EEE 221: Physical Electronics

Engr. Dr. H. O. Ohize

April 28, 2021
Federal University of Technology Minna
Consultation hours: Thursdays at 12 noon to 2pm.
Email: [email protected]
Office Address: Room 011, Electrical Department Office.

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Course Catalogue Description

1. The Atom, The Periodic table, Energy Level and Bands.

2. Modelling Concept in Electronics, Introduction to
Semi-Conductors.
3. Uniform Excitation of Semiconductor: Concept of Drift,
Mobility, Conductivity.
4. None Uniform Excitation of Semiconductor: Concept of
Diffusion, Hole-Electron Generation and Recombination.
5. PN junction, Equilibrium and Depletion Approximation under
different biasing condition.
6. Introduction to LTSpice, MATLAB and Task Assignment.
7. Terminal Characteristics of PN Junction Diodes and Models.
Other Diodes.
8. Brief Introduction to BJT, FET and SCR.
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Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes

Course Objectives

1. Introduce students to the physics of semiconductors and the

inner working of semiconductor devices
2. Provide students with the insight useful for understanding new
semiconductor devices and technologies

Learning Outcomes

1. An ability to utilize semiconductor models to analyse carrier

densities, carrier transport and recombination.
2. An ability to understand and utilize the basic governing
equations to analyse semiconductor devices.
3. An ability to utilize above abilities to analyse non-ideal and
new semiconductor devices.
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Participation and Attendance

1. 5 marks for GRABs!!

2. ASK QUESTIONS!!
3. Be proactive in class and respond to polls.
4. Attend every lecture and be prompt.
5. You are responsible for anything you missed during your
absence.
6. Be quiet and courteous. Electronic devices should be turned
off or put in silent mode.
7. Don’t let yourself get behind.
8. Rewrite your lecture notes and fill in the gaps, create
summary sheets for organising information.
9. What you turn in must be your own work.

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Course Outcomes Assessment and Reference Materials

Course Outcomes Assessment

1. Circuit Simulation and Analysis [15 %].

2. Class Test [20 %].
3. Class Participation [5 %].
4. Semester Examination [60 %].

Reference Materials

1. Idea of Electronics, Henry Ohize.

2. Microelectronics Devices and Circuit, Clifton G. Fonstad.
3. Microelectonics Circuits Adel S. Sadra and Kenneth C. Smith.
4. Principles of Electronics, V.K. Mehta and Rohit Metha.

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Weekly Topics

1. Week 1: Atomic theory, Periodic Table, Energy Level and

Bands, Classification of Materials.
2. Week 2: Uniform Semiconductors in Equilibrium.
3. Week 3: Uniform Excitation of Semiconductors.
4. Week 4: Non-Uniform Situation.
5. Week 5: PN Junction
6. Week 6: Terminal Characteristics of PN Junction Diodes
7. Week 7: Diode Equivalent Circuit
8. Week 8: Diode Application and Other Diodes
9. Week 9: Introduction to BJTs
10. Week 10: Introduction to FETs and SCR

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The Atom

Atom
Electron
The atom is the smallest unit
of matter that retains the Nucleus
complete property of an
element. Atoms are made up of
three basic particles namely; Shell or Orbit
protons, electrons and neutrons.
Figure 1: Atomic Structure

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• Electrons are negatively charged.
• The outer region of the atom Electron
consists of electron orbits.
Nucleus
• This orbits contains electrons.
• The outermost orbit can only have
a maximum of 8 electrons.
Shell or Orbit
• The electrons in the outermost
orbits are known as valency
Figure 2: Atomic Structure
electrons.

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The valence electrons determined the physical, chemical and most
essential for us, the electrical properties of materials. As a rough
role:

1. When the number of valence electrons is less than 4, the

material is usually a metaland a conductor. Examples are
sodium, magnesium and aluminium which have 1, 2 and 3
valence electrons respectively
2. When the number of valence electrons is greater than 4, the
material is usually a non-metal and an insulator. Examples are
nitrogen, sulphur and neon, which have 5, 6 and 8 valence
electrons respectively.
3. When the number of valence electrons equal 4, the material
has both metal and non-metal properties and is usually a
semi-conductor. Examples are carbon, silicon and germanium.

