SEMICONDUCTORS

PHYSICS
PROJECT

XII-A

INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
INTRODUCTION
DIODES
USES
HALF WAVE RECTIFIER
FULL WAVE RECTIFIER
TRANSISTOR
NPN TRANSISTOR
PNP TRANSISTORS
LOGICATES
CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In accomplishment of this project
successfully, many have bestowed
upon me their blessings. I take this
time to thank to thank all who have
been concerned with this project.
Firstly, I would like to thank the
Principal Mr. A. K. Shrivastava , whose
guidance was invaluable in this
project. I would also like to thank the
Vice Principal Mrs. Shirley Rappai and
the Headmistress Mrs.Shiney Joseph.
Primarily, I would like to thank my
Physics teachers, Mrs.Beena
Challappan , Mr. Murugan K.V. and lab
in charge for their guidance, support
and motivation. Last but not least, I
would like to thank my parents,
friends, well wishers without their

support, this project wouldnt have

been a success.

INTRODUCTION
Semiconductors are crystalline or
amorphous solids with distinct
electrical characteristics.[1] They are
of high resistance higher than
typical resistance materials, but still of
much lower resistance than insulators.
Their resistance decreases as their
temperature increases, which is
behavior opposite to that of a metal.
Finally, their conducting properties
may be altered in useful ways by the
deliberate, controlled introduction of
impurities ("doping") into the crystal
structure, which lowers its resistance

but also permits the creation of

semiconductor junctions between
differently-doped regions of the
extrinsic semiconductor crystal. The
behavior of charge carriers which
include electrons, ions and electron
holes at these junctions is the basis of
diodes, transistors and all modern
electronics.

DIODES

The simplest semiconductor

component, the diode, has an
astonishing number of applications
that are enabled by a number of
practical and unique types of diodes
that are vital in modern electronics.

APPLICATIONS/USES:
Power Conversion
One significant application of diodes is
to convert AC power to DC power.
A single diode or four diodes can be
used to transform 110V household
power to DC by forming a half-way
(single diodes) or a full-wave (four
diodes) rectifier. A diode does this by

allowing only half of the AC waveform

to travel through it. When this voltage
pulse is used to charge a capacitor,
the output voltage appears to be a
steady DC voltage with a small
voltage ripple. Using a full wave
rectifier makes this process even more
efficient by routing the AC pulses so
both the positive and negative halves
of the input sine wave are seen as
only positive pulses, effectively
doubling the frequency of the input
pulses to the capacitor which helps
keep it charged and deliver a more
stable voltage.
Diodes and capacitors can also be
used to create a number of types of
voltage multipliers to take a small AC
voltage and multiply it to create very
high voltage outputs. Both AC and DC
outputs are possible using the right

configuration of capacitors and

diodes.
Demodulation of Signals
The most common use for diodes is to
remove the negative component of an
AC signal so it can be worked with
easier with electronics. Since the
negative portion of an AC waveform is
usually identical to the positive half,
very little information is effectively
lost in this process. Signal
demodulation is commonly used in
radios as part of the filtering system
to help extract the radio signal from
the carrier wave.
Over-Voltage Protections
Diodes also function well as protection
devices for sensitive electronic
components. When used asvoltage
protection devices, the diodes are

non-conducting under normal

operating conditions but immediately
short any high voltage spike to ground
where it cannot harm an integrated
circuit. Specialized diodes called
transient voltage suppressors are
designed specifically for over-voltage
protection and can handle very large
power spikes for short time periods,
typical characteristics of a voltage
spike or electric shock, which would
normally damage components and
shorten the life of an electronic
product.
Current Steering
The basic application of diodes is to
steer current and make sure it only
flows in the proper direction. One area
where the current steering capability
of diodes is used to good effect is in
switching from power from a power

supply to running from a battery.

When a device is plugged in and
charging, for example, a cell phone or
uninterruptible power supply, the
device should be drawing power only
from the external power supply and
not the battery and while the device is
plugged in the battery should be
drawing power and recharging. As
soon as the power source is removed,
the battery should power the device
so no interruption in noticed by the
user.

HALF WAVE RECTIFIER

When a single rectifier diode unit is

placed in series with the load across
an AC supply, it converts alternating
voltage into uni-directional pulsating

voltage, using one half cycle of the

applied voltage, the other half cycle
being suppressed because it conducts
only in one direction. Unless there is
an inductance or battery in the circuit,
the current will be zero, therefore, for
half the time. This is called half-wave
rectification. As already discussed,
diode is an electronic device
consisting of two elements known as
cathode and anode. Since in a diode
electrons can flow in one direction
only i.e.from cathode to anode, the
diode provides the unilateral
conduction necessary for rectification.
This is true for diodes of all typesvacuum, gas-filled, crystal or
semiconductor, metallic (copper oxide
and selenium types) diodes.
Semiconductor diodes, because of
their inherent advantages are usually

used as a rectifying device. However,

for very high voltages, vacuum diodes
may be employed.
Working of a Half wave rectifier
The half-wave rectifier circuit using a
semiconductor diode (D) with a load
resistance RL but no smoothing filter
is given in figure. The diode is
connected in series with the
secondary of the transformer and the
load resistance RL. The primary of the
transformer is being connected to the
ac supply mains.
The ac voltage across the secondary
winding changes polarities after every
half cycle of input wave. During the
positive half-cycles of the input ac
voltage i.e. when upper end of the
secondary winding is positive w.r.t. its
lower end, the diode is forward biased

