Basic Electronics Notes

Subject Code: EC1101 Module-I

Semiconductor Physics.
Introduction:
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Semiconductor is a chemical Element in which the conductivity lies between conductor and
insulator, Hence the movement of electrons (Current Conduction) can be controlled easily by
means of an external voltage (Biasing).

Two types of Semiconductors

1. Intrinsic Semiconductor (Pure Semiconductor) and
2. Extrinsic Semiconductor (Impure semiconductor/Added impurity)

Extrinsic semiconductor is further classified into two types

a. P-Type Extrinsic Semiconductor (Doping Trivalent element) and
b. N-Type Extrinsic Semiconductor (Doping Pentavalent element).

The holes are majority charge carriers and electrons are minority charge carriers in P-Type and
electrons are majority and holes are minority charge carriers in case of N-Type
Semiconductor.

P-N Junction (Semiconductor Diode/ Diode):

Construction:

Starting with a piece of intrinsic semiconductor and divide it into two halves, one half is doped
with any tri-valent element such as Boron, Aluminum etc., to form P-Type semiconductor, in
which the holes are majority charge carriers and electrons are minority charge carriers. Other
half is doped with any penta-valent element such as phosphorus, arsenic etc., to form N-Type
Semiconductor, in which the electrons are majority charge carriers and holes are minority
charge carriers.
The Junction or a line dividing the P-Type and N-Type is called P-N Junction. Metallic contact
is connected to P-Type and N-Type material to get terminals for the device called Electrodes
such as Anode and Cathode, this device is called P-N Junction Diode or Semiconductor diode or
simply Diode as shown in figure (1).

Figure (1): P-N Junction Diode/Diode

Working:

The working principle can be studied in three different operations or Biasing arrangements as
follows.
Case (1): Zero Biasing.
Without any external supply and at normal room temperature, at the time of contact with P-
Type and N-Type material, it has a tendency to move or diffusing the electrons from N side and

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occupies holes from the P side. Similarly, holes in the P side attract electrons in the N side.
This results forming a thin layer near the P-N Junction due to loosing electrons near the junction
from the N side and holes near the junction from the P side. This layer or region is called
depletion layer and it acts as an intrinsic semiconductor as shown in figure (2).

Figure (2): P-N Junction Diode/Diode with depletion layer/region.

Case (2): Reverse Biasing.

External supply with Positive terminal of the battery is connected to the cathode and negative
terminal of the battery is connected to the anode is called Reverse biasing.
With this biasing the negative terminal of the battery sucks out or attracts the holes from P-
Type material and positive terminal of the battery sucks out or attract electrons from N-Type
material, this results wider depletion region and the resistance is very high, and the current that
flows through the device only due to minority charge carriers as shown in figure (3).
The magnitude of current under reverse biasing is in terms of nano amperes for silicon
diodes.

Figure (3): P-N Junction Diode is under Reverse Biasing.

Case (3): Forward Biasing.

External Supply with Positive terminal of the battery is connected to the anode and negative
terminal of the battery is connected to the cathode is called forward biasing. 6
With this biasing the negative terminal of the battery pushes or pumps more electrons to the N-
Type material and positive terminal of the battery pushes or pumps more holes to the P- Type 4
material. If we go on increasing the biasing voltage the width of the depletion region decreases,
Resistance decreases and the current flowing through the device is increases (not proportional
to voltage). If the Biasing voltage VS is greater than or equal to Vγ (Thresold Voltage) the
depletion layer completely vanishes and easily current will flow as shown in figure (4). The cut
in voltage or threshold voltage (Vγ) for silicon diodes is 0.7 V and for Germanium diodes is
0.3V.

Figure (4): P-N Junction Diode is under Forward Biasing.

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V-I Characteristics:

Figure (5): V-I Characteristics of P-N Junction Diode.

Figure (5) shows the V-I Characteristics of P-N Junction diode, VS is the biasing voltage, ID is
the Diode Current and VBD is the Break down voltage. The leakage current flows through the
device under reverse biasing due to minority charge carriers. Under forward biasing and biasing
voltage is greater than or equal to the threshold voltage, the device then acts as a conducting
material.

Diode Characteristic Parameters:

1. Reverse Resistance (Rr):
The ratio of Reverse biasing voltage to the reverse current is called Reverse resistance of the
PN Junction Diode.
i.e., 𝑅𝑟 = 𝑉𝑅 ⁄𝐼𝑂

where, VR is the Biasing voltage under reverse biasing, called as reverse voltage and
Io is the reverse leakage current.

