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Hall effect in n-germanium
5.3.02

Related topics Right angle clamp -PASS- 02040.55 2

Semiconductor, band theory, forbidden zone, intrinsic con- Universal clamp 37715.00 1
duction, extrinsic conduction, valency band, conduction Connecting cord, 100 mm, red 07359.01 1
band, Lorentz force, magneto resistance, Neyer-Neldel rule. Connecting cord, 100 mm, blue 07359.04 1
Connecting cord, 500 mm, red 07361.01 6
Connecting cord, 500 mm, blue 07361.04 4
Principle and task Connecting cord, 750 mm, black 07362.05 4
The resistance and Hall voltage are measured on a rectangu-
lar strip of germanium as a function of the temperature and of
the magnetic field. From the results obtained the energy gap, Problems
specific conductivity, type of charge carrier and the carrier 1. At constant room temperature and with a uniform magnet-
mobility are determined. ic field measure the Hall voltage as a function of the con-
trol current and plot the values on a graph (measurement
Equipment without compensation for error voltage).
Hall effect, n-Ge, carrier board 11802.00 1 2. At room temperature and with a constant control current,
Coil, 600 turns 06514.01 2 measure the voltage across the specimen as a function of
Iron core, U-shaped, laminated 06501.00 1 the magnetic flux density B.
PEK carbon resistor 1 W 5 % 330 Ohm 39104.13 1 3. Keeping the control current constant measure the voltage
Pole pieces, plane, 30330348mm, 2 06489.00 1 across the specimen as a function of temperature. From
Connection box 06030.23 1 the readings taken, calculate the energy gap of germani-
Distributor 06024.00 1 um.
Bridge rectifier 250 VAC/5 A 06031.11 1
PEK electro.capacitor 2000 mmF/25 V 39113.08 1 4. At room temperature measure the Hall voltage UH as a
PEK potentiometer 560 Ohm lin 4 W 39103.18 1 function of the magnetic flux density B. From the readings
Teslameter, digital 13610.93 1 taken, determine the Hall coefficient RH and the sign of the
Hall probe, tangent., prot. cap 13610.02 1 charge carriers. Also calculate the Hall mobility mH and the
Power supply 0-12 V DC/6 V, 12 V AC 13505.93 1 carrier density n.
Digital multimeter 07134.00 3 5. Measure the Hall voltage UH as a function of temperature
Tripod base -PASS- 02002.55 1 at uniform magnetic flux density B, and plot the readings
Support rod -PASS-, square, l 250 mm 02025.55 1 on a graph.

Fig.1: Experiment set-up for Hall Effect Measurements.

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 25302 1
 R

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Hall effect in n-germanium
5.3.02

Set-up and Procedure rent source is operative. Set the 560 V potentiometer to
Set up the apparatus as shown in Fig. 1. maximum voltage. The control current should now be
approximately 30 mA. (If this is not the case, the value can
Insert the semiconductor wafer into the magnet very carefully be adjusted with the aid of the small trimmer on the sup-
in order to avoid damaging the crystal. In particular, avoid plementary wafer). Measure the voltage on the specimen
bending the wafer. across the terminals A and B (cf. Fig. 2) with the multime-
1. The control current is generated from the a. c. voltage out- ter. Calculate the resistance of the specimen R0 in the
put of the power supply with the aid of a bridge rectifier. absence of a magnetic field, and
To do this, connect the rectifier to the lower socket of the
power supply unit and to the socket marked “12 V” (cf. Fig. and record the change of resistance
2). RB – R0
Connect the electrolytic smoothing capacitor to the output R0
of the rectiffier (observe polarity!). Set the control current
with the aid of a potentiometer. To avoid exceeding the as a function of the magnetic flux density B. (RB = resist-
maximum permissible current (50 mA) in advertently, ance of the specimen in the presence of a magnetic field).
connect a resistance (330 V) in series to limit the current.
The crystal is connected directly for this experiment 3. Heat the specimen to temperatures up to 175°C with the
(sockets A and B, cf. Fig. 2); consequently, the constant- aid of the fitted heater coil. The necessary heating current
current source contained on the wafer and the error volt- is taken from the a. c. voltage output of the power supply
age compensation are not operative. unit. The temperature of the specimen can be determined
by way of the fitted Cu/CuNi thermocouple using the mV
The magnetic field is generated by the two series-connec- meter 07019.00:
ted coils which are supplied from the d.c. voltage output of
the power supply unit. It is expedient to set the voltage to UT
T = + T0
the maximum value and to set the desired magnetic field a
with the current adjustment knob. The power supply unit
then functions as a constant-current source and hence the (UT = voltage across the thermocouple; a = 40 mV/K;
field strenght is not affected by changes of resistance cau- T0 = room temperature).
sed by thermal effects. Measure the magnetic flux density
with the Teslameter by positioning its Hall probe in the
centre of the field (after balancing the instrument) Measure
the Hall voltage with the high-impedance multimeter.
2. Now connect the control current supply to the outer cont- Important On no account allow the temperature of the
acts A and C (cf. Fig. 2) so that the built-in constant-cur- specimen to exceed 190°C.

Fig. 2: Wiring Sketch for Producing the Control Current.

2 25302 PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany
 R

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Hall effect in n-germanium
5.3.02

Fig. 3: Hall effect on a rectangular specimen. The polarity of Theory and evaluation
the Hall voltage indicated is for negative charge car- When a current-carrying conductor in the form of a rectangu-
riers. lar strip is placed in a magnetic field with the lines of force at
right angles to the current, a transverse e. m. f. – the so called
Hall voltage – is set up across the strip.

