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Microelectronics

Lesson 2
Transistor Technology and Integrated Circuits

Transistor Technology

Definition and Constructional Details of a Transistor

The term transistor comes from current transferring resistor. Transistor is a three (3)
terminal semiconductor device that regulates current or voltage flow and acts as a switch
or gate for signals. It is formed by connecting two diodes back to back. Hence, it has got two
PN junctions. Three (3) terminals are drawn out of the three semiconductor materials
present in it. This type of connection offers two types of transistors:

1. PNP Transistors. N-type material between two (2) P-types

2. NPN Transistors. P-type material between two (2) N-types

Figure 2.1 Construction of NPN and PNP Transistor

The three (3) terminals drawn from the transistor:

1. Emitter. This emits electron. The left-hand side of the above shown structure.
This is moderate in size and heavily doped as its main function is to supply a
number of majority carriers (i.e. either electrons or holes).

2. Base. This passes the majority carriers from emitter to the collector. The middle
material in the above figure. This is thin and lightly doped.

3. Collector. This collects the carriers. The right-side material in the above figure.
This is a bit larger in size than emitter and base and moderately doped.
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Microelectronics

The symbols of PNP and NPN transistors are shown below:

Figure 2.2 Symbol of NPN and PNP Transistor

The arrow-head in the above figures indicated the emitter of a transistor. As the collector of

a transistor has to dissipate much greater power, it is made large. Due to the specific
functions of emitter and collector, they are not interchangeable. Hence the terminals are
always to be kept in mind while using a transistor.

In a practical transistor, there is a notch present near the emitter lead for identification.

Figure 2.3 Practical Transistor with Visible Notch

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Microelectronics

Operation of PNP Transistor

Figure 2.4 Operation of PNP Transistor

The operation of a PNP transistor can be explained by having a look at the figure above, in
which emitter-base junction is forward biased and collector-base junction is reverse
biased.
The voltage VEE provides a positive potential at the emitter which repels the holes in the P-
type material and these holes cross the emitter-base junction, to reach the base region.
There a very low percent of holes re-combine with free electrons of N-region. This
provides very low current which constitutes the base current IB. The remaining holes
cross the collector-base junction, to constitute collector current IC, which is the hole
current.
As a hole reaches the collector terminal, an electron from the battery negative terminal
fills the space in the collector. This flow slowly increases and the electron minority current
flows through the emitter, where each electron entering the positive terminal of VEE, is
replaced by a hole by moving towards the emitter junction. This constitutes emitter
current IE.
Hence we can understand that:
 The conduction in a PNP transistor takes place through holes.
 The collector current is slightly less than the emitter current.
 The increase or decrease in the emitter current affects the collector current.

Operation of NPN Transistor

The operation of an NPN transistor can be explained by having a look at figure 2.5, in
which emitter-base junction is forward biased and collector-base junction is reverse
biased.
The voltage VEE provides a negative potential at the emitter which repels the electrons in
the N-type material and these electrons cross the emitter-base junction, to reach the base
region. There, a very low percent of electrons re-combine with free holes of P-region.
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Microelectronics

This provides very low current which constitutes the base current IB. The remaining holes
cross the collector-base junction, to constitute the collector current IC.
As an electron reaches out of the collector terminal, and enters the positive terminal of the
battery, an electron from the negative terminal of the battery VEE enters the emitter
region. This flow slowly increases and the electron current flows through the transistor.

Figure 2.5 Operation of NPN Transistor

Hence we can understand that:

 The conduction in a NPN transistor takes place through electrons.
 The collector current is higher than the emitter current.
 The increase or decrease in the emitter current affects the collector current.

Advantages of Transistors
There are many advantages of using a transistor, such as:

 High voltage gain.

 Lower supply voltage is sufficient.
 Most suitable for low power applications.
 Smaller and lighter in weight.
 Mechanically stronger than vacuum tubes.
 No external heating required like vacuum tubes.
 Very suitable to integrate with resistors and diodes to produce ICs.

There are few disadvantages such as they cannot be used for high power applications due
to lower power dissipation. They have lower input impedance and they are temperature
dependent.
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Microelectronics

Integrated Circuits

Introduction
Integrated circuits (ICs) are a keystone of modern electronics.
They are the heart and brains of most circuits. They are the
ubiquitous little black "chips" you find on just about every
circuit board. An IC is a collection of electronic components
such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc. They come in all
sorts of flavors: single-circuit logic gates, op amps, 555 timers,
voltage regulators, motor controllers, microcontrollers,
microprocessors, FPGAs, etc.

Inside the IC
The real "meat" to an IC is a complex layering of semiconductor
wafers, copper, and other materials, which interconnect to form
transistors, resistors or other components in a circuit. The cut
and formed combination of these wafers is called a die.

While the IC itself is tiny, the wafers of semiconductor and

layers of copper it consists of are incredibly thin. The
connections between the layers are very intricate.

An IC die is the circuit in its smallest possible form, too small to

solder or connect to. To make our job of connecting to the IC easier, we package the die.
The IC package turns the delicate, tiny die, into the black chip we're all familiar with.

Moore’s Law

“Processor speeds or overall processing power for computers

will double about every 10 months”

The law was named after the Intel cofounder Gordon E. Moore. It is a computing term
originated around 1970. Since then, the power of computer has doubled every year or a
year and a half. It deals with steady rate miniaturization of technology.

Moore’s law means ever-more powerful personal computers for less and less money. For
example, a computer chip that contained 2000 transistors and cost 1000 dollars in 1970
costs less than 10 dollar to manufacture today.
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Microelectronics

Trends in Integrated Circuit

1. SSI (1964). This stands for small-scale integration. It has 1 – 10 number of

transistors and 1 – 12 number of logic gates.

2. MSI (1968). This stands for medium-scale integration. It has 10 – 500 number of
transistors and 13 – 99 number of logic gates.

3. LSI (1971). This stands for large-scale integration. It has 500 – 20000 number of
transistors and 100 – 9999 number of logic gates.

4. VLSI (1980). This stands for very large-scale integration. It has 20000 – 1000000
number of transistors and 10000 – 99999 number of logic gates.

5. ULSI (1984). This stands for ultra large-scale integration. It has 1000000 and more
number of transistors and 100000 and more number of logic gates.

Power Consumption

Power consumption is essential for microelectronics. As the technology scales, power

density has increased with transistor density. It is now the major problem even for high
end microprocessors. The major sources of power consumption in circuitry are the clock
tree and registers, control and data path logic, and memory. Power affects battery life and
the heat dissipated by hand-held applications must be limited. Reduction of power
consumption makes a device more reliable. The need for devices that consume a minimum
amount of power was a major driving force behind the development of CMOS technologies.
As a result, CMOS devices are best known for low power consumption.