Resistivity, electrical semiconductors

Selenium exhibits both photovoltaic action, where light is converted directly into electricity, and photoconductive action, where the electrical resistance decreases with increased illumination. These properties make selenium useful in the production of photocells and exposure meters for photographic use, as well as solar cells. Selenium is also able to convert a.c. electricity to d.c., and is extensively used in rectifiers. Below its melting point selenium is a p-type semiconductor and is finding many uses in electronic and solid-state applications. 

Electrical Properties. Generally, deposited thin films have an electrical resistivity that is higher than that of the bulk material. This is often the result of the lower density and high surface-to-volume ratio in the film. In semiconductor films, the electron mobiHty and lifetime can be affected by the point defect concentration, which also affects electromigration. These effects are eliminated by depositing the film at low rates, high temperatures, and under very controUed conditions, such as are found in molecular beam epitaxy and vapor-phase epitaxy. 

Diamondlike Carbides. SiUcon and boron carbides form diamondlike carbides beryllium carbide, having a high degree of hardness, can also be iacluded. These materials have electrical resistivity ia the range of semiconductors (qv), and the bonding is largely covalent. Diamond itself may be considered a carbide of carbon because of its chemical stmeture, although its conductivity is low. 

Temperature The level of the temperature measurement (4 K, 20 K, 77 K, or higher) is the first issue to be considered. The second issue is the range needed (e.g., a few degrees around 90 K or 1 to 400 K). If the temperature level is that of air separation or liquefact-ing of natural gas (LNG), then the favorite choice is the platinum resistance thermometer (PRT). Platinum, as with all pure metals, has an electrical resistance that goes to zero as the absolute temperature decreases to zero. Accordingly, the lower useful limit of platinum is about 20 K, or liquid hydrogen temperatures. Below 20 K, semiconductor thermometers (germanium-, carbon-, or silicon-based) are preferred. Semiconductors have just the opposite resistance-temperature dependence of metals—their resistance increases as the temperature is lowered, as fewer valence electrons can be promoted into the conduction band at lower temperatures. Thus, semiconductors are usually chosen for temperatures from about 1 to 20 K. 

Instruments based on the contact principle can further be divided into two classes mechanical thermometers and electrical thermometers. Mechanical thermometers are based on the thermal expansion of a gas, a liquid, or a solid material. They are simple, robust, and do not normally require power to operate. Electrical resistance thermometers utilize the connection between the electrical resistance and the sensor temperature. Thermocouples are based on the phenomenon, where a temperature-dependent voltage is created in a circuit of two different metals. Semiconductor thermometers have a diode or transistor probe, or a more advanced integrated circuit, where the voltage of the semiconductor junctions is temperature dependent. All electrical meters are easy to incorporate with modern data acquisition systems. A summary of contact thermometer properties is shown in Table 12.3. 

The compact structure of diamond accounts for its outstanding properties. It is the hardest of all materials with the highest thermal conductivity. It is the most perfectly transparent material and has one of the highest electrical resistivities and, when suitably doped, is an outstanding semiconductor material. The properties of CVD and single-crystal diamonds are summarized in Table 7 2.[1][18]-[20]... 

The electrical resistivity of the Si-doped quaternary thiospinel, Cus.sSiDi.s Fe4Sni2S32 has been measured, in the temperature range 100 K to 300 K. It was found that it behaves like a semiconductor from room temperature down to 100 K. From the log p ys 1/T plot (see inset of Fig. 15.4) the band gap is found to be 0.107 eV in the temperature range (170 -300 K). The room-temperature resistivity is around 3.1x10 Q-cm (Fig. 15.4). 

Calvet and Guillaud (S3) noted in 1965 that in order to increase the sensitivity of a heat-flow microcalorimeter, thermoelectric elements with a high factor of merit must be used. (The factor of merit / is defined by the relation / = e2/pc, where e is the thermoelectric power of the element, p its electrical resistivity, and c its thermal conductivity.) They remarked that the factor of merit of thermoelements constructed with semiconductors (doped bismuth tellurides usually) is approximately 19 times greater than the factor of merit of chromel-to-constantan thermocouples. They described a Calvet-type microcalorimeter in which 195 semiconducting thermoelements were used instead of the usual thermoelectric pile. 

The resistance thermometry is based on the temperature dependence of the electric resistance of metals, semiconductors and other resistive materials. This is the most diffused type of low-temperature thermometry sensors are usually commercial low-cost components. At very low temperatures, however, several drawbacks take place such as the low thermal conductivity in the bulk of the resistance and at the contact surface, the heating due to RF pick up and overheating (see Section 9.6.3)... 

The Schottky-Mott theory predicts a current / = (4 7t e m kB2/h3) T2 exp (—e A/kB 7) exp (e n V/kB T)— 1], where e is the electronic charge, m is the effective mass of the carrier, kB is Boltzmann s constant, T is the absolute temperature, n is a filling factor, A is the Schottky barrier height (see Fig. 1), and V is the applied voltage [31]. In Schottky-Mott theory, A should be the difference between the Fermi level of the metal and the conduction band minimum (for an n-type semiconductor-to-metal interface) or the valence band maximum (for a p-type semiconductor-metal interface) [32, 33]. Certain experimentally observed variations of A were for decades ascribed to pinning of states, but can now be attributed to local inhomogeneities of the interface, so the Schottky-Mott theory is secure. The opposite of a Schottky barrier is an ohmic contact, where there is only an added electrical resistance at the junction, typically between two metals. 

In the sense of electric conductivity, semiconductors are close to conductors but have very few free electrons. When electric resistance of metals increases with temperature, the semiconductor resistance decreases with temperature. Some of the electrons that are not free at normal temperature... 

Figure 6,23 Electrical resistivity of NiS2 (Se showing semiconductor-metal transition. (After Bouchard et al, 1973.)...

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