Chapter 1

Solid State Devices

By Wan Rosmaria binti Wan Ahmad
ELE424 – OCT 2022 – FEB 2023

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 Course Outcomes and Program Outcomes

• CO1: Describe fundamental electrical characteristics, basic

operating concepts of semiconductor devices: diode, BJT and
MOSFET.
• PO1: Apply knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering
fundamentals to the solution of complex electronic engineering
problems.

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 Content
• Introduction
• Semiconductor materials
• Energy levels
• Covalent Bonding
• Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductor
• PN Junction

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Introduction
• Electronic devices are massively used in many types of electronic
systems such as:
• Communications (eg: TV, radio and VCR)
• Digital systems (eg: PC and calculator)
• Industrial systems (eg: robotic and process control)
• Medical systems (eg: X-ray and ECG)
• Instrumentation devices (eg: oscilloscope)
• Since 1940s, electronic system such as TVs, radios and computers
were constructed using solid-state components replacing vacuum
tubes.

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5
 Semiconductor Materials
• Solid-state (hard crystal structure) devices are made up of semiconductor materials
e.g. diode & transistor.
• Semiconductor material is neither a conductor nor an insulator but the
conductivity rather lies halfway in between the two.
• The resistive properties of a semiconductor can be varied between those of a
conductor and an insulator, useful as amplifier or rectifier.
• The three semiconductors used most frequently in the construction of electronic
devices are Germanium (Ge), Silicon (Si) and Carbon (C).
• 2 classes of semiconductor element:
✓Single crystal: Si & Ge
✓Compound: GaAs, CdS, GaN, GaAsP

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 Semiconductor Materials
• In the production of solid-state components, Si is more favored than
Ge because it is less temperature sensitive and one of the most
abundant material on earth.
• Carbon is mainly used in the production of resistors and
potentiometers.
• GaAs transistor is capable of speeding up five times that of Si but this
material if more difficult to manufacture at high levels of purity, more
expensive and had little design support in the early years of
development.
• Semiconductor materials are atoms that contain four (4) valence
electrons.
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 Atomic Theory
• An atom is the smallest particle of an element
• Each of the known 118 elements has a unique atomic structure.
• According to the classical Bohr model, atoms have a planetary type
structure consists of a central nucleus surrounded by orbiting
electrons.
• Nucleus
• Positively charged particle called protons
• Uncharged particles called neutrons
• Electrons
• Negatively charged particles in the orbital path

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 Bohr Model of an Atom
As seen in this model, electrons
circle the nucleus.
Atomic structure of a material
determines its ability to conduct
or insulate.

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 Electron Shells and Orbits
• Electrons orbit the nucleus of an atom at certain distances (discrete) from the nucleus.
• Valence shell is the outermost shell.
• Most important shell
• Can contain up to eight electrons (e)
• Valence electron
• Atom which has btwn 1-3 valence electrons is a conductor
• Atom which has btwn 5-8 valence electrons is an insulator
• Atom which has 4 valence electrons is a semiconductor
• Conductivity decreases with increasing no. of valence electrons.
• Contribute to chemical reactions and bonding within the structure of the material and
determine its electrical properties.
• No. of electrons in a neutral atom of common semiconductors
• Silicon (14 electrons): 2,8,4
• Germanium (32 electrons): 2,8,18,4
• Carbon (6 electrons): 2,4

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Atomic Structure of Silicon and
Germanium

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 Energy Levels
• Each discrete distance (orbit) from the nucleus corresponds to a
certain energy level.
• In an atom the orbits are grouped into energy bands known as
shells.
• Each shell has a fixed maximum number of e’s at permissible
energy levels (orbits).
• The differences in energy levels within a shell are much smaller
than the difference in energy btwn shells.
• The shells are designated 1, 2, 3 and so on as away from the
nucleus. Some references designate shells by letters K, L, M, and
so on.

