EE2203 ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS 3003

AIM
To study the characteristics and applications of electronic devices.

OBJECTIVES
To acquaint the students with construction, theory and characteristics of the following
electronic devices:

i) p-n junction diode

ii) Bipolar transistor
iii) Field effect transistor
iv) LED, LCD and other photo electronic devices
v) Power control / regulator devices

1. PN DIODE AND ITS APPLICATIONS 9

PH junction diode-VI characteristics – Rd, temperature effects – Drift ad diffusion
currents – switching – Rectifiers: HWR, FWR, BR, filters-Zener diode – VI
characteristics, Regulators (series and shunt), LED, LCD characteristics and
applications.

2. BJT AND ITS APPLICATIONS 9

Junction transistor – Transistor construction – Input and output characteristics – CE, CB
and CC configurations – hybrid model – Analytical expressions – switching – RF
application – Power transistors – Opto couplers.

3. FET AND ITS APPLICATIONS 9

FET – VI characteristics, VP, JFET – small signal model – LF and HF equivalent circuits
– CS and CD amplifiers –cascade and cascade – Darlington connection – MOSFET -
Characteristics – enhancement and depletion

4. AMPLIFIERS AND OSCILLATORS 9

Differential amplifiers: CM and DM – condition for ofc-feedback amplifiers – stability –
Voltage / current, series / shunt feedback – oscillators – LC, RC, crystal

5. PULSE CIRCUITS 9
RC wave shaping circuits – Diode clampers and clippers – Multivibrators – Schmitt
triggers – UJT based saw tooth oscillators.
TOTAL : 45 PERIODS
TEXT BOOK

1.Paynter, “Introductory lectronic devices and circuits, 2006, PHI

2.David Bell “Electronic Devices and Circuits” 2007, PHI

REFERENCES
1.Theodre F.Boghert, “Electronic Devices & Circuits” Pearson Education, VI Edition, 2003
2. Rashid, “Microelectronic circuits” Thomson Publication, 1999
3. B.P.Singh & Rekha Sing, “Electronic Devices and Integrated Circuits” Pearson
Education, 2006.

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 UNIT-I PN DIODE AND ITS APPLICATIONS

1. What is meant by semiconductor diodes?

The PN junction diode is one of the semiconductor devices with two semiconductor,
materials in physical contact, one with excess of holes (P-type) and other with excess of
electron (n-type).

2. What are the classification of semiconductor devices?

Semiconductor devices are classified as
1) Intrinsic (pure) Semiconductor. .
2) Extrinsic (impure) Semiconductor

3. What is meant by Intrinsic semiconductor diodes?

A pure semiconductor is called as intrinsic semiconductor. Even at the room
temperature, the valence electrons may acquire ' sufficient energy to enter the conduction
band to form free electrons. Under the influence of electric-field, total current through" the
semiconductor will be possible. A missing electron in the valence band leaves a vacant space
which is known as hole. Holes also contribute to electric current.

4. What is meant by Extrinsic semiconductor?

Due to the poor conduction at room temperature. The intrinsic semiconductor as such,
is not useful in the electronic devices. Hence, the current conduction capability of the
intrinsic semiconductor should be increased. This can be achieved by adding a small amount
of impurity to the intrinsic semiconductor, so that it becomes impure or extrinsic
semiconductor. The process of adding impurity is known as doping.

5. What,are the types of Extrinsic semiconductor?

The Two type of extrinsic semiconductor are
1) N-type semiconductor
2) P-type semiconductor.

6. What is meant by N-type semiconductor?

A small-amount of pentavatent impurities such as arsenic, antimony or
phosphorus is added to pure semiconductor to get N-type semiconductor.

7.. How will you get P-type semiconductor?

A small amount of trivalent impurities such as aluminium or boron is added to the
pure semiconductor to get the P-type semiconductor.

8.Write about donor impurities?

If a pentavalent substance is added as an impurity to a pure germanium four of
the five valence electrons of the impurity atom will occupy covalent bond and the fifth
electron will be available as a carrier of current. These impurities donate excess electron
carriers and hence called donor or N-type impurities.

