This document discusses atomic structure and energy bands in semiconductors. It explains that semiconductors have a small energy gap between the valence and conduction bands, allowing electrons to move between the bands with small energy inputs. The document classifies materials as conductors, semiconductors, or insulators based on their atomic structure and energy bands. It also describes intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, p-type and n-type doping, drift and diffusion currents, PN junction diodes, and bipolar junction transistors.
This document discusses atomic structure and energy bands in semiconductors. It explains that semiconductors have a small energy gap between the valence and conduction bands, allowing electrons to move between the bands with small energy inputs. The document classifies materials as conductors, semiconductors, or insulators based on their atomic structure and energy bands. It also describes intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, p-type and n-type doping, drift and diffusion currents, PN junction diodes, and bipolar junction transistors.
This document discusses atomic structure and energy bands in semiconductors. It explains that semiconductors have a small energy gap between the valence and conduction bands, allowing electrons to move between the bands with small energy inputs. The document classifies materials as conductors, semiconductors, or insulators based on their atomic structure and energy bands. It also describes intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, p-type and n-type doping, drift and diffusion currents, PN junction diodes, and bipolar junction transistors.
This document discusses atomic structure and energy bands in semiconductors. It explains that semiconductors have a small energy gap between the valence and conduction bands, allowing electrons to move between the bands with small energy inputs. The document classifies materials as conductors, semiconductors, or insulators based on their atomic structure and energy bands. It also describes intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, p-type and n-type doping, drift and diffusion currents, PN junction diodes, and bipolar junction transistors.
Atomic Structure Atomic Structure Atomic Structure Atomic Structure Atomic Structure Atomic Structure Example: Silicon atom. It has 14 electrons. Two electrons revolve in the first orbit, 8 in the second orbit and 4 in the third orbit. Atomic Structure Energy Level
This is known as Energy level diagram.
Energy Bands Important Energy Bands Important Energy Bands
Key Points i) Valance band Large amount of energy is required to move electron. ii) Conduction band Small amount of energy is required to move electron.
iii) Energy gap between valance band and conduction band is called forbidden energy gap.
Based on the current carrying capacity materials can be classified into
i) Conductors ii) Semiconductors and iii) Insulators Classification of Solid and Energy Bands Conductor is a good conductor of electricity. Insulator is a poor conductor of electricity. Semiconductor has its conductivity lying between these two extremes. Materials can be classified into these three types depending on the number of valence electrons in the atom. Electrons in the outermost orbit of an atom are valence electrons. In a good conductor, the number of valence electrons will be 1 or 2, (e.g. copper). In an insulator, the outermost orbit will be completely filled (e.g. xenon). In a semiconductor, the outermost orbit will be partially filled. For example, the number of valence electrons is 4 in Germanium (Ge) and Silicon (Si).
Fig. Therefore, a very high electric field is required to push the valence electrons to the conduction band. Classification of Solid and Energy Bands
Due to this overlapping, a slight potential difference
Classification of Solid and Energy Bands
Further, the energy gap between valence and conduction bands is very small as shown in fig. Therefore, Semiconductors
(iii) When a suitable metallic impurity (e.g, arsenic, gallium etc.,) is added to a semiconductor, its current conducting properties change appreciably. This property is most important. Classification of Semiconductors 1. Intrinsic Semiconductor Classification of Semiconductors 2. Extrinsic Semiconductor Classification of Semiconductors (i) n-type semiconductor Classification of Semiconductors Classification of Semiconductors Classification of Semiconductors Classification of Semiconductors (ii) p-type semiconductor Classification of Semiconductors Classification of Semiconductors Classification of Semiconductors Majority and minority charge carriers Donor doping- N Type Impurity having 5 electrons and 3 holes are added to the semiconductor. This produces excess electron to semiconductor. Eg. Phosphorous, Antimony, Arsenic Pentavalent atoms.
Acceptor doping- P Type
Impurity having 3 electrons and 5 holes are added to the semiconductor. This produces excess hole to semiconductor. Eg. Boron, Aluminium, Gallium Trivalent atoms.
