CLASS XII (CBSE)

PHYSICS

UNIT 14
SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRONICS: MATERIALS, DEVICES AND SIMPLE CIRCUITS

OVERVIEW

OVERVIEW
CLASSIFICATION OF METALS, CONDUCTORS AND

SEMICONDUCTORS
INTRINSIC & EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR p-n JUNCTION SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE & APPLICATION SPECIAL PURPOSE p-n JUNCTION DIODES JUNCTION TRANSISTOR DIGITAL ELECTRONICS AND LOGIC GATES INTEGRATED CIRCUITS SUMMARY

CLASSIFICATION
On the basis of the relative values of electrical conductivity ( ) or resistivity ( = 1/ ), the solids are broadly classified as: (i) Metals: They possess very low resistivity (or high conductivity). ~ 102 108 m ~ 102 108 S m1 (ii) Semiconductors: They have resistivity or conductivity intermediate to metals and insulators. ~ 105 106 m ~ 105 106 S m1 (iii)Insulators: They have high resistivity (or low conductivity). ~ 1011 1019 m ~ 1011 1019 S m1

SEMICONDUCTOR
(i) Elemental semiconductors: Si and Ge

(ii) Compound semiconductors: Examples are: Inorganic: CdS, GaAs, CdSe, InP, etc. Organic: anthracene, doped pthalocyanines, etc. Organic polymers: polypyrrole, polyaniline, polythiophene, etc.

On the basis of energy bands

Each electron will have a different energy level. These different energy levels with continuous energy variation form what are called energy bands.

On the basis of energy bands

The energy band which includes the energy levels of the valence electrons is called the valence band. The energy band above the valence band is called the conduction band.

Forbidden Energy Gap

When electrons in the valance energy band acquire an additional amount of energy, equal to or greater than Eg, these electrons cross to the Conduction Band & become free to conduct current.

Forbidden Energy Gap

The gap between the top of the valence band and bottom of the conduction

band is called the energy band gap (Energy gap Eg). It may be large, small, or zero, depending upon the material.

Energy Gap

Difference between energy bands of (a) metals, (b) insulators and (c) semiconductors

Metals

Insulators

Semiconductors

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
An intrinsic semiconductor made of Ge or Si & at T = 0 K behaves like insulator. At T > 0 K, four electron-hole pairs are thermally generated. The filled circles represent electrons and empty fields represent holes.

T= 0 K

T> 0 K

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
A suitable impurity is added to the pure

semiconductor, the conductivity of the semiconductor is increased manifold. Such materials are known as extrinsic semiconductors or impurity semiconductors. The deliberate addition of a desirable impurity is called doping and the impurity atoms are called dopants.

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR There are two types of dopants used in doping the tetravalent Si or Ge: (i) Pentavalent (valency 5); like Arsenic (As), Antimony (Sb), Phosphorous (P), etc. (ii) Trivalent (valency 3); like Indium (In),Boron (B), Aluminium (Al), etc.

N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR (a)Pentavalent donor atom (As, Sb, P, etc.) doped for tetravalent Si or Ge giving n-type semiconductor (b) The energy required is ~ 0.01 eV for germanium, and 0.05 eV for silicon, to separate this electron from its atom.

N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
This is in contrast to the energy required to jump the forbidden band (about 0.72 eV for germanium and about 1.1 eV for silicon) at room temperature in the intrinsic semiconductor. Thus, the

pentavalent dopant is donating one extra electron for conduction and hence is known as donor impurity.

P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR

(a) Trivalent acceptor atom (In, Al, B etc.) doped in tetravalent Si or Ge lattice giving p-type semiconductor.

