (]J_I + el Va l· ( 19.49 1

The ca lculation of the DC current is carried out by evaluating the net rate
at ~;vhich electrons flow through the metal - semiconductor interface at.t = 0
using stati stical mechanics. Since electrons flowing from the semiconductor
Fig. 19.11
Band dtagram of the into the metal must have a velocity component -v\. the resulting current
metat-n- typc-scmicondnctor JUnction density .ism.\ can be written as (cf. Eq. (8.6I))
unde r <~ n a pp lied re\ rse bias V"
b mi ondu tor po, iti\'tJ (after . 2( - e ) ' . ~
Dall'en 1990) } snn = - 0 -L.) - vx lf (Ek). ( 19.50J
k

where f (Ek) is the Fermi distribution function. a factor of 2 has been

introdUI.:ed for spin, and n is the volume. If the semiconductor is not too
heavily doped and the temperature is not too high./ (Ek) can be approxi-
mated by the Boltzmann distribution:

f (Ek) ::: e -( EA - EF l l k 11 T_
l.· 19 ._'I \'
Assuming a spherical energy band,

J/·k:.
E~.: = Ec +-- .
2m*
and takinl!. ,, to beth .
~ e group velocity_ we have

OE,..
(\ =-I - - fzk. I 1 > _- _l l
fz fJ k I - -;;;:-
Substitu(ill£?. these re~ ult . . t E
. . ~ . . ·' s Ill 0 lJ I 19 "0) ' I '
to an Integral yields ·' ·- m e lr•tnsl n m ng lh • un l' 1

.
·/1/11·1 =
ftc
,, \-
"t 7!' /)/
I c/ J /1 AI , L. , 1.' , -1 f· •/.. .
.m -J '
 Metol-se ·
m• on uctor diod
tt nrh~•.tn'" 11 111 .
A 7
_ L" !! l ~•t•un~lr/.
. fh• l\111gl.: or/, I I and/, i lllh · t a!..'
• • 1· lu \ ' \\.:r ·. " .· 1: 11
11 lt~: l.:llC' l (!)" 111lhL· \-d · .. . . . IS I 'illll'[t:d hv IIJc
· lr~:~.:t• o n hL· s 11' .· ·
Jill t I1\: lllt:r"_ harri r: . ll lucnt lu cnahl·

/, .~ I.
- I - - 1\ \11

'r
- k , ~ k\11· ( 19.55)
,, h\?fl.:

( 19.56)

( 19.57)

Th int gral O\er k - i elementarv.

J
The resttlt fo I.Js111x
· IS ·

(19.58)

'' hi. .h .exh.ibll

-. an
. ex
. ponential
. .increase .in current de ns1·tY Wit· h rncreasrng
· ·
[i 1\\ ,lld bta . Ehm matmQ:~ 0 . \Vtth the atd ofEq . (19 .....'>7) yte
· ld s t he s1mpler
·
f'.."Uit

j tmx = •.1·111e l , _,-¢,.,+"V") / kl,r ,

( 19.59)
'' h r j,11 given by

. em'(ksT )2
./rh = ~ ~ ( 19.60)
21f- n
th thermionic current coefficient. It can be expressed in the reduced form
ah 19 1

( 19.61)

and j - •he ·olid-state analo!!ue of the coefficient characterizing the therm-

i nic: emission of electrons t'rom a hot filament in vacuum. ~
To complete the calculation of the current we need to include the con-
tribution or electrons flowing from the metal into the semiconductor, lms.\'
In this direction the barrier height 6.Em, is unaffected by the applie~ volta~e
Vu becau. e no space charge region exists in the metal and no bend11~g of Its
energy band. occurs. as is evident from Fig. 19.1 0. Since 6Ems 15 mde-
p ndent of I " we can determine j,n,·x by exploiting the fact that under
equili brium conditions with V" = 0, the total currentj,"r 15 zero:
( 19.62)
·
1/ol
·
= ./ \1/I.Y
·
+ ./msx -
-
0 for Va = 0.
 Me tal-semiconductor devices
AA8
· · E ( 19 '!9) with V" = 0 we ohtam
Rl:pl<.tcin g ;,"" by its ex presswn Jn q . ·- ..
;,,,,. = - ./til(' 1 . -•iJ.,l/k8 T
. i ( 19~
·''3J
. . R. h d on equation that describes thermi o ni c emi'iWin
Thi eq ua l! t1 1S l1l C IC ar s . . b . db .
. , rrent densit y und er b1 a s 1s o tame y combm1M
ol rl ·drono; . I1C to t a 1 Lll . ~
J.q., 1Jl}.59J ;u1d ( 19.63) t P Y clcl
1

.
)i,•t = l... al
( ,,·1 , 1 As
(
r _ 1). ( 19.64 )

\\ ht:l"l!),"' is the saturation current density defined by

i \ ' ~'>, )/ l.. u r
.
./"'' =
.
l rh l' · ( 19.65 )

N tc tb.t t for la rg re er ' e bia s. Vo « - k sT/e. the expo nential term in

Eq. ( 1 .64) i. ncgligibl . so;,.,,, = - j,.",. The current- voltage characteristic
is qua lll aLi \ el ' tht: sam as tha t shown in F ~ g. 12.24. . .
qualic n ( 19.M l j - the Bethe d~ode eqU.at1on~ It has the sa_me quaht~~ti\e
r ml a . the I ck ley cb ode equdt iO n. Eq . ( ,_ ,g7). for the p--n JUnLtlon
li ode. H w v r. the express io ns fo r the sa tura tion currents in the two
as s, Eq ·. ( 12. 88) a nd ( 19. 65) . are not the same. becau se the physical
1 roccsse · in l ed are q uite different. In the p- n junctio n the current is
limited by mino rit y ca rri er diffusio n and recombinati o n. whereas in the MS
d iode. the current is limited by the passa ge of majo rit y ca rrie rs o ve r the
potential ba rrier by therma l excita tion . The Bethe diode s·tturation current
is typica lly fi ve o rd ers o f magnitud la rger than the Shockley diode
saturatio n current.
The current assoc ia ted with electrons flowing int o the metal from the
semiconductor is often ca lled a ho t electron c urre nt. beca use the electrons
in the semico nducto r mu st ha ve a kine tic energy of a t leas t Om- \ s in order
to surm ount the barri er. Th e co rresponding effecti ve tempe rature
Tt!JJ = ( ~') "'- y,.)/ks turns out to be rv 12 000 K in a typi ca l case. so the
electrons initi ally are indeed ho t. Hmvever. ph o no n sca ttering in bo th the
metal and semiconductor is so effi cient th a t the e lectro ns a re quick!) cooled
to ambient tempera ture.
It wa s noted earlier that the silico n a to ms at the inte rface \-Vith th metal
can l~ave dat.1gling bo nds. Furthe rm o re. oxygen is typica ll_ prese nt in the
Interl ace regw n, leadin g to form a ti on o fSiO ~. Bo th the d a nnli ng bl nds and
the SiO::! sen :c as interface traps tha t ca n capt~u-e fr ee c a rrie•~ - Th 'a p tur d
c.'"11.'~·• e rs st gndlcantl y modil'y the pos iti o n of the Fe rmi ~ n rg: ,t t the i1 ter-
f.~ce and , thereby, the Sch o ttk y barri er height ( Bardeen I ll.f7). In ra . . , tl11 s
pmnmot=- c f the • •
Fe rmi le vc•I ma k·es t 11e barn·er
- height
. es::;enl!,dl\ md pl'n d 'Ill
of the spec1 hc met·tl - ~ j · 1 1· .
' Ust: L 1n t 1e lt ode. For turther tad. ·· th, re.td r l ' .
r fe r red to the so lid -s ta le elec tro nics lite ral urt· (Sa h 19Y I).

19.3
Metal-oxide-semiconductor field eHect tr r
19.3.1 Introduction

Th~: metal - oxi de -semiconductor field effect tran si t r l

~~ m~t a l l:t , r c: dled th e gate SL' I'~ . tt·· tt . I ,.
· • • 1..L rnm <~ "
 tor fi ld ffe t tr n i~tor 9
1
I L died lh gate o ide It,, h11 \
r- '· I Ill
11
1ll1 Ill hI ' ' 1\pll ;i l l n I I
)._ th II 11 l LIIITU11 111' ' ' ll till·II • ·tion J1l:lflC.:IHiJ -
\ 1 n a '11lta •c ~ tlt i h, 1
~ ' · go 1e vo loge '' .t ppl11~d I ' l hL
t It IiI i"'' du '~d t h.tt C.:. ll1 r~.:: · t ·h \a luc:·"1n th 't lld l:t
l
lh·ttm Jul.1t '!-~ I h 'L ltll.. lll: l l 1t _ , , Lllc . •111 1· ., nu. 1 uct r
till thL 1 11.k. Tl11 ~ t ' th e f'el d effect th at kaJ , In th e
transistor Ill~' the !,.<l l C j.._ i n~lll<tlcd !'r lll1 th~.: Cl ll -
Hl insulated-gate fi eld effe ct tran~istor ( 1 ' F E ) j-, some-

H\ ·ha ' d " cri b ~d i . 'lM C. heM Sl·-T c pl 1it-.

f the '\Ctnico ndUdOr th at a ri. S \\ hen
trong ~.;n u h to benJ the energy bands sufficient! t
im cr~ton Ia er 1H inversion channel at th int errace of the
u t 'r \\ill the _at x.idc. I 'ctrical co nta tis mad t< h
Dl •I h~ mean f 11+ source and 11 drain elec trodes tha t a re
he enu onu u t r a ' -h wn in Fig. I .1 2. By a ppl ·ing , 0 1-
1.\!! • n• r n t:) the _·ource nnd dni n. r spectivcly, a c urrent p·:~. ra l kl to
them rl c ~o..tn e made t 0 win the im-ec ion channel. This curren t ca n
h· rrH dulated b) \tlf~ ing tb ga t v lta e: and thereb va rying the ca rri er
'lllCt:lllf. Lil 11 and l: nducti \ it r the in ve r io n channel. This d ic IS
"nO\\ n a the induced n-typ e inversion channel MOSFET. The indu · d p -1) pe
imer il n hannel M F ~T r ults if the p-Si sub tratc is replaced by n-Si
,~, ith the im cr ion channel e ming p-t pe.
If the gate 'nlta!!e i zer r \' ry low, no im ersion channel exist·. The
urrent path fr m th :ource t the drain in vol e~ two 11~ p junctions back-
t -ba ·k. 1ne of\\ hi hi , r ver d bia~cd. Con. equently, when a DC volta ge
i applt d bet we n. o ur c · nd drain. the maximum current that can fio 'IA is

Vc;

n-type iuvcr-;iun
h<Jn nd
L

Fig. 19.12
,\ Lhrc ·-din1l'lhlull.tl tl1.Jg.r.1m ,,f
au in1 c· r~ion n - d1dll rl ·I o;illnul
1\ 1 )S I- :11·1 r S.th I•NI).
body

.450
Fig.19.13
0 1auram r the mcta l g.tte. msulaw r.
,md-n-1~ pe channd of a 1'.,.1 . I E \\i th a
n ·gali\'C potenttal ;lpj lu.: I w the gate
and J 10 \\ in I! th • el ·tric ti ·ld 111 the
msulat r Tt:u: undepl ·tcJ pa rt o l' the
chann I is ·haded (aftt:r Dalv n I YO).
Metal-semiconductor devices
t I1c sma 11 sa t l tl. ,. 1t1·011 c'llff''llt
'"
under reverse bias. This situati n corre
. .
pond
OSFET current- voltage cha racten t1c . When
to t 1H~ cu toff rang e ()f the M
uo inv r ion channel is present. how·cve r. a much larger current can flow.
because the n ' p junctions arc eliminated. . .
An alternati ve way to produce ann-type mv~rs1on ~~anne! MOSFET i'\
to dop the surface la ye r o r the p-Si with dono r Impunties such as ~· A . or
b. This n-t ype layer co nstitutes the mvers10n channel. If a negative gate
voltage is applied. electro ns in the in version c_hanncl _a re for~~d awa~ from
th iu ·ulat o r laye r and out of the channelleavmg behmd posJttvely charged
donor ions as shmv n in Fig. 19. 13. The resistance of the cha nnel thereby
in ·rca ses a nd the source-to-drain current decreases. This is the doped
n-type inversion channel MOSFET.
It lmuld be emphasized tha t the MOSFETs just discussed are unipolar
transistors. i.e., the current is carried by only one type of carrier. either
electrons or holes. but not both. In the BJT. on the other hand. the current is
ca rried by both majo rity and mino rity carriers: hence. inclusion of the word
··bipolar" in the name is appro priat e. Another difference is that the current
How is pa ra llel to the principa l interfaces in the MOSFET. but perpendi-
cular to them in the BJT.

19.3.2 DC characteristics of the MOSFET

19.3.2.1 Surface field and surface charge
Our discussion of' the MOSF ET characteri stics builds upon that of the
MOSC, since the la tter is a n integral pa rt o f the former. What needs to be
added are the roles of the so urce and drain and the current that tlO\\
bet\\ een them. The procedure is to obtain a new expressio n f r the space
charge Q_, that conta ins the dra in voltage ~ '0 . The charge_ " in the im ersion
layer IS then obtained a nd fro m it an equa ti o n tha t relat s tb dr-tin current
I D to V D and the gate voltage V ,- .The so urce is ass umed to b !lWundeJ " L
~hat the source voltage is zero. The treatment ca n ca ·ih be ~ ~neraliL d w
mclude a 1:onzero source vo ltnge (Sah 199 1). .
. The dram voltage produces a po tential V ( r ) in the in\ r il n chan nel at a
dtstance Y from the source that require tl~c BoltLm· 1 n h tribu u n fM
electrons t o take the modilied fo rm

II ( \' , . ) - II '!,• I'( I t I ll) 19. l:t

I' . ' . - pU i

At lhc scmico nduchH· surface,.\" = 0.

111,(0. r)= lljlli L' lei•' I •

nJ~ r c quilibriumco nJiti d ns \\ith I t ) () ·I ...

-
~, , 111 •I I"LI· · t
~ "' ~..: I u prOlliCl''tn el· ·
. I. - 1,1\c' n
, ''

. • •. · · ' t:Li f Ufl l ' l ll) '(' tra t llllL' l l f '

111\e t sll n . It ts c·l···tl' ~
1'1. E
0 11) • Ll . ( I L) 7) I .
t 1.1 1 tP plo ll
• c
c u n ccn l t"•t l l.1.) 11\\'.·1111(1')
.
1 .
,.1. (1
r . 1 ·, m u~ t h · g 1, •11 b\

1\ - 2r ,, I ( 11 .
 1- - m1conductor field ffect transistor 451

ntll rl~ J ·rgi nwith;lnd,llhnlll .(r) ,,,,, I' l l I

11 n bd' ct.: n I h ' dr~1i11 current In ctuu Lbc dr<tin

I 1 1 nl.tl ol umc l) r the inversion channel of Qu
1 I h / . T he rc ·i st<HlCt' dR,. of this volume is Q,,

dl'
IR, = . . (19.69)
rr(.Y,_r )Z d'l:

(aJ (hj

Fig. 19.14
Comparison of the cha rge distribution
and energy band variation of a n inverted
Z J~ ' (.Y,y)dx
1

-
ciR
- dr
( 19.70)
p-region for: (a) equilibrium ca e.
(b) nonequilibrium reverse bias case
(after Grove and Fitzgerald 1966).

h r If', is the l tal thickne .. of th inversion channel. Using the relation

11
, .\..r ) == t'J1, 111 , x.; . \ I ~re ,,, i the ellective electron mobility, we obtain

dr
dR= · (19.71)
ZJ.Lu!Q" (.r) l

The quantit_- ,( _r) 1 the lectron charge per unit area given by

/ J1 '
Q11 (.1') = -c Jo np (x.y)dx. (19.72)

Th Y !tag drop d fl across dR is determined by Ohm's law

/Ddy
dV = IDdR = . ( 19.73)
ZJ.L"[Q"(y)j
The electron charge Q 11 (_r) is related to the total charge induced in the
semiconduct r Q,(_r) by Eq. (19.29) which we rewrite in the form
( 19.74)
11
here QB( y) is the urface depletion charge per unit area given by
- en)V,A .r) and W"(_r) is the width of the depletion region specified by
th generalization of Eq. ( 19.32):

en a w} (J) (19.75)
!h
'·' = ------.!!.....~
2f,. .
U·ing the result forJ appropriate for strong inversion in the presence of
the d . · ·' · ·
ram voltage, Eq. ( 19.68), v./e obtain

(19.76)
 Metal -semiconductor devices
452
0_ n( .I') is then ~ivcn b '
I
Qs(r ) = -- {2r: ,t'11a [2 ~1 B + V(y)]}=. ( 19.77)

. in c V( I') increa. e from source to drai~1 du~ t_o the IR drop along the
inver ·io t; channel. the energy band bendmg tjJ, mcreases from source to
drain, as does the surface depletion charge Q B· ,
T h to tal charge Q,( y) can be related to the gate voltage Jt c by combining
Eqs . ( 19.15). ( 19.29). a nd ( 19.32). The res ult is

1/'c-. - _ Q.,(.r) V FB + 1/· (J·)· ' ( 19.7 )

Co
'f' S
'

when; VFB is the flat-band voltage given by

¢~~~- . ·' Qo + Q,
I F/3 = - ( 19.79)
e Co

The llat-band voltage is the gate voltage required to give llat bands for
which \ , c , . and Q,. are all zero. Solving Eq. (19.78) for QA_r) and using
Eq. (19.68). we obtain

Qs( y) =Co [- Vc + VFB + 2-l!Js + V( ,r)] . ( 19.80)

