Unit 5

Basics of Electronics
(G12)

Imperial Academy
February 2024
 5.1 Semiconductors
 Conductors- materials which allow electricity to flow through them.
Eg: Metals.
 Conductors have free electrons that allow the easy flow of current.
 Insulators- materials that don’t allow electricity to pass through them.
Eg: Plastics, wood, glass, rubber…
 Insulators don’t have free electrons.
 Semiconductors- materials which have a conductivity between conductors
and insulators.
 can be pure elements (eg: Silicon or germanium) or compounds such as gallium
arsenide or cadmium selenide.
 They act as insulators at absolute 0 temperature (0oK) and as conductors at
higher temperatures.
 Conduction occurs at higher temperature because the electrons
surrounding the semiconductor atoms can break away from their covalent
bond.

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 Doping- adding small amounts of impurities to pure semiconductors to
change conductivity of the material.
 The electrons in the outer most shell of each atom in a semiconductor are
part of a covalent bond.
 A covalent bond consists of two atoms sharing a pair of electrons.

Fig: a) Electron structure of Silicon atom b) Covalent bond in silicon.

 Hole in a semiconductor means the absence of electron and behaves like a
positive charge.
 Holes and electrons are two types of charge carriers responsible for current
flow in semiconductor materials.

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 Types of Semiconductors
 Semiconductors are divided into two types: Intrinsic semiconductors and
Extrinsic semiconductors.
 Intrinsic Semiconductors: are composed of only one kind of material.
 don’t have impurities added to them to change their carrier concentrations.
 Also called undopped semiconductors.
Eg: Silicon and Germanium.
 Extrinsic semiconductors- have impurities added to their lattice structure.
 Addition of small amounts of selected impurities to a pure semiconductor improves
its conductivity.
Doping- the process of adding impurity to a pure semiconductor to improve its
conductivity.
Dopant- the impurity being added.
The main aim of doping is to make sure that there are either too many electrons
(surplus) or too few electrons ( deficiency).
 Extrinsic semiconductors are further classified as N-type and P-type
semiconductors.

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 N-type Semiconductors- extra electrons created by adding an element that
has more electrons in the outer shell (valence electrons) than the intrinsic
semiconductor.
 These elements usually come from group V of the periodic table.
 Elements from group V have 5 valence electrons: one more than the group IV
elements.
Eg of group V elements: antimony, arsenic, bismuth and phosphorus.
- Adding these impurities causes conduction mainly by means of electron flow.
- N-type dopants donate free electrons to the semiconductor.
 P-type semiconductors- when group III elements such as aluminum, boron,
gallium or indium is added to a pure semiconductor, the dopant accepts free
electrons.
 the absence of electron creates a hole in the semiconductor.
 Holes are majority and electrons are minority.
 Conduction is due to holes.

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 Exercises
1. Define intrinsic-and extrinsic semiconductors.
2. What are P-type and N-type semiconductors?
3. Which of the following impurities could be used to
convert intrinsic silicon to extrinsic P-type silicon?
A) Aluminum B) germanium C) arsenic D) zinc
4. What type of impurities are chosen for doping to form
N-type semiconductor?
A) trivalent B) tetravalent C) pentavalent D) A and C
5. Electrons are the minority charge carriers in
A) Extrinsic semiconductors C) Intrinsic semiconductors
B) P-type semiconductors D) N-type semiconductors

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 5.2 Diodes and their functions
 A diode is a two terminal electronic component that only conducts
current in one direction and blocks current in the reverse direction.
 Diodes are made from a large variety of materials including silicon,
germanium and gallium arsenide.
P-N junction diode
 N-type semiconductor is joined with the P-type semiconductor.

-Electric field created by ions in

the depletion region .
- Pd required to move electrons
Depletion in the field.
region
- few holes and es in the
Fig: P-N junction diode depletion region.

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 P-N Junction symbol

P-N Junction diode

Biasing of P-N junction diode

- Applying a suitable DC voltage to a diode is known as biasing.
- Two ways of biasing: Forward biasing and Reverse biasing.
- Zero-biasing- no external voltage is applied to the P-N junction diode.
- Diodes are useful for computer chips, solar cells…

Forward Biased
- Positive terminal of the battery is connected to the P-type semiconductor
and negative terminal of the battery is connected to the N-type.
- electrons and holes move towards the junction.
- depletion region becomes very thin and narrow.
- low resistance path through the junction – allowing high current flow.

