Automation of the germanium conductivity measurement

Abstract

The present work, carried out as Treball Fi de Grau of the Degree of Physics at the Universitat de Barcelona, presents the implementation process of improvements to automate the data capture in the experimental realization of the Laboratory of Modern Physics P13a practice, that aims to determine the Germanium Conductivity ([sigma]), and its inherent forbidden semiconductor Energy Band Gap (Eg). By introducing a properly programmed Arduino M; micro-controller and an ordinary PC (with the appropriate Python language program and environment) in the experimental setup, it has been possible to improve the quantity and quality of collected data and also affect the final result, making it more stable and precise. The number of measures taken for the same capture time (12 min approximately) has been increased by a factor of 10, from about 100 to more than 1000, and their precision has also been improved. This has resulted in obtaining a value for Eg = 0; 6615 +- 0; 0002 (eV), which matches very well the value of the literature Eg = 0; 66 (eV) considered. The rapid data acquisition and the good results obtained due to its high precision, allow to think that this implementation can be definitive if some improvements are made. In addition, future implementations in other experimental configurations of similar characteristics are possible.