Electronics

Semiconductor Diodes

1
Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET.
ELECTRONICS

Electronics is the study of “how to control the flow of electrons”

Whereas electrical engineering deals with generation, efficient transmission, distribution and quality
improvement of electrical energy, electronics deals with circuits that are made with parts called components and
connecting wires that control the flow of electricity and direct it to do useful things.

Application of Electronics:

1. Switch

2. LCD/LED monitor

3. Amplifier

4. Digital System Design: Computer

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 2

SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS

• Semiconductors are a special group of materials having a conductivity

between that of a good conductor and that of an insulator
• Single-crystal semiconductors : Ge, Si
• Compound semiconductors : GaAs
• Atoms that have four valence electrons are called tetravalent
• Atoms that have five valence electrons are called pentavalent
• Atoms that have three valence electrons are called trivalent
• Bonding of atoms, strengthened by the sharing of electrons, is called
covalent bonding

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 3

SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS Cont. Orbiting
Electron

Valence
Band

Parent
Atom

Adjoining
Atom

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SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS Cont.
• The covalent bond will result in a stronger bond between the valence electrons and
their parent atom, it is still possible 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 intrinsic is applied to any semiconductor material that has been
carefully refined to reduce the number of impurities to a very low level—
essentially as pure as can be made available through modern technology
• Semiconductor materials have a negative temperature coefficient
• A semiconductor material that has been subjected to the doping process is called
an extrinsic material. Two types: n-type & p-type
• Doping: It means adding impurity atom to an intrinsic semiconductor material.

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 5

ENERGY LEVELS

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n-Type Material

• n-type material is created by introducing impurity elements that have five valence electrons (
pentavalent)
• Example: antimony, arsenic, and phosphorus
• The ability to change the characteristics of a material through this process is called doping
• An additional fifth electron due to the impurity atom, which is unassociated with any particular
covalent bond. This remaining electron, loosely bound to its parent (antimony) atom, is
relatively free to move within the newly formed n-type material
• Diffused impurities with five valence electrons are called donor atoms
• n-type material, it is 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.

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n-Type Material

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p-Type Material
• The p-type material is formed by doping a pure germanium or silicon crystal with
impurity atoms having three valence electrons
• Example: boron, gallium, and indium
• there is now an insufficient number of electrons to complete the covalent bonds of
the newly formed lattice. 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
• The diffused impurities with three valence electrons are called acceptor atoms
• The resulting p-type material is electrically neutral, for the same reasons described
for the n-type material

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 9

p-Type Material

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Majority and Minority Carriers
• In the intrinsic state, the number of free electrons in Ge or Si 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.
• The vacancies left behind in the covalent bonding structure represent our very limited supply of holes. In an
n-type material, the number of holes has not changed significantly from this intrinsic level.
• The net result, therefore, is that the number of electrons far outweighs the number of holes.
For this reason:
In an n-type material the electron is called the majority carrier and the hole the minority carrier.

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 11

Majority and Minority Carriers
•
When the fifth electron of a donor atom leaves the parent atom, the atom remaining acquires a net positive
charge: hence the positive sign in the donor-ion representation.
For similar reasons, the negative sign appears in the acceptor ion.

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 12

Majority and Minority Carriers
For the p-type material the number of holes far outweighs the number of electrons

In a p-type material the hole is the majority carrier and the electron is the minority carrier

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 13

 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE
No Applied Bias (𝑽𝑽𝑫𝑫 =0 V)
• The semiconductor diode is created by simply
joining an n-type and a p-type material together
• The Diffusion Current 𝐈𝐈𝐃𝐃 flows from p to n
• This region of uncovered positive and negative ions
is called the depletion region due
to the “depletion” of free carriers in the region
• The charges on both sides of the depletion region
cause an electric field E
• Two current components—electrons moved by drift
from p to n and holes moved by drift from n to p—
add together to form the drift current 𝐈𝐈𝐒𝐒
• With no external voltage 𝐈𝐈𝐃𝐃 = 𝐈𝐈𝐒𝐒