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Energy levels increase as the distance from
the nucleus increases

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HOW AN ORBITAL DIAGRAM ASSOCIATES
WITH AN ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM

Valence shell n=∞ Valence band

n=4
N
n=3

M
n=2
L
n=1
K

nucleus
Energy Band Diagram

Orbital Diagram

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 Attractive Force
• Electrons are bounded to their respective shells because of the
attraction force btwn proton (+) and electron (-).
• Electrons in farther orbits are less tightly bound to the nucleus
compared to the one in the close orbits.
• The attractive force, F is given by:

KQ Q Where F = force, K = constant,

F= 1
2
2

Q = charges, R = radius
R

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 Energy Bands
• The valence shell of an atom represents a band of energy levels where
valence e’s are confined to that band.
• When an e acquires enough additional energy, it leaves the valence
band and becomes a free electron or current carrier and exists in
conduction band.
• The difference in energy between the valence band and the conduction
band or the difference between any 2 energy levels in the valence band
is called an energy gap.
• The amount of energy that a valence electron must have in order to
jump from the valence band to the conduction band is called the
ionization energy.

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 Energy Bands
Generation
Ec → Conduction Band
of EHP Ionization energy for;
(1.8eV)
Si: 1.12eV
Energy
Ge: 0.67eV
released as Energy gap, Eg GaAs: 1.43eV
heat/light

Energy Lets take Si as example.

absorbed Eg = 1.8eV – 0.7eV = 1.1eV
from
thermal/light Ev → Valence Band
sources (0.7eV)

Leaving a hole Recombination

in Ev

Nucleus

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Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic
Structures
Ec → Conduction Band
For example:
• Silicon valence shell has energy of 0.7 eV and its
conduction shell has energy of 1.8 eV.
• Therefore, for an electron to jump from valence
band to conduction band, it must absorb an amount
of energy = 1.8 - 0.7 eV = 1.1 eV.

• Conduction band is the band outside the valence band.

• It is a band of energies in which the level of energy of the
electron is high enough that electron are not attached or
bound to any atoms but rather are mobile and free to
move thru-out the material and capable of being
influenced by an external force.

• Electrons do not exist in conduction band, but they are from the valence band
that gain sufficient energy thru excitation.
• Electrons also do not exist in energy gap, but they can travel thru the gap.
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 Discrete Levels in Isolated Atomic
Structures
• The higher the energy gap, the harder for e’s to become the current carriers.
• When electron absorbed enough energy to jump to the conduction band, the
electron is said to be in the excited state and termed as excited electrons.
• Energy (W) associated with each electron is measured in electron-volts
(eV) where W = QV and Q = charge associated with a single electron.
• Electron-volt (eV) is defined as the amount of energy gained or lost
when an electron moves with or against a potential difference of one
volt.
• In terms of joules (common unit of energy), 1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 joules.

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 Conduction and valence bands of an
insulator, a semiconductor, and a conductor

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 Ionization
• Ionization is a process of an atom either losing or gaining an
electron to become a positive ion or negative ion.
• When an atom absorbs energy from a heat or light source, its
electrons’ energy is raised.
• The valence electron possess more energy and more loosely
bound to the atom than inner electrons, so they can easily jump to
higher orbits within the valence shell.

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 Ionization
• When acquiring sufficient energy, a valence electron can escape
from the outer shell and the atom’s influence, leaving the previous
neutral atom with an excess of +ve charge. The escaped e is called
free electron and the atom is called positive ion.
• Eg. for hydrogen atom: H → H+
• When a free electron loses energy and falls into the outer shell of
a neutral hydrogen atom, the atom become negatively charged
and is called negative ion.
• Eg.: H → H-
Loses Absorb
energy energy
H H H

Hydrogen, H becomes Neutral atom of Hydrogen, H becomes

negatively ionized, H- hydrogen, H positively ionized, H+ 22
 Covalent Bonds
• Covalent bonding is the method by which atoms complete their
valence shells by “sharing” valence electrons with other
adjacent atoms.

