Electronic Devices & Circuits : UNIT – II

Syllabus: Forbidden Band (or) Energy Gap :-

Review of Semi Conductor Physics : Insulators,
Semi conductors, and Metals classification using
Energy Band Diagrams, Mobility and Conductivity,
Electrons and holes in Intrinsic Semi conductors,
Extrinsic Semi Conductor, (P and N Type
semiconductor) Hall effect, Generation and
Recombination of Charges, Diffusion, Continuity
Equation, Injected Minority Carriers, Law of
Junction, Fermi Dirac Function, Fermi level in
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductor.
The energy band in between the condition
band and the valence band is called forbidden Band.
2.2 Classification of Materials (or) Solids
According to Energy Bands:-
Solids are classified in to three types
1. Insulators
2. Conductors
3. Semi conductors

2. 1.Energy Band Diagram:-

The range of energies that an electron may

possess in an atom is known as the energy band.

There Important energy bands are,

 Valence Band
 Conduction Band
 Forbidden Band Fig: Energy Band Diagram of Solids

Valence Band :-
The Range of Energy possessed by valence
electrons is known as valence Bands.
Conduction Band :-
The valence electrons are less tightly bound
with the nucleus. So that even by an application of
small electric field, some of the valence electrons
detached from the nucleus and it becomes free
electrons. These fee electrons are responsible for the
conduction of current in good conductors. The
electrons are also called conduction electrons.
→ The Range of energy possessed by these
electrons is known as conduction band.
Insulators:-
→ Materials in which the conduction band
and valence bands are separated by a wide energy
gap (≈ 15 eV) as shown in figure.
Free electron Concentration, n ≈107 electrons/m3
Resistivity, ρ > 109 Ω - cm
Energy Gap, EG » 1 e V (1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 Joules)
→ A wide energy gap means that a large
amount of energy is required, to free the electrons,
by moving them from the valence band into the
conduction band;
→ Since at room temperature, the valence
electrons of an insulator do not have enough energy
to jump in to the conduction, therefore insulator do
not have an ability to conduct current. Thus
 Electronic Devices & Circuits : UNIT – II
insulators have very high resistance (or extremely
low conductivity) at room temperatures.
→ However if the temperature is raised,
some of the valence electrons may acquire energy
and jump in to the conduction band. It causes the
resistance of insulators to decrease.
→ Therefore an insulator have negative
temperature co-efficient of resistance.
Conductors:-
The materials in which conduction and
valence bands overlap as shown in figure are called
conductors.
Free electron concentration, n ≈ 1028 electrons/m3
Resistivity, ρ < 10-3 Ω - cm
Energy Gap, EG = 0 e V
→ The overlapping indicates a large number
of electrons available for conduction.
→ Hence the application of a small amount
of voltage results a large amount of current.
Semiconductors:-
→ The materials, in which the conduction
and valence bands are separated by a small energy
gap (1eV) as shown in figure are called
semiconductors.
→ Silicon, germanium, GaAs, Carbon,
selemium are the examples for semiconductors.
→ A small energy gap means that a small
amount of energy is required to free the electrons by
moving them from the valence band in to the
conduction band.
→ The semiconductors behave like
insulators at 0K, because no electrons are available
in the conduction band.
Germanium (Ge ) has EG= 0.785 eV, and Silicon is
1.21 eV at OOK
→ If the temperature is further increased,
more valence electrons will acquire energy to jump
into the conduction band.
→ Thus like insulators, semiconductors also
have negative temperature co-efficient of resistance.
→ It means that conductivity of
semiconductors increases (i.e resistance decreases)
with the increase in temperature.
Advantages of Semiconductor Devices:
1. Smaller in size.
2. Requires no cathode heating power
3. They operate on low DC power.
4. They have long life.
Disadvantages:
1. Frequency range of operation is low.
2. Smaller power output.
3. Low permissible ambient temperature.
4. Noise is more
2.3 Classification of Semi Conductors:
Semiconductors are classified into two types.
They are–
· Intrinsic or Pure semiconductors.
· Extrinsic or Doped Semiconductor.
The extrinsic semiconductors are also two types.
· N-type and
· P-type.
Intrinsic or Pure Semi Conductors:
The semiconductor material in its pure form is
called intrinsic semiconductor. Pure Silicon and
Germanium are the intrinsic semiconductors. Each
atom of the semiconductor has only four electrons
in its outermost orbit. They require four more
electrons in the valence shell to become a stable
 Electronic Devices & Circuits : UNIT – II

structure. Hence each of the four valence electrons

forms a covalent bond with another four valance
electrons, one from each of the four neighboring
atoms. The two electrons of the covalent bond are
shared by the two atoms.

At absolute zero temperature, all valence

electrons are strongly bounded to the parent atoms;
hence no free electrons are available for conduction.
The intrinsic semiconductor acts like a perfect
Fig. Generation of electron-hole pair in an intrinsic
insulator at absolute zero temperature.
semiconductor.

Since, an electron is a negatively charged and a hole

is positively charged, when a potential difference is
applied in an intrinsic semiconductor, electrons will
move towards the positive terminal and the holes
will flow towards the negative terminal of the
battery. Therefore, the total current in the intrinsic
semiconductor is the sum of currents due to free
electrons and holes.

Fig. Structure of intrinsic semiconductor at absolute

zero temperature.

At room temperature (300 K) some of the

covalent bonds of the semi-conductor break due to
thermal energy and valence electrons of the atom
moves away from the nucleus. They become free to
move in the crystal. When the electron moves away
by breaking a covalent bond, a vacancy is created in
that covalent bond which is called a hole. For every
free electron, a hole is generated. Hence in intrinsic
semiconductors the number of free electrons is
equal to the number of holes. A hole is a positively
charged particle.
Electronic Devices & Circuits : UNIT – II