Chapter 3-Semiconductor Devices and

Motor Controlling

Prepared by: Abebe Zeleke

 contents

 Semiconductors
 Types of Semiconductors
 Intrinsic (Pure) Semiconductors
 Extrinsic (Impure) Semiconductors
 P – Type Semiconductors
 N – Type Semiconductors
 P-N Junctions
 Semiconductor Devices
 Transistors and Diodes

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 Chapter 3-Semiconductor Devices and Motor Controlling

Introduction
Electronic Materials
• The goal of electronic materials is to generate
and control the flow of an electrical current.
Electronic materials include:
• Conductors - have low resistance which allows
electrical current flow
• Insulators - have high resistance which suppresses
electrical current flow
• Semiconductors - can allow or suppress electrical
current flow
 What are semiconductor?

 Semiconductors are materials that essentially can be conditioned to act as good

conductors, or good insulators, or any thing in between.
 These intermediate properties are determined by
 Crystal structure bonding characteristics
 Electronic energy bands
 Common elements such as carbon, silicon, and germanium are semiconductors.
 Semiconductors are widely applicable due to their reliability, compactness, and
low cost.
 They are used in power devices, optical sensors, light emitters, etc.

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Crystal Lattice Structure
• The unique capability of semiconductor atoms is
their ability to link together to form a physical
structure called a crystal lattice.
• The atoms link together with one another sharing
their outer electrons.
• These links are called covalent bonds.

Crystal Lattice Structure of Silicon

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Semiconductors can be Insulators
• If the material is pure semiconductor material like
silicon, the crystal lattice structure forms an excellent
insulator since all the atoms are bound to one another
and are not free for current flow.
• Good insulating semiconductor material is referred to as
intrinsic.
• Since the outer valence electrons of each atom are tightly
bound together with one another, the electrons are
difficult to dislodge for current flow.
• Silicon in this form is a great insulator.
• Semiconductor material is often used as an insulator.

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Semiconductors can be Conductors
• An impurity, or element like arsenic, has 5
valence electrons.
• Adding Boron or Arsenic (doping) will allow
four of the valence electrons to bond with the
neighboring silicon atoms.
• The one electron left over for each Arsenic or
Boron atom becomes available to conduct
current flow.

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Types of semiconductor

Semiconductors are mainly two types

1. Intrinsic (Pure) Semiconductors
2. Extrinsic (Impure) Semiconductors
Intrinsic Semiconductor
 A semiconductor which does not have any kind of impurities,
behaves as an insulator at 0 oK and behaves as a conductor at
higher temperature is known as Intrinsic Semiconductor or Pure
semiconductors.
 Germanium and Silicon (4th group elements) are the best
examples of intrinsic semiconductors and they possess diamond
cubic crystalline structure.
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Intrinsic Semiconductor

Valence Cell

Covalent Bonds
Si

Si Si Si

Si

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 Types of semiconductor - Extrinsic Semiconductors

 Extrinsic semiconductors are those in which impurities of large quantity are

present. Usually, the impurities can be either 3rd group elements or 5th group
elements.
 Doping is the process of adding impurities (elements from group III or group
V of the periodic table) to intrinsic semiconductors to make the semiconductor
conduct electricity.
 Based on the impurities present in the extrinsic semiconductors, they are
classified into two categories.
 N – Type Semiconductors
 P – Type Semiconductors

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 N – Type Semiconductors

 The intrinsic semiconductors doped with pentavalent impurities are called N-

type Semiconductors.
 When any pentavalent element such as Phosphorous, Arsenic, or Antimony is
added to the intrinsic semiconductor, four electrons are involved in covalent
bonding with four neighboring pure semiconductor atoms.
 The fifth electron is weakly bound to the parent atom.
 The energy level of fifth electron is called donor level.
 When a doped semiconductor contains excess of free electrons, it is known as
“N-type”(negative for electrons) semiconductor
 In N – Type Semiconductors; electrons are majority carriers and holes are
minority carriers.
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 Cont...

Donor impurity
Si Free Electron contributes
free electrons

Si P Si

Impure Atom
Si
(Donor)

 Phosphorus and Arsenic each have five outer electrons, so they're out of
place when they get into the silicon lattice.
 The fifth electron has nothing to bond to, so it's free to move around.
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 P – Type Semiconductors

 The intrinsic semiconductors doped with trivalent impurities such as Al, Ga, Boron, or
Indium are called P-type Semiconductors.
 When a trivalent elements such as Al, Ga, or Indium have 3 electrons in their outer most
orbits, added to the intrinsic semiconductor all the three electrons of Indium are
engaged in covalent bonding with the three neighboring Si atoms.
 When a doped semiconductor contains excess holes, it is known as “P-type”(positive for
holes) semiconductor.
 Due to ionization of acceptor atoms only holes and no electrons are created.
 In P – Type Semiconductors; holes are majority carriers and electrons are minority
carriers.

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 Cont...

Covalent
Bonds Si Hole Acceptor impurity
creates a hole

Si In Si

Si
Impure Atom
(Acceptor)

 Indium and Boron have only three outer electrons.

