Topic 1

INTRODUCTION TO
SEMICONDUCTOR

DEE2023
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
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 COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES (CLO)
At the end of this course, students should be able to:

CLO1. apply the concept and principles of

theoretical characteristics and electrical properties
of semiconductor devices. (C3, PLO1)
CLO2. solve problems of semiconductor devices
application circuits related to the operation and the
characteristics of the circuits. (C3, PLO1)
CLO4. demonstrate good communication skill in
oral presentation individually or in group, an
assigned topics within a stipulated time frame. (A3,
PLO6)

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 LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of this Topic students should be able to:

Know the characteristics and electrical properties of

1.1
Semiconductors

Understand the characteristic of P-N junction and

1.2
Its reaction towards voltage biasing

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 Atomic Theory
• Matter consists of atoms. According to
Bohr's theory, the atom consists of
positively charged nucleus and a
number of negatively charged
electrons which revolved round the
nucleus in various orbits. The nucleus
contains protons and neutrons.
• The protons are positively charged
particles whereas neutron does not
possess any electrical charge. The
electrons are negatively charged
particles.
• Electrons are found orbiting the nucleus
of an atom at specific intervals, based
upon their energy levels.
• The outermost orbit is the valence orbit.
VIDEO ON SEMICONDUCTOR

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 Atomic Structure
• Valence band electrons are the
furthest from the nucleus and have
higher energy levels than electrons
in lower orbits.
• The region beyond the valence N
band is called the conduction
band. M
• The orbit paths of the electrons
surrounding the nucleus are called L
shell.
• Each shell are represented by the K
letters K,L,M,N, etc. The max
number of electrons in any shell is
given by relation (2 x n²), where n is
the order of the orbit counted from
nucleus.
• The valence shell determines the
ability of material to conduct
current
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 K (1) -shell = 2 x 1² = 2
L (2) -shell = 2 x 2² = 8
M (3)-shell = 2 x 3² = 18
N (4) -shell = 2 x 4² = 32
O (5) -shell = 2 x 5² = 50
P (6) -shell = 2 x 6² = 72
Q (7)-shell = 2 x 7² = 98

Example : Cooper which have 29

atomic number ( refer to the periodic
table)
K-shell = 2
L-shell = 8
2 + 8 + 18 + 1 = 29
M-shell = 18
N-shell = 1

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 Conductor
• The substances (e.g. aluminium, cooper, silver, gold etc.)
have low resistance which allow the passage of current
through them.
• An atom of a material carries 1 to 3 valence electrons.
• Any material that will support a generous flow of charge
when a voltage source is applied across its terminals.
• The atom has more tendency to lose its valence electrons
which become free electron.

Insulator
• The substances (e.g. wood, glass, argon, neon etc.) have
high resistance which do not allow the passage of current
through them.
• An atom of a material carries 5 to 8 valence electrons.
• Any material that will support a generous flow of charge
when a voltage source is applied across its terminals.
• The atom has more tendency to gain free electrons to
complete its shell.

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 1.1 The Characteristics and

Semiconductor
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• The substances (e.g. silicon, germanium, carbon etc.)

whose electrical conductivity lies in between the
conductor and insulator.
• An atom of a material carries 4 valence electrons.
• Any material that has a conductivity level somewhere
between a conductor and an insulator.
• It is not easy for the atom to lose or gain any electrons.
• Silicon is the best and most widely used semiconductor

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 Energy Bands
1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• The electrons move within energy bands

within the band structure. Each band
contains a given number of electrons.
The bands are separated by an energy
area referred to as a band gap.
• The bottom band is referred to as the
valence band and is filled to capacity at
low temperature. This means that no
electric conduction takes place, which
makes silicon an insulator at very low
temperatures.
• The top band is referred to as the
conduction band and is essentially
empty at very low temperatures. At low
temperatures, the band gap between
the valence and conduction band does
not contain any moving charge carriers

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 1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• The size of the band gap determines the electrical

conductivity of a given material. Insulators have the
largest band gap and conductors have no band gap
since the conduction and valence band overlap and
there is free movement of electrons.

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 1.1 The Characteristics and

Semiconductor Material electrical properties of

Semiconductor

• Silicon and germanium, both from group of periodic table, are

semiconductors in the pure form, which the atoms of the
elements have four electrons in its outer or valence orbit.
• The big different among silicon and germanium is the amount
of heat energy needed to move one of the electron valence
to a higher orbit level.

