Semi-Conductor Basic

Conductor
 A conductor is a material that easily conduct electricity.

 The best conductors are copper, silver, gold and aluminum.

 How current can flow in conductor ?

 Conductors are characterized by atoms with only one valance electron i.e very
loosely bound to the atom.

 Loosely bound valance electrons can easily break away from their atoms and
becomes a free electrons.

 Therefor, a conductive material has many free electrons, when moving in the
same direction, makeup the current.
Insulator
 An insulator is a material that does not conduct electric current under normal
conditions

 Most good insulators are compound not a single element.

 Valance electrons are tightly bound to the atoms

 There are very few free electrons in an insulator.

 Insulators are plastic, rubber, wood etc.

Semi-conductor
 A semi-conductor is a material that is between conductor and insulator in its
ability to conduct electric current.

 A semi-conductor in its pure (intrinsic) state is neither a good conductor nor a

good insulator.

 The most common single element semi-conductor materials are silicon,

germanium, and carbon.

 Compound semi-conductors are gallium arsenide .

 The single element semi-conductor contains 4 valance electrons.

Energy Bands
 Valance shell of an atom represents a band of energy level and that the
valance electrons are confined to that band .

 Electron acquire additional energy , it can leave the valance shell & become a
free electrons. And exit in what is known as the conduction band.

 The difference b/w the valance shell and the conduction band is known as a
energy gap.

 This is the amount of energy that a valance electron must have in order to
jump from the valance band to the conduction band.

 The electron in the conduction band is free to move throughout the material
and is not tied to any given atom.
Energy Bands
Conduction in Semi-conductors
 The Energy band diagram for an un-excited (no-external energy) in a pure
silicon crystal. The condition occurs only at a temperature of 0 kelvin.
Conduction in Semi-conductors
 An intrinsic silicon crystal at room temperature has sufficient heat energy for
some valance electrons to jump the gap from the valance band into the
conduction band, becoming free electrons. Free electrons are also called
conduction electrons.

 When an electron jumps to the conduction band , a vacancy is left in the

valance shell. This vacancy is called hole.
Conduction in Semi-conductors
 Electron-hole pair Recombination. Occurs when a conduction band electrons
losses energy and falls into the hole in the valance band.
Electron& Hole Current
 When a voltage is applied across a piece of intrinsic semi-conductor material
the thermally generated free electrons in the conduction band, which are
free to move in the structure is easily attracted towards positive end.

 This movement of free electron is one type of current in semi-conductive

material and is called electronic-current.
Electron& Hole Current

 Another type of current occurs in valence band ,where the holes created by
free electrons.

 Few electrons cannot move freely in the structure as a free electrons .

 However a valance electrons can movie into a nearby hole with little change
in its energy level thus leaving another hole, where it came from.

 Effectively the hole has moved from one place to another place in the crystal
structure is called hole current.
Hole Current
N-Type & P-Type Semi-conductor material
 Semi-conductive material do not conduct current well are of limited value in
their intrinsic state. This is because of limited number of free electrons in the
conduction band and holes in the valance shell.

 Intrinsic material must be modified by increasing number of electron and

holes to increase its conductivity and make it useful in electronic devices.

 This is done by adding some impurities to the pure intrinsic semi-conductive

material.

 Two types of extrinsic semi conductive material, n-type and p-type are
useful in many electronic device.
Doping
 The conductivity of semi-conductor material (silicon or germanium) can be
drastically increased by the controlled addition of impurities to the pure
semi-conductive material , this process is called doping.

 The two categories of impurities are n-type and p-type.

N-Type Semi conductor
 To increase the number of conduction band electrons in intrinsic silicon,
penta valent impurities are added.

 These are the atoms with five valance electrons such as Arsenic, phosphorus
and bismuth.
Majority & Minority Carriers

 Most of the current carriers are electrons, the electrons are called majority
carriers in n-type material.

 Although majority carriers are electrons but , there are also a few holes that
are created when electron- hole pairs are thermally generated.

 Holes in n-type material are called minority carriers.

P-Type Semi conductor
 To increase the number of holes in intrinsic semi-conductor material,
trivalent impurity atoms are added.

 The number of holes can be carefully controlled by the number of trivalent

impurity atoms are added.
Majority & Minority Carriers
 The holes are majority carrier in P-type material. Although the majority of
current carriers in p-type material are holes. There are also few free
electrons that are created when electron-hole pairs are thermally generated.

 Electrons in P-type material are the minority carriers.

The Diode
 If a piece of intrinsic silicon is doped so that part is n-type and other is P-
types a PN-Junction is formed at the boundary between the two regions and a
diode id created.

 The P-region has many holes from the impurity atoms and only a few
thermally generated free electrons.

 The N-region has many free electrons from the impurity atoms and only a few
thermally generated holes.
Depletion Region
 When PN-Junction is formed , the n-region loses free electrons as they diffuse
across the region. This creates layer of positive charges near the junction.

 As the electron moves across the junction the p-region loses holes as the
electron and holes combine. This create a layer of negative charges near the
junction.

 These two layers of positive and negative charges form the depletion region
Barrier Potential

 The potential difference of the electric field across the depletion region is
the amount of voltage required to move electrons through the electric field.

