EE211-BASIC ELECTRONICS

Fall 2021
Dr. Adnan Aslam
([email protected])

• Content, figures and examples used in these lecture notes are taken from
“Electronics Principles” by Albert Malvino and David Bates, and other online
resources.
• Timing: Monday and Wednesday - 3:50 pm to 5:05 pm (online on
zoom)
• Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday – 5:05pm to 6:05pm
(anytime through email)
• Prerequisite: EE – 111 Electric Circuit Analysis (ECA)
• Text Book:
1. “Electronic Principles” by Albert Malvino and David
Bates, 7th/8th Edition, Mc Graw Hill Education.
2. “Electronic Devices and Circuit Theory” by Robert R.
Boylestad and Louis Nashelsky , 11th Edition.
3. “Fundamentals of Microelectronics” by Behzad Razavi ,
2nd Edition, Wiley Publications (International Student
Edition is available in Pakistan)

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 Course Learning Outcome
Explain and understand the working and behavior
CLO – 1 of diodes, BJTs and MOSFETs in the modern
electronic systems.
Ability to analyze DC and AC the behavior of the
CLO – 2 diodes, BJTs, and MOSFETs in the modern electronic
systems.

Develop an ability to design DC power supplies, DC

CLO – 3 biasing circuits and single stage amplifier circuits
based on the concepts learned regarding the
diodes, BJTs, and MOSFETs, for various modern
electronic applications.

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 Course Outline
• Applications of Electronic Systems
• Semiconductor Physics
• Diode Theory and Circuits
• Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
Fundamentals and Operation
• Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
Amplifiers
• JFET and MOSFET Transistors
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 Why Study Electronics
• Over the past few decades, electronic systems has
revolutionized our lives.
• Examples
Cellular Telephone (Invented in 1980s)

How do we “convert” the voice band to a gigahertz center

frequency ? (multiplier)
How the radiated power reach destination several kms
away? (power amplifier)
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 Why Study Electronics
Cellular Telephone (Invented in 1980s)

How do we “receive” the voice band in gigahertz center

frequency to voice frequency? (multiplier)
Received signal is too week (in microvolts) to be
processed ? (receive amplifier)
Received signal contains noise. We need filters.

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 Why Study Electronics
Digital Camera

How do we “convert” light into electric signal?

(photodiode)
Again, received signal needs amplification. We need
amplifier. 7
 Revision of Thevenin’s Theorem
Helps to simplify a complex circuit into simpler form.
Thevenin’s Voltage and Resistance:

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Revision of Thevenin’s Theorem

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Revision of Thevenin’s Theorem

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 Semiconductor Physics
• First need to know what’s conductor?
• Let’s take an example of Copper:

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 Semiconductor Physics
• In electronics, all matters is valence orbit.
• Copper core has net charge of +1

• Nucleus pull is week for valence electrons.

• Any force can dislodge valence into free electron.
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 Semiconductor Physics
• In electronics, all matters is valence orbit.
• Copper core has net charge of +1

• Nucleus pull is week for valence electrons.

• Any force can dislodge valence into free electron.
• Silver and gold are other examples of good conductors.
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Semiconductor Physics

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Semiconductor Physics

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 Semiconductor Physics
• Conductor
1 ~3 valence electrons
• Insulator
5~8 valence electrons
• Semiconductor
4 valence electron
A semiconductor is an element with electrical properties between those of a
conductor and those of an insulator.

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 Semiconductor Physics
Germanium
• It has four electrons in the valence orbit.
• Drawback: It has large reverse current

Silicon
• It has four electrons in the valence orbit.
• Semiconductor of choice.
• Without it, modern electronics, communications, and computers would be impossible.

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Semiconductor Physics
Silicon Atom (14 electrons)

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 Silicon Crystal
Covalent Bonds
• Each neighboring atom shares an electron with the central atom.
• Since each shared electron is being pulled in opposite directions, the
electron becomes a bond between the opposite cores.
• The central atom has four additional electrons, giving it a total of eight
electrons in the valence orbit.

