Consider a system consisting of a single impurity atom/ion in a semiconductor. Suppose that the impurity atom has one "extra" electron compared to the neighboring atoms, as would a phosphorus atom occupying a lattice site in a silicon crystal. The extra electron is then easily removed, leaving behind a positively charged ion. The ionized electron is called a conduction electron, because it is free to move through the material; the impurity atom is called a donor, because it can "donate" a conduction electron. This system is analogous to the hydrogen atom considered in the previous two problems except that the ionization energy is much less, mainly due to the screening of the ionic charge by the dielectric behavior of the medium.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The mathematical expression for Gibb's Factor is,

Step by step solution

01

mathematical expression

Gibb's Factor =exp-1kTE(s-μN(s))......(1)=exp-1kT(E(s)-μN(s)).....(1)

Here, kis the Boltmann's constant, Tis the temperature, E(s)is the energy of the state s, N(s)is the number of atoms for the state s, and μis the chemical potential.

Let us consider the system to be a single donor atom, there are three possibilities:

(1)

Unoccupied state which means one ionized state with no electron: In this case, the energy of the state is equal to zero

E=0

The occupation number of atoms is equal to zero.

N=0

Substitute 0for Eand 0for Nin the equation (1) and simplify.

Gibbs factor =exp-0-μ(0)kT

=exp(0)=1

02

Two unionized state (with one electron present either spin-up/spin-down):

In this case, the energy of the state is equal to -I

E=-I

Here, Iis the ionization energy.

The occupation number of atoms is equal to 1.

N=1

Substitute 1for Eand 1for Nin the equation (1) and simplify.

Gibbsfactor=exp-(-I-μ)kT=expI+μkT

Since the electron has two independent state. So the degeneracy is 2, then

Gibbs factor =2expI+μkT

The grand partition function is sum of the Gibbs factors.

Z=1+2expI+μkT

03

The probability that the donor atom is ionized is

Pionized=1Z

Substitute 1+2expI+μkTfor Z.

Pionized=11+2expI+μkT

Hence, the probability that the donor atom is ionized is11+2expI+μkT

04

If the conduction electrons behave like the ideal gas, then every conduction electrons has two spin states. Hence, the sum over all relevant state is as follows:

(b)

Zint=2

Use equation 7.10 and then the expression for chemical potential is as follows:

μ=-kTVZintNcvQ

Here, Vis the total volume, Zintis the sum over all relevant internal states, Ncis the number of the conduction electrons, and vQis the quantum volume,

Substitute 2for Zint.

μ=-kTln2VNcvQ=kTlnNcvQ2V

Hence, the chemical potential iskTlnNcvQ2V

05

If every conduction electron comes from an ionized donor, the probability that thee donor atom as follows:

(c)

Pionized=NcNd

Here Ncis the number of conduction electrons, Ndis the number of donor atoms.

Rearrange the equation μ=kTlnNcvQ2Vfor NcvQ2V.

μ=kTlnNcvQ2V

lnNcvQ2V=μkT

expμkT=NcvQ2V

Substitute 11+2expI+μkTfor Pionizedin the equation role="math" Pionized=NcNdand solve for NcNd.

NcNd=11+2expI+μkT=11+2expμkTexpIkT

Substitute NcvQ2Vfor expμkT

NcNd=11+2NcvQ2VexpIkT=11+NcvQ2VexpIkT

06

Let us consider the below equations:

x=NcNd,y=NdvQVexpIkTand then the equation

NcNd=11+NcvQVexpIkTbecomes as follows:

x=11+xyx2y+x-1=0

Solve the above quadratic equation.

x=-1±1+4y2·y

Substitute NcNdfor x,NdvQVexpIkTfor y.

