SEMICONDUCTORS

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
In an extrinsic semiconducting material,
the charge carriers originate from impurity
atoms added to the original material is
called impurity [or] extrinsic semiconductor.
This Semiconductor obtained by doping
TRIVALENT and PENTAVALENT impurites
in a TETRAVALENT semiconductor. The
electrical
conductivity
of
pure
semiconductors may be changed even with
the addition of few amount of impurities.

Intrinsic Semiconductors
An intrinsic semiconductor is a pure semiconductor,
i.e., a sample without any impurity. At absolute zero
it is essentially an insulator, though with a much
smaller band gap. However, at any finite
temperature there are some charge carriers are
thermally excited, contributing to conductivity.
Semiconductors such as silicon and germanium,
which belong to Group IV of the periodic table are
covalently bonded with each atom of Si(or Ge)
sharing an electron with four neighbours of the
same specis. A bond picture of silicon is shown in
the figure where a silicon atom and its neighbour
share a pair of electrons in covalent bonding.

Diode:
A pure silicon crystal or germanium crystal is known as an
intrinsic semiconductor. There are not enough free electrons
and holes in an intrinsic semi-conductor to produce a usable
current.
The electrical action of these can be modified by doping means
adding impurity atoms to a crystal to increase either the number
of free holes or no of free electrons.
When a crystal has been doped, it is called a extrinsic semiconductor. They are of two types
n-type semiconductor having free electrons as majority carriers
p-type semiconductor having free holes as majority carriers.

Diode:
If a junction is made by joining p-type semiconductor
to n-type semiconductor a useful device is produced
known as diode. It will allow current to flow through it
only in one direction.
The unidirectional properties of a diode allow current
flow when forward biased and disallow current flow
when reversed biased. This is called rectification process
and therefore it is also called rectifier.

p-n junction formation

p-type material

n-type material

Semiconductor material
doped with acceptors.

Semiconductor material
doped with donors.

Material has high hole

concentration

Material has high

concentration of free
electrons.

Concentration of free
electrons in p-type material
is very low.

Concentration of holes in
n-type material is very low.

p-n junction formation

p-type material

n-type material

Contains
NEGATIVELY
charged acceptors
(immovable) and
POSITIVELY charged
holes (free).

Contains
POSITIVELY charged
donors (immovable)
and NEGATIVELY
charged free electrons.

Total charge = 0

Total charge = 0

Diffusion

As a result of diffusion, the molecules or other free

particles distribute uniformly over the entire volume

p- n junction formation
What happens if n- and p-type materials are in close contact?

Being free particles, electrons start diffusing from n-type material into p-material
Being free particles, holes, too, start diffusing from p-type material into n-material
In p region there are acceptor atoms having holes and electron diffusing from
n region to p region fill these holes .
Near the junction there is accumulation of such ve chraged ions.
When sufficient negative charge gets accumulated in p region near the
junction ,electrons experience a force of repulsion ,while diffusing from n
region to p region ,diffusion process stops.

p- n junction formation
What happens if n- and p-type materials are in close contact?
p-type

n-type

Electrons and holes remain staying close to the p-n junction because
negative and positive charges attract each other.
Negative charge stops electrons from further diffusion
Positive charge stops holes from further diffusion
The diffusion forms a dipole charge layer at the p-n junction interface.
There is a built-in VOLTAGE at the p-n junction interface that prevents
penetration of electrons into the p-side and holes into the n-side.

A pn Junction

FIGURE
9.5

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE

JUNCTION DIODE

The symbol of diode is shown in fig. The terminal connected to p-layer is called
anode (A) and the terminal connected to n-layer is called cathode (K)

FORWARD BIAS P-N JUNCTION

REVERSE BIAS P-N JUNCTION

When an external voltage is applied to the When an external voltage is applied to the
P-N junction making the P side positive
with respect to the N side the diode is said

PN junction making the P side negative

with respect to the N side the diode is said

to be forward biased (F.B).

to be Reverse Biased (R.B.).

A F.B. diode has a very low resistance.

Bias must be greater than .3 V for
Germanium or .7 V for Silicon diodes.
The depletion region narrows.

A R.B. diode has a very high resistance.

Bias must be less than the break down
voltage.
The depletion region widens.

