EE203 Semiconductor Devices

L1: Introduction

Arun Tej M.
Quick Recall: Semiconductors

• Resistivity lies between that of insulators and conductors

• Resistivity decreases with increase in temperature
• Resistivity decreases when light is incident
• Resistivity can be tuned by controlling impurity content
• Some of them can emit light of specific wavelength ranges
• Different types - crystalline, micro/nano/poly-crystalline, amorphous
• Different types – elemental, compound
Semiconductor Devices

Semiconductor
• Si, Ge, Se, SiGe, GaAs, SiC, InP, CdS, ZnO, PbSnTe, MoS2, P3HT, Nanotube, Quantum Dot…
• Periodic Table - IV, VI, III-V, II-VI
• Dimensions – 3D, 2D, 1D, 0D
• Inorganic, Organic, Hybrid
• Intrinsic – Extrinsic

Device
Diode, Avalanche Diode, Tunnel Diode, Schottky Diode, Zener Diode, IMPATT Diode, LED, Laser,
Solar Cell, PIN Diode, BJT, Phototransistor, JFET, MOSFET, MESFET, HEMT, CCD, Memory …
Where are semiconductor devices used?

The principal applications of any sufficiently new and innovative technology always have been — and will
(b)
continue to be — applications created by that technology

H. Kroemer’s Nobel prize lecture in the year 2000

Quasielectricfields and band offsets: teaching electrons new tricks
ICs: Electronics Revolution! – How did we get here?

(b)
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC),
U. Pennsylvania, 1940s

First generation electronic computer

 Made of ~18,000 vacuum tubes

 Several miles of wiring
 40 black 8-ft. panels
 Weighing 30 tons
 Occupying 50 x 30 sq.ft. area

US Army needed the calculation the

trajectories of artillery shells

5000 additions per second

Today’s computers?
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC),
U. Pennsylvania, 1940s

Interesting to read!
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-
talk/tech-history/dawn-of-
electronics/untold-history-of-ai-
invisible-woman-programmed-
americas-first-electronic-
computer
Early History

1782: ‘Semiconducting’ term used by Alessandro Volta (a) (b) (c)

1833: ‘Semiconductor effect’ observed by Michael Faraday
Ag2S - Conductivity ↑ with temperature

1851: Quantitative analysis by Johann Hittorf

Ag2S and Cu2S - Linear relation of log σ vs. 1/T
(d) (e)
1873: Photoconductivity observed by Willoughby Smith
Se – Conductivity ↑ with exposure to light

1874: ‘Rectification effect’ observed by Karl Ferdinand Braun

Metal sulfides probed by metal whiskers
(a) Volta, (b) Faraday, (c) Hittorf
1876: Photovoltaic effect observed by Adams and Day
(d) Smith, and (d) Braun
Se – Current direction changed with exposure to light
L. Łukasiak and A. Jakubowski, J. Telecomm. Inf. Tech., 2010
Early History

1878: ‘Hall effect’ by Edwin Herbert Hall

(a) (b)
1883: First working solar cell by Charles Fritts
Metal-Se-Au structure
1897: Discovery of electron by J.J. Thomson
1900: ‘Model of electrons in metals’ by Paul Drude
(c) (d)

(a) Hall, (b) Thomson,

(c)Fritts, and (d) Drude

L. Łukasiak and A. Jakubowski, J. Telecomm. Inf. Tech., 2010

20th Century
1900-1927: Quantum Mechanics!
20th Century

1926: Concept patent for field effect device by Julius Lilienfeld

1928: Theory of electrons in periodic lattices by Felix Bloch
1930: ‘Concept of forbidden gap’ by Rudolf Peierls
1931: ‘Band theory’ of solids by Alan Wilson, ‘Concept of holes’ by Heisenberg
1938: Models for potential barrier and current flow in metal-semiconductor junction by Walter
Schottky and Neville F. Mott

Lilienfeld Bloch Peierls Wilson Schottky Mott

Semiconductor Devices
World War II
1940: Discovery of Si PV and p-n junction by Russel Ohl
and
Identifies relevant impurities Radar research
Ohl
happening
1945: Concept of ‘field-effect’ amplifier by William Shockley in parallel
Could not get the experiment to work – Surface states

1947: First working point-contact transistor by John

Bardeen and Walter Brattain

1948: Junction transistor by William Shockley

Minority carrier injection

1957: Tunnel diode by Leo Esaki

Point-contact Bardeen, Shockley,
transistor and Brattain
L. Łukasiak and A. Jakubowski, J. Telecomm. Inf. Tech., 2010
Semiconductor Devices
1958
First IC by Jack Kilby (TI)

1959
First planar IC by Robert N. Noyce (Founder, Intel)

1960
First MOS transistor demonstrated by John Atalla and Dawon Kahng

1963
First CMOS circuit configuration by Frank Wanlass

1964
First commercial MOS IC by Robert Norman with General Microelectronics
Did we miss some important history?

Where is our country in the whole story?

1904
Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose obtained patent for PbS point-contact rectifier
Semiconductor History – The India Connection

Sir J. C. Bose
Early History – The India Connection

(b)

Demonstrated the use of galena (PbS) crystals contacted

by a metal point, to detect millimeter EM waves.

1904
Obtained patent for PbS point-contact rectifiers

Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose

A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits

How does it look inside?

P N P
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
An IC commonly used in mobile phones

How does it look inside?

An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
Integration Levels
Semiconductor → Device → Modeling
Semiconductor
(b)
• Si, Ge, SiGe, GaAs, SiC, InP, CdS, ZnO, PbSnTe, MoS2, P3HT, Nanotube, Quantum Dot…
• Groups - IV, III-V, II-VI
• Dimensions – 3D, 2D, 1D, 0D
• Inorganic, Organic, Hybrid
• Intrinsic – Extrinsic

Device
Diode, Avalanche Diode, Tunnel Diode, Schottky Diode, Zener Diode, IMPATT Diode, LED, Laser,
Solar Cell, PIN Diode, BJT, Phototransistor, JFET, MOSFET, MESFET, HEMT, CCD, Memory …

Modeling
Representation of the device behavior using equations, circuits, and graphs
Make assumptions; Understand the impact of the assumptions; Justify the assumptions
LED

• Practical LED invented in 1962 (Nick Holonyak)

• First LED invented in 1927 (Oleg Vladimirovich Losev)
• ZnO-SiC diode
• Gave theoretical explanations (QM)
• Called it ‘inverse photoelectric effect’

Oleg Losev
1903-1942