Early Discovery

In 1874, Ferdinand Braun, a

German scientist, discovered that
crystals could conduct current in one
direction under certain conditions. This
phenomenon is called rectification.

In 1895, the Italian Gugielmo Marconi

first showed a new technology invented by Nikola
Tesla through radio signals. This was the
beginning of wireless communication. Crystal
detectors were used in radio receivers. It is able to
separate the carrier wave from the part of the
signal carrying the information.

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee Source: http://www.lucent.com/minds/transistor/

 Fleming Valve: A Rectifying Vacuum Tube

In 1904, John Ambrose Fleming, an English

physicist, devised the first practical electron tube known as the
"Fleming Valve”.
In the early 1910s, he ameliorated the reception of these
signals by building up his research on the "Edison Effect" (dark
particles smudge the inside of glass light bulbs as current flows
through one direction), Fleming attached a light bulb outfitted
with two electrodes to a receiving system. In it, electrons flew
from the negatively charged cathode to the positively charged
anode. As the current within the tube was moving from
negative to positive, the weak incoming signal were rectified
into detectable direct current.

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee Source: http://www.lucent.com/minds/transistor/

 Audion: An Amplifying Vacuum Tube

In 1906, Lee de Forest, an American scientist,

added a third electrode (called a grid) to the electron tube,
which is now called a triode. This is a network of small
wires around the vacuum tube cathode . Thus, the
amplifying vacuum tube, the most recent ancestor of the
transistor, was born.

Although solid-state technology overwhelmingly dominates

today's world of electronics, vacuum tubes are holding out in
two small but vibrant areas. They do so for entirely different
reasons. Microwave technology relies on tubes for their power-
handling capability at high frequencies ["Tubes: still vital after
all these years," Robert S. Symons, IEEE Spectrum, April,
1998]. The other area--the creation and reproduction of music--
is a more complicated and controversial story.

Sources: http://www.lucent.com/minds/transistor/
EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee http://www.svetlana.com/docs/tubeworks.html
 ENIAC: The First Computer

The University of Pennsylvania's ENIAC computer, due

to its incorporation of thousands of vacuum tubes
(18,000 vacuum tubes), filled several large rooms and
consumed enough power to light ten homes. The
vacuum tube's cathode required a good amount of heat
in order to boil out electrons and often burned out. Also,
the actual glass tube was fragile and bulky.

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 First Transistor

1947
1st transistor 1st commercially available TR
AT&T Bell Lab Raytheon CK703, 1948

3 inventors (John Bardeen,

Walter Brattain, and
William Shockley) share
Nobel prize
1st commercially successful TR
Raytheon CK722, 1953
Ge-based pnp low power TR
Source: http://www.lucent.com/minds/transistor/

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee Source: http://roiconnect.com/transistor.htm

 First Integrated Circuit

Integrated Circuit (IC):

a large number of individual components
(transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc.) fabricated
side by side on a common substrate and wired
together to perform a particular circuit function.

1958, Jack Kilby,

Texas Instrument

A part of news release: October 19, 1961

The aeronautical Systems Division, U.S. Air Force, and Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, Texas, today demonstrated
in operation a microminiature digital computer utilizing semiconductor networks. The advanced experimental equipment has
a total volume of only 6.3 cubic inches and weighs only 10 ounces. It provides the identical electrical functions of a
computer using conventional components which is 150 times its size and 48 times its weight and which also was
demonstrated for purposes of comparison. It uses 587 digital circuits (Solid Circuit(tm) semiconductor networks) each
formed within a minute bar of silicon material. The larger computer uses 8500 conventional components and has a volume of
1000 cubic inches and weight of 480 ounces. Application of semiconductor networks will give equipments higher reliability
than can be achieved presently from conventional components. The improvement will be realized because the integrated
structure of the networks minimizes connections and eliminates the individual packaging required for conventional
components. In addition, the network is formed by relatively few process steps, allowing a high degree of control, and uses
only very high purity material for its fabrication.
EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackbuilt.shtml
 Moore’s law

Gordon Moore: a co-founder of Intel # of devices

“Component counts per unit area SSI (Small scale 1 ~ 100

doubles every two years .” IC)
MSI (Medium 102 ~ 103
scale IC)
LSI (Large scale 103 ~ 105
IC)
VLSI (Very Large 105 ~ 106
Feature size reduction enables scale IC)
the increase of complexity. ULSI (Ultra Large 106 ~ 109
scale IC)
GSI (Giga scale 109 ~
integration)
RLSI (Ridiculously Next to GSI
Large scale IC) ?

