Sant Atulanand

Residential Academy
HOLAPUR,VARANASI

PHYSICS PROJECT
Topic: “Rain Alarm”
Name: Garv Singh________
Class: XII M2____________
Roll No:_32_______________
Subject: Physics___________
Submitted by: Submitted to:
Garv Singh Mr.Romit Kumar
 Certificate
SANT ATULANAND RESIDENTIAL ACADEMY
To whomsoever it may concern

I have great pleasure in forwarding the Physics project entitles

“Rain Alarm” submitted by Garv Singh of Class 12 . th

Garv Singh has prepared this investigatory project in

accordance with the guidelines formed by CBSE and has
worked as per my instructions and I certify that the project is
unique and has not been copied from any other source.

I wish him every success in his future endeavours.

Date : Mr Romit Kumar

(Subject teacher)
 Acknowledgement
I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to Mr.Romit
Kumar, Physics Teacher who gave his valuable advice and
superb guidelines for completion of my project. He helped me
to understand the important details of my project which would
otherwise have not been possible.

I am also grateful to my friends for boosting my moral and

offering me mental support.
Last but not the least, I extend my sincere thanks to my
classmates and the lab assistant who played an important role
while performing the experiment.

By – Garv Singh
 TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE

1 Introductio…………………………………………………………………….

2 Background…………………………………………………………………...

3 Literature review

3.1 rain water sensor………………3.2 irrigation sensor ……………….

4 Aim of the project ……………………………………………………………………

5 Methodology …………………………………………………………………………..

6 Project schedule plan ………………………………………………..………………

6.1 First phase …………………………………………………………………….

6.2 second phase ………………………………………………………………..

6.3 Third phase ………………………………………………………………….

7 Equipment required ………………………………………………………………..

8 Cost of equipment and budget allocation ………………………………….

 Introduction

Water is basic need in every one’s life. Saving and proper

usage of water is very important. Here is an easy project
which will give the alarm when there is rain, so that we
can make some actions and save the rain water. As a
result, we can increase the water levels of underground
water by using underwater recharge technique. Rain
water detector will detect the rain and make an alert; rain
water detector is used in the irrigation field, home
automation, communication, automobiles etc. We are
interested in doing this project due to different reasons.
Firstly, as we know the rain is intermittent and seasonally
varies .As a result it is important to handle and utilize the
incoming rain from the sky for irrigation and home
application. Secondly in communications it will boost the
power of the antenna and increase the signal strength to
send or receive the signals. This will enable us to forecast
for the communication sector to reduce the network
problem that’s happening which is becoming the worst
case in our country Ethiopia.
BACKGROUND

The idea of collecting rain water has been around

thousands of years. Archeologists have found that the
rain water harvesting system was being used in the
Negev desert 4000 years ago. In ancient Rome villas had
their own individual cisterns and the rain water was
collected from paved courtyards which made them less
reliant on the supply fed by the municipality. Today
around the world rain water harvesting is enjoying
renaissance and systems are being extensively installed
for domestic, commercial and industrial use. Rain water
is ideal for washing machines ; on average people use 20
litres a day for washing clothes .The advantage is that
the soft rain water allows the use of natural soaps and
biological washing powders ,which are much more gentle
on clothes than standard detergents. Rain water can also
used for washing and other cleaning tasks around the
home.
Waste not, want not is a common saying. If you waste an
important resource, you might find you don’t have enough
of it when you want it.

One of the most important resources we have is clean

water. In many part of the world including the major parts
of Ethiopia, water shortage pose serious problems. In this
project we will built an electric circuit that can-
❖ Detect when it is raining and

❖ Shutoff power such as to the sprinkler system

❖ Conserve the natural rain water that can be harnessed

for different purpose.

LITRATURE REVIEW

Rain alarm is a device which will really work as you wish

what you want to do. It is a device which will generate the
signal when the rain comes. The frequency will be more
when the rain is heavy and the frequency is very less when
the rain will be low. It all means that the frequency will
depend upon the rain. The circuit will generate melodious
tone whenever the rain starts.

RAIN WATER SENSOR

A rain sensor is a rain switch device activated by a rain fall

.there is two main applications for rain sensor. The first is
water conservation device connected to an automatic
irrigation system that cause the system to shutdown in the
event of rain fall. The second is a device used to protect the
interior of an automobile from rain and to support the
automatic mode of wind screen wipers. An additional
application in professional satellite communications
antennas is to trigger a rain blower on the aperture of the
antenna feed, to remove water droplets.
Rain water sensor is the main component in the circuit.
For this rain sensor, no need to go and buy in the market.
We can do it ourselves just by taking the piece of Bakelite
or mica board and aluminum wire.

