UNIT-1

SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICES
1.1 State the electrical characteristics
The electrons in the lower energy band are tightly bound to the nucleus and play no part in the conduction
process. However, the valence and conduction bands are of particular importance in ascertaining the
electrical behaviour of various solids.
 Insulators: Insulators are those substances which do not allow the passage of electric current through
them.
 In terms of energy band, the valence band is full while the conduction band is empty. Further, the
energy gap between valence and conduction bands is very large.
 Therefore, a very high electric field is required to push the valence electrons to the conduction band.
For this reason, the electrical conductivity of such materials is extremely small.
 At room temperature, the valence electrons of the insulator do not have enough energy to cross over to
the conduction band. When the temperature is raised, some of the valence electrons may get enough
energy to cross over to the conduction band. Hence, the resistance of an insulator decreases with the
increase in temperature i.e. an insulator has negative temperature co-efficient of resistance.

 Conductors: Conductors are those substances which easily allow the passage of electric current
through them.
 It is because there are a large number of free electrons available in a conductor. In term of energy band,
the valence and conduction bands overlap each other as shown in fig. Due to this overlapping, a slight
potential difference across a conductor causes the free electrons to constitute electric current.
 Thus, the electrical behaviour of conductors can be satisfactorily explained by the band energy theory
of materials.

 Semiconductors: Semiconductors are those substances whose electrical conductivity lies in between
conductors and insulators.
 In terms of energy band, the valence band is almost filled and conduction band is almost empty.
Further, the energy gap between valence and conduction bands is very small. Therefore, comparatively
smaller electric field (small than insulators but much greater than conductors) is required to push the
electrons from the valence band to the conduction band.
In short, a semiconductor has:
(a) Almost full valence band.
 (b) Almost empty conduction band.
(c) Small energy gap (~1ev) between valence and conduction bands. At low temperature, the valence band
is completely full and conduction band is completely empty.
Therefore, a semi-conductor behaves an insulator at low temperatures. When the temperature is raised, more
valence electrons cross over to the conduction band and the conductivity increases. Then that electrical
conductivity of semiconductor increases with the rise in temperature. A semiconductor has negative
temperature co-efficient of resistance.
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
“A semiconductor in an extremely pure form is known as an intrinsic semiconductor.”
In an intrinsic semiconductor, even at room temperature, hole-electron pairs are created. When electric
field is applied across an intrinsic semiconductor, the current conduction takes place by two processes,
namely, by free electrons and holes. The free electrons are produced due to the breaking up of some covalent
bonds by thermal energy. At the same time, holes are created in the covalent bonds. Under the influence of
electric field, conduction through the semiconductor is by both free electrons and holes. Therefore, the total
current inside the semiconductor is the sum of current due to free electrons and holes.
That current in the external wire is fully electronic i.e; symbol by electrons. As the holes reach the
negative terminal B electrons enters the semiconductor material near the terminal and combine with holes,
thus cancelling them. So the current conduction in the semiconductor material is very small.

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
The intrinsic semiconductor has little current conduction capability at room temperature. Due to poor
conduction at room temperature, the intrinsic semiconductor as such, is not useful in the electronic devices.
Hence the current conduction capability of the intrinsic should be increased. To achieve this by adding a
small amount of suitable impurity to a semiconductor. it is then called impurity or extrinsic semiconductor.
The combination of pure and impure semiconductor is known as extrinsic semiconductor. The process of
adding impurities to the pure semiconductors is called doping. The purpose of adding impurity is to increase
either number of free electrons or holes in the semiconductor material. Depending upon the type of impurity
added, extrinsic semiconductors are classified into
1. N-type semiconductor 2. P-type semiconductor
1.N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR:
A small amount of pentavalent impurities is added to a pure semiconductor, called N-type
semiconductor.
A small amount of pentavalent impurities such as arsenic or antimony or phosphorous is added to the pure
semiconductor material such as germanium and silicon to get semiconductor material.
Germanium atom has 4 valence electrons and antimony has 5 valence electrons. As show in fig each
antimony atom form a covalent bond with surrounding 4 germanium atoms thus 4 valence electrons of
antimony atom form covalent bond with 4 valence electrons of individual germanium atom and 5 th valence
electrons is left free which is loosely bond to the antimony atom. This loosely bond electron can be easily
excited from the valence band to the conduction by the application of electric field or increasing the thermal
energy.
 The adding of pentavalent impurities increases the number of conduction band there by increasing
the conductivity of N type semiconductor as a result of doping the number of electrons far exceeds the number
of holes in an N type semiconductor so electrons are called majority carriers and holes are called minority.

