Conductors, Semiconductors, Insulators, and Crystal-Growth Technology

Zeev Burshtein, PhD, is a former member of the Nuclear Research Center, Negev. He’s a teacher and instructor of PhD students in the Materials Engineering department at Ben Gurion University, Be’er Sheva, Israel. He is a former Chief Advisor of the Israeli Minister of Science and Technology.

• Introduction xi1 Solid State Structure 11.1 Crystalline Lattice 11.2 Indication of Crystal Planes and Orientations 51.3 The Reciprocal Lattice 61.4 X-ray Diffraction by Crystals 7Exercises for Chapter 1 102 Crystal Lattice Vibrations 112.1 Dispersion Curves of Lattice Vibrations 112.2 Solids Specific Heat 132.2.1 Energy Quantization of a Harmonic Oscillator 132.2.2 Einstein’s Model of Solids Specific Heat 152.2.3 Debye Model of Solids Specific Heat 162.3 A Reminder: Standing and Propagating Waves; Group and Phase Velocity 19Exercises for Chapter 2 213 Free Electrons in Metals 233.1 Free Electron Density of States 233.2 Fermi–Dirac Distribution 243.3 Fermi Energy in Metals 253.4 Thermionic Emission 273.5 The Photoelectric Effect 303.6 Electrical Conductivity and Mobility 343.7 Galvanomagnetic Effects: Cyclotron Motion and Hall Effect 363.7.1 Cyclotron Motion 373.7.2 Hall Effect 373.8 Appendices on Metals’ Physical Properties and Applications 393.8.1 Work Functions of Metals 393.8.2 Photomultipliers 403.8.2.1 Single-Photon Counting 423.8.2.2 Photomultiplier Responsivity Under Continuous Light Intensity 433.8.3 Electron Guns 44Exercises for Chapter 3 454 Preliminary Concepts Regarding Semiconductors 494.1 Dispersion Curves of Electrons in Solids 494.2 Electron Motion Under External Electric Fields 514.3 Electrical Conductivity and Charge Carrier Mobility 52Exercises for Chapter 4 545 Charge Carriers Under Thermal Equilibrium 575.1 Fundamentals of Energy Band Structure 575.2 Electrical Conduction and Hall Effect 585.3 Impurities and Crystalline Defects 595.4 Fermi–Dirac Distribution and Charge Carrier Concentrations 61Exercises for Chapter 5 656 Charge Carrier Dynamics 676.1 Charge Carrier Lifetime 676.2 Trapping and Recombination Cross Sections 696.2.1 Radiative Transitions 716.2.2 Vibrational Transitions 736.2.3 Auger Process 736.3 Charge-Carriers Drift and Diffusion 746.4 Quasi-Fermi Energy 766.5 Transient Currents 786.5.1 The Continuity Equations 786.5.2 Dielectric Relaxation 796.5.3 Charge Carrier Transit 806.5.3.1 Excess Charge Carrier Drift in an Insulating Semiconductor 836.5.3.2 Small Excess Charge Carrier Drift in a Conducting Material 846.5.3.3 Small Excess Charge Carrier Drift in a Semiconductor 856.5.3.4 Steady Excitation of a Narrow Region with no External Electric Field 866.5.3.5 Steady Excitation of a Narrow Region Under a High External Electric Field 876.5.3.6 Transient Excitation in a Narrow Region Under a High External Electric Field 886.6 Space-Charge Limited Currents 896.6.1 Constant Space-Charge Limited Current 916.6.2 Transient Space-Charge Limited Current 92Exercises for Chapter 6 947 p–n Junction-Based Devices 977.1 The p–n Junction 977.2 A Rectifying Diode 1007.3 Current Breakdown Under Reverse Voltage 1027.3.1 Introduction 1027.3.2 Zener Breakdown 1027.3.3 Avalanche Breakdown 1037.3.4 Zener Diode 1067.4 Diode Lasers 1067.4.1 Introduction 1067.4.2 Physical Principles of Laser Operation 1077.4.3 Gallium-Arsenide Based Diode Laser 1097.4.3.1 Reflection Loss in the Laser Resonator 1107.4.3.2 Diffraction Loss in a Laser Resonance Cavity 1117.5 Illuminated p–n Junctions 1137.6 Bipolar Junction Transistor 1167.7 Voltage Amplification Circuit 120Exercises for Chapter 7 1218 Field-Effect Devices 1238.1 Space-Charge Layer at a Crystal Surface 1238.1.1 Surface States 1238.1.2 Contact Potential 1288.1.3 An External Voltage 1328.2 Field-Effect Transistor (FET) 1338.3 A Source-Follower Circuit 137Exercises for Chapter 8 1399 Radiation and Light