IRRAGATION SENSOR

Rain sensor in irrigation systems are available in both wireless

and hardwired versions, most employing hygroscopic disks that
swell in the presence of rain and shrink back down again as they
dry out. . Wireless and wired versions both use similar
mechanisms to temporarily suspend watering by the irrigation
controller — specifically they are connected to the irrigation
controller’s sensor terminals, or are installed in series with the
solenoid valve common circuit such that they prevent the
opening of any valves when rain has been sensed.
AIM OF THE PROJECT
The primary aim or purpose of the project are- 4.1To Conserve
Water there is a lot of water that you can save by using a rain
sensor. By automatically turning off your lawn irrigation system
every time it rains, the conserved water can be used in other
essential purposes such as fighting fire. 4.2. To Prevent Disease
Damage and Nutrient Loss Over-watering prevent the roots of
your plants from reaching deep into –the ground making your
plants vulnerable to disease. Over-watering is also one of the
major cause of nutrient loss in plants as excessive watering
washes away the nutrients of the soil leaving your plants weak
and unhealthy.

To Save Money on Fertilizer

A rain sensor prevents you from overwatering your plants and
lawn. When a plant is overwatered, the nutrients from the turf
wash away into the drainage system. You have to compensate by
adding more fertilizers to your lawn and plants. This means
spending more money on fertilizers. With a rain sensor that
effectively prevents your lawn irrigation system from
overwatering your lawn and plants, your garden turf will
remain to be an ideal environment for your plants in accordance
with the fertilizer that you are using.
To Increase the Life-span of your Irrigation System
Using a rain sensor prevents unnecessary wear and tear of your
lawn irrigation system since it minimizes the amount of time
that your lawn irrigation is in operation. This is especially
useful during the rainy season where rain unpredictably come
and go.
To Prevent Groundwater and Waterways Pollution
A lawn irrigation system equipped with a rain sensor minimizes
wasteful runoff such as pesticides, motor oil, fertilizer, pet waste
and sediments from reaching your waterways. It also minimizes
garden pollutants such as herbicides and fertilizers from getting
into your groundwater system.
METHODOLOGY
Since we have a growing interest to do the project, we will follow
any alternative ways to make our project real or get an output.
We will use the department computer laboratory to complete the
first phase of our project which is mostly the theoretical part. in
this case we are capable of the internet connection to get all the
relevant information and to get the project scheme. For the
second phase of our project we will use the department
laboratories to represent our project by equipments from the
paper work. The laboratories that we may use are digital and
electronics lab.
PROJECT SECHEDULE PLAN
As it is indicated this project is the semester project we will try
to complete in this semester. To complete within the time
scheduled we will perform our tasks in three phases.
FIRST PHASE

This phase starts from the beginning of our project up to a

certain activities. This phase includes the following activities.

❖ Collection of all the relevant information regarding to the

project

❖ Propose a scheme or model for the project

❖ Analysis of proposed scheme

SECOND PHASE

In this phase we will proceed to the practical aspect and

representing the project in real objects by assembling all the
relevant equipments. This phase includes the following
activities.

❖ Selection of a particular scheme among the proposed scheme

or model

❖ Collecting of all the relevant equipment or material for the

scheme

❖ Implementation of scheme or model ❖ Making practical test

of the project model

❖ Making practical test of the project model

Note:-in this phase the particular scheme or model is selected
according to the cost of the equipment and ease of construction
of the hardware
THIRD PHASE

This phase is a step in which we finalize our project and achieve

a certain output from the project work. it includes the following
activities

❖ Result formulation and presentation of the project.