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Periodic Table
Periodic Table
The periodic table is an organised array of elements in order of
increasing atomic number, which is the total number of protons
in the atomic nucleus.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 2
H He
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Li Be B C N O F Ne
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Na Mg Al Si P S Cl Ag
19 20 31 32 33
K Ca Ga Ge As
49 51
In Sb
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Figure 3: Periodic Table
Energy Levels and Bands

Energy Level
A discrete value from a set of quantize values of total energy for
a subatomic particle confined by a force to a limited space.

Energy Band
Energy bands consisting of a large number of closely spaced
energy levels. This arises from the closely packed atoms of
typical crystalline materials.

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There are three (3) crucial energy bands in solid materials.

1. The valence band is the range of energies possessed by the

valence electrons.
2. The conduction band refer to the range of energies
possessed by free electrons which have been excited and
detached from their loose bonds to become conducting
electrons
3. Forbidden energy gap refers to the spatial separation
between conduction and valency band. As the name implies,
no electron stays in the forbidden energy gap.
For different materials, the forbidden gap varies. The more
the forbidden energy gap, the tighter the valence electrons are
bond to the nucleus.

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Material Classification based on Energy Band

The classification includes, insulators, semi-conductors and

conductors as shown in fig.14.

Figure 4: Energy Band 14/21

Insulators
Insulators or dielectrics do not readily conduct an electric current
when external sources are applied. From the energy bands
perspective, we may explain that for insulators, the valence band
is full while the conduction band is empty. The energy gap
(forbidden energy band) is large.

Semi-Conductors
Materials that have conductivity between that of an insulator and
that of most metals. From the energy bands perspective, the
energy gap between the conduction and valence band is relatively
small.
Conductors
Conductors are materials that permit electrons to flow freely from
particle to particle. From the energy gap perspective, conductors
have overlapping conduction and valence band.
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Conductors

In this section, we show how

electricity flows in conductors,
using the Drude theory/model in
conductors.
In the Drude theory of
conduction, the conductor
consists of mobile charges which
are free to move when electric
potential V is applied across the
conductor’s length L.
Figure 5: Applying V to a
conductor

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Ref. to fig. slide 16, the magnitude of the E field is
V
E~ = (1)
L
The electric field will exert a force F~ on the movable charges which
will accelerate a,
F~ = q E~ (2)
d
F~ = m~a = m v (t) (3)
dt
Combining equation 2 and 3, and integrating w.r.t, then velocity is
q E~ t
v (t) = (4)
m
We can only speak in terms of the average velocity v̄ for specified
time interval τ , given as
q E~ τ
v̄ (t) = (5)
m

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Fig. ?? is the arbitrary cross section (A)
of the conductor with length, L = v̄ ∆τ ,
where τ is an arbitrary time interval.

For N total number of mobile charges

q, within the arbitrary section A, we are
interested in volume charge flow
Q = qN, where N can be obtained from
a given charge density n per unit
volume. Consequently, Figure 6: Cross Section
of the Conductor
N = nv̄ ∆tA (6)

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Current flow I , is
Q qN
I = = (7)
∆t ∆t
2 ~
q nτ E A
= (8)
m
From a field point of view, we speak in terms of current density J
for the cross-sectional area A
I q 2 nτ ~
J= =( )E = σ E~ (9)
A m
here σ is the conductivity of the material. Equation 9 may be
expressed in voltage and current as
V
I = AJ = Aσ E~ = Aσ (10)
L

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Equation 10 reminds you of ?

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Equation 10 reminds you of Ohms Law!

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Let us rewrite equation 10 in a more familiar way
 
L
V =I = IR (11)
σA

where R is the resistance of the conductor sample.

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 Homework:
Check with the class rep for the weekly
numerical task!

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Interestingly, we have shown the derivation of
ohm’s law. We bring the discussion on
conductor to an end here. Note that the
model used here is based on an assumption of
two charged particles wherein one is fixed and
the other is mobile. This is entirely not the
case when we discuss semi-conductors in the
next chapter. Our focus shall next be on
semi-conductors.

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