SEMICONDUCTOR ELECTRONICS: MATERIALS, DEVICES AND SIMPLE CIRCUITS, Introduction, CLASSIFICATION OF METALS, CONDUCTORS AND SEMICONDUCTORS, BAND THEORY OF SOLIDS, INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR, EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR, SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE and DIGITAL ELECTRONICS AND LOGIC GATES (NCERT 12TH PHYSICS)
INTRODUCTION
Devices in which a controlled flow of electrons can be obtained are the basic building blocks of all the electronic circuits. Before the discovery of transistor in 1948, such devices were mostly vacuum tubes (also called valves) like the vacuum diode which has two electrodes, viz., anode (often called plate) and cathode; triode which has three electrodes – cathode, plate and grid; tetrode and pentode (respectively with 4 and 5 electrodes).
In a vacuum tube, the electrons are supplied by a heated cathode and the controlled flow of these electrons in vacuum is obtained by varying the voltage between its different electrodes. Vacuum is required in the inter-electrode space; otherwise the moving electrons may lose their energy on collision with the air molecules in their path. In these devices the electrons can flow only from the cathode to the anode (i.e., only in one direction). Therefore, such devices are generally referred to as valves. These vacuum tube devices are bulky, consume high power, operate generally at high voltages (~100 V) and have limited life and low reliability. The seed of the development of modern solid-state semiconductor electronics goes back to 1930’s when it was realised that some solidstate semiconductors and their junctions offer the possibility of controlling the number and the direction of flow of charge carriers through them. Simple excitations like light, heat or small applied voltage can change the number of mobile charges in a semiconductor. Note that the supply and flow of charge carriers in the semiconductor devices are within the solid itself, while in the earlier vacuum tubes/valves, the mobile electrons were obtained from a heated cathode and they were made to flow in an evacuated space or vacuum. No external heating or large evacuated space is required by the semiconductor devices. They are small in size, consume low power, operate at low voltages and have long life and high reliability. Even the Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) used in television and computer monitors which work on the principle of vacuum tubes are being replaced by Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) monitors with supporting solid state electronics. Much before the full implications of the semiconductor devices was formally understood, a naturally occurring crystal of galena (Lead sulphide, PbS) with a metal point contact attached to it was used as detector of radio waves. In the following sections, we will introduce the basic concepts of semiconductor physics and discuss some semiconductor devices like junction diodes (a 2-electrode device) and bipolar junction transistor (a 3-electrode device). A few circuits illustrating their applications will also be described.
CLASSIFICATION OF METALS, CONDUCTORS AND SEMICONDUCTORS
On the basis of conductivity On the basis of the relative values of electrical conductivity or resistivity, the solids are broadly classified as:
(i) Metals: They possess very low resistivity (or high conductivity).
(ii) Semiconductors: They have resistivity or conductivity intermediate to metals and insulators.
(iii)Insulators: They have high resistivity (or low conductivity).
Relative values of the resistivity are not the only criteria for distinguishing metals, insulators and semiconductors from each other. Our interest in this chapter is in the study of semiconductors which could be:
(i) Elemental semiconductors: Si and Ge
(ii) Compound semiconductors:
Most of the currently available semiconductor devices are based on elemental semiconductors Si or Ge and compound inorganic semiconductors. However, after 1990, a few semiconductor devices using organic semiconductors and semiconducting polymers have been developed signalling the birth of a futuristic technology of polymerelectronics and molecular-electronics. We will restrict ourselves to the study of inorganic semiconductors, particularly elemental semiconductors Si and Ge. The general concepts introduced here for discussing the elemental semiconductors, by-and-large, apply to most of the compound semiconductors as well.
On the basis of energy bands
According to the Bohr atomic model, in an isolated atom the energy of any of its electrons is decided by the orbit in which it revolves. But when the atoms come together to form a solid they are close to each other. So the outer orbits of electrons from neighbouring atoms would come very close or could even overlap. This would make the nature of electron motion in a solid very different from that in an isolated atom. Inside the crystal each electron has a unique position and no two electrons see exactly the same pattern of surrounding charges. Because of this, each electron will have a different energy level. These different energy levels with continuous energy variation form what are called energy bands. The energy band which includes the energy levels of the valence electrons is called the valence band. The energy band above the valence band is called the conduction band. With no external energy, all the valence electrons will reside in the valence band. If the lowest level in the conduction band happens to be lower than the highest level of the valence band, the electrons from the valence band can easily move into the conduction band. Normally the conduction band is empty. But when it overlaps on the valence band electrons can move freely into it. This is the case with metallic conductors.