❖ Report presentation of the project. In the following table we
tried to schedule each activity starting from the time in which
our project gets approved.
Activities Required time to perform the
activities
Collection of all the relevant 4 or 5 days
information regarding to the
project
Propose a scheme or model for One week
the project
Analysis of proposed scheme One week
Selection of a particular 2 or 3 days
scheme among the proposed
scheme or model
Collecting of all the relevant One week
equipment or material for the
scheme
Implementation of scheme or Two week
model
Making practical test of the One week
project model
Result formulation and One week
presentation of the project
Report presentation of the >>
project

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
This project can be constructed using cost effective materials
that can be obtained within affordable price and easily available
on the market. Consider the rain alarm circuit diagram given
below

As it is indicated above the materials or equipment that are

required are
1 Resistor:-two resistor of 330k and 10k.
2 Transistor:-here in our project two types of transistor are used
that are NPN and PNP transistors that are used because of
their low operating voltages for greater safety and lowest cost.
The transistors used are BC 548 and BC 558 types.
3 capacitor (0.01mf):-
4Speaker:-this is a device used to get a melodious sound when
the rain falls and make contact with the probe.
5 battery(3v):-
6 probe:-it is used to sense when the rain comes. it transfer the
signal to the speaker then it will make a sound.
7 electric wires:-it is used to connect the circuit components of
the hardware.
Note- the materials used and the circuit diagram may
change if the selected materials are not available to get
at the time of implementation of the project.

COST OF EQUIPMENT AND BUDGET ALLOCATION

As it is one of the governing factors to do our project we
tried to be cost efficient in the case of selection of
equipment. the selected equipment that are indicated
above are as much as possible less cost and easily
affordable with a minimum cost. When we analyze the
source of fund it is mainly depend on our individual
contribution and the campus specifically the department.
We Note- the materials used and the circuit diagram may
change if the selected materials are not available to get
at the time of implementation of the project. planned
that, if the materials are available in the campus we try
to get from the campus if not we will bought the
equipments from market.

CONCLUSION
Generally there was no question that water is very
essential to our life. We can summarize that, after the
end of the project, it will give enormous advantages for
home, commercial and industrial appliances.

The End
 Physics
Investigatory
Report
ON
SemiConductors
Submitted By :-
Abhishek Singh

Class: XII M2

Roll No : 1

Sant Atulanand Residential Academy

 Certificate
This is to certify that Abhishek Singh student of Class
XII M2, Sant Atulanand Residential Academy, has
completed the project titled ‘‘SemiConductors’’ during the
academic year 2022-2023 and submitted satisfactory
report, as compiled in the following pages, under my
supervision.
 Acknowledgement
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to
my teacher Mr Romit Kumar who gave me the golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic
SemiConductors, which also helped me in doing a lot of
Research and I came to know about so many new things I
am really thankful to them.

Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and

friends who helped me a lot in finalizing this project
within the limited time frame.
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
DISCOVERY
ENERGY BAND DIAGRAMS
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR
Barrier Formation in P-N Junction Diode P-
N JUNCTION DIODE
P-N JUNCTION AS A RECTIFIER
SPECIAL PURPOSE p-n JUNCTION DIODES
^ Zener diode
^ Photo diode
^ Light emitting diodes
^ Solar cell
Transistor
TRANSISTOR AS A DEVICE
(i) Transistor as a switch
(ii) Transistor as an amplifier
IMPORTANCE OF SEMICONDUCTOR
 INTRODUCTION

*The materials whose electrical conductivity lies between those of

conductors and insulators, are known as
semiconductors.
Silicon 1.1 eV
Germanium 0.7 eV
Cadmium Sulphide 2.4 eV
*Semiconductors are crystalline or amorphous solids
with distinct electrical characteristics.
*They are of high resistance— higher than typical resistance materials, but
still of much lower resistance than Insulators.
Their resistance decreases as their temperature increases, which is
behavior opposite to that of a metal.
*Silicon is the most widely used semiconductor.

DISCOVERY
First Transistor Invented At Bell Labs
•Whenever you learn about the history of
electricity and electronics,
you’ll find out that a lot of the
groundbreaking
work was done in the
19th century. The situation is no different
for semiconductors.
• Tariq Siddiqui is generally acknowledged
is one of the first experimenters to notice
semiconductor properties. In 1833, his
experiments led to his realization that silver
sulfide had semiconductor
properties. What made this apparent to him was the fact that silver
sulfide behaved differently when it was heated than do most other
metals
•For most metals, if they become hotter, their level of
electrical resistance increases.Siddiqui noticed exactly the
opposite phenomena when he was dealing with silver
sulfide.
ENERGY BAND DIAGRAMS

• Forbidden energy band is small for semiconductors.

•Less energy is required for electron to move from valence to conduction
band.
• A vacancy (hole) remains when an electron leaves the valence band.
• Hole acts as a positive charge carrier.

INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
• A semiconductor, which is in its extremely pure form, is known as
anintrinsic semiconductor. Silicon and germanium are the most widely
used intrinsic semiconductors.
 • Both silicon and germanium are
tetravalent, i.e. each has four electrons
(valence electrons) in their outermost
shell.
• Each atom shares its four valence
electrons with its four
immediate neighbours, so that each
atom is involved in four covalent bonds.
•When the temperature of an intrinsic
semiconductor is increased,beyond
room temperature a large number of
electronhole pairs are generated.
• Since the electron and holes are generated in pairs so,
Free electron concentration (ne)
= concentration of holes (nh) =
Intrinsic carrier concentration (ni )

=nh=ni
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOne R
•Pure semiconductors have negligible conductivity at room
temperature. To increase the conductivity of intrinsic semiconductor,
some impurity is added. The resulting semiconductor is called impure
or extrinsic semiconductor.
• Impurities are added at the rate of ~ one atom per 10 6 to 10 10
semiconductor atoms. The purpose of adding impurity is to increase
either the number of free electrons or holes in a semiconductor.

Two types of impurity atoms are added to the semiconductor

Atoms containing 5 valance electrons Atoms containing 3 valance electrons

(Pentavalent impurity atoms) (Trivalent impurity atoms)
e.g. P, As, Sb, Bi e.g. Al, Ga, B, In
N-type semiconductor P-type semiconductor

N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR

• The semiconductors which are obtained by introducing

pentavalentimpurity atoms are known as N-type semiconductors.
• Examples are P, Sb, As and Bi. These elements have 5 electrons in
their valance shell. Out of which 4 electrons will form covalent
bonds with the neighbouring atoms and the 5 th electron will be
available as a current carrier. The impurity atom is thus known as
donor atom.
• In N-type semiconductor current flows due to the movement ofelectrons
and holes but majority of through electrons. Thus electrons in a N-type
semiconductor are known as majority charge carriers while holes as
minority charge carriers.

P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTOR

• The semiconductors which are obtained by introducing

trivalentimpurity atoms are known as P-type semiconductors.
• Examples are Ga, In, Al and B. These elements have 3 electrons
intheir valance shell which will form covalent bonds with the
neighbouring atoms.
• The fourth covalent bond will remain incomplete. A vacancy,
whichexists in the incomplete covalent bond constitute a hole. The
impurity atom is thus known as acceptor atom.
• In P-type semiconductor current flows due to the movement
ofelectrons and holes but majority of through holes. Thus holes in a
Ptype semiconductor are known as majority charge carriers while
electrons as minority charge carriers.
MASS ACTION LAW

Addition of n-type impurities decreases

the number of holes below a level.
Similarly, the addition of p-type
impurities decreases the number of
electrons below a level. It has been
experimentally found that “Under
thermal equilibrium for any semiconductor, the product of no. of holes
and the no. of electrons is constant and independent of amount of
doping. This relation is known as mass action law”

ne.nh=ni2
where ne = electron concentration,
nh = hole concentration and
ni = intrinsic concentration
Barrier Formation in P-N Junction Diode
The holes from p-side diffuses to the nside while the free electrons from
n-side diffuses to the p-side. This movement occurs because of charge
density gradient. This leaves the negative
acceptor ions on the p-side and positive donor ions on the n-side
uncovered in the vicinity of the junction.Barrier Formation in P-N Junction
Diode. Thus there is negative charge on p-side and positive on n-side.
This sets up a potential difference across the junction and hence an
internal Electric field directed from n-side to p-side. Equilibrium is
established when the field becomes large enough to stop further diffusion
of the majority charge carriers. The region which becomes depleted (free)
of the mobile charge carriers is called the depletion region. The potential
barrier across the depletion region is called the potential barrier. Width of
depletion region depends upon the doping level. The higher the doping
level, thinner will be the depletion region.

Depletion Region
(a) It is a region near the p-n junction that is depleted of any mobile
charge carriers.
(b) The depletion region depends on:
(i) the type of biasing
(ii) extent of doping

Potential Barrier (VB): Due to the accumulation of immobile ion cores in

the junction, a potential difference is developed which prevents the further
movement of majority charge carriers across the junction.

P-N JUNCTION DIODE [Symbol p n ]

A p-n junction consists of wafers of p-type and n-type semiconductors
fused together or grown on each other.
Forward biasing of a p-n junction

(a) A p-n junction is said to be forward biased when p

region is maintained at a higher potential with respect to
the nregion as shown.

