Principles of Solar Cells, LEDs and Related Devices, 2nd Edition

2 Semiconductor Physics

1. 2.1 Introduction
2. 2.2 The Band Theory of Solids
3. 2.3 Bloch Functions
4. 2.4 The Kronig–Penney Model
5. 2.5 The Bragg Model
6. 2.6 Effective Mass
7. 2.7 Number of States in a Band
8. 2.8 Band Filling
9. 2.9 Fermi Energy and Holes
10. 2.10 Carrier Concentration
11. 2.11 Semiconductor Materials
12. 2.12 Semiconductor Band Diagrams
13. 2.13 Direct Gap and Indirect Gap Semiconductors
14. 2.14 Extrinsic Semiconductors
15. 2.15 Carrier Transport in Semiconductors
16. 2.16 Equilibrium and Non‐Equilibrium Dynamics
17. 2.17 Carrier Diffusion and the Einstein Relation
18. 2.18 Quasi‐Fermi Energies
19. 2.19 The Diffusion Equation
20. 2.20 Traps and Carrier Lifetimes
21. 2.21 Alloy Semiconductors
22. 2.22 Summary
23. References
24. Further Reading
25. Problems

Objectives

1. Understand semiconductor band theory and its relevance to semiconductor devices.
2. Obtain a qualitative understanding of how bands depend on semiconductor materials.
3. Introduce the concept of the Fermi energy.
4. Introduce the concept of the mobile hole in semiconductors.
5. Derive the number of mobile electrons and holes in semiconductor bands.
6. Obtain expressions for the conductivity of semiconductor material based on the electron and hole concentrations and mobilities.
7. Introduce the concepts of doped semiconductors and the resulting electrical characteristics.
8. Understand the concept of excess, non‐equilibrium carriers generated by either illumination or by current flow due to an external electric power source.
9. Introduce the physics ...