CLASSIFICATION OF METALS, CONDUCTORS AND

SEMICONDUCTORS
On the basis of conductivity
On the basis of the relative values of electrical conductivity σ or resistivity ρ
the solids are broadly classified as:
(i) Metals: They possess very low resistivity (or high conductivity).
ρ~ 10–2 – 10–8 Ωm
σ~ 102 – 108 S m–1
(ii) Semiconductors: They have resistivity or conductivity intermediate
to metals and insulators.
ρ~ 10–5 – 106 Ωm
σ~ 105 – 10–6 S m–1
(iii)Insulators: They have high resistivity (or low conductivity).
ρ~ 1011 – 1019 Ωm
σ~ 10–11 – 10–19 S m–1

Kinds of semi conductors

(1)Elemental semiconductors: Eg:Si and Ge

(2) Compound semiconductors: Inorganic: Eg: CdS, GaAs, CdSe,
InP, etc.
Organic: Eg: anthracene, doped pthalocyanines, etc
ENERGY BANDS
Inside a crystal each electron will have a different energy level. These
energy levels with continuous energy variation are called energy
bands. The energy bands which include the energy levels of valance
electrons are called valance band and that of conduction electrons are
called conduction band. Conduction band is situated above the
valance band
ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM OF CONDUCTORS INSULATORS AND
SEMT-CONDUCTORS

CONDUCTORS:In conductors either the conduction band is partially filled and

valance band is partially empty or both the conduction band and valance
overlap. So large no of electrons will be available for conduction.
INSULATORS

In insulators valance band is completely filled and conduction band is empty.

There is large band gap between the valance band and conduction band of the
order of more than 3eV.So no electrons can’t be exited from valance band to
conduction band for conduction.

SEMI CONDUCTORS.

In semi conductors valance band is completely filled and conduction band is

empty.There is a small band gap between the valance band and conduction band
of the order of less than 3eV. Because of the small band gap, at room
temperature some electrons from valence band can acquire enough energy to
cross the energy gap and enter the conduction band.
INTRINSIC SEMICONDUCTORS

Semi-Conductors in the pure form is known as intrinsic semi

conductors. Si and Ge have four valence electrons. Every Si or Ge
atom share one of its four valence electrons with each of its four
nearest neighbour atoms and thus forms four covalent bonds.At room
temperature some of these electons will break and free elecrones will
form and it will leave a vacancy in the crystal lattice.This vacancy
with positive electronic charge are called holes. So at room
temperature the conduction of electron is as a result of both holes and
electrons.Total electronic current is the sum of electron current and
hole current
I=Ih+Ie
ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM OF INTRINSIC SEMI
CONDUCTORS AT T=0K AND T>OK
AT T = 0K T > 0K

EXTRINSIC SEMI CONDUCTORS

A semiconductor with addition of impurity is called extrinsic
semiconductors or impurity semiconductors. The addition of impurity
to an intrincic semiconductoe is called doping and the impurity atoms
are called dopants. Such a material is also called a doped
semiconductor.
There are two types of dopants
(i)Pentavalent Valent Impurities
Arsenic(As),Antimony(Sb),Phosphorous(P),etc
(ii) Trivalent Impurities like Indium (In),Boron (B), Aluminium
(Al), etc
Types of semi conductors due to the presence of
impurities(dopants)
(1) n-type semiconductor
When an atom of +5 valency is added to the crystal lattice of
Si, four of its electrons bond with the four Si neighbours while the
fifth remains very weakly bound to its parent atom .This electron is
almost free and is available for conduction.As the pentavalent
dopant is donating one extra electron for conduction it is known as
donor impurity.Other than this, electron holes pairs are also
generated due to thermal agitation .So in an N-type semiconductor
electrons become the majority carriers and holes become the
minority carriers. These semiconductors are, therefore, known as
n-type semiconductors. For n-type semiconductors, we have,
ne >> nh
 (II) p-type semiconductor
semiconductor doped with trivalent impurities
like Al,B,In etc are called p-type semiconductor
Semiconductor obtained by the addition of trivalent impurity like
Al, B, In, etc.to Si or Ge is known as p-type semiconductor.The
dopant atom forms covalent bonds with neighbouring three Si
atoms but does not have any electron to offer to the fourth Si
atom.So a vacancy is created and it acts as a hole. As the holes can
attract electons its charge is taken as positive. Other than
that ,due to thermal agitation electron hole pairs are created.The
holes are the majority carriers and electrons are minority
carriers.For p-type semiconductors nh >> ne