(b) The dopant has one valence electron less than Si or Ge and, therefore, this atom can form covalent bonds with neighbouring three Si atoms but does not have any electron to offer to the fourth Si atom. So the bond between the fourth neighbour and the trivalent atom has a vacancy or hole. Thus the hole is available for conduction. It is obvious that one acceptor atom gives one hole.

p-n junction formation

Consider a thin p-type silicon (p-Si) semiconductor wafer. By adding

precisely a small quantity of pentavalent impurity, part of the p-Si wafer can be converted into n-Si. There are several processes by which. a semiconductor can be formed.

p-n junction formation

The wafer now contains p-region and nregion and a metallurgical junction between p-, and n- region. Two important processes occur during the formation of a p-n junction: diffusion and drift.

p-n junction formation During the formation of p-n junction, and due to the concentration gradient across p-, and n- sides, holes diffuse from p-side to n-side (p electrons diffuse from n-side to p-side (n n) and p).

This motion of charge carries gives rise to diffusion current across the junction

When this happens, the free charges disappear in a small cross-section around the junction. This is called the Depletion Region..

As the depletion region builds up, space charges across the junction increases & as result potential difference builds up across the junction.

Eventually, this potential becomes large to prevent further movement of electrons & holes thro junction & acts as barrier against the flow of charges, & is known as Potential Barrier or Junction Barrier. At room temp ,the barrier potential is 0.7 volts for Si & 0.3 volts for Ge.

p-n JUNCTION

SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE

(a) Semiconductor diode (b) Symbol for p-n junction diode

p-n junction diode under forward bias

(a)p-n junction diode under forward bias

(b) Barrier potential (1) without battery (2) Low battery voltage and (3) High voltage battery

p-n junction diode under reverse bias

(a)

(a) Diode under reverse bias, (b) Barrier potential under reverse bias

V-I characteristics of a p-n junction diode (a) in forward bias (b) in reverse bias (c) Typical V-I characteristics of a silicon diode

APPLICATION OF JUNCTION DIODE AS A RECTIFIER

Half-wave rectifier

Thin gold foil

Half-wave rectifier circuit

Input ac voltage and output voltage waveforms from the rectifier circuit

Full-wave rectifier

(a) A Full-wave rectifier circuit (b) Input wave forms given to the diode D1 at A and to the diode D2 at B (c) Output waveform across the load RL connected in the full-wave rectifier circuit

SPECIAL PURPOSE p-n JUNCTION DIODES

Zener diode is designed to operate under reverse bias in the breakdown region and used as a voltage regulator.

Photodiodes used for detecting optical signal (photodetectors). Light emitting diodes (LED) which convert electrical energy into light. Photovoltaic devices which convert optical radiation into electricity (solar cells).

ZENER DIODE
Zener diode is fabricated by heavily

doping both p-, and n- sides of the junction. Due to this, depletion region formed is very thin (<106 m) and the

electric field of the junction is extremely high (~5106 V/m) even for a small reverse bias voltage of about 5V.

ZENER DIODE
The I-V characteristics of a Zener diode is shown in Fig. (b). It is seen that when the applied reverse bias voltage(V) reaches the breakdown voltage (Vz) of the Zener diode, there is a large change in the current This property of the Zener diode is used for regulating supply voltages so that they are constant.

Zener diode (a)symbol (b) I-V characteristics Voltage Regulator ckt

when the ac input voltage of a rectifier fluctuates, its rectified output also fluctuates. To get a constant dc voltage from the dc unregulated output of a rectifier, we use a Zener diode as a voltage regulator

Photodiode
It is operated under reverse bias. When the photodiode is illuminated with light (photons) with energy (h ) greater than the energy gap (Eg) of the semiconductor, then electron-hole pairs are generated due to the absorption of photons.

Photodiode
The magnitude of the photocurrent depends on the intensity of incident light (photocurrent is proportional to incident light intensity).

(a) An illuminated photodiode under reverse bias (b) I-V characteristics of a photodiode for different illumination intensity I4 > I3 > I2 > I1

Light emitting diode It is a heavily doped p-n junction which under forward bias emits spontaneous radiation.