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9. Write about acceptor impurities?
If a trivalent impurity is added to an intrinsic semiconductor, only three covalent
bonds are filled and the vacancy in the fourth bond constitutes a hole. These impurities
are known as acceptor or P-type impurities.

10. What is meant by continuity equation?

The fundamental law governing the flow of charge is called the continuity
equation. The continuity equation as applied to semiconductor, describes how the
concern concentration in a given elemental volume of the crystal varies with the time and
distance.

11.What is meant by conductivity?

Conductivity (σ) of an intrinsic semiconductor depends upon the number of hall-
electron pairs and mobility. The number of electron-hole pair increases with rise in
temperature while its mobility decreasesHence the conductivity increases with increase in
temperature.

12. Name the current that flows through a PN Junction .diode?

The current that flowing through a PN Junction diode is classified as
1) Drift current.
2) Diffusion current.

13. What is meant by PN Junction diode?

In a piece of semiconductor material if one half is doped by P-type impurity and other
half is doped by N-type impurity, a PN Junction diode is formed. The plane dividing the two
halves (or) zones is called PN Junction.

14. What is meant by diffusion?

The N-type material has high concentration of free electron, while P-type material
has high concentration of holes. Therefore at the junction there is a tendency for the free
electron to diffuse over the p-side and hole to the N-side. This process is called as diffusion.

15. What is meant by depletion region?

The shape of the charge, density (P) depends upon how the diode is doped. Thus, the
junction-region is depleted of mobile charge carriers. Hence it is called the depletion region
(layer), the space charge region (or) the transition region. The depletion region is of the order
of 0.5µm thick.

16. What is meant by drift current?

When an electric field is applied across the semiconductor material, the charge
carriers attain a certain drift velocity which is equal to the product of the mobility of the
charge carriers and the applied electric field intensity E. The holes move towards the negative
terminal of the battery and electron move towards the positive terminal. This combined effect
of movement of the charge carriers constitute a current known as drift current.

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17. What is meant by diffusion current?
A concentration gradient exists if the number of either electrons or holes is greater in
one region of a semiconductor as compared to the rest of the region. In a semiconductor
material the charge carriers have the tendency to move from the region of higher
concentration to that of lower concentration of same type of charge carriers. Thus, the
movement of charge earners takes place resulting in a current called diffusion current.

18. Define-Reverse Resistance? .' •

It is the resistance offered by the PN junction diode under reverse bias condition. It is
very large compared to the forward resistance which is in the range of several µΩ.

19. What is meant by diffusion capacitance (CD)?

The capacitance that exists in a forward bias junction is called a diffusion (or) storage
capacitance (Cp) whose value is usually much larger than Cr, which exists in reverse based
junction. This also defined as the rate of change of injected charge with applied voltage

Cp = (dQ/dW),
where
dQ -» represents the change in the number of minority carriers stored outside the
depletion region when a change in voltage across the diode,
dv is applied.

20. What is the effect of Temperature on PN Junction diode?

The rise in temperature increases the generation of electron hole pairs in
semiconductors and increase their conductivity. As a result, the current through the PN
junction diode increases with temperature as given by the diode current equation
Effect of Temperature on the diode characteristics is given by,

21. What is a zener diode? , '

• •".•* , ^ . " •, -»

Zener diode is a specially designed PN junction diode. A reverse biased heavily doped
PN junction diode. A reverse biased heavily doped PN junction diode which is operated in the
breakdown region is known as Zener diode. It is also called as voltage regulator diode or
breakdown diode.

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22. What is zener'breakdown?
Zener Breakdown takes place when both sides of the junction are very
heavily doped and consequently the depletion layer is think When a small reverse bias
voltage is applied a very strong electric field is set up across the thin depletion layer. This
electric field is enough to break the covalent bonds. So the large number of free charge
carriers are produced which constitute the zener current. The process is known as zener
breakdown.

23. What is photodiode?

Photodiode is a upto device which-is designed Jo respond to photo absorption. The
carrier conduction is directly proportional to the injected carrier generation due to light
radiation.

