Electronic Devices &

Circuits Theory
 Course Description & Outcomes
This course covers the introduction to solid
state electronics; diode and transistor
characteristics and models (BJT and FET);
diode circuit analysis and applications;
transistor biasing; small signal analysis
Course Outcomes : Upon completion
of the course, the student should be able to
acquire a strong foundation on semiconductor
physics, diode and diode circuit analysis and
transistor circuit analysis.
Please take note of the following
Review your ohm’s law, kirchhoff’s laws
and Thevenin’s law.
Use A4 bond paper for assignments,
research works, quizzes and laboratory
reports
During exams any answer with
- wrong unit
- answer that requires unit but no unit
Do not come late in class
Chapter 1
Introduction to Electronics
 The world of electronics
 high-tech devices possible, such as televisions, DVD players,
CD players, amplifiers, and computers.
 The vehicles that move us around the world are controlled
by electronics
 Ships use sonar and radar to keep them on course.
 Airplanes use electronic components in their radar and
automatic pilot systems to help make flights safe.
 Banks rely on electronics for security and for the accounting
of our money.
 Factories and industry use electronics to control assembly
lines, inventory, quality, or precision engineering.
 Hospitals use many devices with electronic components.
These devices are used to find out what is wrong (diagnose)
and then treat the patient for the problem.
 Space shuttles, trains, satellite signals, and even law
enforcement use electronic technology.
 Digital electrical power system
The Start of the Modern
Electronics Era

Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain The first germanium bipolar

at Bell Labs - Brattain and transistor. Roughly 50 years
Bardeen invented the bipolar later, electronics account for
transistor in 1947. 10% (4 trillion dollars) of the
world GDP.
 Electronics Milestones
1874 Braun invents the solid-state
rectifier.
1906 DeForest invents triode
vacuum tube.
1907-1927
First radio circuits developed
from diodes and triodes.
1925 Lilienfeld field-effect device
patent filed.
1947 Bardeen and Brattain at Bell
Laboratories invent bipolar
transistors.
1952 Commercial bipolar transistor
production at Texas
Instruments.
1956 Bardeen, Brattain, and
Shockley receive Nobel prize.
1958 Integrated circuits developed
by Kilby and Noyce
1961 First commercial IC from
Fairchild Semiconductor
1963 IEEE formed from merger of
IRE and AIEE
1968 First commercial IC opamp
1970 One transistor DRAM cell
invented by Dennard at IBM.
1971 4004 Intel microprocessor
introduced.
1978 First commercial 1-kilobit
memory.
1974 8080 microprocessor
introduced.
1984 Megabit memory chip
introduced.
2000 Alferov, Kilby, and Kromer
share Nobel prize
 Evolution of Electronic Devices

Vacuum Discrete
Tubes Transistors

SSI and MSI VLSI

Integrated Surface-Mount
Circuits Circuits
Advantages & Disadvantages of Semiconductor
Devices
Advantages:
 Able to operate under extremely hazardous
environmental conditions.
 Consume only small amount of power
 Can only operate with very low voltages.
 Extremely small and lightweight.
 Instant operation when power is applied
 Less Expensive.
Disadvantages:
 Susceptible to changes in temperature
 Maybe easily damaged by exceeding their power
dissipation limits.
Introduction to Electronics

The study of electronics can be broken

down into four basic steps:
• Step 1 – Basic Electricity
• Step 2 – Electronic Components
• Step 3 – Electronic Circuits
• Step 4 – Electronic Systems
 Step 1: Basics of Electricity
• Step 1: Basics of Electricity
• Current – Andre’ Ampere’
• Voltage – Alessandro Volta
• Resistance – George Ohm
• Power – James Watt
Andre’ Ampere’

Current Power

Voltage Resistance
Georg Ohm
Alessandro
Volta James Watt
Step 2: Electronic Components
• Step 2: Electronic Components
Switches and Keyboard
Semiconductors
Transducers
Resistors
Capacitors
Nikola Tesla Electron Tubes

Components
Magnetic

Power
Current

Thomas Edison Voltage Resistance

 Step 3: Electronic Circuits
• Step 3: Electronic Circuits
• Signal Generators and
Timers
• Amplifiers
Charles Wheatstone
• Digital Circuits
• Power Supplies

Circuits
• Detectors and Mixers
• Filters
Components

• Phase-locked Looks
• Converters
Gustav Kirchoff
• Data Acquisition Power

Current
• Synthesizers Votlage Resistance

Robert Noyce
Step 4: Electronic Systems

• Step 4: Electronic Systems

• Communications
• Computers
• Consumer
• Industrial
• Test and Measurement
• Biomedical Circuits
Components