LEDs have the following advantages over conventional incandescent low power lamps

Light emitting diode

(i) Low operational voltage and less power. (ii) Fast action and no warm-up time required.

Light emitting diode

(iii) The bandwidth of emitted light is 100 to 500 or in other words it is nearly (but not exactly) monochromatic. (iv) Long life and ruggedness. (v) Fast on-off switching capability.

Solar cell
A solar cell is basically a p-n junction which generates emf when solar

radiation falls on the p-n junction.

Solar cell

(a) A typical illuminated p-n junction solar cell (b) I-V characteristics of a solar cell

JUNCTION TRANSISTOR
A transistor has three doped regions forming two p-n junctions between them. Obviously, there are two types of transistors (i) n-p-n transistor: Here two segments of n-type semiconductor (emitter and collector) are separated by a segment of p-type semiconductor (base).

JUNCTION TRANSISTOR
(ii) p-n-p transistor: Here two segments of p-type semiconductor (termed as emitter and collector) are separated by a segment of n-type semiconductor (termed as base).

(a) Schematic representations of a n-p-n transistor and p-n-p transistor, and (b) Symbols for n-p-n and p-n-p transistors.

Bias Voltage applied on: (a) p-n-p transistor and (b) n-p-n transistor

The paths followed by the majority and minority carriers in a n-p-n is exactly the same as that for the p-n-p transistor. But the current paths are exactly opposite IE = IC + IB We also see that IC IE.

In the active state of the transistor the emitter-base junction acts as a low resistance while the base collector acts as a high resistance.

Common emitter transistor characteristics

The transistor can be connected in either of the following three configurations: Common Emitter (CE), Common Base (CB), Common Collector (CC) The transistor is most widely used in the CE configuration

Common emitter transistor characteristics

Circuit arrangement for studying the input and output characteristics of n-p-n transistor in CE configuration.

(a) Typical input characteristics (b) Typical output characteristics.

Some important ac parameters of transistors as shown below.

(i) Input resistance (ri): This is defined as the ratio of change in base emitter voltage ( VBE) to the resulting change in base current ( IB) at constant collectoremitter voltage (VCE). This is dynamic (ac resistance) and as can be seen from the input characteristic, its value varies with the operating current in the transistor.
The value of ri can be anything from a few hundreds to a few thousand Ohms.

(ii) Output resistance (ro): This is defined as the ratio of change in collectoremitter voltage ( VCE) to the change in collector current ( IC)at a constant base current IB.
The output resistance of the transistor is mainly controlled by the bias of the base collector junction. The high magnitude of the output resistance (of the order of 100 k ) is due to the reverse-biased state of this diode.

(iii) Current amplification factor ( ):

This is defined as the ratio of the change in collector current to the change in base current at a constant collector-emitter voltage (VCE) when the transistor is inactive state. This is also known as small signal current gain & its value is very large.

Transistor as a device

The transistor can be used as a device application depending on the configuration used (namely CB, CC and CE), the biasing of the E-B and B-C junction and the operation region namely cutoff, active region and saturation.

Transistor as a device

(i) Transistor as a switch When the transistor is used in the cutoff or saturation state it acts as a switch by analysing the behaviour of the base-biased transistor in CE configuration

Transistor as a switch

Control Ckt

Power Ckt

(a) Base-biased transistor in CE configuration, (b) Transfer characteristic.

Transistor as a switch

A small current in the control ckt causes a large current flow in the power ckt. With no current in the control ckt, the tansistor acts like an open switch, with some current in the control ckt, the transistor acts like a closed switch.

(ii) Transistor as an amplifier In general, amplifiers are used to amplify alternating signals.

A simple circuit of a CE-transistor amplifier.

Using the transistor as an amplifier, it has to operate in the active region.

