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Bohr's Model, Energy Bands, Electrons and Holes: Dual Character of Material Particles

1) The document discusses several key concepts in quantum physics including Planck's explanation of blackbody radiation using quanta, Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect using photons, the wave-particle duality demonstrated by light and matter, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and Bohr's model of the hydrogen atom. 2) It introduces the Schrodinger equation, a wave equation that was developed to describe quantum mechanical systems and account for potential effects. Several solutions to the Schrodinger equation are discussed that are useful for semiconductor device analysis. 3) The document covers energy band theory for semiconductors including the concepts of direct and indirect bandgaps, donor and acceptor levels, and

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69 views30 pages

Bohr's Model, Energy Bands, Electrons and Holes: Dual Character of Material Particles

1) The document discusses several key concepts in quantum physics including Planck's explanation of blackbody radiation using quanta, Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect using photons, the wave-particle duality demonstrated by light and matter, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and Bohr's model of the hydrogen atom. 2) It introduces the Schrodinger equation, a wave equation that was developed to describe quantum mechanical systems and account for potential effects. Several solutions to the Schrodinger equation are discussed that are useful for semiconductor device analysis. 3) The document covers energy band theory for semiconductors including the concepts of direct and indirect bandgaps, donor and acceptor levels, and

Uploaded by

pursey
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Bohrs Model, Energy Bands,

Electrons and Holes

Dual Character of Material Particles


Experimental physics before 1900 demonstrated that most of the physical phenomena
can be explained by Newton's equation of motion of material particles or bodies and
Maxwell's equation of electromagnetic waves and light. These are known as classical
physics.
For example, the motion of mechanical objects on earth, celestial bodies, and gas
molecules could all be predicted by Newton's equation of motion and classical
statistical mechanics (the kinetic theory of gases).
For another example, the wave nature of light, suggested by Young's diffraction
experiments in 1803, could be explained by Maxwell's electromagnetic wave
equations which connected the optical phenomena with electrical phenomena.
A list of key advances is given in the next slide.
We will discuss the basic physics and the consequences of the Bohr atom model in
more details. We will give an experimental and physics based derivation of the
Schrodinger wave equation and several solutions that are useful in semiconductor
device analyses.

Experiments on the Dual Properties of Material Particles and Light

Description of the abbreviations in the previous slide

Quantum Concept and Blackbody Radiation


It is a well-known fact that a solid object will glow or give off light if it is heated to
a sufficiently high temperature. Actually, solid bodies in equilibrium with their
surroundings emit a spectrum of radiation at all times. When the temperature of the
body is at or below room temperature, however, the radiation is almost exclusively
in the infrared and therefore not detectable by the human eye.
Various attempts to explain the observed blackbody spectrum were made in the
latter half of the 19th century. In 1901 Max Planck provided a detailed theoretical fit
to the observed blackbody spectrum.
The explanation was based on the then-startling hypothesis that the vibrating atoms
in a material could only radiate or absorb energy in discrete packets.
Planck postulated that thermal radiation is emitted from a heated surface
in discrete packets of energy called quanta. The energy of these quanta is
given by

Photoelectric Effect

In 1905, Einstein interpreted the photoelectric results by suggesting that the energy
in a light wave is also contained in discrete packets or bundles. The particle-like
packet of energy is called a photon, whose energy is also given by

A photon with sufficient energy, then, can knock an electron from the surface of
the material. The minimum energy required to remove an electron is called the
work function of the material and any excess photon energy goes into the kinetic
energy of the photoelectron. This result was confirmed experimentally as
demonstrated in the figure above.
The photoelectric effect shows the discrete nature of the photon and demonstrates
the particle-like behaviour of the photon. The maximum kinetic energy of the
photoelectron can be written as

Wave-Particle Duality

The Uncertainty Principle

The Bohr Model

ni are the major quantum numbers.

10

Schrodinger's Equation

11

The Schrodinger equation


is a wave equation. Many
experiments suggested
that particles behave like
waves and this behavior
is more pronounced as
the particles get smaller.
A wave equation taking
into account potential
effects was introduced
by Schrodinger as

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13

14

15

16

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Thus, the operation of interchanging two particles is represented


by multiplying the wave function by a phase factor, ei.
However, if we interchange the particles twice, we get back to
the exact situation we started with. This implies that:
ei = 1
e2i = 1 and hence
Both cases ei = +1 and ei = 1 are realized in nature: in the first
case, we say that the wave function is symmetric with respect to
the interchange of two particles; in the second case, we say that
the wave function is anti symmetric. Note that the wave function
only need be symmetric or anti symmetric if the two particles
are indistinguishable.

Particles for which the wave function is antisymmetric under


interchange of any two of the particles are called fermions.
Particles for which the wave function is symmetric under
interchange of any two of the particles are called bosons.
It can be shown, from quantum field theory, that particles with
half-integer spin are always fermions, whereas particles with
integer spin are always bosons.
Conclusion: when 2 atoms with the same states come together
the Schrodinger eqn. shows that the Pauli Exclusion principle
is valid in that a band of 2 states is formed as shown by their
two separate wave functions.