The electron and hole concentration in a semiconductor in thermal

equilibrium is given by

Energy band diagram of n-type and p-type semi conductors

n-type semiconductor p-type semiconductor

p-n junction diode formation

We can form a p-n junction by adding pentavalent inpurity to a p-type
Si wafer.Two important processes occur during the formation of a p-n
junction: diffusion and drift.
During the formation of p-n junction, holes diffuse from p-side to n-
side (p n) and electrons diffuse from n-side to p-side (n p). This
motion of majority charge carries gives rise to diffusion current across
the junction.
As the electrons continue to diffuse from n p, a layer of
positive charge on n-side of the junction is developed. As the holes
continue to diffuse, a layer of negative charge on the p-side of the
junction is developed. This space-charge region depleted of the
mobile charge carriers on either side of the junction is known as
depletion region .
Due to the positive on n-side of the junction and negative charge
on p-side of the junction, an electric field is created in the
depletion region.Due to this field, an electron on p-side of the
junction moves to n-side and a hole on n-side of the junction
moves to p-side. The motion of minority charge carriers due to
the electric field is called drift.This drift current is opposite to
diffusion 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 and its polarity is in such a way to oppose
further flow of carriers across the junction so it is known as barrier
potential.
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE
A semiconductor diode is basically a p-n junction having metallic
contacts at both ends.It is a two terminal device which allow
conduction of current only in one direction.

p-n junction diode under forward bias

When the positive terminal of a battery is connected to the p-region
and negative terminal is connected to the n-region of the junction
diode ,the p-n junction is said to be forward biased
Due to the applied voltage electrons from n-side diffuse and reach the
p-side where they are minority carriers and holes from p-side reaches
n-side where they are minority carriers. This process is known as
minority carrier injection. Due to the increase of minority carriers
near to the junction, the injected holes and electrons diffuses from the
junction to the other end and give rise to current. The direction of the
applied voltage (V) is opposite to the barrier potential (V0). As a
result, the thickness of the depletion layer decreases and the barrier
height is reduced. The effective barrier height under forward bias is
(V 0 – V ).

p-n junction under reverse bias

When the positive terminal of a battery is connected to the n-region

and negative terminal is connected to the p-region of the junction
diode ,the p-n junction is said to be reverse biased The direction of
applied voltage is same as the direction of barrier potential.So the
barrier height increases and the thickness of the depletion region
increases. The effective barrier height under reverse bias is (V0 + V ),
becoz of this reverse voltage the flow of current in the diode is almost
stopped.
The electric field direction of the junction is such that if electrons on
p-side or holes on n-side in their random motion come close to the
junction, they will be swept to its majority zone. This drift of minority
carriers gives rise to current. The drift current is of the order of a few
A
REVERSE BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE
If the reverse bias is increased to a high value,reverse current
increases sharply due to the breakdown of covalent bonds to e-h pairs
near to the junction. This phenomenon is called break down and this
value of reverse voltage is called breakdown voltage( Vbr). This can
damage the junction due to overheating

DIODE CHARACTERISTICS

(i) FORWARD BIAS CHARACTERISTICS

The circuit arrangement for studying the V-I characteristics

The battery is connected to the

diode.For different values of
voltages, the value of the current is
noted. A graph between V and I can
be drawn .we use a milli ammeter to
measure the current since the
expected current is large.In forward
bias,at first the forward current
increases slowly due to the barrier potential.After the characteristic
voltage, the diode current increases exponentially,even for a very
small increase in the battery voltage. This voltage is called the
threshold voltage or cut-in voltage or knee voltage (~0.2V for
germanium diode and ~0.7 V for silicon diode).