Substituting this result for Qslr) and that for Q8 (r) into Eq. ( 19. 74) yields
Q,Jy) in the form

Q"(y) = - Co [ VG- VFB- 2t .· n- V( ,r )]

+ {2 Esen0 [2!.'J s + V ( ,r)]p . ( 19.81)
I

Let us suppose that Vr; is sufficiently large to produce an in\'ersion la)er

a t the source where V( _r) = 11(0) = 0. As one proceed toward the drain and
V(y) increases, we see that JQ 11 (,1') ! decreases until it reach ~o;; the \ alue
JQ,(L)I at the drain~.: here V( y) = l'(L) = Vn. As J'n is increased. the
saturation drain voltage ~ n, 111 is eventually attained at \\'hich Q"( L) =0.
From Eq. ( 19.81) we find that Vn_,11 1 is given by

X {I - [I +~C3( ~'lJ - f.,l'll,,

l 'FB ]~1
J
We can eliminate Co and 11{/ \-vit h the aid of Eqs. (I ).Ill) ,tn • ~{:I) •

., , IJ ,
- '·s 1- -lt,'R
<1 II lm
 id - miconductor fi I effe t tr n 1 tor

lt' I h ~...:
)lfllll til
Ih J to
]11111' ' r

voltage V( F)
,( 1') r !a t d to th e drain
hm':-. Ia as cxpres~ed by Eq. ( 19.n) to
inlegra t fr m the so urce at y = 0. \vhere
1 'r' 1·= i ' 0 . ·ctnd btain - 50
~
c 40
N

--
~ 30
: 8
.._
C;

~ 20 6
<:>
( 19.R5) t:
:::l
u
2
0
Eliminating C0 and 11 1 tn, ide the uri_ brackets yields

In== Zp,Co{[t'
L G- I'·FB - -? IJ.I B - To]r'"o
2
" 0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Drain voltage,\/0 ( V)

_:i f H:o (2ve)~[( Vo + 2 ·' Bf 12 - (2 ,,-13) 312] } . ( 19.86) Fig.19.15

J 0 IT Jnr NormalizeJ drain current versus
drain voltage for various va lues of
A family [ drain current versus dra in voltage curves for various gate the gate voltage for ann-channel
\ ltag is ·hwn inFig. l9. l 5. MOSFET (after Sah 1991 ).
F r -mt II V1 , l 0 increa e linearly with Vn in accordance ·with the
I ading renn f th ma ll V n ex pa nsion of Eq . ( 19.86):

Zpu o.
Jo = ( V (j - V GT) V D· (19.87)
L

Tht quantitv cr 1 the threshold gate voltage defined by

Qs(O)
Vcr = VFB + 2· s - Co

?/ B ) 2
I
( 4 f.st'lla
= V r 13 + 2·1/ 8 + Co ( 19.88)

It i the smallest gate voltage at which a conducting channel is induced

and a drain current can tlo~. As the drain voltage increases further, the
dram current levels off and reaches a maximum value at V D = VDsat·
From the definition of th e latter, Q (L) = 0 v..:hich corresponds to the
11

Pinch-off condition . No mobile electrons remain at the drain end of the

.hannel.·. WI1en I/ n exceeds V '--'11''
1 jn
rJ .
.
a depletiOn .
ren10n
o
rep l aces t I1e .mver-
lha r gJo~ near the drain. The drain current then consists of el_e~trons
· l fio\v trom the so urce along the inversion channel and are mJected
1111
n the depletion region before reaching the drain. The drain current is
I ) ],,ll2er d
· ~ cscn·bed by Eq. ( 19.~6), beca use the latter assumes th e
 Metal-semiconductor devices
5A
I' . · . ~ - , · n hvcr over the entire distance from source to
e JS tence o ,tn ltne 1 1
.
'J .
dr~ i n The electr0L1S 110\-'i !'low through n-depletiOn acnd depletion-n
. . . b· ck 10 _b·H.:k I n remains constant at the vc1lue 10 m corre-
JUtl tJOI1S d - ' . . . . . (J9 86 b r·
. . t 1
'>P nd m~ o ~ r ;,,{·
ReJllacement of Jl o 111 Eq. · ·· )f Y ~, D or from
- q. 1 -~ _ ) / iel sa n expression for I 0 , 01 . In the hm1t o small W 0 . one
hta in s the rclati v ·ly simple result

( 19.89)

where
r."CT =
y vFR + ?_ l,' B· (19.90)

Equation ( 19.l39) describes a parabola which is indicated by the dashed

curve in Fig. 19.15. To the right of the parabola the drain current is
es ' entially constant for given Vc -
The transfer characteristics of a MOSFET are provided by the dependen
of JD on Vc; w·ith V 0 tlxed . A typical plot showing this dependence is pre-
sented in Fig. 19.16. For small V 0 and Jlc; - V r;r » V 0 the characteristics
are linea r in accordance with Eq. ( 19.87). As Vc- VeT is reduced at con-
stant V0 . it eventually reaches a value at which V 0 acquires its saturation
value V Dwt· The drain current then takes its saturation va lue. It is specified
by Eq. (19.89) for V n > Vc- Vc;r > 0 and is represented by the left-hand
Fig. 19.16
'ormalm:d drain r urr nt v..:rsu ~a te
'nltace f r vari u qtlue5 of th<.: drain envelope of the curves in fig. 19. 16.
\ Oitage f r an n-channcl MOSFET A parameter of interest for device applications i the transconductance
(a tcr 'ah I 91 ). defined by

dlo I ( 19.91)
g", = av ..
G I n

For Vo < Vo,ul we use Eq . ( 19.87) and obtain

1.5
· l periment
In the saturation range \ve replace V 0 in the last q u.ttw n hy I 1 "· .L
r

"
~I 0 . peufied bv• Eq- · (· 19 · 0t• -'~) or ( 1~-
" 4). In the latta case ( ·er~ thtn td 1a}l.'r i·
The Dry
1',, = -1:'\0cmltt v "
ZJL-11 Co
g"'-''11 = L ( V< ; - I .r R - 2va ).
V111 =-2V

We sec that in the s·tt ., 111011

· .. ltn ~trl)
t ange thL' trans ' )ndu..:t.tnc
,.,..-1
.· ' lit '
\oVt~h gate voltag~ as show n in Fiu 19 I '1 ~\ tl· ' ,
ulld ttc()l ·,t n.:' J UCtlllll
.
SU -1
, c-·
. ·
1. . .
.trgl g.tlt'\
nr
- -
5 (J 7 ll1
I
o\ I ace 111001 1It\ Jl th' ckLI
nnvt1er parameter of . . . - "
defined h y ll1ll:t est · the volta ge amplifico
1 1
I '
Fig. 19.17
I 1.111 ·L" ttt.lu .. Ltnt.... h f'l u ~ ga k , ,, Jt , 1 )!~: 10
1/1~ :JIUIJllllll rc:g i iiJ I I I II I /1 ou l ' ' " ~Il l
11 ~.:lt.tn ll~ l 1fl ._, l I l l : d t~r 1 1 11' ~ l 'Jt 17 J. I,, - iJI ·,
Jl 1
I I
' I I
 References
A 5
..... ill r--rr-'TT--r--r--.-T"'"""1r--r~
~
·..:..::.

( 19.95)
:_; f,
•.:::
p loLf !u \'ers us Vc _ J.. ' .. .1 l ,:;xe .1 1.. .
~

I . r.l ' .. , c , n IS 4
nnkmg n do c to tb -aluration value prod uces
2
()

0 2 f, ~ I() 12
V - V 7 IV )
Problems
lnrge per 1nit areJ Q,. for a surface potential 1j, = --0 3 v
Fig. 19.18
I. ,11·ul.lt th Voltage ampl ifica ti o n factor versu:,
tt T 300 K \ ith II" = 10 cm -· Also calculate th~ value-s of
16 3
in p-t~ P~ ~111 gale voltage for various vaiucs 0f the
Q for • = 0 3 . F r what ' ·~ lue of 7J; , does the onset of strono drain volwgc for an n-channcl
0
' 1.
10 , er~ tllll MOSFET (after Sah 199 1)
~ 01nJer a on p- 1 a t 300 K wtth the following parameters:
16
- II,,= J0 Ltn 300A. Q = Q,=O. fo = 2.4F0 • and cp, = cp,. For equally
.pa"d "llu ' in the rang - .5 V to 1.0 V. calculate the gate voltage vG.
the xtdr capacttance Co and the to ta l capacttance C. Make a plot of C:C 0
nru- l "c,and ·ompare v. ith F i:;!. 19 .6. ·
In ' 01111 ' tton with problem 2 explain why there is an accumulation layer of
hole \\- hen 1·(, 1 negativ a nd why there i an inversion layer of electrons when
1·0 i . u fticientl~ po. itiv ·.
4. (alculatc the maximum alue o r the d_epletion layer width Jlf/"111 at 300 K for an
a pt r concentrati n nu = 10 1i em-·'.
1

5. Cal ulat the Lo tal urr nt density of an MS diode under bias V" = 0.3 V at
' OO K with m =0. 1 m , \, = 4.03eV. and 1.))11,=4.08eV.
6. What i the ph] i a l significance of the flat-band condition ( , = 0 (see
Fig. I . -)'> What · rc th v, lue · o f [, and Q:? Obtain an expression for the flat-
b<lnd v ltage that invo lve the voltage across the oxide V 0 .
7. F r a M FET ith material parameters as in problem 2. calculate the
aturati n drain \Olt; g when Q 11(L)=0 and Vc = 2V. If the oxide layer
thi kn ~s W 0 i. small compared to the maximum depletion region width Wdm·
val uate th ·atu ratio n drain voltage Vn"'" and the threshold gate voltage I UT·
r m th r suit o f problem 7. ca lcula te the sa turation drain current In.'"' if
{1 11 = 10 0 m , , ) , Z = IOOpm , and L = 5pm.
2

References
J. Bardeen, Pin-s. R 1' . 71. 717 ( 1947).
\V. · . Boyle a~J G . E. Smith. 8 ('11 Srst . Tech. J. 49, 5X7 (I 970).
R. Dalvcn . lntrnductinn to Applied .Solid State Physics, Second edition(Pienurn
Pre. . New York. I 990).
A. S. Grov~:: . Pin•. ics and Technology of' Semiconductor Devices (John Wiley.
New York. IW~7) .
· S. Grove and D. J. Fitzgerald. Solid-Stare Electron. 9. 783 (1':166). _
· S. Grove, B. E. DeaL E. 11 . Snow, a nd C. T. Sah, Solid-Stare Electron . 8, 14)
(1965).
CT. Sa h. Fundamentals uf Solid-Stare Electronics (World Scientific, Singapore.
lY9l) . . .
S. M. S~;c. Pln •., ic.,· ~~~ Semiconductor Devices, Second edition (John Wtley.
cw York . 10HJ ).
 t r
tures

Applications
fthe J\10SFET- source. drain. and gate which is 20.1 Devices with transport parallel to
fat ' r m the ' OUJ-ce and drain- can be incorporated the interface: field eff~ct transistor (FET)
int 1. Llll ctor hetero ' tructures to create devices such as the tv,:o-
dim~n 11 n I k tron ~a- fi 'ld effect transistor (TEGFET) or high
dcllrL n n1l Jl1it_ tran 1stor (H MT) and the modulation doped field
eiTl: t tran i L r (MODFET ) or selectively doped heterojunction
tran i. t r DHT ).
In het ro ru~turc de\ icc he interfaces are very sharply defined and
change in th vol tng ae ro them can be very abrupt, thus leading to
excellent control orrh ·hannel charge concentration by the externally
appli d gare voltage .
.\n impon,mt a pplicati n of heterostructures is to digital devices such as
\Htche . The high mobility in the 20 channel provides k)\v power
di ipation.
In a 1 ET th meta l ga te of the standard MOSFET is replaced by a
highl) dop d GaA gate.
H1gh-frequ ncy op ration requires that the time for carriers to cross the 20.2 Deviceswithtransport
perpendicular to the interfaces
a uv r !!ion mu. t be as short as possible. The latter should therefore be
made a · narro w as possible.
Th peration o f th e double barrier diode involves the resonant tunne/in~
effect. A q ua ntum well containing electrons is separated by a barrier
Cr m a qua nt um \ve il containing hole, . Under an applied voltage the
curren is du to electrons surmounting the barrier. At resonant
tunneling th current d ecreases, giving rise to an effective negative
re.;;i~tan
e.
The h te r jun tion bipolar transistor (HBT) has an e~1itter of
n-Ga lA . a collector of n-GaAs , and a base of p-GaAs wh1ch serves
a a b~trrier for electrons moving from the emitter to the collector. In
unipolar t r· nsistors only majority carriers with high kinetic _energy (hot
carri r ) a r involved. thus producing the hot e/ectrontranststor (HET)
ft' · tl tl ·n GaAIAs
"llh very h1gh-frequcncy operatiOn. W1th a s~ lCie~. Y 11
· · . · ·
. , ·n
harner t un nelin!! of hot e lectrons becomes poss1ble gJvmg the !unnth g
hot cdectWJ I lrun.,istur amplifier (THETA).
 Applications of semico nductor heterostructures
A8
Laser busl.!d 0 11 qua ntum wells have better perf rmance than
'20 nnlumwelllo~
c n\'cnlwna l . miconductor lasers. . .
rl

20 4 One - dimensionaland
zero- d imen sional q uantum s truct ure~
20.5 Devices based on electro-optic
eHech in quantum well structures
The guided ligh t v.;avc and carrier confinement SJgmftcantly lower the
[lrt:S
I h I(I L.UI·1·ent d ' n ·itv"' oC a double-heterostruct ure laser.
T ht:: ·ingk quan tum well laser ~a s a t\~'o-~iimensional d n ity- f-states
tl at enha nce: th, eiTicient buildup ol gam.
""' lt it1 Je LJll " ntum \veil lasers are ad vantageous under high loss
VI L1 • • I"
conJ iti 11 - . a in can be improved by applymg stram to p tt the light
Jnd heavy hole bands.
One-d imcn :iona l and zero-dimensional structures lead to quamum wireJ
and cJIIOII/11111 clots.
In 011 , dimension the carrier energies lie in subbands or channels. The
21
channel conductance has the quantized value 2e h.
Nanosca lc lithographic techn iques, molecular beam epitaxy, and
metalorganic chemical vapor deposition can be used to produce
quantum wi res and quantum dots.
If the mean free path of a n electron is large compared to the dim n ions
or a quantum wire, the electrical transpo rt is hallistic.
Devices based on 10 and 00 structures can perform digital operations
involving single- or few-electron events.
The threshold for nonlinear optical effects decreases as the
dimensionality decre<:L es.
The qua ntum dot laser makes a ll electron- hole pairs efficient fo r gain.
An electric tield applied in the distinct directions parallel and
perpendicular to the layers of a quantum well structure leads to no\'el
effects on exciton absorption.
An electric field perpendicular to the layers strongly shifts the xcit n
absorption peaks in the Cfllmltum-conjl"ned Srurk et)ect .
The QCSE forms the basis for the quantum ll'elllllodulator in "' hich the
optical transmission is modulated by an applied field .
A photodetector combined with a quantum wdl mod ula tor create· a
se/f~electro-opric-e.fli'cl del'ice (SEED).

Tht: ?cvelopment o l'tcchniques . uch as molecular b ·am epH.l \ h.t:> n" I'
pos ·rble th e product ion of ultrathin scmicnndu ·t l l" Lru tur> · \\llh r·-
l:l el ~ ntrolled char;tcl ristics at thl· ·tt omic lc \ 1. h e trudur· · ha' '
f o rm~.:d th · l)'t' sis
· · ,..or rl•'-.. \\' c·l·ct ·- · d evtCcs
c tuntc · · J
\\'II 111111pr~ 'e 1t?rl
· r111 .-1nl· ' 1.11
b I h standard and n we i applications.

201
. ·d H · h transport parallel to the interface
Dev·•ces Wit
f •e 1 e ect transistor
20.1.1 Analysis of physical processes

t Mhl!l:~SC illlal
0. I I I d
j' :tlllJ"L'S nl . •t lll ·tu]-ll '\ id
1 · ·us.., •1 ] 11
·
11
' lf kr I
- l111 l"l\Jldtt • ( p

.tn.: lh · l·l ·~o.' l tl

sourc . il ll:uJt l.ll ca lh.:ldll'droi l lh.lan ·l •~.:tr > l
 rt p r II I to th interfa ce . f' ld Ff e t trans1stor
.
•e .4 59
' Ill lh ., lin.:~: an I rain Tl • .
· 1 "·llll C IL-a 111r •o.; •· 1 n h .
I ndu~,.h,rhckr~.,\.,truetu r · . ., 1 .. • , . •
lLJ ~: .t L1C ICC'i'i ll·h·.....
I ctron gos. ~ield effect transistor ( T II· ET) . al~o n' , (, oA·.

