Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-chemistry-course-of-the-year-1-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/6/b/iii/solution
Past exam of the chemistry course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2025 6 b iii Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
Sulfur substituting for phosphorus acts as a donor impurity, giving n-type semiconductor behaviour and usually increasing electrical conductivity. A P site normally supplies five valence electrons; S supplies six. After forming the surrounding bonds, the extra electron can occupy a donor level below the conduction band and be thermally ionized into that band. The donor impurity then carries positive charge.
This assignment is supported experimentally: infrared transmission measurements on S-doped gallium phosphide resolved bound-donor transitions and determined a sulfur donor optical ionization energy of about , far smaller than the host band gap.[ref]
Optical absorption due to excitation of electrons bound to Si and S in GaP by A. A. Onton. 1969, abstract: sulfur donor transitions and optical ionization energy
The effect depends on substitution on P sites, donor ionization, compensation by acceptors and charge carrier mobility. A dilute active donor population increases the electron term in ; not every dopant must donate a mobile electron at room temperature. Sulfur's larger Allen electronegativity does not overturn this electron-counting argument or make a P-site sulfur atom an acceptor.
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