Carrier - diffusion

The bipolar junction transistor (BIT) consists of tliree layers doped n-p-n or p-n-p tliat constitute tire emitter, base and collector, respectively. This stmcture can be considered as two back-to-back p-n junctions. Under nonnal operation, tire emitter-base junction is forward biased to inject minority carriers into tire base region. For example, tire n type emitter injects electrons into a p type base. The electrons in tire base, now minority carriers, diffuse tlirough tire base layer. The base-collector junction is reverse biased and its electric field sweeps tire carriers diffusing tlirough tlie base into tlie collector. The BIT operates by transport of minority carriers, but botli electrons and holes contribute to tlie overall current. 

Charge carriers in a semiconductor are always in random thermal motion with an average thermal speed, given by the equipartion relation of classical thermodynamics as m v /2 = 3KT/2. As a result of this random thermal motion, carriers diffuse from regions of higher concentration. Applying an electric field superposes a drift of carriers on this random thermal motion. Carriers are accelerated by the electric field but lose momentum to collisions with impurities or phonons, ie, quantized lattice vibrations. This results in a drift speed, which is proportional to the electric field = p E where E is the electric field in volts per cm and is the electron s mobility in units of cm /Vs. 

Lp = D r ) is the minority carrier diffusion length for electrons in the -region, (0) is the minority carrier concentration at the boundary between the depletion layer and the neutral region. The sign of this equation indicates that electron injection into the -region results in a positive current flow from p to n a.s shown in Figure 7. 

Urp Pi 1 — / If) where Wis the base width, is the distance between emitter and collector junctions and is the minority carrier diffusion length ia the... 

Obtaining information on a material s electronic band structure (related to the fundamental band gap) and analysis of luminescence centers Measurements of the dopant concentration and of the minority carrier diffusion length and lifetime... 

The spatial resolution of the CI SEM mode depends mainly on the electron-probe size, the size of the excitation volume, which is related to the electron-beam penetration range in the material (see the articles on SEM and EPMA), and the minority carrier diffusion. The spatial resolution also may be afiFected by the signal-to-noise ratio, mechanical vibrations, and electromagnetic interference. In practice, the spatial resolution is determined basically by the size of the excitation volume, and will be between about 0.1 and 1 pm ... 

Many inorganic solids lend themselves to study by PL, to probe their intrinsic properties and to look at impurities and defects. Such materials include alkali-halides, semiconductors, crystalline ceramics, and glasses. In opaque materials PL is particularly surface sensitive, being restricted by the optical penetration depth and carrier diffusion length to a region of 0.05 to several pm beneath the surface. 

The amorphous orientation is considered a very important parameter of the microstructure of the fiber. It has a quantitative and qualitative effect on the fiber de-formability when mechanical forces are involved. It significantly influences the fatigue strength and sorptive properties (water, dyes), as well as transport phenomena inside the fiber (migration of electric charge carriers, diffusion of liquid). The importance of the amorphous phase makes its quantification essential. Indirect and direct methods currently are used for the quantitative assessment of the amorphous phase. 

Relaxations in photoprocesses, which may be due to surface recombination, minority carrier diffusion, or capacitive discharges, are typically measured as transients of photocurrents or photoprocesses. An analysis of such processes in the time domain encounters some inherent problems. 

Gautron J, Lemasson P (1982) Photoelectrochemical determination of minority carrier diffusion length in 11-VI compounds. J Cryst Growth 59 332-337... 

An interesting question is whether such well-ordered pore arrays can also be produced in other semiconductors than Si by the same electrochemical etching process. Conversion of the macropore formation process active for n-type silicon electrodes on other semiconductors is unlikely, because their minority carrier diffusion length is usually not large enough to enable holes to diffuse from the illuminated backside to the front. The macropore formation process active in p-type silicon or the mesopore formation mechanisms, however, involve no minority carrier diffusion and it therefore seems likely that these mechanisms also apply to other semiconductor electrodes. 

The basic idea of most diffusion length measurement techniques is to generate a certain number of minority carriers inside the bulk Si, for example by illumination, and to measure the fraction of these carriers that diffuse to a collecting interface. This fraction can be determined capacitively [Bo6], as well as by measurements of the steady-state photocurrent [Dr2, Lei 1], The parameter obtained by these measurements is the minority carrier diffusion length ID of electrons in... 

For not too low doped samples (D W), however, the contribution of 1SCR is usually negligible. If the surface recombination velocity at the illuminated front is low, IBPC then only depends on sample thickness D, illumination intensity eP, and minority charge carrier diffusion length ID. 

A. Miller, Transient Grating Studies of Carrier Diffusion and Mobility in Semiconductors... 

The space charge region is denoted by length w, while Lp is the hole (minority carrier) diffusion length. Zp is the minority carrier (hole) lifetime, jp the (minority carrier) hole mobility, and Dp the minority carrier diffusion coefficient. 

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