Detectors 1419.1 Gamma and X-rays Radiation Detectors 1419.1.1 Fundamental Construction of a Gamma and X-rays Detector 1419.1.2 Mechanisms of Charge Carrier Generation 1429.1.3 Charge Carrier Collection Issues 1439.1.4 Various Technological Considerations 1479.2 Light Detectors 1499.2.1 Light Detection by Photoconductivity 1509.2.2 Mercury Cadmium Telluride Detectors for the 8–14 μm Range 1529.2.2.1 Determination of the Cutoff Wavelength 1529.2.2.2 Response Time Determination 1539.2.2.3 Diffusion Range and Optimal Detector Thickness 1549.2.2.4 Calculation of a Detector Dark Resistance 1559.2.2.5 Calculation of a Detector Responsivity 1569.2.2.6 Calculation of a Detector-Specific Detectivity 157Exercises for Chapter 9 16010 Passive Optical Components 16310.1 Introduction 16310.2 Use of Germanium as a Passive Optical Material 16310.2.1 Preamble 16310.2.2 Optical Absorption in Germanium 16410.2.2.1 Lattice Absorption 16510.2.2.2 Impurities Absorption 16610.2.2.3 Free (Mobile) Charge Carrier Absorption 16710.2.3 Optical Quality Assessment of Grown Germanium Parts 16910.2.3.1 Conductivity Type Probing Using a Hot Electrical Contact 16910.2.3.2 Four-Point Probe for Specific Resistivity Measurement 16910.2.3.3 Absorption Coefficient Determination Using Optical Transmission Measurement 170Exercises for Chapter 10 17011 History of Crystals Growing and Basic Concepts 17311.1 Historic Notes on Crystals Growing 17311.2 Relevant Scales Related to Crystals 17411.3 Definition of a Single Crystal 17411.4 The Essence of Crystal Growing 17512 Solidification Processes 17712.1 Homogeneous Nucleation 17712.2 Heterogeneous Nucleation 17812.3 Layered Growing 18012.4 Rough and Smooth Growth Surfaces 18112.4.1 Temkin multilayer Model 18212.4.2 Occurrence of Facets on Grown Crystals 18512.5 Solidification Dynamics 18612.6 Segregation 18812.7 Pfann’s Normal Freezing Relation 19112.8 Zone Refining 19212.9 Diffusion-Controlled Oriented Solidification 19312.10 Constitutional Supercooling 19712.11 Factors Affecting the Segregation Coefficient 19912.11.1 Size Compensation 20012.11.2 Charge Compensation 200Exercises for Chapter 12 20313 Furnace Construction Technology 20513.1 Preamble 20513.2 Crucibles 20513.3 Crystal Growth Atmosphere 20613.4 Heating Methods 20713.5 Electrical Insulators 21013.6 Thermal Insulators 21113.7 Contacts Between Materials 21113.8 Temperature Measurement 21213.9 Temperature Control Methods 21913.10 Temperature Programming 22213.11 Open-Circuit and Closed-Circuit Control 22213.12 General Behavior of a Temperature-Controlled System 22213.13 Failures Protection 223Exercises for Chapter 13 22314 Crystal Growth Methods 22514.1 Preamble 22514.2 Choosing the Nutrient Phase 22514.3 Phase Diagram-Based Conclusions 22614.4 Single-Crystal Growth from Melt 22914.4.1 Growth Inside a Crucible or an Ampoule 22914.4.2 Growth Outside a Crucible or an Ampoule 23314.5 Vapor Growing of Single Crystals 239Exercises for Chapter 14 24015 Examples of Single-Crystal Growth and Mechanical Processing 24115.1 Preamble 24115.2 Growth of Neodymium-YAG (Nd:YAG) for Lasers 24115.2.1 Introduction 24115.2.2 Raw Material Preparation 24215.2.3 Single-Crystal Seed Preparation 24515.2.4 The Nd:YAG Single-Crystal Growth 24615.2.5 Quality Control of a Grown Crystal 24615.3 Growth of Zinc Cadmium Telluride Crystals as Substrates and X-ray Detectors 25015.3.1 Introduction 25015.3.2 Structure and Physical Properties of CdTe and CdZnTe Crystals 25015.3.3 Growth of Cadmium Zinc Telluride Crystals 25315.3.4 Quality Control of Grown Cadmium Zinc Telluride Crystals 25415.4 Crystal Processing 25715.4.1 Preamble 25715.4.2 Crystal Cutting 25715.4.3 Crystals Polishing and Brushing Up 260Exercises for Chapter 15 262Appendix A Greek Alphabet and Phonetic Names 263Appendix B Table of Physical Constants 265Appendix C Literature References for Further Reading 267Index 269