CHAPTER TWO

SEMICONDUCTOR,
DIODE AND POWER
SUPPLIES

SEMICONDUCTOR
Meaning of Semiconductor
Neither a conductor nor an insulator but
rather halfway in between the two.
The resistive properties of a semiconductor
can be varied between those a conductor
and those of an insulator.

Three most commonly used

semiconductor materials are silicon (Si),
Germanium (Ge) and Carbon (C).
Si and Ge widely used in the production of
solid state components.

Atomic structure of (a) silicon; (b) germanium; and (c) gallium and arsenic.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Energy Level

Intrinsic and Extrinsic

Intrinsic- pure material: semiconductor which has a very
low level of impurities.
Pure Si and Ge are poor conductor due to partially to the
number of valence electrons, covalent bonding and
relatively large energy gap.
Extrinsic- those semiconductor that has been subjected
to doping process and no longer pure
Doping- is the process of adding impurity atoms to
intrinsic Si or Ge to improve the conductivity of the
semiconductor.

N-Type material

N stand for negative

charge of electron
N type is created by
adding with five
valence electron into
a pure Si or Ge base.

P-Type material

P stand for positive

charge of holes
P created by adding
with three valence
electron into pure Si
and Ge base

PN junction

A pn junction with no
external bias.
(a) An internal
distribution of charge;
(b) a diode symbol, with
the defined polarity and
the current direction;
(c) demonstration that
the net carrier flow is
zero at the external
terminal of the device
when VD = 0 V.

Diode

Forward-biased pn junction.
(a) Internal distribution of
charge under forward-bias
conditions; (b) forward-bias
polarity and direction of
resulting current.

Forward and Reverse bias

Series diode configuration.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.9 (a) Determining the state of the diode of Fig. 2.8; (b) substituting the equivalent model for the on
diode of Fig. 2.9a.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.9 (continued) (a) Determining the state of the diode of Fig. 2.8; (b) substituting the equivalent
model for the on diode of Fig. 2.9a.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.12

Substituting the equivalent model for the off diode of Fig. 2.10.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.11

Determining the state of the diode of Fig. 2.10.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.10

Reversing the diode of Fig. 2.8.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.13

Circuit for Example 2.4.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Fig. 2.14

Determining the unknown quantities for Example 2.5.

Robert L. Boylestad
Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory, 9e

Copyright 2006 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
All rights reserved.

Load line Analysis

Diode Characteristic

Load line and operating point

Steps:
To find load line
From equation V=Vd+IR,
Let Vd=0, so Id=V/R
Let Id = 0, so V=Vd
Draw a straight line between these two values.
The intersection between the load line and
characteristic curve is the operating point.

Example 1

Approximate Model

Ideal Diode

Find the Operating Point using graphical

method or network

Parallel Configuration of Diode

Example 2

Example 3

Solution
I1 = Vk2 / 3.3k
= 0.7 / 3.3k
= 0.212mA
Find V2, using KVL
-V+Vk1+Vk2+V2=0
V2=V-Vk1-Vk2
= 20-0.7-0.7
= 18.6V
Find I2 using Ohms Law
I2=V2 / R2
= 18.6 / 5.6k
=3.32mA

To find Id
Id=I2-I1
= 3.32mA- 0.212mA
= 3.11mA