SEMICONDUCTOR Empty

conduction
EC band

Electron energies
Eg > 3 eV

Ev
Valence

INTRODUCTION band

Devices in which a controlled flow of electrons

can be obtained are the basic building blocks
of all the electronic circuits.
SEMICONDUCTOR
In semiconductors there is a small energy gap
( Eg<3eV ) between the valence band and the
ENERGY BAND conduction band.

The range of energy possessed by the elec-

trons in a solid is called the energy band. conduction
band
Electron energies

VALENCE BAND Eg < 3 eV

Valence
band
Range of energy possessed by the conduction
electrons Semi conductor

FORBIDDEN ENERGY GAP

The energy difference between the bottom of

the conduction band and the top of the va-
CONDUCTOR
lence band is called the forbidden energy gap.
In metals there are two cases:
(i) In certain metals the conduction band is
partially filled and the valence band is par-
TYPE OF MATERIAL ON THE BASIS OF BAND tially empty. Then the electrons in the lower
levels of valence band move to its higher
THEORY levels making conduction possible.
(ii) In some other metals the valence band and
INSULATOR
the conduction band overlap each other.
In insulators there is a large energy gap Then the electrons in the valence band can
( Eg>3eV ) between the valence band and the easily move to the conduction band.
conduction band.

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 3

 Doping
The process of adding impurities to an intrinsic
Electron energies

Conduction semiconductor so as to increase its conductiv-

EC band
ity is called doping.
Ev

Valence
band
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
(i)
• Doped semiconductors are called extrinsic
semiconductors.
• It can be classified into two types.
Overlapping
conduction band • N - TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
Electron energies

(Eg ≈ 0) • P - TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR

Ev
EC
Valence

Conductor
band N - TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
Adding of pentavalent impurity to intrinsic
(ii) semiconductor we get N-type semiconductor

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
They are the semiconductors in the pure state.

Crystal Structure
• The pentavalent impurity replace the si or
Ge from the crystal
• Out of 5 valence electrons 4 of them make
covalent bonds and the remaining one
electron get free
• Electrons and holes are the charge carriers
in intrinsic semiconductors • This electrons help to conduction in the
N-type semiconductor.
• At thermal equilibrium number of electrons
equals to the number of holes • Pentavalent atom also called donor atom.
It donate electrons to the Cristal.
• The total current, I is thus the sum of the
electron current Ie and the hole current • In an n-type semiconductor electrons are
Ih : I = Ie + Ih the majority charge carriers and holes are
the minority charge carriers. ne≫nh

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 4

 BAND DIAGRAM • Trivalent atom also called acceptor atom.
It is a tendency to accept electron from
neighbouring atom.
Ec • In an p-type semiconductor holes are the
{ ED majority charge carriers and electrons are
the minority charge carriers. nh≫ne
Electron energy

≈ 0.01eV
Eg
BAND DIAGRAM
Ev

Ec
E

Electron energy
T > 0K Eg
Donor energy level is the energy level of free Ev
electron, donated by the pentavalent impurity Ev {
atoms in an n-type semiconductor. ≈ 0.01 - 0.05eV

P - TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
T > OK

Adding of trivalent impurity to intrinsic semi-

conductor we get p-type semiconductor.
Acceptor energy level is the energy level of
holes, created by the trivalent impurity atoms
in a p-type semiconductor.

Give the ratio of number of holes and the

number of conduction electrons in an in-
trinsic semiconductor

Crystal Structure

• This atom replace the Si and Ge from the

crystal.
• The three electron make covalent bond the At what temperature, semiconductor acts
remaining one bond is deficiency of elec- as an insulator?
tron
• This absence of electron act a hole.
• This hole help to conductivity in p-type
semi conductor.

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 5

 • These two current opposite to each other.

Temperature coefficient of resistance for • Initially the diffusion current is high time go
semiconductor: to the potential barrier oppose the motion
(a) Positive of majority charge carriers and diffusion
(b) Negative current decreases
(c) Zero • Initially the drift current is zero electric field
(d) None of the above is developed drift current is also increases
• At a particular time diffusion current and
drift current become equal and depletion
layer is fully developed
• There is no charge carriers in depletion
P - N JUNCTION layer.
• Barrier voltage for Si is 0.7v and Ge is 0.3v

Electron diffusion
Electron drift
P - N JUNCTION DIODE
P n
A semiconductor diode is basically a p-n junc-
tion with metallic contacts provided at the
Depletion region ends for the application of an external voltage.
Hole diffusion
Hole drift

• One end of a ISC doped with trivalent and

other is doped with pentavalent impurity
then we get PN junction.
• The electrons in the N region diffuses into P P n
region.
• A layer of negative ion in the P region and
Metalic contact Metalic contact
the positive ion in the N region is formed Depletion region
called depletion layer
• This layer create a potential difference
There for this layer is know as potential bar-
rier. Unidirectional Flow of Current

• Due to this potential difference a electric

P-side n-side
field is created from positive ions to neg-
ative ions.
• This field helps to moment (Drift) of minori- Anode (A) Catgide (K)
ty charge carriers like electrons in P region
and holes in N region
Symbol of Diode
• Moment of majority charge carriers pro-
duce diffusion current.
• Moment of minority charge carriers pro-
duce drift current.