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 14

SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE
No Applied Bias (𝑽𝑽𝑫𝑫 =0 V)
Diffusion current

Drift current
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 Reverse-Bias Condition (𝑽𝑽𝑫𝑫 < 0 V)
• The number of uncovered positive ions in the depletion
region of the n-type material will increase and the
number of uncovered negative ions will increase in the
p-type material
• The current that exists under reverse-bias conditions
is called the reverse saturation current and is
represented by Is

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 Forward-Bias Condition (𝑽𝑽𝑫𝑫 > 0 V)
• The application of a forward-bias potential VD will
“pressure” electrons in the n-type material and
holes in the p-type material to recombine with the
ions near the boundary and reduce the width of
the depletion region
• As the applied bias increases in magnitude, the
depletion region will continue to decrease in width
until a flood of electrons can pass through the
junction, resulting in an exponential rise in current

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Diode characteristics curve

The semiconductor diode behaves in a manner similar to a

mechanical switch in that it can control whether current will
flow between its two terminals (But only one direction)

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Diode characteristics curve at different temperatures

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Diode characteristics curve

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Application of Diodes
Rectifier Circuit (Half Wave)

1 𝑇𝑇
𝑉𝑉𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 = � 𝑣𝑣0 𝑡𝑡 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑇𝑇 0

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 21

Application of Diodes
Rectifier Circuit (Half Wave)

For Si diode

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Application of Diodes
Rectifier Circuit (Full Wave/ Bridge)

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Application of Diodes
Rectifier Circuit (Full Wave/ Bridge)

For Si diode

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Mathematical Problem
• Calculate the dc voltage of the rectifier circuit
Using equation for the half wave rectifier circuit

Case I: consider it as an ideal diode.

Vdc= 0.318 Vm
Here Vm is the peak value of the input ac signal
So, Vdc= 0.318 ×(- 20) = - 6.37 volt.

Case II: consider it as a practical silicon diode.

Vdc= 0.318 (Vm -0.7)
Here Vm is the peak value of the input ac signal
So, Vdc= 0.318 ×(-(20-0.7)) = 6.13 volt

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 25

Mathematical Problem
Determine ID, VD2, and Vo for the circuit

solution:
Have a close look on the circuit , first diode is in ‘on state’ but
second diode is ‘off state’
On state equivalent to a short circuit and Off state means an
open circuit

So,
ID = 0
VD2 = 12V
Vo = 0V

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 26

Mathematical Problem
Determine I, V1, V2, and Vo for the series dc configuration
solution:
So the equivalent circuit is

Applying KVL
-E1+IR1+0.7+IR2-E2=0

= 2.05mA

Belal Hossain, Assistant Professor, EEE, RUET. 27

Transistor
• It’s a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and
electrical power.
• Transistors are one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics.
• It is composed of semiconductor material usually with at least three terminals for
connection to an external circuit.

A transistor has three terminal: base, collector, emmiter

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Transistor Types
Doping Level:
Base – lightly doped
Emitter – heavily doped
Collector –a bit less than emitter

Dimension:
Base – very thin
Emitter - thick
Collector - Thickest

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Transistor operation: PNP

PNP

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Transistor operation: PNP

α is common base current gain

αN α = Ic/IE ≅ 1

(1-α)N

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Input Characteristics

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Output Characteristics

Operating region:
1. Active region
2. Saturation region
3. Cut off region

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Transistor amplifying action:
Resistance of a PN Junction:
1. Forward Bias – 20 Ω to 100 Ω
2. Reverse bias – 50 KΩ to 100 MΩ

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DC analysis of BJT

DC equivalent circuit
Amplifier circuit

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DC analysis of BJT
Input circuit:

Output circuit: VE= 0 V

DC equivalent circuit

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DC analysis of BJT

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Q-point and Load line

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TRANSISTOR SWITCHING NETWORKS
Operating region:
1. Saturation ( Switch on)
2. Cut off region( Switch off)

To ensure both B-E and B-C junctions forward bias RB must be larger than RC

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TRANSISTOR SWITCHING NETWORKS

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