FORWARD BIAS P-N JUNCTION

REVERSE BIAS P-N JUNCTION

A forward-biased diode showing the flow

Only thermally generated
of majority carriers and the voltage due minority carriers are urged across
the p-n junction. Therefore the
to the barrier potential across the
depletion region.
magnitude of the reverse saturation
current (or reverse leakage current)
depends on the temperature of the
semiconductor.

When the PN junction is reversed

biased the width of the depletion layer
increases, however
if the reverse
voltage gets too large a phenomenon
known as diode breakdown occurs.

VOLT AMPERE CHARACTERISTICS

OF A DIODE

FORWARD CHARACTERISTICS OF
DIODE
Forward voltage (Vf) is less then barrier potential
voltage ,forward current is 0
If Vf is greater than barrier potential ,forward
current starts flowing.
The voltage at which current starts increasing is
called cut in voltage (knee voltage) of a diode.

REVERSE CHARACTERISTICS OF
DIODE
Supply connection is reversed.
At reverse biased condition , the junction resistance is very high and
ideally no current should flow.
But due to minority carrier ,negligibly small current of the order of A
will flow.
This current is called as leakage current of a diode.
Increasing ve volatage across diode does not increase the reverse
current.
If reverse voltage Increase to a large value ,at one stage p-n junction
will break down with a sudden rise in reverse current
The reverse voltage at which the diode breaks down and a large
reverse current starts flowing is called breakdown voltage.
At this reverse breakdown current continues to increase.

VOLT AMPERE CHARACTERISTICS

OF A DIODE

ZENER DIODE
Zener diode is a special purpose diode operating in the
breakdown region of ordinary diode.
Its only differ from simple diode- doping level
It is heavily doped.
It makes depletion region narrow
Breakdown can occur at law reverse voltage.
This type of breakdown is called zener breakdown.
If depletion layer is narrow & we apply reverse voltage, strong
electric field is produced.
Which causes .electrons to break away from their parent atoms
This action results in large number of electron hole pairs
Thus a large reverse current flows.
This type of break down is called as zener break down.
Zener break down occurs at a voltage less then 5 V

ZENER DIODES
A zener diode is much
like a normal diode, the
exception being is that it is
placed in the circuit in
reverse bias and operates
in reverse breakdown.
This typical characteristic
curve
illustrates
the
operating range for a
zener. Note that its
forward characteristics are
just like a normal diode.

ZENER DIODES
The zener diodes
breakdown characteristics
are determined by the
doping process. Low
voltage zeners less than 5V
operate in the zener
breakdown range. Those
designed to operate more
than 5 V operate mostly in
avalanche breakdown
range. Zeners are available
with voltage breakdowns of
1.8 V to 200 V.
This curve illustrates the minimum and
maximum ranges of current operation that the
zener can effectively maintain its voltage.

A microwave solid-state device.

Also called a parametric diode, tuning
diodes or varicap diodes.
A nonlinear device
Provides a voltage-dependent variable
capacitance.

Abrupt and hyper abrupt type : When the

changeover p-n junction is abrupt then it is
called abrupt type. When change is very
abrupt, they are called hyper abrupt type.
They are used in oscillators to sweep for
different frequencies.

Gallium-arsenide varactor diodes : The

semiconductor material used is gallium
arsenide. They are used for frequencies
from 18 GHz up to and beyond 600 GHz.

Capacitance : Capacitance of the device.

Capacitance from a few picoFarads to
hundreds of picoFarads is provided.

Capacitance range : Range of capacitance

produced when voltage is varied.

Voltage range : The minimum and

maximum voltage that can be applied to
the device.

Bias current : The bias is always reverse. This

means that the varactor diode does not
conduct electricity. If the bias is turned positive
then the device will start conducting.

Other criteria to be considered include :

reverse and breakdown voltage, leakage
current, junction temperature.

Voltage and other transients must be avoided.

Transients can occur if the DC voltage is put
off.

Low-noise characteristic : produce

much less noise than most
conventional amplifiers.
Low cost
High reliability
Light weight
Small size

Notice the nonlinear increase in

capacitance as the reverse voltage is
decreased.

It has a p-n junction of semiconducting material and is

always reverse biased.

