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The first integrated circuit


Developed by Jack Kilby in 1958 A phase-shift oscillator

Semiconductor Theory
EE 21-Fundamentals of Electronics

The core i7 microprocessor


Contains 781 million transistors Just a little bit larger than the average stamp

Semiconductor Materials
Semiconductors special class of elements having conductivity between conductors and insulators Two classes: Single-crystal (Ge, Si) and Compound (GaAs, CdS, GaN, GaAsP) Most frequently used semiconductors: Ge, Si, GaAs

Brief Semiconductor History


Initially, germanium was used (diode 1939, transistor 1947) Was later replaced by silicon(Si transistor in 1954) as germanium suffered from low reliability (high T sensitivity) Silicon less temperature sensitive, one of the most abundant materials on earth. (its basically available in sand!)

Brief Semiconductor History


1970s: GaAs transistor was developed due to increased demand for transistor speeds Si transistor networks still stayed, cheaper for most applications and highly efficient design strategies GaAs eventually developed through research, and is used for VLSI (very large scale integration) circuits. So what next?

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Silicon and Germanium Atomic Structures

Atomic Structures: Gallium and Arsenic

Valence Electrons?
Valence term used to indicate that the ionization potential required to remove electron from the atom is lower. (lower than what?) Valence electrons electrons that are in the outermost shell of the atom. Depending on the # of VEs, an atom can be either trivalent (3), tetravalent (4), or pentavalent (5).

Covalent bonding in a Si crystal

Covalent bonds strengthened by sharing of electrons

Free Electrons
Valence electrons can still absorb sufficient kinetic energy from natural causes and assume the free state Examples of natural causes light energy (photons), thermal energy (heat) in the surrounding medium Free electron any electron who has separated from the fixed lattice structure Free electrons are sensitive to any applied electric fields (i.e. voltage sources / potential differences)

Free electrons intrinsic semiconductor


Intrinsic material one that is refined to contain very little to no impurities For 1 cm3 of intrinsic Si @ room temp, there are approximately 15 BILLION free carriers/electrons. Intrinsic carriers free electrons due only to external causes

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Intrinsic carriers and relative mobility factor


Semiconductor Silicon Germanium Gallium Arsenide Intrinsic Carriers /cm3 1.5 x 1010 2.5 x 1013 1.7 x 106 Relative mobility factor n (cm2/Vs) 1500 3900 8500

The importance of material purity


Normal impurity levels: 1 part in 10 billion! For LSI circuits, higher levels are attainable Addition of 1 part of impurity per million in a wafer of silicon material = significant change in conductivity The ability to change the characteristics of a material through addition of impurities is called DOPING.

What do these values tell us?

Reaction to Heat
Normally, conductor resistance increases with temperature (recall R RO (1 T ) ). (WHY?) Materials that react in this manner have a positive temperature coefficient. However, semiconductors exhibit an increased level of conductivity with the application of heat. (WHY?) Due to this property, semiconductors have a negative temperature coefficient.

Energy Levels
Within the atomic structure of each isolated atom there are specific energy levels associated with each shell and electron. The farther an electron is from the nucleus, the higher is the energy state Any electron that has left its parent atom (free) has a higher energy state than any electron in the parent structure.

Energy Levels

Energy Levels
As atoms are brought together to form the crystal lattice, interactions b/w atoms result in varying energy levels Energy levels expand from fixed, discrete levels to energy bands

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Energy Bands

Doping and Extrinsic Materials


A semiconductor that has been subjected to doping is called an extrinsic material. Doping addition of impurity (1 part/ 10 million, but significant enough)

Insulator

Semiconductor

Conductor

Two types: n-type and p-type materials.

N-type material
Formed by adding pentavalent materials (Sb, As, P), also known as donor atoms Impurity atom gives an extra free electron N-type materials are still electrically neutral

P-type material
Formed by adding trivalent materials (B, Ga, In), also known as acceptor atoms Acceptor atom gives an extra free hole P-type materials are also electrically neutral

Effect of donor impurities on Eg

Electron and Hole flow

Electron flow Hole moves to the vacated space

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Majority and Minority Carriers


In the intrinsic state, the number of free electrons are only
Those in the valence band that have acquired sufficient KE to break their bond From the very few impurities that could not be removed

N-type material
In an N-type material, the electron is the majority carrier and the hole is the minority carrier

Very limited supply of holes For extrinsic materials, there are now majority and minority carriers.

P-type material
In a P-type material, the hole is the majority carrier and the electron is the minority carrier

There we go!
The N-type and P-type materials are the foundation of semiconductor devices. Joining an N-type and a P-type material now leads us to the first solid-state device, the SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE.

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