Semicondu Ctors : Physics Project.

Semicondu
ctors
Physics Project..
Submitted by : Kartik
Saini
Submitted to : P.C.Verma
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
Albert Einstein
1 | physics project.
Welcome to this
basic tour of
semiconductor
physics! Two of
our most
excellent guides,
Raj and Simran,
will take you
through.
Simran and Raj
explain things in
different ways.
Simran tries to be
correct, and likes
to stick to the
facts. Raj is easygoing, and uses
examples from
the everyday
world around us.
let Simran and
Raj explain a few
things!
Let's begin this journey into the world of semiconductors

with a look at the history books. In the early 1900s, not
much was known of the world at an atomic level, and
even less so at the subatomic level. Physics, to a large
extent, still calmly followed classical rules. But new
discoveries like Rntgen's x-rays, Thomson's electron
and Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus made
it clear that new rules were needed. Scientists
like Planck, Einstein, Bohr,Pauli and Heisenberg, to
name a few, all contributed to the development and
understanding necessary for the creation of the new
paradigm of quantum physics. The development of
quantum physics also laid the ground for 'Solid State
Physics' which is a discipline explaining the internal
atomic structure and the electronic properties of the
materials that we see in our everyday life such as metals,
plastics, glass, etc.
The new ways of looking at

physics came in handy in 1947.
Following in the footsteps of their
predecessors,William Shockley
,John BardeenandWalter
Brattainmade their
breakthrough discovery of the
transistor effect by constructing
the first crude transistor. A vital
part of this invention was the
semiconductor and the theory
behind it. In 1956 the trio got the
Nobel Prize in Physics for:
Since then semiconductor

devices have evolved
tremendously. Today transistors
10 | p h y s i c s p r o j e c t .
are extremely small and come
packed in millions onto tiny
circuits. The integrated circuit

was invented byJack Kilbyand
Robert Noyce. This invention is
essential for digital technologies
Before we start, it would be a good idea to
like clarify
computers,
mobile
phones,
what electricity
is. Electricity
can be
as a stream
of electrons.
CDs,seen
mp3s
or DVDs.
TheElectrons
list are
tiny particles with a negative charge. So,
could
be explained,
made almost
roughly
electricityinfinite.
is a stream of
flowing
from one point to another.
For electrons
instance,
without
semiconductor technology there
would be no Internet, so you
would not be able to read this
text.
A good way to explain an electric current

passing through a cable would be to imagine a
pipe filled with marbles that exactly fit the
pipe. If we push a marble into the pipe in one
end, the motion would be distributed, each
marble pushing its neighbor, so that almost
instantly a marble in the other end would be
pushed out of the pipe.
The word "conductivity" is used to

describe a material's ability to transport
electricity. This ability varies in different
materials. Metals, like copper and gold,
are good conductors. Glass or plastics,
on the other hand, are very bad
conductors. In fact, they don't conduct at
all. Materials that don't conduct current
are called insulators. Semiconductors,
like silicon, are materials with
conductivity somewhere between good
conductors and insulators.
Why are semiconductors so special?

For one thing, we can very easily
control how current passes through
them. We don't have that option with
metal since metal conducts electricity
under almost any condition. Because
of this, semiconductors are ideal for
the construction of electric
components such as transistors.
Transistors can serve as switches
(on/off) or amplifiers, and are the key
elements in integrated circuits.
Integrated circuits are more
commonly known as microprocessors,
computer chips or memory chips, and
consist of millions of transistors
packed onto a tiny piece of silicon.
Semiconductors can be made of a single

material or a combination of several
different materials. In early
semiconductor devices germanium was
often used. However in today's
semiconductor industry, silicon is
commonly used.
Silicon is very easy to find in Nature.

Ordinary sand, like on the beach or in the
desert for example, is nothing more than
one silicon atom combined with two
oxygen atoms. However, if you want
silicon in its pure form suitable for the
production of, for instance, computer
chips it has to be purified in a carefully
monitored process.
One of the main reasons for the

popularity of silicon is that it is stable and
can be heated to a rather high degree
without loosing its material
characteristics. This means that
engineers can be sure it will perform
according to their plans, even under
quite extreme conditions.
Just to make sure we avoid

misunderstandings, when we talk about
silicon, we don't mean silicone spelled
with an "e" at the end, 'cause that is a
material mostly known for its use in
human implants.
To understand the principles of

