1.

Avalanche (Electronic Term)

- It is a sudden increase in flow of electrical current through semiconducting or nonconducting solid when
sufficiently strong electrical force is applied. Based on my research, a sufficiently strong electrical force
can break free a large number of electrons from the atoms that form the structure of the solid so that a
large current can flow through the material. This avalanche effect is responsible for the phenomenon of
breakdown in insulators and in semiconductors, where it is called the Zener effect. Because avalanche
requires a specific electrical force for each type of substance, it can be used for precise control of
voltages in electrical circuits, as in a device called the Zener diode.

2. Barrier potential, VB
- A Barrier Potential, VB or potential barrier in P and N junction is a barrier in which the charge requires
additional for crossing the region. A Barrier Potential is a barrier is an obstructive force that stops the
charge force. It gets established When the P and N-type semiconductor material are placed together, the
gradient of very large density charge carriers is created on both the P and N side region. The free
electrons from N-side cross the region and start combining with the holes, leaving behind the immobile
positive donor ions. Similarly, the holes of the P-region combine with the electrons of the N-region and
leaving behind the negative acceptor ions.

3. Bias
- It is the setting of initial operating condition of an active device in an amplifier. A bias refers to a fixed DC
known as voltage or current that is applied to a terminal of an electronic component such as diode,
vacuum tube or transistor in a circuit in which AC signals are also present, in order to establish proper
operating conditions for the component. 

4. Breakdown voltage, VBR

- It is the voltage where a TVS diode begins to conduct current, defined typically at 1 mA leakage. VBR
defines the inflection point on the diode curve where the leakage beings to increase exponentially, which
is typically referred as the diode ‘turning on’. In contrast to VRWM, VBR is a DC value and can shift
significantly.

5. Bulk resistance, rb
- It is the resistance across the terminals of the diode when a forward voltage and current are applied
across the diode. It represents the resistance of the p and n materials of the p-n junction of the diode. Its
value is dependent on the doping level and the size of the p and n materials. The bulk resistance is not a
fixed resistance but a dynamic one. It changes according to the amount of forward voltage and current
going through the diode at any particular time. Lastly, it is then used to calculate the total resistance that
is present in a diode circuit.

6. Covalent bonding
- It is a stable balance of attractive force and repulsive force between atoms occur when the outer most
orbit electrons are shared between to atom or also known as the valance electron. Covalent bonding
Stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces which causes atoms to stick or bound with each other.

7. Depletion zone
- Depletion zone or also known as depletion region is a insulating zone with conductive, doped
semiconductor material where the mobile charge carriers have been diffused away, or have been forced
away by an electric field. The only elements left in the depletion region are ionized donor or acceptor
impurities. It’s called Depletion zone because it is formed from a conducting region by removal of all free
charge carriers, leaving none to carry a current.

8. Doping
- It is the process of adding impurities to intrinsic semiconductors to alter their properties. Normally
Trivalent and Pentavalent elements are used to dope Silicon and Germanium. When an intrinsic
semiconductor is doped with Trivalent impurity it becomes a P-Type semiconductor. The P stands for
Positive, which means the semiconductor is rich in holes or Positive charged ions. When we dope intrinsic
material with Pentavalent impurities, we get N-Type semiconductor, where N stands for Negative. N-type
semiconductors have Negative charged ions or in other words have excess electrons in it.

9. Electron-hole pair
- The electron–hole pair is the fundamental unit of generation and recombination in inorganic
semiconductors, corresponding to an electron transitioning between the valence band and the conduction
band where generation of electron is a transition from the valence band to the conduction band and
recombination leads to a reverse transition.

10. Extrinsic semiconductor

- An extrinsic semiconductor or also known as doped semiconductor is a specific impurity which is able to
deeply modify its electrical properties, making it suitable for electronic applications like diodes and
transistors or optoelectronic applications that is light emitters and detectors.

11. Forward bias

- It is where the external voltage is delivered across the P-N junction diode. In a forward bias setup, the P-
side of the diode is attached to the positive terminal and N-side is fixed to the negative side of the battery.

12. Full-wave rectifier

- Full-wave rectification rectifies the negative component of the input voltage to a positive voltage, then
converts it into DC or pulse current utilizing a diode bridge configuration. In contrast, half-wave
rectification removes just the negative voltage component using a single diode before converting to DC.

13. Half-wave rectifier

- A half wave rectifier is defined as a type of rectifier that only allows one half-cycle of an AC voltage
waveform to pass, blocking the other half-cycle. Half-wave rectifiers are used to convert AC voltage to DC
voltage, and only require a single diode to construct.

