SEMICONDUCTORS

Presented by: Hammad Khokhar

Electrically, all materials fall into 1
of 3 classifications:
• Conductors
• Insulators
• Semi-Conductors
Conductors and Insulators
Conductors:
•In general all metals are good conductors of electricity.

•The purpose of conductor is to allow electrical current to flow with minimum

resistance.
•Conductivity is the property of material in which a material allow the specific
amount of current to pass through it.
•Current flow in the conductors due to free electrons.

•Examples:

Copper, gold, silver, iron, bronze

Insulators:
•Insulators are materials that prevent the flow of electricity.

•Insulating materials such as glass, rubber, plastic, polyethylene are also

called dielectrics.
 Semi-Conductors:
• Materials which are neither conductors nor insulators i.e; whose electrical
properties lie between Conductors and Insulators.
• Used in components like transistors
 Some common semiconductors
 elemental
 Si - Silicon , Ge - Germanium
 compound
 GaAs - Gallium arsenide, GaP - Gallium phosphide, AlAs -
Aluminum arsenide, AlP - Aluminum phosphide, InP - Indium
Phosphide.
• Current flow in a semiconductor due to holes and electrons.
• Semi conductors are use in making of IC chips, solar panels, diodes,
processors
 Silicon
Si has 14 Electrons

Energy Bands
(Shells) Valence Band

Nucleus

Silicon has 4 outer shell /

valence electrons
TYPES OF SEMICONDUCTOR
Intrinsic semiconductors:-
Intrinsic semiconductors are pure semiconductors, no impurities

are added in these conductors.

The number of free electrons in the conduction band is equal to

the number of holes in the valence band.

Conductivity of these semiconductors is low

Electrical conductivity is a function of temperature alone

Example: Crystalline form of pure Silicon and Germanium.

 Intrinsic Semiconductor

Forms into a lattice structure to

share electrons
 EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
 An extrinsic semiconductor is a semiconductor that has been doped, that is, into
which a doping agent has been introduced, giving it different electrical properties
than the intrinsic semiconductor.
 Electrical conductivity is high
 Electrical conductivity depends on temperature as well as on the amount of
impurity doping in the pure semiconductor
 Examples: Impurity like As, B, P, Bi, Al etc. are dopped with Germanium and
Silicon atom
 There are two types of extrinsic semi conductors. i) p-type ii) n-type
 The number of electrons and holes are not equal. There is excess of electrons in n-
type semi-conductors and excess of holes in p-type semi-conductors.
N-type semiconductors
 When a silicon crystal doped with a penta-valent element for example
arsenic, antimony or phosphorus etc. four valence electrons of the
impurity atoms form covalent bond with four neighboring silicon atoms,
while the fifth valence electron provides the free electron in the crystals
such a doped semiconductor is called n type semiconductor
 The impurity atom is called the donor atom because it donates a free
electron.
 N-type material is one in which electrons are majority charge carriers i.e.
they are negatively charged materials (-----)
P-type semi-conductors
 When a silicon crystal doped with a trivalent element or example
boron, gallium, indium etc. three valence electrons of the impurity
atoms form covalent bond with three neighboring silicon atoms
 The one missing electron in the covalent bond with the fourth
neighboring silicon atom is called a hole which in fact is vacancy
where an electron can accommodated.
 Such semiconductors are called p-type semiconductors. The impurity
atom is called the acceptor atom because it accepts a free electron.
 P-type material is one in which holes are majority carriers i.e. they
are positively charged materials (++++)
N-type and P-type
THE P-N JUNCTION
The Junction
Diodes
Electronic devices created by bringing
together a p-type and n-type region within the
same semiconductor lattice. Used for
rectifiers.
Diodes
It is represented by the following symbol,
where the arrow indicates the direction of
positive current flow.
Characteristics of Diode
 Diode always conducts in one direction.
 Diodes always conduct current when
“Forward Biased” ( Zero resistance)
 Diodes do not conduct when Reverse Biased
(Infinite resistance)
Forward Bias and Reverse Bias
 Forward Bias : Connect positive of the Diode
to positive of supply…negative of Diode to
negative of supply
 Reverse Bias: Connect positive of the Diode
to negative of supply…negative of diode to
positive of supply.
 P-N Junction – Forward Bias
 positive voltage placed on p-type material
 holes in p-type move away from positive terminal, electrons in n-
type move further from negative terminal
 depletion region becomes smaller - resistance of device decreases
 voltage increased until critical voltage is reached, depletion
region disappears, current can flow freely
P-N Junction – Reverse Bias
 positive voltage placed on n-type material
 electrons in n-type move closer to positive terminal,
holes in p-type move closer to negative terminal
 width of depletion region increases
 allowed current is essentially zero (small “drift”
current)
Note:
 The chief difference between germanium and
silicon diodes is the voltage at which electric
current begins to flow freely across the diode.
A germanium diode typically begins to
conduct electric current when voltage properly
applied across the diode reaches 0.3 volts.
Silicon diodes require more voltage to conduct
current; it takes 0.7 volts to create a forward-
bias situation in a silicon diode