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 6

FORWARD BIASING V-I CHARACTERISTICS

positive terminal of the cell is connected to the Voltmeter (V)

p-region and the negative terminal is connect-
ed to the n-region

P n
W
Milliammeter
(mA)
P n Switch
+ -

I(mA)
Width of the depletion layer and potential bar-
rier decreases

100
1
2 80

3 60
V0 40

100 80 60 40 20
V(v)
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Barrier potential (1) without battery, (2) Low 10
battery voltage, and (3) High voltage battery. 20

30
If applied voltage is greater than built-in volt-
age, holes from the p-side cross the depletion
layer and reach n-side and electrons from the In forwardbias, the current first increases very
n-side cross the depletion layer and reach the slowly, almost negligibly, till the voltage across
p-side. This is called minority carrier injection. the diode crosses a certain value. After the
characteristic voltage, the diode current in-
creases significantly (exponentially), even for a
very small increase in the diode bias voltage.
P n This voltage is called the threshold voltage or
cut-in voltage ( 0.2 V for germanium diode and
∼0.7 V for silicon diode).

Injected Injected
elections holes
REVERSE BIASING
The total diode forward current is the sum of
Negative terminal of the cell is conne’cted to
hole diffusion current and conventional current
the p-region and the positive terminal is con-
due to the electron diffusion.
nected to the n-region.

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 7

 For the diode in reverse bias, the current is very
small (∼μA) and almost remains constant. It is
W called reverse saturation current. At very high
reverse bias (break down voltage), the current
suddenly increases.
P n Note: For diodes, we define a quantity called dy-
namic resistance as the ratio of small change
in voltage ΔV to a small change in current ΔI :

Width of the depletion layer and potential bar-

rier increases. ΔV
rd =
ΔI
2
1

V0
APPLICATION OF JUNCTION DIODE AS REC-
TIFIER
No current flows through the junction. But if we
increase the reverse voltage to a very high val-
• Rectifier is a device which converts AC to
ue (called breakdown voltage) then the cur-
DC.
rent increases very sharply
• Diode conducts only when it is forward
V-I CHARACTERISTICS biased. This is called the unidirectional
property of the diode.
• Because of this unidirectional property,
Voltmeter (V) diode is used as a rectifier.

RECTIFIER

P n
HALF WAVE FULL WAVE
Milliammeter RECTIFIER RECTIFIER
(mA)
Switch
- +
HALF WAVE RECTIFIER
I(mA)
CIRCUIT DLIAGRAM
60

40 Transformer A X
100 80 60 40 20
V(v) Primary Secondary RL
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
V 10

20 B Y
30

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 8

WORKING WORKING

• During the positive half cycle diode is in for- • During the positive half cycle diode D1 is in
forward bias and D2 is in reverse bias cur-
ward bias and current flows through A to B rent flows through X to Y. Thus an output
and get positive half cycle at output. voltage is produced across load resistor RL.
• During the negative half cycle diode is in • During the negative half cycle diode D2 is in
reverse bias and no current flows through forward bias and D1 is in reverse bias current
A to B and we don’t get negative half cycle flows through X to Y. Thus an output voltage
is produced across load resistor RL.
at output.
• Thus there is output for both the positive
• Thus there is output only for the positive and negative half cycles of the input AC. So
half cycles of the input AC. So the rectifier is the rectifier is called a full wave rectifier.
called a half wave rectifier. • The efficiency of a half wave rectifier is
• The efficiency of a half wave rectifier is about 81.2%.
about 40.6%.
VOLTAGE WAVEFORM
VOLTAGE WAVEFORM

Waveform at A
t
Voltage across RL Voltage at A

(i)
INPUT ac
Waveform at B

OUTPUT VOLTAGE
t
(ii)

(b)
Output waveform
(across RL)

Due to Due to Due to Due to

D1 D2 D1 D2

FULL WAVE RECTIFIER t

CIRCUIT DLIAGRAM
RECTIFUER WUTH CAPACITOR FILTER
Centre-Tap CIRCUIT DLIAGRAM
Transformer
Diode 1(D1)
dc component
Centre A
X
X > >
Tap IL
Rectifier

>

Diode 2(D2) RL Output +

ac - C RL dc
Y

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 9

 WORKING

• To get steady dc output from the pulsating If a full wave rectifier circuit is operating from
voltage normally a capacitor is connected 50 Hz mains, the fundamental frequency in
across the output terminals (parallel to the the ripple will be:
load RL ).
(a) 24 Hz.
• Since these additional circuits appear to
filter out the ac ripple and give a pure dc (b) 50 Hz
voltage, so they are called filters. (c) 70.7 Hz
(d) 100 Hz

VOLTAGE WAVEFORM
ac input
Output with

input filter
capacitor

The symbol of a diode is shown in the figure : Space for Keynotes

a) The diode is a……….. (rectifier diode / photo

diode/zener diode)
b) Draw the VI characteristics of above
diode

ADMISSION STARTED 6009 100 300 10