Skip to content

Module 1: Basic properties of semiconductors

Aims

To establish the links between the crystal structure, the chemical composition and the electronic and transport properties of semiconductors like Si, Ge and GaAs, which govern the operation and the design of a broad range of electronics and optoelectronics devices including diodes, bipolar and MOS transistors, photodiodes and lasers.

Objectives

Understanding

The difference between metals, semiconductors and insulators. Factors controlling the carrier concentration and generation /recombination in semiconductors. Band diagrams for intrinsic and doped semiconductors. Current flow in semiconductors, including drift and diffusion of electrons and holes.

Knowledge

Appropriate mathematical equations from which physical quantities such as majority and minor carrier concentrations, conductivity, mobility, diffusion coefficient and length and current density may be calculated.

Skills

Use of appropriate mathematical equations to evaluate the electrical properties of bulk semiconductors.

Syllabus

Overview of conduction and valence bands in semiconductors. Carrier statistics, Fermi level and its dependence on doping density. Drift and diffusion of carriers, carrier recombination and generation, continuity equation, minority carrier lifetime and diffusion length, majority and minority current flow. Photoconductivity. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor, Silicon carbide (SiC) is used in semiconductor electronics devices that operate at high temperatures or high voltages

TCAD Laboratory

This laboratory serves as an introduction to the Sentaurus Workbench and the tools utilized to achieve the simulation and analysis included in this course. TCAD is an abbreviation for Technology Computer-Aided-Design and Sentaurus is a TCAD workbench that utilizes various software tools for simulation and statistical analysis. It provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that unifies all the tools into one project flow. Some of the most used tools are the Structure Editor (SDE), Sentaurus Process simulation (SProcess) and Sentaurus Device simulation (SDevice). For visualization, there are two main tools, Sentaurus Visual (SVisual) and inspect. For generating structures SDE is used as a general structure generator, whereas SProcess is used to simulate the process of manufacturing the device as well.

The aims and objectives of this laboratory are as follows:

  • To understand the key functionality of the workbench;
  • To get familiar with the tools and their capabilities;
  • To set up an example project and visualize the output;
  • To produce draft figures of the example.

Module 1: Basic properties of semiconductors

Aims

To establish the links between the crystal structure, the chemical composition and the electronic and transport properties of semiconductors like Si, Ge and GaAs, which govern the operation and the design of a broad range of electronics and optoelectronics devices including diodes, bipolar and MOS transistors, photodiodes and lasers.

Objectives

Understanding

The difference between metals, semiconductors and insulators. Factors controlling the carrier concentration and generation /recombination in semiconductors. Band diagrams for intrinsic and doped semiconductors. Current flow in semiconductors, including drift and diffusion of electrons and holes.

Knowledge

Appropriate mathematical equations from which physical quantities such as majority and minor carrier concentrations, conductivity, mobility, diffusion coefficient and length and current density may be calculated.

Skills

Use of appropriate mathematical equations to evaluate the electrical properties of bulk semiconductors.

Syllabus

Overview of conduction and valence bands in semiconductors. Carrier statistics, Fermi level and its dependence on doping density. Drift and diffusion of carriers, carrier recombination and generation, continuity equation, minority carrier lifetime and diffusion length, majority and minority current flow. Photoconductivity. Gallium nitride (GaN) is a binary III/V direct bandgap semiconductor, Silicon carbide (SiC) is used in semiconductor electronics devices that operate at high temperatures or high voltages

TCAD Laboratory

This laboratory serves as an introduction to the Sentaurus Workbench and the tools utilized to achieve the simulation and analysis included in this course. TCAD is an abbreviation for Technology Computer-Aided-Design and Sentaurus is a TCAD workbench that utilizes various software tools for simulation and statistical analysis. It provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that unifies all the tools into one project flow. Some of the most used tools are the Structure Editor (SDE), Sentaurus Process simulation (SProcess) and Sentaurus Device simulation (SDevice). For visualization, there are two main tools, Sentaurus Visual (SVisual) and inspect. For generating structures SDE is used as a general structure generator, whereas SProcess is used to simulate the process of manufacturing the device as well.

The aims and objectives of this laboratory are as follows:

  • To understand the key functionality of the workbench;
  • To get familiar with the tools and their capabilities;
  • To set up an example project and visualize the output;
  • To produce draft figures of the example.