Semiconductor Majority Minority
N-Type ELECTRONS Holes P-Type HOLES Electrons Drift Current and Diffusion Current
Drift Current Diffusion Current
• Electric field will accelerate the electron in • Charge carriers in a semiconducting material conductor/ Semiconductor towards the positive is of same polarity and they repel each other. terminal. • The movement of electron due to this • On its way, the electron will collide with the atoms and rebounds in random direction. repulsion is called the DIFFUSION CURRENT. • This causes the electron to drift in towards the positive terminal. This movement is called DRIFT CURRENT. Diode
* A diode is a one way device, offering a low resistance for forward biased and behaves as a open switch when reverse-biased. * The P –Type material and N-Type material are connected in PN Junction diode. PN Junction
Holes are uniformly distributed throughout the P-Type This initial diffusion of charge carriers create a barrier material. voltage at the junction. Electrons are uniformly distributed throughout the N- This barrier voltage at junction opposes the flow of type material. electrons. Electrons in N-type material are attracted by the This movement of charge carriers across the junction positive charge carriers and moves into the P-Type leaves a layer on each side that is depleted of charge region and Viceversa. carriers. This is the depletion region. PN Junction 1. Forward bias condition
P Side is connected to the positive terminal.
N Side is connected to the Negative terminal. Electrons in the N Side is repelled by the Negative terminal and moves towards the positive terminal. Holes in P-Side is repelled by the positive terminal and moves towards the negative terminal. This reduces the depletion width and barrier potential. And the depletion layer vanish as the voltage increases. PN Junction 2. Reverse bias condition
Electrons in the N Side is attracted by the positive terminal
and moves towards the positive terminal. Holes in P-Side is attracted by the negative terminal and moves towards the negative terminal. This widens the depletion width and increases the barrier potential. Due to this large barrier voltage there is no possibility for the flow of majority charge carriers. Reverse biased PN junction has high resistance. The minority charge carriers cross the junction and small reverse current. PN Junction Characteristics of PN Junction Diode PN Junction Important Terms PN Junction PN Junction BJT – Bipolar Junction Transistor A Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) is a three-terminal semiconductor device in which the operation depends on the interaction of both majority and minority carriers and hence, the name bipolar. The BJT is analogous to a vacuum triode and is comparatively smaller in size. It is used in amplifier and oscillator circuits, and as a switch in digital circuits. It has wide applications in computers, satellites, and other modern communication systems. Construction of BJT
The three terminals of the transistor are emitter, base, and collector, shown as E, B, and C, respectively. The arrow on the emitter specifies the direction of current flow when the EB junction is forward biased.
The emitter is heavily doped so that it can inject a large number of charge carriers into the base. The base is lightly doped and very thin. It passes most of the injected charge carriers from the emitter into the collector. The collector is moderately doped. Transistor Biasing Operation of an NPN Transistor The forward bias applied to the emitter base junction of an NPN transistor causes a lot of electrons from the emitter region to cross over to the base region. As the base is lightly doped with P-type impurity, the number of holes in the base region is very small and hence, the number of electrons that combine with holes in the P-type base region is also very small. Hence, a few electrons combine with holes to constitute a base current IB. The remaining electrons (more than 95%) cross over into the collector region to constitute a collector current IC. Thus, the base and collector current summed up gives the emitter current, i.e., IE = (IC + IB). In the external circuit of the NPN bipolar junction transistor, the magnitudes of the emitter current IE, the base current IB, and the collector current IC are related by IE = IC + IB. Operation of an PNP Transistor The forward bias applied to the emitter-base junction of a PNP transistor causes a lot of holes from the emitter region to cross over to the base region as the base is lightly doped with N-type impurity. The number of electrons in the base region is very small and hence, the number of holes combined with electrons in the N-type base region is also very small. Hence, a few holes combined with electrons to constitute a base current IB. The remaining holes (more than 95%) cross over into the collector region to constitute a collector current IC. Thus, the collector and base current when summed up gives the emitter current, i.e., IE = (IC + IB). In the external circuit of the PNP bipolar junction transistor, the magnitudes of the emitter current IE, the base current IB and the collector current IC are related by IE = IC + IB Transistor Configurations and Input / Output Characteristics
CB Configuration This is also called grounded-base configuration. In this configuration, the emitter is the input terminal, the collector is the output terminal, and the base is the common terminal. CE Configuration This is also called grounded-emitter configuration. In this configuration, the base is the input terminal, the collector is the output terminal, and the emitter is the common terminal. CC Configuration This is also called grounded-collector configuration. In this configuration, the base is the input terminal, the emitter is the output terminal, and the collector is the common terminal. CB Configuration
Input Characteristics Output Characteristics
Transistor Parameters CE Configuration
Input Characteristics Output Characteristics
Transistor Parameters CC Configuration
Output Characteristics Input Characteristics Comparison of CB, CE and CC configurations Comparison of CB, CE and CC configurations Current Amplification Factor In a transistor amplifier with a.c. input signal, the ratio of change in output current to the change in input current is known as the current amplification factor. EXAMPLE PROBLEM: 1