If there is some gap between the conduction band and the valence band, electrons in the valence band all remain bound and no free electrons are available in the conduction band. This makes the material an insulator. But some of the electrons from the valence band may gain external energy to cross the gap between the conduction band and the valence band. Then these electrons will move into the conduction band. At the same time they will create vacant energy levels in the valence band where other valence electrons can move. Thus the process creates the possibility of conduction due to electrons in conduction band as well as due to vacancies in the valence band.
BAND THEORY OF SOLIDS
Consider that the Si or Ge crystal contains N atoms. Electrons of each atom will have discrete energies in different orbits. The electron energy will be same if all the atoms are isolated, i.e., separated from each other by a large distance. However, in a crystal, the atoms are close to each other (2 to 3 Å) and therefore the electrons interact with each other and also with the neighbouring atomic cores. The overlap (or interaction) will be more felt by the electrons in the outermost orbit while the inner orbit or core electron energies may remain unaffected. Therefore, for understanding electron energies in Si or Ge crystal, we need to consider the changes in the energies of the electrons in the outermost orbit only.
For Si, the outermost orbit is the third orbit (n = 3), while for Ge it is the fourth orbit (n = 4). The number of electrons in the outermost orbit is 4 (2s and 2p electrons). Hence, the total number of outer electrons in the crystal is 4N. The maximum possible number of outer electrons in the orbit is 8 (2s + 6p electrons). So, out of the 4N electrons, 2N electrons are in the 2N s-states (orbital quantum number l = 0) and 2N electrons are in the available 6N p-states. This is the case of well separated or isolated atoms. Suppose these atoms start coming nearer to each other to form a solid. The energies of these electrons in the outermost orbit may change (both increase and decrease) due to the interaction between the electrons of different atoms. The 6N states for l = 1, which originally had identical energies in the isolated atoms, spread out and form an energy band [region B in Figure]. Similarly, the 2N states for l = 0, having identical energies in the isolated atoms, split into a second band separated from the first one by an energy gap.
At still smaller spacing, however, there comes a region in which the bands merge with each other. The lowest energy state that is a split from the upper atomic level appears to drop below the upper state that has come from the lower atomic level. In this region (region C in Figure), no energy gap exists where the upper and lower energy states get mixed. Finally, if the distance between the atoms further decreases, the energy bands again split apart and are separated by an energy gap Eg (region D in Figure). The total number of available energy states 8N has been re-apportioned between the two bands (4N states each in the lower and upper energy bands). Here the significant point is that there are exactly as many states in the lower band (4N) as there are available valence electrons from the atoms (4N). Therefore, this band ( called the valence band) is completely filled while the upper band is completely empty. The upper band is called the conduction band.
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
We shall take the most common case of Ge and Si whose lattice structure. These structures are called the diamond-like structures. Each atom is surrounded by four nearest neighbours. We know that Si and Ge have four valence electrons. In its crystalline structure, every Si or Ge atom tends to share one of its four valence electrons with each of its four nearest neighbour atoms, and also to take share of one electron from each such neighbour. These shared electron pairs are referred to as forming a covalent bond or simply a valence bond. The two shared electrons can be assumed to shuttle back-andforth between the associated atoms holding them together strongly.
The thermal energy effectively ionises only a few atoms in the crystalline lattice and creates a vacancy in the bond. The neighbourhood, from which the free electron (with charge –q) has come out leaves a vacancy with an effective charge (+q). This vacancy with the effective positive electronic charge is called a hole. The hole behaves as an apparent free particle with effective positive charge.
EXTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTOR
The conductivity of an intrinsic semiconductor depends on its temperature, but at room temperature its conductivity is very low. As such, no important electronic devices can be developed using these semiconductors. Hence there is a necessity of improving their conductivity. This can be done by making use of impurities.
