Physics of Semiconductor

Materials
3. Basic Semiconductor Devices and
p-n Junction

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 Basic Devices

 Resistor
 Capacitor
 Diode
 Bipolar Transistor
 MOS Transistor

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 Resistor
o Resistors resist current flow
o Resistors are made by doped silicon or polysilicon on an IC
chip
o Resistance is determined by length, line width, height, and
dopant concentration

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 Capacitors
o A capacitor is a component that stores charge (Charge storage
device)
o Memory Devices, capacitors are mainly used in Dynamic
Random Access Memory (DRAM)
o Challenge: reduce capacitor size while keeping the
capacitance
o High-k dielectric materials

capacitor symbol

ℎ𝑙
C= 𝑘 Where k: Dielectric Constant
𝑑

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 How does a capacitor charge?
When a discharged capacitor is connected to a circuit, it will begin to
charge.

electrons forced
onto plate electrons forced
The high potential difference across
from plate
the circuit forces electrons onto one
plate, and pulls them from the other.

This increases the potential difference

across the capacitor.

The capacitor is fully charged when it has the same potential difference as
the battery.
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 How does a capacitor discharge?

When a conductor is connected across a

Electrons flow from the negative plate
charged capacitor, it will discharge. to the positive plate.

Its high potential difference forces

electrons from one plate to the other.

This decreases the potential difference

across the capacitor, and causes a current
to flow, lighting the bulb.
The current lights the bulb.

The bulb will only light for a few seconds as the capacitor does not store a
great deal of charge.
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 Capacitors

Parallel plate Stacked Deep Trench

Capacitance in Interconnect

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 Diode
 A junction between p-type and n-type semiconductor forms a
diode.
 A diode is a 2 lead semiconductor that acts as a one way gate to
electron flow (Diode allows current to pass in only one direction)
 The p-side is called anode and the n-side is called cathode
 When the anode and cathode of a pn-junction diode are connected
to external voltage such that the potential at anode is higher than
the potential at cathode, the diode is said to be forward biased.
– In a forward-biased diode current is allowed to flow through the
device.
 When potential at anode is smaller than the potential at cathode,
the diode is said to be reverse biased.
– In a reverse-biased diode current is blocked.
Transition region

(a) (b) 8
 Diode: How it Works
• When a diode is connected
to a battery as shown,
electrons from the n-side
and holes from the p-side
are forced toward the
center by the electrical field
supplied by the battery.
• The electrons and holes
combine causing the
current to pass through the
diode.
• When a diode is arranged in
this way, it is said to be Forward biased (“open door”)
forward biased.

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• When a diode is connected to a
battery as shown, holes in the n-side
are forced to the left while electrons
in the p-side are forced to the right.

• This results in an empty zone around

the pn-junction that is free of charge
carries creating a depletion region.

• This depletion region acts as an

insulator preventing current from Reverse biased (“closed door”)
flowing through the diode.

• When a diode is arranged in this way,

it is said to be reverse biased
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  A diode’s one-way gate feature does not work all the time.

 Typically for Si diodes, an applied voltage of 0.6 V or greater is

needed, otherwise, the diode will not conduct.

 This feature is useful in forming a voltage-sensitive switch.

 I-V characteristics for Si and Ge diodes is shown below.

I-V Curve of Diode

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 Bipolar Transistor

Another use of semiconductor technology is in the fabrication of

transistors, devices that amplify voltages or currents in many
kinds of circuits.

 PNP or NPN

 Switch

 Amplifier

 Analog circuit

 Fast, high power device

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 NPN and PNP Transistors

• As an example we consider an NPN-junction transistor, which consists of a

thin layer of P-type semiconductor sandwiched between two N-type
semiconductors. The three terminals (one on each semiconducting
material) are known as the collector, emitter, and base.

• A good way of thinking of the operation of the NPN-junction transistor is

to think of two PN-junction diodes back to back.

The NPN transistor

symbol E.g. In the NPN transistor,
the base is a P-type
material, and the emitter
The PNP transistor
and collector are N-type.
symbol used in circuit
diagrams.

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• NPN Bipolar Transistor

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 Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor
(MOS) Transistor
• Most modern digital devices use MOS transistors, which have two advantages over other
types
 greater density
 simpler geometry, hence easier to make
• MOS transistors switch on/off more slowly
• MOS transistors consist of source and drain diffusions, with a gate that controls whether
the transistor is on
• Also called MOSFET (MOS Field Effect Transistor), MOSFET electric controlled switch,
mainly used for digital systems
• Simple, symmetric structure
• Switch, good for digital, logic circuit
• Most commonly used devices in the semiconductor industry
S Gate D

metal
n+ n+

silicon dioxide
p
monosilicon 15
 Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor
(MOSFET)
• The most common field effect transistor in both digital and analog circuits.

• Uses channel of n or p-type semiconductor, named NMOSFET and PMOSFET,

respectively.

• Silicon is the main choice of semiconductor used, however SiGe is used by some chip
manufacturers.

• Some other more common semiconductors such as GaAs are not useful in MOSFETs
because they do not form good gate oxides.

• At the gate terminal is composed a of a layer of polysilicon with a thin layer of silicon
dioxide which acts as an insulator between the gate and the conducting channel.