This phenomenon is due to the Lorentz force: the charge car-

riers which give rise to the current flow through the specimen
are deflected in the magnetic field B as a function of their sign
and of their velocity v:
R R R
F = e (v 3 B )

(F = force acting on carrier, e = elementary charge).

Since negative and positive charge carriers have opposite

directions of motion in the semiconductor, both are deflected
in the same direction.

If the directions of the current and magnetic field are known,

the polarity of the Hall voltage tells us whether the current is
4. With the magnetic field switched off and the pole shoes predominantly due to the drift of negative charges or to the
detached (residual magnetism !), switch on the control cur- drift of positive charges.
rent (terminals A and C, cf. Fig.2) and set the Hall voltage
to zero using the compensating potentiometer. Refit the
pole shoes and measure the Hall voltage as a function of
the magnetic flux density for both field directions.

5. Keeping the magnetic field constant, gradually increase the

temperature of the specimen to the maximum value and
measure the Hall voltage. During the heating-up period,
remove the Hall probe of the Teslameter from the heating
zone.

Fig. 4: Hall voltage as a function of current Fig. 5: Change of resistance as a function of the magnetic flux
(T= 300 K, B = 0.2 T). density.

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 25302 3
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Hall effect in n-germanium
5.3.02

1. Fig. 4 shows that a linear relation exists between the cur- Fig. 7: Hall voltage as a function of the magnetic flux density.
rent land the Hall voltage UH:

UH = a · I

(a = proportionality factor)

2. The change of resistance of the specimen in a magnetic

field is connected with a decrease of the mean free path of
the charge carriers. Fig. 5 shows a non-linear, obviously
quadratic change of resistance with increasing field
strength.

3. For intrinsic conduction, the relationship between the con-

ductivity s and the absolute temperature T is:
Eg
s = so · exp 1– 2
2 kT

where Eg is the energy gap between the valency and con-

duction bands, and k is Botzmann’s constant.

A graph of loge a against 1/T will be linear with a slope of

Eg
b = – .
2k with the standard deviation

Hence Eg is obtained. sb = ± 0.2 · 103 K.

With the measured values in Fig. 6, the regression formula- (Since the experiment was performed with a constant cur-
tion rent, s can be replaced by U–1 [ U = voltage across the
specimen] ).
Eg
loge s = loge s0 + eV
2 kT Taking k = 8.625 · 10–5 we obtain
K
gives slope
E
b = – g = – 3.2 · 103 K Eg = b · 2k = (0.55 ± 0.03) eV.
2k
4. With the directions of control current und magnetic field
illustrated in Fig. 3, the charge carriers which produce the
current are deflected to the front edge of the specimen. If,
therefore, the current is due mainly to electrons (as in the
case of an n-doped specimen), the front edge becomes
negatively charged. In the case of hole conduction (p-dop-
ed specimen) it becomes positively charged.

The conductivity s0, carrier mobility mH, and the carrier

density n are all connected by the Hall coefficient RH:

UH d
RH = ·
B I

mH = RH · s0
1
n =
e · RH

Fig. 7 shows alinearrelationbetween the Hall voltage and

the magnetic flux density B. Using the values from Fig. 7,
regression with the formulation
Fig. 6: The reciprocal specimen voltage as a function of the
reciprocal absolute temperature (Since I was constant UH = U0 + bB
during the experiment, U–1 is approximately equal to
s; the graph is therefore the same as a plot of the con- gives the slope b = 0.268 VT–1, with the standard deviation
ductivity against the reciprocal temperature.) sb + 0.003 VT–1.

4 25302 PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany
 R

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Hall effect in n-germanium
5.3.02

The Hall coefficient RH is then given by Fig. 8: Hall voltage as a function of temperature.
U d d
RH = H · = b· .
B I I

Thus, if the thickness of specimen d = 1 · 10–3m and

I = 0.030 A, then
m3 .
RH = 8.9 · 10–3
As

with the standard deviation

m3
sRH = ± 0.1 · 103 .
As

The conductivity at room temperature is calculated from

the length l of the specimen, its cross-sectional area A and
its resistance R0 (cf. Experiment 2):
l
so = .
R·A

Thus, if l = 0.02 m, R0 = 45.7 V, A = 1.10–5m, then

so = 43.8 V–1 m–1. Note

The Hall mobility mH of the charge carriers can now be For the sake of simplicity, only the magnitude of the Hall volt-
determined from the expression age and Hall coefficient has been used here. These values are
usually given a negative sign in the case of electron conduc-
mH = RH · so . tion.

Using the same values above, this gives

m2
mH = (0.389 ± 0.004) .
Vs

The electron concentration n of the n-doped specimen is

given by
1
n= .
e · RH

Taking e = elementary charge = 1 .602 · 10–19 As, we obtain

n = 7.0 · 1020 m–3.

5. Fig. 8 shows that the Hall voltage decreases with increas-

ing temperature. Since the experiment was performed with
a constant current, it can be assumed that the increase of
charge carriers (transition from extrinsic to intrinsic con-
duction) with the associated reduction of the drift velocity
v is responsible for this.

(The same current for a higher number of charge carriers

means a lower drift velocity). The drift velocity is in turn
related to the Hall voltage by the Lorentz force.

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 25302 5