TON DUC THANG UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ELECTRICAL AND

ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

402057

ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

CHAPTER 4: SEMICONDUCTOR
DEVICES
 4.1. Semiconductor diodes
 4.2. Bipolar junction transistors
 4.3. Field effect transistors

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OBJECTIVES

 Understand the structure as well as the operation

principle of diode, transistor, FET…
 Identify types of transistor and how to use them in
electronic circuit.

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 CHAPTER 4: SEMICONDUCTOR
DEVICES
 4.1. Semiconductor diodes
 4.2. Bipolar junction transistors
 4.3. Field effect transistors

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Diode: the simplest and most fundamental circuit

element.
 An ideal diode would
pass an infinite
current in one
direction and no
current in the other
direction

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Physical structure of a diode

A Al

p A

B B
The pn region One-dimensional
representation diode symbol
is assumed to
be thin (step
or abrupt Different concentrations of
junction) electrons (and holes) of the p and
n-type regions cause a
concentration gradient at the
boundary

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Procedure of forming pn Junction:

the dynamic equilibrium
of drift and diffusion
movements for carriers
through the junction.
 4 steps:

 Diffusion

 Space charge region

 Drift

 Equilibrium
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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Space charge region (SCR)

 Majority carriers recombining
with minority carriers results
in the disappearance of
majority carriers
 Electric field is established
across SCR.
 The Junction Built-In Voltage

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Diode characteristics

 The Forward-Bias
Region,
 The Reverse-Bias
Region,
 The Breakdown
Region,

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Diode characteristics

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Depletion region width

where, for forward bias, V is positive, which reduces Vo, and, for
reverse bias, V is negative , so Vo is increased.
 Depletion layer capacitance Cdep

where the amount of charge on any one side of the depletion

layer is |Q| = eNdWnA = eNaWpA and W = Wn + Wp
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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Forward bias
hole diffusion  Applied potential lowers
electron diffusion
the potential barrier,
p n Idiffusion > I drift
hole drift
electron drift  Mobile carriers drift
through the dep. region
+ - into neutral regions
 become excess minority
carriers and diffuse
towards terminals

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Forward bias
 Turn-on voltage
A conduction diode has approximately a constant
voltage drop across it. It’s called turn-on voltage.
For silicon
For germanium

 Diodes with different current rating will exhibit the

turn-on voltage at different currents.

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Reverse bias
hole diffusion  Applied potential
electron diffusion
increases the potential
p n barrier
hole drift
electron drift
 Diffusion current is
reduced
- +  Diode works in the
reverse bias with a very
small drift current

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Breakdown region
 Whereas reverse breakdown is a highly undesirable
effect in circuits that use conventional diodes
 It can be extremely useful
 When a diode is undergoing reverse breakdown and
provided its maximum ratings are not exceeded the
voltage appearing across it will remain substantially
constant regardless of the current flowing.
 This property makes the zener diode ideal for use as
a voltage regulator

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Breakdown mechanisms
 Zener effect
 Occurs in heavily doping semiconductor
 Breakdown voltage is less than 5v.
 Carriers generated by electric field---field ionization.
 Avalanche effect.
 Occurs in slightly doping semiconductor
 Breakdown voltage is more than 7v.
 Carriers generated by collision.

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Zener diode
 Zener diodes are heavily
doped silicon diodes
which, unlike normal
diodes, exhibit an abrupt
reverse breakdown at
relatively low voltages

Circuit symbol

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Diode application
 Rectifier circuits
 Half-wave rectifier
 Full-wave rectifier
 Transformer with a center-tapped secondary winding
 Bridge rectifier
 The peak rectifier
 Voltage regulator
 Limiter
 Light emitting diode (LED)
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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Half-Wave Rectifier

(a) Half-wave rectifier.

(b) Equivalent circuit of the half-wave rectifier with the
diode replaced with its battery-plus-resistance model.

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Half-Wave Rectifier (cont.)

(c) Transfer characteristic of the rectifier circuit.

(d) Input and output waveforms, assuming that

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Full-Wave Rectifier

(a) circuit
(b) transfer characteristic assuming a constant-voltage-drop
model for the diodes
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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Full-Wave Rectifier (cont.)

(c) input and output waveforms.

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Full-Wave Rectifier (cont.)

