The characteristics of an ideal diode are those of a switch that can conduct current in only one
direction
The term conductor is applied to any material that will support a generous flow of charge when
a voltage source of limited magnitude is applied across its terminals.
An insulator is a material that offers a very low level of conductivity under pressure from an
applied voltage source.
A semiconductor, therefore, is a material that has a conductivity level somewhere between the
extremes of an insulator and a conductor.
A bonding of atoms, strengthened by the sharing of electrons, is called covalent bonding.
Intrinsic materials are those semiconductors that have been carefully refined to reduce the
impurities to a very low levelessentially as pure as can be made available through modern
technology.
An increase in temperature of a semiconductor can result in a substantial increase in the
number of free electrons in the material.
Semiconductor materials such as Ge and Si that show a reduction in resistance with increase in
temperature are said to have a negative temperature coefficient.
The more distant the electron from the nucleus, the higher the energy state, and any electron
that has left its parent atom has a higher energy state than any electron in the atomic structure.
A semiconductor material that has been subjected to the doping process is called an extrinsic
material.
Diffused impurities with five valence electrons are called donor atoms
The diffused impurities with three valence electrons are called acceptor atoms.
In an n-type material the electron is called the majority carrier and the hole the minority carrier.
In a p-type material the hole is the majority carrier and the electron is the minority carrier.
This region of uncovered positive and negative ions is called the depletion region due to the
depletion of carriers in this region.
The current that exists under reverse-bias conditions is called the reverse saturation current
and is represented by Is.
A semiconductor diode is forward-biased when the association p-type and positive and n-type
and negative has been established.
The maximum reverse-bias potential that can be applied before entering the Zener region is
called the peak inverse voltage (referred to simply as the PIV rating) or the peak reverse voltage
(denoted by PRV rating).
In general, therefore, the lower the Q-point of operation (smaller current or lower voltage) the
higher the ac resistance.
The derivative of a function at a point is equal to the slope of the tangent line drawn at that
point.
As with the dc and ac resistance levels, the lower the level of currents used to determine the
average resistance the higher the resistance level.
In the reverse-bias region we have the transition- or depletion-region capacitance (CT), while in
the forward-bias region we have the diffusion (CD) or storage capacitance.
The process of giving off light by applying an electrical source of energy is called
electroluminescence.
In general, a diode is in the on state if the current established by the applied sources is such
that its direction matches that of the arrow in the diode symbol, and VD 0.7 V for silicon and
VD 0.3 V for germanium.
One p-n junction of a transistor is reverse biased, while the other is forward biased.
The transistor is a three-layer semiconductor device consisting of either two n- and one p-type
layers of material or two p- and one n-type layers of material.
In the active region the collector-base junction is reverse-biased, while the base-emitter
junction is forward-biased.
In the cutoff region the collector-base and base-emitter junctions of a transistor are both
reverse-biased.
In the saturation region the collector-base and base-emitter junctions are forward-biased.
For an on transistor, the voltage VBE should be in the neighborhood of 0.7 V.
For the typical transistor amplifier in the active region, VCE is usually about 25% to 75% of VCC.
The higher the stability factor, the more sensitive the network to variations in that parameter
The ratio RB/RE or RTh/RE should be as small as possible with due consideration to all aspects of
the design, including the ac response.
The maximum current is defined as IDSS and occurs when VGS= 0 V and VDS |VP|