( Pr
le tron mob1 lety transistor (H . ~~.1 .1 -r- ) tl . d . !--+-----+-~ n C1a1
• l\ . . v • lc mo ulot•on \n~- F\t(,a
I ~~~;~r •vl OJ~ ~ T). the selectively doped hetero- ~~------~~ • 1
\-jl___..,_~- \J nJnr • I AIC,. A
I JnJop ., I (i a;
ba d ('11 G a As •1 G·1J\IAs
t_ 1 i~.- til) . • - llcte
. 1-os 11-uc 1u res a s
lt. ·r r _u nd, r~d GaAs is grown on a semi-insulating
n l p 11 t h e undt1pcd GaAs is grown a laver of : L-.: :

\ cr part of \\'hi ch :~ und~ped and the upper part or

J"li.:d n-t_ pe (n '"'-' 10 em - ). The gate i a metal that
Fig. 20.1
trrier ag:am t th ' Ga 1- _,Al,As. Application of' a volta!!e Diagram o f a T EG FET (after W e1shuc h
transfer f electrons from the n-Ga 1_ ,AI , As to the
lt a nd Vintn ICJ91) .
undl1p'J c. k.t ing the L 1 , Al , As depleted or electrons. The trans-
ferred e1 ctr r · forn a 20 ~Jectron gas or channel within the GaAs at the
intcrf:K'C \\tth the a i_ ,Al, ' .The electron concentration is determined
b\ th gate' ollage. The s urc a nd drain contacts are diffused down to the
~Dele tron gas layer and a n be used to drive a current through the latter.
Thi, ur( -dram curr nt ·m be modulated by the gate voltage through
,a 1 iation~ indue din th" - electron concentration .
ne of the ad\'antag f heterostructure devices is that the interface are
" r~ ' harp!) defined, ·md changes in voltage across them can be very
abnq t. Thi lead. t • c llent control of the channel charge density by the
e. ternally appli d gat volt age.
The factors ent ring into the speed of operation of TEGFETs can be
a se ed u ing r ult fr m the analysis of MOSFETs in Chapter 19. The
dram urrent at .~atura ti n I n., 0 1 is given by Eq. ( 19.89),
2
ZpnC ( Vc - VeT ) (20.1)
I Dsw
2L
\\ h r /1" i th mobilit . C is the gate capacitance per unit area, V r; and VLr
are th ga t v ltage and threshold voltage, respectively, and L is the gate
length. We hav en in the previous chapter that the transconductance
Rmd fin d b

