ECE 422 REVIEWER

TERMS
Lecture 1: Introduction to Semiconductors

 Electronics devices such as diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits (IC) are made of
semiconductive materials.
 RA 5734, Sec. 21 C – the science that deals with the development and application of
devices and systems involving the flow of electrons in vacuum, in gaseous media,
plasma and in semiconductors.
 RA 9292, Sec. 3 H – The science dealing with the development and application of
devices and systems involving the flow of electrons or other carriers of electric charge, in
a vacuum, in gaseous media, in plasma, in semiconductors, in solid-state and/or in
similar devices, including, but not limited to, applications involving optical,
electromagnetic and other energy forms when transduced or converted into electronic
signals.
 Two-electrode vacuum tube – introduced by Thomas Edison and John Ambrose in
1904.
 Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the first practical incandescent light bulb, had also
noticed that the direct electric current flowed from a heated metal filament in the bulb
to the other electrode only when the latter had a positive voltage. John Ambrose
Fleming used this effect (known as the Edison effect) to invent the two-electrode
vacuum tube rectifier, which was soon to play an important role in the electrical circuits.
 Commercial TV began around 1946. First vacuum tube computer was built in 1943 at
the University of Pennsylvania.
 Introduced the point-contact transistor on December 23, 1947 by Walter H. Brattain,
and John Bardeen at Bell Telephone Laboratories.
 William Shockley introduced the bipolar junction transistor in 1948.
 Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments invented the integrated circuit (IC), paving the way for
the miniaturization of early microdevices.
 ICs are a complex combination of several kinds of devices on a common base, called
substrate, or in any piece of silicon.
APPLICATIONS OF ELECTRONICS

 Communication Electronics – this includes AM and FM radio, television and satellite

communication.
 Electric Power – electronics play an important role in the control and monitoring of
electrical systems as in power plants, refineries, etc.
 Digital Electronics – the circuits for digital applications operate with pulse of voltage or
current. Example of digital electronics includes calculators, computers, data processing
and data communication.
 Automotive Electronics - applied to cars for changing battery, measuring gauges and
monitoring of engine performances. Important of all is electronic ignition for better
timing of the ignition spark.
 Industrial Electronics – includes control of heating and welding processes, the use of
elevator’s control, operating of copying machines, automatic door openers and burglar
alarms.
 Medical Electronics – combines electronics with biology, medical research, diagnosis
and treatment, all use electronic equipment. Examples are the electronic microscope
and electro-cardiograph (ECG) Machine. In hospitals, oscilloscope is commonly used as
display to monitor the heartbeat of patients in the ICU.
 Atom is the smallest particle of an element.
 All matter is composed of atoms; all atoms consist of electrons, protons, and neutrons
except normal hydrogen, which does not have a neutron.
 Niels Bohr proposed that the electrons in an atom circle the nucleus in different orbits,
similar to the way planets orbit the sun in our solar system. The Bohr model is often
referred to as the planetary model.
 According to the classical Bohr model, atoms have a planetary type of structure that
consists of a central nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons.
 The nucleus consists of positively charged particles called protons and uncharged
particles called neutrons. The basic particles of negative charge are called electrons.
 The atomic number equals the number of protons in the nucleus, which is the same as
the number of electrons in an electrically balanced (neutral) atom.
 Energy Levels. Electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom at certain distances from the
nucleus. Electrons near the nucleus have less energy than those in more distant orbits.
 Each discrete distance (orbit) from the nucleus corresponds to a certain energy level. In
an atom, the orbits are grouped into energy levels known as shells. A given atom has a
fixed number of shells. Each shell has a fixed maximum number of electrons. The
Maximum Number of Electrons in Each Shell 𝑁𝑒 = 2𝑛2.
 This outermost shell is known as the valence shell, and electrons in this shell are called
valence electrons.
 Free Electrons – dislodged from the outer shell.
 Free electrons may exist by themselves such as electrons moving from one plate to
another.
 Free electrons constitute the electric current in a conductor.
 Materials capable of having many free electrons and which could carry electric current
are called conductors.
 Materials capable of having very few free electrons are called insulators.
 Materials capable of having not so many free electrons are called semiconductors.
 Semiconductors are also capable of carrying electric current.
 The more free electrons there are in a material, the better it will conduct.
 Insulators – electric charges don not flow freely.
 Conductors - In any metal element, it contains less than 4 electrons in its outer shell.
Permit electrons to flow freely from particle to particle.
 Semiconductors - conductivity lies between the conductivity of conductors and
insulators. Can be classified as single crystal which has repetitive crystal structure and
compound which is constructed of two or more semiconductor materials.
 The difference in energy between the valence band and the conduction band is called an
energy gap or band gap. This is the amount of energy that a valence electron must have
in order to jump from the valence band to the conduction band.
 The bonding of atoms, strengthened by the sharing of electrons, is called covalent bond.
 The atoms align to form a pattern called crystal.
 An intrinsic (pure) silicon crystal at room temperature has sufficient heat (thermal)
energy for some valence electrons to jump the gap from the valence band into the
conduction band, becoming free electrons. Free electrons are also called conduction
electrons.
 When an electron jumps to the conduction band, a vacancy is left in the valence band
within the crystal. This vacancy is called a hole. For every electron raised to the
conduction band by external energy, there is one hole left in the valence band, creating
what is called an electron-hole pair. Recombination occurs when a conduction-band
electron loses energy and falls back into a hole in the valence band.
 Intrinsic semiconductor is a semiconductor material that has been carefully refined to
reduce the number of impurities to a very low level. The free electrons in a material due
to external causes are referred to as intrinsic carriers.
 Intrinsic semiconductor – change in temperature can increase number of free electrons.
 Negative temperature coefficient – reduction in resistance, increase in temperature.
 Positive temperature coefficient – increase in resistance, increase in temperature.
  Doping is a process of adding impurities to pure semiconductor material to provide
positive and negative charges.
 The dopant is integrated into the lattice structure of the semiconductor crystal, the
number of outer electrons define the type of doping. Elements with 3 valence electrons
are used for p-type doping, 5- valued elements for n-doping.
 Diffused impurities with five valence electrons are called donor atoms.
 A hole has the same amount of positive charge as proton, equal to that of an electron
but opposite polarity. However, a hole charge is not a proton.
 Hole charges can be moved by an applied potential difference.
 A semiconductor diode is an electronic component created by “joining” an n-type
material with a p-type material.
 Depletion Region – this region of uncovered positive and negative ions.
 Diode (P region: anode; N region: Cathode)
 No bias – no applied voltage across the diode
 Forward bias - established by applying the positive potential to the p-type material and
the negative potential to the n-type material.
 Reverse bias – established by applying external potential of V volts across the p-n
junction such that the positive terminal is connected to the n-type material and the
negative terminal is connected to the p-type material.
 When a diode is forward biased, the resistance of the diode is low and there could be
significant current flow across the diode depending on the applied voltage across the
terminals of the diode.
 When the anode of the diode is made negative with respect to the cathode, the diode
is said to be reverse biased. The resistance of a reverse biased diode is very high (no
reading in the Mohm range).
 Reverse Breakdown. Also called Avalanche Breakdown and Zener Breakdown.
 Ideal Diode model - Is a perfect two-state device that exhibits zero impedance when
forward biased and infinite impedance when reversed biased.