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 Fig: Forward biased P-N junction

Reverse Biased
- Negative terminal of the battery is connected to the P-type semiconductor and
positive terminal of the battery is connected to the N-type.
- free electrons from N-type semiconductor and holes from the P-type
semiconductor move away from the P-N junction.
- depletion region width increases and blocks current.
- high resistance through the junction and almost zero current flow through the
junction diode.

Fig: Reverse biased P-N junction

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 Current-Voltage (I-V) characteristics of diodes
 If forward voltage is less than cut-
in voltage, current is low.
 Cut-in voltage –is the voltage at
which the forward diode current
starts increasing rapidly.
 To limit the current, resistors can
be connected in series.
 In reverse bias, leakage current
flows through the junction due to
the minority charge carriers.
 At the breakdown voltage, the
current can increase rapidly in the
reverse direction.

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 Exercises
1. Define diode.
2. What is biasing of a diode?
3. What is forward bias? What is reverse bias of a diode?
4. Under forward bias, resistance is low and the current is
high. (True or False)
5. The characteristics curve of diode shows the relation
between
A) current-and resistance
B) Current-and voltage
C) Resistance –and voltage
D) Voltage and power

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 5.3 Rectification
 P-N junction diode conducts electricity when it is forward-biased and it
doesn’t conduct electricity when it is reverse biased.
 Thus, it can be used to rectify AC voltage.
 Rectification- the process in which an AC voltage supply is converted into
a unidirectional (DC) voltage.
 Rectifier-is the circuit used for the conversion.
 Rectification is the main function of diodes.
 Two types of rectifiers: Half-wave rectifiers and full-wave rectifiers
Half wave rectification
-One half cycle of an AC voltage waveform is allowed to pass by blocking the
other half cycle.
- Current in the circuit flows only in one direction.
- Diode and load resistor connected in series (to the cathode end)

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 Working principle of half-wave rectifier
 During positive first-half cycle of the input- the diode is forward biased.
 Current flows through the load resistor & voltage developed across it.
 During the negative half cycle, the diode is reverse biased and doesn’t
conduct.
 No current flows in the load resistor and no voltage across it.
 DC voltage across the load is sinusoidal only for the first half cycle.
Full wave rectification
 Full-wave rectifier circuit uses four diodes as shown below.

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 Working principle of full-wave rectifier
 Only two diodes conduct current during each half cycle.
 During positive half cycle, D1 and D2 conduct in series.
 Diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased.
 So current flows through resistor as shown in Fig. (a).

(a) (b)

 During negative half cycle, D3 and D4 conduct in series.

 Diodes D1 and D2 are reverse biased as Fig. (b) above.

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 Capacitor used in rectifier circuit to smooth fluctuating output voltage.

Practical uses of diodes

Light emitting diodes (LED)
 LED is a P-N junction diode which emits light when current flows
through it.
 Color of light emitted depends on the type of semiconductor used.
 LEDs are very efficient sources of light.

a) LED and b) LED symbol

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 Photodiode
 Photodiode is a semiconductor device with a P-N junction that
converts photons(light) into electric current.

Fig.: Photodiode symbol

Logic gates
 Diodes and resistors can be combined to construct AND and OR gates.
(Details later)
Over voltage protection
 Excess voltage can damage electronic devices.
 Diodes can be used to protect devices after sensing over voltage.

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 Exercises
1. What is rectification?
2. Describe the function of resistor and capacitor in circuit.
3. List some practical uses of diodes.

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 5.4 Transistors and Applications
 A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electric
signal.
 Two types : Bipolar junction transistor (BJT) & Field effect transistor
(FET). BJT is considered here!
 Transistor has three terminals and two junctions that control current flow.
 A transistor consists of three alternately doped regions.
 The regions can be arranged as NPN or PNP transistor.

 Emitter (E)- supplies charge carriers. It is heavily doped region.

 Base (B)- middle section, lightly doped and very thin.
 Collector (C) - collects charge carriers. Larger in size and moderately
doped.
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 Fig.: Schematic representation of a)NPN b) PNP transistors. Note
that arrow mark is on emitter in the direction of conventional current.
Basic Transistor Operation
NPN transistor

 A transistor must be biased by external voltages.

