Before we begin our journey looking at how semiconductor devices work, we need to understand the inner workings of atoms. The Hydrogen Atom, due to its simple structure, provides a good starting point to understand the fundamentals, before we move onto semiconductors such as Silicon.
A hydrogen atom has one electron, one proton, and no neutrons .
What is the net charge of the hydrogen atom?
What is the total weight of the hydrogen atom?
The Classical Model is a planetary model.
Why is the proton stationary and only the electron orbits?
This simple model based on classical physics cannot explain many of the atom’s properties.
At such a small scale, we can never predict the exact location of a particle. At any point in time, in principle we can obtain the electron position only if we perform a “measurement.” If we repeat the measurements many times, we can obtain the probability of finding the electron at various positions.
Perform many measurements and see if you find a pattern. Where is it most likely to find the electron?
If you do thousands of experiments and keep a trace of each measurement you would see something like this. Now, where do you think it is most likely to find the electron?
You might have guessed the likelihood of finding the electron increases the closer you get to the nucleus. To test this impression, let’s count the number of times electron is found between these two imaginary spheres.
Where do you count the most? The closer to the nucleus, the farther, or somewhere in the middle?
As we zoom out and increase the number of experiments, we can see that a few times the electron may be located far from the nucleus. However, the probability drops rapidly.
What you saw was the electron in its lowest energy level which is the most stable condition. If we excite the electron by, for example, shining light on it, the electron can go to the next energy level which is the 2s Orbital.
Where is most likely to find the electron when it is the 2s orbital.
There are three other orbitals with the same energy as 2S: 2px, 2py and 2pz. Here is the pattern you see for 2px orbital. Where do you think it is unlikely to find the electron?
At what distance from the nucleus is it most likely to find the electron?
These orbitals are identical to the 2px orbitals except for their orientation. Here is the pattern you see for 2py orbital. Where do you think it is unlikely to find the electron?