and therefore conducts current. If the

forward resistance of the diode is
assumed to be zero (in practice,
however, a small resistance exists)
the input voltage during the positive
half-cycles is directly applied to the
load resistance RL, making its upper
end positive w.r.t. its lower end. The
waveforms of the output current and
output voltage are of the same shape
as that of the input ac voltage.
During the negative half cycles of the
input ac voltage i.e. when the lower
end of the secondary winding is
positive w.r.t. its upper end, the diode
is reverse biased and so does not
conduct. Thus during the negative half
cycles of the input ac voltage, the
current through and voltage across
the load remains zero. The reverse
current, being very small in

magnitude, is neglected. Thus for the

negative half cycles no power is
delivered to the load.
Thus the output voltage (VL)
developed across load resistance RL
is a series of positive half cycles of
alternating voltage, with intervening
very small constant negative voltage
levels, It is obvious from the figure
that the output is not a steady dc, but
only a pulsating dc wave. To make the
output wave smooth and useful in a
DC power supply, we have to use a
filter across the load. Since only halfcycles of the input wave are used, it is
called a half wave rectifier.

FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

In a Full Wave Rectifier circuit two
diodes are now used, one for each half
of the cycle. Amultiple winding
transformer is used whose secondary
winding is split equally into two halves
with a common centre tapped
connection, (C). This configuration
results in each diode conducting in
turn when its anode terminal is
positive with respect to the
transformer centre point C producing
an output during both half-cycles,

twice that for the half wave rectifier so

it is 100% efficient as shown below.

Full Wave Rectifier Circuit

The full wave rectifier circuit consists

of two power diodes connected to a
single load resistance (RL) with each
diode taking it in turn to supply
current to the load. When point A of
the transformer is positive with
respect to point C, diode D1 conducts
in the forward direction as indicated
by the arrows.
When point B is positive (in the
negative half of the cycle) with
respect to point C, diodeD2 conducts
in the forward direction and the
current flowing through resistor R is in
the same direction for both halfcycles. As the output voltage across
the resistor R is the phasor sum of the
two waveforms combined, this type of
full wave rectifier circuit is also known
as a bi-phase circuit.

As the spaces between each half-wave

developed by each diode is now being
filled in by the other diode the
average DC output voltage across the
load resistor is now double that of the
single half-wave rectifier circuit and is
about 0.637Vmax of the peak
voltage, assuming no losses.

TRANSISTORS

A transistor is a semiconductor device

used to amplify or switch electronic
signals and electrical power. It is
composed of semiconductor material
usually with at least three terminals
for connection to an external circuit. A
voltage or current applied to one pair
of the transistor's terminals changes
the current through another pair of
terminals. Because the controlled
(output) power can be higher than the
controlling (input) power, a transistor
can amplify a signal. Today, some
transistors are packaged individually,
but many more are found embedded
in integrated circuits.

NPN TRANSISTOR
NPN is one of the two types of bipolar
transistors, consisting of a layer of Pdoped semiconductor (the "base")
between two N-doped layers. A small
current entering the base is amplified
to produce a large collector and
emitter current. That is, when there is
a positive potential difference
measured from the emitter of an NPN
transistor to its base (i.e., when the
base is high relative to the emitter) as
well as positive potential difference
measured from the base to the
collector, the transistor becomes
active. In this "on" state, charge flows
between the collector and emitter of
the transistor. Most of the current is
carried by electrons moving from

emitter to collector as minority

carriers in the P-type base region. To
allow for greater current and faster
operation, most bipolar transistors
used today are NPN because electron
mobility is higher than hole mobility.
A mnemonic device for the NPN
transistor symbol is "not pointing in",
based on the arrows in the symbol
and the letters in the name.

PNP TRANSISTORS
The other type of BJT is the PNP,
consisting of a layer of N-doped
semiconductor between two layers of
P-doped material. A small current
leaving the base is amplified in the
collector output. That is, a PNP
transistor is "on" when its base is
pulled low relative to the emitter. In a
PNP transistor, emitter-base region is
forward biased, so electric field and
carriers will be generated. They

should flow towards the base junction,

but the base part is very thin and has
low conductivity. The reverse-biased
collector base part has generated
holes. Thus, due to the electric field,
carriers or electrons get pulled by the
holes.
The arrows in the NPN and PNP
transistor symbols are on the emitter
legs and point in the direction of the
conventional current when the device
is in forward active mode.
A mnemonic device for the PNP
transistor symbol is "pointing in
(proudly/permanently)", based on the
arrows in the symbol and the letters in
the name.

LOGICATES
AND GATE:

AND gate
Input 1

Input 2

Output

1
1
1

OR GATE:

OR gate
Input 1

Input 2

Output

1
1

NOT GATE:

1
1

Inverter or NOT gate

Input
Output
1
1

NAND GATE:

NAND gate
Input 1

Input 2

Output
1

1
1
1

NOR GATE:

1
1

NOR gate
Input 1

Input 2

Output
1

1
1
1

CONCLUSION

Semiconductors are an essential part

of technology . We must know that
keep building towards our future.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wikipedia.com

 http://components.about.com/od/C
omponents/a/Applications-OfDiodes.htm
Abouttech.com