Semiconductor Devices

(IIT Tirupati EE210L)

Assignment-3 (19 Sept 2025)

Tutorial questions (1&2) are based on Drift-Diffusion Lab available online at

[Link]

1. Let us consider an intrinsic Si slab of length 0.1µm at room temperature (T=300 K).
a) Generate the I-V curve from 0 to 2 V. Comment on the I-V Characteristics.
b) Dope the semiconductor to NA= 1014 /cm3 and ramp voltage from 0 to 2V.
Comment on the I-V characteristics.
c) Now dope the semiconductor to ND= 1014 /cm3 and ramp voltage from 0 to
2V. Comment on the I-V characteristics.
d) Generate vd (cm/sec) vs E (V/cm) curves for holes and electron from (b) and
(c). What is the saturation velocity?
e) Extract electron (μn) and hole (μp) mobility values from the figure generated
above.
2. Now, let us consider an Si slab of length 0.5 um.
a) At room temperature, dope it n-type (ND) in steps from 1014/cm3 to
1018/cm3. Calculate electron mobility (μn) for each doping level.
b) Similarly dope the semiconductor P-type (Na) in steps from 1014/cm3 to
1018/cm3. Calculate hole mobility (μp) for each doping level.
c) Plot μn vs ND and μp vs NA. Why do mobility values reduce at high doping
levels ?
d) For each doping level in (a) vary temperature (T) from 200 K to 500K.
e) For each doping level in (b) vary temperature (T) from 200K to 500K.
f) Plot μn vs T and μp vs T at different doping levels. Why does mobility
increase with decreasing temperature?

3. Show that the minimum conductivity of a semiconductor sample occurs when

#
𝑛! = 𝑛" ##! . Calculate the value for Si at 300 K and compare with the intrinsic
"

conductivity.

4. P-type Silicon has resistivity of 0.5 Ω.cm. Assuming µn = 1450 cm2/V.s and µp = 500
cm2/V.s, find:
(a). The hole and electron concentrations;
(b). the maximum change in resistivity caused by a flash of light, if the light creates
2x1016 additional electron-hole pairs per cm3.

5. A 2-cm long silicon piece, with cross-sectional area of 0.1 cm2, is used to measure
the electron mobility. What is the electron mobility if 90 Ω of resistance is measured
and the doping level is known to be ND = 1015 cm-3? Neglect any contact resistance.
 3.2 Ohm’s Law, Sheet Resistan

of the approach of averaging the conductivity to find the term

quantitative information on how the current flow is distributed in

6. Phosphorous donor atoms with a donor concentration of 1016 cm-3 are added to a
pure sample of Si. Assume that theEXAMPLE P atoms3.2are distributed
Resistance, Sheethomogeneously
Resistance, and Resistivity
throughout the Si. The thickness of a copper layer, deposited to create the interconnecting tracks i
(a). What is the sample resistivity? The copper resistivity is given in Table 3.1.
(a) What
(b). If 1017 atom cm-3 of boron are included is the sheet to
in addition resistance
the P,ofand
the copper layer at 27◦C (room tempe
distributed
(b) The minimum width of the interconnecting tracks is set at 0.5 µm. Wh
uniformly, what is the resultant resistivity and conductivity
resistance type (n-type/p-type)?
per unit length?
(c). Sketch the energy band diagram for (c) (b)
Theand
length of a minimum-width
show the positiontrack, connecting
of the Fermi two components, i
the resistance of this track?
level. (d) What is the resistance of the track at 75◦C?

SOLUTION
7. Two scattering mechanisms are important in a piece of semiconductor. If only first
(a) The sheet resistance incorporates the resistivity ρ and the layer thickn
scattering process were present, the mobility would be 800 cm2/V-s. If only second
were present, the mobility would be 200 cm2/V-s. What is the mobility = ρ/x j = 0.17 "/!
R S considering

both scattering process? (b) According to Eq. (3.7), the resistance is R = R S L/W , which means
per unit length is

R RS
= = 3.4 × 105 "/m = 0.34 "/µm
8. The bottom of the conduction band at one end of a silicon resistor
L Wis at the same
energy level as the top of the valence band at the other end.
TABLEWhat current flows
3.1 Resistivities and Temperature
Coefficients for Selected Metals
through the resistor if the resistance is 1.12 kΩ ?
ρ at 27◦ C α= ρ/ρ
T
9. The thickness of copper layer, deposits to create an Metal (µ · cm) (◦ C−1 )
interconnecting track in an IC, is 100nm. The resistivity of Aluminum 2.82 0.0039
Copper 1.7 0.0039
common metals used is given below: Gold 2.44 0.0045
Iron 9.7 0.0050
Lead 22 0.0039
(a). What is the sheet resistance of the copper layer at Molybdenum 5.2 0.0040
270C? Nichrome (Ni–Cr) 150 0.0004
Nickel 6.9 0.0038
(b). What is the resistance of the track having a width of Platinum 11 0.00392
0.5µm and a length of 300µm? Silver 1.59 0.0038
Tungsten 5.6 0.0045

10. To measure the sheet resistance of a resistive layer, taking into account the parasitic
series contact resistance, a test structure consisting of resistors with the same width
and different lengths is provided. Measuring the resistances of the resistors with
lengths L1 =10μm and L2 =30μm,the following values are obtained: R1 = 365 Ω, and
R2 = 1085 Ω, respectively. If the width of the resistors is 5 μm, determine the sheet
resistance and the contact resistance values.

11. In an experiment, the voltage across a uniform 2 µm long region of 1Ω-cm, n-type
silicon is doubled, but the current only increases by 50%. Explain. (The silicon
remains neutral at both current levels).

12. Refer to the following diagram of Hall measurements:

 Consider a gallium arsenide sample at T= 300 K. A Hall effect device has been
fabricated with the following geometry: d = 0.01 cm, W = 0.05 cm, and L = 0.5cm.
The electrical parameters are: Ix = 2.5 mA, Vx = 2.2 V, and Bz = 2.5 x10-2 tesla. The
measured Hall voltage is VH = -4.5 mV. Find: (a). the conductivity type, (b). the
majority carrier concentration, (c). the mobility, and (d). the resistivity.

13. Use the velocity-field relations for silicon and Gallium Arsenide to determine the
transit time of electrons through a 10-μm distance in these materials for an electric
field of (a) 1 kV/cm and (b) 50 kV/cm.

14. In n-type GaAs semiconductor at T=300K, the electron concentration varies linearly
from 1 × 10$% 𝑡𝑜 7 × 10$& 𝑐𝑚'( over a distance of 0.1 𝑐𝑚. Calculate the diffusion
current density if the electron diffusion coefficient is 𝐷) = 225 𝑐𝑚* /𝑠. How much
electric field would this magnitude of current density would result for a uniformly
doped semiconductor having a donor doping concentration of 10$& 𝑐𝑚'( ?