Im2-Elx 2 Bsee 2a

Republic of the Philippines
NUEVA VIZCAYA STATE UNIVERSITY

Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya
INSTRUCTIONAL MODULE
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
College: Engineering
Campus: Bambang
DEGREE PROGRAM Bachelor of

Science in
COURSE NO. ECE 01
Electrical
Engineering
SPECIALIZATION COURSE TITLE Electronic Circuits: Devices and Analysis
nd
YEAR LEVEL 2 Year TIME FRAME 6 Hrs WK NO. 2 IM NO. 02
I. UNIT TITLE/CHAPTER TITLE
Semiconductor Fundamentals
LESSON TITLE
I. Semiconductor Materials
1. Introduction to semiconductor materials; Silicon, Germanium & Gallium Arsenide
1.1 Semiconductor Materials: Ge, Si, and GaAs
II. Covalent Bonding & Intrinsic Materials
1. The Bohr Model of Silicon, Germanium and Gallium Arsenide.
2. Covalent Bonding of silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide atoms.
3 Silicon, Germanium and Gallium arsenide in Intrinsic form.
4. Semiconductor Intrinsic Carriers and Relative Mobility.
III. Energy Levels
1. Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic Structure
2. The Conduction and Valence Bands of an insulator, conductor & a semiconductor.
IV. n-type & p-type materials
1. n-Type Material
2. p-Type Material
3. Electron versus Hole Flow
4. Majority and Minority Carriers
II. LESSON OVERVIEW
This module provides the students the fundamentals of the semiconductor device part I, which
is mainly the electronic device nowadays. This module discusses the semiconductor device from its
initial state as a pure element; Silicon, Germanium, etc., up to its final complete material form, the
simplest electronics device the “Diode”.
III. DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES

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IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Discuss the general characteristics of three important semiconductor materials: Si, Ge,
GaAs.
2. Describe conduction using electron and hole theory.
3. Describe the difference between n - and p -type materials.
4. Discuss of the basic operation and characteristics of a diode in
the no-bias, forward-bias, and reverse-bias regions.
5. Calculate the dc, ac, and average ac resistance of a diode from the characteristics.
6. Explain the impact of an equivalent circuit whether it is ideal or practical.
7. Explain the operation and characteristics of a Zener diode and light-emitting diode.
8. Discuss some special diodes such as Varactor,
IV. LESSON CONTENT
1. Introduction to semiconductor materials; Silicon, Germanium & Gallium Arsenide
A semiconductor is defined as a material that is neither a good conductor nor a good insulator.
Semiconductor In their purest form, have few applications in electronics. However, when the
characteristics of a pure semiconductor are altered through a process known as “doping process”,
many useful electronic devices can be created and developed.
Integrated circuits (ICs), hardly larger than individual transistors, can do the work of hundreds or
even thousands of vacuum tubes. An excellent example of this technology is found in personal
computers and the peripheral devices used with them.
Complete electronic systems now appear on wafers (single chip) thousands of times smaller
than the single element of earlier networks. The first integrated circuit (IC) was developed by Jack
Kilby while he was working at Texas Instruments in 1958. Today, the Intel ® Core TM i7 Extreme
Edition Processor of Fig. 1.0 has 731 million transistors in a package that is only slightly larger than
a 1.67 sq. inches. In 1965, Dr. Gordon E. Moore presented a paper in which he predicts that the
transistor count in a single IC chip would double every two years. Now, more than 45 years, later
we still find that his prediction is still useful.
The first device to be introduced here is the simplest and the most basic semiconductor device
called the “diode”, a device that allows current to pass through it in only one direction. This
characteristic of a diode has many useful applications in electronics. One of the most useful
applications is converting an AC voltage into a DC voltage. When used for this purpose, diodes are
typically referred to as rectifier diodes
Here are some Scientist and Engineers whose theories and discoveries were instrumental in the
development of electronics.
1.1 Semiconductor Materials: Ge, Si, and GaAs
Few decades ago, following the discovery of the diode in 1939 and the transistor in 1947
germanium was used almost exclusively because it was relatively easy to find and was available in
fairly large quantities. It was also relatively easy to refine to obtain very high levels of purity (pure
semiconductor). However, it was discovered that diodes and transistors constructed using
germanium as the base material suffered from a large leakage current because of its sensitivity to
changes in temperature. However, in 1954 the first silicon transistor was introduced, and silicon
quickly became the semiconductor material of choice. Not only is silicon less temperature sensitive,
but it is one of the most abundant materials on earth which came from silica or sand.
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
The semiconductors are a special class of elements having a conductivity between that of a
good conductor and that of an insulator and normally with four (4) valence electrons. In general,
semiconductor materials fall into one of two classes: single-crystal and compound. A single-crystal
semiconductor such as germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si) have a repetitive crystal structure, whereas
compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), cadmium sulfide (CdS), gallium nitride
(GaN), and gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) are constructed of two or more different
semiconductor materials of different atomic structures.
But during this recent year, however, the field of electronics became increasingly sensitive to
issues of speed, meaning the faster the system such as computer the better the performance.
Computers were operating at higher and higher speeds, and communication
systems were operating at higher levels of performance wherein silicon semiconductor can no
longer meet the demand of higher speed. A semiconductor material
capable of meeting these new needs resulted to the development of the first GaAs transistor in the
early 1970s. This new transistor had speeds of operation up to five times that of Si. The problem,
however, was that because of the years of intense design efforts and manufacturing improvements
using Si, Si transistor networks for most applications were cheaper to manufacture and had the
advantage of highly efficient design strategies. GaAs was more difficult to manufacture at high
levels of purity, was more expensive, and had little design support in the early years of
development. However, in time the demand for increased speed resulted in more funding for GaAs
research, to the point that today it is often used as the base material for new high-speed, very large
scale integrated (VLSI) circuit designs. The three semiconductors used most frequently in the
construction of electronic devices are Ge, Si, and GaAs.
II. Covalent Bonding and Intrinsic Materials
1. The Bohr Model of Silicon, Germanium and Gallium Arsenide.