18

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Direct and Indirect Bandgaps


The band gaps in semiconductors come in two flavors
direct and in direct. An indirect band gap material like Si
usually releases energy as heat while a direct band gap
material releases energy as light. In III V ternary and
quaternary alloys we can get both behaviors as the alloy
composition is varied.

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For GaAs and AlAs we can create a ternary compound


AlxGa1-xAs and vary the % x to go from the first to the
second giving

For small Al % is the min


energy while at about 37%
X becomes minimal.

Energy Band Model

Energy states of Si atom (a) expand into energy bands of Si crystal (b).
The lower bands are filled and higher bands are empty in a semiconductor.
The highest filled band is the valence band.
The lowest empty band is the conduction band .

21

Energy Band Diagram

Conduction band

Ec

Band gap
Eg
Ev
Valence band
Energy band diagram shows the bottom edge of conduction band,
Ec , and top edge of valence band, Ev .
Ec and Ev are separated by the band gap energy, Eg .

Measuring the Band Gap Energy by Light Absorption


electron
Ec

photons

Eg

photon energy: h v > E g

Ev

hole
Eg can be determined from the minimum energy (h) of
photons that are absorbed by the semiconductor.

Bandgap energies of selected semiconductors


Semi
conductor

InSb

Ge

Si

GaAs

GaP

ZnSe

Diamond

Eg (eV)

0.18

0.67

1.12

1.42

2.25

2.7

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Donor and Acceptor in the Band Model


Conduction Band
Ed

Donor Level

Ec

Donor ionization energy


Acceptor ionization energy

Acceptor Level

Ea

Valence Band

Ev

Ionization energy of selected donors and acceptors in silicon

Semiconductors, Insulators, and Conductors


Ec

E g = 1.1 eV

Ec

E g= 9 eV

empty

Ev

Ev
Si (Semiconductor)

Top of
conduction band

SiO (Insulator)
2

filled

Ec

Conductor

Totally filled bands and totally empty bands do not allow


current flow. (Just as there is no motion of liquid in a
. totally empty bottle.)
totally filled or
Metal conduction band is half-filled.
Semiconductors have lower E 's than insulators and can be
g
doped.

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increasing hole energy

increasing electron energy

Electrons and Holes


electron kinetic energy

Ec

Ev
hole kinetic energy

Both electrons and holes tend to seek their lowest


energy positions.
Electrons tend to fall in the energy band diagram.
Holes float up like bubbles in water.

For a semiconductor like Si at 0k, the valence band is full and


the conduction band is empty. As we increase the temperature,
some electrons will acquire enough energy (on avg.) to reach
the conduction band leaving a hole behind. We have thus
formed an electron-hole pair.

If a field is applied
Electrons -> current in the conduction band
Holes -> - current in the valence band

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The one to one nature of things shows there is no net current in


this situation.

Thus in Si at various temperatures there is an avg. number of


Electron (n) Hole (p) pairs formed and
n = p =ni
where i stands for intrinsic (un doped) Si.

Since we have said there is no net current this is not very


helpful. To get a current requires doping - later.
Some other thoughts on intrinsic Si are that the rate of
generation of E-H pairs and their ultimate re combination rate
should be equal at a given temp.
Note the term generation means generation over and above the
equilibrium value which would be the intrinsic number.
As a side note it must be made clear that masses when used in
the Quantum mechanical form are now effective masses. We
should also note that effective masses are slightly different for
electrons and holes but this difference is small enough such
that we ignore it.

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Intrinsic Material

26

Thermal Equilibrium and the Fermi Function


An Analogy for Thermal Equilibrium
Sand particles

Dish
Vibrating Table
There is a certain probability for the electrons in the
conduction band to occupy high-energy states under
the agitation of thermal energy.

Probability of a State at E being Occupied


There are g1 states at E1, g2 states at
E2 There are N electrons, which
constantly shift among all the states
but the average electron energy is
fixed at 3kT/2.
There are many ways to distribute
N among n1, n2, n3.and satisfy the
3kT/2 condition.
The equilibrium distribution is the distribution that
maximizes the number of combinations of placing n1 in g1
slots, n2 in g2 slots. :
ni/gi =
EF is a constant determined by the condition

27

Fermi FunctionThe Probability of an Energy State Being


Occupied by an Electron
Ef is called the Fermi energy or
the Fermi level.
Boltzmann approximation:

E
Ef + 3kT
Ef + 2kT
Ef

Ef + kT
Ef
Ef kT
Ef 2kT
Ef 3kT

0.5

f(
E)

28

Effective Mass
The electron wave function is the solution of the three
dimensional Schrodinger wave equation

The solution is of the form exp( k r)


k = wave vector = 2/electron wavelength
For each k, there is a corresponding E.

29

In an electric field, E, an electron or a hole accelerates.

electrons
holes

Electron and hole effective masses

mn/m0
mp/m0

Si

Ge

GaAs

InAs

AlAs

0.26
0.39

0.12
0.3

0.068
0.5

0.023
0.3

2
0.3

30

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