Section: 12 | Properties of Semiconductors |

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The table 'TABLE 4.1. Band Properties of Semiconductors: Valence Bands' has one or more different columns to those in the book version.
The table 'TABLE 4.2. Band Properties of Semiconductors: Multiple Band Maxima' has one or more different columns to those in the book version.
The table 'TABLE 4.3. Band Properties of Semiconductors: Conduction Bands' has one or more different columns to those in the book version.
The table 'TABLE 4.4. Band Properties of Semiconductors: Conduction Bands' has one or more different columns to those in the book version.

How to Cite this Reference

PROPERTIES OF SEMICONDUCTORS

L. I. Berger

The term semiconductor is applied to a material in which electric current is carried by electrons or holes and whose electrical conductivity, when extremely pure, rises exponentially with temperature and may be increased from its low “intrinsic” value by many orders of magnitude by “doping” with electrically active impurities.

Semiconductors are characterized by an energy gap in the allowed energies of electrons in the material that separates the normally filled energy levels of the valence band (where “missing” electrons behave like positively charged current carriers “holes”) and the conduction band (where electrons behave rather like a gas of free negatively charged carriers with an effective mass dependent on the material and the direction of the electrons’ motion). This energy gap depends on the nature of the material and varies with direction in anisotropic crystals. It is slightly dependent on temperature and pressure, and this dependence is usually almost linear at normal temperatures and pressures.

Data are presented in five tables. Table 1 lists the main crystallographic and semiconducting properties of a large number of semiconducting materials in three main categories: “Tetrahedral Semiconductors” in which every atom is tetrahedrally coordinated to four nearest neighbor atoms (or atomic sites) as for example in the diamond structure; “Octahedral Semiconductors” in which every atom is octahedrally coordinated to six nearest neighbor atoms—as for example the halite structure; and “Other Semiconductors.”

Table 2 gives electrical, magnetic, and optical properties, while Tables 3 and 4 give more details on the semiconducting properties and band structures of the most common semiconductors. Table 5 lists semiconducting minerals with typical resistivity ranges.

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TABLE 1. Physico-Chemical Properties of Semiconductors (Listed by Crystal Structure)

Substance	Molecular weight	Average atomic weight	Lattice parameters (Å, room temp.)	Density (g/cm³)	Melting point (K)	Microhardness, N/mm² (M-Mohs scale)	Specific heat, J/kg·K (300 K)	Debye temp. (K)	Coefficient of thermal linear expansion [10^–6 K^–1 (300K)]	Thermal conductivity [mW cm^-1·K^-1 (300K)]
Continued on next page...
1.1. Tetrahedral (Adamantine) Semiconductors 1.1.1. Diamond Structure Elements (Strukturbericht Symbol A4, Space Group $F d 3 m - O_{h}^{7}$ )
C (Diamond)		12.01	3.56683	3.513	≈4713 (12.4 GPa) Transition to graphite > 980	10 (M)	471.5	2340	1.18	9900(I) 23200(IIA) 13600(IIB)
Si		28.09	5.43072	2.329	1687	11270	702	645	2.6	1240
Ge		72.64	5.65754	5.323	1211.35	7644	321.9	374	5.8	640
α-Sn		118.71	6.4912	5.769	505.1 (Tr. 286.4)		213	230	5.4 (220 K)
1.1.2. Sphalerite (Zinc Blende) Structure Compounds (Strukturbericht Symbol B3 Space Group $F \bar{4} 3 m - T_{d}^{2}$ ) I-VII Compounds
CuF	82.54	41.27	4.255		1181
CuCl	98.99	49.49	5.4057	3.53	695	2.3 (M)	490	240	12.1	8.4
CuBr	143.45	71.73	5.6905	4.98	770	2.5 (M)	381	207	15.4	12.5
Cul	190.45	95.23	6.60427	5.63	878	192	276	181	19.2	16.8
AgBr	187.77	93.89		6.473	>1570 (Tr. 410)	2.5 (M)	270
Agl	234.77	117.39	6.502	5.67	831	2.5 (M)	232	134	-2.5	4.2
II-VI Compounds
BeS	41.08	20.54	4.865	2.36	dec.	3120
BeSe	87.97	43.99	5.139	4.315		2540
BeTe	136.61	68.31	5.626	5.090		1500
BePo	(2318)	(109)	5.838	7.3
ZnO	81.39	40.69	4.63	5.675	2248	5.0 (M)	494	416	2.9	234
ZnS	97.46	48.72	5.4093	4.079	2100 (Tr. 1295)	1780	472	530	6.36	251
ZnSe	144.34	72.17	5.6676	5.42	1790	1350	339	400	7.2	140
ZnTe	192.99	96.5	6.101	6.34	1568	900	264	223	8.19	108
ZnPo	(274)	(137)	6.309

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PROPERTIES OF SEMICONDUCTORS

TABLE 1. Physico-Chemical Properties of Semiconductors (Listed by Crystal Structure)

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