2:8:4 2:8:18:4
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 1.1 The Characteristics and

Crystal Lattice Structure electrical properties of

Semiconductor

• The unique capability of

semiconductor atoms is their ability
to link together to form a physical
structure called a crystal lattice.
• The atoms link together with one
another sharing their outer electrons.
• These links are called covalent
bonds.
• If the material is pure semiconductor
material like silicon, the crystal lattice
structure forms an excellent
insulator.
• since all the atoms are bound to
one another and are not free for
current flow.
Video of
covalent bonding
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 1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Disturbing factor stability Semiconductor

• Heat
• Temperature rise
• Doping (absorption)
• Potential different.

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 Intrinsic Semiconductors
1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• A semiconductor in an extremely pure form is known as

intrinsic semiconductor. The silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge)
are two important intrinsic semiconductor.
• Silicon and Germanium are electrically neutral; that is, each
has the same number of orbiting electrons as protons.
• Both silicon and germanium have four valence band
electrons, and so they are referred to as tetravalent atoms.
• At low temperature, the semiconductor behaves as a
perfect insulator since the covalent bonds are very strong
and no free electrons are.
• Silicon in this form is a great insulator.

Video of Intrinsic
And Extrinsic
Semiconductors
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 Extrinsic Semiconductors
1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• The electrical conductivity of pure semiconductor can be

increased by adding some impurity to it. The resulting
semiconductors are called impure or extrinsic semiconductors.
• The process of adding impurity to pure semiconductor is
known as doping.
• The purpose of adding impurity to pure semiconductor crystal
is to increase the number of free electron or holes to make it
conductive.
 There are two major classifications of doping materials:
i. Trivalent (3 valence electrons) - aluminum, gallium,boron
ii. Pentavalent (5 valence electrons) - antimony, arsenic,
• Depending upon the type of impurity added, extrinsic
semiconductor can be divided into two types:
i. N-type semiconductor
ii. P-type semiconductor

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 N-type semiconductor
1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• When a small amount of

pentavalent impurity is added to a
pure semiconductor crystal, the
resulting extrinsic semiconductor
crystal is known as ‘N-type
semiconductor’.
• Adding arsenic (doping) will allow
four of the arsenic valence
electrons to bond with the
neighbouring silicon atoms.
• The one electron left over for each
arsenic atom becomes available
to conduct current flow.
• Such impurities which donate free
electrons to the semiconductor
crystal are known as donor majority current carriers - Electron
impurities. minority current carriers - Hole

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 1.1 The Characteristics and

P-type semiconductor electrical properties of

Semiconductor

• When a small amount of trivalent

impurity is added to a pure
semiconductor crystal, the resulting
extrinsic semiconductor crystal is
known as ‘P-type semiconductor’.
• Adding boron (doping) that has only 3
valence electrons (trivalent) will allow it
to form covalent bonds with its
neighboring silicon atoms.
• But one electron is missing from the
bond and referred to as a hole. The
hole assumes a positive charge so it
can attract electrons from some other
source.
• Such impurities which accept electrons
to the semiconductor crystal are majority current carriers - Hole
minority current carriers - Electron
known as acceptor impurities.
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 Energy Levels
1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

The addition of donor impurities The addition of acceptor

contributes electron energy levels impurities contributes hole levels
high in the semiconductor band low in the semiconductor band
gap so that electrons can be gap so that electrons can be
easily excited into the conduction easily excited from the valence
band. This shifts the effective band into these levels, leaving
Fermi level to a point about mobile holes in the valence band.
halfway between the donor levels This shifts the effective Fermi
and the conduction band. level to a point about halfway
between the acceptor levels and
the valence band.
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 1.1 The Characteristics and

Conductivity electrical properties of

Semiconductor

• In N-type semiconductor, a
large number of free electron
are available.
• When an external electric field
is applied across the N-type
semiconductor, the free
electrons are directed towards
the positive electrode.
• This constitutes the electric
current.
• This type of conductivity is
called ‘negative’ or N-type
conductivity because the
current flow through the crystal
is due to free electrons.