• Results of the bonding:

✓Atoms are held together, forming a solid substance
✓Atoms are electrically stable because the valence shells are complete
✓The complete valence shells cause the Si to act as an insulator. Hence,
pure Si (intrinsic) is a poor conductor

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 Covalent bonding of the silicon atom

Ec → Conduction
Band
Energy
gap, Eg, Ei → Intrinsic energy level
Si=1.1eV Intrinsic semiconductor

Ev → Valence Band 24
 Electron-Hole-Pair (EHP)
• Electron-hole-pair (EHP) is the phenomenon whereby an electron is
raised to the conduction band by thermal or light energy leaving one
hole in the valence band (Generation of EHP)
• A vacancy left in the valence band when an electron jumps to the
conduction band is called a hole.
• Recombination is the process whereby a free electron in the
conduction band gives up its energy and fall back into a hole in the
valence band.
• The period of an electron becoming a free electron until recombination
process is termed the lifetime of the EHP.

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Generation of Electron Hole Pair
electron

holes

Creation of electron-hole pairs in a silicon crystal.

Electrons in the conduction band are free

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Conduction of Electrons and Holes
• Electric current is defined as the movement of charges, hence the availability of
electrons (negatively charged particles) determines the ability of material to conduct
electricity.
• Electron current-is the movement of free electrons in the Conduction Band (EC)
• When voltage is applied across a piece of intrinsic Si, the thermally generated free e’s in the
conduction band are easily attracted twd +ve terminal of the supply.
• The movement of free e’s is one type of current in semiconductor material.
• Hole current- is the ‘movement’ of holes in the Valence Band (EV)
• Another type of current occurs at the valence level, holes are created by free e’s.
• Electrons in the valence band are still attached to their atoms and not free to move randomly in
the crystal structure.
• However a valence e can move into a nearby hole with little change in its energy level, thus leaving
another hole where it came from.
• Effectively, the hole has moved from one place to another in the crystal structure.

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Electron-hole pairs in a silicon crystal
• Free electrons are being
generated continuously while
some recombine with holes.
n = number of electrons
Generat Ec → Conduction
ion of Band
EHP (1.8eV)
Energy
released Energy gap,
as Eg
Energy heat/lig
absorbe ht Ev → Valence Band
d from (0.7eV)
thermal
/light
Leaving a Recombination
sources
hole in Ev
p = number of holes
Nucleus

n=p for intrinsic Silicon

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 Electron Current Flow
Movement of carriers Movement of
Depletion
(electrons and holes) generates region electrons towards
carrier currents, I = Ih + Ie positive terminal

Movement of holes
towards negative
- +
terminal
Electron current in intrinsic silicon is produced by the
movement of thermally generated free electrons.
Separation of two
different charges will
generate electric fields, ε
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Hole current in intrinsic silicon

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INTRINSIC & EXTRINSIC
SEMICONDUCTOR

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 INTRINSIC & EXTRINSIC
SEMICONDUCTOR
• Intrinsic (pure) materials are those semiconductor that have been
carefully refined to reduce impurities to a very low level.
• Intrinsic semiconductors are poor conductor due to
• Number of valence electrons
• Covalent bonding
• Large energy gap
• Si and Ge in pure state are of little use.
• Extrinsic material are those that have been subjected to doping
process and no longer pure.
• Doping is a process of adding impurity atoms to intrinsic Si or Ge to
improve the conductivity of the semiconductor.

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 Doping
• The electrical characteristics of silicon and germanium are
improved by adding materials in a process called doping.
• There are just two types of doped semiconductor materials:
• n-type materials make the silicon (or germanium) atoms more negative
• p-type materials make the silicon (or germanium) atoms more positive

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 N-type and P-type Semiconductors
• The process of creating N and P type materials is called doping.
Other atoms with 5 electrons (pentavalent) such Other atoms with 3 electrons (trivalent) such as
as Antimony are added to Silicon to increase the Boron are added to Silicon to create a deficiency of
free electrons. electrons or hole charges.
N-type
P-type

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 N-type and P-type Semiconductors
• Two types of elements used for doping process:
✓Trivalent - element that has 3 valence electrons
✓Pentavalent - element that has 5 valence electrons
• Trivalent atoms (acceptor) when added to intrinsic semiconductor will
result in p-type material.
• Pentavalent atoms (donor) when added to intrinsic semiconductor
will result in n-type material.