2. P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIAL:

A small amount of trivalent impurities such as aluminum, or boron, or indium or gallium is added to
the pure semiconductor material such as germanium or silicon to get semiconductor material.
Germanium atom has 4 valence electrons and boron has 3 valence electrons. As show in fig each
boron atom form a covalent bond with surrounding 4 germanium atoms thus 3 valence electrons of boron
atom form covalent bond with 3 valence electrons of individual germanium and leaving one bond
incompletely which gives rise to a hole. Thus trivalent impurity (boron) when added to the intrinsic
semiconductor (germanium) introduces a large number of holes in the valence band. These positively charged
holes increase the conductivity of p-type semiconductor. A trivalent impurity such as boron is called acceptor
impurity because it accepts free electrons in the place of holes. As the number of holes is very much greater
than the number of free electrons in a P type material holes are terminal as majority carrier and electrons as
minority carrier.

1.2 COMPARE INTRINSIC, EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS:

S.no Intrinsic semiconductor Extrinsic semiconductor
It is pure form Impure semiconductor
2 Poor conductivity because of less More conductivity because of more number
number of free charge carriers of free charge carriers
3 No free charge carriers are available Free charge carriers are avalable
at 0̊ K. it acts as an insulator at 0̊ K
4 At room temperature number of At room temperature number of electrons
electrons are equal to number of are not equal to number of holes
holes
5 Fermi level lies middle of the Fermi level shift towards either conduction
conduction band and valence band band or valence band
6 Current conduction depends on Current conduction depends on level of
temperature impurity or doping
7 Ex: pure silicon, pure Germanium Ex: N-type and P-type semi -conductor
1.3 COMPARE P-TYPE, N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS:

S.NO N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR

Pentavalent impurities are added to pure Trivalent impurities are added to pure
1 semiconductor to prepare n-type semiconductor to prepare p-type semiconductor.
semiconductor.
Eg: nitrogen(7), phosphorus(15), Eg: boron(5), aluminum(13), galium(31),
2 arsenic(33), antimony(51). indium(49).

3 More number of electrons produced in N- More number of holes produced in p-type

type semiconductor. semiconductor.
4 Pentavalent impurities are also called as Trivalent impurities are also called as acceptor
donor impurities. impurities.
5 Current conduction is predominantly by Current conduction is predominantly by holes.
electrons.
Majority carriers are electrons. Majority carriers are holes.
6
Minority carriers are holes. Minority carriers are electrons.
7

9 Fermilevel shifts towards the conduction Fermilevel shifts towards the valence band.
band.

10

1.4 WORKING OF PN JUNCTION DIODE:

PN junction with No-bias:
The majority charge carriers in N-type semiconductor are electrons, which are moves to P-region and the
majority charge carriers in P-type semiconductors are holes, which are moved to N-region i.e., free electrons
are diffuse from n-region to p-region and holes are diffuse from p-region to n-region. This process is called
diffusion.
The immobile –ve ions on p-side near the junction &similarly, immobile +ve ions on n-side near the
junction,there fore negative charge is established on p-side and positive charge is established on n-side.the
junction and it produces a electric potential across the junction. This potential is known as barrier
potential(VB).The region adjacent to the PNjunction is called depletion region (or) depletion layer (or)barrier
(gate or wall)
The width of the depletion layer depends on doping concentration. the width of the depletion region is less in
heavily doped semiconductors and more in lightly doped semiconductors.
The barrier potential of silicon-0.7v
Germanium-0.3v

