SUMMARY OF SEMI-CONDUCTORS

Materials or devices with conductivity between those of conductors and insulators.

Their conductivity is due to the presence of charge carriers which are
a. Holes
b. Electrons

Semiconductors

Intrinsic Extrinsic
Semiconductors semicondutors

Germanium Silicon P-type N-type

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
 They are free from impurities
 They have a valence band and a conduction band separated by a thin
forbidden band(gap) of nearly 1.0eV. For silicon, it is 1.1eV and for
Germanium, it is 0.74eV. Examples of intrinsic semiconductors are
 Silicon
 Germanium
 The electron -holes ratio is 1:1 which implies n(e) = n(h)
 Conductance increases with increase in temperature
 They become insulators or behave as such at 0K (Zero Kelvin)
 When an intrinsic semiconductor is doped (impurity atoms are added)
with an impurity atom, it becomes extrinsic

EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS
a) P-type semiconductor
b) N-type semiconductor
Doping is achieved in the following three ways
 I. The crystal is heated in an atmosphere containing the dopant atoms. The dopant
atoms diffuse into the hot crystal
II. The impurity atoms ate added in the molten state of the semiconductor
III. The intrinsic semiconductor is bombarded by ions of the impurity atoms

N-TYPE
Intrinsic semiconductor is doped with group V atoms such as phosphorus, arsenic or
antimony. These impurities are pentavalent C5-electrons on their outermost shells.
Four of the five electrons are involved in covalent bonding. The fifth electron is loosely
bonded. It is available as a carrier of current. It has lower energy than the energy of the
conduction band. The majority carries are the electrons (negative electrons). The holes
are minority carriers.

A P-type semiconductor is made by doping an intrinsic semiconductor with a trivalent

(group iii) impurity. The impurities accept electrons from the crystal of semiconductor
leaving positive holes on them. The holes become majority carriers and hence the name
P-type.
From thermodynamic point of view, it can be shown that the intrinsic concentration (n i)
of a semiconductor is given by the equation
2 2
ni =n ( e ) . n(h) or ni =ne . n h

n h=¿hole concentration (number)

n e=¿ electron concentration or number

NB:
 In N-type semiconductors, the donor electrons are all free at room temperature
and are the main current carriers. The number of electrons constituting current
ne = nd where nd=donor electrons
 In the P-type semiconductor, conductivity is considerably increased due to the
excess hole numbers nh >>>ne

ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY OF SEMICONDUCTORS

When an electric field is applied to a semiconductor, both electrons and holes drift in
the semiconductor. Their mobility is defined by their drift velocity per unit electric field.
Vh
μe =
E
μe =electrondrift velocity per unit field

V e =electrondrift velocity
 E=Electric field strength
Also, for the holes
Vh
μh =
E
μh=hole drift velocity per unit electric field

V h=hole drift velocity

Electrical resistivity ⍴ of a semiconductor is given by the equation

1
ρ=
e ¿¿
σ =e ¿
1
ρ=( )
σ
Where σ =conductivity of the semiconductor

METHODS OF ENHANCING CONDUCTIVITY OF A SEMICONDUCTOR

I. Increasing temperature
II. Doping
III. Crystal defect

PN JUCNTION
A p-n junction is formed by fusing an n-type semiconductor with a p-type
semiconductor or growing an n-type semiconductor on a p-type semiconductor.
P-type N-type

Second diagram

 A small layer in the vicinity of the junction is depleted of free charge carriers
 Electrons diffuse across the barriers into the p-type leaving more holes to
wander in the n-type and excess electrons to remain on the p-type.
 The depletion layer is of the order 1µm=1×10-6m thickness
 Due to differences in concentration, electrons diffuse from n-type to p-side and
also holes from p-side to n-side
 P-type(side) attains lower potential than the n-side
  An electric field is created and directed from n-type to the p-type
 No free charge carriers are left in the depletion layer of the junction due to
electron-hole combination.
 The width of the depletion layer depends on the following
i. Nature of semiconductor
ii. Nature of impurity
iii. Temperature
 Ohm’s law is not obeyed in a p-n junction
 Barrier potential of silicon p-n junction is about 0.6V at room temperature and
0.3V for germanium
A P-N junction diode is an electronic valve. It is a device which allows electric current to
flow in only one direction