Power
Current
Votlage Resistance
 Step 4: Electronic Systems
• Communications Systems

Radio
Telecommunications
Television

Heinrich Hertz
Data Communications

Communications
Systems

Circuits

Components

Guglielmo Marconi
Power
Current
Lee Deforest John Baird Votlage Resistance
 Step 4: Electronic Systems
• Computers
Data Terminals
Computer Systems
George Boole
Data Storage
Input/Output Devices

John von Neuman Computers

Communication

Systems
Circuits
Components

Power

Alan Turing Current

Charles Babbage Votlage Resistance
 Step 4: Electronic Systems
• Consumer
Video Equipment
Audio Equipment
Personal
William Shockley Automobile Electronics
Consumer
Computers

Communication

Systems
Circuits
Jack Kilby Components

Power
Nolan Bushnell Current
Chester Carlson
Votlage Resistance
 Step 4: Electronic Systems
• Industrial
Manufacturing Equipment
Computer-Aided-Design
and Engineering CAD/CAE
Industrial
Charles Steinmetz
Management

Consumer
Computers

Communication

Systems
Circuits
Werner Von Siemens Components

Carl Gauss

Power
Current
James Joule Votlage Resistance
 Step 4: Electronic Systems
• Test and Measurement
General Test and
Measurement Equipment
Industrial
Automated Test Systems
Test and Measurement
Sir Isaac Newton

Consumer

Computers

Communication

Systems
Circuits
RAdm Grace Harper Components

Power
Benjamin Franklin
Current
John Napier Votlage Resistance
 Step 4: Electronic Systems
• Biomedical
Patient Care
Industrial
Diagnostics
Test and Measurement
Luigi Galvani
Biomedical
Consumer

Computers

Communication
Henry Cavendish

Systems
Circuits
Components

Sir John Fleming

Power
Current
Votlage Resistance
Chapter 1
Introduction to Electronics
 The Bohr atom

The Bohr atom is useful for visualizing atomic structure.

•The nucleus is positively charged

and has the protons and neutrons.
•Electrons are negatively
charged and in discrete shells.
•The atomic number is the
number of protons and
determines the particular
element.
•In the neutral atom, the number
of electrons is equal to the
number of protons. Electron Proton Neutron
 The valence shell

The outer shell is called the valence shell. Electrons in

this shell are involved in chemical reactions and they
account for electrical and thermal conductivity in metals.

•Each electron has its own orbit, orbits are

grouped together to form a shell.
•The outermost shell is called valence
shell. + Shell 1 Shell 2 Shell 3

•The electrons in the outermost shell is

called valence electrons.
•Atom with 5 valance electrons are good
insulators.
•Atom with less than 4 valence electrons
are good conductors.
•Semiconductors have 4 valence
electrons.
Materials Used In Electronics
Insulators
 An insulator is a material that does not
conduct electrical current under normal
conditions.
 Most good insulators are compounds rather
than single-element materials and have very
high resistivity.
 Valence electrons are tightly bound to the
atoms; therefore, there are very few free
electrons in an insulator.
 Examples of insulators are rubber, plastics,
glass, mica, and quartz.
Materials Used In Electronics
Conductors
 A conductor is a material that easily
conducts electrical current.
 Most metals are good conductors.
 The best conductors are single-element
materials, such as copper (Cu), silver (Ag),
gold (Au), and aluminum (Al), which are
characterized by atoms with only one valence
electron very loosely bound to the atom.
Materials Used In Electronics
Semiconductors
 A semiconductor is a material that is
between conductors and insulators in its
ability to conduct electrical current.
 A semiconductor in its pure (intrinsic) state is
neither a good conductor nor a good
insulator.
 Single-element semiconductors are silicon (Si),
and germanium (Ge).
Materials Used In Electronics
Semiconductors
 Compound semiconductors such as gallium
arsenide, indium phosphide, gallium nitride,
silicon carbide, and silicon germanium are also
commonly used.
 The single-element semiconductors are
characterized by atoms with four valence
electrons.
 Silicon is the most commonly used
semiconductor.
Electrons and Shells
Energy Levels
 Electrons near the nucleus have less energy
than those in more distant orbits.
 Only discrete (separate and distinct) values of
electron energies exist within atomic
structures.
 In an atom, the orbits are grouped into
energy levels known as Shells.
 A given atom has a fixed number of shells.
Each shell has a fixed maximum number of
electrons. The shells (energy levels) are
designated 1, 2, 3, and so on, with 1 being
closest to the nucleus.
Ionization
If a valence electron acquires a sufficient
amount of energy, called ionization
energy, it can actually escape from the
outer shell and the atom’s influence.
The departure of a valence electron
leaves a previously neutral atom with an
excess of positive charge (more protons
than electrons).
The process of losing a valence electron
is known as ionization, and the resulting
positively charged atom is called a positive
ion.
Covalent Bonds

