SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES &
PHYSICS
Lecture 1
INTRODUCTION
SOME DEVICES
Diode Zener Diode BJT
MOSFET Monolithic IC Flat Pack IC
Importance of Semiconductor Devices
These devices enhances:
• Performance
• Reliability
• Cost-effectiveness
Of
Energy Systems Information Systems
Ø Generate Ø Store
Ø Distribute Ø Process
Ø Regulate energy Ø Communicate
Information
Course Objective
Terminal Characteristics Material Parameters
• DC (I-V) • Geometry
• AC steady state (I-V) • Doping
• Transient [i(t)-v(t)] • Energy gap
• Mobility
• Lifetime
Ambient Conditions
• Dielectric constant
• Temperature
• Illumination
• The specific objective of this course is to relate the
terminal characteristics of devices to material parameters
and ambient conditions.
Terminal Characteristics of few devices :
Ø Let us look at the diode.
Another example of a device is the bipolar junction transistor.
Also looking at the MOSFET
On the output side we have the drain current which is analogous to
the collector current of a bipolar transistor.
The characteristics of MOSFET also looks very much like BJT.
Properties of Semiconductors
§ Polarity of charge carriers
§ Concentration of charge carriers
§ Transport of charge carriers
§ Interaction with electromagnetic field
We are interested in the current voltage characteristics of the device. Few
questions arises like.
• What is the current flow due to?
• What are the polarities of charges?
• What is the concentration of these charged carriers?
• What is the velocity with which the carriers move?
• How does it interact with electromagnetic field?
• Polarities of charge:
In semiconductors you can have both positive polarity and negative
polarity - that is one big difference between the semiconductors and the
metals. In metals we only have negatively charged carriers that is electrons.
The positively charged carriers in semiconductors are called holes.
• Coming to the concentration:
In metals charge carrier concentration is beyond 1021/cm3. So
beyond 1021 we have the metals whereas below 106 we have the insulators
and in between 106 and 1021 we have the semiconductors.
So the concentration of charge carriers in semiconductors varies over almost
15 orders of magnitude 106 to 1021.
• Concentration can varied by: doping, illumination and temperature
variation.
Insulators Semiconductors Metals
106 /cm3 1021 /cm3
concentration of carriers
Ø The transport of charge carriers:
In metals your current flows only because of drift, but in
semiconductors current can flow also because of what is called diffusion.
§ Drift is transport of carriers because of potential gradient.
§ Diffusion is because of concentration gradient at different points.
§ Another mechanism of current flow is because of temperature gradient
called thermoelectric current.
• Drift Transport:
Drift current is associated with drift velocity. The drift velocity increases
with increase in electric field, in the small electric field region this variation
is linear, but on increasing electric field this becomes sub linear and
ultimately the velocity tends to saturate.
Simple
Semiconductor
Drift Velocity vs Electric Field
In case of compound semiconductor an interesting kind of behaviour is
found, where the drift velocity increases with the electric field, reaches a
peak and then it falls before saturating. It is a situation of negative
differential resistance because dI/dV is negative. This can be use to make
oscillators.
• Mobility:
The drift velocity by electric field ratio for small electric
field i.e. linear region is a constant, so Vd/E is a constant and it is
called mobility.
Mobility decides what is called the resistivity of sample, so
resistivity depends on the carrier concentration and the carrier
mobility.
Metals Semiconductors Insulators
10-3 105
Resistance (Ω)
Ø The interaction of semiconductors with electromagnetic field.
• When the light falls on any surface, part of it is reflected and part of
it is absorbed.
• Because of light falling on an atom the bonds break and the result is
an free electron and a hole, so electron and hole pair generation.
• As a result conductivity of the semiconductor changes and therefore
this effect is referred to as photoconductivity.
• To cause this, the light that strikes the semiconductor must have
enough energy to raise electrons across the band gap, or to excite
the impurities within the band gap.
• Application: Photodetector, Solar Cells
Electron
Photon
Atom
Hole
• Also we can have the situation where free electrons and holes in
semiconductors recombine and the energy is given away as light. This
effect is called electroluminescence.
• Prior to recombination, electrons and holes may be separated either
by doping the material to form a p-n junction or through excitation by
impact of high-energy electrons accelerated by a strong electric field.
• Examples of electroluminescent materials:
1. Powdered zinc sulfide doped with copper (producing greenish light) or silver
(producing bright blue light).
2. Thin-film zinc sulfide doped with manganese (producing orange-red color).
3. Naturally blue diamond, which includes a trace of boron that acts as a
dopant.
4. Semiconductors containing Group III and Group V elements, such as indium
phosphide (InP), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and gallium nitride (GaN).
Electron
Atom
Photon
Hole
• Combination of effects that is, light falling on an atom gives rise to
electron hole pairs and this electron hole pairs recombine and give rise
to a light output where input is light and output is also light but
obviously the frequencies of the two cannot be the same because
there will be some energy loss, so v2 < v1 and this effect is called
photoluminescence.
Electron
Photon Photon
Atom
Atom
hv1 hv2
Hole
Topics to be covered
Ø Equilibrium & carrier concentration
Ø Carrier transport
Ø Excess carriers
Ø Procedure for analysing semiconductor devices
Ø PN Junction
Ø Bipolar Junction Transistor
Ø Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) Junction
Ø MOS Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET)
Ø Recent Devices
Syllabus