24. What is photo voltaic effect?

When the semiconductor material is irradiated, the memory carrier concentration
increases/The increase in majority carrier reduces the mean lifetime T of the carrier and
increase the carrier recombination rate. The contact potential is the maximum forward bias
voltage that appears across the forward biased function. This effects appears across the
forward based junction subjected to an optical radition.
" • -

25. What is a LED?

A LED is basically a PN junction device which converts input electrical energy into
output optical radiation in the visible or infra red portion of the spectrum, depending on the
fabrication material. It emit light by a phenomenon called electroluminescence. When
forward biased.

26. Explain the construction of LED.

The PN function is formed by diffusing p-type semiconductor on heavily doped n+
region which act as substrate. In LED most of electron hole recombination takes place across
the junction near to the surface. The probability of electron hole, recombination near the
surface is reabsorption is very low.

27. What is LCD?

Liquid crystal display, is a passive display which do not requirement light
generation. These are generally used in calculators and watch.

28. Explain the construction of LCD.

A liquid crystal display consists of a liquid crystal mate| sandwiched between
‘transparent metal film over which glass she covered. A transparent conductive material
is deposited on the ml surface of the glass. Biasing voltage is connected to these electrode
order to change molecular structure of the liquid crystal. These conduct material can be
etched in a definite pattern to get required display.

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 UNIT-II BJT AND ITS APPLICATIONS

1. What is a bipolar junction transistor?

A bipolar junction transistor is a three terminal semiconductor deice in which the
operation depends on the interaction of both majority and minority carriers.

2. Define the different operating regions of transistor.

The different operating regions of transistor are
Active Region: It is defined in which transistor function is biased in reverse
direction and emitter function in forward direction.
Cutoff Region: The region in which the collector and emitter functions are both
reverse biased.
Saturation Region: The region in which both the collector and emitter functions are
forward biased.

3. Explaip npn and pnp transistor.

npn Transistor: In npn transistor, P-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two
n-type semiconductors. The emitter region is made up of n-type semiconductor base region is
made of p-type semiconductor, collector region is made of n-type semiconductor.
pnp Transistor: In pnp transistor, n-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two
P-type semiconductor. Emitter region is made of P-type, collector region is made of P-type
and the base region is made of n-type, semiconductor.

4. Define Transistor current.

The emitter current (1E) is the sum of the collector current (Ic) and the base current
(IB), is called transistor current'. IE = Ic + IB;. IB is very small compared to IE or Ic.

5. What are the three types of configuration in transistors?

Depending on the input, output and .common terminal a transistor are connected in 3
configurations;
i) Common base configuration
ii) Common emitter configuration
iii) Common collector-Configuration.

6. What is early effect or base and the modulation?

As the collector by voltage Vcc is made to increase the reverse bias, the space charge
width between collector and base tends to increase with the result that the effective width of
the base decreases. This dependency of base width on collector to emitter -voltage is known
as early effect.

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8. What are the consequence effects of base width modulation?
i) Chance for recommendation at the base is less and so the base current reduces.
ii) The charge conncentration near the E.B function is high and so the diffusion of
charge into the emitter region increases resulting in an increased IE, Ic and current gain
iii) For extremely large voltages, the effective base-width may be reduced to zero
causing voltage breakdown in the transistor is called the "punch through effect,"

9. What is thermal runaway?

The continuous increase in collector current due to poor-biasing causes the
temperature at collector terminal to increase. If no stabilization i.e., done, the collector
leakage current also increases. This further increases the temperature. This action
becomes cumulative and. ultimately the transistor turns out. The self destruction of an
unstabilized transistor ' is known as thermal runaway.

10. List the uses of emitter follower circuit.

The uses of emitter follower circuit are
i) It is widely used in electronic instruments because of low output impedance and
high input impedance
ii) It is used for impedance matching.

11. What are the types of breakdown in transistor?

The different types of breakdown in transistor are
(i) Avalanche multiplication (or) Divalanche breakdown,
(ii) Reach through (or) Punch through.

12. Compare BJT and FET.

BJT FET
Low input impedance High input impedance
Bipolar device Unipolar device
Noise is, more Noise is less

Current controlled device Voltage controlled'device

Cheaper Costlier.

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 UNIT III FET AND ITS APPLICATIONS

1. What is a FET?
A field effect transistor is a three terminal semiconductor device in which current
conduction takes place by one type of carriers either the holes or electrons and is
controlled by an electric field.