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 Silicon Crystal
Valence Saturation
• Each atom in a silicon crystal has eight electrons in its valence orbit.
• These eight electrons produce a chemical stability that results in a solid piece of silicon
material.
• A silicon crystal is almost a perfect insulator at room temperature, approximately 25°C.

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 Silicon Crystal
The Hole and Free Electron
• In a silicon crystal, the atoms can occasionally dislodge an electron from the valence
orbit and become free electron.
• The minimum energy required is called bandgap energy.
• The departure of the electron creates a vacancy in the valence orbit called a hole.
• The existence of holes is the critical difference between conductors and semiconductors.

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 Silicon Crystal
Recombination and Lifetime
• The free electrons move randomly throughout the crystal.
• Occasionally, a free electron will approach a hole, feel its attraction, and fall into it.
Recombination is the merging of a free electron and a hole.
• The amount of time between the creation and disappearance of a free electron is called
the lifetime.

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 Intrinsic Semiconductor
Flow of Free Electrons and Holes
• The free electron is in a large orbit at the right end of the crystal. Because of the
negatively charged plate, the free electron is repelled to the left. This free electron can
move from one large orbit to the next until it reaches the positive plate.
• This hole attracts the valence electron at point A. This causes the valence electron to
move into the hole.
• Two types of flow (electron to the left, holes to the right)
• Still, there are fewer free electrons, and thus semiconductor seems a poor conductor.

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 Doping a Semiconductor
Increasing Free Electrons and Holes
• One way to increase conductivity of a semiconductor is by doping (adding impurity).
• To increase the number of free electrons, pentavalent atoms are added to the molten
silicon. Because these materials will donate an extra electron to the silicon crystal, they
are often referred to as donor impurities

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 Doping a Semiconductor
Increasing Free Electrons and Holes
• By using a trivalent impurity, one whose atoms have only three valence electrons, we
can increase the holes.
• A trivalent atom is also called an acceptor atom because each hole it contributes can
accept a free electron during recombination.

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 Doping a Semiconductor
Question?
• A doped semiconductor has 10 billion silicon atoms and 15 million pentavalent atoms. If
the ambient temperature is 25°C, how many free electrons and holes are there inside
the semiconductor?

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 n-Type and p-Type Semiconductor
• Silicon that has been doped with a pentavalent impurity is called an n-type
semiconductor, where the n stands for negative.
• Since the free electrons outnumber the holes in an n-type semiconductor, the free
electrons are called the majority carriers and the holes are called the minority carriers.
• Silicon that has been doped with a trivalent impurity is called a p-type semiconductor,
where the p stands for positive.
• Since the holes outnumber the free electrons in an p-type semiconductor, the holes are
called the majority carriers and the free electrons are called the minority carriers.

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 The Unbiased Diode
• When a manufacturer dopes a crystal so that one-half of it is p-type and the other half is
n-type, something new comes into existence.
• The border between p-type and n-type is called the pn junction.
• The pn junction has led to all kinds of inventions, including diodes, transistors, and
integrated circuits.
• The diode is another name of pn crystal.

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 The Unbiased Diode
The Depletion Layer

• Because of repulsion, some of the free electrons diffuse across the junction.
• When an electron leaves the n side, it leaves behind a pentavalent atom that is short one
negative charge; this pentavalent atom becomes a positive ion.
• After the migrating electron falls into a hole on the p side, it makes a negative ion out of
the trivalent atom that captures it.
• Each pair of positive and negative ions at the junction is called a dipole.
• As the number of dipoles builds up, the region near the junction is emptied of carriers.
We call this charge-empty region the depletion layer.

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 The Unbiased Diode
Barrier Potential

• Each dipole has an electric field between the positive and negative ions.
• Therefore, if additional free electrons enter the depletion layer, the electric field tries to
push these electrons back into the n region.
• The strength of the electric field increases with each crossing electron until equilibrium
is reached.
• The electric field between the ions is equivalent to a difference of potential called the
barrier potential.
• The barrier potential equals approximately 0.3 V for germanium diodes and 0.7 V for
silicon diodes.

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