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Semiconductor Physics Essentials

The document discusses several key concepts related to energy bands in solids: 1) Energy bands form due to the periodic potential within crystals, which restricts electrons to certain allowed energy values. This leads to the formation of conduction and valence bands separated by band gaps. 2) The curvature of energy-momentum (E-k) diagrams determines the effective mass of electrons or holes within the bands. Some materials like GaAs have direct bands while others like Si have indirect bands. 3) The density of electronic states within the bands depends on the dimensionality of the material and can be calculated from the band structure. 4) The occupation of energy states within the bands is described by the Fermi-

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66 views11 pages

Semiconductor Physics Essentials

The document discusses several key concepts related to energy bands in solids: 1) Energy bands form due to the periodic potential within crystals, which restricts electrons to certain allowed energy values. This leads to the formation of conduction and valence bands separated by band gaps. 2) The curvature of energy-momentum (E-k) diagrams determines the effective mass of electrons or holes within the bands. Some materials like GaAs have direct bands while others like Si have indirect bands. 3) The density of electronic states within the bands depends on the dimensionality of the material and can be calculated from the band structure. 4) The occupation of energy states within the bands is described by the Fermi-

Uploaded by

Roshan meena
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EE 311A Spring 2019

Energy Bands
• What causes bands to form?
• E-k diagram, direct/indirect bands and effective mass
• Density of states
• Fermi-Dirac Distribution
• Conductors, Insulators and Semiconductors

Compiled by SSK Iyer

Coupled Quantum Wells

x=0 x=d

x=0 x=d
Solution to Coupled Quantum Wells

YNM’s notes

Why some atoms come together?

YNM’s notes
Energy Splitting

YNM’s notes

Observations
(Particle in Coupled Quantum Wells)

• Solution could be linear combination of the


individual solutions
– LCAO: Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals
• Energy levels split
– Lowest energy is lower due to less confinement
• Can have multiple quantum wells interact
– Limiting case the formation of bands in periodic
potential
Gedankenexperiment
(thought experiment)

• Now bring together a large number of atoms


– Initially infinitely spaced apart in crystal positions
– They come closer to each other in crystal positions

Band for Diamond

McKelvey
Page 258
Band for Silicon

Streetman & Banerjee


Page 66

A more direct approach


Perfectly Periodic Crystal Lattice
Potential

Page 209
Solid-State and Semiconductor Physics
John P. McKelvey, Publishers: Harper & Row

Kronig-Penny Periodic Potential

Ψk(x) = exp(ikx·x) solution for free electron from Schröinder’s eqn. (constant potential)
McKelvey
Ψk(x) = U(kx, x)·exp(ikx·x) solution modified for a periodic potential
Page 213
Propagation Vector Solution

McKelvey
For some values of energy, the propagation vector becomes imaginary Page 216
The wave-function cannot propagate for these values

E-k Diagram For K-P Model


a + b is the periodicity
in space (x) in the crystal

Periodic potential restricts


certain values of energy
possible for the particle

Periodic potential

McKelvey
Page 217
E-k Diagram for Periodic Potential
– Free Electron Route

McKelvey
<px> = ħ·x Page 230
Ψ(x) = U(kx, x)·exp(ikxx)

E-k Diagram
E

Conduction Band

k
Direct and Indirect Bands

Streetman & Banerjee


Example: GaAs Example: Si Page 69

Effective Mass
E

∗
1
1 k
ħ
Depends on the curvature of the E-k relationship

Also works for electrons moving in higher energy levels above band-gaps!
ħ
∗
Density of States
From k-space to physical space

For 3-D For 2-D For 1-D


Bulk Electron/hole gas Quantum wire

∗ / ∗ 2 ∗
2 /
ħ ħ ħ
Popular Units: cm-3·eV-1 cm-2·eV-1 cm-1·eV-1

[Reference: Appendix IV in text book – Streetman & Banerjee]

How are the Bands Filled

The number of electron at energy level E is given by

n(E) = g(E)·f(E)

where

g(E) is the density of states as determined by solving Schrödinger equation

f(E) is the probability of occupancy of an available energy state given by


Fermi-Dirac statistics
Types of Statistics
Maxwell-Boltzmann Statistics f ( E ) ~ exp(− E / kT )
Classical behaviour

1
Fermi-Dirac Statistics f (E) ~
For Femions E − Ef
1 + exp( )
kT
Valid for electronics

1
Bose-Einstein Statistics f (E) ~
Bosons behaviour E
exp( − α ) −1
kT
For more details refer to Chapter 3 of McKelvey’s book
or any Statistical Mechanics book

Bands For Various Solids

McKelvey
Page 246

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