KRISHNASAMY COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

(DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION)
YEAR I/ SEMESTER II

EC8252 Electronic Devices

Unit I-semiconductor Diode

Prepared by
Er. R Soundharya
AP/ECE
 INTRODUCTION
ELECTRON:
 Electron is an elementary particle with a charge of negative electricity,
found in all atoms and acting as the primary carrier of electricity in
solids.
ELECTRONICS:
 Electronics is the movement of electrons in a vacuum, gas,
semiconductor, etc., in which the electron flow can be controlled.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES:
 An electronic component is any physical entity in an electronic system
used to affect the electrons or their associated fields in a manner
consistent with the intended function of the electronic system.
 Some common electronic components are capacitors, inductors,
resistors, diodes, transistors, etc.
 Components are classified as active (e.g. transistors and thyristors) or
passive (e.g. resistors and capacitors).
 INTRODUCTION(CONT)
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS:
Circuits
 and components can be divided into two groups: Analog and Digital.

Analog
 circuits are constructed from combinations of a few types of basic

circuits.

Analog
 circuits use a continuous range of voltage as opposed to discrete levels

as in digital circuits.

Digital
 circuits are electric circuits based on a number of discrete voltage

levels.

Digital
 circuits are the most common physical representation of Boolean algebra,

and are the basis of all digital computers .

 INTRODUCTION(Cont)
INSULATORS:
• An insulator is a material that does not conduct electric current.
• In these materials valence electrons are tightly bound to atoms
• The energy gap between valence and conduction band is very large

CONDUCTORS:
 A conductor is a material, which easily allow the flow of electric
conductor.
 Best conductors are copper, silver, gold and aluminium
 SEMICONDUCTORS
“semiconductors are solid material either non metallic elements or
compounds, which allows electrons to pass through them, so that
they conduct electricity in much the same way as a metal”

“A material whose conductivity lies between a conductor (such as

copper) and an insulator (such as glass) is said to be
semiconductor.”

 Examples: Germanium (Ge) and Silicon (Si)

 SEMICONDUCTORS(contd)
Characteristics of semiconductors

 Resistivity is usually high

 Temperature coefficient of resistance is negative

 Hard and brittle

 Exhibit rise in conductivity with the increasing temperature.

 With suitable impurity, conducting properties change

SEMICONDUCTORS(contd)
SEMICONDUCTORS(cont)
Semiconductor Types:
 Intrinsic semiconductor
 Extrinsic semiconductor

Doping:
 The process of adding impurity to the pure semiconductor is known as
doping.

Necessity of doping:
 The current conduction of intrinsic semiconductor is very poor at room
temperature.

 Hence the current conduction capability is increased by adding a small

amount of impurity to the intrinsic semiconductor.
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
 A pure semiconductor is called as intrinsic semiconductor.

 The number of free electrons in the conduction band and the no. of
holes in valence band are exactly equal and very small

 Its electrical conductivity is low and functions of temperature.

 Even at room temperature, some of the valence electrons may

acquire sufficient energy to enter the conduction band to form free
electrons.

 Under the influence of electric field, total current through the

semiconductor will be possible.

 Example: Ge and Si
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR:

 The electrical conductivity of pure semiconductor can be

increased by adding impurity to it.

 The resulting semiconductor is called ex trinsic semiconductor or

impure semiconductor

 Examples: silicon "Si" and germanium. "Ge" crystals with impurity

atoms of As, Sb, P etc. (or) In B, Al etc
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
 TYPES OF EXTRINSIC
SEMICONDUCTOR
 Depending upon the type of impurity atoms added to the
semiconductor.

 Extrinsic semiconductor is classified into two types

1. Extrinsic semiconductor
2. Intrinsic semi conductor
N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR:
 A small amount of pentavalent impurity (e.g. Antimony, Arsenic)
is added to a pure semiconductor to get N-type semiconductor.

 Consider antimony (Sb) is added to Germanium (Ge) to get N-type

 Addition of pentavalent impurities increases the free electrons in

the conduction band. Thus, the addition of pentavalent impurities
increases the current conductivity

 For N-type :Majority charge carriers - Electrons

Minority charge carriers - Holes
N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR:
P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR:

 A small amount of trivalent impurity is added to pure

semiconductor to get P-type semiconductor. Example: Gallium,
Indium.
 Consider Boron (B) is added to germanium

 Trivalent impurities are also called as acceptor impurities because

it accepts free electrons in the place of holes.

 As a result of doping, Number of holes > number of electrons.

 For P-type : Majority carriers - Holes

Minority carriers - electrons
P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR:
 CONDUCTIVITY OF
SEMICONDUCTOR
 In intrinsic semiconductor, number of electrons (n) is equal to
number of holes (P).
 Conductivity (σ) of an intrinsic semiconductor depends upon the
number of hole electron pairs and mobility.
 The number of electron-hole pair increases with rise in
temperature while its mobility decreases. Hence the conductivity
increases with increase in temperature.

Fig: Current conduction in semiconductor

CONDUCTIVITY OF
SEMICONDUCTOR
 CONDUCTIVITY OF SEMICONDUCTOR

 For pure semiconductor:

 Number of electrons = number of holes.
 n = p =ni
 Where, ni = intrinsic carrier concentration.

Conductivity of N and P-type semiconductor:

THANK YOU