The Bridge Rectifier

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Voltage regulator

 Voltage and current

waveforms in the peak
rectifier circuit with
 The diode is assumed
ideal.

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Limiter
 Applying a sine
wave to a
limiter can
result in clipping
off its two
peaks.

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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Light emitting diode (LED)

 LED is a pn junction diode
typically made from a direct
bandgap semiconductor in
which the electron-hole pair
(EHP) recombination results in
the emission of a photon.
 External efficiency of an LED
quantifies the eficiency of
conversion of electric energy
into an emitted external
optical energy
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SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Seven-segment LED displays

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 SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES

 Variable capacitance diode

 The capacitance of a reverse-biased diode junction will
depend on the width of the depletion layer which, in turn,
varies with the reverse voltage applied to the diode.
 This allows a diode to be used as a voltage controlled
Capacitor.
 Diodes that are specially manufactured to make use of this
effect (varicaps)

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CHAPTER 4: SEMICONDUCTOR
DEVICES
 4.1. Semiconductor diodes
 4.2. Bipolar junction transistors
 4.3. Field effect transistors

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS

 Transistor is short for transfer resistor, a term

which provides something of a clue as to how the
device operates;
 The current flowing in the output circuit is
determined by the current flowing in the input
circuit.
 Since transistors are three-terminal devices, one
electrode must remain common to both the input
and the output.

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 Transistors fall into two main categories: bipolar
junction transistors (BJT) and field effect transistors
(FET) and are also classified according to the
semiconductor material employed and to their field
of application.
 Various classes of transistor are available according
to the application concerned

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT structure

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 Notation
 Base is located at the
middle and more thin
from the level of collector
and emitter.
 The emitter and collector
terminals are made of the
same material while the
base of the other type of
material.

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 Transistor currents
 The arrow is always drawn
on the emitter
 The arrow always point
toward the n-type
 The arrow indicates the
direction of the emitter
current:
pnp: E B
IC=the collector current
IB= the base current npn: B E
IE= the emitter current

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT operation (for pnp transistor)
 One p-n junction of a transistor is reverse-biased,
whereas the other is forward-biased.

Forward-biased junction Reverse-biased junction

of a pnp transistor of a pnp transistor

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT operation (for pnp transistor)
 Both biasing potentials have been
applied to a pnp transistor and
resulting majority and minority
carrier flows indicated.
 Majority carriers (+) will diffuse
across the forward-biased p-n
junction into the n-type material.
 A very small number of carriers (+)
will through n-type material to the
base terminal. Resulting IB is
typically in order of microamperes.
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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT operation (for pnp transistor)
 The large number of majority carriers will diffuse across
the reverse-biased junction into the p-type material
connected to the collector terminal.
 Majority carriers can cross the reverse-biased junction
because the injected majority carriers will appear as
minority carriers in the n-type material.
 Applying KCL to the transistor : IE = IC + IB
 The comprises of two components – the majority and
minority carriers IC = ICmajority + ICOminority
 ICO – IC current with emitter terminal open and is called
leakage current.
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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT configurations

Common terminal to both input and output of the configuration.

(usually the terminal closest to or at ground potential).

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common base circuit

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common base circuit

Active
region
Saturation
region

Cut-off
region

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common base circuit

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT –
Common
emitter
circuit

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common emitter circuit
 IB is microamperes compared to
miliamperes of IC.
 IB will flow when VBE > 0.7V
for silicon and 0.3V for
germanium
 Before this value IB is very small
and no IB.
 Base-emitter junction is forward
bias
 Increasing VCE will reduce IB
for different values.
Input characteristics for a
common-emitter NPN transistor
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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common emitter circuit
 For small VCE (VCE <VCESAT)
IC increase linearly with
increasing of VCE
 VCE > VCESAT IC not totally
depends on VCE 
constant IC
 IB(uA) is very small
compare to IC (mA). Small
increase in IB cause big
increase in IC
 IB=0 A  ICEO occur.
 Noticing the value when
Output IC=0A. There is still some
characteristics value of current flows.
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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common emitter circuit

Amplification
factor

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common emitter circuit

Example: From output

characteristics of
common emitter
configuration, find ac
and dc with an
Operating point at
IB=25 A and VCE
=7.5V.

