Basic Electronics

Dr. Kashif Amjad- Basic Electronics 1

Semiconductor Materials
Covalent Bonding and Intrinsic Materials
Energy Levels
Extrinsic Materials
Semiconductor Diodes
2
6
Semiconductor Material
Semiconductors are a special class of elements having
a conductivity between that of a good conductor and
that of an insulator.

They are fall into two classes : single crystal and
compound
Single crystal e.g Ge and Si
Compound e.g GaAs , GaN, GaAsP, and CdS



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































7
8
Group 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Period


1
1
H


2
He
2
3
Li
4
Be


5
B
6
C
7
N
8
O
9
F
10
Ne
3
11
Na
12
Mg


13
Al
14
Si
15
P
16
S
17
Cl
18
Ar
4
19
K
20
Ca
21
Sc
22
Ti
23
V
24
Cr
25
Mn
26
Fe
27
Co
28
Ni
29
Cu
30
Zn
31
Ga
32
Ge
33
As
34
Se
35
Br
36
Kr
5
37
Rb
38
Sr
39
Y
40
Zr
41
Nb
42
Mo
43
Tc
44
Ru
45
Rh
46
Pd
47
Ag
48
Cd
49
In
50
Sn
51
Sb
52
Te
53
I
54
Xe
6
55
Cs
56
Ba
*

72
Hf
73
Ta
74
W
75
Re
76
Os
77
Ir
78
Pt
79
Au
80
Hg
81
Tl
82
Pb
83
Bi
84
Po
85
At
86
Rn
7
87
Fr
88
Ra
**

104
Rf
105
Db
106
Sg
107
Bh
108
Hs
109
Mt
110
Ds
111
Rg
112
Uub
113
Uut
114
Uuq
115
Uup
116
Uuh
117
Uus
118
Uuo


* Lanthanides
57
La
58
Ce
59
Pr
60
Nd
61
Pm
62
Sm
63
Eu
64
Gd
65
Tb
66
Dy
67
Ho
68
Er
69
Tm
70
Yb
71
Lu
** Actinides
89
Ac
90
Th
91
Pa
92
U
93
Np
94
Pu
95
Am
96
Cm
97
Bk
98
Cf
99
Es
100
Fm
101
Md
102
No
103
Lr
Single crystal e.g Ge and Si
Compound e.g GaAs , GaN, GaAsP, and CdS
Historical
Diode, in 1939 was using Ge
Transistor, in 1947 was using Ge
In1954 Si was used in Transistor because Si is less
temperature sensitive and abundantly available.
High speed transistor was using GaAs in 1970 (which is
5 times faster compared to Si)
Si, Ge and GaAs are the semiconductor of choice

10
11
Atomic structure
shells
+
Valence shell (4 valence electrons)
Valence
electron
orbiting
electrons
Germanium
+
Valence shell (4 valence electrons)
Valence
electron
Nucleus
orbiting
electrons
Silicon
14 orbiting electrons
(Tetravalent)
32 orbiting electrons
(tetravalent)
Atomic structure
Nucleus
shells
+
Valence shell (3 valence electrons)
Valence
electron
orbiting
electrons
Gallium
Nucleus
shells
+
Valence shell (5 valence electrons)
Valence
electron
orbiting
electrons
Arsenic
31 orbiting electrons
(trivalent)
33 orbiting electrons
(pentavalent)
Covalent bonding
Covalent bonding of Si crystal
Covalent bonding of GaAs
crystal
Covalent bonding
Can their be free electrons in materials with valence
bonds?

Even though the covalent bond will result in a stronger
bond between the valence electrons and their parent
atom, it is still possible for the valence electrons to
absorb sufficient kinetic energy from external natural
causes to break the covalent bond and assume the
free state.
16
Intrinsic Material
A semiconductor material that has been carefully
refined to reduce the number of impurities to a very
low level essentially as pure as can be made available
through modern technology.
18
Intrinsic Carriers
The free electrons in the material due only to external
causes


19
Semiconductor Intrinsic Carrier
(per Cubic Centimeter)
GaAs 1.7 x 10
6
Si 1.5 x 10
10

Ge 2.5 x 10
13

Relative Mobility (
n
)
The ability of the free careers to move throughout the
material


20
Semiconductor
n
(cm
2
/V.s)
GaAs 8500

Si 1500
Ge 3900
Intrinsic Carrier & Relative Mobility
(
n
)


21
Semiconductor
n
(cm
2
/V.s) Intrinsic Carrier
(per Cubic Centimeter)
GaAs 8500

1.7 x 10
6
Si 1500 1.5 x 10
10

Ge 3900 2.5 x 10
13

Effect of temperature
Conductor increase resistance with increase in heat
(number of carrier do not increase)- is said to have a
positive temperature coefficient.

Semiconductor- increase conductivity with increase in
heat ( number of carrier increase)- is said to have a
negative temperature coefficient.
24
Energy Levels
Within the atomic structure of each and every isolated
atom there are specific energy levels associated with
each shell and orbiting electrons.
The energy level associated with each shell will be
different for every element.

The farther an electron is from the nucleus, the higher
is the energy state, and any electron that has left its
parent atom has a higher energy state than any
electron in the atomic structure.
25
Energy Levels
Only specific levels can
exist for the electrons in
the atomic structure of
an isolated atom.
The result is a series of
gaps between allowed
energy levels.
26
Energy
Nucleus
Energy Gap
Energy Gap
etc.
Valence Level
Second Level
Third Level (etc.)