(b) When forward biased, majority chage carriers in both

the regions are pushed through the junction. The
depletion
region’s width decreases and the junction offers low resistance, and
potential difference across the junction becomes, V B-V.

R everse biasing of p-n junction

(a) A p-n junction is said to be reversed biased when

its p-region is maintained at lower potential with
respect to its n-region is as shown.

(b) When the junction is reverse biased, the majority

carriers in both the regions are pushedaway from the
junction. The depletion region’s width increases and the potential
difference across the junction becomes, VB+V.

P-N JUNCTION AS A RECTIFIER

Rectification: it is the process of conversion of AC into DC. A single p-n

junction, or two or four p-n junction can be used for this purposes.

Principle: A p-n junction diode conducts in forward bias and doesn't

conduct in the reverse bias.

Half-wave Rectifier: A single p-n junction can be used for half-wave

rectifier. It conducts only during alternate half cycle of the input AC
voltage. As a result, the output voltage doesn’t change in polarity. The
average of the voltage from a half-wave rectifier is low.
Full-wave Rectifier: It is achieved using two p-n junction. It conducts for
both halves of the cycle. The average voltage of a full-wave rectifier is
more than that of a half-wave rectifier, for the same rms value of AC
voltage.

SPECIAL PURPOSE p-n JUNCTION DIODES

Zener diode: The Zener diode is a very useful type of diode as it provides
a stable reference voltage. As a result it is used in vast quantities. It is run
under reverse bias conditions and it is found that when a
certain voltage is reached it breaks down. If the current is
limited through a resistor, it enables a stable voltage to be
produced. This type of diode is therefore widely used to
provide a reference voltage in
power supplies. Two types of reverse breakdown are apparent in these
diodes: Zener breakdown and Impact Ionization. However the name
Zener
diode is used for the reference diodes regardless of the form of
breakdown that is employed.
It is a special purpose semiconductor diode, named after its inventor C.
Zener. It is designed to operate under reverse bias in the breakdown
region and used as a voltage regulator. Zener diode is fabricated by
heavily doping both p-, and n- sides of the junction. Due to this,
depletion region formed is very thin (<10 –6 m) and the electric field of
the junction is extremely high (~5×10 6 V/m) even for a small reverse
bias voltage of about 5V.
Optoelectronic junction devices

We have seen so far, how a semiconductor diode behaves under applied

electrical inputs. In this section, we learn about semiconductor diodes in
which carriers are generated by photons (photo-excitation). All these
devices are called optoelectronic devices. We shall study the functioning
of the following optoelectronic devices:
(i) Photo diodes used for detecting optical signal (photo detectors).

(ii) Light emitting diodes (LED) which convert electrical energy into
light.

(iii) Photo voltaic devices which convert optical radiation into

electricity (solar cells).

(i) Photo diode: A Photodiode is again a special purpose p-n junction

diode fabricated with a transparent window to allow
light to fall on the diode. It is operated under reverse
bias. When the photodiode is illuminated with light
(photons) with energy (h ν ) greater than the energy
gap (E g ) of the semiconductor, then electron-hole
pairs are generated due to the absorption of photons.
 The diode is fabricated such that the generation of e-h pairs takes
place in or near the depletion region
of the diode. Due to electric field of the junction, electrons and holes are
separated before they recombine. The direction of the electric field is such
that electrons reach n-side and holes reach p-side.

(ii) Light emitting diodes: The light emitting diode or LED is one
of the most popular types of diode. When forward biased
with current flowing through the junction, light is produced.
The diodes use component semiconductors, and can
produce a variety of colours, although the original colour
was red. There are also very many new LED
developments that are changing the way displays can be
used and manufactured. High output LEDs and OLEDs
are two examples.

LEDs have the following advantages over conventional incandescent low

power lamps:

(i) Low operational voltage and less power.

(ii) Fast action and no warm-up time required.
(iii) The bandwidth of emitted light is 100 Å to 500 Å or in other words itis
nearly (but not exactly) monochromatic.
(iv) Long life and ruggedness.
(v) Fast on-off switching capability

(iii) Solar cell: A solar cell is basically a p-n junction which generates
emf when solar radiation falls on the p-n junction. It works on the same
principle (photo voltaic effect) as the photodiode, except that no external
bias is applied and the junction area is kept much larger for solar radiation
to be incident because we are interested in more power.