When a small amount, say, a few parts per million (ppm), of a suitable impurity is added to the pure semiconductor, the conductivity of the semiconductor is increased manifold. Such materials are known as extrinsic semiconductors or impurity semiconductors. The deliberate addition of a desirable impurity is called doping and the impurity atoms are called dopants. Such a material is also called a doped semiconductor. The dopant has to be such that it does not distort the original pure semiconductor lattice. It occupies only a very few of the original semiconductor atom sites in the crystal. A necessary condition to attain this is that the sizes of the dopant and the semiconductor atoms should be nearly the same.
p-n JUNCTION
A p-n junction is the basic building block of many semiconductor devices like diodes, transistor, etc. A clear understanding of the junction behavior is important to analyse the working of other semiconductor devices. We will now try to understand how a junction is formed and how the junction behaves under the influence of external applied voltage (also called bias).
14.5.1 p-n junction formation
Consider a thin p-type silicon (p-Si) semiconductor wafer. By adding precisely a small quantity of pentavelent impurity, part of the p-Si wafer can be converted into n-Si. There are several processes by which a semiconductor can be formed. The wafer now contains p-region and n-region and a metallurgical junction between p-, and n- region.
Two important processes occur during the formation of a p-n junction: diffusion and drift. We know that in an n-type semiconductor, the concentration of electrons (number of electrons per unit volume) is more compared to the concentration of holes. Similarly, in a p-type semiconductor, the concentration of holes is more than the concentration of electrons. During the formation of p-n junction, and due to the concentration gradient across p-, and n- sides, holes diffuse from p-side to n-side and electrons diffuse from n-side to p-side. This
motion of charge carries gives rise to diffusion current across the junction. When an electron diffuses from n p, it leaves behind an ionized donor on n-side. This ionised donor (positive charge) is immobile as it is bonded to the surrounding atoms. As the electrons continue to diffuse from n p, a layer of positive charge (or positive space-charge region) on n-side of the junction is developed.
Similarly, when a hole diffuses from p n due to the concentration gradient, it leaves behind an ionised acceptor (negative charge) which is immobile. As the holes continue to diffuse, a layer of negative charge (or negative space-charge region) on the p-side of the junction is developed. This space-charge region on either side of the junction together is known as depletion region as the electrons and holes taking part in the initial movement across the junction depleted the region of its free charges. The thickness of depletion region is of the order of one-tenth of a micrometre. Due to the positive space-charge region on n-side of the junction and negative space charge region on p-side of the junction, an electric field directed from positive charge towards negative charge develops. Due to this field, an electron on p-side of the junction moves to n-side and a hole on Inside of the junction moves to p-side. The motion of charge carriers due to the electric field is called drift. Thus a drift current, which is opposite in direction to the diffusion current starts.
Initially, diffusion current is large and drift current is small. As the diffusion process continues, the space-charge regions n either side of the junction extend, thus increasing the electric field strength and hence drift current. This process continues until the diffusion current equals the drift current. Thus a p-n junction is formed. In a p-n junction under equilibrium there is no net current.
The loss of electrons from the n-region and the gain of electron by the p-region causes a difference of potential across the junction of the two regions. The polarity of this potential is such as to oppose further flow of carriers so that a condition of equilibrium exists. The p-n junction at equilibrium and the potential across the junction. The n-material has lost electrons, and p material has acquired electrons. The n material is thus positive relative to the p material. Since this potential tends to prevent the movement of electron from the n region into the p region, it is often called a barrier potential.
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE
A semiconductor diode is basically a p-n junction with metallic contacts provided at the ends for the application of an external voltage. It is a two terminal device. A p-n junction diode is symbolically represented. The direction of arrow indicates the conventional direction of current (when the diode is under forward bias). The equilibrium barrier potential can be altered by applying an external voltage V across the diode. The situation of p-n junction diode under equilibrium (without bias).
APPLICATION OF JUNCTION DIODE AS A RECTIFIER
From the V-I characteristic of a junction diode we see that it allows current to pass only when it is forward biased. So if an alternating voltage is applied across a diode the current flows only in that part of the cycle when the diode is forward biased. This property is used to rectify alternating voltages and the circuit used for this purpose is called a rectifier. If an alternating voltage is applied across a diode in series with a load, a pulsating voltage will appear across the load only during the half cycles of the ac input during which the diode is forward biased. Such rectifier circuit, is called a half-wave rectifier. The secondary of a transformer supplies the desired ac voltage across terminals A and B. When the voltage at A is positive, the diode is forward biased and it conducts. When A is negative, the diode is reverse-biased and it does not conduct. The reverse saturation current of a diode is negligible and can be considered equal to zero for practical purposes.