 When mixed into the silicon lattice, they form "holes" in the lattice where
a silicon electron has nothing to bond to.
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 P-N Junction

 A junction formed when N-type and P-type semiconductors are joined together is called
P-N junction. In the N-type region there are extra electrons and in the P-type region,
there are holes from the acceptor impurities .

 N-type: when a small amount of  P-type: when a small amount of trivalent

pentavalent impurity is added to a pure impurity is added to a pure
semiconductor it is known as - N-type semiconductor it is known as - P-type
semiconductor semiconductor
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 Forward Bias Versus Reverse Bias

P – Type N – Type P – Type N – Type

Conventional
Current
a) Forward bias b) Reverse bias

+ve terminal is connected to +ve terminal is connected to

P-region and –ve terminal is N-region and –ve terminal is
connected to N-region connected to P-region

a) There is an appreciable current through the diode when the diode is forward biased.
b) Under a reverse bias condition, there is almost no current through the diode.
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 Cont...

Current – Voltage characteristics of a P-N junction diode

I (mA)

Reverse Bias Forward Bias

Resistance is
very high Resistance is
very small

V (volts)

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Semiconductor Devices

Diodes

Battery

LED Rectifier diode Microprocessors 18

 Semiconductor Devices - Diodes

 A diode is a semiconductor device that essentially acts as a one-way switch for

current.
 Diodes allow current to flow easily in one direction, but severely restricts current
from flowing in the opposite direction..
 Diodes can be used as rectifiers, signal limiters, voltage regulators, switches, signal
modulators, signal mixers, signal demodulators, and oscillators.

Anode Cathode + –
P N

Schematic Symbol

+ IN314 –
I
Forward-biased
Example Device current flow 19
 Semiconductor Devices - Diode Ratings
 Peak inverse voltage (PIV)  Maximum forward current (IF)
 Reverse leakage current (IR)  Maximum forward voltage drop (VF)

 Diodes are used in the power supply to create a DC voltage from the
AC voltage present at the wall socket 20
 Semiconductor Devices - Transistors

 A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify

or switch electronic signals. It is with a three terminal
device and consists of three distinct layers (emitter, base
& collector).

 One type of transistor is the bipolar junction transistor, which consists

of two p-n junctions formed by three layers of doped semiconductors.
There are two kinds of bipolar junction transistors, pnp and npn.
P - Type N – Type P - Type N - Type P – Type N - Type

PNP - Transistor NPN - Transistor

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 Semiconductor Devices - PNP Transistor

• Base is made up of N-type materials.

• Current conduction is mainly due to
holes
• Use a small base current and a negative
base voltage to control a much larger
emitter-collector current.
• In other words for a PNP transistor, the
Emitter is more positive wrt the Base
and the Collector.
PNP Transistor Configuration

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 Semiconductor Devices - NPN Transistor

• Base is made up of P-type materials

• Current conduction is mainly due to
electrons.
• The voltage between the Base and Emitter,
is positive at the base and negative at the
Emitter.
• Because for NPN transistor, the base
terminal is always positive wrt the Emitter.
• The Collector supply voltage must also be
more positive with respect to the Emitter.
• Therefore, for a bipolar NPN transistor to
conduct correctly, the Collector must always
more positive wrt both the Base and the NPN Transistor Configuration
Emitter terminals

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 Semiconductor Devices - Rectifier Circuits
 Most electronics need a direct current to function, but the standard form of
electricity that is transmitted to homes is alternating current.
 The most popular application of the diode (in rectifier) is to converts an
alternating current into a direct current by using one or more P-N junction
diodes.

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 Cont...

 Because diodes are unidirectional devices, they are used in rectifier

circuits, which convert AC voltage into DC voltage.
 Half-wave rectifier circuit, together with a capacitor and a transformer,
constitutes a DC power supply because the rectifier converts AC voltage
into DC voltage.

Generator Output
voltage Diode voltage
With Capacitor

C R
Time Without Time
Capacitor

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Cont...

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 Semiconductor Devices - Integrated Circuit (IC) Chips

 It is possible to combine arrays of tens of thousands of transistors, diodes,

resistors, and capacitors on a tiny chip of silicon that usually measures less
than a centimeter on a side. These arrays are called integrated circuits (ICs)
and can be designed to perform almost any desired electronic function.
 Integrated circuits have revolutionized the electronics industry and lie at the
heart of computers, cellular phones, digital watches, and programmable
appliances.

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Semiconductor Devices - Light Emitting Diodes

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 Cont.

Gallium Nitride

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 Solar Cells

 Solar cells use p-n junctions to convert sunlight directly into electricity.
 The sunlight causes the solar cell to develop negative and positive terminals, much
like the terminals of a battery.

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Self Assessment

1. What are semiconductors?

2. How they are formed?
3. Why the need for study semiconductor materials?
4. Explain the different types of semiconductors?
5. What are semiconductor devices?
6. What do we mean by “doping”?
7. Explain the two bipolar junction transistors?
8. What is the main function of a diode?
9. Define the following terms.
a. Amplification
b. Rectification
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