The depletion zone depends

on the applied voltage and
this makes the capacitance
vary with the applied voltage.

FREQUENCY MULTIPLIERS - used in

applications where its difficult to
generate microwave signals.
Producing relatively high power outputs
at frequencies up to 100GHz.
Does not have gain ; in fact, it produces
a signal power loss,
Output can be as high as 80% of the
input.

PARAMETRIC AMPLIFIERS. - named for

the time-varying parameter, or value of
capacitance, associated with the
operation.

Since the underlying principle of

operation is based on reactance, the
parametric amplifier is sometimes called
a REACTANCE AMPLIFIER.

TUNING - Since the frequency can be made to

vary they are used as electronic tuning devices
in tuners for television, mobiles.

Other Applications:
They are used in PLL, voltage controlled
oscillators, harmonic generation, electronic
tuning devices in tuners for television, mobiles,
parametric amplification, AM radios, voltagevariable tuning, frequency multipliers, etc.

What Is The Hall Effect?

Previous Setup

Shortcomings

New Setup

How does it affect you?

Scientific Principles
Applications

How it works
Possible Improvements

Results
Conclusion

Discovered by Edwin Hall in 1879.

Quantum Hall Effect discovered in 1975

Lorentz Force:
F = q[E + (v x B)]

Hall voltage is produced by charge accumulation

on sidewalls
Charge accumulation balances Lorentz Force
Charge accumulation increases resistance

Why Semiconductors?

Ideal number of charge carriers

Charge carriers increase with temperature

What we can learn

Sign of charge carrier

Charge carrier density
Charge carrier mobility
Energy gap

For simple conductors

IB

IB
VH
RH
ned
d

Where n = carrier density, d

=
conductor length
RH is known as the Hall
coefficient
VH B Useful for
measuring B-Fields

Gaussmeter Probe
uses a hall sensor

Semiconductors have two charge carriers

ne2 ph2
RH
e(ne2 ph2 ) 2

However, for large

magnetic fields
1

RH

( p n)e

Enables
us to determine the carrier

density

Liquid N2 & Heaters are used for

temperature control

Motivation
Old automated system inadequate

Goal
Create new DAQ+LabVIEW system

Previous groups frustrated with results

More reliable measurements

Easy user interface
Easy data collection

Measure

Hall Voltage
Current through Semiconductor
Temperature
Magnetic Field

Our hall generator is a fully integrated device

Semiconductor

Easy measurement of Hall Voltage

Indirect but easy measurement of current

Constantan-Copper Thermocouple

Seebeck effect converts temperature

gradient to voltage
Non-Linear
Original thermocouple didnt work!
Where is it?
It is this junction between
metals!

Vmeasur
e

Magnet

Burned
Resistor

Disaster!

DAQ
Lab VIEW
back end

Lab VIEW
front end

Success

Integrated DAQ w/ Labview

Automated measurements of temperature,
hall voltage, semiconductor current

Setup Shortcomings

Not able to measure magnetic field

Accuracy of hall voltage and temperature
measurements
Heaters are too small
Unshielded magnetic field

n = 1.38E12 cm-3

IB
IB
VH
RH
ned
d

nSi = 1.5E10 cm-3

1
1
RH

( p n)e n e

(-) slope
(-) charge
carriers

Increase Temperature Increased

Resistance
VH T-3/2
These results
are
displeasing

Prior results when experiment was

conducted manually
Note: sign was
flipped on
purpose

What we learned about

The Hall Effect

Labview/DAQ integration
Common problems in experimental setup
Safety (Liquid N2)
Maintaining team motivation

Who we learned from

Steve Bloch
Professor Howell

Solar cell is also called as photo

galvanic cell Photo galvanic cell or
solar cell is the one which converts the
solar energy (energy obtained from the
sun) directly into electrical energy.

The solar cells are based on the

principles of photovoltaic effect.

Definition:
The generation
of voltage across
the PN junction in a
semiconductor due
to the absorption of
light radiation is
called photovoltaic
effect. The Devices
based on this effect
is called
photovoltaic device.