2. Why FET is called as unipolar device?

The operation of FET depends upon the flow of majority carriers only either hour
or electrons and hence FET is said to be unipolar device.

3. Define pinch off voltage.

It is the voltage at which the channel is pinched off, (i.e) all the free charges from
the channel get removed.

4. Compare N-channel and P-channel JFET..

N-Channel JFET P-Channel JFET

Current carriers are electrons Current-carriers are hour

Low input noise High input noise
High transconductance Low transconductance
Mobility of electrons Mobility of hole

5. List the factors on which the magnitude of current of FET depends.

The factors on which the magnitude of current of FET depend are
i) The number of majority carriers available in the channel (i.e) the conductivity
of the channel.
ii) The length of the channel.
iii) Cross sectional area (A).
iv) The magnitude of the applied voltage VDS.

6. What are the characteristic parameters of JFET?

The characteristic parameters of JFET are
i) "Mutual Conductance (or) Transconductance (gm)
ii) Drain Resistance (rd).
iii) Amplification factor (u}.
iv) Power dissipation (PD).

7. What-are the applications of JFET.

The applications of JFET are
i) FET is used as a buffer in measuring instruments, receivers.;
ii) FET are used in RF amplifiers. .
iii) Used as voltage controlled, it is used as'voltage variable resistor operational
amplifier.
iv) Used in mixer circuit in.FM and TV receivr and commuhication equipment.
v) FET used in digital Circuits in computer, LSD and memory circuit because of its
small size.

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8. What is a MOSFET?
MOSFET is metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor. It is a three terminal
semiconductor devices similar to FET with gat insulated from the channel.

9. Explain the working principle of a MOSFET.

By applying a transverse electric field across an insulator deposited on the
semiconducting material, thickness and hence the resistance of a conducting channel of a
semiconducting material can be controlled.
In depletion MOSFET, the controlling electric field reduces the number of majority carrier
available for conduction
whereas in enhancement
MOSFET, application, of
electric field causes an
increase in the majority
carrier denisty in the
conducting regions of the
transistor.

10.Draw the transfer and drain characteristics of A-channel MOSFET depletion.

-' .. w •• .

11. Draw the transfer and drain characteristic of P-channel MOSFET depletion:

12. Draw the current symbol for enhancement type MOSFET.. ' '
n

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13. How the MOSFET's are protected from overload voltage?
MOSFET are protected by a shorter ring that is wrapped around' all four
terminals during shipping arid must remain in place until after the device is soldered into
position. Some MOSFET have a inbuilt in gate protection known as "interval gate
protection" or a system built into the device to get around the problem of high voltage on
the gate causing a puncturing the oxide layer.

14. What are the application of MOSFET?

Application of MOSFET are
i) It can be used as, input amplifiers -in oscilloscope, electronic voltmeters
ii) In computer memories .
iii) In logic circuits ,
iv) Phase shift oscillators
v) In FM and TV receiver.

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 UNIT IV - AMPLIFIERS AND OSCILLATORS

1. What is an Op-Amp?
An operational amplifier is a multi terminal device. It is quite complex
internally. An operational amplifier is a direct coupled high gain amplifier usually
consisting of one or more differential amplifiers and usually followed by a level
translator and an output stage.

An operational amplifier is available as a single intergrated circuit package. It is

versatile device that can be used to amplify DC as well as AC input signals. It was
originally designed for computing such mathematical functions.

2. What are the characteristics of an ideal op-amp?

The characteristics of an ideal op-amp are
i. Open loop voltage gain, AOL = ∞
ii. Input impedance, RL = ∞
iii. Output impedance, R0 = 0
iv. Bandwidth, BW = ∞
v. Zero offset V0 = 0, when V1 = V2 = 0

3. Define input offset voltage.

Input offset voltage is defined as the voltage that must be applied between the input
terminals of op-amp to nullify the output.

4. Define input offset current.

Input offset current is defined as the algebraic difference between the current entering
the inverting and non-inverting terminals of an op-amp.

5. Define input bias current.

Input bias current is defined as the average of the currents entering into the input
terminals of an op-amp.