FORWARD BIAS:
If positive terminal of the external voltage source is connected to the P side or anode, And negative
terminal of the external voltage source is connected to the n side or cathode then PN junction is said to be
forward bias.
The holes majority charge released by the positive terminal of the battery, because holes are positively charged
particles and so there is a repulsion force between holes and positive terminal of the battery. Similarly the
electrons in the n side are repelled by the negative terminal of the battery. So the holes in the P side and the
electrons in the n side are completed to move towards the junction .as a result the width of the depletion region
is reduced.
With forward bias to PN junction the following points to the noted,

1) With the increase in external voltage the barrier potential decreases and at some voltage (0.3 to 0.7) it is
eliminated together.
2) The junction offers low resistance almost 0 resistances to the current flow.
3) Forward current due to majority charge carriers flow in the circuit depending on the forward voltage.
REVERSE BIAS:
If positive terminal of the external voltage source is connected to the N-type or cathode and negative
terminal of the external terminal of the external voltage source is connected to the P-type or anode of the PN
junction then the PN junction is said to be reverse biased. It is show in below figure;
With the type of biasing arrangement the majority charge carrier will be attracted towards the external
voltage source without crossing the PN junction. These majority charge carriers while moving towards the
external voltage source will leave the immobile ions at the junction. Thus the width of the depletion region
increases and there by the height of the barrier potential also increase. Thus a strong opposing force for the
majority charge carrier will be developed in crossing the PN junction. As a result there is no current due to
majority charge carriers when the PN junction is reveres biased.

.
With reverse bias to PN junction the following points to be noted,
i) With the increases in external voltage the barrier potential increases
ii) The junction offers very high resistance almost infinite resistance to the current flow
iii) Very little amount of current due to minority charge carriers(in the order of nano and micro amperes)flow
which can be treated as zero current for all practical purpose before breakdown occurs.

1.5 OPERATION OF ZENER DIODE:

When a semiconductor diodes are reverse biased, normally a small reverse saturation current flows. If the
reverse voltage is increased, the junction breakdown and large current flows and diode will destroy.
A suitably designed diode have stable breakdown voltage over a wide range of reverse currents is called

ZENER DIODE. Symbol of zener diode is:

A zener diode is a special type of diode that is designed to operate in the reverse breakdown region. A
zener diode is heavily doped to reduce the reverse breakdown voltage. This causes a very thin depletion layer.
As a result the zener diode has sharp breakdown voltage Vz.
When the zener diode is forward biased, its characteristics are similar to that of normal P-N junction
diode.
In reverse biased condition, A zener diode is always reversely connected i.e; it is always connected in reverse
biased. If the apllied voltage is increased, the reverse saturation current also slowly increases upto Vz. When
the applied voltage is exceeds the reverse breakdown voltage(Vz), the current flowing through the diode is
drastically increased but voltage across the diode is constant. depends on this charecteristics the zener diode
acts as astabilizer.

The main features of Zener diodes are:

1. It is a heavily doped diode, whose depletion layer is thin.
2. When forward biased, its characteristics are just that of semiconductor diode.
3. Zener diode is reverse biased, reduce the reverse breakdown voltage due to heavily doped.
4. A zener diode has sharp breakdown voltage, called zener voltage Vz.
 5. The reverse voltage Vz across the diode remains almost constant.

1.6 characteristics of zener diode:

TRANSISTOR:
A third doped element is added to a crystal diode in such a way that two PN junctions are formed.
A transistor consists of two PN junctions formed by sandwiching either “P-type or N-type” semiconductor
between a pair of opposite type. Accordingly, there are two types of transistors namely:
(1) NPN transistor (2)PNP transistor
An NPN transistor is composed of two n-type semiconductors separated by a thin section of P-type.
However, PNP transistor is formed by two P- sections separated by a thin section of N-type.
These two PN junctions, therefore, a transistor may be regarded as a combination of two diodes connected
back to back.