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 History of IC: Increase of complexity

Intel Pentium 4
processors
3.2 GHz

0.13 µm technology
Transistor counts:
over 54 million
transistors

IBM announced in June, 2001 that it has created the world's fastest silicon-based transistor, and that it
expects the new technology to drive communications chips to the astonishing speed of 100 gigahertz within
two years. IBM said its approach uses a combination of silicon and germanium to make ultra-thin
transistors that can speed along information far faster, while using far less power, than current technology.
Company researchers said it can reach speeds of 210 GHz while using just one milliamp of electrical
current.
EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee
 History of IC: Decrease of feature size

Red blood cell: 7.5 µm

Minimum feature size (design

rule):

4Gb DRAM => 0.13 µm

Intel Pentium IV, 3.2 GHz =>

0.13 µm

Bacteria: ~ 0.1 µm

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 The smaller feature size the better!

Early Later
generation generation
~ 2 inch 16 Mb DRAM 16 Mb DRAM

80~100 µm

Early 1960s IC Paper clip and

4 TRs and several resistors 16 Mb DRAM 0.18 µm lines
in 64 Mb DRAM
and human hair

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 The larger wafer the better !

2” dia. 12” dia. 12” pizza

# of Production
dies cost

Wafer size Wafer size

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 ITRS (International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors)

1997 1999 2001 2003 2006 2009 2012

DRAM (half-pitch) 0.25µ 0.18µ 0.15µ 0.13µ 0.10µ 0.07µ 0.05µ
MPU (gate length) 0.20µ 0.14µ 0.12µ 0.10µ 0.07µ 0.05µ 0.035µ
DRAMs Samples 256-Mbit 1-Gbit ------- 4-Gbit 16-Gbit 64-Gbit 256-Gbit
Logic transistors/cm²
MPUs 3.7 M 6.2 M 10 M 18 M 39 M 84 M 180 M
ASICs 8M 14 M 16 M 24 M 40 M 64 M 100 M
Voltage (V) 1.8-2.5 1.5-1.8 1.2-1.5 1.2-1.5 0.9-1.2 0.6-0.9 0.5-0.6
Wafer size (mm) 200 (8”) 300 (12”) 300 300 300 450 (18”) 450

Source: http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~dalton/refdesign/docs/sia_roadmap97_summary_eet97.html

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 NTRS Roadmap: Beyond CMOS

Xe atoms individually placed on a Ni

single crystal surface.

Beyond CMOS: What’s next? Should be quantum devices (QDs)!

In fact, state-of-the-art semiconductor structures will soon be plagued by dopant fluctuation and
particle noise problems as well as quantum mechanical effects such as state discretization and
tunneling. Quantum dots are beyond the SIA roadmap, since it remains focused silicon scaling.
However, QDs do offer near-term applications to far infrared detectors and sources in other
material systems. In fact QDs have been developed since the late 80's and several
implementations have already reached room temperature operation. Quantum dot device and
circuit concepts utilize rather than fight the discreteness of the electron charge and they offer a
possible breakthrough in device and circuit technology.

Source:
EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee http://hpc.jpl.nasa.gov/PEP/gekco/nemo3D/SIA_roadmap_leap.html
 Eelectronics and Nature

Nano
MEMS devices manipulation
PCB Diced chip
TR on IC Nanotube FET
m cm mm µm nm Å

Grain of sand:
Ant eye
~ 1 mm
segment:
~ 5 µm
Human: DNA:
~2m Hair: ~ ~ nm
Ant: ~ 5mm
100 µm Bacteria: Atom:
~ 0.1 µm ~Å
EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee
 Dollars & Sense

Electronics market
~ $ 1.2 trillion
IC sales (annual worldwide)
approximately $ 345 billion (In 2003)
exponential increase with time over the past 3 decades
cost for electronic function exponentially decreases
Personal computers
100 ~ 200 millions sold
PC sales ↓, Communication ↓, digital appliances sales ↑
So, what does it mean to me?
Yeah, there are plenty of high salary jobs !!!! ☺
FYI: Avg. starting salary for EE graduates $ 50,000 (Dec. 2000)
Little bit shaky last two years
Automobiles sales
~ 50 million cars sold

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee

 Some fundamental questions

Why study “Electronic Devices”?

They are the backbone of today’s technology.
Computers, Communication devices, Transportation (radars, dash board
electronics), Scientific instruments, cars, homes (radios, clocks, …) ……………..

Why study the physical operation?

Hey, you are not “electricians” or “technicians”. We are “engineers”.
You need to DESIGN systems.
You need to make NEW or IMPROVED devices.

What devices will we study?

Semiconductor devices
p-n junction diodes, Field effect transistors (FETs), and Bipolar junction transistors
(BJTs)

Textbook: Solid state electronic devices

We will study some fundamental solid state electronic devices only.

EE 3310 Electronic Devices, Dr. J.B. Lee