v .II'.
[)I D (20.2)
~~~~ = ::1
u c, /J

1.an tmp rtant parameter characterizing a field effect transistor. T~e

tran~c nductance at . aturation g"',u' is obtained by replacing I D m
Eq. (20 .2) by !Dwt from Eq. (20.1 ):

Zp 11 C( Vc;- V(;T) (20.3)

<J
¢'! II L\Il l
-
- L
·
r11 t rod ucmg r/ ' )/L . d the saturation drift
the electric field E = ( Vr; - ' cr an
·et cit n = ,, 11 £. we obtain the simple result
v, CF (20.4)
gmmt = Cr -L = - ,
r
 Appl ications of semiconductor heterostructures
60
~rc C = 7 LC is the full capacitance and r = L/'1•_, is the time_ rcqutred for
\\ hl · t- _ , . . . tl ~cra te For the device to have fast operatiOn. r ~hould
·u cl ctron to u oss 1c o · . d·
' . ·, 1 . 1 h ·' .1chicved hy havmg L small an /Or 1', 1arge. The latter
he h rt. w 1lie 1 c.n e , .. . .
ct nditi 111 c le~t rly makes high mobthlles destrabl~. .
· t t JYII"ltneter is the current gam h defined by the ratto of
1 t1er
1 tmpor a 11 c ' - ~

th drain curren t to the gate current:

- .)-)
('10

. F. o '0 1 we see that a layer of high resistivity Ga ,_ ~AI_,As lie

F10111 10 . - · • .
bet\· e 11 th e gate and the channel. This combi?at10n there.fore form . , a
capaC!·r 0 1.. The e<
u·'lte. current fc and ecrate voltage
....
J· (i are essenttally 180 out
I

ot phase. ·o that. if V(, rvex p(iwt).

!20.6)

From Eqs. (20 .1)- (20.3) we obtain

(20.7 )

The gain under saturation conditions takes the form

£!1/IS<I I
I1 = - - = - - = -
'l .s 17· (20.8
iwCF iu.-· L i('

\<\-here the cutoff frequencyfr is given by uJ 2n L andf=w' 211. To obtain

reasonable gain at high frequencies. it is clearly important to ha w high
channel velocitie ·. This condition is more easily satU1ed in G aA s -ba~~d
TEGFETs than in Si-hased MOSFETs for t\VO r '\SOns. ir t. at a gi ven
value of the electric field. the average velocity of electrons in <L ' con-
siderably exceeds that in Si. Second, the higher mobili tv i1 the und1ped
channel of a TEGFET compared to the m~hility in a .I FET funh r
increases the maximum gain attainable.
The treatment \Ve have presented is over ·impliCi d. A llll re Ll 'tJil d
treatment (Weisbuch and \linter 199 I) s h~.)w s that a t:ritK.t! tieiJ ,- '\l :'b
above which the electron velocity saturates. thus lim i[ ing the I:! 11!1

20.1.2 Analysis of device performance

H e ter~J:, tructure transist o rs are particularly intt::r tin!! to -n 1 ·n
~~gh-lrcquency at~1plillcati on. Power l!.ain is ~lttai n,thl~ Ul m..t tlllllll
1cquenc y /,.,," dt:ltnt:d hy (Hollis and Murph_ p. ~lll

\ 1 h t:'rl'v 1 1/ fl ') J' ·

' . ,.., ll - fl\ I'> tit • :1 Utpllt ' ) Jl d ll ' t , JllLL' J\l, 1
/, ' rs tl u.: n:'I I:o.L tnl'l. I L'l L'L' ll I h 't"'ll rCL n I th
I :1ra-.ll1 · g •· rt ~.: l.II-tl lr ' L.tfl.J
· · 11dllc~ 1l 1. L' t krll f t n l
 tth tron port p erpen d'tcu Ior to th m terfoc
461

20.1.3 Semiconductor - insulato r -semiconductor

field effect transistor (SISFET)

ln the I FET the m tal e'He i. replaced by a hi ghl y eloped GaAs gate. The
!!:Ite '"~~.:para ted fr m lh cha nnel in an undoped G aAs layer by a barrier of
undoped GaAlA ' .The lack of a heavily n-do ped pa rt of the G aA!As results
in a IO\\Cr harrier fo r th I F E than the T EG F ET. Consequentl y, the
SJ FET can be open ted in the no rma l way o nl y at rela ti vely low tem-
peratures m order to minimize leakage across the ba rrier. Indeed , the low
barn r makes po sible a if~ rent mode of operati o n in which electrons in
the channel arc accelerat d to _ufficiently high energies by the so urce-d rain
field to undergo a tra n ~ r into or thro ugh the ba rrier. In the real-space
transfer diode Lh Lran ·fer o f electro ns fro m a ho t channel to a cooler
hannel leads to a r d ucti o n in current with increasing electric fi del and
hence a negative ifTcren tial resi. lance. Taking the hot channel to be the
quantum-well chann I and the coo l channel to be the ga te electrode gi ves
ri e to the negat ive re "i ta nce fi eld effect tra n is to r (NE RFET).

20.2 Devices with transport perpendicular to

the interfaces
In Cbapter 13 d \·ice " such a. the bipola r junction tra nsistor a re disc ussed
that mv lve transpo rt of current carriers perpendicula r to the interfa ces of
the junctions. T his g metry is also useful fo r heteros t ruct u r~ _devic~s.
rom Eq . (20 .4) and (20. 8) \-ve see that high- frequency operatiOn of a
G -T req uire tha t the time r fo r a ca rri er to cross the gate mu st be as
-.hor s p s. ible. Co n eq ucntl y. the gate length L sho uld be made as sho rt
a'> ro~ ibl . On the oth r ha nd. mo lecu lar beam epitaxy is a pa rttcttlarly
advan ta!l o u technique Co r obta ining ve ry na rro w acti ve ~·egi o ns in the
directi n perpendicula r to the interfaces . Thus. heterojuncuo ns wtth per-
.
pen d tcular ln nsp rt ha ve destra · ble aspects
~ . 1·ot·]11g
· ·]1- f·t·cqttcnC'
· .)-' ' ht. ~:o<rh speed
dt: \ il: . An tl crdc:sirable fea ture o f the perpendicular geometry IS that the_
•
curren .
t 1:-. . . · d . o rti o· n·~' l to the area
'>. ntta ll y threc-dtmenswna 1 an P 1011 .
ol
thl;! device. H igh-freq u 1 cy po wer amplitlers with high current capacit y arc
ther 1 n e fl.!asi hl , .
 Applications of semiconducto r heterostructures
462

20.2.1 Heterostructure dou ble-barrier diode

The perali 11 llf the do uble-barrier diode involves _the resonant tunneling
effect disc.:ussec.J in hapter I&. The stru~tu~e cons1sts of a quantum Well
ontaming elc tron. cparatcd by a burner from a quantum well contain-
Fig. 20.2 ing h 1 s ....lfan c ternal ltage_is applied. a curren~ ~ows associated with
m.1!1- ignJl cqun alent cm:uit fi.)r J dedr ns . urm unttng th barner. When the condltwn for resonant tun-
duuhh:-barner dtodc (aflt'r \ 'ei bu.:h
neling i. attained. the current reaches a maxi~1 urn. and th_en decrease giving
and \mter 19 I )
ri to a.n cffc tj vc ncuativc resistance. The dwde IS then man unstable <;tate
and if in rporated into arc. onating circuit, can give rise to oscillation -at
a 1-rcquency determined by the parameters of that circuit.
T he situa tio n can be described by the small-signal equivalent circuit
-h wn in -·ig. 20.2. The diode is represented by the negative resistance -R
c nnected to a resonating LC circuit that feeds into a load resistance RL.
The currents through the various elements are hut( I). Imp(f) , and /,e.•UHor
the inductance, capacitance. and resistances, respectively. They are related
to the applied voltage Jl(l) by the equations

. dhut (l) .
V(t) = L = R,1re1-(t) (20.10)
dt .

(20.11 )

where

RT - Rt. - R

Since the total current / (t) is the sum of the currents throu!!h the individual
elements, the following equation must be satisfied: ~

d! (t ) = V(t ) + C d 2 V(i) 1 dV (t )
(.20.1 3)
d! L dr2 + RT ~
Taking the Laplace transform defined by the equation

F(s) = ('- e_ ,, F(r) dt ( .20.1~ )

.fo
gives thl: relati on

f (s) = ( - '
sL
sC I )
R; I (
s ). :o l ~
Solving for V(s).

I .( .
· s ) =-
,.
2t..ut• .(.,- . -.
., - ' '-'-'11 .I'
I - ) I
+- , ......,,
) JI

l - 'I< ,. J nd .....,::II ( I I L l ' ) -~­

I •
 ith transport d'
perpen tcular to th interf c
46
) 3

I ( 1') Ci(s) / ~).

(_0. 17)
I tha t (1( ,, is the L·tph ·~ t. .
It ' • LL tans1orm ol' thc !'uncti on

f -( ~_: ' 2- sin ~·o t f- cos .0 1·) (20.18 )

...Ut i '"' .

the right-h·tml. side of ELl . ( 20 · 17 ) means that V( t)

tl1e c 11 \ o I utton

1 (r) = ( G( r )l (t _ r)c/r.
~~ . (20.19)

Jf/{1 i. 1~ n l b a current pulse

I(r) = Uo / wo)b(t) (20.20)

!hen

(t) = - Io- ' ( -,.,, sm wo t + cos ;.v0 t ) .

;' • ·J I .
T (20.21 )
·oC ·o

If R < R1 so that R7 < 0 a n d~, > 0, a fluctuation in the current will produce
an o cillation in the ircuit with frequency ;.v0 and amplitude that initially
Semi insulating substrate
incr a e expon ntial ly with time. Eventually, nonlinearities stabilizt:: the
amplitude
Fig. 20.3
Diagram of a heteroj unction bipola r
transistor. E. B. and C denote metalli..:
20.2 .2 Heterojunction bipolar transistor
contacts to the em itter. base. and
In ntra t to the double barrier diode, which is a two-terminal device, the collc<.:tor. respectively (after Wc:isbuch
a nd Vinter \ 99 1).
heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is a three-terminal device with
mitter. bas . and collector. A typical configuration is shown in Fig. 20.3.
Th emitt r i. n-G aAIA s. the collector is n-GaAs, and the base is p-GaAs. AIGaA ~ GaAs GaAs
Th latter -erve · as a barrier for electrons moving from the emitter to the
c IJect r. A diagra m of the band edges in an HBT is given in Fig. 20.4.
An important advanta!le of an HBT is the smallness oft he base thickness
I·Vs that a n electron m~st cross. The analysis of the standard bipolar
tra n~isto r given in C hapter 13 can be applied to the HBT. The collector
current densit_ 1,. 1s

J.,. -- Dc r!llp() ( I! £"1 .-,,,

We >.
,:k /J T -
I) , (20. 22) L
p-dopcd n-dllped
1~ here V M i the emitter- base voltage, De is the electron ditfusi?n constant n-dopcd
,·,•lled<•r
emitter bast·
tn the ba~e. and n"0 is the equilibrium electron concentr~tion_ II1 the bas_e .
111
The q uantity u d = 2De! W 8 is the average ditlusion veloc1 ty ol electrons _ Fig. 20.4
the ba , and n,,u[ex p(eVnt.:/kLJT)- 1] is the average concentra_llo~- ol Uand d iagran1 ,)ra n H BT f lr tl1e
commo n em iller l't>nli gu ratit>n (.1ft ·r
d ectr ns injected into the base. Small base thickness and large dJffusJon \Veisbuch ~ tnd Vmter t•l'-ll ).
con..,La I cl arly favor a large collector current density.
 . . f semiconductor heterostructures
AppI 1cat1ons o
The tran ·~..: )nductan g,, is given by

()/,- - e Dl. en,o ceVn F/ k, T

g 111 = CJVsE k 8 T- Ws = (20.23

AI lar!!.e f Llrc•
c
a ""-' - - /
,.,Ill - ksT ,. (20.24·
GraJed-g:Jp
IGaA~ H 1 clcetr ns
-- ~ ,\ I G:v\~ The transc nduc tance is therefore large at large current levels. Only a, mall
\'a ria ti n in Vsr is necessary to produce a given variation in l c, a properh
th·H is u rul in digital applications. .
A pa rameter analogous to the transit time of a TEGFET is the time r 8
miucr n-Gar\ "
B lt~t:
~'c£ required for an electron to cross the base:

Wa w~
TB= - - =--. (20.25 ·
n-Ga s ·u" 2De
C !l ec tor
In order to obtain a high-speed device. r 8 and hence W 8 should be made a
Fig. 20.5
small a .. possible. Ohmic losses can be reduced by having a relative!} high
nducuon band dtagra m for ~~ ho t
electron Iran 1s t or (after Wei, buch and doping level in the base . Alternatively, the diffusion velocity cr1 can be
\ 'mter 199 1 . augmented by eloping the base with AI in such a way that its concent ration
decre·:tses from the emitter junction to the collector junction. Thi on-
IG s centration gradient gives rise to an internal field that accelerates the car-
Hot electron riers. Ballistic electrons that cross the base without scattering also augment
the average transit velocity.
U nipolar transistors utilizing heterojunctions have been desig n d in
n- ,a . .\IBE! vvhich the emitter., base, and collector are all n-GaA s. On I~ majo rit y ~..a rriers
miller n- aAs are involved, and when they enter the base fmm the emi tter. they ha'e a
Base Vu high kinetic energy and are therefore ··· hot''. The ban d-e ge diagram for th
hot electron transistor (HET) is shown in Fig . 20.5. V r) rugh-frequen -~
operatiOn should be possible with HETs, since the tran ·it \ eloL·it) anJ
n- G aA ~ cutof~frequcncy are very high. lfthe GaAIAs ha rri~r b {\\L' n mitter;tnd
Collector base IS sufficientl y thin. tunneling of the hot ehxt rL n- QCl'Llllt: . pDS. jbk.
Fig. 20.6 . tl le tunne 1·tng hot electron transistor amplifier tT HET."'\\ )· \
gtvm•'.::. n ·se· to u

IS presented Ill Fl!! _o ..

onducti \ Jl banJ d iagram or .. tunnch n!!; band-edlfc b
cln( bot·•tt11
<
1·. T•IETA
0 d r .
· . .
h Hckctrt n lf <tll'ii>LOr amr l! fit:r !~ill e r~
Wet~hu~ !t dlld VJn tcr 1991 )_
20.3 Quantum well lasers
w~ haw seen in C-'11
.,. . · . "Pter 14 that <t sem iL'Ondu ·tor 1.1"
lcgtonassoctat edw itl
. -. · · l.tp- n.Junctt o nmatll"tt ri,ll,u
r . • . .
-~ ,
te. ~ton torms ·1 r ·- - .

it)ll j.ltll rm, "'

;.l I;\,
·.
~- _ .

tlllprowd
· ' esonant cav1ty ht unded b a p.tir
ll1llt O I S cr~ · tlccl l ,
'
1-1.- .
LJU<tntum wells are util iLcd.
-
I·
))' c eavagc ak1 n £! p.t a lld (I J
, _,Lf per 1orntanCL' L·a n he·

fig. 20.7
2 0 .3.1 Double -hetero structure Ia e rs
'-~• I" 111" '" '~P• · 11 r. 111 " 11 ,, 1 :r
u >ulth Ju.: t, 11 I I (I ft ll 1, 1 <I In t duuhk:-h ' l ' :-. La . . .
tit • r ·I t I lit L l,t\l:f 'il' h 'Ill .tlt
I ,[ l l \'l! III U • Il l lit
L Lll lb !ll llLI Il 11\,ll
 L
"·

I
I I lptii. ,JI

fig. 20.8
Rq ro.:,o.:ntau •n nf the refn,~.uv · 1ndc
a nd gui d ·J o toea! a\ e.

n· aAIA-, Gal\ r- .a lA
_f~ 1 " L) e:\p [- - L fn; + (l = 1.
I

I.:.'!).v - -lid
R R_ - f) 0 , )] (20.26 ) I

I I il
•••••••
HI I I

\ h r R .md R2 .1re the reflectiYiti a t each end of the waveguide. 1 is the

~.e •

I
1 I '

ptic.d c )nhn ~men t factor. g,"

i.' th threshold gain of the ac tive laver. L is n :~ 2000 ' ;

till c~n it) I ngth. n i. the internallo, s coefficien t of the acti vt: mate;:ial. and
1. th~ Ill : c1.1eft1ucnt of th confining: Ia_ ers. Sol\'ing fo r f.g rh we have
0

rg" = r i + 1- (20.27) fig. 20.9

BanJ structure pr ,rile in a D H la\o.:r.

The opt1 ·al c nfinem nt fac to r IS importa nt for definin g a seml -

~.onduct r Ia cr. lt i~ given by

(20.28)

\\h fC d I'> th \.Vidth f the q uantum well and £ is the electric field of the
ratilatl n lt ., e ifi . th fractio n o r ph o tons in the guided wave that
inh:racUi \\ ith the acti Ia cr. D fi ning g to be the volume gain per unit
length Of the a ti I . la yer, the prOdUCt [g iS the amplifica tio n Of the Optical
\\avep runitlength . h pr duct rn;.o ntheothcr ha nd , is thc loss perunit
length fthe guided , av T he diA'ercnce I - r is the fraction of the optical
wav~: uhid ~ the ti ve .laye r, and ( l - f ) t (' is the co rrespondin!:! con-
tributi n t the lo per unit length .

20.3.2 Single quantum well (SQW) lasers

· h · tl · 1 ·1 ·t·,·v., h yer ~vv ith
mg Ie q a n tum we ll lase r typtcal 1y as a W I y 111 c L ... <
4UJntJzed energy levels in th conducti o n and va lence ba nds and ver_y small
·l r - · t' tl ~ SQW induduH!. the
a ue l) l T here M seve r~! tm p rovemenL o 1~:: . -
.,.. . . - ( SC' H) . d rt1 e cr ndcd tndex SC H
... p,t iJtc <..Ll nlmt:men t het ros tructure . ,111 ~' .
truuure (CiR IN - H) <)ivc n in F i g. 20. 10 alo ng with the assocta_ted dcn-
:-.itie ul -..tatc~. B tl the I and thcGR IN-SC H have opttcal conllnen~cnt
I· . . h . 1 o f1 · The energ1es ot the
a~cr-..r c ttot he<H.. tt\c layet th a trncreasL: t t: d Ut: O · ~
 . . f emiconductor heterostructures
App Itcahons o s
.466

,. \\

Den ity I
~tate~ -qu;1ntum well GRlN-SCH-qu<~ntum well
Smgk 4u.mtum well

Fig. 20.10 11. ami th ··ir densities fs tatc (a l"ter Wcisbuch anJ Vinter 1991 ).
\\' the CH. the . RTN-
D•· eram. of th~

ph t ns emitted by a laser are prim.arily determined by th.e band gap and

the~.: nflnement energies. As shown m Chapter 16. the denstty-of-state ina
quantum vvell is two-dimensional in character. The buildup of gain is more
efficient in 20 than in 3D, because additional carriers enter a 20-band at ib
extremum where the gain is largest as shown in Fig. 20.11. Conseq uently.
the . lope of the spectral gain curve specified by Eq. (14.44) is largerin_D
than in ~D. but the gain saturates at a finite value in 20 when the electron
and hole states are fully inverted . The transparency current densityj0 \\<hi h