Light
ener
gy

n-type semiconductor
p- type semiconductor

p-n junction

Electri
cal
Power

Solar cell (crystalline Silicon)

consists of n-type semiconductor
(emitter) layer and p-type semiconductor layer (base). The two layers
are sand-wiched and hence there is
formation of p-n junction.
The surface is coated with antireflection coating to avoid the loss of
incident light energy due to reflection.

When a solar panel exposed to

sunlight , the light energies are
absorbed by a semi conduction
materials.
Due to this absorbed energy, the
electrons are liberated and produce
the external DC current.
The DC current is converted into 240volt AC current using an inverter for
different applications.

Thus when this p and n layers are

connected to external circuit, electrons
flow from n-layer to p-layer, an hence
current is generated
The electrons that leave the solar cell as
current give up their energy to whatever
is connected to the solar cell, and then
re-enter the solar cell. Once back in the
solar cell, the process begins again.

Based on the types of crystal used,

soar cells can be classified as,

Mono crystalline silicon cells

Polycrystalline silicon cells
Amorphous silicon cells

It is produced from pure silicon (single

crystal). Since the Mono crystalline
silicon is pure and defect free,
the
efficiency of cell will be higher.

In Polycrystalline solar cell, liquid

silicon is used as raw material and
polycrystalline silicon was obtained
followed by solidification process. The
materials contain various crystalline
sizes. Hence, the efficiency of this type
of cell is less than Mono crystalline cell

Amorphous silicon was obtained by

depositing silicon film on the substrate
like glass plate.

The layer thickness amounts to less

than 1m the thickness of a human
hair for comparison is 50-100 m.

It is clean and non-polluting

It is a renewable energy
Solar cells do not produce noise and they are
totally silent.
They require very little maintenance
They are long lasting sources of energy which
can be used almost anywhere
They have long life time
There are no fuel costs or fuel supply problems

Solar power can`t be obtained in night time

Solar cells (or) solar panels are very expensive
Energy has not be stored in batteries
Air pollution and whether can affect the
production of electricity
They need large area of land to produce more
efficient power supply

A biomaterial is a nonviable material

used in a medical device, intended to
interact with biological systems.
Defined by their application NOT
chemical make-up.

Physical Requirements

Hard Materials.
Flexible Material.

Chemical Requirements
Must not react with any tissue in
the body.
Must be non-toxic to the body.
Long-term replacement must not be
biodegradable.

Grow cells in culture.

Apparatus for handling proteins in the
laboratory.
Devices to regulate fertility in cattle.
Aquaculture of oysters.
Cell-silicon Biochip.

Skin/cartilage

Drug Delivery
Devices

Polymers

Bone
replacements

Orthopedic
screws/fixation

Metals

Dental
Implants

Ocular
implants

Synthetic
BIOMATERIALS

Ceramics

Heart
valves

Dental Implants

Semiconductor
Materials
Implantable
Microelectrod
es

Biosensors

First generation bio-materials

Second generation bio-materials
Third generation bio-materials

Specified by physicians using common

and borrowed materials.
Most successes were accidental rather
than by design.

Developed through collaborations of

physicians and engineers.
Engineered implants using common
and borrowed materials.
Built on first generation experiences.
Used advances in materials science
(from other fields).

Bioengineered implants using

bioengineered materials.
Few examples on the market.
Some modified and new polymeric
devices.
Many under development.

Heart Valve
Artificial Tissue
Dental Implants
Intraocular Lenses
Vascular Grafts
Hip Replacements

Fabricated from carbons, metals,

elastomers, fabrics, and natural valves.
Must NOT React With Chemicals in
Body.
Attached By Polyester Mesh.
Tissue Growth Facilitated By Polar
Oxygen-Containing Groups.

Biodegradable
Polymer Result of
Condensation of
Lactic Acid and
Glycolyic Acid

Capable of bonding to bone, a

phenomenon known as
"osseointegration.
Bio-inert, there is no reaction in tissue
and no rejection or allergic reactions.

Most Common Medical Practice Using

Biomaterials.
Corrosion Resistant high-strength Metal
Alloys.
Very High Molecular Weight Polymers.
Thermoset Plastics.

Achieve and maintain homeostasis.

Porous.
Permeable.
Good structure retention.
Adequate burst strength.
High fatigue resistance.
Low thrombogenecity.
Good handling properties.
Biostable.