(ii) REVERSE BIAS CHARACTERISTICS

For the diode in reverse bias, the current is very small due to the
minority charge carriers and almost remains constant with change in
bias. It is called reverse saturation current. The general purpose diode
are not used beyond the reverse saturation current region.
Dynamic resistance
It is the ratio of small change in voltage V to a small change in
current I

Characteristic curve of a p-n junction diode under forwardbias and reverse bias

USES OF DIODES

(i) DIODE AS A RECTIFIER

The process of converting AC in to DC is called rectification and the

device used for this purpose is called rectifier.

Principle:diode conducts only when forward biased and does not

conducts when reverse biased

DIODE AS A HALF WAVE RECTIFIER

A half wave rectifier consists of a transformer ,a diode and a load
resistance RL .When AC is supplied to the primary,secondary supplies
sufficient desired voltage across AB.During the positive half cycle of
AC ,the end A is positive and end B is negative the diode gets forward
biased and current flows through RL. During negative half cycle of a.c
end A become negative and diode is reverse biased. So no current
flows through RL. Again we will get an output voltage. Here the
voltage across the load appears only during the positive half cycle of
the input a.c ,this process is called a half wave rectification.
FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

Full wave rectifier consists of a transformer, two diodesD1 and D2,and

a load resistance RL.The input a.c signal is fed to the primary of the
transformer.The two ends of the secondary are connected to the p-
ends of diodes D1 &D2.The n-side of the diodes are connected
together and the output is taken between this common point of n-end
of the diodes and ,the midpoint of the secondary of the transformer
through a load resistor RL. 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.
Suppose the input voltage to A with respect to the
centre tap at any instant is positive. At that instant, voltage at B being
out of phase will be negative. So, diode D1 gets forward biased and
conducts (while D2 being reverse biased is not conducting).Hence,
during this positive half cycle we get an output current in the direction
XY as shown in Fig.When the voltage at A becomes negative with
respect to centre tap, the voltage at B would be positive. In this part of
the cycle, diode D1 would not conduct but diode D2 would, giving an
output current and output voltage (across RL ) in the same direction
XY during the negative half cycle of the input ac. Thus, we get output
voltage during both the positive as well as the negative half of the
cycle. The rectified voltage is in the form of pulses. Since the output
voltage is obtained for both half cycles of input ac , it is called full
wave rectification and the the arrangement is called as a full wave
rectifier.
Filter circuit
To get steady dc output from the pulsating voltage a capacitor is
connected across the output terminals (parallel to the load RL). We
can also use an inductor in series with RL for the same purpose. Since
these additional circuits appear to filter out the ac ripple and give a
pure dc voltage, they are called filters.

When the voltage across the capacitor is rising, it gets charged. When
there is a load, it gets discharged through the load and the voltage
across it begins to fall. In the next half-cycle it again gets charged to
the peak value. The rate of fall of the voltage across the capacitor
inversely proportional to the product of capacitor C and the effective
resistance RL used in the circuit and is called the time constant. To
make the time constant large value of C should be large.
dv/dt 1/RC

SPECIAL PURPOSE p-n JUNCTION DIODES

ZENER DIODE
SYMBOL
Zener diode is fabricated by heavily doping both p- and n- sides of the
junction diode. Due to this, depletion region formed is very thin and
the electric field of the junction is extremely high even for a small
reverse bias voltage .
V-I characteristics of a zener diode

It is seen that when the applied reverse bias voltage(V) reaches the
breakdown voltage (Vz) of the Zener diode, there is a large change in
the current. In other words, Zener voltage remains constant, even
though current through the Zener diode varies over a wide range. As
the reverse bias voltage is increased, the electric field at the junction
becomes significant. When the reverse bias voltage V = Vz, then the
electric field strength is high enough to pull valence electrons from
the host atoms on the p-side which are accelerated to n-side. These
electrons are responsible for high current observed at the breakdown.
The emission of electrons from the host atoms due to the high electric
field is known as internal field emission or field ionisation.

