UNIT-I

SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
Energy Band diagram
Materials used
⚫ Silicon (Atomic no. 14)(K=2,L=8,M=4)
(Four valence electrons)
⚫ Germanium (Atomic no. 32)
(K=2,L=8,M=18,N=4) (Four valence
electrons)
⚫ Boron (Atomic no. 5) (K=2,L=3)(Three
valence electrons)
⚫ Phosphorous (Atomic no. 15)
(K=2,L=8,M=5) )(Five valence electrons)
 N-TYPE AND P-TYPE MATERIALS

▪Semiconductors are classified as

▪(i) Intrinsic (pure) and
▪(ii) Extrinsic (impure) types.

▪The extrinsic semiconductors are of N-type and

P-type
 Intrinsic Semiconductor
⚫ A pure semiconductor is called an
intrinsic semiconductor.
 Extrinsic Semiconductor
⚫ N-type Semiconductor
A small amount of pentavalent impurity such as arsenic, antimony or
phosphorous is added to the pure semiconductor (germanium or silicon
crystal) to get an N-type Semiconductor.
 P-type Semiconductor
⚫ A small amount of trivalent impurity such as aluminum
or boron is added to the pure semiconductor to form
the p-type semiconductor.
Depletion region
Depletion region or depletion layer is a region in
a P-N junction diode where no mobile charge carriers
are present. Depletion layer acts like a barrier that
opposes the flow of electrons from n-side and holes from
p-side.
 P-N Junction Diode
⚫ Forward bias with V-I characteristics
When the positive terminal of the battery is connected to
the P-type and negative terminal to the N-type of the P-N
junction Diode , the bias applied is known as forward bias.
 V-I characteristics of a Diode
under Forward Bias

The cut-in voltage or

threshold voltage(Vr) is
0.3V and 0.7V for
germanium and silicon
respectively.
 Reverse Bias with V-I characteristics
⚫ When the negative terminal of the battery is connected
to the P-type and positive terminal of the battery is
connected to the N-type of the P-N junction diode , the
bias applied is known as reverse bias.
Reverse bias
⚫ Depletion layer width increases.
⚫ Electrons forming covalent bonds absorb
sufficient energy from heat and light
causes breaking of covalent bonds.
⚫ Electron hole pairs generated.
⚫ Thermally generated carriers are
attracted by battery.
⚫ Minority carriers wander over the
junction and flow towards majority
carrier side gives rise to small current.
P-N Junction as a Diode
V-I Characteristics
 Zener Diode
⚫ Zener diodes can be designed with adequate power
dissipation capabilities to operate in the breakdown
region. The Zener diode is heavily doped than the
ordinary diode.
Working of Zener Diode

⚫ The Zener diode can operate in both forward and reverse bias. In
forward bias, it acts as a normal diode with nominal forward
voltage drop and a large current flow. While in reverse bias, it
blocks current flow until the applied voltage reaches the Zener
breakdown voltage. This region is known as the Zener breakdown
region and the Zener diode is specifically designed to operate in
this region. The current starts to increase with an increase in the
applied voltage while the voltage across the Zener remains the
same.
⚫ The Zener voltage of the diode depends on the doping level which
can be adjusted during the manufacturing of the Zener diode.
Reverse bias
⚫ The sharp increasing currents under
breakdown conditions are due to the
following mechanisms:
⚫ 1.Avalanche Breakdown.
⚫ 2. Zener Breakdown.
V-I Characteristics of Zener diode
 Avalanche Breakdown
⚫ The avalanche breakdown occurs when a high reverse
voltage is applied across the diode. As we increase the
applied reverse voltage, the electric field across the
junction increases.
⚫ This electric field exerts a force on the electrons at the
junction and frees them from covalent bonds.
⚫ These free electrons start moving with high velocity
across the junction and collide with the other atoms,
thus creating more free electrons.
⚫ This results in a rapid increase in net current. Both
these breakdowns occur in Zener diodes.
 Zener Breakdown
⚫ When P and N regions are heavily doped,
direct rupture of covalent bond takes
place because of strong electric fields at
the junction of diode.
⚫ The new electron hole pairs so created
increase the reverse current in reverse
biased pn diode.
⚫ These free electrons, in turn, give rise to a
high value of reverse saturation current.
This is known as Zener breakdown.
Applications of Zener Diode
⚫ Zener diode can be used as a voltage
regulator.
TRANSISTOR
⚫ The transistor is a semiconductor device which
transfers a weak signal from low resistance
circuit to high resistance circuit.

⚫ The words trans mean transfer

property and istor mean resistance
property offered to the junctions.

⚫ In other words, it is a switching device which

regulates and amplify the electrical signal likes
voltage or current.
Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
⚫ A Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) is a three
-terminal semiconductor device in which the
operation depends on the interaction of both
majority and minority carriers and hence the
name bipolar.

