Effect of band-gap narrowing on the built-in electric field in n-type silicon

Abstract

A relation is derived to describe the change in the built‐in electric field in an n‐type semiconductor due to band tailing and carrier freeze‐out, as well as band‐gap narrowing. Recent numerical models of these various phenomena were used to illustrate the effect on heavily doped n‐type silicon. While neither band‐gap narrowing, band tailing, nor deionization alone is sufficient to explain the large decrease in the built‐in electric field that has been inferred from experimental measurements, the combination of all three effects may be sufficient.