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Commonly used material for doping
process

No. Trivalent Impurities Pentavalent Impurities

1 Boron (B) Bismuth (Bi)

2 Aluminium (Al) Arsenic (As)

3 Gallium (Ga) Phosphorus (P)

4 Indium (In) Antimony (Sb)

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 Majority and Minority Carriers
• Two sets of currents flow in a diode:

Majority Carriers
• The majority carriers in n-type materials are electrons.
• The majority carriers in p-type materials are holes

Minority Carriers
• The minority carriers in n-type materials are holes.
• The minority carriers in p-type materials are electrons.

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 N-Type Material
• N-type is created by introducing pentavalent impurity atom
with five valence electron’s (such as Bi, As, P & Sb) into a pure Si
or Ge base thru doping process.
• Since there’s an extra electron in the material, the net charge is
negative (–ve).
• Hence, the material becomes a negative type i.e. N-type material.

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 N-Type Material
Antimony impurity in n- Effect of donor impurities on the energy band
type material. structure.
Electrons in ED requires less energy to be
Fifth excited to EC to allow current flow in EC
electron

Ec → Conduction Band
ED → Donor energy level
Energy gap,
Eg, Ei → Intrinsic energy level
Si=1.1eV

Ev → Valence Band

Sb → Sb+ (Donor atom becomes positively ionized)

Energy band diagram
Bonding diagram 39
 P-Type Material
• P-type extrinsic material is created by adding a trivalent impurity atom with
three valence electrons into a pure Si or Ge base thru doping process.
• Since the material is lack of an electron, the net charge is positive.
• Hence the material becomes a positive type i.e. P-type material

Boron impurity in p- Ec → Conduction Band

type material.
Energy gap,
Eg Ei → Intrinsic energy level
B → B- (Acceptor
atom becomes EA → Acceptor energy level
negatively ionized)
holes
Ev → Valence Band

Electrons in Ev require less energy to be

excited to EA leaving holes in Ev

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B is acceptor atom will be negatively ionized (B-)
 PN Junction
• PN junction is formed when a block of silicon is doped half of it with
trivalent impurity resulting p-type and another half with a
pentavalent impurity resulting n-type material.
• PN junction allows diodes and transistors to work.

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 PN Junction
Acceptor ions (negatively Donor ions (positively
charged) charged)
Electric Fields, ε
Majority carriers Majority carriers in
_ + + _ + __ __ _ + + + _ _ + n-type (electrons)
in p-type (holes)
_ +_ _ _
_ + ___ _ + + + + _
+ _ + __ + _
_ + ++ _ _ _ _ + +
+
+
+
+
P-type material N-type material
__
___ Depletion region
__ ++
+ + + +
Acceptor ions: appear when the vacancy in +
the trivalent impurity atom accepts a free Donor ions: appear when the 5th electron of a
electron from the neighboring atom, making the pentavalent impurity atom leaves the parent atom. This
atom acquires a net –ve charge. makes the remaining atom acquires a net +ve charge.
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 Depletion Region
• At the p-n junction, the negatively charged
atoms of the n-type side are attracted to the
positively charged atoms of the p-type side.

The electrons in the n-type material migrate

across the junction to the p-type material
(electron flow).
• The ‘holes’ in the p-type material migrate
across the junction to the n-type material
(conventional current flow).
• When an equlibrium condition is reached, the
• The result is the formation of a depletion
region around the junction. depletion region has widened to a point where no
further electrons can cross the PN junction.
• Hence, there exists a potential difference
between the P and N regions across the depletion
region, called the threshold voltage, VT
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Threshold Voltage, VT
• Determines the min. amount of external voltage that must be
applied to turn on the diode
• VT of Si diode  0.7V
• VT of Ge diode  0.3V

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 Diode Operating Conditions
• A diode has three operating conditions
• No bias
• Forward bias
• Reverse bias
• What is bias?
• Bias refer to an application of electric voltage to the p-n junction
• Two carrier current (mechanism)
• Diffusion current – due to different concentration of carriers
• Drift current – due to electric field

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NO BIAS
• No external voltage is applied: VD = 0V
• No current flows: ID = 0A
• Only a modest depletion layer exists

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FORWARD BIAS
• External voltage is applied across the p-n junction in
the same polarity as the p- and n-type materials.
• The forward voltage causes the depletion layer to
narrow.
• The electrons and holes are pushed toward the p-n
junction.
• The electrons and holes have sufficient energy to
cross the p-n junction.