 Emitter junction is forward biased and collector is reverse biased.
 Emitter connected to negative terminal of battery and base connected
to positive terminal.
 Collector connected to positive terminal of battery.

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 Fig.: a) NPN transistor
Emitter current (IE) is the sum of base current (IB) and collector current (IC) .

IE=IB+IC.
In the NPN transistor, electrons are majority current carriers.

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 PNP transistor

In the PNP transistor, holes are majority current carriers.

Fig.: b) PNP transistor

 Positive terminal of battery connected with emitter and negative

terminal with base.
 Emitter junction is forward biased.
 Collector junction is reverse biased. Collector to negative terminal of
battery.
 Emitter pushes holes to the base.

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 Transistor Configurations
 There are three ways of connecting transistor in a circuit (Making one
terminal common to both input and output signal):
Common Emitter (CE), Common Base (CB) and Common Collector (CC).

 Common Collector (CC)- Input signal b/n B and C; Output signal b/n E and C.
 Provides good current gain but no voltage gain.
 Common base (CB)- Input signal b/n E and B; Output signal b/n B and C.
 Circuit provides voltage gain but no current gain.
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 Common Emitter (CE)- Input signal b/n B & E and output signal b/n E&C.
 circuit has both current and voltage gain.
 It is most commonly used configuration.
 Amplification factor (current gain): ratio of collector current to base
current.
 It is the property of a transistor to raise strength of weak signal.
IC

IB
Eg: A transistor has a current gain of 250 and a base current 20μA. What is
the collector current?

Solution: IC=βIB . Hence, 250x20x10-6 =5mA.

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Output characteristics of CE transistor

A change of 10µA on the base current produces about 2mA change in

collector current about 200 times base current!

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Exercises
1. What is the function of transistor in a circuit?
2. Among CB,CE and CC transistors, which current is the highest?
Which current is smallest?
3. The doping concentration of base in PNP transistor is
A) Lightly doped B) heavily doped C) moderately doped D) Not
doped
4. In a properly biased transistor, which junction is forward biased?
Which one is reverse biased?
5. In transistor, if the current gain is 100 and the collector current is
10mA, what is the emitter current?

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 Applications of transistors
 The main applications of transistors are amplification of
electrical signal and switching.
 Transistor can amplify electronic signal. A weak signal
applied in the input circuit appears in the amplified form in the
output circuit.
 Transistors can be combined to form a logic gate, which
compares multiple input currents to provide a different output.
 They are the basic elements in integrated circuits (ICs),
which consist of a large number of transistors interconnected
in a circuit.

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 5.5 Integrated Circuits
 The integrated circuit was invented by Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.
 The goal of the integrated circuit is to develop a single device to perform a
specific function, such as amplification or switching, microprocessor,
timer, computer memory, eliminating the separation between components
and circuits.

Fig.: Integrated Circuits

 An integrated circuit (IC) (also referred to as chip, or microchip) is a set
of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor
material, usually silicon.

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 The circuit consists of diodes, transistors, resistors,
and capacitors.
 Very small amount of the space is occupied by diodes
and transistors.
 The rest is occupied by resistors and capacitors as their
size increases with their value.
 ICs reduce manufacturing cost and further reducing the
cost of electronic equipment.
 Integrated circuits do have some disadvantages. They
cannot handle large amounts of current or voltage.
 ICs cannot be repaired as internal components cannot be
separated.

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 5.6 Logic Gates & Logic Circuits
Digital & Analog Signals
 In electronics, "signal" refers to any time-varying voltage, current, or
electromagnetic wave that carries information.
 Two main types of signals: analog and digital.
 Analog signal is any continuous signal representing some time-
varying quantity.
 At any time, the voltage of the signal could take any value.
 Digital signal is a signal that is being used to represent data as a
sequence of discrete values.
 At any given time, it can only take one of a finite number of values.

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 Digital signal can have binary signal (logic signal).
 They are represented by two voltage bands: one near a reference value
(typically termed as ground or zero volts), and the other a value near the
supply voltage. It is either low or high.
 It never has any other value. These two special voltages are given
symbols. The low voltage level is written as 0, while the high voltage
level is written as 1.
 Using a computer, any information can be turned into a pattern of 0s and
1s.
 Pictures, recorded music, text and motion pictures can all be turned into
a string of 0s and 1s.
 You can do all kinds of mathematics using 0s and 1s.