PNP NPN
1.EMITTER:
 The main function of emitter is to emit the electrons or holes in to the base region.
 The emitter is heavily doped region..
 The width or thickness of the emitter is moderate.
2.BASE:
  The main function of base is to control the majority charge carriers from emitter to collector.
 The base is very lightly doped.
 The width or thickness of the base is much thinner than the emitter and collector.
3.COLLECTOR:
 The main function of collector is to collects majority charge carriers from the emitter through the
base.
 The doping concentration is greater than base region and less than emitter region.
 The width or thickness of the collector is wide than the base and emitter.
Arrow: The arrow which indicates the direction of conventional current flow with forward bias and the arrow
always shown by the emitter terminal.
1.7 FORMATION OF PNP transistor:
The below fig shows the Basic connection of a PNP transistor. The Forward bias causes the holes in the P-
type emitter to flow towards the base. This constitutes the emitter current I E.

As holes cross into N-type base, they tend to combine with the electrons. As the base is lightly doped and very
thin, therefore, only a few holes (less than 5%) combine with the electrons.
The remainder (more than 95%) cross into the collector region to constitute collector current(I C).In this way
almost the entire emitter current flows in the collector circuit.
It may be noted that the current conduction within PNP transistor is by holes. However in the external
connecting wires, the current is still by electrons.
Emitter current (IE) =Base current (IB ) + Collector current (IC)
IE= IB + IC
1.8 FORMATION OF NPN TRANSISTOR:
NPN transistor:
The below fig shows the NPN transistor with forward bias to emitter base junction and reverse bias to collector
base junction.

The Forward bias causes the electrons in the N-type emitter to flow towards the base. This constitutes the
emitter current IE. As these electrons flow through the p-type base, they tend to combine with the holes. As
the base is lightly doped and very thin therefore, only a few electrons(less than 5%) combine with holes to
constitute base current IB.
The remain (more than 95%) cross over in to the collector region to constitute collector current I C. In this way,
almost entire emitter current flows in the collector circuit. It is clear that emitter current is the sum of collector
and base current i.e.
Emitter current (IE) =Base current (IB ) + Collector current (IC)
IE= IB + IC.
1.9 State the different transistor configurations.
When transistor is to be connected in a circuit, one terminal is used as an input terminal, the other terminal
is used as an output terminal and the third terminal is common to the input and output.
Depending on input, output and common terminal, a transistor can be connected in three configurations.
They are:
(1) Common base (CB) configuration
(2) Common emitter (CE) configuration.
(3) Common collector (CC) configuration.

Common base (CB) configuration: This is also called “Grounded base configuration.”
(1) In this emitter is input terminal, collector is output terminal and base is common terminal.
The common base configuration of NPN and PNP transistors are shown in below.

NPN transistor PNP transistor

(2) Common emitter (CE) configuration: This is also called “grounded emitter configuration.”
In This the base is the input terminal, collector is the output terminal and emitter is the common
terminal.
The common emitter configuration of PNP and NPN transistors are shown in below.

NPN transistor PNP transistor

(3) Common collector (CC) configuration: This is also called “grounded collector configuration.”
In This the base is the input terminal, emitter is the output terminal and collector is the common
terminal.
The common collector configuration of PNP and NPN transistors are shown in below.

1.10 INPUT &OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS OF CB,CE:

The common base i/p characteristics are drawn between i/p current (I E) and input voltage (VEB) by keeping
o/p voltage (VCB) constant.
Emitter current (IE) increases rapidly with small increase in emitter base voltage (V EB). It means input
resistance is very small.
(IE) is independent of collector base voltage (VCB).
Input resistance: The ratio of change in emitter-base voltage (Δ VEB) to the resulting change in emitter
current
(Δ IE) at constant VCB.
Ri= Δ VEB/ Δ IE

