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The correct
Fermi distribution for most dopant levels, i.e. the probability that an
electron is occupying an energy level belonging to a dopant atom is |
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f(E, EF,
T) =
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1
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| ½ ·
exp |
æ
è |
En
EF
kT |
ö
ø |
+ 1 |
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The reason for the factor 1/2 instead of the usual 1 is that there is a
spin degeneracy, i.e. the energy is the
same for different spins. |
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fDop(E,T) is thus the
probability that the level is occupied by an electron of either spin. This applies to group III
acceptors, or group V donors as doping elements for group IV
semiconductors. |
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There also might be cases were dopants can
accommodate two electrons (which then must
have paired spin). The Fermi distribution formulated for acceptors in this case
is |
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f(E, EF,
T) =
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1
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| 2 · exp
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æ
è |
En
EF
kT |
ö
ø |
+ 1 |
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If we allow also excited states of the dopant, we obtain the fully
generalized Fermi distribution |
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f(Er, EF, T) =
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1
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| Sgr · exp |
æ
è |
Er EF
kT |
ö
ø |
+ 1 |
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With Er = energy of the
r-th state; gr = degeneracy/spin
factor. |
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Interesting, but rather irrelevant as long as we
simply assume completely ionized donors and
acceptors. |
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© H. Föll