Properties of Semiconductors

and semiconductor diode

University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez

Prof.: Samira Ortiz, PhD.
 Conductor and Insulators
• Conductors are materials that have very low
values of resistivity, usually in the micro-
ohms per metre. This low value allows them
to easily pass an electrical current due to
there being plenty of free electrons floating
about within their basic atom structure.
• Insulators are made of materials, generally
non-metals, that have very few or no “free
electrons” floating about within their basic
atom structure because the electrons in the
outer valence shell are strongly attracted by
the positively charged inner nucleus.

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_4.html
 Conductor and Insulators

Material Conductivity
Copper 0.59 × 106 𝑆/𝑐𝑚
Glass 10−16 − 10−13 𝑆/𝑐𝑚
Silicon 10−8 − 10−1 𝑆/𝑐𝑚

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Periodic_table.pdf
 Semiconductors (I)
• A conducting material: is characterized
by many conduction band electrons.
• Semiconductor material: At sufficiently
high temperatures, thermal energy
causes the atoms in the lattice to
vibrate; when sufficient kinetic energy is
present, some of the valence electrons
break their bonds with the lattice
structure and become available as
conduction electrons.

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_1.html
Semiconductors (II)
• The vacancy caused by the departure of a free
electron is called a hole.
• The positive charge contributes to the conduction
+ process.
Si Si Si
• In the figure, the positive charge moves to the right.
• This is more relevant when an external electric field
is applied to the material.
• Free electrons can move far more easily around the
+ =Hole Electrons jumps to fill hole lattice than holes.

Si Si + Si

The net effect is a hole moving to the right

Semiconductors (III)
• Semiconductors usually employs the process of doping.
• Doping: consists of adding impurities to the crystalline structure of
the semiconductor:
• The dopant is an element from the group V of the periodic table:
additional free electron is available for conduction. (donors)
• The dopant is from the group III: an additional hole is created by
the doping element. (acceptors)
Semiconductors (IV)
• The most used semiconductor basics material by far is silicon.
• By doping these silicon material with a sufficient number of
impurities, we can turn it into an n-type semiconductor (doped with
donor element) or p-type semiconductor (doped with acceptor
element) material.
 The pn junction and the semiconductor diode
p side →positive charge
carriers, or holes,
n side → the free electrons
dominate.
When a section of p-type material and a section of n-type
material are brought in contact to form a pn junction.
When the n-type semiconductor and p-type
semiconductor materials are first joined together,
• Free electrons from the donor impurity atoms begin
to migrate across this newly formed junction to fill up
the holes in the P-type material producing negative
ions.
• Holes from the acceptor impurity migrate across the
junction in the opposite direction into the region
where there are large numbers of free electrons.
 Semiconductor diode
This potential is typically on the order of a few tenths of a
volt and depends on the material (about 0.6 to 0.7 V for
silicon)

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_3.html
Semiconductor Diode Models
Reverse Foward Reverse Foward
Reverse Foward
biased biased biased biased
biased biased

Ideal Diode Real Diode Piecewise Linear Diode Model

Foward biased Foward biased

Foward biased

Reverse biased
Reverse biased Reverse biased
Ideal Diode Model: Forward Biased

R1
R1
R=100Ω
R=100Ω

D1 V1
V1
5V
5V
Ideal Diode Model: Reverse Biased

R1 R1
R=100Ω R=100Ω

D1
V1 V1
5V 5V
Real or Offset Diode Model: Forward Biased

R1
R1
R=100Ω
R=100Ω

D1 V1 Vd
V1
5V 0.7V
5V
Real or Offset Diode Model: Forward Biased

R1 R1
R=100Ω R=100Ω

D1
V1 V1
5V 5V
Piecewise Linear Diode Model: Forward Biased

R1
R1
R=100Ω
R=100Ω
Rd
D1 V1 1Ω
V1
5V Vd
5V
0.7V
Piecewise Linear Diode Model: Forward Biased

R1 R1
R=100Ω R=100Ω

D1
V1 V1
5V 5V