Introduction to Solid State

Devices, Examples and

Applications
 INTRODUCTION
 Solid-state devices are electronic devices in which electricity flows through
solid semiconductor crystals (silicon, gallium arsenide, germanium) rather
than through vacuum tubes.

 Solid-state refers to electronic components, devices, and systems based

entirely on the semiconductor.
 SOLID STATE DEVICES
 Solid-state devices are the controlling components of both high-tech and very
ordinary devices.

 Their widespread application is related to the fact that they can be utilized to
interface with all human senses.

 The first applications of solid-state devices were the use of transistors in

radios and amplifiers that interface with our sense of hearing.

 Thermoelectrics are solid-state devices that can be used for heating or

cooling—an interface with the sense of touch.
 HISTORY

 Atthe beginning of the twenty-first century, there were more solid-

state devices produced than any other manufactured thing.

 The first solid-state device was the “cat’s whisker” (1906), in which
a fine wire was moved across a solid crystal to detect a radio signal. 

 More than ten billion components are fabricated onto a single eight-
inch silicon wafer.
 HISTORY
 During the 1940s the jobs of simple solid-state devices were
performed with vacuum tubes and mechanical relays. (If a 
vacuum tube covered one square inch of area, the same ten billion
devices that fit on an eight-inch wafer would cover 6.5 square
kilometers [2.5 square miles].)
 HISTORY

 The invention of the transistor in 1947 at Bell Laboratories ushered in an

electronic age, beginning with telephones and radios and eventually
providing ever smaller and faster computers, more efficient lighting, a
means to harvest electrical energy from the sun, and much more.
 Silicon Wafer
 In  electronics, a WAFER (also called a slice or substrate) is a thin slice
of Semiconductor, such as a crystalline silicone (c-Si), used for
the fabrication of integrated circuit and, in photovoltaics.
 The wafer serves as the substrate for microelectronic devices built in and
upon the wafer. It undergoes many microfabrication processes, such
as doping, ion implantation, etching, thin film deposition of various
materials, and photolithographic patterning.
 Finally, the individual microcircuits are separated by wafer
dicing and packaged as an integrated circuit.
Figure: Silicon Wafer
 Example of Solid State Devices

 Examples of solid state electronic devices are the microprocessor chip, LED lamp, solar

cell, charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor used in cameras, and semiconductor laser.

 The integrated circuit ( IC ), the light-emitting diode ( LED ), and the liquid-crystal
display ( LCD ) have evolved as further examples of solid-state devices.

 Transistors, made of one or more semiconductors, are at the heart of modern solid-
state devices; in the case of IC, millions of transistors can be involved. 
Example of Solid State Devices: IC
Example of solid State Device: Transistor
Example of Solid State Devices: IC
Example of Solid State Devices: IC
 Solid-state component
 In a solid-state component, the current is confined to solid elements and
compounds designed specifically to switch and amplify it. Current flows in
two forms: as negatively charged electrons, and as positively charged electron
deficiencies called holes.

 In some semiconductors, the current consists mostly of electrons; in other

semiconductors, it consists mostly of holes. Both the electron and the hole are
called charge carriers.

 An example of a non-solid-state component is a cathode-ray tube ( CRT ).

APPLICATIONS

 Light emitting diodes (LEDs) and solid-state lasers produce light used in
all kinds of displays that interface with sight.
 Materials of Solid-State Devices
 Solid-state
devices consist of crystalline materials that exhibit insulating,
semiconducting, or conducting properties.

 Insulators, typically composed of SiO2, block the flow of current from one
part of the device to another.

 Semiconductors, typically silicon are the principal materials of solid-state

devices, controlling the number and rate of flow of charged carriers
(electrons or holes).
 Materials of Solid-state component
 Holes are formed when an electron is removed and thus carry a positive charge.

 Conductors, typically metals such as aluminum or copper, are used for electrical

connections to the devices.
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN conductors,
semiconductors, and insulators
 The difference between conductors, semiconductors, and
insulators is determined by how electrons (or holes) can
move through the crystalline material.
 The movement (delocalization) of electrons, or their
localization on or between particular atoms, is determined
by the chemical bonding.
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