Course objectives:

• To provide an insight into the basic semiconductor concepts
• To provide a sound understanding of current semiconductor devices and technology to appreciate its applications to electronics circuits and systems

Syllabus:

Elemental and compound semiconductors, Fermi-Dirac distribution, Equilibrium and steady state conditions: Equilibrium concentration of electrons and holes, Temperature dependence of carrier concentration, Carrier transport in semiconductors, High field effects, Hall effect, Excess carriers in semiconductors , PN junctions ,contact potential, electrical field, potential and charge density at the junction, energy band diagram, minority carrier distribution, ideal diode equation, electron and hole component of current in forward biased pn junction, piecewise linear model of a diode , effect of temperature on VI characteristics, Diode capacitances, electrical breakdown in pn junctions, Tunnel Diode, Metal semiconductor contacts, bipolar junction transistor, metal insulator semiconductor devices, MOSFET, FinFET

Expected outcome:

The students should have a good knowledge in semiconductor theory and electronic devices.

Module I

Elemental and compound semiconductors, Fermi-Dirac distribution, Equilibrium and steady state conditions, Equilibrium concentration of electrons and holes, Temperature dependence of carrier concentration

Carrier transport in semiconductors, drift, conductivity and mobility, variation of mobility with temperature and doping,
High Field Effects, Hall effect

Module II

Excess carriers in semiconductors: Generation and recombination mechanisms of excess carriers, quasi Fermi levels, diffusion, Einstein relations, Continuity equations, Diffusion length, Gradient of quasi Fermi level

Module III

PN junctions : Contact potential, Electrical Field, Potential and Charge density at the junction, Energy band diagram, Minority carrier distribution, Ideal diode equation, Electron and hole component of current in forward biased p-n junction, piecewise linear model of a diode effect of temperature on V-I characteristics

Module IV

Diode capacitances, switching transients, Electrical Breakdown in PN junctions, Zener and avalanche break down (abrupt PN junctions only), Tunnel Diode basics only, Metal Semiconductor contacts, Ohmic and Rectifying Contacts, current voltage characteristics

Module V

Bipolar junction transistor , current components, Minority carrier distributions, basic parameters, Evaluation of terminal currents (based on physical dimensions),Transistor action, Base width modulation

Module VI

Metal Insulator semiconductor devices: The ideal MOS capacitor, band diagrams at equilibrium, accumulation, depletion and inversion, surface potential, CV characteristics, effects of real surfaces, work function difference, interface charge, threshold voltage

MOSFET: Output characteristics, transfer characteristics, sub threshold characteristics, MOSFET scaling (basic concepts)

FinFET-structure and operation