Graph representing the I-V Characteristic curve of a zener diode

Zener diode as a voltage regulator

Consider an unregulated dc voltage is connected to the Zener diode
through a series resistance Rs such that the Zener diode is reverse
biased. If the input voltage increases, the current through Rs and
Zener diode also increases. This increases the voltage drop across Rs
without any change in the voltage across the Zener diode. This is
because in the breakdown region, Zener voltage remains constant
even though the current through the Zener diode changes. Similarly, if
the input voltage decreases, the current through Rs and Zener diode
also decreases. The voltage drop across Rs decreases without any
change in the voltage across the Zener diode. Thus any increase/
decrease in the input voltage results in, increase/ decrease of the
voltage drop across Rs without any change in voltage across the Zener
diode. Thus the Zener diode acts as a voltagregulator.

OPTO-ELECTRONIC JUNCTION DEVICES

The p-n junction can be designed so that current through them

changes by light photons.These devices are called opto-electronic
junction devices.these devices can be classified as follows
(i) Photodiodes - used for detecting optical signal (photo detectors).
(ii) Light emitting diodes (LED) - which convert electrical energy
into light.
(iii)Photovoltaic devices -which convert optical radiation into
electricity (solar cells).
(i) Photo-diodes
A Photodiode is a special purpose p-n junction operated under
reverse bias. photodiode can be used as a photodetector to detect
optical signals. Principle:- photovoltaic effect
Working:- When the photodiode is illuminated with light (photons)
with energy (h) greater than the energy gap (Eg) of the
semiconductor, then electron-hole pairs are generated due to the
absorption of photons. 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.
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.It is easier to observe the change in the current with
change in the light intensity, if a reverse bias is applied.

 The current in the forward bias is known to be more(~mA) than the

current in the reverse bias What is the reason then to operate the
photodiodes in reverse bias?
Solution;- Consider the case of an n-type semiconductor. The majority
carrier density (n) is considerably larger than the minority hole density p (i.e., n
>> p). On illumination, let the excess electrons and holes generated be n and
p, respectively:
N’= n + n
P’= p + p
Here n’and p’are the electron and hole concentrations at any particular
illumination and n and p are carriers concentration when there is no
illumination. n = p and n >> p. Hence, the fractional change in the majority
carriers (i.e., n/n) would be much less than that in the minority carriers (i.e.,
p/p),ie, the fractional change due to the photo-effects on the minority carrier
dominated reverse bias current is more easily measurable than the fractional
change in the forward bias current. Hence, photodiodes are preferably used in
the reverse bias condition for measuring light intensity.

V-I Curve for a photo-diode

(i) Light emitting diode
It is a heavily doped p-n junction which under forward bias emits
spontaneous radiation. When the diode is forward biased, electrons
are sent from n p and holes are sent from p n. Thus at the
junction boundary 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 The compound
semiconductor Gallium Arsenide – Phosphide (GaAs1–xPx) is used for
making LEDs of different colours.
Advantages of LED 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 photovoltaic
effect.No external bias is applied and the junction area is kept much
larger for solar radiation to be incident.
Construction
A thin p-Si wafer is grown on an n-Si wafer by diffusion process. The
other side of p-Si is coated with a metal (back contact). On the top of
n-Si layer, metal finger electrode is deposited. This acts as a front
contact. Light can be incident on the cell from the top.
The generation of emf by a solar cell, is due to the following three
basic processes:
(i) generation(ii) separation (iii)collection
(i) generation of e-h pairs due to light close to the junction;
(ii) separation of electrons and holes due to electric field of the
depletion region. Electrons are swept to n-side and holes to p-side;
(ii) the electrons reaching the n-side are collected by the front
contact and holes reaching p-side are collected by the back
contact.
Thus p-side becomes positive and n-side becomes negative
giving rise to photovoltage.
A typical I-V characteristics of a solar cell is shown