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 Positive & Negative Logic
 The binary number symbols ’0’ and ’1’ represent two possible states of a
circuit or an electronic device.
Table1: Positive Logic

Circuit Switch Voltage Sign Statement

1 On Closed High Plus TRUE
0 Off Opened Low Minus FALSE

Table2: Negative Logic

Circuit Switch Voltage Sign Statement

1 Off Opened Low Minus FALSE
0 On Closed High Plus TRUE

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 Logic gates
 Logic gates- simplest digital circuits.
 Integrated circuit is a collection of logic gates.
 Logic gates are building blocks of digital electronics.
 They are used in digital electronics to change one voltage level (input
voltage) into another (output voltage) according to some logical
statement relating to them.
 Logic gate may have one or more inputs, but only one output.
 The logical statements that logic gates follow are called Boolean
expressions.

1) In Boolean algebra, the addition sign (+) is referred to as OR. The Boolean
expression for OR is: y=A+B (y is equal to A ‘OR’ B.)
2) The multiplication sign (.) is referred to as AND in Boolean algebra. The
Boolean expression for this is: y=A.B (y is equal to A ‘AND’ B)
3) The bar sign (-) is referred to as NOT in Boolean algebra. The Boolean
expression is:
y  A (y is equal to ‘NOT’ A.
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 The OR gate, AND gate and NOT gate are called basic logic gates.
 The NOR gate and NAND gate are called universal logic gates because any
logic gate can be made from combinations of NAND gate or NOR gates.
OR gate
• Two parallel switches and Lamp is connected as shown in Fig. below. Lamp
”ON” is equal to 1 and lamp “OFF” is equal to 0.
• If both switches A and B are open, no current will flow through the external wire.
So the lamp is OFF i.e. equal to 0.
• If switch A is closed switch B is open, the current passes through switch A
and the lamp is ON, i.e. equal to 1; 1 + 0 = 1
• If switch A is open and switch B is closed, the current passes through B and the
lamp is ON, i.e. equal to 1; 0 + 1 = 1
• If both switches are closed, lamp is ON, i.e. equal to 1; 1 + 1 = 1
App: Two light
switches of
long corridor .

Truth table
OR gate symbol
Switch circuit
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 AND gate
 The AND operation is written as multiplication.
 The simple AND gate is also a two inputs and one output logic gate.
 If either A or B are 0, then A.B will also be 0.
 For A.B to be 1, we need A and B to both be 1.
 The switches and the lamp are in series.

AND gate symbol

Switch circuit
Truth Table

Application: AND gate can be used to fit an automatic circuit to light up a

display in an airplane if two toilets are in use.

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 NOT gate
 The NOT gate is a one input and one output logic gate.
 It inverts or complements the input A to give output y.
 This gate is also called an ’inverter’.

NOT gate symbol Truth Table

Switch circuit

 If switch A is open, the current will pass through the lamp and it will glow.
(So, y=1 when A=0)
 If switch A is closed, the current will take the shortest path and pass
through the switch. Hence the lamp is OFF. (y=0 when A=1).
Application: water pipe in a garden to automatically turn on when it is
very dry.
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 NOR gate
 A NOR logic gate is one in which OR gate is followed by a NOT gate.
 The function of this gate is ’inverting’ the output of the OR gate.

NOR gate symbol

y=A+B

Switch circuit Truth Table

Switch A and switch B are open, the current will flow through the lamp, and the lamp
is ON. So y = 1.
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 NAND gate
 NAND logic gate is a logic gate in which an AND gate is followed
by a NOT gate.
 The function of this gate is to invert the output of the AND gate.
y=A.B

If both switches A and B are open, the current will flow through the lamp.
The lamp is ON, so y = 1.

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Reminder Questions
 Classify the following logic gates as basic & universal
gates:
OR, AND, NOT, NOR,NAND
 Draw the symbols, their switch circuit & their truth table
for the following logic gates:
OR, AND, NOT, NOR,NAND

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 EXERCISES
(I) Complete the truth tables for the corresponding logic circuits.

1)

2)

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(II) Name the logic circuits of the following truth tables & draw the logic
circuits.

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(III) Write the truth tables for the following logic gates

(a)

(b)

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5.7 Applications of Electronics

 Aerospace Industry
 Medical
 Automobile
 Agriculture
 Communication
 Residential
 Entertainment
 Military …

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