Covalent Bond is the sharing of electrons

with its neighboring atoms in a semicon
elements such as Si and Ge.
 Semiconductor Crystals

Crystal lattice
Charge Carriers and Energy Levels

 Two types of charge carriers exist in semiconductors, namely:

electrons and holes
A hole is the term used to describe an atom with a missing
electron. An electron may be “shaken loose” from a bond structure by
lattice vibration caused from thermal heating. The remaining atom
now has a positive charge. The loose electron is usually called a “free
electron”.
 The mechanism of conduction in semiconductors is best explained via
energy level diagrams
Specific energy levels are always associated with each shell of orbiting
electrons in atomic structures. While the energy of each shell is
different, the further away an electron is from the parent nucleus, the
higher its energy state.
 In order to break the covalent bond, a valence electron must
gain a minimum energy, Eg,called the bandgap energy.
Energy Level Diagram
Types of Semiconductors
 Intrinsic
 Extrinsic
Intrinsic Semiconductors
 This is the term given to near perfect
semiconductors crystals with no impurities or lattice
defects.
 At 0 Kelvin there are no free charge carriers, but as
temp increases a few electron-electron hole pairs
(EHP) are generated due to valence electrons getting
thermally excited to have enough energy to “jump”
over the band gap into the conduction band.

Current in an intrinsic
`Semiconductors
Energy band diagram for an unexcited
atom in a pure (intrinsic) silicon crystal.
Conduction Electrons and Holes
Conduction Electrons and Holes
Hole
 When an electron jumps to the conduction
band, a vacancy is left in the valence band
within the crystal.
Electron-Hole Pair
 For every electron raised to the conduction
band by external energy, there is one hole left
in the valence band, creating what is called an
electron-hole pair.
Recombination
 occurs when a conduction-band electron
loses energy and falls back into a hole in the
valence band.
Conduction Electrons and Holes
Electron and Hole Current

 When a voltage is applied across a piece of intrinsic

silicon, the thermally generated free electrons in the
conduction band, which are free to move randomly in
the crystal structure, are now easily attracted toward
the positive end.
 This movement of free electrons is is called electron
current.
Electron and Hole Current
Extrinsic Semiconductors - Any semiconductor
that has been subjected to the doping process.

 Doping is the process of adding specific impurities to a

pure semiconductor in such a way that the newly formed
covalent bonding creates excess charge carriers within
the crystal lattice
 Semiconductors with predominantly excess Electrons are
called n-Type semiconductors
 Semiconductors with predominantly excess Holes are called
p-Type semiconductors
p-Type Semiconductor

 Thep-type semiconductor is formed by doping pure Si or Ge

with impurity atoms having 3 valence electrons. Typically
Boron, gallium, or indium is use as the dopant.

Diffused impurity with 3 valence electrons are called acceptor atoms

n-Type Semiconductor
 An n-type material is created by introducing impurity element
that have 5 valence electrons (e.g. arsenic, antimony and
phosphorus) into pure Si or Ge.

In n-type material, the electron is the majority charge carrier and holes
are minority.
In p-type material, the holes are the majority charge carrier and
electrons are minority
 Other Semiconductor
materials
 Gallium arsenide
Gallium arsenide works better than silicon in several ways. It
needs less voltage, and will function at higher frequencies
because the charge carriers move faster. GaAs devices are
relatively immune to the effects of ionizing radiation such
as X rays and gamma rays. GaAs is used in light-emitting
diodes, infrared-emitting diodes, laser diodes, visible-light
and infrared detectors, ultra-high-frequency amplifying
devices, and a variety of integrated circuits.
The primary disadvantage of GaAs is that it is more
expensive to produce than silicon.
 Selenium
The main advantage of selenium over silicon is that selenium
can withstand brief transients, or surges of abnormally high
voltage.
 Metal oxides
metal-oxide semiconductor and complementary metal-
oxide semiconductor devices
One advantage of MOS and CMOS devices is that
they need almost no power to function. They
draw so little current that a battery in a MOS or
CMOS device lasts just about as long as it would
on the shelf. Another advantage is high speed. This
allows operation at high frequencies, and makes it
possible to perform many calculations per
second.
The biggest problem with MOS and CMOS is that
the devices are easily damaged by static
electricity