Carrier concentration

The concentration of dopant introduced to an intrinsic semiconductor determines its concentration and indirectly affects many of its electrical properties. The most important factor that doping directly affects is the material's carrier concentration. In an intrinsic semiconductor under thermal equilibrium, the concentration of electrons and holes is equivalent. That is,

n = p = n_i

Where n is the concentration of conducting electrons, p is the electron hole concentration, and n_i is the material's intrinsic carrier concentration. Intrinsic carrier concentration varies between materials and is dependent on temperature. Silicon's n_i, for example, is roughly 1×10¹⁰ cm^-3 at 300 kelvins (room temperature).

In general, an increase in doping concentration affords an increase in conductivity due to the higher concentration of carriers available for conduction. Degenerately (very highly) doped semiconductors have conductivity levels comparable to metals and are often used in modern integrated circuits as a replacement for metal. Often superscript plus and minus symbols are used to denote relative doping concentration in semiconductors. For example, n ⁺ denotes an n-type semiconductor with a high, often degenerate, doping concentration. Similarly, p ⁻ would indicate a very lightly doped p-type material. It is useful to note that even degenerate levels of doping imply low concentrations of impurities with respect to the base semiconductor. In crystalline intrinsic silicon, there are approximately 5×10²² atoms/cm³. Doping concentration for silicon semiconductors may range anywhere from 10¹³ cm^-3 to 10¹⁸ cm^-3. Doping concentration above about 10¹⁸ cm^-3 is considered degenerate at room temperature. Degenerately doped silicon contains a proportion of impurity to silicon in the order of parts per thousand. This proportion may be reduced to parts per billion in very lightly doped silicon. Typical concentration values fall somewhere in this range and are tailored to produce the desired properties in the device that the semiconductor is intended for.