in the fig.
I – V characteristics of solar cell is drawn in the fourth quadrant of
the coordinate axes. This is because a solar cell does not draw current
but supplies the same to the load.
Semiconductors with band gap close to 1.5 eV are ideal materials for
solar cell fabrication. Solar cells are made with semiconductors like Si
(Eg = 1.1 eV), GaAs.(Eg = 1.43 eV), CdTe (Eg = 1.45 eV), CuInSe2
(Eg = 1.04 eV), etc.
The important criteria for the selection of a material for solar cell
fabrication are
(i) band gap (~1.0to 1.8 eV),
(ii) high optical absorption (~104 cm–1),
(iii) electrical conductivity,
(iv) availability of the raw material,
(iv) cost.

TRANSISTOR
The credit of inventing the transistor in the year 1947 goes to J.
Bardeen and W.H. Brattain. The first junction transistor consisting of
two back-to-back p-n junctions was invented by William Schockley
A junction transistor is a three terminal device
obtained by sandwiching a thin layer of p-type material between two
thicker sections of n-type material or a thin layer of n-type material
between two thicker sections of p-type materials,
Transistors are of two types:(1)n-p-n transistor and (2)p-n-p transistor
n-p n transistor p-n-p transistor

PARTS OF A TRANSISTOR
 Emitter- It is of moderate size and heavily doped. It supplies
a large number of majority carriers for the current flow through
the transistor.
 Base: This is the central segment. It is very thin and lightly
doped.
 Collector: This segment collects a major portion of the majority
carriers supplied by the emitter. The collector side is moderately
doped and larger in size as compared to the emitter.
BIASING OF THE TRANSISTOR(transistor action)

In a transistor, only three terminals are available, Emitter (E), Base

(B) and Collector (C). Therefore, in a circuit the input/output
connections have to be such that one of these (E, B or C) is common
to both the input and the output. Accordingly, the transistor can be
connected in either of the following three configurations:
Common Emitter (CE), Common Base (CB), Common Collector (CC)

Most commonly input section of the transistor is forward biased

and output section is reverse biased when the transistor is used as an
amplifier.The fig. Represents a p-n-p transistor in common base
configuration.
Here VCC and VEE are used for creating the respective biasing. When
the transistor is biased in this way it is said to be in active state. The
voltage between emitter and base is VEB and that between the collector
and the base as VCB. Base is a common terminal for the two power
supplies. In a p-n-p transistor the majority carriers in the base are
electrons since base is of n-type. The large number of holes entering
the base from the emitter meet the small number of electrons there. As
the base collector-junction is reverse biased, these holes can easily
cross the junction and enter the collector. The holes in the base could
move either towards the base terminal to combine with the electrons
entering from outside or cross the junction to enter into the collector
and reach the collector terminal. The base is made thin so that most of
the holes cross the junction instead of moving to the base terminal. If
we represent the hole current and the electron current crossing the
forward biased junction by Ih and Ie respectively then the total current
in a forward biased diode is the sum of Ih + Ie.
Ie. the emitter current is the sum of collector current and base current:
IE=IB+IC

TRANSISTOR CHARACTERISTICS(CE)

INPUT CHARACTERISTICS
To study the input characteristics of the transistor in CE-
configuration, a curve is plotted between the base current IB against
the base-emitter voltage VBE while the collector-emitter voltage VCE is
kept fixed. Since the increase in VCE appears as increase in VCB, its
effect on IB is negligible. As a consequence, input characteristics for
various values of VCE will give almost identical curves.
OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS

The output characteristic is obtained by observing the variation of

IC as VCE is varied keeping IB constant. The plot of IC versus
VCE for different fixed values of IB gives one output characteristic. So
there will be different output characteristics corresponding to different
values of IB as shown in Fig.

Important ac parameters of the transistor are:

(i)Input resistance (ri): This is defined as the ratio of change in base
emitter voltage (VBE) to the resulting change in base current (IB) at
constant collector-emitter voltage (VCE). This is dynamic (ac
resistance)

(ii)Output resistance (ro): This is defined as the ratio of change in

collector-emitter voltage (VCE) to the change in collector current
(IC) at a constant base current IB.