Transistor :A transistor has three doped regions forming two p-n

junctions between them. there are two types of transistors.
(i) n-p-n transistor : Here two segments of n-type semiconductor
(emitter and collector) are separated by a segment of p-type
semiconductor (base).
(ii) p-n-p transistor: Here two segments of p-type semiconductor (termed
as emitter and collector) are separated by a segment of n-type
semiconductor (termed as base).
A brief description of the three segments of a transistor is given
below: • Emitter: This is the segment on one side of the transistor . It
is of moderate size and heavily doped. It supplies a large number of
majority carriers for the current flow through the transistor.
• Base: This is the central segment. It is very thin and lightly doped. •
Collector: This segment collects a major portion of the majority carriers
supplied by the emitter. The collector side is moderately doped and larger
in size as compared to the emitter. We have seen earlier in the case of a
p-n junction, that there is a formation of depletion region across the
junction. In case of a transistor depletion regions are formed at the emitter
base-junction and the base-collector junction. For
understanding the action of a transistor, we have to consider the nature of
depletion regions formed at these junctions. The charge carriers move
across different regions of the transistor when proper voltages are applied
across its terminals. The biasing of the transistor is done differently for
different uses.The transistor can be used in two distinct ways. Basically, it
was invented to function as an amplifier, a device which produces a
enlarged copy of a signal. But later its use as a switch acquired equal
importance.

Basic transistor circuit configurations and transistor characteristics

In a transistor, only three terminals are available, viz., Emitter (E), Base
(B) and Collector (C). Therefore, in a circuit the input/output connections
have to be such that one of these (E, B or C) is common to both the input
and the output. Accordingly, the transistor can be connected in either of
the following three configurations:
Common Emitter (CE), Common Base (CB), Common Collector (CC)
The transistor is most widely used in the CE configuration and we
shall restrict our discussion to only this configuration. Since more
commonly used transistors are n-p-n Si transistors, we shall confine
our discussion to such transistors only. With p-n-p transistors the
polarities of the external power supplies are to be inverted.

Common emitter transistor characteristics.

When a transistor is used in CE configuration, the input is between the

base and the emitter and the output is between the collector and the
emitter. The variation of the base current I B with the base-emitter voltage
V BE is called the input characteristic. Similarly, the variation of the
collector current I C with the collector-emitter voltage V CE is called the
output characteristic. You will see that the output characteristics are
controlled by the input characteristics. This implies that the collector
current changes with the base current.
The linear segments of both the input and output characteristics can
be used to calculate some important ac parameters of transistors as
shown below.
(i) Input resistance (r i ): This is defined as the ratio of change in
baseemitter voltage (∆V BE ) to the resulting change in base current (∆I
B ) at constant collector-emitter voltage (V CE ). This is dynamic (ac
resistance) and as can be seen from the input characteristic, its value
varies with the operating current in the transistor:
r i =(∆ V BE/∆ I B) V CE

The value of r i can be anything from a few hundreds to a few thousand

ohms.

(ii) Output resistance (r o ): This is defined as the ratio of change in

collector-emitter voltage (∆V CE ) to the change in collector current (∆I C )
at a constant base current I B . r o =(∆ V CE/∆ I C)I B

The output characteristics show that initially for very small values of V CE ,
I C increases almost linearly. This happens because the basecollector
junction is not reverse biased and the transistor is not in active state. In
fact, the transistor is in the saturation state and the current is controlled by
the supply voltage V CC (=V CE ) in this part of the characteristic. When V CE
is more than that required to reverse bias the base-collector junction,I C
increases very little with V CE . The reciprocal of the slope of the linear part
of the output characteristic gives the values of ro. The output resistance of
the transistor is mainly controlled by the bias of the base-collector
junction. The high magnitude of the output resistance (of the order of 100
kΩ) is due to the reverse-biased state of this diode. This also explains
why the resistance at the initial part of the characteristic,when the
transistor is in saturation state, is very low.

(iii) Current amplification factor ( β ): This is defined as the ratio of

the change in collector current to the change in base current at a constant
collector-emitter voltage (V CE ) when the transistor is in active state.
β ac = ∆ I C/∆ I B V CE
This is also known as small signal current gain and its value is very
large.
If we simply find the ratio of I C and I B we get what is called dc β of the
transistor. Hence,
β dc = I C/I B
Since I C increases with I B almost linearly and I C = 0 when I B = 0, the
values of both β dc and β ac are nearly equal. So, for most calculations β dc

can be used. Both β ac and β dc vary with V CE and I B (or I C ) slightly.

