SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRONICS: MATERIALS, DEVICES AND SIMPLE CIRCUITS

History of Vacuum Tubes Introduction to Semiconductor Electronics Lets take the latter word first Electronics: The word electronics is coined from the words electron mechanics. The subject electronics deals with the study of devices in which specific current (I) versus voltage (V) relationships obtained by controlling the production of electrons, theirs numbers and their conduction. And now Semiconductors (electronic material ): There are many substances found in nature in which the conduction of electricity and relationship b/w current & voltage are different from the one obeyed by the Ohms law (in which the current is directly proportional to electric potential difference).

Define electronic materials Conductor have low resistance which allows electrons to flow them with ease The elements in the first three groups of the periodic table like alkali metals, noble metals (copper, silver, aluminum & nickel )are good conductors due to the presence of free electrons or the valence electron in their outer shell (refer the atomic structure), which could be easily stripped away from the atom producing the current flow. Insulator have high resistance which suppresses electrical current flow Non-metals have the atoms tightly bounded to one another, so the electrons are difficult to strip away for the current flow, which results in resistance Semiconductor can be conditioned to allow or suppress electrical current flow to act as a good conductor or insulators or anything in between. Elements in the fourth group of the periodic table like Si and Ge have greater resistance than good conductors but less than bad conductors. They are known as semiconductors and Silicon is the best and widely used one.

 Characteristics of Semiconductor Characteristics 1: The main characteristic of a semiconductor element in its purest form has four electrons in its outer or valence orbit. Atoms have their ability to link one another sharing their outer shell electrons to form a physical structure called a crystal lattice. This bonding is known as covalent bonding. The diamond crystal lattice structure forms an excellent insulator since all the atoms are bound to one another, the electrons are difficult to dislodge for current flow. Characteristics 2: T he resistivity of the good conductors increases with temperature, while the resistivity of the semiconductors decreases on increasing the temperature unto a certain limit. At absolute zero temperature, it behaves as insulators as the valence electrons are bound in covalent bonds. At room temperature, these bonds break due to thermal oscillations of atoms freeing the electrons which increase conductivity. Deficiency of electron in a bond produces a vacant space which is known as a hole. The number density of free electrons (ne) and holes (nh) in a pure semiconductor are equal. Pure semiconductor is called intrinsic semiconductor. Hence electrons and holes are called intrinsic charge carriers.

How do we make Semiconductors conductors Answer is doping (Extrinsic Semiconductors) To make the semiconductor conduct electricity, other atoms called impurities must be added. Impurities are different elements. This process is called doping. The heavier the doping, the greater the conductivity or the lower the resistance. N Type Semiconductor: An impurity or element like Antimony or Arsenic has 5 valence electrons. Adding arsenic (doping) will allow four of the arsenic valence electrons to bond with the neighboring silicon atoms. The one electron left over for each arsenic atom becomes available to conduct current flow. If you use lots of arsenic atoms for doping, there will be lots of extra electrons so the resistance of the material will be low and current will flow freely. If you use only a few, there will be fewer free electrons so the resistance will be high and less current will flow. By controlling the doping amount, virtually any resistance can be achieved. P Type Semiconductor: You can also dope a semiconductor material with an atom such as boron that has only 3 valence electrons. The 3 electrons in the outer orbit do form covalent bonds with its neighboring semiconductor atoms as before. But one electron is missing

from the bond. This place where a fourth electron should be is referred to as a hole. The hole assumes a positive charge so it can attract electrons from some other source. Holes become a type of current carrier like the electron to support current flow. Explain how current flows in semiconductor materials Electrons from the negative terminal of the supply enter the semiconductor material and are attracted by the positive charge of the atoms missing one of their electrons. Current (electrons) flows from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.

The positive terminal of the supply pulls the electrons from the holes leaving the holes to attract more electrons. Current (electrons) flows from the negative terminal to the positive terminal.

Define Diode Combine a P-Type & N-Type semiconductor, there will be excess holes in the P-section and excess electrons in the N-section, both the P & N sections are electrically neutral. The electrons diffuse from N to P section and these electrons occupy holes of the P-section near the junction and a small amount of holes also diffuse from P to N section. This results in steady electric field near the junction. The electrons have to overcome this i increasing electric field to diffuse from N to P side. The diffusion of electrons stops when the electric field is sufficiently established to oppose the diffusion. The electrons are no longer the majority charge carrier in the small region of the N type material near the junction and same is the case with the hole in the small region of the Ptype material, this region is known as depletion region or P-N Junction. The varying electric

potential at the region near the junction is called depletion barrier. Less the impurity atom added to the P and N type material, wider the depletion region and weaker the electric field intensity near the junction. The depletion region contains immobile positive and negative charges which constitute a capacitor having depletion capacitance or transition capacitance. Value of the capacitance varies with voltage is known as varactor diode or variable diode. Static Characteristics of P-N Junction Diode Forward Bias Reverse Bias Symbolic representation of diode

Diodes as Rectifiers - Rectification is the process of converting alternating voltage into direct voltage. The conventional current flows from P to N in the forward bias mode, but the current is almost zero in the reverse bias mode. Thus, when alternating voltage is applied to the diode, current will flow in the circuit only in that half cycle for which the P-N junction is forward biased. In the next half cycle, there will be no current the diode becomes reverse biased. Half wave rectifier quick explanation with diagram & circuit Full ware rectifier quick explanation with diagram & circuit

Certain specific P-N Junction Diodes - Zener diode - LED - Photo diode - Solar cell Define Transistors - Transistor is device made up of two PN Junction diodes Two type of transistors are PNP transistor sandwiching a thin N-type semiconductor between two P-type semiconductors NPN transistor - sandwiching a thin P-type semiconductor between two N-type semiconductors Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)

Working of Transistor and define the Kirchhoffs law (emitter current = base current + collector current) Type of Transistor Circuit Common-Base circuit Common-Emitter circuit Common-Collector circuit Characteristics of Transistor (explain this using the static, input and output characteristics curves, showing the relationship b/w voltage & corresponding current of transistor) Input resistance Output resistance Current gain Transconductance

Transistors as Amplifiers & Oscillators (just touch up on the working, may be few question or formulas may come handy)

Refer the site below for details, incase you need further reference: http://www.scribd.com/doc/30637814/Semiconductor-Electronics-Materials-Devices-andSimple-Circuits