Temperature dependence of conductivity and

band gap measurement of thin film of germanium

HARISH MADHOK
April 10, 2015
Abstract
we find the temperature dependence of conductivity by four probe
method and using this ,we determine energy band gap of thin film of Germanium semiconductor which is deposited on a non-conducting substrate.

Introduction

Electrical conductivity is very useful property of any material.It is determined by

availability of electrons in material. for metals,conductivity is higher than semiconductors and insulators and conductivity decreases with increasing temperature but in semiconductors, conductivity increases with temperature because the
band gap energy in semiconductor be the order of eV(Ge=0.69eV,Si=1.1eV.so
when temperature is increased electrons go from valence band to conduction
band as temperature increases more more number of electrons move to the conduction band and increase conductivity.

Theory

In intrinsic semiconductor,both electrons and holes contribute in conductivity.concentration of electrons in intrinsic semiconductor is determined by the
following formula
3/2

(EC EF )
2me kT
n=2
exp
(1)
h2
kT
and concentration of holes is determined by the following formula

3/2
2mh kT
(Ev EF )
p=2
exp
h2
kT
Now

np = 4

2kT
h2

3
(me mh )
1

3/2

exp

Eg
kT

(2)

(3)

Figure 1: energy band diagram of intrinsic semiconductor

where
me =mass of electron
mh =mass of hole
Eg =energy band gap
T =temperature
in case of intrinsic semiconductor concentration of electrons and holes is same.so

3/2
2kT
Eg
3/4
ni = pi = 2
(me mh ) exp
(4)
h2
2kT
conductivity in intrinsic semiconductor is due to both electrons and holes and
it is given following formula
= e(e n + ph )

(5)

= eni (e + h )

(6)

= CT 3/2 (e + h ) exp

Eg
2kT

(7)

where C is a constant The factor T 3/2 and the mobilities change relatively slow
with temperature compared with the exponential term, and hence the logarithm
of resistivity (1/) varies linearly with 1/T. The width of the energy gap may
be determined from the slope of the curve
we take log of equation 7
we get
Eg
loge C
2kT
1 Eg
log10 =
A
2.303 2kT
1
Eg 103
log10 =
A
2.303 103
2kT
loge =

(8)
(9)
(10)

plot between log10 and 10T will be a straight line and by finding its slope we
can calculate energy band gap(Eg )by using following formula
Eg = 2.303 103 2k slope

(11)

where k = 8.617 105 eV K 1

Eg = slope 0.396eV

(12)

Four probe methodTo find the conductivity we are using four probe method in which four equally
spaced(s=2.00 mm) tungsten tips with finite radius probe are used as shown
in fig.2.These probes can move up and down by some kind of spring mechanism.these four probe are placed on the semiconductor film and base of this
semiconductor film is a nonconductor.these probes are used to measure current
which passes through semiconductor and voltage.outer two probes measure current and inner two probes measure voltage.This whole system is placed in heater
to change temperature.

Figure 2: Schematic of four probe

Four probe method is better than two probe method because two probe
method can not be used for materials random shapes and there are some error due to contact resistance but there are no such problems in four probe
method.Tip diameter of probe should be lesser compared to the spacing between probes. we can find resistivity of material using following formula
V
2s
(13)
I
Resistivity that we get by above formula is not actual value of conductivity,
we have add a correction factor to make it correct.This correction factor depends on bottom surface whether it is conducting or non-conducting.Here in
this experiment bottom surface is non-conducting.
0
=
(14)
G7 ( ws )
0 =

in this case ( ws )=0.25 corresponding G7 ( ws ) = 5.905

3

Results-

We measure voltage at different-2 temperature by keeping current

data which are given in table At current=10 mA
Temperature(K) Voltage(mV) ( cm) T 1 103
308
81.8
17.42
3.24
313
76.1
16.20
3.19
318
72.5
15.44
3.14
323
65.7
13.99
3.10
328
59.5
12.67
3.04
333
52.3
11.14
3.00
338
45.6
9.71
2.95
343
39.2
8.35
2.92
348
34.0
7.24
2.87
353
28.7
6.11
2.83
358
25.0
5.32
2.79
363
21.6
4.60
2.75
368
18.5
3.94
2.71

Figure 3: plot between log10 and

fixed.we get
log10
1.241
1.21
1.18
1.14
1.10
1.04
0.98
0.92
.85
.78
.72
.66
.59

1000
T

Calculation
from the graph we get slope between log10 and 1000/T equal to 1.5834.
now from equation 12
Eg = slope 0.396eV = 1.5834 0.396eV = 0.62eV
4

(15)

percentage error= actualvaluemeasuredvalue

100
actualvalue
actual value of energy band gap =0.69 eV
measured value of energy band gap=0.62 eV
100=10.14
percentage error= 0.690.62
0.69

Conclusion-

we have plotted a graph between logarithm of resistivity and 1000/T and we

got a straight line.so as we can see that resistivity is increasing with decreasing
temperature.By measuring slope of this straight line graph. we have calculated
energy band gap (Eg ) which is equal to 0.62 eV.