 This potential difference is called Barrier potential and is expressed in volts.

 The barrier potential of PN junction depends on several factor, including the

type of semi-conductor material, the amount of doping and the temperature.

 The typical barrier potential is 0.7 v for silicon and 0.3 for germanium at 25c
Biasing A diode

 No-electrons move through the PN-junction at equilibrium.

 Generally, the term bias refers to the use of a dc voltage to establish a

certain condition for an electronic device.

 In relation to a diode there are two bias conditions : forward and reverse.

 These bias condition is established by connecting a sufficient dc voltage of

the proper polarity across the junction.
Forward Bias
 Forward bias is the condition that allows current trough the pn junction.

 The external bias voltage is designated by Vbias. The Resistor R limits the
current to a value that will not damage the diode.
Forward Bias
 The negative side of Bias is connected with N-region of diode and Positive
side is connected with P-side of diode. This is one requirement.

 A second requirement is that Vbias must be greater than barrier voltage.

The Effect of FB on the Depletion Region
Reverse Bias
 Reverse bias is the condition that essentially prevents current through the
diode.
 In reverse biased positive side of Vbias is connected with n-region of the
diode and negative side of Vbias is connected to p- region of diode.
 In RB the depletion region becomes much wider,
Reverse Bias
The Reverse Current

 The extremely small current that exists in reverse biased is called reverse
current.

 The reverse current is caused by the minority carriers in the p & n region that
are produced by thermally generated electronic-hole pairs.
Reverse Breakdown.
 Normally the reverse current is so small that it can be neglected.

 However, if the external reverse bias voltage is increased to a value called

the “breakdown voltage”. The verse current drastically increase.
VI-Characteristic of Diode

 Forward bias produces current through a diode and reverse bias prevents the
current , except for negligible reverse current.

 Reverse bias prevents current as long as the reverse bias voltage does not
equal or exceed the breakdown voltage of the junction.

 The VI- Characteristic of a diode is a graphical representation of voltage &

current relationship in a diode during forward & reverse bias
VI-Characteristic for forward bias
 When a forward biased voltage is applied across a diode, there is current .
The current is called forward current (If)
VI-Characteristic for forward bias
Dynamic Resistance
VI-Characteristics for Reverse Bias
The complete VI-Characteristics Curve
Diode Models

 The Ideal diode Model

 The Practical Diode Model

 The complete Diode Model

Diode Structure & Symbol
 A diode is a single PN junction device with conductive contacts & wire leads
connected to each region .
 One Part of the diode is N-type semiconductor & other part is P-type
semiconductor material.
 The n region is called the cathode and the P-region is called the anode.
Diode Connection (FB & RB)
The Ideal Diode Model
 The ideal model of a diode is a simple switch. When the diode is forward
biased, it acts like a closed (on switch).
 When the diode is reverse – biased , it acts like an open switch (off).

 The barrier potential , the forward dynamic resistance , and the reverse
current are all neglected.
The Ideal Diode Model
 Since the barrier potential & the forward dynamic resistance are neglected ,
the diode is assumed to have zero voltage across it.
VF= 0
 The forward current is determined by the bias voltage & the limiting resistor
using ohm’s law
IF= VBIAS / RLIMIT

 Since the reverse current is neglected, its value is assumed to be zero

IR= 0 A

 The Reverse voltage is equals the bias voltage

VR= VBIAS
The Practical Diode Model
 The practical model adds the barrier potential to the ideal model.

 When the diode is forward biased, it is equivalent to a closed switch in series

with a small equivalent voltage source equal to the barrier potential (0.7v).

 This equivalent voltage source represents the fixed voltage drop (VF)
produced across the forward biased pn-junction of the diode
The Practical Diode Model
 When the diode is reverse-biased, it is equivalent to an open switch just as in
the ideal model. Dynamic resistance is also neglected.

 Forward Voltage = VF= 0.7V

 Forward Current= IF= Vbias – VF / Rlimit

 Since the diode is assumed to have zero reverse current.

IR= 0A

VR= VBIAS
The Complete Diode Model
 The complete model of a diode consist of the barrier potential , the small
forward dynamic resistance (rd’) and the large internal reverse resistance (rR’).

 The reverse resistance is taken into account because it provides a path for the
reverse current, which is included in this diode model.

 When the diode is forward biased , it acts as a closed switch in series with
barrier potential voltage and the small forward dynamic resistance.

 When diode is reverse biased it act as an open switch in parallel with the large
internal resistance (rR’).

 The barrier potential does not affect reverse bias

The Complete Diode Model
The Complete Diode Model

 Forward Voltage: VF= 0.7V + IFrd’

 Forward Current= IF= Vbias – 0.7v / Rlimit + rd’

 The reverse current is taken into account with parallel resistance .

Example:
 Determine the forward voltage & forward current for the diode in given figure
for each diode models. Also find the voltage across the limiting resistor in
each case. Assume rd’= 10 ohm at he determined value of forward current.
Example:
 Determine the reverse voltage and reverse current for the diode in given
figure for each of the diode models . Also find the voltage across the limiting
resistor in each case . Assume IR= 1 uA.