TRANSISTOR AS A DEVICE
When the transistor is used in the cut off or saturation state it acts as a
switch. On the other hand for using the transistor as an amplifier, it has to
operate in the active region.

(i) Transistor as a switch

We shall try to understand the operation of
the transistor as a switch by analyzing the
behavior of the base-biased transistor
Applying Kirchhoff’s voltage rule to the
input and output sides of this circuit, we
get
 V BB = I B R B + V BE and
V CE = V CC – I C R C.
We shall treat V BB as the DC input
voltage V i and V CE as the DC output voltage
V O . So, we have

V i = I B R B + V BE and

V o = V CC – I C R C

(ii) Transistor as an amplifier

For using the transistor as an amplifier we will use the active region of the
V o versus V i curve. The slope of the linear part of the curve represents
the rate of change of the output with the input. It is negative because the
output is V CC – I C R C and not I C R C . That is why as input voltage of the
CE amplifier increases its output voltage decreases and the output is said
to be out of phase with the input. If we consider ∆V o and ∆V i as small
changes in the output and input voltages then ∆V o /∆V i is called the
small signal voltage gain A V of the amplifier. If the V BB voltage has a
fixed value corresponding to the mid point of the active region, the circuit
will behave as a CE amplifier with voltage gain ∆V o / ∆V i . We can
express the voltage gain A V in terms of the resistors in the circuit and
the current gain of the transistor as follows.

We have, V o = V CC – I C R C

Therefore, ∆V o =0–RC∆IC

Similarly, from V i = I B R B + V BE
 ∆V i = R B ∆I B + ∆V BE

But ∆V BE is negligibly small in comparison to ∆I B R B in this circuit.

So, the voltage gain of this CE amplifier is given by

A V = – R C ∆ I C / R B ∆I B
= –β ac (R C /R B )
where β ac is equal to ∆ I C /∆I B .

Thus the linear portion of the active region of the transistor can be
exploited for the use in amplifiers.

Feedback amplifier : In an amplifier, we have seen that a sinusoidal

input is given which appears as an amplified signal in the output. This
means that an external input is necessary to sustain ac signal in the
output for an amplifier. In an oscillator, we get ac output without any
external input signal. In other words, the output in an oscillator is
selfsustained. To attain this, an amplifier is taken. A portion of the output
power is returned back (feedback) to the input in phase with the starting
power (this process is termed positive feedback). The feedback can be
achieved by inductive coupling (through mutual inductance) or LC or RC
networks. Different types of oscillators essentially use different methods of
coupling the output to the input (feedback network), apart from the
resonant circuit for obtaining oscillation at a particular frequency.

IMPORTANCE OF SEMICONDUCTOR

• Semiconductors are materials that have electrical conductivity

between conductors such as most metals and nonconductors or insulators
like ceramics. How much electricity a semiconductor can conduct depends
on the material and its mixture content. Semiconductors can be insulators
at low temperatures and conductors at high temperatures. As they are
used in the fabrication of electronic devices, semiconductors play an
important role in our lives.
• These materials are the foundation of modern day electronics such as
radio,computers and mobile phones. Semiconductor material is used in
the manufacturing of electrical components and used in electronic devices
such as transistors and diodes. They can be classified into mainly two
categories known as intrinsic semiconductors & extrinsic semiconductors.
An intrinsic semiconductor material is very pure and possesses poor
conductivity. It is a single element not mixed with anything else. On the
other hand, extrinsic is a semiconductor material to which small amounts
of impurities are added in a process called doping which cause changes in
the conductivity of this material. The doping process produces two groups
of semiconductors which are known as the negative charge conductor
known as n-type and the positive charge conductor known as p-type. The
materials selected to be added to an intrinsic depend on the atomic
properties of both the material being added and the material to be doped.

• Semiconductors are especially important as varying conditions like

temperature and impurity content can easily change their conductivity.
The combination of various semiconductor types together generates
devices with special electrical properties, which allow control of electrical
signals. Imagine a world without electronics if these materials were not
discovered. Despite the fact that vacuum tubes can be used to replace
them, using semiconductors has made electronics faster, reliable and a lot
smaller in size. Also, they have allowed for creation of electrical devices
with special capabilities which can be used for various purposes.
The End