⚫ The BJT is analogous to vacuum triode and is

comparatively small in size.
 Transistor Biasing
⚫ The emitter-base junction is forward
biased and collector-base junction is
reverse biased.
Operation of an NPN transistor
Operation of a PNP Transistor
Transistor Configurations and
Input/Output Characteristics
CB Configuration
Input Characteristics
Output Characteristics
Early Effect or Base width Modulation
⚫ As the collector voltage Vcc is made to increase the reverse bias ,
the space charge width between collector and base tends to
increase, with the result that the effective width of the base
decreases. This dependency of base width on collector-to-emitter
voltage is known as the Early Effect. The decrease in base width has
three consequences
● There is less chance for recombination within base region.
● The charge gradient is increased within the base, and
consequently the current of minority carriers injected across
the emitter junction increases.
● For large voltages, effective base width may be reduced to
zero, causing breakdown in transistor. This is called punch
through.
CE Configuration
Input Characteristics
Output Characteristics
CC Configuration
Input Characteristics
Output Characteristics
Comparison of CB , CE and CC Configurations
Current Amplification Factor
Relationship between α and β
Relation among α,β and γ
Relation among IC, IB and ICEO
 Transistor as an Amplifier
⚫ CE Transistor as an Amplifier
MOSFET(Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field
Effect Transistor)(IGFET)
Principle
⚫ By applying transverse electric field across an
insulator, deposited on the semiconducting
material, the thickness and hence the resistance
of a conducting channel of a semiconductor
material can be controlled.

⚫ D-MOSFET-controlling electric field reduces no.

of majority carriers available for conduction

⚫ E-MOSFET-controlling electric field increases

no. of majority carriers available for conduction
MOSFET -Structure
Working
Drain and Transfer Curve
N-Channel D-MOSFET
Working
Drain Characteristics
Transfer characteristics
UJT
Working
⚫ RBB
Working
⚫ RBB=RB1 +RB2

⚫ Intrinsic stand-off ratio (η)=RB1/(RB1 +RB2)

value lies between 0.56 to 0.75.
⚫ Vp (Peak voltage)= ηVBB+Vγ
Characteristics of UJT
Block diagram of linear mode
power supply
 RECTIFIERS
⚫ Rectifier is a device which converts a
bidirectional AC to pulsating
(Unidirectional) using one or more PN
junction diodes
⚫ Rectification is achieved by the electronic
element called semiconductor diode
⚫ Elements needed for rectification are
-Diode
-Filters (capacitor/ inductor)
RECTIFIERS & its TYPES
Half wave rectifier
It converts ac voltage into pulsating dc
voltage using only one half of the applied ac
voltage.
⚫ During the positive half cycle, when the secondary
winding of the upper end is positive with respect to the
lower end, the diode is under forwarding bias condition
and it conducts current. During the positive half-cycles,
the input voltage is applied directly to the load
resistance when the forward resistance of the diode is
assumed to be zero. The waveforms of output voltage
and output current are the same as that of the AC input
voltage.
⚫ During the negative half-cycle, when the secondary
winding of the lower end is positive with respect to the
upper end, the diode is under reverse bias condition and
it does not conduct current. During the negative
half-cycle, the voltage and current across the load
remain zero. The magnitude of the reverse current is
very small and it is neglected. So, no power is delivered
during the negative half cycle.
Ripple factor is defined as ratio of rms value
of ac component to the dc component in
the output.
Advantages of Half Wave Rectifier
⚫ Affordable
⚫ Easy to use as the connections are simple
⚫ Number of components used are less

Disadvantages of Half Wave Rectifier

⚫ Ripple production is more
⚫ Harmonics are generated
⚫ Utilization of the transformer is very low
⚫ The efficiency of rectification is low
A Full wave rectifier is a circuit arrangement which
makes use of both half cycles of input alternating current
(AC) and converts them to direct current (DC).

Center Tapped Full Wave Rectifier

For the positive half cycle of the input diode D1 is
connected to the positive terminal and D2 is
connected to the negative terminal. Thus diode D1 is
in forward bias and the diode D2 is reverse biased.
Only diode D1 starts conducting and thus current
flows from diode and it appears across the load RL.
So positive cycle of the input is appeared at the load.

During the negative half cycle the diode D2 is applied

with the positive cycle. D2 starts conducting as it is in
forward bias. The diode D1 is in reverse bias and this
does not conduct. Thus current flows from diode D2
and hence negative cycle is also rectified, it appears
at the load resistor RL.
Full wave rectifier efficiency
Form Factor and Peak factor
 Applications Of Rectifiers
●Rectifiersare used in electric welding to provide the
polarized voltage.

●It
is also used in traction, rolling stock and three
phase traction motors used for running trains.

●Halfwave rectifiers are used in mosquito repellent

and soldering iron.

●Halfwave rectifier also used in AM Radio as a

detector and signal peak detector.

●Rectifiers
also used in modulation, demodulation and
voltage multipliers.
Types of filter circuits for Rectifiers