NcNd=±-11+4NdvQVexpIkT2·NdvQVexpIkTNc=±V2vQexpIkT1+4NdvQVexpIkT-1

The number of conduction electrons always a positive number. Hence, the number of donor atoms is as follows:

Nc=V2vQexpIkT1+4NdvQVexpIkT-1

07

The expression for Quantum volume is 

(d) Quantum volume vQ=h2πmkT3

Substitute 6.625×10-34J.sfor h,1.66×10-27Kgfor m, and 1.381×10-23JK-1for k.

vQ=6.625×10-34J.s(2π)(32)(1.66×10-27Kg)(i.381×10-23JK-1)T3=2.938×10-29(T)32

For the phosphorous in silicon, the ionization energy is as follows:

I=0.044eV1.6×10-19J1.0eV=0.0704×10-19J

Substitute 0.704×10-19Jfor I,1.381×10-23JK-1for kin the above equation we get

IkT=0.0704×10-19J(1.381×10-23J.K-1)T=509.775T

Simplify the equationx=-1±1+4y2.yx=±-1+1+4y2y=12y-1+1+4y2+(4y)21212-12!=12y2y-42y24.2!(neglecthigherterms)x=(1-2y)

08

The number of donors is,

Nd=1017Patoms/cc=1017×106Patoms.Cubicmeter=1023Patoms.Cubicmeter

Substitute NcNdfor x,NdvQVexpIkTfor y,3.084×10-10Tfor vQin the equation x=(1-2y)and simplify.

NcNd=1-2×NdVexpIkT=±1-2×1023×2.938×10-29(T)32×exp2×509.775T=±1-5.876×10-6(T)32exp1019.55T=6.168×10-6(T)32exp1019.55T-1

09

The following graph shows fraction of ionized donors as a function of temperature.

On the axis, one unit is equal to 100K

Unlock Step-by-Step Solutions & Ace Your Exams!

  • Full Textbook Solutions

    Get detailed explanations and key concepts

  • Unlimited Al creation

    Al flashcards, explanations, exams and more...

  • Ads-free access

    To over 500 millions flashcards

  • Money-back guarantee

    We refund you if you fail your exam.

Over 30 million students worldwide already upgrade their learning with Vaia!

One App. One Place for Learning.

All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.

Get started for free

Most popular questions from this chapter

When the attractive forces of the ions in a crystal are taken into account, the allowed electron energies are no longer given by the simple formula 7.36; instead, the allowed energies are grouped into bands, separated by gaps where there are no allowed energies. In a conductor the Fermi energy lies within one of the bands; in this section we have treated the electrons in this band as "free" particles confined to a fixed volume. In an insulator, on the other hand, the Fermi energy lies within a gap, so that at T = 0 the band below the gap is completely occupied while the band above the gap is unoccupied. Because there are no empty states close in energy to those that are occupied, the electrons are "stuck in place" and the material does not conduct electricity. A semiconductor is an insulator in which the gap is narrow enough for a few electrons to jump across it at room temperature. Figure 7 .17 shows the density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi energy for an idealized semiconductor, and defines some terminology and notation to be used in this problem.

(a) As a first approximation, let us model the density of states near the bottom of the conduction band using the same function as for a free Fermi gas, with an appropriate zero-point: g(ϵ)=g0ϵ-ϵc, where go is the same constant as in equation 7.51. Let us also model the density of states near the top

Figure 7.17. The periodic potential of a crystal lattice results in a densityof-states function consisting of "bands" (with many states) and "gaps" (with no states). For an insulator or a semiconductor, the Fermi energy lies in the middle of a gap so that at T = 0, the "valence band" is completely full while the-"conduction band" is completely empty. of the valence band as a mirror image of this function. Explain why, in this approximation, the chemical potential must always lie precisely in the middle of the gap, regardless of temperature.

(b) Normally the width of the gap is much greater than kT. Working in this limit, derive an expression for the number of conduction electrons per unit volume, in terms of the temperature and the width of the gap.

(c) For silicon near room temperature, the gap between the valence and conduction bands is approximately 1.11 eV. Roughly how many conduction electrons are there in a cubic centimeter of silicon at room temperature? How does this compare to the number of conduction electrons in a similar amount of copper?

