Lecture 4

OUTLINE
• Generation and recombination
• Excess carrier concentrations
• Minority carrier lifetime
• Continuity equations
• Minority carrier diffusion equations
• Minority carrier diffusion length
• Quasi-Fermi levels

Read: Neamen’s Chapters 6

Mobile Charge Carriers in Semiconductors
• Three primary types of carrier action occur
inside a semiconductor:

– Drift: charged particle motion under the influence

of an electric field.

– Diffusion: particle motion due to concentration

gradient or temperature gradient.

– Recombination-generation (R-G)
 Total Current

J = J N + JP

JN = JN,drift + JN,diff = qnn e + qDN

dn
dx

JP = JP,drift + JP,diff = qpp e– qDP

dp
dx
 Summary
• Electron/hole concentration gradient  diffusion
dn dp
J N,diff  qDN J P,diff  qDP
dx dx
• Current flowing in a semiconductor is comprised of
drift & diffusion components for electrons & holes
– In equilibrium, JN = JN,drift + JN,diff = 0

J = JN,drift + JN,diff + JP,drift + JP,diff

• The characteristic constants of drift and diffusion
are related:
D kT

 q
 Generation and Recombination
• Generation:

• Recombination:

• Generation and recombination processes act to

change the carrier concentrations, and thereby
indirectly affect current flow
 Generation Processes

Band-to-Band R-G Center Impact Ionization

 Recombination Processes

Direct R-G Center Auger

Recombination in Si is primarily via R-G centers

Direct vs. Indirect Band Gap Materials
E-k Diagrams

Little change in momentum Large change in momentum

is required for recombination is required for recombination
 momentum is conserved by  momentum is conserved by
photon emission phonon + photon emission
 Excess Carrier Concentrations
equilibrium values

n  n  n0
p  p  p0

Charge neutrality condition:

n  p
 “Low-Level Injection”
• Often the disturbance from equilibrium is small, such
that the majority-carrier concentration is not affected
significantly:
– For an n-type material:
| n || p | n0 so n  n0
– For a p-type material:
| n || p | p0 so p  p0
• However, the minority carrier concentration can be
significantly affected
 Indirect Recombination Rate
Suppose excess carriers are introduced into an n-type
Si sample (e.g. by temporarily shining light onto it) at
time t = 0. How does p vary with time t > 0?
1. Consider the rate of hole recombination via traps:
p
t R  c p NT p

2. Under low-level injection conditions, the hole

generation rate is not significantly affected:
p p p
t G  t G  equilibriu m  t R  equilibriu m  c p NT p0
3. The net rate of change in p is therefore
p p p
t R G  t R  t G  c p NT p  c p NT p0

p p
t R G  c p NT ( p  p0 )    p
where  p  1
c p NT
 Relaxation to Equilibrium State
Consider a semiconductor with no current flow in which
thermal equilibrium is disturbed by the sudden creation
of excess holes and electrons. The system will relax
back to the equilibrium state via the R-G mechanism:

n n
 for electrons in p-type material
t n

p p
 for holes in n-type material
t p
Minority Carrier (Recombination) Lifetime

 p  c 1N
p T
 n  c 1N
n T

The minority carrier lifetime  is the average time

an excess minority carrier “survives” in a sea of
majority carriers
 ranges from 1 ns to 1 ms in Si and depends on
the density of metallic impurities (contaminants)
such as Au and Pt, and the density of crystalline
defects. These deep traps capture electrons or
holes to facilitate recombination and are called
recombination-generation centers.
 Example: Photoconductor
Consider a sample of Si doped with 1016 cm-3 boron,
with recombination lifetime 1 s. It is exposed
continuously to light, such that electron-hole pairs are
generated throughout the sample at the rate of 1020 per
cm3 per second, i.e. the generation rate GL = 1020/cm3/s
What are p0 and n0 ?

What are n and p ?

(Note: In steady-state, generation rate equals recombination rate.)
What are p and n ?

What is the np product ?

Note: The np product can be very different from ni2.