Two -Diagrams

P-N junction Characteristic Graph

Diagram

BIASING OF A P-N JUNCTION DIODE

a. Forward biasing: a p-n junction is forward biased if the positive terminal of the
external battery is connected to the p-type semiconductor and the negative
terminal connected to the n-type semiconductor. In forward biasing
i. The electric field in the depletion layer decreases
ii. The potential barrier is reduced
iii. The width or thickness of the depletion layer is reduced
iv. The p-n junction offers a low resistance
v. The p-n junction conducts current
vi. Flow of majority carriers
Diagrams
b. Reverse biasing
Diagrams
A pn junction is reverse biased if the positive terminal of the battery is connected to the
n-type and the negative terminal is connected to the p-type. In reverse biasing;
i. The electric field in the depletion layer increases.
ii. The width of the depletion layer increases
iii. The p-n junction offers a very high resistance to the flow of current
 iv. P-N junction does not conduct current
v. Minority current/carrier flow leading to a minute leakage current development
in the device
FUNCTIONS OF DIODES
a. Diodes are used as rectifiers. They convert alternating current (AC) to direct
current (DC)
Other Uses
b. Clippers: clipping circuits are used to put off or remove the voltages beyond the
preset values without disturbing the remaining parts of the input signal or
waveform. This is mostly used in FM transmitters, where noise peaks are limited
to a particular level. The excess peak values are removed.
c. Clampers: circuits used to shift, change or alter either a positive or negative peak
signal of an input waveform to a desired level. Diodes used in this form are called
Level shifters or DC restorers.
d. Diodes may also be used to perform logic operations to function as a switch.
Forward bias-ON
Backward bias-OFF

RECTIFICATION

Rectification

Half wave rectification Full wave rectification

Half cycle of the wave is

All wave forms are
allowed through diode
tapped and used
and the other half
through various diodes
rejected/blocked

HALF WAVE RECTIFIER

3 diagrams
The output of half-wave rectifier does not change in polarity or direction with respect to
current. The current is called Direct Current (DC).
The magnitude of the output voltage can vary with time so the voltage is called
PULSATING VOLTAGE. A steady state DC can only be achieved by using a filter in the
circuit.
A capacitor is introduced into the circuit to filter off the ac ripples or remnants from the
rectified current. This smoothens the DC.
In order to measure how much ripples are there in the output DC signal, a quantity
called Ripple Factor (γ ) is used.
The Ripple factor tells the number of ripples present in the output DC signal
 A large ripple factor indicates a high pulsating DC signal
 A low ripple factor shows a low pulsating DC signal
Ripple factor in simple terms is the ratio of the rms value of the AC component of the
output voltage to the DC component of the output voltage.
RMS value of AC output
γ=
DC component of output
RMS=Root mean square
¿
Ripple voltage
γ=
DC voltage

γ=√
( )
V rms 2
V DC
-1

2 2
2 V rms −V DC
γ= 2
V DC

I max
DC=( )
π
I max=Maximum DC load

For Half wave rectifiers;

a. Average value of rectified output voltage
V
V av = o , where V o =peak value of alternating voltage
π
b. Average output current
I
I av = o
π
I o=Peak AC .
 Io
c. I rms = =0.707 I o
√2
I rms π
d. Form factor ( FF )= =
I av 2
f f =1.5 7
2 1
I rms 2
e. Ripple factor ( γ )=( 2
) =1.21
I av
f. Output frequency = input frequency.
g. Effectiveness of filter can be measured by the ripple factor.

FULL-WAVE RECTIFIER
Both halves of the AC wave cycle are tapped.