2. Forward Resistance (Rf):

The ratio of Forward biasing voltage to the Forward current is called Forward resist Junction
Diode.
i.e., 𝑅𝑓 = 𝑉𝐹 ⁄𝐼𝐷
where, VF is the Biasing voltage under Forward biasing, called as Forward voltage and
ID is the Forward Current.
Diode Current Equation:
The diode current equation is given by, <OJKGROZ_3LGIZUX<:

𝐼𝐷 = 𝐼𝑂 (𝑒𝜂𝑉𝑇 -1)
Where,
ID is the diode current,
IO is the reverse saturation or leakage current, VF is the applied forward voltage,
η is a constant 1 for Ge and 2 for Si and
VT is the volt equivalent temperature (Thermal Voltage) is given by, 𝑽𝑻 = kT/q
where, k is the Boltzmann’s constant,
T is the temperature in Kelvin and q is the charge of an electron.
𝒌 = 𝟏. 𝟑𝟖𝟎𝟔𝟒𝟖𝟓𝟐 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟐𝟑 𝑱/𝑲
𝒒 = 𝟏. 𝟔𝒙𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟗𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒔
At room Temperature, i.e., at 300oK, 𝑽𝑻 = 𝟐𝟓. 𝟖𝟓𝒎𝑽 ≈ 𝟐𝟔𝒎𝑽 or 𝑽𝑻 = T/11600
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Equivalent Circuit of diode:
1. DC Equivalent Circuit.
The DC equivalent circuit of a diode under reverse biasing is an open circuit or Reverse
Resistance Rr (typically in terms of MΩ) shown in figure (6a), and under forward biasing as
shown in figure (6). Where Rf is the forward resistance of the diode, VON is the voltage drop
across the diode under Conduction State (VON=0.7V for Silicon diodes and VON=0.3V for
Germanium Diodes).

Figure (6a): Diode DC Equivalent Circuit under reverse biasing.

Figure (6b): Diode DC Equivalent Circuit under forward biasing.

2. AC Equivalent Circuit.
The AC equivalent circuit of a diode under reverse biasing and for forward biasing is the
parallel connection of a Resistor and a Capacitor as shown in figure (7a) and figure (7b)
respectively.
Under reverse biasing the depletion layer width increases and acts as a parallel plate capacitor
with dielectric, hence the diode will be considered as a capacitor called Transition Capacitance/
Junction Capacitance/ Space charge Capacitance.

Figure (7a): AC Equivalent circuit under Reverse Biasing.

Under forward biasing the rate of change of charge carriers increases with respect to the
applied forward voltage, hence the diode under forward biasing acts as a capacitor called
diffusion Capacitance.

Figure (7b): AC equivalent Circuit under forward biasing.

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Effect of Temperature on Diodes:
The number of charge carriers will vary depending on the temperature. i.e., if temperature
increases the number of charge carriers also increases and due to this the conduction current
(ID) also increases. The relation between current, voltage and temperature is as follows.

Rectifiers.
Rectifiers are the electronics circuits that convert AC quantity into to DC quantity. This can
be achieved by using unidirectional conduction devices like diode.
Depending on the conduction angle the rectifier circuits are classified into two types, they
are,
1. Half wave Rectifier and
2. Full wave Rectifier.
The Full Wave Rectifiers are further classified (based on number of diodes using) into two
types, they are,
a. Center Tap Transformer (Two Diodes) full wave rectifier and
b. Bridge Type (Four Diodes) full wave rectifier.

1. Half wave Rectifier:

The half rectifier is an electronic circuit, which converts AC quantity into pulsating DC, by
using a single diode with conduction angle only 180o that is only half cycle.

Circuit Diagram:

Figure (8): Half wave Rectifier circuit.

Figure (8) shows the circuit diagram of a half wave rectifier, where D is a diode (Assume
Diode is ideal), RL is the load resistor, input is an AC signal and output is the Pulsating DC
Signal.
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Explanation:

During every Positive half cycle diode D conducts and acts as a short circuit, hence the current
flows through the Load resistor and is proportional to the input voltage according to Ohm’s
law, therefore the voltage across RL is same as input signal.
i.e., 𝑽𝒐=𝑽𝒊

During every negative half cycle diode D does not conducts and acts as an open circuit and no
current flows through the load element, hence the voltage across RL is zero.
i.e., 𝑽𝒐=𝟎

Waveforms: Figure (9) shows the waveforms of an half wave rectifier circuit, and it can be
observed that the output is only half cycle for every complete cycle input and also pulsating
DC (Ripples/ some AC Components also present), i.e., not a pure DC.

Mathematical expressions:
The output of half wave rectifier circuit is irregular in nature and hence, need to analyze the
circuit for average DC and AC voltage or current along with the efficiency and ripple factor.
Transformer voltage and current is given by,

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Advantage:
 Simple and easy to construct.
 PIV is only Vm.

Disadvantages:
 Conducts only half cycle, due to this more power will be wasted.
 More ripples occur in the output.

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