Net Recombination Rate (General Case)
• For arbitrary injection levels and both carrier types in
a non-degenerate semiconductor, the net rate of
carrier recombination is:

n p pn  n 2
   i
t t  p (n  n1 )   n ( p  p1 )
where n1  ni e( ET  Ei ) / kT and p1  ni e( Ei  ET ) / kT
 Summary
• Generation and recombination (R-G) processes affect
carrier concentrations as a function of time, and
thereby current flow
– Generation rate is enhanced by deep (near midgap)
states associated with defects or impurities, and also
by high electric field
– Recombination in Si is primarily via R-G centers
• The characteristic constant for (indirect) R-G is the
minority carrier lifetime:
 p  c 1N
p T
(n - type material)  n  c 1N
n T
(p - type material)
• Generally, the net recombination rate is proportional
to
np  ni2
 Derivation of Continuity Equation
• Consider carrier-flux into/out-of an infinitesimal volume:

Area A, volume Adx

JN(x) JN(x+dx)

dx
 n  n
Adx     J N ( x) A  J N ( x  dx) A 
1
Adx  GLAdx
 t  q n
 J N ( x)
J N ( x  dx)  J N ( x)  dx
x
n 1 J N ( x) n
    GL
t q x n

n 1 J N ( x) n
   GL
Continuity t q x n
Equations: p 1 J P ( x) p
   GL
t q x p
Derivation of Minority Carrier Diffusion Equation

• The minority carrier diffusion equations are derived

from the general continuity equations, and are
applicable only for minority carriers.
• Simplifying assumptions:
– The electric field is small, such that
n n in p-type material
J N  q n ne  qDN  qDN
x x
p p in n-type material
J P  q p pe  qDP  qDP
x x
– n0 and p0 are independent of x (uniform doping)
– low-level injection conditions prevail
• Starting with the continuity equation for electrons:
n 1 J N ( x) n
   GL
t q x n
 n0  n  1    n0  n  n
  qDN    GL
t q x  x  n
n  2 n n
 DN   GL
t x 2
n
 Carrier Concentration Notation
• The subscript “n” or “p” is used to explicitly
denote n-type or p-type material, e.g.
pn is the hole (minority-carrier) concentration in n-
type material
np is the electron (minority-carrier) concentration in
p-type material
• Thus the minority carrier diffusion equations are
n p  2 n p n p
 DN   GL
t x 2
n
pn  pn pn
2
 DP   GL
t x 2
p
 Simplifications (Special Cases)
n p pn
• Steady state: 0 0
t t
•
 2
n  pn
2
No diffusion current: D p
 0 DP 0
x x
N 2 2

n p pn
• No R-G: 0 0
n p

• No light: GL  0
 Example
• Consider the special case:
– constant minority-carrier (hole) injection at x=0
– steady state; no light absorption for x>0
 pn (0)  pn0

 pn pn
2
0  DP 
x 2
p
 2 pn pn pn
  2
x 2
DP p LP

LP is the hole diffusion length: LP  DP p

  2 pn pn
The general solution to the equation  2
x 2
LP
 x / LP
is pn ( x)  Ae  Be x / LP

where A, B are constants determined by boundary conditions:

pn ()  0  B  0
pn (0)  pn0  A  pn0
Therefore, the solution is
 x / LP
pn ( x)  pn 0 e
 Minority Carrier Diffusion Length
• Physically, LP and LN represent the average distance
that minority carriers can diffuse into a sea of majority
carriers before being annihilated.

• Example: ND=1016 cm-3; p = 10-6 s

 Quasi-Fermi Levels
• Whenever n = p  0, np  ni2. However, we
would like to preserve and use the relations:
( E F  Ei ) / kT ( Ei  E F ) / kT
n  ni e p  ni e

• These equations imply np = ni2, however. The

solution is to introduce two quasi-Fermi levels FN
and FP such that
n  ni e ( FN  Ei ) / kT p  ni e ( Ei  FP ) / kT

n  p
FN  Ei  kT ln  FP  Ei  kT ln 
 ni   ni 
 Example: Quasi-Fermi Levels
Consider a Si sample with ND = 1017 cm-3 and
n = p = 1014 cm-3.
What are p and n ?

What is the np product ?

• Find FN and FP :
n
FN  Ei  kT ln 
 ni 

 p
FP  Ei  kT ln 
 ni 
 Summary
• The continuity equations are established based on
conservation of carriers, and therefore are general:
n 1 J N ( x) n p 1 J P ( x) p
   GL    GL
t q x n t q x p
• The minority carrier diffusion equations are
derived from the continuity equations, specifically for
minority carriers under certain conditions (small E-
field, low-level injection, uniform doping profile):
n p  2 n p n p pn  2 pn pn
 DN   GL  DP   GL
t x 2
n t x 2
p
• The minority carrier diffusion length is the average
distance that a minority carrier diffuses before it
recombines with a majority carrier:

LN  DN n LP  DP p
• The quasi-Fermi levels can be used to describe the
carrier concentrations under non-equilibrium conditions:

n  p
FN  Ei  kT ln  FP  Ei  kT ln 
 ni   ni 