DETERMINATION OF THE BAND GAP OF THE GERMANIUM

Student: Justas Surblys

Group: MGMNA-6
Date: 2016-09-08
Lecturer: Kristina Bokut

Objective: Investigate the electric conductivity of germanium as a function of

temperature and determine its band gap from the graph ln=

1
f( )
T

Theory: All solids can be classified as conductors, semiconductors or insulators

according to the availability of conduction electrons in their structures.
Band theory derives these bands and band gaps by examining the allowed quantum
mechanical wave functions for an electron in a large, periodic lattice of atoms or
molecules. Band theory has been successfully used to explain many physical
properties of solids, such as electrical resistivity and optical absorption, and forms
the foundation of the understanding of all solid-state devices.
In metals, the Fermi level lies in the conduction band giving rise to free conduction
electrons. However, in semiconductors the position of the Fermi level is within the
band gap, approximately halfway between the conduction band minimum and
valence band maximum for intrinsic semiconductors. This means that at 0 kelvin,
there are no free conduction electrons, and the resistance is infinite. However, the
resistance continues to decrease as the charge carrier density in the conduction
band increases. In extrinsic semiconductors, dopant atoms increase the majority
charge carrier concentration by donating electrons to the conduction band or
producing holes in the valence band. For both types of donor or acceptor atoms,
increasing dopant density reduces resistance. Hence, highly doped semiconductors
behave metallically. At very high temperatures, the contribution of thermally
generated carriers dominate over the contribution from dopant atoms, and the
resistance decreases exponentially with temperature.
Equipment:
1. Power supply;
2. Hall-effect-module;
3. Multimeter;

4. Germanium sample;
5. Display;
6 Display knob.

Procedure:
1. Check if all the devices are connected.
2. At the beginning, set the current to a value of 5 mA. The current remains nearly
constant during the measurement, but the voltage changes according to a change
in temperature.
3. Set the display in the temperature mode, now.
4. Start the measurement by activating the heating coil with the on/off-knob on
the backside of the module.
5. Determine the change in voltage dependent on the change in temperature for a
temperature range of room temperature to 150C with a 10C step. As the sample
of germanium heats up very fast, read the data when the sample of germanium is
cooling down, i.e. wait while the temperature increase a little bit over 150C, turn
off the heating with the on/off-knob.
N

Temperat Voltage
ure
Up, V
t1,oC
150
1
0,07
2
140
0,08
130
3
0,11
4
120
0,15
110
5
0,2
6
100
0,28
90
7
0,38
8
80
0,53
70
9
0,75
1
0
60
1,09
1
50
1
1,61
1
2
40
2,35
1
30
3,6

3
1
4

25

Draw the graph

4,55

U p=f ( t ) .

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
The voltage across the Germanium sample, V

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100120140160
Temparature, C

6. In general electrical conductivity is reciprocal to resistivity

resistivity, expressed by the equation

l
S

(where

). According to Ohms law, the

following equation is obtained to calculate the electrical resistivity of the

germanium sample:

l I
=
S Up

, where I current, Up voltage across the

germanium sample, l length of the sample, S cross sectional area. The

dimensions of the sample are 20x10x1 mm.

Temperatur
e
T, K
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
0
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
4

1
T , 10

Electrical
conductuvi
ty
,

293
303
313
323
333
343
353
363
373
383

1
m

ln

2,2
2,78
4,26
6,17
9,26
13,33
18,87
26,32
35,71

0,79
1,02
1,45
1,82
2,23
2,6
2,94
3,27
3,58

3,41
3,3
3,19
3,1
3
2,92
2,83
2,75
2,68

50

3,91

2.61

66,67

4,2

2,54

90,91

4,51

2,48

125

4,83

2,42

142,86

4,96

2,36

393
403
413
423

7. Draw the graph

1
ln =f ( )
T

and calculate the band gap of germanium Wg

according to the following equation:

Wg=

(ln )
2k
1
( )
T

ln

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2.23
2
1.82
1.5
1.45
1.02
1
0.79
0.5
0

where k Boltzmanns constant

2.6

k =8.625 105

2.94

3.27

3.58

3.91

eV.

Theoretical value for the band gap of germanium is Wg 0,67eV .

Wg=

4.17
5
2 8.625 10 = 0.0000794eV.
1.05

4.2

4.51

4.83 4.96