The fundamental components of an atom are the electron, proton, and neutron. In the
lattice structure, neutrons and protons form the nucleus and electrons appear in fixed orbits
around the nucleus. The Bohr model for the three materials shown in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1 The atomic structure of (a) Silicon; (b) Germanium; and (c) Gallium Arsenide.
As indicated in the above figure, silicon has 14 orbiting electrons, germanium has 32 electrons,
gallium has 31 electrons, and arsenic has 33 orbiting electrons. For germanium and silicon there
are four electrons in the outermost shell, which are referred to as “valence electrons”. Gallium has
three valence electrons and arsenic has five valence electrons. Atoms that have four valence
electrons are called tetravalent, with three valence electronics are called trivalent, and those with
five are called pentavalent. The term valence is used to indicate that the potential (ionization
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
potential) required to remove any one of these electrons from the atomic structure is significantly
lower than that required for any other electron in the structure.
2. Covalent Bonding of silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide atoms
The bonding of atoms, strengthened by the sharing of electrons, is called covalent

bonding. In a pure silicon or germanium crystal the four valence electrons of one atom form
a bonding arrangement with four adjoining atoms, as shown in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2 The covalent bonding of the silicon atom.
For the GaAs which is a compound semiconductor, there is sharing between the two different
atoms. Each atom, gallium or arsenic, is surrounded by atoms of the complementary type. There is
still a sharing of electrons similar in structure to that of Ge and Si, but now five electrons are
provided by the As atom and three by the Ga atom. The covalent bonding of GaAs is shown in
Figure 2.3.
Figure 2.3 The covalent bonding of the GaAs crystal.
Although even covalent bond will result in a stronger bond between the valence electrons
and their parent atom, there is still a possibility for the valence electrons to absorb sufficient kinetic
energy from external natural causes to break the covalent bond and assume the “free” state.
The term “free“ is applied to any electron that has separated from the fixed lattice structure and
is very sensitive to any applied electric fields such as established by voltage sources or any
difference in potential.
The external causes could be the effects of light energy in the form of photons or in the form of
thermal energy (heat) from the surrounding medium.
3. Silicon, Germanium and Gallium arsenide in Intrinsic form

