Semiconductor Material Properties: Acceptor Atoms and Holes

They are called acceptor atoms because they introduce the absence of electrons in covalent bonds in the extrinsic material. With the addition of a trivalent material, the covalent bonds are still present but there is now an absence of electrons in some of the covalent bonds due to the ______ atom.

The resulting vacancy of electron in the covalent bond is called ______ (represented by a plus (+) sign, but not necessarily having a positive charge).

The transfer of holes (or transfer of electrons from one hole to another) constitutes a ______ flow.

Due to vacancy of electrons in covalent bonds in a p-type material, the majority carriers in a p-type material are ______.

Due to impurities, p-type materials also have ______ carriers which are electrons.

If a valence electron acquires sufficient kinetic energy to break its covalent bond and to fill the void created by a hole, then a hole will be created in the covalent bond that released the electron, and a transfer of hole happens. This process leads to ______ creation.

For the n - type material, the concentration of electrons (majority carrier) is 1x 10^15 electrons/cm3, while the concentration of holes (minority carrier) is 225,000 __________ /cm3

In an extrinsic semiconductor, the doping process determines the concentration of free electrons and __________.

Generally, the more acceptor impurity atoms (trivalent) are added, the more __________ are created.

The more donor impurity atoms (pentavalent) are added, the more free __________ are created.

The Law of Electrical Neutrality states that in a material, the sum of ______ charges equals the sum of positive charges.

Once donor and/or acceptor atoms are added to an intrinsic semiconductor, ions are created due to the addition of electrons to acceptor atoms and the loss of electrons from donor atoms. Acceptor atoms which have gained electrons are now negatively charged, and donor atoms which have lost electrons are now positively charged. This is called the Law of Electrical __________.

In an intrinsic semiconductor, the Law of Electrical Neutrality equation simplifies to: ______ = ______.

Although ions are present in the extrinsic semiconductor material, the entire material is still electrically neutral because the number of positive ions is equal to the number of negative ions. This is a manifestation of the Law of Electrical __________.

In n-type semiconductors, the number of ______ atoms is zero.

The Law of Electrical Neutrality applies to p-type semiconductors where the number of ______ atoms is zero.

A germanium material doped with 1015 donor atoms/cm3 and 2 x 1014 acceptor atoms/cm3 exemplifies the concept of ______ impurity atoms.

In semiconductors, the creation of holes results in the generation of ______ carriers.