Glossary - Semiconductor Physics

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• Acceptor: An atom which is likely to take on one or more electrons when placed in a crystal
• Bandgap: The range of energies between existing energy bands where no energy levels exist
• Compensation: The process of adding donors and acceptor to a crystal
• Conduction band: Lowest empty or partially filled band in a semiconductor
• Conductivity: The ratio of the current density to the applied electric field
• Crystal: A solid which consists of atoms placed in a periodic arrangment
• Density of states: The density of electronic states per unit energy and per unit volume
• Diffusion: Motion of carriers caused by thermal energy
• Donor: An atom which is likely to give off one or more electrons when placed in a crystal
• Drift: Motion of carriers caused by an electric field
• Electron: Particle with spin 1/2 and carrying a single negative charge (1.6 x 10^-19 Coulomb)
• Energy band: A collection of closely spaced energy levels
• Energy level: The energy which an electron can have
• Fermi energy: The average energy per particle when adding particles to a distribution but without changing the entropy or the volume. Chemists refer to this quantity as being the electro-chemical potential
• Fermions: Particles with half-integer spin
• Hole: Particle associated with an empty electron level in an almost filled band
• Impurity: A foreign atom in a crystal
• Intrinsic semiconductor: A semiconductors free of defects or impurities
• Intrinsic carrier density: The density of electrons and holes in an intrinsic semiconductor
• Ionization: The process of adding or removing an electron to/from an atom thereby creating a charged atom (ion)
• Mass action law: The law which describes the relation between the densities of species involved in a chemical reaction
• Mobility: The ratio of the carrier velocity to the applied electric field
• Resistivity: The ratio of the applied voltage to the current
• Saturation Velocity: Maximum velocity which can be obtained in a specific semiconductor
• Shell: Atomic states which are associated with one principle quantum number
• State: Solution to Schoedinger equation defined by a unique set of quantum numbers
• Thermal equilibrium: A system is in thermal equilibrium if every ongoing process is exactly balanced by its inverse. MORE
• Valence band: Highest filled or almost filled band in a semiconductor
• Valence electrons: Electrons in the outer shell of an atom