Summary: Appendix IV describes the effect of band gap narrowing in degenerate semiconductor.
Appendix IV
Band Gap Narrowing(BGN) and its effect on Emitter Injection Efficiency.
In homojunction:
To obtain high gain, Emitter needs to be heavily doped and we need thin Base Region.
![]() |
Due to heavy doping in Emitter, degeneracy is introduced which leads to Band Gap Narrowing(BGN) by ∆Eg . The radius of the fifth electron or the donor electron orbiting donor atom is 13×10-8cm = 13Angstrom = 13Aº.
![]() |
Figure IV.1.Calculation of critical packing density where donor electrons wave function of donor atoms start to overlap.
Ncrit = 1/Vd= 1/(2rd)3 = 1.7×1019/cc.
When the doping level approaches this critical level, energy level corresponding to donor atoms no more remain DISCRETE but they become a continuum in effect extending the conduction band and narrowing the Forbidden Energy Band Gap which is known as Band Gap Narrowing(BGN). This is a degenerate semiconductor and the Fermi-level lies at the edge of the conduction band or within the conduction band as it is in metal. Hence a degenerate semi-conductor is semi-metal. The energy band diagram of degenerate and non-degenerate semiconductor is given in Fig.IV.2.
![]() |
Figure IV.2. The Energy Band Diagram of Pure, doped and heavily doped semiconductor.
IV.1
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
IV.2
With BGN the intrinsic carrier concentration increases
Substituting Eq.IV.2 in Eq.IV.1 we get
![]() |
IV.3
Therefore
IV.4
The empirical relationship for BGN is:
![]() |
Where Eref = 0.009eV and Nref = 1017/cc for typical cases.
Table IV.1. ∆Eg vs ND .
| Emitter Doping DensityND (number per cc) | BGN∆Eg (eV) |
| 1020 | 0.12466 |
| 1019 | 0.083 |
| 1018 | 0.0424 |
| 1017 | 6.36×10-3 |
| 1016 | 1meV |
Table IV.2. NDeff vs ND.
| ND (number per cc) | ∆Eg (eV) | NDeff (number per cc) |
| 1020 | 0.12466 | 8.258×1017 |
| 1019 | 0.083 | 4×1017 |
| 1018 | 0.0424 | 1.96×1017 |
| 1017 | 6.36×10-3 | 8×1016 |
| 1016 | 1meV | 1×1016 |
For a doping level of ND = 1020/cc, ∆Eg=0.12eV.
This gives an effective doping level of NDeff = 1018/cc.
The classical formula for current gain without BGN is:
If we take the following data: (ND)E = 1020/cc, (NA)B = 1017/cc, WE = WB = 1µm and DpE=1.25 (cm)2/sec and DnB=20 (cm)2/sec then βF = 1.6×104 ;
But taking into account of BGN, βF = 160.