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common emitter circuit

Solution

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common collector circuit

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Common collector circuit

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Small signal equivalent model

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 BJT – Small signal equivalent model

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 BIPOLAR JUNCTION
TRANSISTORS
 European system of transistor coding
 First letter – semiconductor material:
A Germanium
B Silicon
 Second letter – application:
C Low-power, low-frequency
D High-power, low-frequency
F Low-power, high-frequency
L High-power, high-frequency
 Third letter – in the case of transistors for specialized
applications, the third letter does not generally have any
particular significance

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CHAPTER 4: SEMICONDUCTOR
DEVICES
 4.1. Semiconductor diodes
 4.2. Bipolar junction transistors
 4.3. Field effect transistors

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FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS

 Field effect transistors (FET) comprise a channel of P-

type or N-type material surrounded by material of the
opposite polarity.
 The ends of the channel (in which conduction takes
place) form electrodes known as the source and drain.
 The effective width of the channel (in which on
conduction takes place) is controlled by a charge
placed on the third (gate) electrode.
 The effective resistance between the source and drain
is thus determined by the voltage present at the gate.

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 FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS

 Classification
 JFET n-Channel JFET
FET
p-Channel JFET
MOSFET (IGFET)

Enhancement Depletion
MOSFET MOSFET

n-Channel p-Channel n-Channel p-Channel

EMOSFET EMOSFET DMOSFET DMOSFET

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JFET

 JFET Construction
 Two types of JFET: n-
channel (most widely
used) and p-channel
 3 terminal: Drain (D),
Source (S) connect to
n-channel Gate (G)

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JFET

 JFET Operation

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 JFET

 JFET characteristics
 A typical mutual characteristic (ID plotted against VGS)
for a small signal general-purpose N-channel JFET
operating in common-source mode.
 This characteristic shows that the drain current is
progressively reduced as the gate-source voltage is
made more negative.
 At a certain value of VGS the drain current falls to zero
and the device is said to be cut-off.

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JFET

 JFET characteristics

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JFET

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 JFET

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JFET

 JFET parameters
 The gain offered by a field effect transistor is normally
expressed in terms of its forward transfer conductance (gfs
or Yfs) in common source mode.
 In this mode, the input voltage is applied to the gate and
the output current appears in the drain .
 The common-source forward transfer conductance is given
by:

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JFET

 JFET – Common source circuit

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 JFET

 JFET – Common gate circuit

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MOSFET

 The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect

transistor (MOSFET) became a practical reality in the
1970s.
 The MOSFET, compared to BJTs, can be made very small .
 Since digital circuits can be designed using only MOSFETs,
with essentially no resistors or diodes required, high-
density VLSI circuits, including microprocessors and
memories, can be fabricated

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MOSFET

 In the MOSFET, the current is controlled by an electric

field applied perpendicular to both the semiconductor
surface and to the direction of current.
 The phenomenon used to modulate the conductance of
a semiconductor, or control the current in a
semiconductor, by applying an electric field perpendicular
to the surface is called the field effect.
 The basic transistor principle is that the voltage between
two terminals controls the current through the third
terminal.

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 MOSFET

 MOSFET – Voltage threshold

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MOSFET

 CMOS
 Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS)
is a technology for constructing integrated circuits.
 CMOS technology is used
in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and
other digital logic circuits. CMOS technology is also used for
several analog circuits such as image sensors (CMOS
sensor), data converters, and highly
integrated transceivers for many types of communication.
 In 1963, while working for Fairchild Semiconductor, Frank
Wanlass patented CMOS

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MOSFET

 CMOS

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 SUMMARY

 In this chapter, we have learnt the structure,

operational principle as well as the characteristics
and applications of important semiconductor
devices:
 Diodes
 Bipolar junction transistors
 Field effect transistors

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ASSIGNMENTS

 Exercise 1
Given circuit. Determine Vo, know that VB E = 0.7 V, β =
120,V1=2.8v

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ASSIGNMENTS

 Exercise 2
Draw output signal form, know that vi=10 sint, V=0.7

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 ASSIGNMENTS

 Exercise 3
Design a voltage regulator using the circuit .
The voltage regulator is to power a car radio at VL = 9 V from
an automobile battery whose voltage may vary between 11
and 13.6 V. The current in the radio will vary between 0 (off)
to 100 mA (full volume).

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