enters the expression for the threshold current densityj,11 •
Fig. 20.11

1[ (1-f') 1(1) l ]}
a1 n ur\'e f r a QW Ia r f r thrt!e
inje teJ carrier · nce ntration~.
. I{·
) rh = ry Jo + A n:; , f al +f 2L log R, R;. .

s \\' where TJ is the internal quantum efficiency. i.e .. the ratio of radiative carrier

r -~ recombination to total recombination. is small compared to that for a

DH Ia er. since the density-of-states to be inverted is typically an order of
magnitude smaller for a GaAs SQ\V laser than for a DH laser.
-4'4+
The confinement factor must be adjusted adequately. For \ery thin
srH
lay_ers r ts very sma ll , varying as d'2. and the optical wave I aks into the.
r - 1" adJacent layers. One overcomes this difficulty bv intr iu ·ing: a pair L)l
opttcal contlnement layers as in the SCH structur; p re ent d i Ftg - .1 ~­
Thc dependence of the confinement factor on laver t h id, n s· d ~~ t h~reb~
removed. ·
Fig. 20.12
Theeffectofl"y
. c. er" ·th.1c k ness on maxrmum . . h:1s b'- ·n ·Ill\ ·strg.Hel
!:!atn · is...,
l'.

gtlldtJ
. ullfiOCIIICll l uf a n Opl1CaJ \\'aVe
We1sbuch
. · . (1987) ~me · 1 N age 1 ( 1987). Results- of J et:.ul J L'. kula u· 1 n:- ·1r·
luran;.~rrn W a nd a · H. g1ven. __rn Fig- · -70 · 11· · It I·. c·I eat. t I1at the transpa r nc · cun nt J n:-1t. · · '' ltl'h
1
specilleS . the onset or r·t· .. ·- I . •
· · g. 1n , rs IL'C need bv reduc11w the lt'c: thl~,.n~ ' . I , . , It I~

also
.. . ev1dent · howe , .. t 1ldt
\et . t 11ere 1s· an npt1mu
• . cc .
m th1c n '·· ll'" \\ hI\.·I1 th ·
tr <~nsp·u·cncv
. • . J
Cll . . d · .
I rent ens1t. Increases. AmL rH! th, · • r h.t' tng '1tt
~ptltn~um m the layer thickness is that the: ua:-.t- ·an' n utli ldllh
llg 1 Ill
. _ ~
vcr thm w c•II s· t o pwdLh.:l'
· .
. .
a trans l. 'r ll• \.arn r tll
~.:on 1llll:lllent c·tv t 1 ·
'l . h . . ' I y ant ;lllllll'l'e·tsl.' in io. \1:-.l'. r r \ ld \ II
t f 11 1'! e 1 - IV111~ kv ~ t ·
. H . - ~ 1
t :-. mu~t )L: considerc I In Lh · \. 1
. ·I . - slTUL'lurcs optical ca' it y sta ll::-. .tr. 'L'lll i~: rt '-
"L II.: IOaiiL: I'L:) I' ' . • [· . .
. LSl:ll dll\)n Ill ~ l l.!. "'l} l.f (-- ,
iljlll lll lll:d IW\\L'\ ·r I ~ - . \.t
l I ... , , . , l1\.' LjLJ;l, ' l - h.~ m)ll'tl' t g\ (
I 11\ ~ I ' ll . J\! l I -
I 1 • I 1 rL' ·t , 1I t r 1 1
LIL.I ;I
" ·
~••lll : tlll .., ltlll" hl \ · lh. s· 1 •
e . L · •• lL 11111 11 r ul
 Ouant w lila ers
467
111

II
Grin-SCH -quanlum w IJ

Fig. 20. 4
GRI - II th J n 1!1~!-. l-; ta l~~ a nJ · 1
c~.· upl e l ~ laic ~ (after W(;i ·buch and Vinter
Fig. 20.13
tQ 11
Calculated g:un curn:nl dcn ~i t ~ Clt ·co;,
fo r a Rl 1- II f r \am us la yn
lhidnes (;S (after W •isbuch IIJR7 and
RI - C . opti~·a l avity the number is only about 20% Nagle 19R7)
m ller dcn~Jt y- l- tate. in a triangular cavity.

20.3 3 Multiple quantum well (MQW) lasers

Jultipk quantun1 welb o tTer bo th advantages and disadvantages over
511 u!le qu,wtum \ ell for la r appli ·ttions . In Fig. 20. 15 diagn;m s of a
1 \\ . tructurc and the a. o iated den sity-of-states and occupied states
are pre. entcd lfthe opti at confinement factor is proportional to the total Multiple quantum well
a ti\e Ja~cr \\ idth. the rela ti n bet-v een the modal gain fg and the current
Fig. 20.15
d n it~ ; can he obtained b 1 multiplying the units of both axes of the fg
MQW structure with density-of-states
\ r u j plot h) the num b r f quantum ~:ells as can be seen in Fig. 20.16. and occupied slate .
The QW pro\idc high r m d ·1l gain at lowj_ but lower gain at highj. The
l ·. level pla) an imp rta n t role in determining the rei a tive advantages and
d1 ad'vantag of th W and MQW structures. Under low loss condi-
tions the SQW hc.L tht: advantage. since it has a lower total transparency Grinsch 0-1 R-40
urrent d nsity .in a nd the t ta l internal loss as measured by f o; is pro- ~ 250 Loc =4400 i\
T =300K
p rti nal t th num b r of well . At high loss. however, the MQW has the E 200
2.. 4 wells
a vantage. b au e it !!a in ari "es from the part of the gain ·urrent density .: 150
r.
cun·e that ha. a high slo p rather than the saturated part as in the SQW.
Cl)
-;;; 100
Indeed. the . at ura tcd c ·tin of the SQW may not be large enough to attain the
"0

~ 50
thre hold gain, a nd one must therefore turn to the MQW.
La er. with ultra-! w thresholds can be produced by applying reflection 0 200 400 600 tlOO I 000
Total injection curn:nt <A/em~)
coating::. t th nd::. f an SQW. Such practice leads to a lower threshold
urr nt d n it} which can be very close to its limiting valuejo. Fig. 20.16
noth r wa to improve the gain is to modify the valence band structure. M odal gain vnsus injection current
densitY fnr 1-. 2-. and 4-m:ll GRI
The pre encc o multiple valence bands together with a large h~~~y ~1 ~ 1 ~ SCHs.(afll:'r Nagle llld Wcisbuch 191'7)
ma pr due a hi gh valence-band density-of-states and a qu.Ist-Fcll:11
en roy I' r h I s that remains above the valence band edge as ~hown .111
-·1 ; b · erted to achtcvc 0aam.
"· -0.17a. T h re are then too many states to e mv . . . •
Th· d. - h 1,· r -1 stram whtch spltts
Is 1 hc:ul tv can be overcome, hov-.~ever. Y app }ll1g < • ~ ..
tl ~ 1 • .d b the heavy hole bc~nc1 c1s
l t: va nc band and raises the light hole ban a ove . . ,
i r . ,. 1 ·e band now lies we 11
. energy o f t I1C \d
n tg. 2( .17b . The quast-Fermt em: . . .
nil densitv-ot-st.ttes.
b1
or
v. t l ~.: top
. ·
the li!!ht hole band Wit 11 tlS sn { .' . h I> ·on-
lrhcr,lun 01" theo.;e hole s~tcs is increased sufficiently at a gtven t: c °
Cl:nt rati o n tn p dw..:c ht gh~r gain .
 App I.1ca t'1ons of semiconductor h13terostructures
4 8
LJw; trainL·d Strained

Fig . 20.17
D•~Htr.lm ' ol nducllnn ;JnJ \ah.:ncc p(£) PIE1
b:!Od fi,hng traim:d .md
111 3 ) w1 . j!(F.! .f(!:.') PIE!. { lEt
tb tram cd \\\.

Thi s procedure has been applied with great success to strained-layer

lasers such as GalnAsJGaAIAs/GaAs and GalnAsP/InP. They are char-
acteri zed by a better optical confinement factor and a higher differential
gain due to their higher refractive index and deeper electron :hole quantum
'Neils.
In addition to their low threshold current density GaA . GaAIAs QW
lasers have some other attractive properties among which are excellent
manufacturability and reliability. Having the active layer thin compared to
the width of the optical cavity has the advantage that only mjnor additional
loss in the optical cavity is induced by degradation of the faces of the acti\e
layer. and collapse of laser action is unlikely.
High-speed telecommunications have greatly benefited from QW Ia rs.
This is due to the fact that the square density-of-states profile results in a
larger differential gain A= dq fdj in QW lasers than in conv ntional semi-
conductor lasers. Furthermore, the best lasers for this application are
MQWs having large A at Iar2:e !!ain.
Arrays of quantum well ;tr~ctures provide the ba i · fo r h.igh-r )\\ t:r
hsers that are useful in vari )US applications. The advanr a t: r W l .t · er~ Ul
t this connection lies in their very high quantum effi ~j nc\-:- du tl) thetr k1 ' '
transparency current density and their sma II in tt·rnal k s. . : <L '(''I'll ' j '' it h
•\1ulrtb ·cr mJrro1
the confint:rnent !'actor rn.; .
There arc many applications for whid1 n~rtiL·aJ - rn1tting t.u·r~ r;trh~?r
than ec~ge-cmitting lasers are desirable. Thcv induJ 2 - m.t~lflg.. ~ D
arra. s I or Ilt_g
· J
l power \'Vith lo\v diver!!l'nce, ca:-\ ULL'L·., I r pl tL.tl.ll.\;'.-
•
soncs.
. .
·mJ
.
I.ree-sp· c 1· . , . ··J · . ·
' d e lliLLl L llp·lO-d11p C\1 111 111Un1L' I l 11
- . • · un·•"
fl till n.:-
Iealt zatiOn cmpl( ys integral mirrors whiL·h pr.:rm it nll r n 111 d11 ' u
la sers to be hhric· t, I .·
·I . .. . ' " .:t. on a stngle L'hip . A sd 11:m. ttL
tnwn Ill Ftu "1() I~ s ··llL·I1 a llL'\-lL'
~ .
. • to:·- , t . C L' <l ll h ii \ C' a thr· h
mdltampert: range .

20.4 One-dimensional and z:ero- d imenc:t·l,..r'ln•

Fig . 20.18 quantum structures
J)i;, I.Hiltl! d 1111. , t Vll i ll,d
rl J ., nliiiiiJg Lt ~ ~ VL· ha \'L' dlr ·ad II U I.:J Ill tt ··11· •
- ' ... dl I' ll l ' I '>lLI\1 II
;td d il lt ii J.d ' I LI.tllli / .t t• l llll11 t it .. ~1-1' 1 ~\· "' I
' tllllll
 land ro-di m n stono 1quantum struc tur
9
urt h 1 q u.mt 11 , 1111111 and ptnll H.:, sil..'mli···ttll
rtl I th 1\:m . ....

1 t:<
'f
nlincd
d
l 'one dimcn ·inn th·· .. . _
· ~o: l:d rttcr h as onl)
I rce om.\\. h1 h , c t·t e 10 l1 1. n t 1H.: .: -d 1.rc·-u )11
L

111 ub band" charac teri7 e d bv.. '·tn lllu

· . 1eX I_ anu can hl.:-

( 20.30)

band. He_re /,. _ i the \\ave ector in the direction or

nH'Iit'n :Jth. n n!\ I the tlh . ub ha nd at k -= 0 .
B) imp 1 n. ic bound a ry nditi ns over a length L= in the
:..Jir ctwn. n tam the den 1ty-o f-sta tcs D( E), defined as the number
f t.tte. per umt en rg~ mter ·al. in the fo rm ( Weisbuch and Vinter)
11
I

D,( E) = 2L= [ m· ]: (20.31)

rr/i 2( £- £ ;)

where the factor of 2 in the numerat or takes care of the spin degeneracy.
The den tt_ -of- tates ha in er e quare r t singularities at the bottoms of
the ubband~. <l behavi r analog us to that associated with the Landau
1 yel of an dectron m a ma~ne tic fidd a sho\;~, n in Fig. 11 .8. At zero
temperature the numb r ofel t ron · V; per unit length in the ith . ubbaml is
~ und to be
2 I
(20.32 )
' i = - [2m lEt - E;)Ji.
1ft)

In th literature on 1D · t ructure~ the term channel is more often used than

-.ubband.
n electron wi th wa e vector k:: contribute a current given by
ehk / m L:::. ln thermal equi librium thi s current is cancelled by th ·tt due to
an electron v. ith wav v cto r - k -, o the net current is zero. rr a weak
P ten tial d ifre rcn · ts applied h~tween the points: = 0 and: = L:: - a net
u rren tn ov.~giv n

I = t)·hkF Di (E F ) 1. I .
(20. 33)
' 2m L : :
\ 1ak ing usc f q. (20.3l) and definin g the conductance G; of channel i by
r == (Jii . w obt· in
. le-
)
(2tU4)
G; = - ·
h
l·· ·I · . , . tizcd amount to the
c_acd1 P ula t~.:d cha nnel . contnbutcs
. the sc~me hqudn
, ler- a new chc~nne
. ·.
1 Is
n u tanLe. th~.: la tter tncre·ts tn g. abruptly \N ~.:ne' .
1111 pulah!J. T here is ~ ..,imilarit tn the quantum Hall elfed.
 Applications of semiconductor heterostructures
70
The m twn o f. ~·trri r~ in a real I D structure is not re tricted . to.a
m·ttht.:matJcd · (.;, . he ctrricrs
· . 1 1111 <
are confined
• •
to a very small
•
rcg1 • n in •t· • .
' b t · ., I b·tl-riers. The barners typ~eally cons1st of a pa1r r b"r-
space : po en 1u ' - • . . "
.
n~rs epara (,;
t d ) .
. ' · '
1 ist·1 nce L ·' and parallel to .the --clXIs hut perpend 1cul"r..
to the r-a i and <t -econd pair separa~ed by a d1stance L~. and parallel to the
.:--a XI but perr ·ndicuhr t the y-ax1s. Such a_ sy~tem IS called a quantum
wire . r tt l in1initely dc.::ep wire the energy£, IS given by

~
E; -
, ' (n:.~'+ ~2)) ,
_ Jr- 11-
2m' L~ L_~·

, her 11 , and 11, take on the integer values 0, I. 2, 3, .. . , but not both zero.
T hu ·.there is an infinite number of energy levels ass?ciated \Vith sub band i.
Quantum wire. having widths on the order of I 00 A can be fabricated.
To cr ate a zero-dimensional (00) system one introduces a pair of infi-
nite potential barrier · perpendicular to the .:-axis. thereby confining th
motion of the carriers in all three dimensions. Such a system is referred to a·
a quantum dot or superatom . The energy levels are entirely discrete and are
given by

E 71~ llz-
.., ? (
11-
?\'
n-.'I n-'- )
11 ,-.11 , .11- = ~ L-2 + L.2 + L~ . (20.36t
,_/}/ X .\' ::

The density-of-states consists of delta functions centered on each k' I

\Vith strengths containing the spin degeneracy and accidental degeneracies.
For an ensemble of independent dots. the number of dots must be included
as a factor in the DOS. Just as in real atoms, the probability of transitions
between energy levels due to perturbations is restricted si!!niii ·antly by the
d.iscreteness of the levels. Consequently. very long liD ti;n .· can asst'·
Cia ted with occupied excited states and be dekm1in I pri nrily b~ the
radiative transition probability. The combination f trongl) p~a . d
density-of-states and a very long lifetime offers the ptrsibilll) )f n ducing.
optical devices based on OD structures that hav su eri r perfl rmJ m.\.'.

20.4.2 Fabrication techniques for 10 and 00 structu re

N~m~sc:-~lc lithographic techniques can be used tl fXJU

s!Iucturcsandobt· · 10 ·
,un quantum Win:s and 00 quantun
problem. howcv'r th· 1 . II , 1,. . .
• ~:: • <1 ,1 c l:Ctronic prl)p rti ~.- at m.11l
domuntclbvth 1 ·
l. J c c amage Introduced bv the kh in• r
thcp · ut ~· t ·
L

r . c-
~rn rans er. To alleviate this rro bl ·n It i HI
q ucs h<t vc been prOJ) . 1 Th .
• • L .

• . • L . cyrndudc 'f'~tl t ngnau·

[l) J110VJLk "\ hl' I f"' .
' . ' • Lra con trlln g r lliCIHial. B\ \ .tn Ill 1 th
F

.I p.ILk r nL·L1 'ale" v· ·t ' ,. . . . .

1-th . .. . .t li: ~ o '> truuu ~- ~·-tn b ·pr lu\. J
. n .I ll ln T11 1! th~'d" :Jrl' tl ··1 . ·t· I
· . ' " l ll . ll ( 11 ' ol I h Ill 1
LI1H1 m tn ·1t 11\ A su) . ..
. . . I L£ \ ,tllll ah:J d.~ , .., llaltl
'idl lll'li CLI l•) ·p ,!', I . ,, t
1:"- ~ ' II \: l) "L' Ill l.:l) lh.JU "( 1 I ·
u lu 11 'lh
ll I l ltldLILI r IIIL f U . I ll
 1 nol and z ro-d 1men 10 I
no quantum tr cture
471
"ll i,llmp. thL 1 •m p 'r'ttur· .
. I . ' l 1l l l , ll llln n l t11
c .Ill
11 lllt tl Lht: '\1.11.' d t-..! ·ih t t ll l
I tl n 1 .
u.: <:rv..,t,tl litcs
1l '"'lI I l l <thrtGt l ' ir~.•e-..,t-t nJin . .
' lldl 1C f \.'> J ill! •
Lan b dcp(lsilcd hv 111 ,. 111 ..,
<
. _
[ 1 - ' 1 v.tpOl - p 11iJ:, c
1t: pn l llO.:' ( 0 t;(lfl tl'LliiCd n.:actill llS in so\ u litlllS
hl:Cll .hrou!:!h t .tn hear on the l""l"l - 111 t:.m . L.1 .1n ~c · 11 .,·
ch. .0lr .m t 1.'1~ he:n ·y mcl'tb s uc h ·t ~~ cIt"") .-Ll S ll1
L ' • L
. 1
pcpll c to :•ttach th heavy' meta l at om . tiS
t:ll C'arac t J l rom cadmi um sa lt solu ti o ns in which
ha\C been cult ured .
~,;; t emiL ~1ducl r grow th n!' quantum wire structure. i.
'<Ltll cptt • . _Y (MB ) o r m et~ll o ri!anic chemical \'apo r
0) Thl.: Clll tet n~ uc tor crystal is nrown la yer-by-layer
. Tht: quan tum wtr lru lures arise by nuclea ti() n on
leps .\I o, I D cha nn Is a re pro vided by growth on side-
ed 1d etched multiq uantum \Vel! structures. Yet ano tbcr
mcth1.1J I tl1 IlUCk:ation 0 1' q ualltU tn Jots during grmvt h.
lmpunt. r damage mduced effec ts can be exploited to provide lateral
onfinem nl. n ~ ample is l \ -energy. ion- implantation induced damaoe
\\ hich. through the pinnin!! of th ermi energy by defects. results in carri~r
confim:menl. ·imilar p r ce ·s is impurity-induced interdiffusion
di -Ndering that L the ba ·i f r an index-guided laser manufacturing
t hnique.

20.4.3 Electrical applications of lD and OD structures

It \\a hown earlier i n this ection that the low-field conductance of an
2
id a! quantmn -wir i q ua ntized with the value o f 2e lh per occupied
channel. A real q ua ntum v ire however. differs from a n ideal system in a
numb r f ways.
I . lt ·Iength i n t infin it a nd it therefore lacks translatio nal symmetry .
1 Potentiab du to impuriti in a nd nea r the cha nnel also break the
tran lati nal s. mm t ry.
3. l finite tem p ra tures the electron- phonon interaction leads to random
catteriug p roc s s tha t avera ge ou t interfe rence effects. An electro n
can no I ng: r r m m ber it phase as time evo lves .
4 A mall numb r [defects . however, can produce sample-dependent
mt r~ r n f~ cts that a re observa ble a nd reprod ucible. These effects