Energy Levels: Different Types of Solids

Sensitivity of Material based on
Energy Gap Requirement
As the temperature increases, the conduction of the
materials with smaller energy gap (e.g. Ge) will increase
more rapidly as compared to the material with larger
energy gap (e.g. Si)

This is because more electrons will move from valence
band to conduction band as the energy required will be
smaller.

Ge sensors and photodectors
Si, GaAs for stable transistor applications
29
30
Extrinsic Materials
The characteristic of a semiconductor can be altered
significantly by the addition of specific impurity atoms
to the relative pure semiconductor material.

The ability to change the characteristic of a material by
adding impurities is called doping.

A semiconductor material that has been subjected to
the doping process is called and extrinsic material.
31
Types of Extrinsic Materials
Extrinsic
Material
n-type
p-type
32
Types of Extrinsic Materials
Both n-type and p-type materials are formed by
adding a predetermined number of impurity atoms to
a silicon base.
33
n-type Material
An n-type material is created by introducing impurity
atoms that have five valence electrons (pentavalent),
such as antimony, arsenic, and phosphorus.
34
n-type Material
An n-type material is
created by introducing
impurity atoms that have
five valence electrons
(pentavalent), such as
antimony, arsenic, and
phosphorus.

35
n-type Material
The four covalent bonds
are present.
The fifth valence
electron of Sb is not
associated with any
other covalent bond.
This is loosely bound to
its parent atom and is
relatively free to move
within the material.

36
n-type Material
The impurity of Sb has
donated a relatively free
electron to the material.
Therefore, the Sb atoms
are known as donor
atoms in this case.

37
p-type Material
A p-type material is created by introducing impurity
atoms that have three valence electrons, such as boron,
gallium, and indium.
38
p-type Material
Boron doping with Silicon

Insufficient electrons of
Boron to complete all the
covalent bonds.
The resulting vacancy is
called a hole.

A hole is represented by a
small circle of a + sign
indicating the absence of a
negative charge.
39
Electron versus hole flow
41
Are there any holes in an intrinsic Semiconductor
material?



Impurities not removed.
Light or Thermal effects

43
Majority and Minority Carriers
N-type material, the electron is called majority carrier and hole the minority
carrier
Majority and Minority Carriers
P-type material, the hole is called majority carrier and electron the minority
carrier.
46
Semiconductor Diode
Created by simply joining an n-type and a p-type
material together.
47
p n
Formation of Depletion Layer
49
p n
p n
-
-
-
+
+
+
Depletion Region
Fixed Ions
Mobile Holes
Mobile Electrons
Junction or Barrier Voltage
Depletion region has:
No free charge carriers but
Fixed rows of oppositely charged ions on its two side

Because of this charged separation, an electric potential is established (V
B
)
across the junction.

This is known as junction or barrier potential.

It stops further flow of carriers across the junction unless supplied by energy
from an external source.

At room temperature, V
B
is about
0.3 V for Ge
0.7 V for Si
50
Bias
Application of an external voltage across the two
terminals to extract a response.
51
Types of Bias
No Bias
Reverse Bias
Forward Bias
52
No Bias
53
p n
V
D
= 0 V

p n
+
-
I
D
= 0 mA

I
D
= 0 mA

Forward Bias P-N Junction
54
p n
V
D
+
-
I
D


I
D
Forward Bias P-N Junction
55
V
I
0
0.3
Ge
Forward Bias P-N Junction
56
V
I
0
0.7
Si
Reverse Bias
57
p n
V
D
p n
+ -
I
s
I
s
Reverse Bias P-N Junction
58
V
I
0
Reverse Bias P-N Junction
59
V
I
0
Reverse Bias P-N Junction
60
V
I
0
Ideal Diode Characteristics
An ideal diode

When Reverse Biased:
Has infinite resistance and
drop the applied voltage
across its terminals

When Forward Biased:
Has no resistance, and
therefore 0 V across its
terminals
61
V
I
0
I
D
+

-

The Practical Diode
When Forward Biased
Diode current remains
zero until the knee
voltage is reached
Once the applied
voltage reaches the
value of V
k
, the diode
turns on and conduct
62
V
I
0
0.7
I
D
+

-

63
DIODE: a semiconductor device
Ideal diode
Semiconductor Diodes
64
Ideal diode characteristics(1)
65
Ideal diode characteristics (2)
66
Ideal diode characteristics (3)
67
Ideal diode characteristics (4)
68
Zener Diodes
A type of diode that is designed to work in the reverse
breakdown region of its operating curve.

Two things happen when the reverse
breakdown voltage (V
BR
) is
reached:
The diode current increases
drastically
The diode reverse voltage
remains relatively constant

69
V
I
0
V
BR
Zener Diode
As the voltage across a zener diode operated in the
reverse region remains constant over a wide range of
device current values, the zener-diode
can be used a voltage regulator.

Voltage Regulator:
A circuit designed to maintain a constant
voltage despite minor variations
in circuit current or input voltage
70
V
I
0
V
BR
Zener Diode
71
V
I
0
V
BR
Zener Diode
72
V
I
0
V
BR
73
Zener Diodes (1)
74
Zener Diodes (2)
75
LED: a diode that gives off light when energized
In a FB p-n junction, there is recombination of electrons
and holes near the junction
Recombination requires energy to be given off
Most of it as heat, in Si or Ge
In other materials, photos of light energy emitted are sufficient
to create visible light source
Light emission when electrical source of energy is applied
is called: electroluminescence
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
Light Emitting Diode (LED)

76
78

79

80
RESISTANCE LEVELS
DC Resistance
81
82
ac or Dynamic Resistance
83