(The reverse breakdown voltage of the diode must be sufficiently higher than the peak ac voltage at the secondary of the transformer to protect the diode from reverse breakdown.) Therefore, in the positive half-cycle of ac there is a current through the load resistor RL and we get an output voltage, whereas there is no current in the negative halfcycle.
In the next positive half-cycle, again we get the output voltage. Thus, the output voltage, though still varying, is restricted to only one direction and is said to be rectified. Since the rectified output of this circuit is only for half of the input ac wave it is called as half-wave rectifier.
The circuit using two diodes, gives output rectified voltage corresponding to both the positive as well as negative half of the ac cycle. Hence, it is known as full-wave rectifier. Here the p-side of the two diodes are connected to the ends of the secondary of the transformer. The n-side of the diodes are connected together and the output is taken between this common point of diodes and the midpoint of the secondary of the transformer. So for a full-wave rectifier the secondary of the transformer is provided with a centre tapping and so it is called centre-tap transformer.
Optoelectronic junction devices
We have seen so far, how a semiconductor diode behaves under applied electrical inputs. In this section, we learn about semiconductor diodes in which carriers are generated by photons (photo-excitation). All these devices are called optoelectronic devices. We shall study the functioning of the following optoelectronic devices:
(i) Photodiodes used for detecting optical signal (photodetectors).
(ii) Light emitting diodes (LED) which convert electrical energy into light.
(iii) Photovoltaic devices which convert optical radiation into electricity (solar cells).
(i) Photodiode
A Photodiode is again a special purpose p-n junction diode fabricated with a transparent window to allow light to fall on the diode. It is operated under reverse bias. When the photodiode is illuminated with light (photons) with energy greater than the energy gap (Eg) of the semiconductor, then electron-hole pairs are generated due to the absorption of photons. The diode is fabricated such that the generation of e-h pairs takes place in or near the depletion region of the diode. Due to electric field of the junction, electrons and holes are separated before they recombine. The direction of the electric field is such that electrons reach n-side and holes reach p-side. Electrons are collected on n-side and holes are collected on p-side giving rise to an emf. When an external load is connected, current flows. The magnitude of the photocurrent depends on the intensity of incident light (photocurrent is proportional to incident light intensity).
(ii) Light emitting diode
It is a heavily doped p-n junction which under forward bias emits spontaneous radiation. The diode is encapsulated with a transparent cover so that emitted light can come out.
When the diode is forward biased, electrons are sent from n p (where they are minority carriers) and holes are sent from p n (where they are minority carriers). At the junction boundary the concentration of minority carriers increases compared to the equilibrium concentration (i.e., when there is no bias). Thus at the junction boundary on either side of the junction, excess minority carriers are there which recombine with majority carriers near the junction. On recombination, the energy is released in the form of photons. Photons with energy equal to or slightly less than the band gap are emitted. When the forward current of the diode is small, he intensity of light emitted is small. As the forward current increases, intensity of light increases and reaches a maximum. Further increase in the forward current results in decrease of light intensity. LEDs are biased such that the light emitting efficiency is maximum. The V-I characteristics of a LED is similar to that of a Si junction diode. But the threshold voltages are much higher and slightly different for each colour. The reverse breakdown voltages of LEDs are very low, typically around 5V. So care should be taken that high reverse voltages do not appear across them.
LEDs have the following advantages over conventional incandescent low power lamps:
(i) Low operational voltage and less power.
(ii) Fast action and no warm-up time required.
(iii) The bandwidth of emitted light is 100 Å to 500 Å or in other words it is nearly (but not exactly) monochromatic.
(iv) Long life and ruggedness.
(v) Fast on-off switching capability.
(iii) Solar cell
A solar cell is basically a p-n junction which generates emf when solar radiation falls on the p-n junction. It works on the same principle (photovoltaic effect) as the photodiode, except that no external bias is applied and the junction area is kept much larger for solar radiation to be incident because we are interested in more power.
DIGITAL ELECTRONICS AND LOGIC GATES
In electronics circuits like amplifiers, oscillators, introduced to you in earlier sections, the signal (current or voltage) has been in the form of continuous, time-varying voltage or current. Such signals are called continuous or analog signals. A typical analog signal.