in lud universal conductance fluctuations ( U C F) and weak localization.
All of Lhe e deviation s from ideal behavior give ri se to diiTerenl regimes of
cond uc a n which arc charac teri zed by various scales or length . Th Y
in lude the length La nd width W orthe \:>.' ire, the elastic mean free path ~,·
· d ·tl
as !:l Cli:l.l · 11 ·tm punty
- scatt cnng.
· an d tl1C
- J1l
· el·•uS' tJ·c. t11C'<Jil free r-nath
.•
f,',.
"s<o · d · 1 1 · 1 t k tll
... ·' <:ta t W ill p 1onon sca ttcnng t utt 1rea s c • · n pl1·:1se We now c.ll~cu~s
t:'v ral rcgim s r inte rest. . .. .
If I .. ..;>> I ./...-> L. IV the onl y potenttal
.
a 11-ccltng
· tl1e. e l"ctrnn
e ·
motwn ..
ts thc~t
d ueto t! e h' undari · . .
s uf thcwi re. lnthJs caset1equan
1 - t 11 st·1tes oltntercst
UJ · • ~.
. .- · d c·nry current II om
t lend over the ntin: lt:.ngth oft he wtre and , Jl occupte · •
 . t' of semiconductor heterostructures
A pp IICO IOOS
472
m: ld the o ther Jf no voltage is applied. ~the currents g in~ to the left
L)
· 1 l x·tctl cmcel
•1n d to ll1e n!! 1 , ~ ' ·
ApplicatiOn ot. a small voltage ~, au. es the
ClCI111
· a1p l t:: 11 t 1·.<1t• JLL '· 1nd 1 , 1~ at the left and nght
':""
contacts.
,
respecttvely
. ·
to
I
he di!Te r~:nt \.\'lt h 1, - fLR = e V. lectrons mn_vmg trom left to nght occup_
·tate. up t ' ' '· ' whcr as those moving from nght to left occup~ states up to
i im t al<lll CC cau es a net current to flow from left to nght propor-
I'R · Th . . . b b 'l'
tiona ! L:J v. he quantum mechamcal transttJOn _pro a Illy between
ri!!ht W<Ird 111 ing and leftward moving state ~ determ111es the conductance.
The wire c nstitut ":- a potential barrier between the electrons in the two
co ntacts.
On an regard an electron in a quantum wire as a particle 1.vhich
Fig. 20.19 und rgo s ·1 ecular scattering oJT the potential walls in a ballistic fashion
raj to ry of an ckn nn 111 b;tl! i u.: and wh se trajectory is shown schematically in Fig. 20.19. The situation
t.ran .pm l.
having the widths W small compared to the Fermi wavelength corresponds
to qu;ntum ballistic transport with only one or a few channels occupied.
If ,,» L » ,.» W, there are only a few impurities in the wire. The
sca ttering introduced by the impurities increases the reflection probability
of electrons entering the \·Vire and mixes the modes. but the transport is still
primarily via channels. The reflection probability is strongly affected by the
precise impurity positions and the characteristic potential of the wire. Since
the changes in conduction are typically on the order of e~ /h. one refers ro
this regime a the universal conductance fluctuation regime mentioned
earlier.
lf 1r;. ~ L > W » /!e. impurity scattering processes dominate. and win!
modes have lost their meaning. Electrons are localized on tht: len2:th scale t,.
in both the longitudinal and transverse directions and no stare~--extending
from one end of the wire to the other exist. This re!lime is ref rred to as
w~akly localized and has zero conductivity at low ten;perature '. T ranspMt
ot electrons occurs through scattering between localized ~ t~tt e and re 1uire ·
inela tic scattering . The electrons cliO'use throu2:h the wi r .md rh a n~rage
concentration of impurities determines the m;bilitv. A ~ the.: t mp ra ture
merea. es the inela stic scattering length can become :m a ll r than th l,t:tic
length, and th mobility is determined by phonon scan rim!. ,1 · i ·oft n t h~
case at r om temperature . -
. Ballistic transport in quantum wires is at the ori~i n o fa\:ertain numb~ r of
mtercstmg effects th~1t are associated with the wa; li e n.tture 1 I L't fl n-..
ThL:
. .
w1rcs' bcl1·1ve
. L
· · " .. ·1 •
L1s V>'LiVegutl es 10r dectron propagalil nJ nl' t t:

1-l t
:2
1
1
"".A

t~.
~.
'
.,
~.:."
.$~Z%;%f'~;w ·
<-;;./;rg;."~.· ·.
w ,"' ' · utdm·nvrest·
·t:-l
"t '"
·· (
conductance 1s quanti z~:d .
1
11 lle quantum ballistll' regim

~
-
b" , t h '

·. , . .. . ,,
'" · · '\
A pointe )Jl!·tct or l·1r~eJ.t ·· 1 . , · · -
LOnstnL·tt~ln can a 't a~ .t lilt

«( ~t
1

D
clel'lrons that c·tn be I ,, , . . I
7' _, . .. ' . 1.111smtlln are thl)SL In •m g the Llli.:J-'.
~" [J ~ .) ·. r,t m de . I hts dkct Js ·m·.t IO~lHls " . lLl an optical
. . ~ I ur
pou1l
. llC,tltn•' lllOJII)cneroeticckctnln h •· . II'
/ t . . , .· . " ldlllS . L lll' Cr '.I LC-..t f
.l . ,· ' . ·. •·>· ,A"2 ~\ o ll>11SII1LIIuns as sltP\\' 11 in F tg ,0 , 0 . I I'.
'" 11 . ll'ld lh · • · t ·- ·- .• tn .tpplL 1
t l llt , I ' ~.: r~ !.!tun 1Chaves a-. a quautu m d l>l tha t u up
'> ll r g H•Il. VIa th . >II triLliPn"{\'.tl \\''c-. tl a/ I J
Fi 20.20 l I u t s l't Le 1 · 1 · · •
. ~ "d un cllutl t l f l hi.' ll1; 1g nc t ic li ld .tnd Lh
Utt••;''""'' .dillt , 1u ;111 1, d., , , 11 ,,
.,, 11 It fd
111
( 0 1 LLJU L' nl l \ the lttl e l 1 ··
. .• • ' d i .J m ll.: r -. '.t il h· t11.Jilll ul. l
n c~u ct: h, 1\'.L' . ,1 I ilL· J u r l l
... .~ l: !l l' i l!} .t ll d Llll. I Ifill
 ro - d lmen ·lona 1quantum struct r
.173
n Hlnal a n·dll"~ U, I I d' Illl i Il il:b•tlrl ' l
'H1 1 'lt' r T , , n 1 111 1 . ,
1 . • •
I' , t . • ' ~ .~' " c.u he nu pI ·d
\.:L k. \\hilt: a pt:rt l tdt. ~I ITay ~l l 'ilH.. h dt l\\

1 I 1 l"r ' path is 1 11 th~ ('trd c r oft , 11 • .

•. .• .· l ~ () 1 111 1 ' fl111\ l h l·
I s st:d Usmg Sl;l n dar d IJth oon t1l)
::: • .
rJ1e
l1c Il <t VIli
.
r
I !hi,.., 1p ll ~.: ' l~ut ~\·i th the 'ldditional possibilit y nl'
t_ei naJ _mal!n ' l!. !teld . By usin g rnicrol;d·w icaiwn
- hmcnsio nall~. C<.nCned structures . it ha" been
t • lc the un nchnll~ 1 r 1crties • um (1o t ~ tn
· · Ll l' l jtJ·trlt ·
n nt llll111Ciing di(ld ' (R cu eta! · 1988•.' ). C apac ttancc · .
'11 t:.mrlo. edt) any ut tudi es of the electronic · t a t~"
1111th Ill('' a/. 19 8~ )- With quantum ballistic lcctron .;;
·tn anticipat · the de\ elo pment o l· sin!llc-elcctr 01~
uch d~\ice are in ma rked contrast \\'ith ;resent day
tr.Ul:I tor.t 111\0he "I~ el ctro nsa nd have propertie· dcterminedhy
. rJce- and l11111:-3\ crage ol a la rge number o f random tra jecto ries.

20.4 .4 De ices based on lD a nd OD structures

Th de, ell pm~nt oftechn iq u ' ·uch as controlled growth and lithogr<~phy
ha enabl<.?d on t0 produce _0 material s and devices. Further advances
mah.e po tt le dev1ce tha t a re ' ys temat ic a nd reproducible clown to the
-cale I nanorn ter.. u h d vices embody the ultrasmall structure concept
~ r pe d and integration that is the nat ural res ult of evolution from VLSI
and L L r device·. To take ad vamage of quantum effects o ne exploits the
fabri ation-determi ncd energy levels o f the structure to o btain devices with
higher or mor ·ompl x perfo rmance. D evices which perform digital
op ratton with ingl - r fev,t-electron events in stead of with 104 electron
e\ent ~ ar the basis of granular electronics. The concepts behind such
de\i e re:-emble th C ul mh bl ckade notio n whereby the loca l potential
in a ·truclur is chang d by .6.1 = /C due to the presence of a single elec-
tron. Th local apa itanc C is de termined b y the ma terials and the device
~ eome tr~ .

Under pr p r o nd ition. electro ns can travel witho ut collisions in ·t

nonquamized la ·ic<:tl m otion tha t yield s interesting effects occurring. for
example. in la teral ho t- lc tron devices. Th e guiding of an elect ron beam
through electro tatic le n. cs into spa tiall y-arranged collector electrodt:s
ffi3) prO\ ide th basis for A /0 conversion in the mulri-GH z range. The
balli tic I tr n device se rves as the critical clement of the con erter.
C nnecti n~ t the xt rna! ~ )'. tcm employ standard devices. The result is
an integrated ek tr n-optica l component.
Som ne\-\ d VICes. d ependent o n electron opt1cs · . ~;n
, 1 ploy electron-phase
_ .
Luntrol of wa vc!luid ed electro ns. In the M ach- Zehnder intert er~m~ter 1he
t'] ·t -~ o ne arm can be c11a nged t1)'. .c~p pl"ino-
c ron p 11a c m _, o '·1n clectnc held.

20.4 .5 lD and OD optical phenomena

I 11 . · . . 1- .· - 1itv is basica lly due to
an opttcctl '-YS tet the 1rnpact o l lower ( tme nslon.1 ) . . . ,. .
. . . .. ~ . " . the enel gy s p CLI JUI11
ll1.. ("lro r~.;ssive r stn ct1 o n ot allowed sates 0 ' ct -·

.4/4
Fig. 20.21
Schema lie rep re ·o;;ntatmn ol gain
cunt:~ l"or ~ D . I D , and 00 y~tem (aftt:r
'agk <tnd 'v\'ei. hut:h 1990 .
Applications of semiconductor heterostructures
tu vard !he cc ncent rated di::;crete atomic-like levels ofqu~ntum dots. When
one de· 1· , it h ~ttomic-likc levels. resonant ~el~av1or IS sharp~ned and
th rcfor en rgy selectivity·. Another charactenstJC IS the lower dispersion
0 1· op tical pr · pert ie over k- statcs due to t.he k-selectiOn r.ule th.at only
\erti a l transitic1ns arc allov,/ed. In an II1JCCtion laser a~ove mvers10n . the
·ame num ber or electrons in 2D. I D. and 00 states will produce succes-
si el higher ma ximum gain because the elcctr~ns ~md holes are con-
ce nt r~tted in ·ucccssi vcly fewer k-states as shown 111 F1g. 20.21. From th i
fig ure one sees that the integrated gain for fully inverted conduction and
~ lcnce b<tnds is ind ependent of dimensionality. Consequently, the con-
ccntrati n of carriers in a phase space less extended in energy will produce a
larger maximum in the spectral gain curve.
it· one takes into account exciton effects three regimes arise for quantum
dot· depending on the relative magnitudes of the edge length L of the dot
and the effective Bohr radius a8 of the exciton:
1. For L « d8 th e confining kinetic energy dominates the Coulomb
interaction energy of the electron and hole. The latter can be regarded
as a small perturbation. and the wave functions are well represented b)
particle-in-a-box \vave fun ctions. The oscillator strength per transition
is that for ordinary interband transitions.
2. For L » a8 a '"giant" oscillator strength arises . The unusually large
value is due to the coherent excitation of the entire \'Oiume of the
quantum dot. For L::::::: a8 the exciton binding energy can be comparabk
to the confinement energies of electrons and holes resulting in a
somewhat enhanced oscillator strength.
3. For quantum wires the excitonic effects are intermc.'diate between thL)Se
of quantum wells and quantum dots.
The threshold for nonlinear effects is lower in the lower-dim ns iLHJal
systems due to the smaller number of states that must be li lled to read1
saturation. Multiple-particle interactions are stron~lv enh a nced in 1 ,111d
OD. lfthe numbers of electron- hole pairs is increase~d~in a c nfin d' lu mc.
large Co ulomb interactions arise leading to bie:\cita Li Ln and multiple-
exciton cllects.

2 0.4.6 lD and OD optical devices

The quantum dot h• s""... 1· 1·-.s tl 1e u lt.Imate step m
_ . ~ · ~ ._
- the Cll Oti mwu unpr ' m ·nt
ol~ _.Lht.. scmtconductor
. · h'scr -·· ·· Tl·le 0 b.-JeCLIYC- has <li\\ :.l) S bl..'cll 1) r.:pliL.tl\.'
· 1
·1.
dt.stt.thle opt 1c·tl 11 r011 ·t · , . _1- · 1
'. _ ei IL:s n tsn ·tted ~Lfl\l11s . Th • dt ubk· ht"ter) tnt·LUf('
( [~~ ~ laser optimtzes the coupling uf light ~tn I matter O\
elt:ctt O ih and lt"ht ~ ·
In tl ll.:., s~.:parate
.• l'Lll1finl·m ~ n t h •t f\ t1 u
quantum
. _ .
wl'!llascr
.
the numlYT ~.: l s 1.11t s t P 1ll 111\ LT 1·J 1" ·f urt
~~ . . .. ,
while
1 mallltatntth!- tho: ti .. ht m·tt ' teJ- Ill( ci.tL
.. ·t·
h n ct1thl.t nt 111
t l C d:ctrum, Ill tllusc n.tdi :tti\c st ·tt s
t'un!J . . . • L . . I·LL' l l':llll J llll II(
. . c r u p llllll 7Cs ht)lh ltle nu mhn 1] it rt· l l l , I h
I I ' ·t ' I . . l..:l ,, L Ill I
II c t ~ar I.: r-. I 'spiiLtm g thl· li ght - an - lll'.l\ \ -h l l . b II
,.
o l l.t '>l'l 1 l '
• • I ,J
kc :-. ;t
11 •
1'L' lr u n ht dc jl<t ll':o.
· I
cl'li u 'Ill IJ
dII I Is Ill d I" f Ill -II ~ 'i 1.1 ( -.''> \\ j !I t
 n I
tro-o he ,.ffect!. in quantum well ~tructure
47
tln~h,Jdcurn:nt lllllh lldrnllll
u mtum' 111 ·' 1 · lr a IJrtJPil th ) hnulle h1h11
11 111 1 11
n I d ' '' 'I J1l.'dral \ idth :tn-.ing lmm th~:
I tl '1111 ,

I 'Icc ,,., cJ n cf'fcct-. s JCb us Jl f-n.:. marlCl.'

nlme.u· ph n lmcna .., much !e-.,, 'nh.tnt:t:J h\ lov.
u IJ •ht- · lupling and n ,, cnals modrficati 11 _. pro-
n 1111.'~.:. uantum doh oiTcr p ::,, ihiliti s as tnfrareJ
h uld h~.: Jimini..;hcd duet long relaxation li ret1mes.

1 es based on eledro-optic eHects in

qu I tructures
numba nf clectro-opti effe t in bul k s micond uct r
\\ nnilar dTect occur in quantum ell ·tru tur . but with
)Liated \\llh the pre:ence f 1\ 0 di tinct direction· in
n ppl_ the electric tield. i.e., para ll l to the Ia ers r per-
th ~ Iayer.· Ofpaniculari mp rta n i:Lh ff t ofana pplied
n the e. citon ah.oq tion M ille r 19 5).

20.5.1 Quantum-confined Stark effect

lf the lectric field i pplied in a d ir ti n parallel to the layers of the

. tructure. the principal effect is a broadening f the excito n abso rption
pei.!l-. and i" qmte "imilar t tha t u rri ng in bul k semicond uctor . . For the
ca. e of the electnc field p rpend icular t the Ia crs, howeve r. the effec t is
much more dramatic due to the c nfi nem nt o f the electron a nd ho le or the
e\ iton b) the wall of the \vel] . W hav th quantum-confined Stark effect
(QC E) in "hich the el tric fi ld tr ngly shirt the exLito n absorption
peak . The electron i. for cd in the lircct ion of the positive electrode and
the hole in the oppo ite d ire tion . bu t tield ioniz·ttion of the excito n is
preH~nted b} the \.-Ht!J _The .,1 ctr n and hole rema in relati vely close to one
another and till undergo ·tr ng C ulo mb a ttra .lion. In the pla ne of the
quantum \vel!.., they ' till orbit a b ut o ne a no ther, a lthough the o rbit is
somewhat modified hy theelectri fi eld. Thus, the excito n co ntinue. to ex ist
as a bound entity. and its a rp tio n p ·tk a re not igniticantl y hroadened.
The pl:r i ten e r tbe xcito n at high t'ield leaJ s to very large Sta rk shifts.

20.5.2 Quantum well modulators

The Q E can be e. pi it d as the basi · fo r optica I mod ulat o rs in which the
Optical transmisst n a y ·tcm i" modulated hy a n ·tp plicd electric fie ld .
et u con~tder a p i n di ode in whid1 the und o pcd intrinsic regi on is a
quantum well egi n. T he di J e is opera ted unuer reverse bias. It' the.
thi ·kne · )f thc quan tum w II regiLm is o n the o rder o r I pm a nd a \ olt age ot.
I Y is :.tppiJed acr s. it. the LO rrcspond ing: electric fi eld is o n th (:,_·ucr o f
IIJ V c.:m. ol taaes f - 10 V can prod ucl.: significa nt QCS E shrlts and
changes in ll c ah!-. rp I 1 -; pcC! fll lll . h p- a nd n-regio ns o f the ~i odc a re
l)picall) matenal tl at rs es.;;en tJa llv tr<.l ll '-pa renl at the frequency o t rntrres t.
 Applications of semiconductor heterostructures
A 6
T h yc 1 heGaA IAsiftheq uanlum_wellsa rcGaAs. ~hcrc _ u l ll_ng .t ruc-
.
_ 1·shown. schema tically m F1g.
lure IS a qua nt urn well modulator which . 20.-~-
..,
The q uantum , t:ll modulator 1s charactenzcd hy two very Important
L lf!hl Ill
fea tures:
t
T•'l'~"nt.•d
IP .-\lu.l I
the cl ctr -ab · >rpti ve mechanisms in the quan tum well due to the QCSE
Qu.rn1un1 "dh l. a re . 1 tTi i ntl) strong that a modulato r will work for light propagating
p rpcndicular to the layers or the device.
11111J upcJl
B •ll,lm .:ontnct .
tn- IGa l th energ requ ired to operate the modulat or IS the small amount of
energy nc es ·ary to change the optical properties ?f the n~odulator. This
Fig. 20.22
uantum ,. ·II modul.n r li ,Jc i ess ntiall y the stored electros ta tic energy associated vmh charging up
tru tun: (artct ttl I 'r I 9.-). th dt:vice capacitance.
The device that has just been described has considerable potential as a
