The Physics Behind Semiconductor Technology

Description

This textbook teaches the physics and technology of semiconductors, highlighting the strong interdependence between the engineering principles and underlying physical fundamentals. It focuses on conveying a basic understanding of the physics, materials, and processes involved in semiconductor technology without relying on detailed derivations. The book features separate comments on the key physical principles covered, allowing the reader to quickly grasp the take-home message. Chapter-end questions and answers round out this compact book, making it a helpful and dependable resource for physicists, electrical engineers, and materials scientists working with electronic materials. Aimed at upper-level undergraduate students and written by an author with extensive experience in both industry and academia, this textbook gives physicists the opportunity to learn about the materials and technology behind semiconductors, while providing engineers and materials scientists a deeper understanding of the physics behind the technology. Preface Contents About the Author Part I Semiconductor Materials: Structure, Processes, Fabrication 1 Crystal Structure and Energy Bands 1.1 The Lattice Structure 1.2 Energy Bands 1.3 Metals and Insulators 1.4 Electrons and Holes 1.5 The Origin of Energy Bands according to the Schroedinger Equation 1.6 Band Structure 1.7 Direct and Indirect Semiconductors 1.8 Basic Properties of a Semiconductor Material to Be Taken from the Band Structure 1.9 Questions and Answers 2 Transport of Charge Carriers 2.1 Ohm’s Law 2.2 Mobility and Hall Effect 2.3 Factors Determining the Mobility of Charge Carriers 2.4 Saturation Velocity 2.5 Mobility and Frequency Limit of Devices References 3 Donors and Acceptors 3.1 Creation of Free Electrons and Holes by Thermal Excitation 3.2 Doping of Si 3.3 The Hydrogen Model of Donors and Acceptors 3.4 Shallow Donors and Acceptors in Compound Semiconductors 3.5 Isoelectronic Impurities 3.6 Questions and Answers 4 Carrier Statistics 4.1 Density of States 4.2 Free Carrier Concentration in Thermal Equilibrium 4.3 The Law of Mass Action 4.4 The Intrinsic Case 4.5 Semi-insulating Semiconductors 4.6 The Temperature Dependence of Carrier Concentration. Why Si-Electronics Does not Work at Elevated Temperatures 4.7 Questions and Answers 5 Fabrication of Electronic Silicon 5.1 Silicon Valley, Si-Technology, and Si-Age 5.2 The Siemens Process 5.3 Crystal Growth of Silicon 5.4 The Float Zone Process as a Purification Method 5.5 Wafering 5.6 Electronic Silicon, a Material of Extreme Purity and Crystalline Perfection 5.7 Questions and Answers 6 Lattice Defects 6.1 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Defects 6.2 Point Defects 6.3 Line Defects (Dislocations) 6.4 The Role of Dislocations in Electronic Materials 6.5 Two-Dimensional Defects 6.6 Three-Dimensional Defects 6.7 Questions and Answers References 7 Compound Semiconductors 7.1 Introduction, Some History 7.2 The Potential of III-V-Compounds 7.3 Growth of GaAs and InP by the LEC and VGF Process 7.4 “New” Compound Semiconductors: SiC, AlN, and GaN 7.5 Epitaxy 7.6 Questions and Answers References 8 Amorphous Semiconductors 8.1 Short-Range Order and Band Structure 8.2 On the Distinction Between Direct and Indirect Semiconductors in Amorphous Semiconductors 8.3 Variable Range Hopping Conduction 8.4 The Problem of Doping in a-Si 8.5 Applications of a-Si:H 8.6 Questions and Answers References Part II Devices 9 The pn-Junction 9.1 pn-Junction Without External Voltage 9.2 pn-Junction with External Voltage 9.3 Breakthrough Voltage 9.4 Thickness of Depletion Layers 9.5 Questions and Answers 10 Solar Cells 10.1 The Sun, a Gigantic Energy Source 10.2 The Solar Cell, a pn-Junction Device 10.3 Operating Principle of the Solar Cell in Detail 10.4 The Optimum Bandgap for a Solar Cell Material 10.5 Thin Film Solar Cells 10.6 Cheaper Silicon for Photovoltaics 10.7 Questions and Answers References 11 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) 11.1 The Light Emitting Process in Semiconductors 11.2 The Linewidth of LEDs 11.3 Radiative and Nonradiative Processes 11.4 External and Internal Quantum Efficiency 11.5 LEDs for All Colors 11.6 The Story of the Blue LED 11.7 White LEDs 11.8 UV LEDs 11.9 Brightness of LEDs 11.10 Questions and Answers References 12 Semiconductor Lasers 12.1 The Laser Principle 12.2 Light Amplification and Lasing 12.3 Double Heterojunction Laser 12.4 Lasers for Optical Data Storage and Optical Data Transmission 12.5 Laser Materials for Optical Data Transmission, an Example of Bandgap Engineering 12.6 Questions and Answers References 13 Transistors 13.1 The Bipolar Transistor 13.2 Field Effect Transistor 13.3 A MOSFET Problem Related to Miniaturization of Modern Electronics: High k-dielectrics 13.4 The Two-Dimensional Electron Gas, Realized in a MOSFET 13.5 Questions and Answers Reference 14 Integrated Circuits 14.1 Moore’s Law 14.2 Photolithography: Components and Steps of Fabrication 14.3 Exposure in the Photolithography 14.4 Some Important Constituents of Integrated Circuits 14.5 Light Sources for Photolithography 14.6 Resolution Enhancement Techniques 14.7 Some Concluding Remarks on the Present Situation of Chip Technology 14.8 Questions and Answers References 15 Organic Electronics 15.1 Organic Materials for Electronics, a Totally Different Approach 15.2 Conjugated Double Bonds 15.3 Band Structure and Conductivity in Polymers 15.4 Polymer Conductivity by “Doping” 15.5 Conductivity of Polymers by Charge Carrier Injection 15.6 Charge Carrier Transport 15.7 Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) 15.8 Organic Solar Cells 15.9 Questions and Answers References 16 Towards Molecular Electronics 16.1 From “Top-Down” to “Bottom-Up” 16.2 Carbon Allotropes, Fullerenes 16.3 Carbon Nanotubes 16.4 Graphene 16.5 Single Molecule Interconnects and Anchor Groups 16.6 Molecular Switches 16.7 C-Based Electronics, Complementary to Si-Technology 16.8 Questions and Answers References List of Physics Comments Name Index Subject Index