semiconductors, it is good to first
understand the basics of atoms and
energy levels within atoms. So that's
where we're going to start.
If we look at the solid material of Silicon we

will see that it is built from a huge number
of Silicon atoms that are brought together.
When the atoms interact with each other,
the atomic shells of each atom interacts
with the atomic shells of neighboring
atoms. On an energy scale, the overlapping
energy shells of all the separate atoms
form energy bands that are similar to the
energy shells in the single atom. Between
the bands no electrons are allowed. In a
simplified way, it is almost as if the solid
material is an enlargement of the single
atom.
To continue our journey, you don't

need to fully understand what Simran
just said. But what you do need to
understand is, that the highest energy
band that is occupied by electrons in
a material is called the valence
band, just like in the single atom
where the highest shell occupied by
electrons is called the valence shell.
The band with energy one step higher
than the valence band is
theconduction band. The energy
gap between these two bands, where
no electrons are allowed, is called
the band gap.
If you think of the energy bands as

steps in a staircase then the band gap
is the area between the steps. You
can put your foot on the first step of
the stairs and you can put it on the
second, but you can never put it
somewhere between the first and
second.
A very important feature of the

semiconductor material is the electron-hole
pair. To get a semiconductor to conduct a
current, we must make an electron jump from
an occupied to an unoccupied energy level.
When it does this it leaves a hole (an empty
state). This hole can be filled by another
electron, which itself leaves a new hole.
Therefore, we could say that both the hole
and the electron contribute to the
conductivity as they move around in the
material. The hole is like a positive charge
(lack of negative), the electron is negative.
It's a little bit like this simple puzzle game

where you move pieces around to form an
image. The moving pieces correspond to the
electrons, of course.
As mentioned earlier, the semiconductor has a

conducting capacity somewhere between the conductor
and the insulator. If we look closer at the materials we can
see why they behave like this. Before we go on, note that
contrary to what its name may suggest, the conduction
band is not the only band where conduction of a current
may occur. Conduction is equally possible in the valence
band.
In a good conductor like a metal, the highest energy band

with electrons (valence band) is only partially filled. This
means that the electrons can accelerate. In other words,
they gain energy so that they can transfer to higher
energy levels that are empty. Simply put, in a conductor
there is plenty of room for the electrons to jump from an
occupied state to an empty one.
If you felt that Simran's explanation of the

conduction properties in different materials
was crystal clear, you can skip the following
part. But if you're still a little unsure of how
it works, I will try to show you another way
of looking at this phenomenon. To help my
explanation, I am going to use the
unrealistic cup with the water-filled
compartments again. The compartments
equal the energy bands of the material and
the water equals the electrons. This time
the cup only has two compartments, one for
the valence band and one for the
conduction band.
In a conductor, the valence band is only

partially filled. This means that, in our cup,
we are going to have the valence
compartment half-filled with water. If we tip
the cup from side to side, we will see that it
is easy for the water to move back and
forth, just as it is easy for the electrons to
move within the conductor.
A semiconductor at low temperature is an

insulator because there is no place for the
electrons to go to. The valence
compartment is filled and no matter how we
tip the cup there is no room for the water to
move into. At room temperature, the heat
(energy) makes the atoms vibrate slightly,
enough for a few of the electrons to break
their bonds and jump into the conduction
band. If we take some water (electrons) from
the valence band and move it to the
conduction band, we will have place for the
water (electrons) to move in both bands. If
we tip our cup, water will move both in the
valence and conduction band. Thus, in a
semiconductor at room temperature, a small
current will flow.
In an insulator, the valence band is

completely filled, and as a result no
electrons can move. In the cup, no water will
move no matter how we tip it. The band gap
between the valence and the conduction
band is huge. To move water (electrons)
from our valence compartment to the
conduction compartment, we would need to
add such an amount of energy that our cup
(material) would be close to breaking before
any water (electrons) would begin to move
between the compartments.
Now we are going to talk about doping. Maybe

the word makes you think of athletes taking
illegal drugs to perform better. Although doping in
sports is outrageous, the parallel between that
and doping of semiconductors is not too farfetched. In both cases you have something pure,
like an athlete or a semiconducting material, and
add something foreign to it to change its
performance.
So, in the process of doping you add a tiny

