EEE 1: Essentials of Electrical and Electronics

Engineering
Meeting 11: Introduction to Semiconductors & Diodes

March 12, 2019

EEE 1: Essentials of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 1

For the Past Months

Passive Components Applications

AC & DC Sources

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Modern Devices

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Semiconductor Devices

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Semiconductors

Two of the most commonly used semiconductors are Silicon

(Si) and Germanium (Ge).

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Intrinsic Semiconductor

Doping
The process of adding impurity atoms (atoms of different type) to
achieve the desired electrical characteristics

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Extrinsic Semiconductor

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Charge Carriers

Carriers Majority Minority

N-Type electrons holes
P-Type holes electrons

Note:
Doping does not add or subtract charges.
The semiconductor is still neutral with equal number of
positive and negative charges.
Doping only redistributes the valence electrons so that more
free charges are available.

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Majority and Minority Carriers

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P-N Junction

Hole diffuse from P-side to N-side while electronics diffuse

from N-side to P-side
Electric field will build up at junction area which will oppose
the diffusion
At steady state, the area near the junction will be depleted of
available charge carriers
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P-N Junction Biasing

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P-N Junction Biasing

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Diode Symbol

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Diode Equation

id
+ − kVd
Vd iD = IS (e TK − 1)

IS = reverse saturation current, very small because due to minority

carriers

k = 11600/η where for Si, η = 2 for relatively small diode currents

and η = 1 for normal diode currents

TK = temperature in Kelvin

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V-I Characteristic Curve

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Operating Regions

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Sample Diodes

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Ideal Diode

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Simplified Model

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Piece-Wise Linear Model

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 END

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