highl efficient optical output device fo r electronic circuits.

20.5.3 Self-electro-optic-effect devices

Incorporating the function of a photodetector into a quan tum well mod-
ulato r creates an optica lly controlled device with an optical output that is
known as the self-electro-optic-effect device (SEED ) (Mi ller 1990). The
advantage of such a device is the opportunity fo r efficient integration. If
quantum \vei l modulators a re driven directly by external electrical con-
nections. th y are limited in speed and opera ting energy by the external
electrica l characteristics such as capacitance and the necessity to be driven
with impedance-matched lines at high speed. If the drive is not brought in
by some external connection and is elect rically locaL the modulators
themselves ca n be driven wi th very low total energies. In addit ion. since
they are semiconducto r devices. the possibi lities for inte~rati on \\ ith Yar-
ious opto-electronic and electronic devices a re of interest~
ln practice one ca n integrate quantum well devices quit IT di\'ely EO
produce t\vo-d imensiona l arrays of mart o pto-ekct ronj ~ unn- )r ··~ma rt
pixels." Devices of this sort provide new possibilities for S'v\ i 'hin.:- ,m:hl-
Fig. 20.23
tecturcs a nd information processing _
fo r <I tm plt: re i "li VC nptical
( 'trt.. lllt SEEDs rail intl two general clas;es: those th at arc ba:s~d on dwd : nl~
bJ\ta bilit) de\ tCc ( R- ' E D (a rtcr M dk r and those that also integrate transist ors. A dia Qram l r t:f\ ' llllPk f
L \

19 5) 15
~r ntcd in Fig. 20.~3 . It is a resistor-bia~sed SEED or. R-SEED ,m,l I.
opttcall y histable. It is operated at the wa elength ,\ n \\h rt" th · .1b. rpti \Hl
Bi lable Increases
Th
as the reve rse bias vo lta ~.!e deL·rc·ts"s , ' • '- u•
~
reg 1nn
_ ~ bistahilit y ~ r a simple SEED is produ cd b , 1 pL sm · L Jl1.t ·
med1 ctm sm a nd 1s tllustrated in Fig. 20 ..24 1n t.:m1 .., )r h , r ld n
~ra n sm nt ed pow~:r curve. II" the ligh t inc1dent l n thL· Llil d t tnlll II
mtem.t_ty. there is little photuL·ur re nt and ther flr ltU ·,lIt 1 lr
the rcststor. Esst>ntiall y all o t" the \\)lta gt d rLIP ' LL"tt .t~.- ' th
thL· abso rpt fl) n b)' the diode is L[lll t ·lo\\ . -\s rh~ lidH tnkn
Jrtut.klll p<J~ 'I tncreast:d. the phtlluCuiTL'lll llll'rc · tsL'" al h~-
rc-.; ,slt r th rl' l'urt' hl:'cOIIIL"S l.tr r I g~.-·t hL' t
20.24
u ru-.s tl ' Utltk, 11 ( rt.!~thsurp l t llll h\ th dt IJ' 11 I r It
l.IJ I II I• l1 I,J }lJ l,.li l\llllf .11 1 t t tl . • I - • l\ I
I " .I I L ... Ll l t Ilk' i.l 11 "\\ II ·It ll lt ll .t ·t 1[L• \ I h , •• II b I
I IJJr ft 1 Mtll•r I'JIJ :l J
II '' tl I lgl lv ahso t h tn g t t.t l t lc d. IL
 Probl m
477
atl ' llll d a
Ill li S 11'h

'"'" a. 1~11.: k~' i in th, bL-.ta hk Llrcult on, ·quJ

r ' r - h1 t-.~.: I ph tnJH J~ 11 , ph 0 il tli! Lhi!n
'l thl' I 'L'al r~ !slur" tth a n eire ·tl\e ·· rcslst.Lnc~··
ll~d h~ th~.: light 1ll umi 1 ating t hL s~.: '\ nJ ' In<• ['"
1 ,\diode-based SEED H D-SEED. 1 h is '- nccpt can
1 I 1.
lurk <1 -..·(' nd quantum \\dl dtod in th 1 a 1 (Jiving th · Fig. 2 0.25
I ia_:Jam lll .. 'YlTIJU..:InL Sl r
-SEED a -.. sho\ n in Fig. _( .25. ·ach ll a J Ji n~le h<.7s a n
S-. [ l l ! (,\Iter IIIIer l'U 5l
nd Lht: '-. 0 ts bist<.l bl wi th re p ct to the r;.~ ti l of
\ inc1dent h am ~ rather tha n ' ith respect to ~u mc
llchmg on.:ur when th ph tuc urrcnt in o ne d ie de is
m th other. The - EED an th n::l'ore be oper;_tted over a

ful i1 logi _ stems. lcmcntary lo!!ic

ith th S- EED it ' df Mo re complex itua-
til)J1 l: n h 1 Jlcd hy onnccting m r tha n tw diodes in series to form
th multistote SEED or M-SEED (Lentine 19 9) . ndcr volt age biasing of
dil d in "ri~.: there can be , tat , each ha ing onl y one di ode o n. One
can proc de\ en further by c n tructi ng families of circuits th at embody
the logic SEED or l-SEED (Len line 1990).
Quantum ell d1 de can be inte rra ted with transi sto rs. Since electro nics
perfom1 complex logic functio ns ry welL thl:re a re igniticant ad va n-
tage. to t:ombi ning electr< nic wit h the capa bilities of optic-11 de\ ice.· for
inter onnectJOn .. Tim. . a good integra ti on technology is highly desira ble.
Comment. With lOO fJ f in put nergy and a ractor of lO loss overall
in an opli al y tem . 1 W Ia er ha . ufficient pmver to drive I Tbts of
information through the ystcm. Thi s is a very large rate a nd one that
is diffi ult t a hicv wit h pur I ele troru c sy. tem s.

Problems
I . With the a1d th di cus. ion the Gunn creel in C hapter ~ dc\'eiOp a
o[
ph) ical cxplan ti n [ r the ri tic·:ll c: lectric field t r that c ·ist. in a GaAs.
GaAl :-. T T . If th at uration elocit y is 10 7 cm/s. a nd the mobility or
aA i. 4 10-1 cm 1 ,' V s. w·ha t is the value of [ ,.?
7
I the g· te len .5 ~tm and the sa turati on drift velocity is 1.5 x 10 em's:
\\hat ] the.: tran it time ra n electron across th e gat{.' What IS the cutoll
fr qu ncv·. ·
3. mpar~ the ph ' i al proce scs occurring in the Gunn oscill:1 lor and 1n the
hcter ~truuur do · uble-harrier diode. Focus o n w 111c · h qua n t 1t IC~· decrc·tse '·
when nega tl\ · re. istance <1ppcars. _ , . . ..
4 mpare the lectr na nd hole wa ve l'uncti ns for the l1rst lew ex ~ton stat es In
an .. infi ni te" qu:1111um wt:ll with and \Vitho ut an applied ekctnc: fi eld .
ale late th~ ' hift or the e cito nic ah orpti o n peaks due tn the quantum
confined ta rk cr eel. . . -
L
11 •
111 a 4 uunrum \\ II m dulat o r t 11c qua ntum we · 11 1·enion b
L'OntamnH!
. ·- '
IUO
. d

lfUanlum \\tll ~.~ope ra ted under I 'v, reve rse l11·..1:s., "v'' ll·a 1 1·~· the ''tPI) )Jcd lt eld an
the.: Q 5 shill''
 . t" of semiconductor heterostructures
A pp I1ca 1ons

References
1 H n II 1 · an d R · · Murphy - .·
in . Hittr,h-Speed Sc:miconcluctor Devicev cd
L • • •

.' M. Le (J hn W tley. New York, 1990_). . .

·L L · D A B Miller J_ E. Henry. J. E. Cunnmgham and
A. . e nune. . · · · · ·
L. M F Ciro ky. fEE£ }. Quantum Electron. 25,_1921 ( 1989). .
• e B Miller • J. E. Henry, J. E.. Cunnmgham, L. M. F . C 1rovsky
L~.: n 1111 • - . .
and
•
L . D' sa ro. Appl. Opt. 29. 2153 ( 1990). ·
D. A. B. Miller. Op ricul and Qutlllfl/111 Elc:ctron. 22, S61 (1990).
D. A. B. Mi ller. ir Conjincd Electrons and Photons. eds. E. Bur tein and
. Wei bach (Plenum Press, New York. 1995).
J. Na!!l , Tire is. niversite P~tris VI , 1987.
J. Nag! ~ and C. Wcisbuch. Tcchni ·a/ Digest. ECOC '87, Helsinki, part II, p. 25
I 987).
J. Nagle a nJ C. Weisbuch. in S cience and Engineering of I and 0 Dimen.~ionul
S miconductor s~·stems. eds. C. M. Sotomayer-Torres and S. P. Beaumont
(Plenum, New Yo rk. 1990).
M. A. Reed, J. N. Rand all , R. J. Aggarwal , R. J. Matyi. T. M. Moore, and
A . E. Wetzel. Phrs. Rei'. Lell. 60. 1535 ( 1988).
T. P. Smith Ill. K. Y. Lee. C. M. Knoedler, J. M. Hong, and D. P. Kern, Phrs.
Rev. B38, 2172 ( 1988). ·
B. J. Van Wees, L. P. Kouvenhoven, C. J . P. M. Harmans. J. G. William on,
C. E. Timmering. M . E. I. Broeka art. C. T. Faxon. and J . J . Harris, Phrs. Re1•.
L cll. 62. 2523 (1989). -
C. Weishuch. in Technolog ies for Optoi!lectronics, eds . F . Potter and
J. M. Bulabois. Proc. SPIE. 869. 155 (1987).
C. Weisbuch and B. Vinter. Quantum Semiconductor Structures (Academic Pre
San Diego, 199 I).
I de

~nag hanJ anJ ~0 :

fundamcnr.tl h.tnd g.tp ~- .:
unpa~:t i1•nt1alu n 201 .:
modtli..:alinn h, ~~~
ll'nlpl'r tture .tnt! pre urc Jcp 'IH.kn~ · hll -~~
hand md~:\ \2
hac 140
b.t t:4.:Urrcn1 341 2.345 (l
ha (' tran Jl rl r:tdl r 1-t.
J'-1 3
Bern.ml ! urall1 ur, lnndttton .' -..
Bctht: dt 1Jc ·qu nwn ..W ·
ht.l \ lllt.tg...:
\lOS( .p -W
\ 1. dtodc +H' .
p ll )UlldlOil 11 _I}
hrnd1111.! encrg1c

, pttctl hr.lll It

10 I

t-i

1-i ~I •-11
 Index
current amplil-lcation factor 347. 348
<.: Ill n.:nt den ·it y 156. 157- 8. 159- 60
scmicnnductor lasers 360- 3
c urn:n gain 460
B.l P 347 9
currcn t-\·oltagc cha ractcristics
\IIOc · ET 4 53 5
p n jundion 32n 9
c\ clo tr n frequency 79- gO
c;'cl llr n resonance 292 3. 431 - 2
d t..: nnination of effective masses 79- 84
quantum mechanical theory of 295-~
C7.ochrabk i method IS

dangling bonds 214.444.448

deBroglie wavelength 22
2, .345 ~(j Debye lengths 316.317- IR
Ct'nmwn-ha c ·nnfigurati n 342 Debye T -law 143
compens:H~d ··micondu ' ll'C 102, 11 · 16
Dcbye temperature 142 3
comp und s mi o nd uctors 7- 10. 11 - 14. 4
decay constant 213- 14
Itt' tJl 'u tmd r in diriduul r_rp s
deep impurities 97- 8. 197- 8
concem rati n 101 19. 163
dcpl:ndcnce of radiative lifetime on 258- 60 decptraps 102
deformation dipole model 136- 9
e-..t ri n~ic semiconductors 109- 19
deformation potential 175
1~LII efft: t 85 6.190-1
inJ ted minority carriers in BJT 342--4 degenerate perturbation theory 30- 5
inst rinsic semiconductors 102·-9 dcgenerak system I 04
minorit) arriers and p-n junctions 324-~ density functional method 55- 7
c nductancc 469, 471-3 density-of-states I 03- 4
co nduction bands 44 effective I 04-6
oncentration 103- 5, 106- 7 magnetic-field-dependent 426-7
of Si and Ge 62 I D and OD structures 469
quare quantum well 377- 80 quantum wells 376, 382
conductivity in reciprocal space 24
electrical s!'C electrical conductivitY in a superlatticc 386-7
thermal 144 5. 195--6 - clepl~tion layer see space charge region
conductivity effective mass 157- 8 detatled balance. principle of 258. 260
conductivity ten or 290- 1, 427- 30 detectivity 366- 8
frequency-dependent 282--4 diamond structure semiconductors 6-7 10- 11
conductors 77. 427 diatomic linear chain 126 9 '
confined mode. 394. 400 dielectric constants/functions 93- 4. 138. 231 - 2
optical modes 402- 3 of a crystal 234
confinement factor 465, 466 free dcl:lron gas 246- 8
contact potential 311 - 12 polar lattice vibrations 251 5
contmuity eq uation 324 propagation of an elcctroma"netic wa\'e 2:::~. 2t\5 b
con\'entional unit cell \ dielectric continuum theory .w'? - 400
Com\cli- Weisskopr m~thod 173 diekctric tensor 229 -
ore electrons 44 diffusion current 159- 60
ulomb intcgrab 211 12 P n junction 31 ~- 320 9
oulomb inh:raction 53 - 7. 3~8-90 diffusion kn11:th 1'4
Cl)Upicd 4U<llllUlll weJh 3~4- 7 diffus10n pot~nti<:l- 311 12
co alentbonding 1012, 1314 digital devices -161
cr) tal gro vth 14 16
diode-based SEED (0-SE EDl ~T'
U)'>t<~ l m mentum 76
D•mc relativistic equati,111 -'15
<.:\ln~e n·ation 177
d~n::ct i"orbiJden I ransiti('ns 2-1-1
a y tal truc turl· 2 1o
'>en 1 ondu ttrr'> 6 1(J direct gap scmicondul·tl>l"'- o(l ,'
current I · 4 I optical gain 35.:\ oO
d1rcl"! translti,,n.., 23S
tli ~nrdcr 11 1 l),:
dillu illllt:UfiLn l ·,,., Ul tl li'> H•n LU tr~ lll di, pl al't:mcnt c ur cnt 1
1 f 1.1 11 111 ~urru11 111 ) 1
di..,trihutllm lu nLtl, n 1
ht eh ·k 1ric lic:ld, lll, · ,1
kul • r 1111 UllllL \ 'l(l l - I ill

·_7 : '~ - +-~ l,l[ll.:d 11- 1\ c Ill d I IIII h 11111, I I l I

"''I me _

104 (l
157 ~ empirical p'\cutlopotcnt ial mt:th<"ld EPM) .l, S 1
10
. r t, t1 n 291 2
10\ em di\ !11.1.' ll:n or .5, ' .59. 5 6
thl'llf) ,,f tmpunt\ -.tate-. 90 3
ellC:Ctl\o.; !113 '\\ \ 1:' function .ICc' 1!11\e]c pe fun ' tl
l't)! nfunctt "' I Y
Bl, ~h functi ns 26. 7 4
' pa 'con In plane W:.t \ 't', 2
Em,tc:in rl'lau n 159 flO
da 'tic cont1nuum theor:.
lm\·frequenq modes tn a uperla t ti e 394 7
three-dimen ·ional cry. taL 12 ~ I
ela tic ffi( t.luh I30
ele ln( ~.:onJucllon cmrent ! 54 7
dectnc di placement 160 I
e!t:ctn lidd
huilt-m 310.313 14. 31 - 19. 3_0
d~ namic of ekcLr n 76 7
hut carner phenom na ! 9, 20_
tran port propcrttes ' hetcrost ruct ur s 4 2- 5
lield parallel to in ter fa ce~ 422 3
field perpend1cular to interfa 4_ ~ ·
electncalconductl\ ll) 1·6. 1 J 6. 24 " )
magnet conJuctil llj in a 2D h
magnetore,i•a:l n e 186- 9
\anablc-range hop ping 203
clcctncal res1sti1 i t~ I - · I <;!6-
electromagneuc \\a 1 e pr pa ga ti o n 230- 2
magn to-op ttcal t h nomena 284 '1
..:lectr n clectr n il1leraCLw n .:: 3 7. 3XX 90
electr n energy loss sped ro copy ( E • L ) 222
lectn n utrali t'. c nd iLi n r I I_
electr n ga ~ _46- ·. n 3
dectron1c etgenrunctic>rl I '-J
lt~ctn • nlc uge n~ t a te_ I X. 25 6
m ;,t~.:on~ t a n l rn JI!nelic field 2Y 3 5
t:lcctroni~.: e\citaLi• ~~ 21: 6
cit: truntc !>late~
nutctl 5 , '27 5 o
hdcro-.tru..:t ur.:-. :-17 1 LJ2
In 1
}II
'-''lntr <lll n·,.,n,lnn: , 1 _
lh 11;1111 1• n l '"'I, 7
cku nn ' ·ll -cn..: 1g~ "rcr:Ji nt 7
ck~. t1 nn t tun 11 111 nc ~(,·
c kct l <> · • ' fll l~.:.tl d l ·ch 1(HI .~
111t ldU}<JI )\ II ' fli.:L i fll'l<'Jl) 11JJ
10 q U~IIl lU ill \\ ..:I I ' l iUC[Ufl!' 47' 7
cl tncnt:J l 1.: 1111 ' mhu.: tur' 2. 6 7. 6() 7
sec a/.111 £C:flll.JI1 1Lirrl : '-l ltcnn
~: IL'm cn t.tr} ·xcnatton' 235
e ll t p ~md :l l c,~n, tan t energy ,urf:u;.:, 62. 3
dlips ida ! c n er~n hand 106 7
l'm i ~l-1 0 11 ·pc' ·t ro c l p] _)-
t: mttlcr J.HJ
em itu:r curr•nl 34 1 2. J45 6
crnittt:r injectio n e!lictenc) 34t!
ncrgy hunJ
applied bias in a ~:f 43 7
ha nd g::q ~ 1t'r hand gap'>
ba::.ic the ry I -42
o nducti n b•111d s w:e condw..:tion band~
ll kinemat ics . nd d~ nam i of leclT n and ho l e~ J 8'
M. diode 444- ·
setnic nducto r las rs 355
scrnicond u t rs 4J- 7_
·truct ure. for :;pecific emi nndu tor <l ._:
spa · barge region 3 1-+ 1.·, l l 9. J _O
.· ubhand -. ~~subl and s
supcrb u ic6 38.::- 6
,-~lc ne hands . c·e ,·ctlence ba mL
en clo p~:: functio n I
approxi matio n for square quantum W' il 377 ()
cquipa rt itit>ll . law or 1-4
excha nge integrals 211 12
xch<nge intera ·tio n ·4 5
exciu tion ~pec tr ~copy. phot0lumin scence -l 17 I X
excited ' lcct f•'lliC sta t., "7
ligh t s att rin~ 27' - f>
exciku impurity -;tate II 19
ex cit ns :24 I. -l 74
-1 27- 30 o ptical absorptiun hy in h tcrostruct urn 4\-l - 17
111 qu;111tum wdl :> R~
recombination 41lJ
resQn;t nt li •Itt sc11tering
bo und exciton states 2n -1
rre' xci ton stat ~ 27.\
cxp•. n. io n. thernul 1-lJ -l
ex tended 7onc -diL"nll' J I
extinction coeffici ent 232
ext rinsic in terha nd a b ·urpt ion 2-14
o;;x trin::.IC plwt o lumincsc ' llCL' -II"
e:..trin::.ic stmicnndu~· i,>rs I02. I UY I')
acceptor impuritie' II .' I :'i
~·ompensall:d S' llliCOIHluctu r-. II ;. I t•
dono r impurities 110 13
exci ted impunt~ slatc' 11 7 I'I
ma_i,)J'it} ;tlld 111inurit:-. c·artll'J'' Il l• 17 l !ll'i 1( f

lil11~ ,1
lim!e qu;tntum 11ell 3 X XO
11 t -b.n1d mditi1111 43<> 40
0:1t-h:mJ 'olli.1gc 4: _
!lo:Hln~ l l IlL method I - I )
I IJcd di p.:rsion ·uf\ es 6 7. 3 ~9--40 , 40_ 3
tore' equation 76
fom1 factor~. p ud p tent ia l 49- -1
f'ln\ard a ·ti\" bia mode 342
I m\ a rJ bi:1_ 4_
MS di dt: .w 8
n j unct i n 31 8- 19,32
forward . alterin g 27 1 -2
Fourier'. b w ofl~eat conduction 145. 195
I - I ·~mico nductors 2. 10. 14.68
lracti na l quantum Hall effect (FQH E) 430
ra nz Kelcl ysh effect 301 - 3
fr e carrier absorptio n 245- 9
frco arricr rctlectivit y 249- 50
ree ·citon lumine cence line 419
fre exciton resonance 273
frcze-outrange 111- 12, 113
frequency-dependent conductiYity tensor 282 4
frequency distribution function i 31 - 2
rozcn phono n method 139
Fuchs- Kiiewer m odes 399
fundamental bam.l gap 44. 273
G aAIAs 387- 8. 38< - 90
GaA 67.6 .359.387- 8.389- 90
transport pro perties 196 8
GaAs AlAs >uperlattice 400
GaP 67
gale 436.444. 448 9
gale oxide 449
"ill\! voltage 440 2. 449. 450. 452 1
generaliLed Rayll.:igh\ a ve · 21X 1
gt:neration cun-ent 320 l)
g • ~.:rati o n-rec o mbination currcnb 346 7
genera lion -n.:cumbinatitJ!l nl)i:-e 367
g nna n1um (G ' ) I 67
t..onductio u b<Lud 62
~ :yd u tHll1 fl.:,unanc.: f) 1 3
J JJIUI lm f1uritle l)"\ 4
•. J lcncc hu nd hll 2
gla
' i<d~l IIIUC " II ( i R I
'I J J I
Index