A pulse waveform in which only discrete values of voltages are possible. It is convenient to use binary numbers to represent such signals. A binary number has only two digits ‘0’ (say, 0V) and ‘1’ (say, 5V). In digital electronics we use only these two levels of voltage. Such signals are called Digital Signals.
In digital circuits only two values (represented by 0 or 1) of the input and output voltage are permissible. This section is intended to provide the first step in our understanding of digital electronics. We shall restrict our study to some basic building blocks of digital electronics (called Logic Gates) which process the digital signals in a specific manner. Logic gates are used in calculators, digital watches, computers, robots, industrial control systems, and in telecommunications.
A light switch in your house can be used as an example of a digital circuit. The light is either ON or OFF depending on the switch position. When the light is ON, the output value is ‘1’. When the light is OFF the output value is ‘0’. The inputs are the position of the light switch. The switch is placed either in the ON or OFF position to activate the light.
Logic gates
A gate is a digital circuit that follows curtain logical relationship between the input and output voltages. Therefore, they are generally known as logic gates — gates because they control the flow of information. The five common logic gates used are NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR. Each logic gate is indicated by a symbol and its function s defined by a truth table that shows all the possible input logic level combinations with their respective output logic levels. Truth tables help understand the behaviour of logic gates. These logic gates can be realised using semiconductor devices.
(i) NOT gate
This is the most basic gate, with one input and one output. It produces a ‘1’ output if the input is ‘0’ and vice-versa. That is, it produces an inverted version of the input at its output. This is why it is also known as an inverter. The commonly used symbol together with the truth table for this gate.
(ii) OR Gate
An OR gate has two or more inputs with one output. The logic symbol and truth table. The output Y is 1 when either input A or input B or both are 1s, that is, if any of the input is high, the output is high.
(iii) AND Gate
An AND gate has two or more inputs and one output. The output Y of AND gate is 1 only when input A and input B are both 1. The logic symbol and truth table for this gate.
(iv) NAND Gate
This is an AND gate followed by a NOT gate. If inputs A and B are both ‘1’, the output Y is not ‘1’. The gate gets its name from this NOT AND behaviour. Figure 14.33 shows the symbol and truth table of NAND gate. NAND gates are also called Universal Gates since by using these gates you can realise other basic gates like OR, AND and NOT.
(v) NOR Gate
It has two or more inputs and one output. A NOT- operation applied after OR gate gives a NOT-OR gate (or simply NOR gate). Its output Y is ‘1’ only when both inputs A and B are ‘0’, i.e., neither one input nor the other is ‘1’. The symbol and truth table for NOR gate.
FASTER AND SMALLER: THE FUTURE OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY
The Integrated Chip (IC) is at the heart of all computer systems. In fact ICs are found in almost all electrical devices like cars, televisions, CD players, cell phones etc. The miniaturisation that made the modern personal computer possible could never have happened without the IC. ICs are electronic devices that contain many transistors, resistors, capacitors, connecting wires – all in one package. You must have heard of the microprocessor. The microprocessor is an IC that processes all information in a computer, like keeping track of what keys are pressed, running programmes, games etc. The IC was first invented by Jack Kilky at Texas Instruments in 1958 and he was awarded Nobel Prize for this in 2000. ICs are produced on a piece of semiconductor crystal (or chip) by a process called photolithography. Thus, the entire Information Technology (IT) industry hinges on semiconductors. Over the years, the complexity of ICs has increased while the size of its features continued to shrink. In the past five decades, a dramatic miniaturisation in computer technology has made modern day computers faster and smaller. In the 1970s, Gordon Moore, co-founder of INTEL, pointed out that the memory capacity of a chip (IC) approximately doubled every one and a half years. This is popularly known as Moore’s law. The number of transistors per chip has risen exponentially and each year computers are becoming more powerful, yet cheaper than the year before. It is intimated from current trends that the computers available in 2020 will operate at 40 GHz (40,000 MHz) and would be much smaller, more efficient and less expensive than present day computers.
The explosive growth in the semiconductor industry and computer technology is best expressed by a famous quote from Gordon Moore: “If the auto industry advanced as rapidly as the semiconductor industry, a Rolls Royce would get half a million miles per gallon, and it would be cheaper to throw it away than to park it”.