Output characteristics: It is the curve between collector current Ic and collector-base voltage VCB at
constant emitter current IE.
Collector current is taken along y-axis and collector-base voltage along x-axis.
The o/p characteristics have 3 regions: those are active, cut-off, saturation regions.
Active region: In this region the collector current IC is slightly less than that of the emitter current IE
and is independent of variation of VCB. But in case of zero emitter current i.e for I E=0, the collector
current IC is equal to reverse saturation current at collector junction (ICBO). The curves are almost flat
meaning that the transistor will have output resistance (Ro).
Saturation region: In this region VCB is slightly positive resulting in sharp decrease in collector current
(IC) with small changes in collector voltage (VCB) and also the collector current depend much upon the
emitter current.
Cut off region: The region below IE=0 characteristics for which the emitter and collector junction are
both reverse biased is known as the cut off region. In this region I C is equal to ICBO the reverse leakage
current, and the emitter current is zero.
Output resistance: Change in collector-base voltage (ΔVCB) to the resulting change in collector current.
This means o/p resistance is very high.
Ro= Δ VEB / ΔIC.
INPUT &OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS OFCE:

collector-emitter voltage VCE.

The i/p characteristics can be determined by the ckt shown in below. keeping V CE constant (say at 10v),
note the base current IB for various values of VBE.
 INPUT RESISTANCE: It is the ratio of change in base-emitter (ΔVBE) to the change base current (ΔIB)
at constant VCE.
Ri= ΔVBE/ ΔIB.
Output characteristics: It is the curve between collector current IC and collector-emitter voltage VCE. at
constant base current IB.
CE o/p characteristics can be drawn from the above circuit keeping I B fixed at some value, collector current
IC for various values of VCE.
Output resistance: It is the ratio of change in collector-emitter voltage (ΔVCE) to the change in collector
current (ΔIC) at constant IB.
Ro= ΔVCE / ΔIC

11.1 COMPARE CB,CE,CC CONFIGURATIONS:

1.12 MANUFACTURER SPECIFICATIONS OF

1.PN JUNCTION DIODE 2.ZENER DIODE 3. TRANSISTOR
1.PN JUNCTION DIODE :
1. Maximum forward current (IF): It is the maximum current that a diode can conduct in forward
direction.
2. Maximum forward voltage drop (VF): It gives the maximum voltage drop for a given forward current.
3. Peak inverse voltage (PIV): this is the maximum reverse voltage that a diode can with stand without
being destroyed.
4. Reverse breakdown voltage: It gives the reverse voltage at which break down of the diode takes place.
5. Reverse saturation current (Io): It gives the reverse saturation current below the breakdown voltage.
6. Diode resistance: It gives the forward and reverse resistance values when conducting.
7. Power rating: the maximum power that the device can safely dissipate on a continuous basis in free
air at 25°C.
 8. Surge current: It is usually higher than the normal maximum forward current. It may flow briefly
when a circuit is first switched ON.

2.ZENER DIODE :
1. zener voltage :the range of zener breakdown voltage(vz)is 1.8v to 2000v depending on the type of zener
diode.
2.Zener resistance :The range of zener resistance varies within few ohms.
3.Break over current :The value of maximum current is computed from the equation.
4. Maximum power dissipation(Pz max):The power dissipation of a zener diode is given by:
Pzmax= Vz*IZmax where, Iz= zener current
Vz= zener voltage
3. TRANSISTOR:
1. Collector emitter voltage (Vceo) :this is the maximum voltage which may be applied to the collector
emitter terminal with the base terminal open.
2. Collector base voltage (Vcbo) :The maximum voltage which may be applied to the collector base
terminals with the emitter terminal open.
3. Current gain:the ratio of collector current Ic to base current at a specified collector emitter voltage.
4. Collector emitter saturation voltage (Vce sat) :The emitter voltage as measured within collector and
emitter terminal at specific current condition.
5. Transition frequency(Ft):It is also called current gain bandwidth product. It refer to the frequency at
which current gain falls to unity. The transistor operated under this frequency.
6. Power dissipation :The maximum power dissipation without damaging the transistor.
7. Collector base leakage current (Icbo) :In the collector base junction, some current can be leakage.
That is known as collector-base leakage cuirrent.