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 1.1 The Characteristics and
electrical properties of
Semiconductor

• In P-type semiconductor, a
large number of holes are
available.
• When an external electric field
is applied across the P-type
semiconductor, the holes
available in the valence band
are directed towards the
negative electrode.
• This constitutes the electric
current.
• This type of conductivity is
called ‘positive’ or P-type
conductivity because the
current flow through the crystal
is due to holes.

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 PN Junctions 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

• A PN junction is formed from

a piece of semiconductor by
diffusing P-type material to
one half side and N-type
material to other half side.
• The plane dividing the two
zones is known as a junction.
• When PN junction is formed,
there is a tendency for the
electrons in the N-region to
diffuse into the P-region and
holes from P-region to N-
region. The process is called
‘diffusion’.

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 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

• N-type electrons in the material will move towards the

junction and then cross the junction to fill holes in the P-
type material that's also going to the hole in the P-type
material.
• Electrons in N type material are strongly attracted to fill
holes in P-type materials.
• So that the electrons will move across from N type
material to the P type material and fill the holes.

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 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

• Combination between the electrons and holes around the

junction will cause an area near the junction to be neutral.
• Crossing of the electron will eventually stop, it called the
depletion region where the area does not have a current
flow. It acts as resistance, but its value is very small.
• Combine with positive ions and negative ion it will show
result in a potential difference between the two materials.
• Voltage potential difference is called the barrier voltage/
threshold voltage.
• The value of barrier voltage is small.
(Where for Ge semiconductor ≈ 0.3V
and Si semiconductor ≈ 0.7V).

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 Forward Biased 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

Defination:
• Positive terminal of the voltage supply is connected to
the P-type and negative terminal to the N-type.

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 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

The carriers move toward the

junction and collapse the
depletion region.
P N
• Electrons in N type material will move forward to the junction
that cause the depletion region become smaller and the
resistant across it will decrease.
• When forward bias increased over the value of barrier voltage
(0.3V for Ge semiconductor and 0.7V for Si semiconductor), the
resistance for joined P-N decreased so that the electrons can
move across the joined region and try to move to the positive
supply voltage.
• If the value for forward-bias voltage increased, the value of
current will increase and the resistant of the joint will decrease.
• The current is known as forward current (ID). The decrease
resistance is known as forward resistance (RD).
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 Reverse Biased 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

Defination:
• Positive terminal of the voltage supply is connected to
the N-type and negative terminal to the P-type.

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 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

The carriers move away

from the junction.

• Electrons in N type material is attracted to the +ve terminal of

voltage supply (VS). This will cause the depletion region
become larger (widen).
• The resistant become higher and known as reverse resistant,
RS .
• Due to that, there is no electrons current flow across the joint
region.
• When VS higher , the larger the depletion region and the
resistant become higher too. Hence, no current flow through
the depletion region

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 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction

•Review…..
towards voltage biasing.

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 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
Effect when a P-N junction is supplied junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

Effect Forward Biased (FB) Reverse Biased

Area of depletion When P-N junction is When P-N junction is
region supplied with FB voltage supplied with RB voltage
the area of depletion the area of depletion
region become region become larger
smaller/thinner/narrow
Junction When P-N junction is When P-N junction is
resistance supplied with FB voltage supplied with RB voltage
the junction resistance the junction resistance
become low become high

Current flow In ideal diode concept, during RB diode as a open

(including during FB, diode as a namely infinity resistance
leakage current) closed switch (ON) because and do not have a little
empty resistance and do leakage current. Current
not have voltage fall. can not flow.
Current can flow.
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 Leakage Current 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.

• It is a minority current in materials.

• It exists when the reverse bias
voltage is applied to the P-N joint.
• Electrons in P-type material is pushed I
by the reverse-bias voltage to the
joint region and passed through it. Forward Current
• Hence, a very small amount of VB, breakdown
current flow is produced. voltage
V
• This current is known as leakage
current or reverse current. Small leakage
Current
• This current is based on the
temperature. The lower the
temperature, the lower the value of
current.

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 Breakdown occurs when P-N 1.2 The Characteristics of P-N
junction and its reaction
towards voltage biasing.
junction is reversed biased

• When a reverse bias is applied to a P-N junction (diode),

the electric field in the depletion region increases.
• The electric field may become large enough that
covalent bonds are broken and electron hole pairs are
created.
• Electrons are swept into the n-region and holes are swept
into the p-region by the electric field, generating a large
reverse current.

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 Any questions….

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