Forward bias allows electrons

and holes to diffuse and cross
the junction to the next region

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REVERSE BIAS
• External voltage is applied across the p-n junction
in the opposite polarity of the p- and n-type
materials.
• The reverse voltage causes the depletion layer to
widen.
• The electrons in the n-type material are attracted
toward the positive terminal.
• The holes in the p-type material are attracted
toward the negative terminal.

Widened depletion
region causes higher
electric field, ε

electric field, ε 49
 Shockley’s Equation
Note that the minority carrier flow has not changed in magnitude, but the
magnitude of majority carrier flow will increase exponentially with increasing
in forward bias voltage, described by the Shockley’s Equation:

I = I (e
D s
kVD / T
− 1)
Is = reverse saturation current, k = 11,600/h
h = 1 for Ge, h = 2 for Si; both for low level ID and
h = 1 for both Si and Ge for high level ID
T = absolute temperature in Kelvin (K)
VD = applied bias voltage

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Actual Diode Characteristics

• Note the regions for no bias,

reverse bias, and forward bias
conditions.
• Carefully note the scale for
each of these conditions.

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Zener Region (Breakdown Region)
• The Zener region is in the diode’s reverse-
bias region.
• At some point the reverse bias voltage is so
large, the diode breaks down and the
reverse current, Is increases dramatically.
• The Zener potential, VZ is the reverse-
bias potential that results in this dramatic
change in characteristic.

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Zener Breakdown
• As VZ is brought closer to the vertical axis such as -5V, a mechanism called
Zener Breakdown will contribute to the sharp change in the characteristics.
• Occurs because there is a strong electric field in the region of the junction
(due to widened depletion region) that can disrupt the bonding forces within
the atoms and generate carriers.
• Significant only at lower levels of VZ.
• The sharp change in the characteristic still called “Zener Region”.
• Diodes employing this characteristic of PN junction is called Zener diodes.

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Avalanche Breakdown
• As VD increases negatively, velocity of the
minority carriers increases.
• Ionization process resulted thru collisions of
minority carriers with parent atoms impart
more additional carriers.
• Additional carriers then aid the ionization process
and more free electrons will be generated
until the minority carriers now increase
significantly.
• This maximum voltage is called avalanche Avalanche
breakdown voltage. breakdown
• The current is called avalanche current.

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Comparison of Ge, Si, and GaAs diodes

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Peak Inverse Voltage
• Peak inverse voltage (PIV rating) or peak reverse voltage (PRV rating) or
breakdown voltage (VBR) is defined as the maximum reverse-bias potential
that can be applied before entering the Zener region.
• Application requires PIV more than that of a single unit → connect few
diodes in series.
• To increase current carrying capacity → connect few diodes in parallel.

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Ideal Diode
• A diode is a 2-terminal device

• A diode ideally conducts current in only one direction.

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 Conduction Region Non-Conduction Region

• The voltage across the diode is 0V • All of the voltage is across the diode
• The current is infinite • The current is 0A
• The forward resistance is defined as • The reverse resistance is defined as
RF = VF / IF R R = VR / I R
• The diode acts like a short. • The diode acts like open.

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Ideal versus actual semiconductor
characteristics

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SUMMARY
• Diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits are all made of semiconductor material.
• P-type materials are doped with trivalent impurities
• N-type materials are doped with pentavalent impurities
• P and N type materials are joined together to form a PN junction.
• A diode is nothing more than a PN junction.
• At the pn junction, a depletion region is formed. This creates barrier which requires
approximately 0.3 V for a Germanium and 0.7 V for Silicon for conduction to take place.
• A diode conducts when forward biased and does not conduct when reverse biased.
• When reversed biased a diode can only withstand so much applied voltage. The voltage at
which avalanche current occurs is called reverse breakdown voltage.
• There are three ways of analyzing a diode. These are ideal, practical, and complex. Typically,
we use a practical diode model.

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