PHYSICS PROJECT FILE

2019-20
Topic – Semiconductor
Submitted by –
Submitted to – Mr. Sohan Damodar
Class – XII A
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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I heartily thank my

Physics teacher Mr. Sohan Damodar for
his incomparable efforts, support and
constant cooperation indeed towards me
in the completion of this project. He has
also been the vital source of
encouragement for me through the
working of this project.
Finally I am also grateful to my friends
and parents who devoted their
auspicious time in completion of this
project.

Thank You

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 DECLARATION

I, of ‘Army Public School,

Mhow’ hereby declare that I have
completed my project Titled
‘Semiconductor’ .The information
submitted herein is true and original to
the best of my knowledge.

Signature –

Date -

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that , student of

class 12 A has successfully completed the
research on topic ‘Semiconductor’ under the
guidance of Mr. Sohan Damodar during the year
2019-20 in partial fulfillment of Physics
Practical.

Signature of HOD Signature of Examiner

Signature of Principal

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 INDEX

S. No Topic Page
No
1. Introduction 6
2. Classification of Semiconductor 9
3. p-n Junction 11
4. Biasing 12
5. Diode as Rectifier 14
6. Zener Diode 15
7. Photo Diode 16
8. LED 17
9. Solar Cell 18
10. Bibliography 19

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 INTRODUCTION
Conductors: A conductor is a material that easily conducts
electrical current. Most metals are good conductors. The best
conductors are single-element materials, such as copper (Cu),
silver (Ag), gold (Au), and aluminum (Al), which are
characterized by atoms with only one valence electron very
loosely bound to the atom. These loosely bound valence
electrons can become free electrons with the addition of a
small amount of energy to free them from the atom.
Therefore, in a conductive material the free electrons are
available to carry current.

Insulators: An insulator is a material that does not conduct

electrical current under normal conditions. Most good
insulators are compounds rather than single-element materials
and have very high resistivity. Valence electrons are tightly
bound to the atoms; therefore, there are very few free
electrons in an insulator. Examples of insulators are rubber,
plastics, glass, mica, and quartz.

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Semiconductors: A semiconductor is a material that is
between conductors and insulators in its ability to conduct
electrical current. A semiconductor in its pure (intrinsic) state
is neither a good conductor nor a good insulator. Examples of
single-element semiconductors are antimony (Sb), arsenic (As)
boron (B), silicon (Si), and germanium (Ge), etc. Compound
semiconductors such as Gallium Arsenide, Indium Phosphide,
Gallium Nitride, Silicon Carbide, and Silicon Germanium are
also commonly used. The single-element semiconductors are
characterized by atoms with four valence electrons. Silicon is
the most commonly used semiconductor.
Semiconductors have the following properties.
(i) They have resistively less than insulators and more
than conductors.
(ii) The resistance of semiconductor decreases with the
increase in temperature and vice versa.
(iii) When suitable metallic impurity like arsenic, gallium
etc. is added to a semiconductors, its current
conducting properties change appreciably.

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Band Gap: In solid materials, interactions between atoms
“smear” the valence shell into a band of energy levels called
the valence band. Valence electrons are confined to that
band. When an electron acquires enough additional energy, it
can leave the valence shell, become a free electron, and exist
in what is known as the conduction band. The difference in
energy between the valence band and the conduction band is
called an energy gap or band gap. This is the amount of energy
that a valence electron must have in order to jump from the
valence band to the conduction band. Once in the conduction
band, the electron is free to move throughout the material
and is not tied to any given atom.

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CLASSIFICATION OF SEMICONDUCTOR:

 Intrinsic semi-conductor: Those semiconductors in which

creation of hole is solely due to thermal excitation.

 Extrinsic semi-conductor: The electrical conductivity of

intrinsic semiconductor can be increased by adding some
impurity in the process of crystallization. The added
impurity is very small of the order of one atom per million
atoms of the pure semiconductor. Such semiconductor is
called impurity or extrinsic semiconductor.

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 Doping: The process of adding impurity to a semiconductor
is known as doping. The doping material is either
pentavalent atoms or trivalent atoms

Extrinsic semi-conductors are classified as:

n-type semiconductor p-type semiconductor

> When a small amount of > When a small amount of
pentavalent impurity is trivalent impurity is added to
added to a pure semiconductor a pure semiconductor crystal
crystal during the crystal growth, during the crystal growth, the
the resulting crystal is called as resulting crystal is called as
n-type extrinsic semiconductor. P-type extrinsic semiconductor

> >

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 p-n JUNCTION
When a p-type material is joined with n-type material,
a p-n junction diode is formed.

