The electron and hole effective masses in thermal SiO2 are 0.42m and 0.58m respectively indicating that it could be a semiconductor because the hole conductivity effective mass is larger than the electron conductivity effective mass, just as in semiconductors.
Dear Ravi,
Silicon dioxide is classified as an insulator and it is used really as an insulator in electronic devices. It is used as a passivation material to protect the chips from the environment. It is used as a masking material for diffusion in the planar technology to affect selective doping. It is used as a dielectric insulator in the metal oxide silicon transistors. So. it is an enabler material for the semiconductor industry.
The band gap energy of the silicon dioxide is about 8.9 electron volt which is very wide to be a semiconductor. The materials are classified according to their ability to conduct electricity in conductors, insulators and semiconductors. Materials with too wide gap will have very low conductivity and hence behave as insulator. The material with intermediary band gap are classified as semiconductors.
The conductivity of material depends on the effective mass. but this factor is not the dominating in the material classification process. The band gap is the dominant facor in the classification as it controls the the intrinsic concentration of the charge carriers.
Hope this answer is satisfactory.
best wishes
Yes agree totally with martin about the doping ability of the material, If one can alter the conductivity of the material by doping then it can conduct electricity and remains no longer insulating. In fact, there is no sharp energy gap value that serves as a strict boundary between the insulators and the semiconductors.
I asked a question on the RG previously concerning the most important properties of semiconductors.It is found in the link:https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_the_most_basic_features_of_semiconductors.
Best wishes.
Regarding to this threat, Is it possible to estimate the band gap of SiO2 with Kubelka-Munk's approach? I'm trying to modify the surface of amorphous SiO2 with photosensitizers in order to use them in core-shell type spheres. I´m wondering if is possible to calculate the Eg of the SiO2 and modified SiO2 by using the UV diffuse reflection spectra.
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