The input (base emitter) circuit is forward biased and the output (collector emitter) circuit is reverse biased. When no a.c. signal is applied, the potential difference Vc between the collector and the emitter, is given by

(ii) Transistor as an amplifier

An amplifier is biased between cutoff & saturation. The input & output signals on this CE amplifier are 180 degree out of phase. That is, the input signal goes positive, the output will go negative. The voltage gain is 150 for this amplifier circuit.

Feedback amplifier and transistor oscillator

A portion of the output power is returned back (feedback) to the input in phase with the starting power (this process is termed positive feedback) The feedback can be achieved by inductive coupling (through mutual inductance)or LC or RC networks.

(a) Principle of a transistor amplifier with positive feedback working as an oscillator and (b) Tuned collector oscillator, (c) Rise and fall (or built up) of current Ic and Ie due to the inductive coupling.

We have described an oscillator as a positive feedback amplifier. For stable oscillations, the voltage feedback (Vfb) from the output voltage (Vo) should be such that after amplification (A) it should again become Vo.

oscillator
If a fraction and after is feedback, then Vfb = Vo. amplification its value

A(vo. ) should be equal to Vo. This means that the criteria for stable = 1.

oscillations to be sustained is A

This is known as Barkhausen's Criteria.

In an oscillator, the feedback is in the same phase (positive feedback). If the feedback voltage is in opposite phase (negative feedback), the gain is less than 1 and it can never work as oscillator.

oscillator
It will be an amplifier with reduced gain. However, the negative feedback also reduces noise and distortion in an amplifier which is an

advantageous feature.

A binary number has only two digits 0 (say, 0V) and 1 (say, 5V). In digital electronics we use only these two levels of voltage .Such signals are called Digital Signals. In digital circuits only two values

(represented by 0 or 1) of the input and output voltage are permissible.

DIGITAL ELECTRONICS AND LOGIC GATES

(a) Analogue signal

(b) Digital signal.

DIGITAL ELECTRONICS AND LOGIC GATES

There are some special circuits which handle the digital data consisting of 0 and 1 levels. . This forms the subject of Digital Electronics

Logic gates
(i) NOT gate This is the most basic gate, with one input and one output. It produces a 1 output if the input is 0 and vice-versa. That is, it produces an inverted version of the input at its output. This is why it is also known as an inverter.

Logic gates
(i) NOT gate
(a) Logic symbol (b) Truth table of NOT gate.

ii) OR Gate An OR gate has two or more inputs with one output. The output Y is 1 when either input A or input B or both are 1s, that is, if any of the input is high, the output is high.

ii) OR Gate

(a) Logic symbol

(b) Truth table of OR gate

(iii) AND Gate An AND gate has two or more inputs and one output. The output Y of AND gate is 1 only when input A and input B are both 1.

(iii) AND Gate

(a) Logic symbol

(b) Truth table of AND gate

(iv) NAND Gate

This is an AND gate followed by a NOT gate. If inputs A and B are both 1, the output Y is not 1. The gate gets its name from this NOT AND behaviour. NAND gates are also called Universal Gates since by using thesegates you can realise other basic gates like OR, AND and NOT.

(iv) NAND Gate

(a) Logic symbol

(b) Truth table of NAND gate

(v) NOR Gate

It has two or more inputs and one output. A NOToperation applied after OR gate gives a NOT-OR gate (or simply NOR gate). Its output Y is 1 only when both inputs A and B are 0, i.e., neither one input nor the other is 1.

(v) NOR Gate

NOR gates are considered as universal gates because you can obtain all the gates like AND, OR, NOT by using only NOR gates

(a) Logic symbol

(b) Truth table of NOR gate.

INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
The concept of fabricating an entire circuit (consisting of many passive components like R and C and active devices like diode and transistor) on a small single block (or chip) of a semiconductor has revolutionised the electronics technology. Such a circuit is known as Integrated Circuit (IC).

Depending on nature of input signals, ICs canbe grouped in two categories: (a)linear or analogue ICs (b) digital ICs. .

SUMMARY

Points to be remembered

Important Formulae

THANK YOU