Shendi University

Faculty of Engineering & Architecture

Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
EGS 21203

Semiconductor Physics and Devices

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 Course Outline
❑Introduction to Semiconductor materials: Defines
semiconductors and shows basic atomic structures. Summarizes
types of semiconductor materials.
❑Transport of charge carriers in semiconductors
❑ PN junctions: diodes and equivalent circuits, diode
characteristics and applications
❑ Bipolar devices: BJT and its equivalent circuits.
❑ Unipolar devices: JFET and MOSFET and their equivalent
circuits.
❑ Optical Devices: Solar Cells, Photodetectors, Light Emitting
Diodes LEDs and laser Diodes.
❑ Semiconductor Microwave and Power Devices: Tunnel
Diode, Gunn Diode. Impact Diode, Power Bipolar Transistors,
Power MOSFETs and Thyristor
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 Text Books

1. D. Neamen , “ Semiconductor Physics

and Devices”, Forth Edition, 2012.

2. Neil Goldsman and Chris Darmody

, “Introductory Circuit Analysis”, 2020.

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Course Evaluation

28 hours, 3 credits
❑ Class works: 15%
❑ Mid-term Exam: 15%
❑ Final exam: 70%

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Contact Information

Dr. Abusabah I.A. Ahmed

Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0123730107

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Semiconductor Physics and Devices

Lecture 1

Introduction

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Lecture Outline
❑ Introduction
❑ Electronic Materials
❑ Doping
❑ Types of Semiconductor Materials
❑ Conclusions

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Introduction
❑Semiconductors are those materials whose
conductivity lies in between the conductivity of
conductors and insulators.
❑At 0K, semiconductors behave like a insulators.
❑At room temperature the resistivity of
semiconducting materials lies in the range of 10−3
to 10−8 Ω 𝑐𝑚.
❑The three most important semiconductors used in
the construction of electronic devices are Silicon
(Si), Germanium (Ge) and Gallium
Arsenide (GaAs).
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Introduction
Range of Conduciveness

The semiconductors fall somewhere midway between

conductors and insulators.

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 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.

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 Electronic Materials
Conductors
❑Good conductors have low resistance so electrons
flow through them with ease.
❑Best element conductors include:
✓ Copper, silver, gold, aluminum, & nickel
❑Alloys are also good conductors:
✓ Brass & steel
❑Good conductors can also be liquid:
✓ Salt water

❑The atomic structure of good conductors

usually includes only one electron in Copper Atom

their outer shell.

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 Electronic Materials
Insulators
❑Insulators have a high resistance so current does not
flow in them.
❑Good insulators include:
✓ Glass, ceramic, plastics, & wood
❑Most insulators are compounds of several elements.
❑The atoms are tightly bound to one another so electrons
are difficult to strip away for current flow.

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 Electronic Materials
Semiconductors
❑Semiconductors are materials that essentially can be
conditioned to act as good conductors, or good
insulators, or any thing in between.
❑Common elements such as carbon, silicon, and
germanium are semiconductors.
❑Silicon is the best and most widely used
semiconductor.
❑The main characteristic of a
semiconductor element is that it
has four electrons in its outer or
valence orbit.
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 Doping
❑ To make the semiconductor conduct electricity, other
atoms called impurities must be added.
❑ “Impurities” are different elements.
❑ This process is called doping.
❑ If you use lots of arsenic atoms for doping, there
will be lots of extra electrons so the resistance of the
material will be low and current will flow freely.
❑ If you use only a few boron atoms, there will be
fewer free electrons so the resistance will be high
and less current will flow.
❑ By controlling the doping amount, virtually any
resistance can be achieved.

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 Doping
❑You can also dope a semiconductor
material with an atom such as
boron that has only 3 valence
electrons. Doping silicon with
boron produces a P-type
semiconductors.

❑N-type semiconductors are

formed when silicon is doped
with a pentavalent element
(have 5 valence electrons) like
Phosphorous

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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
❑ Semiconductors are materials that essentially can be conditioned
to act as good conductors, or good insulators, or any thing in
between. Common elements such as carbon, silicon, and
germanium are semiconductors. Silicon is the best and most
widely used semiconductor.
❑ In semiconductors, the valence band is full but the energy gap
is intermediate.

❑ Only a small leap (jump) is

required for an electron to
enter the Conduction Band.

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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
❑The silicon doped with extra electrons is called
an “N type” semiconductor.
“N” is for negative, which is the charge of an electron.
❑Silicon doped with material missing electrons
that produce locations called holes is called “P
type” semiconductor.
“P” is for positive, which is the charge of a hole.

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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
Insulators, Conductors, Semiconductors

The “band-gap energy” Eg is the amount of energy needed to

remove an electron from a covalent bond.
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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
Current Flow in N-type Semiconductors
❑ The DC voltage source has a positive terminal that attracts the
free electrons in the semiconductor and pulls them away from
their atoms leaving the atoms charged positively.

❑ Electrons from the negative

terminal of the supply enter
the semiconductor material
and are attracted by the
positive charge of the atoms
missing one of their
electrons.
❑ Current (electrons) flows
from the positive terminal to
the negative terminal.
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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
Current Flow in P-type Semiconductors
❑Electrons from the negative supply terminal are attracted
to the positive holes and fill them.

❑ The positive terminal of the

supply pulls the electrons
from the holes leaving the
holes to attract more
electrons.
❑ Current (electrons) flows
from the negative terminal to
the positive terminal.
❑ Inside the semiconductor
current flow is actually by the
movement of the holes from
positive to negative.
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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
Silicon
❑Atomic density: 5 x 1022 atoms/cm3
❑Si has four valence electrons. Therefore, it can form covalent
bonds with four of its nearest neighbors.
❑When temperature goes up, electrons can become free to
move about the Si lattice.

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 Types of Semiconductor Materials
Electronic Properties of Si
❑ Silicon is a semiconductor material.
Pure Si has a relatively high electrical resistivity at room
temperature.
❑ There are 2 types of mobile charge-carriers in Si:
✓ Conduction electrons are negatively charged;
✓ Holes are positively charged.
❑ The concentration (#/cm3) of conduction electrons & holes in
a semiconductor can be modulated in several ways:
1. by adding special impurity atoms ( dopants )
2. by applying an electric field
3. by changing the temperature
4. by irradiation
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 Conclusions
❑In its pure state, semiconductor material is an
excellent insulator.
❑The commonly used semiconductor material is silicon.
❑Semiconductor materials can be doped with other
atoms to add or subtract electrons.
❑An N-type semiconductor material has extra electrons.
❑A P-type semiconductor material has a shortage of
electrons with vacancies called holes.
❑The heavier the doping, the greater the conductivity or
the lower the resistance.
❑By controlling the doping of silicon the semiconductor
material can be made as conductive as desired.
❑ The band gap energy is the energy required to free an
electron from a covalent bond.
Eg for Si at 300K = 1.12eV
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Thank You

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