group velocity 74- 5, 7X 9 .
g r '~W H junction bipolar transistor 340
Grlinciscn parameter 144
L!UJdcd-wavc modes 400
- unndindes 200
.unn effect 199 ~00
13 H all angle 86
Ha ll cucrficient X5. 190- 1
H a ll ciTect XS- 6. 1X9- 91
uantum Hall effect 429- 30
H;-dl mobility 190
harmonicterms 122
Hartrec roc k method 5 5
!-l a rtrce method 54
hea,·y hole bands 62. 63. 107 9. 380- 1
helium atom e nergy loss spectroscopy 222- 3
hetcrojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) 463-4
heterojunctions 372- 3
free charge carrier transfer 373
hcteropolar semiconductors 135- 9
heterostructure devices 457 78
heterostructure double-barrie r diode 462- 3
heterostructures
electronic states 371- 92
optical properties 405- 20
transport properties 421-33
hexagonal lattice 4. 6
high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) 459
holes
cyclotron resonance :53
dynamics 77- 9
energy levels in a square quantum well 380·- 1
homopolar semiconductor 134-5. 137
hot carrier phenomena 19~ 202
hot electron transistor (HET) 464
ide·~ I compensation I 02. 115
impact ionization 200- 2
impurities 2. ~9- 100. 471
absorption due to electronic transitions or 250
acceptor 90, 95 7. 113- 15
central cell corrections 97- 1-l
deep 97- 8. 197--8
Jonor 90. 93 - 5. II 0-IJ
et:l:cctive mass theory 90- 3
etlects on lattice vibrations 145 7
ionized impurity scatkrinl! 169 73
y neutral impurity s~.·atterin; 174
qualitative aspe<.·ts YO -
semiconductor crystal~..:•"'' wth 14 1 ,
shallow Y2. I% 7. 201-. 3~ 2 4
statistical ana1vsis 109 1lJ
unpurity bands 4x I)
ln~:; · GaSb superlattii.'C 400 1
mJJrect gaps 66 . X
mdiiCl' l intcl hanJ ~~h~t•rpl l llll _42 4
IIJ~uced n-type irncrsil)n ,·hanod
7 mt~nlk quant um 1\ dl ) "77 ,·
111lmik·._i · 111 '·11 11.•111:. I.tllon.t l l ll \ ,111.111
1111 I ar ·d I I R) '> ("cL·ln• • 'l' -~-'
IIIJL'Cl l ll ll 11111 I ll '" l' IIH~ 'I"
Ill lllatl·d - l!dl tid I II
-4 -1 ~ I II Ill I l 1•r
.
l
4 ~ '
 lnd 483
l,Pif• du lltotrt
l.tttl ' p l. ll \1 -
l o~ttt~
Bt,l\ .II~
ro.;·Lt p r..o.::tl 20 ,
thrce-d 11n ·n tnn. tl I l l '
htll t~,;·e \tl r;~ t • nn' 121 '\2
illlham 1 >nio,; died 143 -
tltal n rni L l lllC:I T l h. lln l :!h •)
tm pun ty ellt'l'h 1-+5 7
l.1ll t ·~: d) namical m•h k h I ll. 40
ll1o1na tnmtc li nL·ar Lh:u n J:Y, I)
11<1rtlla l Lllnrtli n:•lc tran.,fonna ti n 14!1 1
5tl
oplic<il pro •Pcrtic:, llue t.> 2.: I 6
pl1<1n n«. i11 w pcrl ctllicc Wl .:!fl.:!
ric:;ocleuric c iTe Ls 14:-\ lJ
~ at cring I -+ , 6
;t ·~·LI~ ti c phnn1 n '\C<t lt<: n tH! 4 l)

93
inlervalle) callt:nnl! 1 t: 1
pie;, elect i · . Cctt ler~ng I ;.
1wlar plica l ph n n catt rt n!:'. 18 1 5
"lr . 'o-111 lu ' e I ttl 1111 • d t ~plclcemc~1 t -; 149 50
-urtace dT ' cts 215 ~3
a ousti m d e~ 21- I
c.\ penmcnt-.1 ob e r l'~llion _2 1- .\
c pt ica l m0de. 21 9- _1
103 l real semiconductor - 21
-,.59. 7: (, th ree-dimen i nal ry~ t a b 129 . 3
1ihrutional . 1xcifi c hea l 1.:\1 3
lay red semiconductor - 10. l - 14
left circula l'iy p larized t L ·p\ light 2 4 -. 28 /. 292
_,
-~
lif'ettmc. a rricr 257
lim itl!d by band-! -hand r mbinatio n 2- u-(ll
light -- mitti11 g di l de~ ( L ED') ~,4
n 19 ligh t ho le ba nds h_. 63. 107-9. _80- 1
light sc:t tl ring 133. 264- 76
-1'-
_, light T:tt lcrin l! spcctro ·c 'P • 23-
linea r chain mudd 401 3
tmpact 2tlll- 2 lin ar <-nnbina ti onofa tomi orbitals(LC. OJ 3c1-41.2 1() I~
toni7allon cn~rgic lJ4. 9 .. 96. 97. 9. linear re ptmse m<'lhod 139 40
wni;ed impurit\ :o.cattering 169 71 local den ity i.t pprox itnation ( L D ) 5- 7
i~rcori impunt11: 97 local i;cd elec tro nic stn t ~:s 9t;. 250
i~otrnptc approxtmation ~ loca li zed 1·ibrationa l mock - 145- 7
i otropic elastic: s lid 21. louie SEED (l-S EED) 4
i~ntropic ~Latlenng 154
lo nl!i tudinal acous tic branch 124- 5
lo n; ituclina l cfkct il'e c har~e ll:i.:l
k n~itudin ~il npt ic;t\ phllll011 rr·quency 1 ~7-9. 251 )
Kane llllldd 6'i fi ~
lo nl!ttudinal · w:11 es _~x.· -+'
prnpa g:tt ion, f dec tn,magnette -~ . _
~s t,~

Kerr cl feu JO l Lo;cnt z number I9:i

J,;tn~mattc~ and Jvnam tco.; 7_ X7 low cncrc:v electro n dillractiPn ( LEED) 2 14
Kk tnman mtern,;l dt-,pi:H:cment parametc r 150 Luttinge;: Kolm function s 9 I
Kohn ham equaltons 5- 6 Luttingc r paramctL:rs 6.1. 64
J.. .p method 7 66 Lydd ~tlll: Sachs Teller equat ion IJY
extcnded l. .p method t4-5
Kr<.~mcr~ d gene racy 6 1. 6 J
t<.. ron ig Pcn ne~ m< J ' l B

l.tt.ltJero.; 21J)I
LJt dau ga ttgL 29:\
Lmth.tu lt:\~ 1 ,, :!Y5 2lJ7 S. _9lJ _110 , 4·25 6
I ~er~ 153 M. 474 5
J1h)~ICJJ h: t is ,55 ()4
4UalllUn \\dl la..,cr 464 X
'lltnul,llcli cmis.,lllll 1.'i4 5 2. 4 'l

lattto.:c l l l ll Ia til\ i
 Index
,rm a l coo rdinate transformation 140- 1
111
n-typc se micnnductors 90 . 112·- 13
maj o rity and minority carriers \16-17
Nyq ur st noise 367

o<.:~u p a u o n fact o r ll 0
1 J c<: up~llion number 102 3
h m·s law 156
o n e - d llnen ~ ional quantum structures 46H-75
n 111 n o p tical a hsorption .H:e absorption
m ,Jlv p,Hdepu"i Li'n(MXVD) 47 1 o p ti cal bra nches 124- 5, 127- 8.251.393.394
1 - ~mu..: •ndu~:lllfl..tpat:itor( lOSt.) 4'6 -14 l) pt icd co nst a nts 232- 4
pph~;3IIOIIS +t4 pticd gain 354. 355- 60
1pplicd h1a · anJ en ·rgy bands 43 7 o p tiCal m o d es 13 7- 9. 251 - 6
h11 J..:re-ndcncc 1,f t:apacil~l m:c 43 40 ph o n o ns in supcrl a tticcs 397 -403
cap.tcltan..:c \' \ olt.Jge cu n cs 440 o ptica l phonon polariton s. surface 263
mctal-o\tdc-semu::omluct r licki efTct o p t ical phonon scattering ll:> l --5
tr. n:i. tor ( M [T ) 444 . 44 '-5- o ptical pro pe rties 133. 227 - 80
D cll arauens tics .:1 50 • a b .. orpti o n see absorption
me1:1 ls -· 77 e lectromagnetic rc~ponse 228- 35
mcta l-scmico nd uct nr de\rices 43 - 55
mel<l l-,t·m k:o nduct r (M SJ diode 444-~
or fre e ca rriers 245 50
heterost ruct ures 405- 20
current unde r a pplied voltage 446- 8
du e to electronic transitions 406-- 17
eqUihh rium c ha racteri , tic 444-5
photoluminescence 417- 19
mtcro~copi c theo ry o f optical modes 400--3
lartice vibrations 251 - 6
M iller 1nd ic·es ='
light scattering 264--76
m ini ba nd · V 6
min orityca rriers 11 6 -17. 08.31() 1D and OD structures 473- 5
inje red min o rit y carrier concentrations in BJT 342- 4 pbotoemission 276-8
p n JUnction 320-9 radiative recombination 256-61
current s in neutral re2:ions 325- 6 surface polaritons 261 -4
J i-: tributi o n in neutrc;l w 2ions 324--5 optical spectroscopies 234- 5
inJ ecti o n 321 -4 ~- orthogonal pla ne wave (OPW ) method 46-7
m ixed h0ncL I 3 o scillator strength 240
mob ilit y Xo. 155- 7. 163 6 oxide capacitance 440
Hall mobilit) 190
spec1fic scatt erin g mechanisms 173 , 174. 179. 181 , 185. l8o
mobilit y edge 98 parabo lic approximati o n 65
rnodiliecl rela tive displ acement 137- 8 parabolkbands 59-60.103- 6.291
mo dulati o n doped field e ffect tran sistor (MOD F ET) 459 pa rall el die lectric constant 285- 6
mod ula tto n d >pmg 372 . 387 91 Pauli exclusion principle 54
mo dul a ti On spectro scopy 303 Peltier effect 192 4
nwlecula r be~1m epitax y (MB E ) 406.461.471 periodic boundarv conditions 23 - 4
rm l ~:ul a r o rb1tal 12 peri 1dic potentia{ 19- 28 .
mo tr o n. cquat1ons o f 122- 5 electro ns in 20- 2
Molt barrier 445 weak periodic potenti a l 26 8
rnult1ple quantum wt:ll (MQ\V) lasers 467 - R Schrodinger equation 22- 4. 25
m ulu pk va lence band .· 1117 lJ perpe ndicular dielectric constant 28:' 6
m ulupli ca l! o n Cacto r 335 phase \relocity 232
111tJna to nHL linear ch a in 125 6
phonon disp~rsion curves l.U- -W
m u l t 1 ~ t at e E ED 1M-SEE D) 477
fo lded 39 6 7. 399-4flll. -102- 3
mutu~ tlc·, clu , l•m , rul e o f 27U
ph o no ns 1.U , 141
~t:<..l llsti c phmhm scattcrin~ 174~ 9
t ro zen phonon met hl' d 13"•1
!l:tno ca ll.: l it h u gr ~1phic tcdmrque' 4711 1
m~arly lrL"\: clectrltn (NF I:.} appru xrmation 21 )() 9
mt.:r val k y sc•ttt.:rinl! 174 x1
nc •Jll e i.l ifferenl1a l re ~ r ~ t a m:e 425 J1Plar (>ptiL·a1 plwnu~l sL·att ·rin l! 1 1 -
m.:g.allh. r ~. ~i~L11ll:l' I I::T I, IU · E II 46 1 R ~mwn sL·att<:ring b ) ~65 '4 ~
Ill ~ uperbtt tCb 39_ 40-+
lleUllal mrpu l lt, ~ca ll ·r in g 174
-1-1'-1 '>II Ul. l u rc" .NIJ 1 ph o ll >-.·u nd udi I e g a in •n-f '
III·Jili!Wl CUfTc.l tl JL:H'll> l()ll I 1n_ ph .. tu m du c\1\ J\\ 31'1 4
ud • n~r . tc l .r Ju ~X 1.0 ph' ''' lk t<:et,1 r., ~·h 4 ,
ph ll li <.:11 l ~'l l • l\ 2 14 _](>
d11 ect _7(,
" I I
l ll i L'h<,::::. ":!

ph •IIIL'\ ~ I I ll l < >ll r , l (. 1 (I

 In
4
"I' 1J I, lj l lllt l77).'1
l i t Il l ~'"· " 1. <,
l itfl l lt il11•· .j' 1
I ' I I II' I I I
T\ 1" ll 0 11 I I
lj i\01 Jl l t l lll \\i l l 41,)1 7
l fl l;l -.i - 1 c rm t Clh:rgic.. 'i". l

raJ i.Jtt\c Jc..:om hi n:t llon ::..-,, '·I

Ram:.1n ampll tlllh:: 2hX IJ
R ;tman -;ca ll n ng 1.11 , 222, 2(
. ~65 74
:~nha t mon ic t:Jicl·h 27 5
lt r,t -ordc t 27 1 2
q uan tum thcur\ 267 7(l
rc ~onan t ]. _:1 4
-.eco nd-o rdcr _7_-"J
)t:i 't.:li n ru k~ 270 - 1
't: ll1 1cla~~i ·al the.: r _()( 7
theo ry I r - 05 7()
Raman 1 ·ns r 266
r 'i. 'l'n rate con ·ta nb ~ ')
pt11..irit• n R ay ki ~h - :1ttering 1,4
.-urlt~ Ra:--·lcigh urface 1 ave _I ::l
r•'l:t!l7.ttl rea l-sp L' Lran fn di de 41"i l
1nlar !.till n ~51-'i nxiprocallatticc J l _
r•-.IM •'Pill, I ph 11 n cauenng 1 1 5 rccombinJtion
P•'rulatwn m' r Hln 3.·4 piHltolum inesccncc 41 19
p1t-'nlial d!T r n~.:t' 11 Y. J20 spectr sc py 23 -. 2·0 6 1
P<)ntng,ed r ~3o surface recombination 2_3 5. 2 ·7
pr -·ure 1-N recom bina tion timL: 364 5
dependenc~.: of hand gap. 69 (I reduced zone ·chemc 31 2
pnmltih tran.;;Jatton 'ector' J. _ J rellecti ity 233 . 303
primJtl\ ~ umt cell J. 21-2. JO free carrier 249 50
pmpagallng mod~. 394 modulation ~ pectros opy 303 4
rn pagating optical mnJ 402 .) rel'ractive index 232. JO 1
r eudo-c nlin~d modL':. 40U I relaxation time 155. 163. 18') YO
p>eudopotenllal form fa \:t r. 49- 51 ener!ly dependence I 67- 9
r eudopotenltab 4 -:- specific 'ca tterim: mec hani sn~> 16') X6
uh inilln .:-3. 139 re idual ray (n:stsu·ahlen) ~ 5 -
mplrh.:al p.eudopotenLia lmet hod 4g 5 1 resisti it y I 2. 196
nonlocal p eudop tcntial m thud · 1- ""' resistor-biased SEED (R-SEED) 476 7
p,eudowa\ efuncti n 48 resonance mode I 4 7
p-t}pe nuc ndu to rs 90 rc ..onant Raman scattering ~73-4
majont) and minont' a rrier. I 17 rt"Onant tunneling el'fcct 424. 42-.462 J
purification 1 - 16 · re. pon ·i, ity 36ft g
reverse hia s
r-.·IOS 43 7
quantum onfined tark ff, c t (Q SE) 475 MS diode 44o- 8
quantum dot b~er 474-· p n junction 31 R..no. 32 7 8
quantum dots 468-7.:- Richard, un equation 448
yuantum cf"fcct 19 • righ t circularly polariz~tl (R PJ light 284- 5. 2t'( 7. 2l)~
quantum Hall ff d r _o rigid io n model 1.15- 6
yuantum "ell b-.er 4 rock salt structurt' SL'miu1ncluctor 10. 14
quantum \\ ell m dula1o r 47" 6 Roscnstlll.:k Newell model 12. ')
yuantum "'elb 406
Ctlupled anJ uperi:Jt uce 3<'4 7 sa turatio n .:u rrent .\~ - S. 3.\ I 2. ~4X
den lt)-uf-:-.tute~ \7ri ., satur~rti on drain 1 ullage ~5~ 3
de\tc ha-.ed n elec~r -~p ti.: !Teets 47 · 7 s:rtur:ttion range III - I ~ . 113
C\cl ton, and hallu v. unpuntie-; JR~-4 scallering IC>7 ~6
tntet hand transll1ons 40'-.1- 14 ionized impurity scat tering 16'l 7.1
lumme~ccnce 4 1/S 1y isotwpi.: 154
1[)and (JD ~ttul:l ure, 46g 75 lattice vihrati<>llal Sl·atteri ng. I 74 S
uflltl.ai.Jb~orpt ion h\ .:M.il<>n 111 liuht ·L·attcrinl! 1.1.\. :!M 76
hctcrmt ruct u rts 414 17 neutral impurity ~catttring 1 7~

· x t r~nsic .1t'L' c \trin~ic emtconJuctor:
grcl\\ th r purt" cry t· h 14- 16
intrin ' i '"c mtrin. ic s mt o ndm:tors
qua!it.niv..:: pro perti . I 2
. emj -m u!a ting 10 ~ . 196- ,
~truCtW'CS fr- 10
cmicondu tor slatisttes 101 - 19
e.\ trin sic semicondm:tors 109- 19
intrinsic semiconductors I 02-9
semt-insulating semiconductors I 02, 196- 8
semimetals 77
-epa rJte confinement heterostructure (SCH) quantum well
laser 465- 7.474
"eraphin coefficients 303
shallow impurities 92. 196-7
impact ionization 201
in quantum wells 382- 4
shell model 134- 5
Shockley bipolar junction transistor (SBJT) equations 346
Shockley diode equation 327
Shubnikov- de Haas effect 427- 9
silicon (Si) I. 15
band structure 66 - 7
conduction band 62
cyclotron resonance 81 - 3
donor impurities 93-4
valence band 60- 2
single quantum well (SQW) Ia. ers 465- 7
small-signal condition 350- 1
solar cells 36)::
solid . structun: of 2 I()
source 44Y
space charge capacitance 437- 40
space cha rgc region 309- 1:-)
built-111 electric field 310. 313 - 14
electromc energy band~ 314- 15
mo ulatic•n doping of heterostructures 3X7- 8
WJd th ~ 5 17, 319. )21). 44J 4
~pac r la y, r 3~):; 90
'pe~.. lli~.. h~a t \'tbratiunal 141 . :1
spc.ctral narnl',\ Jng 354
~phenca l paraboh ne rgy band~ 5l,J 110. ltU 6
pc: tro~~ tl y
muc..l ulauuu '03 -4
plll.::..tl :!3~ ~
m- rbit mL<:r•.R ti •l n ..W tl
ht- II Llf d t I ~ t.1
lh iTI .il lllli,IIC
Index
sq u ~1 rc I,at tice 128 9
squ<•n:: qu aJJtum well :077 XI
sli mula tcd cmJssion 354- 5
net r;.Jic of ) 57--8
."tokes -,haft 419
Stoh:s sc<ttlcring Ln. 221.265, 2M, 267
sl rag~ -=a pal'ilancc YB
~ t r< a ined quantum wclllascr 467 R. 474
-; tress. uniaxial 70. 149 50
stru cture oi'solids 2- 10
subhand' .1.75- fo. 37::;. 425 6, 469
o ptical absorption 400--17
inter band transitions 406-7.409-17
intersuhband transitions 406- 7,407-9, 423
i ntra~ubhaml transitions 406 7
substrate 44l)
superatoms (quantum clots) 468- 75
superlattices
doping supcrlattices 390- 1
interhand optical transitions 414
penodic coupled quantum \veils 385- 7
phonons in 393-404
low-frequency modes 394- 7
ortical modes 397- 403
surl'ace bound a ry concli tion 213 - 14
surface optical phonon polaritons 263
surface passivation technique 340
surface plasmon polaritons 263
surface polaritons 222. 261 - 4
surface properties 205- 26
on electronic states 206-15
on lattice vibrations 215- 23
surface recombination 223-5. 257
surface reconstructiOn 206. 214. 215
surface relaxation 206
surface state bands 206,214,278
symmetric SEED (S-SEED) 477
temperature 69- 70
Dcbye temperature 142 3
tetrahedral orbitals II
thermal conductivitv 144--5. 195-6
thermal expansion -143-4
thermal gap 242
thermal noise 367
thermionic current coefficient 447
thermocouple 194
thermoelectric devices 194
thermoelectric figure of merit 1':!4
thermoelectric phenomena 1':!2-4
thermoehxtric power 192 4
thermoc:lcuric refrigeratur 194
three-dimensional crv ·rals 1 '9 , ,
clastic continuum iheurv J2lJ -~1
lattices 131 3 ·
thrcc;darm.·rht o nalmuJ.:I~ fur ~upcrl .t ltr
lll v ~em1 ' nJuu u r~ 7 . 7 ' . • --1 •J
III VI senHcunJuctur.., 9 It I I ' I~
3 2-band gap ruk 21J2 ' -
thres hold L'UJTL·nt Jen,t l\ 3 . ~
th r.::.holJ ~·ni: P'\
=-· ll p .tL-~ I 1111/
· , llll 1
thrc hukt g.tle \ oll<~gc 4 'i 1
thrc., h 'LI I J lwt.•n 'I "r'
-~i'l 'l tag.lu mJu ' nt ·rh ,J . -
>Ufl ll.c· .1,11 · _)() 1
 nduLt1 11. ., 'l

~r up :. ~ -'}
ph c: :!3:::!
urfacc I~ Lit: \\ cl\ e _I 19
4f I 'lhra!Jonal pcLtli h at I-ll 3
\ 'mgt dicleunc con. tant ~ - : 6
\ org t ~rrc l 2 < - 9
\ oltagc amph!i~.atton factor 5+ 5

Wannu:r fun u n 3~ 6
\\a rrlllg 61. !I .I.J.-
"an; equa l1011 23 1
1\ a\e func:tt n
c:omta nt magn ti · fi ld
eiTec:ti n: ma 11a1 C fun
~ ur rlau ic· ' 56
~uri~IL ·tat ' 206 15
\I C: tk ) Gtli1~1ti011 -1 71.-172
,, -~ 1 II 11idthnl· p~1ccd1argcr· !!i on 31 5 I .319,.<20 . -1-lJ--1
\\ ;t \1:' _X'i h, 2HX 9 Wig m:r-Sci! 7 primitive unit c ·II 30
wurt;it · ~lruct u r \e!11t ' ntiuct or.. ::l. I-I

/.cnn hrca kduwn l36

( I Ill · I 1\ 1 lt•-l ;cn•-d n11 ' nsional qu.a ntum structu r ' ' -l6J 5
11 nl'hkndc structu re· ~cmicnnduc tL>rs 7-~. II 13. 63 -1
ZnSL· 50 I
/ <>IlL' rc:t'in ing mctlwd l .'i lh