Electrical Resistance of Semiconductors

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Electrical Resistance of semi-conductors

Aim of Experiment:

The aim of this experiment is to determine the energy gap of a semiconductor


which is the energy difference between the conduction band and the valence band.
This is done through studying the idea of temperature’s effects on the structure of
semi-conductors.

Introduction:
Band gap is the separation between the valence band of electrons and the
conduction band. Basically, the band gap speaks to the base energy that is required
to energize an electron up to a state in the conduction band where it can take an
interest in conduction. The lower energy level is the valence band, and accordingly
if a hole exists between this level and the higher energy conduction band, energy
must be a contribution for electrons to turn out to be free. The minimum amount of
energy to move the valence electron
between these bands is called the
energy band. The size and presence
of this band gap enables one to
picture the distinction between
conductor, semiconductors, and
insulators.

The size of this gap differs by changing the materials. This gab is very large in
insulators this explains why they don’t conduct electricity as this large gap prevent
the valence electrons to move from the valence band to the conduction band. In
conductors the valence band and conduction band are overlapped together thus the
Electrical Resistance of Semiconductor

energy gap needed is to small causing the electrons to jump up to the conduction
band easily and participate in conducting the current. Knowing that this overlapping
is not a total overlapping thus only fraction of valence electrons is excited and share
in the conduction. Semiconductors are characterized by thecoir small band gaps
these narrow band gaps require small amount of energy so exposing to sun cause
some electrons to move to the conduction band.

At room temperature semiconductor atoms are in a constant mechanical


vibration due to thermal energy stored in the lattice so some of the valence electrons
get loosen and became free electrons leaving a vacancy called a hole and the atom
turns into ion. This constant mechanical vibration causes the ions with holes to
capture the free electrons released from the neighboring atom to fill the holes thus
the holes move from one atom to another thus a small population of electrons in the
conduction band and holes on the valence band exists at room temperature and by
exposing the semiconductor to electric field lead to rearrangement of electrons and
holes creating by what is called conduction current. Because of the opposite polarity,
electrons and holes drift in opposite directions.

At absolute zero temperature all the electrons are tightly bonded to their atom
thus there is no flow of holes and the semiconductor act as insulator. Moreover, by
increasing the temperature electrons gain much energy thus more bonds are broken
and thus the conductivity of the semiconductor increases and the resistance
decreases.

Conductivity of intrinsic semiconductor:


Intrinsic semiconductors are the ones with no impurity atoms (they have less
conductivity than metals at normal temperature. Conductivity (σ) of the intrinsic
semiconductor depend on the density of the charge carriers (n or p) and it equals the

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Electrical Resistance of Semiconductor

product of the concentration of carriers, their charge (e) and their mobility (μn or μp).
Thus

σn = n μn e

σp = p μp e

regarding that the total value of the conductivity equals the sum of σn and σp

σ = σn + σ p

Regarding that the mobility μ is given by:


𝒗𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒆𝝉
μ= =
𝑬 𝒎

where

vdrift is the drift velocity to the electric field

e is the fundamental unit of charge

τ is the scattering time

m is the effective mass of the charge carrier

Since n = p for an intrinsic semiconductor and by taking an average of the electron


and hole mobilities, the expression can be simplified to
−𝑬𝒈𝒂𝒑
σ= σo e
𝟐𝒌𝑻

since the conductivity is inversely proportional to the resistance


𝑬𝒈
⸫𝑹𝑻 = 𝑹𝟎 𝒆𝟐𝑲𝑻

By taking the logarithm in both sides of the equation

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Electrical Resistance of Semiconductor

𝑬𝒈
𝒍𝒐𝒈𝑹𝑻 = 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝑹𝟎 +
𝟐𝑲𝑻

where:

Eg: energy gap

𝑅𝑇 : electric resistance at temperature T

k: 1.38 x 10−23 J.K-1 (Boltzmann constant)

T: Absolute temperature in Kelvin.


1
When 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅𝑇 is plotted against on the coordinate axis a straight line is obtained
𝑇
𝐸𝑔
where its slope = thus we can obtain the energy gap (Eg) where
2𝐾

𝑬𝒈 = 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆 × 𝟐𝑲

This experiment aims to show the effect of the temperature on the conductivity
of semiconductors and to find the relation between them where the conductivity
increases with increasing the temperature while the resistance and resistivity
decreases and to find the energy gap that the electron need to move from the valence
band to the conduction band.

Experimental:
Equipment:
• Electric oven.

• Water vessel (with fixed hand).

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Electrical Resistance of Semiconductor

• Digital multimeter.
• Dual End Alligators (Jumper wires).
• A mercury thermometer.
• The semi-conductor.
• Pure water.
• Stirring hand (tool).
• Step-down transformer

Procedures:
1- Bring the outer vessel and fill it with 1200 liter of pure water.

2- Fill the inner vessel with 400 liters of the pure water too.
3- Set the inner and the outer vessels together, the inner vessel must be rounded
by the pure water of the outer vessel.
4- Stick the semi-conductor’s tube into the pure water of the inner vessel, using
the fixed hand of the vessel’s system
5- Dip the mercury thermometer into the tube of semi-conductor, and you can
stick it vertically using the other hand of the vessel’s system.
6- Connect the two wires of the semi-conductor to the high two inputs of the
digital multimeter, be careful to connect the ground cable (black one) to the
black input which refers to the ground input (COM). Also, connect the red
wire to the high red input which has the symbol (Ω) refers to the resistance.
7- Connect the down-step transformer to the electricity (220V AC).
8- Connect the electric oven to the (110V) output from the down-step
transformer.
9- Switch on the digital multimeter and set it on the resistance measurement up
to (50KΩ).
10- Read the temperature of the mercury thermometer and wait for it to become
a real number without a fraction, in order to make the calculations easier.
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Electrical Resistance of Semiconductor

11- The next step is the first step of measurement, so give your attention to the
read of resistance, with different temperatures.
12- Switch on the electric oven and set it on the high level of heating.
13- Take the current read of the temperature, and the corresponding resistance.

Results:
After turning on the heater the vessel is heated with the water inside, the
calorimeter stirrer helps in spreading out the heat thus the temperature of the
semiconductor increases. At every 2 °C rise in temperature the decrease in the

resistance is highly noticed. The inverse relation between the temperature and
resistance is proved by the graph plotted from the recorded values

T (°C)

𝑅T(KΩ)

The relation between the temperature and resistance is mathematically determined


through the equation:
𝐸𝑔
𝑅𝑇 = 𝑅0 𝑒 2𝐾𝑇

𝐸𝑔
𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅𝑇 = 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅0 +
2𝐾𝑇

Where 𝐸𝑔 is the energy gap between the valence band and conduction band its
value can be calculated from the slope of the graph plotted between the logarithmic
value of the resistance and the inverse of the temperature.

Hence slope = (𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅𝑇 − 𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑅𝑇 ) x T then the value of the energy gap

𝟐𝑲𝑩 .𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆
(Eg)= ……. (1)
𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝒆

regarding that the value of Boltzmann constant is 1.38 x 10−23 J.K-1.

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Electrical Resistance of Semiconductor

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