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From the silicon's crystal structure to discuss how to make doped semiconductors and the mechanics.

To see how we can make silicon a useful electronic material, we will have to go back to its crystal structure. Suppose somehow(and we will talk about how this is done later) we could substitute a few atoms of phosphorus for some of the silicon atoms.

A silicon crystal "doped" with phosphorus
If you sneak a look at the periodic table, you will see that phosphorus is a group V element, as compared with silicon whichis a group IV element. What this means is the phosphorus atom has five outer or valence electrons, instead of the four which silicon has. In a lattice composed mainly of silicon, the extra electron associated withthe phosphorus atom has no "mating" electron with which it can complete a shell, and so is left loosely dangling to thephosphorus atom, with relatively low binding energy. In fact, with the addition of just a little thermal energy (from thenatural or latent heat of the crystal lattice) this electron can break free and be left to wander around the silicon atom freely.In our "energy band" picture, we have something like what we see in . The phosphorus atoms are represented by the added cups with P's on them. They are newallowed energy levels which are formed within the "band gap" near the bottom of the first empty band. They are located closeenough to the empty (or "conduction") band, so that the electrons which they contain are easily excited up into theconduction band. There, they are free to move about and contribute to the electrical conductivity of the sample. Notealso, however, that since the electron has left the vicinity of the phosphorus atom, there is now one more proton than there areelectrons at the atom, and hence it has a net positive charge of 1 q . We have represented this by putting a little "+" sign in each P-cup. Note that thispositive charge is fixed at the site of the phosphorous atom called a donor since it "donates" an electron up into the conduction band, and is not free to move about in thecrystal.
Silicon doped with phosphorus
How many phosphorus atoms do we need to significantly change the resistance of our silicon? Suppose we wanted our 1 mm by 1 mmsquare sample to have a resistance of one ohm as opposed to more than 60 MΩ. Turning the resistance equation around we get
σ L R A 1 1 0.1 2 100 mho cm
And hence (If we continue to assume an electron mobility of 1000 cm 2 volt sec
n σ q μ 100 1.6 10 -19 1000 6.25 10 17 cm 3
Now adding more than 6 10 17 phosphorus atoms per cubic centimeter might seem like a lot of phosphorus, until you realize that there are almost 10 24 silicon atoms in a cubic centimeter and hence only one in every 1.6 million silicon atoms has to be changed into aphosphorus one to reduce the resistance of the sample from several 10s of MΩdown to only oneΩ. This is the real power of semiconductors. You can make dramatic changes in theirelectrical properties by the addition of only minute amounts of impurities. This process is called " doping " the semiconductor. It is also one of the great challenges of the semiconductormanufacturing industry, for it is necessary to maintain fantastic levels of control of the impurities in the material inorder to predict and control their electrical properties.

Questions & Answers

how does Neisseria cause meningitis
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what is microbiologist
Muhammad Reply
what is errata
Muhammad
is the branch of biology that deals with the study of microorganisms.
Ntefuni Reply
What is microbiology
Mercy Reply
studies of microbes
Louisiaste
when we takee the specimen which lumbar,spin,
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How bacteria create energy to survive?
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Bacteria doesn't produce energy they are dependent upon their substrate in case of lack of nutrients they are able to make spores which helps them to sustain in harsh environments
_Adnan
But not all bacteria make spores, l mean Eukaryotic cells have Mitochondria which acts as powerhouse for them, since bacteria don't have it, what is the substitution for it?
Muhamad
they make spores
Louisiaste
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the significance of food webs for disease transmission
Abreham
food webs brings about an infection as an individual depends on number of diseased foods or carriers dully.
Mark
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Esinniobiwa Reply
Assimilatory nitrate reduction is a process that occurs in some microorganisms, such as bacteria and archaea, in which nitrate (NO3-) is reduced to nitrite (NO2-), and then further reduced to ammonia (NH3).
Elkana
This process is called assimilatory nitrate reduction because the nitrogen that is produced is incorporated in the cells of microorganisms where it can be used in the synthesis of amino acids and other nitrogen products
Elkana
Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu Reply
Give Examples of thermophilic organisms
Shu
advantages of normal Flora to the host
Micheal Reply
Prevent foreign microbes to the host
Abubakar
they provide healthier benefits to their hosts
ayesha
They are friends to host only when Host immune system is strong and become enemies when the host immune system is weakened . very bad relationship!
Mark
what is cell
faisal Reply
cell is the smallest unit of life
Fauziya
cell is the smallest unit of life
Akanni
ok
Innocent
cell is the structural and functional unit of life
Hasan
is the fundamental units of Life
Musa
what are emergency diseases
Micheal Reply
There are nothing like emergency disease but there are some common medical emergency which can occur simultaneously like Bleeding,heart attack,Breathing difficulties,severe pain heart stock.Hope you will get my point .Have a nice day ❣️
_Adnan
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Innocent
I think infection prevention and control is the avoidance of all things we do that gives out break of infections and promotion of health practices that promote life
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_Adnan
en français
Adama
which site have a normal flora
ESTHER Reply
Many sites of the body have it Skin Nasal cavity Oral cavity Gastro intestinal tract
Safaa
skin
Asiina
skin,Oral,Nasal,GIt
Sadik
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all
Tesfaye
by fussion
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what are the advantages of normal Flora to the host
Micheal
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Shelly Reply
part of a tissue or an organ being wounded or bruised.
Wilfred
what term is used to name and classify microorganisms?
Micheal Reply
Binomial nomenclature
adeolu
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Source:  OpenStax, Introduction to physical electronics. OpenStax CNX. Sep 17, 2007 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10114/1.4
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