In p-type semiconductor holes are majority charge carriers an

electrons are minority charge carriers and vice-versa in case
of n-type. Due to difference in concentration hole diffuses
from p to n and electrons from n to p.
During diffusion they combine at junction so diffusion current
flows. Due to this negative ions are formed at p-type and
positive in n-type which are immobile. Due to these ions
electric field establish across junction and drift current flows
from n to p. Initially drift velocity is less, with diffusion it
increases and the condition comes when drift current is equal
and opposite of diffusion current.
At this condition further diffusion stops and a layer is formed
across junction having no charge in it called depletion layer,
having negative charge accumulated near p-side and positive
towards n-side. So a fictitious battery is supposed to be there
whose voltage is called barrier voltage.

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 BIASING
The way in which semiconductor devices are connected to
source is called biasing.
Types of biasing

1. Forward Biasing: When p type material is connected to

positive of battery and n type to negative of battery.

When external voltage is connected, the holes of p repel and

move towards junction. Similarly electrons of n also repel and
move towards junction. So the thickness of depletion layer
decreases. When external voltage increases above barrier
voltage the depletion layer vanishes, electron hole combination
takes place at junction and electricity is conducted.
Forward characteristic Curve

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2. Reverse Biasing: When p type material is connected to
negative of battery and n type to positive of battery.

When external voltage is connected, the negative part

of external battery attract holes and positive part
attract electrons of n. So they move away from junction
and increase the thickness of depletion layer. As a
result electricity is not conducted.
The current is only due to minority charge carriers of p
and n and when external supply is highly increased
covalent bonds break near junction and electron hole
combination takes place at junction and large current
flows through diode in reverse direction. This condition
is reverse breakdown voltage condition.

V-I Graph For Reverse Bias

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APPLICATION OF DIODE AS RECTIFIER
Rectifier – Arrangement that converts AC to DC.

Full Wave Rectifier Half wave Rectifier

It converts both cycle of AC It converts only half cycle of AC

Into DC. Input into DC.

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ZENER DIODE
It is heavily doped diode which is operated in reverse biasing.
When external supply increased beyond a limit covalent bond
break and large current flows through diode keeping voltage
constant. So, it is used as voltage regulator.

The symbol for Zener diode is

I-V Characteristics of Zener Diode

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PHOTODIODE
It is a special purpose p-n junction diode fabricated with a
transparent window to allow light to fall on the diode and is
operated in reverse bias.
When the photodiode is illuminated with light (photons) with
energy (hv) greater than the energy gap (Eg) of the
semiconductor, then electron-hole pairs are generated due to
the absorption of photons. The diode is fabricated such that
the generation of e-h pairs takes place in or near the
depletion region of the diode. Due to electric field of the
junction, electrons and holes are separated before they
recombine. The direction of the electric field is such that
electrons reach n-side and holes reach p-side. Electrons are
collected on n-side and holes are collected on p-side giving rise
to an emf. When an external load is connected, current flows.

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LED ( Light Emitting Diode)
It is a heavily doped p-n junction which under forward bias
emits spontaneous radiation.
The diode is encapsulated with a transparent cover so that
emitted light can come out. When the diode is forward biased,
electrons are sent from n to p and holes are sent from p to n.
At the junction boundary the concentration of minority
carriers increases compared to the equilibrium concentration
(i.e., when there is no bias). Thus at the junction boundary on
either side of the junction, excess minority carriers are there
which recombine with majority carriers near the junction. On
recombination, the energy is released in the form of photons.
Photons with energy equal to or slightly less than the band gap
are emitted. When the forward current of the diode is small,
the intensity of light emitted is small. As the forward current
increases, intensity of light increases and reaches a maximum.
Further increase in the forward current results in decrease of
light intensity.

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SOLAR CELL
A solar cell is basically a p-n junction which generates emf
when solar radiation falls on the p-n junction. It works on the
same principle (photovoltaic effect) as the photodiode, except
that no external bias is applied and the junction area is kept
much larger for solar radiation to be incident because we are
interested in more power.
The generation of emf by a solar cell, when light falls on, it is
due to the following three basic processes: generation,
separation and collection— (i) generation of e-h pairs due to
light (with hv > Eg) close to the junction; (ii) separation of
electrons and holes due to electric field of the depletion
region. Electrons are swept to n-side and holes to p-side; (iii)
the electrons reaching the n-side are collected by the front
contact and holes reaching p-side are collected by the back
contact. Thus p-side becomes positive and n-side becomes
negative giving rise to photo-voltage.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY
 https://en.wikipedia.org
 NCERT Physics Book Part-2

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