amount of atoms from another material to the
pure semiconductor. By doing so, you can
drastically increase its ability to conduct a
current. There are two forms of
doping, p and n. p stands for positive and n for
negative. Finally, two words that are good to
know: a pure non-doped semiconductor is
called intrinsic, while a doped semiconductor
material is called extrinsic.
Before we look at examples of doped

semiconductors, let's look at how the silicon
atoms in pure silicon interact to form the crystal
structure of the material. In pure silicon, each
atom has four valence electrons and these are
shared with four neighboring silicon atoms to
make four double bonds. Now each atom will
have a completely filled valence shell of eight
electrons. At low temperature this bond is very
stable, completely filling the valence band and
thus making conduction impossible. Here is a
model of the structure of pure silicon:
In a pure semiconductor at low temperature, the

valence layer is completely filled with electrons and the
conduction band is empty. That would be equal to one
filled and one empty compartment in my cup. The
water (electrons) can't move because there is no
empty space.
p-doping is when you add atoms with less valence electrons to

the semiconductor so that the material gets a shortage of
electrons in the crystal bonds. This way positive holes that can
transport current are formed. The materials that add holes are
called acceptors because they accept electrons from the
surrounding atoms. In a p-type semiconductor the major
carrier of current are the holes, not the electrons.
The p in p-doping stands for positive. This is because

compared to the atoms in the semiconductor material the
added atoms have fewer negative valence electrons. In the pdoped semiconductor the higher conduction band is empty, but
there will be holes in the valence band.
In the cup, this means that we remove some water from the
valence compartment. In other words, we form air bubbles
(positive holes) in the water. Now if we tip the cup, there is
room for the water (electrons) to move in one direction and for
the created holes (lack of electrons) to move in the opposite
direction (just like bubbles would do in water).
In the process of n-doping you add atoms with one extra

valence electron to the pure semiconducting material. This
creates a situation where there are extra electrons that are just
loosely bound in the crystal. The amount of energy needed to
get these electrons to jump to the conduction band so that a
current may pass is very small. The materials that add
electrons are called donors. This is simply because they
donate electrons to the semiconductor. In the n-type
semiconductor the major carrier of current is the negative
electrons.
The n in n-doping stands for negative. This is because

compared to the atoms in the semiconductor material the
added atoms have more negative valence electrons. In the ndoped semiconductor, the valence band is full so there is no
room for the electrons to move there. Instead, the extra
electrons move into the conduction band.
In our cup, we can see that no water will move in the full
valence compartment. Instead, the extra water (electrons)
added will move within the conduction compartment.
In a world where computers become faster

and faster each year, semiconductor
components, like chips and transistors, must
be made smaller and smaller. This means
that we will eventually reach a limit on how
much faster and more effective the Silicon
based technique can be made (in fact,
devices operating with just a single electron
have already been demonstrated). "What
happens then?" you might ask yourself. Well
we don't know for sure, but today's scientists
are working hard to find new materials or to
improve old ones. In the future, large
molecules might do the work that transistors
do today. This field is called Molecular
Electronics. So hopefully (if you like
information technology, that is) computers
can continue to evolve for a long time to
come.
Characteristics of transistor..
Transistor as amplifier.
Transistor as switch
Full wave rectifier.
half wave rectifier.
logic
gates
Integrated circuit

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Semicondu

Let's begin this journey into the world of semiconductors

The new ways of looking at

Since then semiconductor

circuits. The integrated circuit

A good way to explain an electric current

The word "conductivity" is used to

Why are semiconductors so special?

Semiconductors can be made of a single

Silicon is very easy to find in Nature.

One of the main reasons for the

Just to make sure we avoid

To understand the principles of

If we look at the solid material of Silicon we

To continue our journey, you don't

If you think of the energy bands as

A very important feature of the

It's a little bit like this simple puzzle game

As mentioned earlier, the semiconductor has a

In a good conductor like a metal, the highest energy band

occupied state to an empty one.

If you felt that Simran's explanation of the

In a conductor, the valence band is only

A semiconductor at low temperature is an

In an insulator, the valence band is

Now we are going to talk about doping. Maybe

So, in the process of doping you add a tiny

Before we look at examples of doped

In a pure semiconductor at low temperature, the

p-doping is when you add atoms with less valence electrons to

The p in p-doping stands for positive. This is because

In the process of n-doping you add atoms with one extra

The n in n-doping stands for negative. This is because

In a world where computers become faster

Full wave rectifier.

half wave rectifier.

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