The term “intrinsic” is applied to any semiconductor material that has been carefully refined to
reduce the number of impurities to a very low level (pure material as can be).
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
The free electrons in a material due only to external causes are referred to as intrinsic carriers.
Table 2.3 compares the number of intrinsic carriers per cubic centimeter for Ge, Si, and GaAs. It is
interesting to note that Ge has the highest number and GaAs has the lowest. In fact, Ge has more
than twice the number as GaAs. The number of carriers in the intrinsic form is important, but other
characteristics of the material are more significant in determining its use in the actual field.
Another factor is the relative mobility of the free carriers in the material, that is, the ability of the
free carriers to move throughout the material. As shown in the Table 2.4 reveals that the free
carriers in GaAs have more than five times the mobility of free carriers in Si. It means that GaAs
based semiconductor is five times faster than silicon-based semiconductor device.
Table 2.3 The Intrinsic Carriers of Si, Ge, and GaAs.
Table 2.4 The Relative Mobility Factor of Si, Ge, and GaAs.
III. Energy Level
The farther an electron is from the nucleus, means the higher is the energy state, and any
electron that has left its parent atom has a higher energy state than any electron in the atomic
structure.
1. Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic Structure
Within the atomic structure of each and every isolated atom, there are specific energy levels
associated with each shell and the orbiting electrons, as shown in Fig. 3.1. The energy levels
associated with each shell will be different for every element. Take note that only specific energy
levels can exist for the electrons in the atomic structure of an isolated atom. The result is a series of
energy gaps between allowed energy levels where carriers are not permitted to pass through.
Figure 3.1 Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic Structures
2. The Conduction and Valence Bands of an Insulator, Conductor & a Semiconductor
The atoms of a material when are brought closer together to form what we call the crystal lattice
structure, there is an interaction between atoms, which will result in the electrons of a particular
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
shell of an atom having slightly different energy levels from electrons in the same orbit of an
adjoining atom. The result is an expansion of the fixed, discrete energy levels of the valence
electrons as shown in Figure 3.1 into Figure 3.2. The valence electrons in a silicon material can
have varying energy levels as long as they fall within the band of Figure 3.2. The Figure 3.2 also
reveals that there is a minimum energy level associated with electrons in the conduction band and a
maximum energy level of electrons bound to the valence shell of the atom. Between the two is an
energy gap that the electron in the valence band must overcome to become a free carrier (free
electron). The energy gap is different for Ge, Si, and GaAs; Ge has the smallest gap and GaAs the
largest gap. In total, this simply means that: “An electron in the valence band of silicon must absorb
more energy than one in the valence band of germanium to become a free carrier. Similarly, an
electron in the valence band of gallium arsenide must gain more energy than one in silicon or
germanium to enter the conduction band”.
The energy gap of the semiconductor also reveals which elements are useful in the construction
of light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The wider the energy gap, the greater
is the possibility of energy being released in the form of visible or invisible (infrared) light waves.
For conductors, an overlapping of valence and conduction bands which means that electrons
can freely flow through the material with ease and the energy picked up by the electrons is most
likely dissipated in the form of heat. Similarly, for Ge and Si, because the energy gap is so small,
most of the electrons that pick up sufficient energy to leave the valence band end up in the
conduction band, and the energy is dissipated in the form of heat. However, for GaAs the gap is
sufficiently large to result in significant light radiation.
Figure 3.2 Conduction and Valence bands of Insulator, a semiconductor, & a conductor.
The units of measurement are electron volts (eV). The unit of measure is appropriate because W
(energy) = QV (as derived from the defining equation for voltage: V = W / Q). Substituting the
charge of one electron and a potential difference of 1 V results in an energy level referred to as one
electron volt. That is;
IV. n-Type & p-Type Materials
Doping is the process of adding an impurity atom to the intrinsic material for the purpose of
altering the characteristics of the intrinsic material.
A semiconductor material that has been subjected to the doping process is called an
“extrinsic material”.
1. n-Type Material
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
An n-type material is created by adding an impurity element that have five (5) valence electrons
(pentavalent), such as antimony (Sb), arsenic (As), and phosphorus (P).
The effect of such impurity elements is indicated in Figure. 4.1 (using antimony as the impurity in
a silicon base). Note also that the four (4) covalent bonds are still present. There is, however, an
additional fifth (5) electron due to the impurity atom, which is unassociated with any particular
covalent bond. This remaining electron, loosely bound to its parent (antimony) atom, and is
relatively free to move within the newly formed n -type material. Since the added impurity atom has
donated a relatively “free” electron to the structure:
It is important to note that even though a large number of free carriers have been created in the n
-type material, it is still electrically neutral since ideally the number of positively charged protons in
the nuclei is still equal to the number of free and orbiting negatively charged electrons in the
structure.
An important term called “donor atoms” which are diffused impurities with five valence electrons.
Figure 4.11 Antimony impurity with silicon as based material
The effect of doping process on the relative conductivity can best be described through the use
of the energy-band diagram of Figure. 4.12. Note that a discrete energy level (called the donor
level) appears in the forbidden band with an Eg significantly less than that of the Eg of the intrinsic
material. Meaning, after doping process the band gap of the extrinsic material is smaller compared
to the band gap of the silicon intrinsic material.
Eg is less than that of