(iii) Current amplification factor (): This is defined as the ratio of

the change in collector current to the change in base current at a
constant collector-emitter voltage (VCE) when the transistor is in
active state.

This is also known as small signal current gain and its value is very
large. If we simply find the ratio of IC and IB we get what is called dc
current gain of the transistor. Hence
=Ic/IB

TRANSISTOR AS A DEVICE
The transistor can be used as a device application depending on the
configuration used (namely CB, CC and CE), the biasing of the E-B
and B-C junction and the operation region namely cutoff, active
region and saturation.
i) Transistor different regions
When the transistor is used in the cutoff or saturation state it acts as
a switch.

Applying
Kirchhoff’s voltage rule to the input and output sides of this
circuit,

VBB=Vi (input voltage)and VCE=VO(output voltage)

Figure shows the output voltage VO –input voltage characteristics of
the transistor and is called transfer characteristics
Transfer characteristic curve of a base biased transistor in CE
configuration

It has three regions as follows

1.Cutoff region
In the case of Si transistor, as long as input Vi is less than 0.6 V, the
transistor will be in cut off state and current IC will be zero.
Hence Vo = VCC
In cutoff region both input and output sections are reverse biased
2.Active region
When Vi becomes greater than 0.6 V the transistor is in active state
with some current IC in the output path and the output Vo decreases
As the term ICRC increases as the eqation suggests,
Vo = VCC – ICRC.
In active region input section is forward biased and output section is
reversed
3.Saturation region
When Vi becomes very high ,input section becomes forward biased
an d a large collector current Ic will start flowing.according to thr
eqation, Vo = VCC – ICRC, Vo decreases to almost zero and transistor is
said to be in saturation state.Both the input and output regions become
forward biased in this stage.
i)Transistor as an Amplifier (CE-Configuration)

Figure shows an n-p-n transistor as a common emitter amplifier.The

emitter is forward biased by a battery VBB and collector is reverse
biased by a battery VCC.A low input signal Vi is superimposed on the
forward bias VBE.A capacitor is connected both in i/p and o/p to
block dc current from the dc source batteries. A load resistance RL is
connected in the output.
When Ic flows in the o/p circuit ,the potential drop across the
resistance is ICRL.Applying Kirchoffs rule in both o/p and i/p sections,

When Vi is superimposed on the battery voltage VBB,then

VBB +VI=VBE + IBRB RB+ ri )
There for,

The change in IB causes a change in Ic. We define a parameter ac

which is also known as the ac current gain Ai.

The change in Ic due to a change in IB causes a change in VCE and the
voltage drop across the resistor RL because VCC is fixed
here Vcc=0

The change in VCE is the output voltage v0.

The negative sign represents that output voltage is opposite with
phase with the input voltage. The power gain Ap can be expressed
as the product of the current gain and voltage gain

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.
(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. it is also known
as an inverter.

(ii) OR Gate
An OR gate has two or more inputs with one output. 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.

(iv) NAND Gate

This is an AND gate followed by a NOT gate. The gate gets its name
from this NOT AND behaviour.
NAND&NOR 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).
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
The concept of fabricating an entire circuit (consisting of many
passive components like R and C and active devices like diode and
transistor) on a small single block (or chip) of a semiconductor has
revolutionised the electronics technology. Such a circuit is known as
Integrated Circuit (IC). The most widely used technology is the
Monolithic Integrated Circuit. monolithic is a combination of two
greek words, monos means single and lithos means stone. This, in
effect,means that the entire circuit is formed on a single silicon crystal
(or chip). The chip dimensions are as small as 1mm × 1mm or it could
even be smaller. IC’s can begrouped in two categories: (a) linear or
analogue IC’s and (b) digital IC’s. The linear IC’s process analogue
signals which change smoothly and continuously over a range of
values between a maximum and a minimum The digital IC’s process
signals that have only two values. They contain circuits such as logic
gates.