Lecture 2: Diode

 Load Line Analysis

- The diode in the circuit is forward biased.
- The intersection of the characteristic curve of the diode and the load line defines
the current and voltage levels of the network.
- The point of intersection between the straight line and the characteristic curve
of the diode is the point of operation of the network, and it is called the
Quiescent (Q) point.
- For each configuration, mentally replace the diodes with resistive elements and
note the resulting current direction as established by the applied voltages. If the
resulting direction is a “match” with the arrow in the diode symbol, conduction
through the diode will occur and the device is in the “on” state.
 Rectifiers
- Rectification – the process of converting an AC signal into a DC signal.
- A transformer changes ac voltages based on the turns ratio between the primary
and secondary.
- The rectifier converts the ac input voltage to a pulsating dc voltage, called a half-
wave rectified voltage
- The filter eliminates the fluctuations in the rectified voltage and produces a
relatively smooth dc voltage.
- The regulator is a circuit that maintains a constant dc voltage for variations in the
input line voltage or in the load.
  Clippers
- Have the ability to clip off a portion of the input signal without distorting the
remaining part of the alternating waveform.
 Clampers
- Clamp a signal to a different DC level.
 Special Purpose Diodes
- Zener Diodes – Operates on reversed biased condition, maintain its voltage
when the breakdown is reached
- Schottky Diode (Hot carrier diode) – used in high frequency range due to its
quick response time and lower noise figure
- Photo diode – Light sensitive diode that narrows the depletion region when
there is a presence of light
- Light Emitting Diode (LED) – give off visible light when it is properly biased

Lecture 3: Transistor Basics and Biasing

 1904, the vacuum-tube diode was introduced by J.A. Fleming

 1906, Lee De Forest added a third element, called the control grid, to the vacuum diode,
resulting in the first amplifier, the triode.
 December 23, 1947, It was on the afternoon of this day that Dr. S. William Shockley,
Walter H. Brattain, and John Bardeen demonstrated the amplifying action of the first
transistor at the Bell Telephone Laboratories.
 Transistor – a three-layer semiconductor device consisting of either two n-type or p-type
layers of material or two p-type and one n-type layers of material.
 Common types of a transistor: Bipolar Junction Transistor, Field Effect Transistor; JFET
and MOSFET.
 Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) are three terminal semiconductor devices which
could be used to amplify signals.
 The term bipolar reflects the fact that holes and electrons participate in the injection
process into oppositely polarized material.
 It was introduced by Walter H. Brattain and John Bardeen at Bell Telephone
Laboratories.
 Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET) has three regions of operation: ohmic, saturation
and breakdown.
 JFET must be reverse bias so that no current will flow back to the gate.

Lecture 4: Transistor Small Signal Amplifiers

 Linear amplifier provides amplification of a signal without any distortion so that the
output signal is an exact amplified replica of the input signal.

Lecture 5: Frequency
 Mid-band frequency – the region of frequency where the amplification and delay is
reasonably constant.
 Below mid-band frequency – the region where the active circuit may behave as a simple
high pass circuit.
 Above mid-band frequency – the circuit behaves like a low-pass circuit and response
decreases with increase in frequency.