the intrinsic material
Figure 4.12 Effect of donor impurities on the energy band structure.
2. p-Type Material
The p -type material is formed by doping a pure germanium or silicon crystal with impurity
atoms having three valence electrons. The elements most frequently used for this purpose are
boron (B), gallium (Ga), and indium (In).
The effect of one of these elements, boron, on a base of silicon is indicated in Figure 4.2
Note that there is now an insufficient number of electrons to complete the covalent bonds of the
newly formed extrinsic material. The resulting vacancy is called a “hole” and is represented by a
“small circle” or a “plus sign”, indicating the absence of a negative charge.
Since the resulting vacancy will readily accept a free electron then we could say that a diffused
impurity with three valence electrons are called “acceptor atoms”.
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
Figure 4.2 Boron impurity in p-type material.
The effect of adding boron on the energy band structure is that the new extrinsic material will
have a wider gap for the forbidden region ( the region between valence band and conduction band)
compared to the gap of the intrinsic material.
3. Electron versus Hole Flow
The effect of the movement of hole on conduction is shown in Figure 4.3. Assuming a valence
electron acquires sufficient kinetic energy to break its covalent bond and fills the void created by a
hole, then a vacancy, or hole, will be created in the covalent bond that released the electron. There
is, therefore, a transfer of holes to the left and electrons to the right, as shown in Figure 4.3 (b). The
direction electron flow to be used in this course is that of conventional flow of current, which is
indicated by the direction of hole flow.
Figure 4.3 Electron versus hole flow.

4. Majority and Minority Carriers
In the intrinsic state of the material, the number of free electrons in semiconductor materials is
due only to those few electrons in the valence band that have acquired sufficient energy from
“thermal or light sources” to break the covalent bond or to the few impurities that could not be
removed.
. In an n -type material, the number of electrons far outweighs the number of holes. An n-type
material is shown in Figure 4.1, the electron is called the majority carrier and the hole the minority
carrier. The donor ions are the electrons that have already donated their charge to some vacant
holes, hence becomes positively charge ions. The vacancies left behind in the covalent bonding
structure represent our very limited supply of holes.
Figure 4.1 Antimony impurity in n-type material
For the p -type material the number of holes or positively charge particles far outweighs the
number of electrons, as shown in Figure 4.2. The majority carriers are the holes and the minority
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
carriers are the electrons. When a vacant hole in the covalent structure readily accepts a negatively
charge particle or electron, it represents the acceptor ions with negative sign on it, means that covalent
bonding is already stable.
Figure 4.2 Boron impurity in p-type material

V. LEARNING ACTIVITIES
I. MATCHING TYPE ACTIVITY
DIRECTION: Match each definition in Column A with its example in Column B by connecting a line.
A. Definition B. Term/Example
1. Compound Semiconductor Germanium
2. The first semiconductor material Covalent bonding
3. The bonding of atoms strengthened by sharing

of valence electrons Silicon
4. A diagram showing the parts of an atomic structure Extrinsic material
5. Semiconductor device with a 1.1eV of Eg. Gallium Arsenide
6. A semiconductor material that has been subjected to a Bohr model

doping process.
7. A pure semiconductor material is sometimes called ________. Electronic
8. The majority carriers for n-type material. Holes
9. The majority carriers for p-type material Intrinsic material
10. The conventional flow of current is based on _________ flow. Electrons
II. DRAWING ACTIVITY
DIRECTION: Using a black ball pen, draw the required figure of the following questions:
1. Draw the covalent bonding of

Antimony element using silicon
as based material.
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
2. Draw the conduction and