• When in operation a potential is applied between the source and gate, generating an
electric field through the oxide layer, creating an inversion channel in the conducting
channel, also known as a depletion region.
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MOSFET
 Good for digital electronics

 Major driving forces:

 Watches

 Calculators

 PC

 Internet

 Telecommunication

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 MOSFETs
Enhancement mode
• Also known as Normally Off
transistors.
 A voltage must be applied to
the gate of the transistor, at
least equal to the threshold
voltage, to create a conduction
path between the source and
the drain of the transistor
before current can flow
between the source and drain.
Depletion mode
• Also known as Normally On
transistors.
 A voltage must be applied to
the gate of the transistor, at
least equal to the threshold
voltage, to destroy a
conduction path between the
source and the drain of the
transistor to prevent current
from flowing between the
source and drain.
VGS: gate-to-source voltage
VTN = threshold voltage

Before electron
inversion layer is
formed

After electron
inversion layer is
formed
• MOSFET with 32nm Technology

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Threshold Voltage
 Determine the required gate voltage to turn-on or turn-off MOSFET

 Related to gate dielectric thickness and material

 Related to gate and substrate materials

 Related to interface charge

 Gate to gate dielectric

 Gate dielectric to substrate

 Related to dopant concentration underneath gate

 VT adjust implantation

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Threshold Voltage

• Øms is potential difference between gate and semiconductor

substrate, normally silicon
• Qi is interface charge (determined by pre-oxidation clean and
gate oxidation process)

• Qd is depletion charge,
(determined by VT adjust implantation, which controls majority
carrier concentration Nc)
• Cox is the unit gate capacitance, kox/tox(determined by gate
dielectric material, kox, and gate dielectric thickness, tox)
• Øf is silicon Fermi potential

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 Basic Circuits

• Bipolar

• PMOS

• NMOS

• CMOS

• BiCMOS

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Devices with Different Substrates

• Silicon:- Bipolar, MOSFET, BiCMOS: Dominate IC industry

• Germanium:-Bipolar: high speed devices

• Compound:-GaAs: up to 20 GHz device: Light emission diode (LED)

Bipolar IC

 Earliest IC chip

 1961, four bipolar transistors, $120.00

 Market share reducing rapidly

 Still used for analog systems and power devices

 TV, VCR, Cellar phone, etc.

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PMOS
• First MOS field effect transistor in Bell Labs, 1960
• Used for digital logic devices in the 1960s
• Replaced by NMOS after the mid-1970s
PMOS Operation
 Body tied to high voltage (VDD)
 Gate low: transistor ON
 Gate high: transistor OFF
 Bubble indicates inverted behavior

PMOS Device

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NMOS
• Faster than PMOS
• Used for digital logic devices in 1970s and 1980s
• Self-aligned source/drain
• Electronic watches and hand-hold calculators
• Replaced by CMOS after the 1980s
NMOS Operation
 Body is commonly tied to ground (0 V)
 When the gate is at a low voltage:
 P-type body is at low voltage
 Source-body and drain-body diodes are OFF
 No current flows, transistor is OFF

NMOS Device
Basic Structure
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 Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS)
• Complementary: there are N-type and P-type transistors. N-type
transistors use electrons as the current carriers. P-type transistors use
holes as the current carriers.

• A variant of MOS transistor uses both n-channel (NMOS) and p-channel

(PMOS) devices to make the fundamental building block (an inverter, or
not gate)

• Implementation of logic gates and other structures using CMOS

technology.

CMOS Logic Symbol CMOS Inverter CMOS Logic Table 27

 CMOS
• Most commonly used circuit in IC chip since 1980s
• In the 1980s MOSFET IC surpassed bipolar
• LCD replaced LED
• CMOS replaced NMOS, still dominates the IC market
• Backbone of information revolution
Advantages of CMOS
 Low power consumption
 High temperature stability
 High noise immunity
 Symmetric design CMOS IC
 Fast, cheap,

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 Bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS)

• Combination of CMOS and bipolar junction

transistors (BJT), Mainly in 1990s

• CMOS as logic circuit and Bipolar for input/output

• Faster than CMOS

• Higher power consumption

• Likely, have problem when power supply voltage

dropping below one volt
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 IC chips

• Memory

• Microprocessor

• Application specific IC (ASIC)

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Memory Chips

• Devices store data in the form of electric charge

• Volatile memory

 Dynamic random access memory (DRAM)

 Static random access memory (SRAM)

• Non-volatile memory

 Erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM)

 FLASH

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DRAM
• Major component of computer and other electronic instruments for data
storage

• Main driving force of IC processing development

• One transistor, one capacitor

Basic DRAM Memory Cell

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SRAM
• Fast memory application, such as computer cache memory to store
commonly used instructions

• Unit memory cell consists of six transistors

• Much faster than DRAM

• More complicated processing, more expensive

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Non-volatile Memory

• DRAM and SRAM need power supply to maintain the memory.

• Hard disk drive is commonly used non-volatile memory

• Solid State non-volatile memory was developed.

 Erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM)

 Electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)

 NAND and NOR flash memories.

• EEPROM is widely used in computers, integrated in microcontrollers for

smart cards and remote keyless systems

• NAND flash memory is widely used in mobile devices, digital camera,

USB drive, etc.
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EPROM
EPROM Erase

EPROM Write NAND Flash

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 Summary

• Resistors are made by doped silicon or polysilicon on an IC chip

• Capacitors are mainly used in DRAM
• A junction between p-type and n-type semiconductor forms a diode
• MOSFET electric controlled switch, mainly used for digital systems
• Three kinds IC chips microprocessor, memory, and ASIC
• Advantages of CMOS: low power, high temperature stability, high
noise immunity, and clocking simplicity
• The basic CMOS process steps are transistor making (front-end) and
interconnection/passivation (back-end)

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