( d) Explain why a semiconductor conducts electricity much better at higher temperatures. Back up your explanation with some numbers. (Ordinary conductors like copper, on the other hand, conduct better at low temperatures.) (e) Very roughly, how wide would the gap between the valence and conduction bands have to be in order to consider a material an insulator rather than a semiconductor?

The tungsten filament of an incandescent light bulb has a temperature of approximately 3000K. The emissivity of tungsten is approximately 13, and you may assume that it is independent of wavelength.

(a) If the bulb gives off a total of 100watts, what is the surface area of its filament in square millimetres?

(b) At what value of the photon energy does the peak in the bulb's spectrum occur? What is the wavelength corresponding to this photon energy?

(c) Sketch (or use a computer to plot) the spectrum of light given off by the filament. Indicate the region on the graph that corresponds to visible wavelengths, between400and700nm.

(d) Calculate the fraction of the bulb's energy that comes out as visible light. (Do the integral numerically on a calculator or computer.) Check your result qualitatively from the graph of part (c).

( e) To increase the efficiency of an incandescent bulb, would you want to raise or lower the temperature? (Some incandescent bulbs do attain slightly higher efficiency by using a different temperature.)

(f) Estimate the maximum possible efficiency (i.e., fraction of energy in the visible spectrum) of an incandescent bulb, and the corresponding filament temperature. Neglect the fact that tungsten melts at 3695K.

The results of the previous problem can be used to explain why the current temperature of the cosmic neutrino background (Problem 7.48) is 1.95 K rather than 2.73 K. Originally the temperatures of the photons and the neutrinos would have been equal, but as the universe expanded and cooled, the interactions of neutrinos with other particles soon became negligibly weak. Shortly thereafter, the temperature dropped to the point where kT/c2 was no longer much greater than the electron mass. As the electrons and positrons disappeared during the next few minutes, they "heated" the photon radiation but not the neutrino radiation.

(a) Imagine that the universe has some finite total volume V, but that V is increasing with time. Write down a formula for the total entropy of the electrons, positrons, and photons as a function of V and T, using the auxiliary functions u(T) and f(T) introduced in the previous problem. Argue that this total entropy would have ben conserved in the early universe, assuming that no other species of particles interacted with these.

(b) The entropy of the neutrino radiation would have been separately conserved during this time period, because the neutrinos were unable to interact with anything. Use this fact to show that the neutrino temperature Tv and the photon temperature T are related by

TTν32π445+u(T)+f(T)=constant

as the universe expands and cools. Evaluate the constant by assuming that T=Tv when the temperatures are very high.

(c) Calculate the ratio T/Tv, in the limit of low temperature, to confirm that the present neutrino temperature should be 1.95 K.

(d) Use a computer to plot the ratio T/Tv, as a function of T, for kT/mc2ranging from 0 to 3.*

Use the results of this section to estimate the contribution of conduction electrons to the heat capacity of one mole of copper at room temperature. How does this contribution compare to that of lattice vibrations, assuming that these are not frozen out? (The electronic contribution has been measured at low temperatures, and turns out to be about40% more than predicted by the free electron model used here.)

(a) Estimate (roughly) the total power radiated by your body, neglecting any energy that is returned by your clothes and environment. (Whatever the color of your skin, its emissivity at infrared wavelengths is quite close to 1; almost any nonmetal is a near-perfect blackbody at these wavelengths.)

(b) Compare the total energy radiated by your body in one day (expressed in kilocalories) to the energy in the food you cat. Why is there such a large discrepancy?

(c) The sun has a mass of 2×1030kgand radiates energy at a rate of 3.9×1026watts. Which puts out more power per units mass-the sun or your body?

See all solutions

Recommended explanations on Physics Textbooks

View all explanations

What do you think about this solution?

We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.

Study anywhere. Anytime. Across all devices.

Sign-up for free