INTRODUCTION TO

SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES,
IC, TRANSISTOR,
THYRISTOR
SEMICONDUCTOR

• are special class of elements having a conductivity between that of a good

conductor and that of an insulator.
• Is a material which cannot conduct completely, instead its conduction ability
lies between that of an insulator and a conductor.
• In terms of energy bands, semi conductors can be defined as those materials
which have almost an empty conduction bands and almost filled valence band
with a very narrow energy gap separating the two.
• Electronic
devices such as diodes, transistors and integrated circuits
are made of a semi conductive material. The pn junction is formed
when two different types of semi conductive material are joined. The
pn junction is fundamental to the operation of devices such as the
diode and certain types of transistors.
• Although vacuum tubes were used in all forms of communication in
the 1930s, Russell Ohl was determined to demonstrate that the
future of the field was defined by semiconductor crystals.
Germanium was not immediately available for his research, so he
turned to silicon, and found a way to raise its level of purity to
99.8%, for which he received a patent. The actual discovery of the
p-n junction, as often happens in scientific research, was the result
of a set of circumstances that were not planned. On February 23,
1940, Ohl found that a silicon crystal with a crack down the middle
would produce a significant rise in current when placed near a
source of light.
• The discovery led to further research, which revealed that the
purity levels on each side of the crack were different and that a
barrier was formed at the junction that allowed the passage of
current in only on direction- the first solid state diode had been
identified and explained. In addition, this sensitivity to light was
the beginning of the development of solar cells. The results were
quite instrumental in the development of the transistor in 1945 by
three individuals also working at Bell Labs.
• After the invention of the light bulb, Edison continue to experiment
and to 1883 found that he could detect electrons flowing through
the vacuum from the lighted filament to a metal plate mounted
inside the bulb. This discovery became known as the Edison effect.
An English physicist, John Fleming, took up where Edison left off
and found that the Edison effect could also be used to detect radio
waves and convert them to electrical signals. He went on to develop
a two-element vacuum tube called the Fleming valve, later known as
the Diode.
• Thetransistor was invented in 1947 by a team scientist from bell
laboratories. William Shockley, Walter Brattain, John Bardeen
develop the solid state device that replace the vacuum tube. Each
receive the Nobel Prize in 1956. The transistor is arguably the
most significant invention in the 20th century.
• Atom
- Is the smallest particle of an element that retains the characteristics of the
element. According Neil Bohr, atoms have a planetary type of structure that
consist of a central nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons.
Nucleus
- Consist of positively charge particles called protons and uncharged particles
called neutrons. The basic particles of negative charge are called electrons.
• 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.
• Electron Shells and Orbits
- 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.
• MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ELECTRONS IN EACH SHELL
• Formula: Ne = 2n2

• Valence Electron
• Electrons that are in orbits farther from the nucleus have higher energy and
less tightly bound to the atom than those closer to the nucleus.
• The outermost part of the shell is called “valence shell”.
• Ionization
- Process of loosing valence electrons
 Semi conductor materials

Single - crystal Compound

Germanium GaAs

Silicon CdS

GaN

GaAsP
THYRISTORS

• Constructed of four semiconductor layer(pnpn).

• These act as open circuit capable of withstanding a certain rated voltage until
it was triggered. When triggered, they turn on and become low-resistance
current paths and remain so, even after the trigger is removed, until the
current is reduced to a certain level or until they are triggered off, depending
on the type of the device.
• Can be used to control the amount of AC power to a load and are used in
lamp dimmers, motor speed controls, ignition systems and charging circuits.
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

• A type of circuit in which all the components are constructed on a single tiny
chip of silicon.
• The first integrated circuit was developed by Jack Kilby while working at
Texas Instruments in 1958.
• Today, the intel core i7 edition processor has 731 million transistors in a
package that is only slightly larger than a 1.67 sq. inches.
• In 1965, Dr. Gordon E. Moore presented a paper predicting that the
transistor count in a single IC chip would double every two years.
• Now, more than 45 years, later we find that his prediction is amazingly
accurate and expected to continue for the next few decades.
• Miniaturization appears to be limited by four factors: the quality of the
semiconductor material, network design technique, limits of manufacturing and
processing equipment, and strength of the innovative spirit in semiconductor
industry.