14. Hole
- It is the absence of electron in a particular place in an atom is called as hole. Hole is an electric charge
carrier which has positive charge. The electric charge of hole is equal to electric charge of electron but
have opposite polarity.

15. Intrinsic semiconductor

- it is also called an undoped semiconductor or i-type semiconductor, is a pure semiconductor without any
significant dopant species present. The number of charge carriers is therefore determined by the
properties of the material itself instead of the number of impurities. In intrinsic semiconductors the number
of excited electrons and the number of holes are equal: n = p. This may be the case even after doping the
semiconductor, though only if it is doped with both donors and acceptors equally. In this case, n = p still
holds, and the semiconductor remains intrinsic, though doped.

16. Leakage current

- It is the current that flows from either AC or DC circuit in equipment to the chassis, or to the ground, and
can be either from the input or the output. If the equipment is not properly grounded, the current flow
through other paths such as the human body. This may also happen if the ground is inefficient or is
interrupted intentionally or unintentionally.

17. Light-emitting diode (LED)

-it is a semiconductor light source that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the
semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the
light is determined by the energy required for electrons to cross the band gap of the semiconductor. White
light is obtained by using multiple semiconductors or a layer of light-emitting phosphor on the
semiconductor device.

18. Majority current carrier

-It is the charge carriers that are present in large quantity. The majority charge carriers carry most of the
electric charge or electric current in the semiconductor. Hence, majority charge carriers are mainly
responsible for electric current flow in the semiconductor.

19. Minority current carrier

- It is the charge carriers that are present in small quantity are called minority charge carriers. The
minority charge carriers carry very small amount of electric charge or electric current in the
semiconductor.

20. N- type semiconductor

- it is an intrinsic semiconductor doped with phosphorus, arsenic, or antimony as an impurity. Silicon of
Group IV has four valence electrons and phosphorus of Group V has five valence electrons. If a small
amount of phosphorus is added to a pure silicon crystal, one of the valence electrons of phosphorus
becomes free to move around as a surplus electron. When this free electron is attracted to theelectrode
and moves, current flows.

21. P -type semiconductor

- A p-type semiconductor is a type of semiconductor. When the trivalent impurity is added to an intrinsic
or pure semiconductor like silicon or germanium, it is said to be a p-type semiconductor. Trivalent
impurities such as boron, gallium, indium, aluminum.

22. Pentavalent atom

- it is the atoms which have five electrons in their outer shell. To make the n-type semiconductor,
pentavalent impurities like phosphorus or arsenic are added. Four of the impurities' electrons form bonds
with the surrounding silicon atoms. This leaves one electron free. The resulting material has a large
number of free electrons. Since electrons are negative charge carriers, the resultant material is called an
negative type semiconductor. The pentavalent impurity that is added is called a 'dopant' and the process
of addition is called 'doping'.

23. Reverse bias

-It is the process by which, a p-n junction diode blocks the electric current in the presence of
applied voltage is called reverse biased p-n junction diode. In reverse biased p-n junction diode, the
positive terminal of the battery is connected to the n-type semiconductor material and the negative
terminal of the battery is connected to the p-type semiconductor material. When the external voltage is
applied to the p-n junction diode in such a way that, negative terminal is connected to the p-type
semiconductor and positive terminal is connected to the n-type semiconductor, holes from the p-side are
attracted towards the negative terminal whereas free electrons from the n-side are attracted towards the
positive terminal.

24. Trivalent atom

- Pentavalent elements are those elements which have five electrons in their outer shell. To make the n-
type semiconductor, pentavalent impurities like phosphorus or arsenic are added. Four of the impurities'
electrons form bonds with the surrounding silicon atoms. This leaves one electron free.
 25. Valence electrons
-  it is an outer shell electron that is associated with an atom, and that can participate in the formation of a
chemical bond if the outer shell is not closed; in a single covalent bond, both atoms in the bond contribute
one valence electron in order to form a shared pair.

26. Zener current, Iz

- It is a silicon semiconductor device that permits current to flow in either a forward or reverse
direction. The diode consists of a special, heavily doped p-n junction, designed to conduct in the
reverse direction when a certain specified voltage is reached. The Zener current has a well-defined
reverse-breakdown voltage, at which it starts conducting current, and continues operating
continuously in the reverse-bias mode without getting damaged. Additionally, the voltage drop across
the diode remains constant over a wide range of voltages, a feature that makes Zener diodes
suitable for use in voltage regulation.