Semiconductor/Diodes

S-V (ME)
 Ideal Diode
The characteristics of an
ideal diode are those of a
switch that can conduct
current in only one direction.

RF=VF/IF= 0Ω (Forward Bias)

RR=VR/IR= ∞Ω (Reverse Bias)

 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
• The term conductor is applied to any material that
will support a generous flow of charge when a
voltage source of limited magnitude is applied
across its terminals.
• An insulator is a material that offers a very low
level of conductivity under pressure from an
applied voltage source.
• A semiconductor, therefore, is a material that has a
conductivity level somewhere between the
extremes of an insulator and a conductor.
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
• Resistivity of the material can be calculated as

• The magnitude of the resistivity of the

material is calculated as
 Bonding
• A bonding of atoms, strengthened by the
sharing of electrons, is called covalent
bonding.
 SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
• Intrinsic materials are those semiconductors that
have been carefully refined to reduce the impurities
to a very low level—essentially as pure as can be
made available through modern technology.
• An increase in temperature of a semiconductor can
result in a substantial increase in the number of free
electrons in the material.
• Semiconductor materials such as Ge and Si that show
a reduction in resistance with increase in temperature
are said to have a negative temperature coefficient.
 ENERGY LEVELS
• The more distant the electron from the nucleus, the
higher the energy state, and any electron that has
left its parent atom has a higher energy state than
any electron in the atomic structure.
 ENERGY LEVELS
• Conduction and valence bands of an insulator,
semiconductor, and conductor.
 Ionization
• Ionization is the mechanism whereby an
electron can absorb sufficient energy to break
away from the atomic structure and enter the
conduction band
• Energy associated with each electron is
measured in electron volts (eV).
 EXTRINSIC MATERIALS—
n- AND p-TYPE
• A semiconductor material that has been
subjected to the doping process is called an
extrinsic material.
• There are two extrinsic materials of
immeasurable importance to semiconductor
device fabrication: n-type and p-type
 n-Type Material
• The n-type is created by introducing those
impurity elements that have five valence
electrons (pentavalent), such as antimony,
arsenic, and phosphorus.
 p-Type Material
• The p-type material is formed by doping a
pure germanium or silicon crystal with
impurity atoms having three valence
electrons. The elements most frequently used
for this purpose are boron, gallium, and
indium.
 Majority and Minority Carriers
• In an n-type material (Fig. 1.13a) the electron is
called the majority carrier and the hole the minority
carrier
• In a p-type material the hole is the majority carrier
and the electron is the minority carrier.
 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE
• The semiconductor diode is formed by simply bringing n-type
and p-type materials together (constructed from the same
base—Ge or Si),
 No Applied Bias (VD=0 V)
• Under no-bias (no applied voltage) conditions, any minority
carriers (holes) in the n-type material that find themselves
within the depletion region will pass directly into the p-type
material.
• In the absence of an applied bias voltage, the net flow of
charge in any one direction for a semiconductor diode is zero.
 Reverse-Bias Condition (VD=0 V)
• If an external potential of V volts is applied across
the p-n junction such that the positive terminal is
connected to the n-type material and the negative
terminal is connected to the p-type material as
shown in Fig., the number of uncovered positive
ions in the depletion region of the n-type material
will increase due to the large number of “free”
electrons drawn to the positive potential of the
applied voltage.
• For similar reasons, the number of uncovered
negative ions will increase in the p-type material.
The net effect, therefore, is a widening of the
depletion region.
• The current that exists under reverse-bias
conditions is called the reverse saturation current
and is represented by Is.
 Forward-Bias Condition (VD=0 V)
• A forward-bias or “on” condition is established by applying the
positive potential to the p-type material and the negative potential
to the n-type material as shown in Fig.
• A semiconductor diode is forward-biased when the association p-
type and positive and n-type and negative has been established.
Silicon semiconductor diode characteristics.

• The application of a forward-bias potential VD will

“pressure” electrons in the n-type material and
holes in the p-type material to recombine with the
ions near the boundary and reduce the width of
the depletion region
• As the applied bias increases in magnitude the
depletion region will continue to decrease in width
until a flood of electrons can pass through the
junction resulting in an exponential rise in current
• It can be demonstrated through the use of
solid-state physics that the general
characteristics of a semiconductor diode can
be defined by the following equation for the
forward- and reverse-bias regions:
 Zener Region
• The current increases at a very rapid
rate in a direction opposite to that of
the positive voltage region.
• The reverse-bias potential that
results in this dramatic change in
characteristics is called the Zener
potential and is given the symbol VZ.
• The maximum reverse-bias potential
that can be applied before entering
the Zener region is called the peak
inverse voltage (referred to simply as
the PIV rating) or the peak reverse
voltage (denoted by PRV rating).
 SINUSOIDAL INPUTS; HALF-WAVE
RECTIFICATION
• The circuit shown in figure called a half-wave
rectifier, will generate a waveform vo that will
have an average value of particular, use in the
ac-to-dc conversion process.
The effect of using a silicon diode with VT 0.7 V is demonstrated in Fig. 2.47
for the forward-bias region. The applied signal must now be at least 0.7 V
before the diode can turn “on.” For levels of vi less than 0.7 V, the diode is still
in an open circuit state and vo 0 V as shown in the same figure. When
conducting, the difference between vo and vi is a fixed level of VT 0.7 V and vo
vi VT, as shown in the figure. The net effect is a reduction in area above the
axis, which naturally reduces the resulting dc voltage level. For situations
where Vm VT, Eq. 2.8 can be applied to determine the average value with a
relatively high level of accuracy.
 FULL-WAVE RECTIFICATION
• The dc level obtained from a sinusoidal input
can be improved 100% using a process called
full-wave rectification
• Since the area above the axis for one full cycle
is now twice that obtained for a half-wave
system, the dc level has also been doubled
and

• If silicon rather than ideal diodes are

employed as shown in Fig. 2.57, an application
of Kirchhoff’s voltage law around the
conduction path would result in
 Center-Tapped Transformer
• A second popular full-wave rectifier appears in
Fig. shown with only two diodes but requiring a
center-tapped (CT) transformer to establish the
input signal across each section of the
secondary of the transformer