6. What are the two compensating techniques used in frequency compensation of an

amplifier?
The two types of compensating techniques used in frequency compensation of an
amplifier are
i. External compensation
ii. Internal compensation

7. What is compensated op-amp?

An op-amp, which uses a capacitor internally for compensation, is called a
compensated op-amp. This op-amp has a high gain stability and low bandwidth.

8. What are the methods used in external compensation technique?

The methods used in external compensation technique are
i. Dominant-pole compensation
ii. Pole-zero compensation

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 9. Define slew-rate.
Slew-rate is defined as the maximum rate of change of output voltage of op-
amp with respect to time.

10. How can the slew rate be made faster?

The slew rate can be made faster by having a high charging current or a small
capacitance value.

11. What are the methods used to improve slew rate?

The following methods are used to improve slew rate
i. Using higher closed-loop gain and DC supply voltage.
ii. The slew rate varies with temperature i.e., slew rate decreases with
increase in temperature.

12. What are the AC characteristics of an op-amp?

The AC characteristics of an op-amp are
i. Frequency response
ii. Slew rate

13. What are the DC characteristics of op-amp?

The DC characteristics of an op-amp are
i. Input bias current
ii. Input offset current
iii. Input offset voltage
iv. Thermal drift

14. What is the type of feedback employed in inverting op-amp amplifier?

Negative feedback is employed in the inverting op-amp amplifier.

15. List the applications of instrumentation amplifier.

The applications of instrumentation amplifier
i. Temperature indicator
ii. Temperature controller
iii. Light intensity meters
iv. Water flow meter
v. Thermal conductivity meter
vi. Analog weighing scale.

16. What is the basic building block of an op-amp?

The basic building block of an op-amp is differential amplifier.

17. Define common mode rejection ratio.

The relative sensitivity of an op-amp to a difference signal as compared to a
common mode signal is called common-mode and gives the figure of merit ρ for
the differential amplifier.
CMRR, ρ = | Ad/Ac|

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 18. What is multivibrator?
A multivibrator is a wave shaping circuit which gives symmetric or
asymmetric square wave output. It has two states. They are stable state or quasi
stable state depending upon the type of the multivibrator.

19. What is astable multivibrator?

An astable multivibrator is a square wave circuit. It has two quasistable states.
It is also referred as free running multivibrator.

20. What is monostable multivibrator?

A monostable multivibrator is a square wave shaping circuit having one stable
state and another quasistable state. It is often referred as single shot multivibrator.
It is also used as gating circuit and delay circuit.

21. What is the type of feedback used in an op-amp Schmitt trigger?

The type of feedback used in an op-amp Schmitt trigger is positive feedback.

22. Give an expression for the frequency of oscillations in an op-amp sine wave
oscillator.
The expression for the frequency of oscillations in an op-amp sine wave
oscillator is,
f = 1/( 2ΠRC)

23. What are the conditions for a sustained oscillator or what is Barkhausen
criterion?
Conditions for sustained oscillation are
i. Magnitude condition | Avβ | = 1
ii. Phase condition |_ Avβ = 0°
These conditions are called as Barkhausem criterion.

24. What are the classification of oscillators?

The classification of oscillators are
i. Base on wave form generated
a. Sinusoidal oscillator
b. Non-sinusoidal oscillator or relaxation oscillator.
Ex: Square wave, Triangular wave, Rectangular wave, etc

ii. According to principle involved

a. Negative resistance Oscillator
b. Feedback Oscillator
iii. According to frequency generated
a. Audio frequency oscillator; 20Hz – 20 kHz
b. Radio frequency oscillator; 30 kHz – 30MHz
c. Ultrahigh frequency oscillator; 30 MHz – 3 GHz
d. Microwave oscillator; 3 GHz – above.
iv. Crystal oscillators

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 25. What are the types of feedback oscillators?
The types of feedback oscillators are
i. RC – phase shift oscillator
ii. LC – oscillator
a. Tuned collector oscillatior
b. Tuned emitter oscillator
c. Tuned collector base oscillator
d. Hartley oscillator
e. Colpits oscillator
f. Clap oscillator

26. What are the conditions for oscillation?

The total phase shift of an oscillator should be 360°. For feedback oscillator, it
should satisfies Barhaused criterion.

UNIT V - PULSE CIRCUITS

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