valence band of a conductor
material.
3. Draw the n-type material

showing the majority and
minority carries including the
donor ions.
III. MODIFIED TRUE OR FALSE
DIRECTION: Write TRUE if the statement is correct but if it’s false, change the underlined word or
group
of words to make the whole statement correct.
____________________ 1. The acceptor ion is the product of doping silicon semiconductor with Boron
impurity.
____________________ 2. The donor ion is the product of doping germanium semiconductor with
Antimony impurity.
____________________ 3. The conventional flow of current is based on the flow of holes.
____________________ 4. In the p-type material, the Electron Gap (Eg) will increased in width.
____________________ 5. Among the three semiconductor materials, Silicon is the fastest with
respect to the relative mobility.
VII. EVALUATION (Note: Not to be included in the student’s copy of the IM)
I. ONLINE ASSIGNMENTS
II. ONLINE QUIZZES
VIII. ASSIGNMENT
Direction: Use the Internet to search the answers of following questions:
1. What is the most commonly semiconductor material as of today? Why?
IM No. 2: ECE01-2NDSEM-2021-2022
IX. REFERENCES
A. Book/Printed Resources
Boylestad, R.L. & Nashelsky, L. (2013). Electronic devices and circuit theory ( 11th Ed.) . Singapore:
Pearson Education South Asia.
Floyd, T.L. (2002). Electronic devices (7th Ed.). Singapore: Pearson Education South Asia.
Neamen, D.A. (2002). Electronics circuit analysis and design (2nd Ed.). Philippines: McGraw-Hill
International Edition.
B. e-Resources/ e-Book
Schultz, Mitchel E. (2016). Grob Basic Electronics. ( 12 Edition). McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza,
New York, NY 10121. https://engineeringbookslibrary.com/grobs-basic-electronics-12th-edition/
MIT OpenCourseWare ( 30 August 2019) Circuits and Electronics

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-002-circuits-and-electronics-
spring-2007
Dube.D.C. ( 30 August 2019 ) Electronics I https://freevideolectures.com/course/3062/electronics-i

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Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA VIZCAYA STATE UNIVERSITY

DEGREE PROGRAM Bachelor of

I. UNIT TITLE/CHAPTER TITLE

1. Introduction to semiconductor materials; Silicon, Germanium & Gallium Arsenide

1.1 Semiconductor Materials: Ge, Si, and GaAs

II. Covalent Bonding & Intrinsic Materials

1. The Bohr Model of Silicon, Germanium and Gallium Arsenide.

2. Covalent Bonding of silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide atoms.

3 Silicon, Germanium and Gallium arsenide in Intrinsic form.

4. Semiconductor Intrinsic Carriers and Relative Mobility.

III. Energy Levels

1. Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic Structure

2. The Conduction and Valence Bands of an insulator, conductor & a semiconductor.

IV. n-type & p-type materials

3. Electron versus Hole Flow

4. Majority and Minority Carriers

II. LESSON OVERVIEW

III. DESIRED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

IV. LESSON CONTENT

1. Introduction to semiconductor materials; Silicon, Germanium & Gallium Arsenide

1.1 Semiconductor Materials: Ge, Si, and GaAs

II. Covalent Bonding and Intrinsic Materials

1. The Bohr Model of Silicon, Germanium and Gallium Arsenide.

2. Covalent Bonding of silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide atoms

The bonding of atoms, strengthened by the sharing of electrons, is called covalent

Figure 2.2 The covalent bonding of the silicon atom.

Figure 2.3 The covalent bonding of the GaAs crystal.

3. Silicon, Germanium and Gallium arsenide in Intrinsic form

Table 2.3 The Intrinsic Carriers of Si, Ge, and GaAs.

III. Energy Level

1. Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic Structure

Figure 3.1 Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic Structures

2. The Conduction and Valence Bands of an Insulator, Conductor & a Semiconductor

IV. n-Type & p-Type Materials

Figure 4.11 Antimony impurity with silicon as based material

Eg is less than that of

Figure 4.12 Effect of donor impurities on the energy band structure.

Figure 4.2 Boron impurity in p-type material.

3. Electron versus Hole Flow

Figure 4.3 Electron versus hole flow.

Figure 4.1 Antimony impurity in n-type material

Figure 4.2 Boron impurity in p-type material

I. MATCHING TYPE ACTIVITY

1. Compound Semiconductor Germanium

2. The first semiconductor material Covalent bonding

3. The bonding of atoms strengthened by sharing

4. A diagram showing the parts of an atomic structure Extrinsic material

5. Semiconductor device with a 1.1eV of Eg. Gallium Arsenide

6. A semiconductor material that has been subjected to a Bohr model

8. The majority carriers for n-type material. Holes

9. The majority carriers for p-type material Intrinsic material

10. The conventional flow of current is based on _________ flow. Electrons

II. DRAWING ACTIVITY

1. Draw the covalent bonding of

2. Draw the conduction and

3. Draw the n-type material

III. MODIFIED TRUE OR FALSE

____________________ 3. The conventional flow of current is based on the flow of holes.

II. ONLINE QUIZZES

1. What is the most commonly semiconductor material as of today? Why?