EE203 Semiconductor Devices
L1: Introduction
Arun Tej M.
Quick Recall: Semiconductors
• Resistivity lies between that of insulators and conductors
• Resistivity decreases with increase in temperature
• Resistivity decreases when light is incident
• Resistivity can be tuned by controlling impurity content
• Some of them can emit light of specific wavelength ranges
• Different types - crystalline, micro/nano/poly-crystalline, amorphous
• Different types – elemental, compound
Semiconductor Devices
Semiconductor
• Si, Ge, Se, SiGe, GaAs, SiC, InP, CdS, ZnO, PbSnTe, MoS2, P3HT, Nanotube, Quantum Dot…
• Periodic Table - IV, VI, III-V, II-VI
• Dimensions – 3D, 2D, 1D, 0D
• Inorganic, Organic, Hybrid
• Intrinsic – Extrinsic
Device
Diode, Avalanche Diode, Tunnel Diode, Schottky Diode, Zener Diode, IMPATT Diode, LED, Laser,
Solar Cell, PIN Diode, BJT, Phototransistor, JFET, MOSFET, MESFET, HEMT, CCD, Memory …
Where are semiconductor devices used?
The principal applications of any sufficiently new and innovative technology always have been — and will
(b)
continue to be — applications created by that technology
H. Kroemer’s Nobel prize lecture in the year 2000
Quasielectricfields and band offsets: teaching electrons new tricks
ICs: Electronics Revolution! – How did we get here?
(b)
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC),
U. Pennsylvania, 1940s
First generation electronic computer
Made of ~18,000 vacuum tubes
Several miles of wiring
40 black 8-ft. panels
Weighing 30 tons
Occupying 50 x 30 sq.ft. area
US Army needed the calculation the
trajectories of artillery shells
5000 additions per second
Today’s computers?
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC),
U. Pennsylvania, 1940s
Interesting to read!
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-
talk/tech-history/dawn-of-
electronics/untold-history-of-ai-
invisible-woman-programmed-
americas-first-electronic-
computer
Early History
1782: ‘Semiconducting’ term used by Alessandro Volta (a) (b) (c)
1833: ‘Semiconductor effect’ observed by Michael Faraday
Ag2S - Conductivity ↑ with temperature
1851: Quantitative analysis by Johann Hittorf
Ag2S and Cu2S - Linear relation of log σ vs. 1/T
(d) (e)
1873: Photoconductivity observed by Willoughby Smith
Se – Conductivity ↑ with exposure to light
1874: ‘Rectification effect’ observed by Karl Ferdinand Braun
Metal sulfides probed by metal whiskers
(a) Volta, (b) Faraday, (c) Hittorf
1876: Photovoltaic effect observed by Adams and Day
(d) Smith, and (d) Braun
Se – Current direction changed with exposure to light
L. Łukasiak and A. Jakubowski, J. Telecomm. Inf. Tech., 2010
Early History
1878: ‘Hall effect’ by Edwin Herbert Hall
(a) (b)
1883: First working solar cell by Charles Fritts
Metal-Se-Au structure
1897: Discovery of electron by J.J. Thomson
1900: ‘Model of electrons in metals’ by Paul Drude
(c) (d)
(a) Hall, (b) Thomson,
(c)Fritts, and (d) Drude
L. Łukasiak and A. Jakubowski, J. Telecomm. Inf. Tech., 2010
20th Century
1900-1927: Quantum Mechanics!
20th Century
1926: Concept patent for field effect device by Julius Lilienfeld
1928: Theory of electrons in periodic lattices by Felix Bloch
1930: ‘Concept of forbidden gap’ by Rudolf Peierls
1931: ‘Band theory’ of solids by Alan Wilson, ‘Concept of holes’ by Heisenberg
1938: Models for potential barrier and current flow in metal-semiconductor junction by Walter
Schottky and Neville F. Mott
Lilienfeld Bloch Peierls Wilson Schottky Mott
Semiconductor Devices
World War II
1940: Discovery of Si PV and p-n junction by Russel Ohl
and
Identifies relevant impurities Radar research
Ohl
happening
1945: Concept of ‘field-effect’ amplifier by William Shockley in parallel
Could not get the experiment to work – Surface states
1947: First working point-contact transistor by John
Bardeen and Walter Brattain
1948: Junction transistor by William Shockley
Minority carrier injection
1957: Tunnel diode by Leo Esaki
Point-contact Bardeen, Shockley,
transistor and Brattain
L. Łukasiak and A. Jakubowski, J. Telecomm. Inf. Tech., 2010
Semiconductor Devices
1958
First IC by Jack Kilby (TI)
1959
First planar IC by Robert N. Noyce (Founder, Intel)
1960
First MOS transistor demonstrated by John Atalla and Dawon Kahng
1963
First CMOS circuit configuration by Frank Wanlass
1964
First commercial MOS IC by Robert Norman with General Microelectronics
Did we miss some important history?
Where is our country in the whole story?
1904
Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose obtained patent for PbS point-contact rectifier
Semiconductor History – The India Connection
Sir J. C. Bose
Early History – The India Connection
(b)
Demonstrated the use of galena (PbS) crystals contacted
by a metal point, to detect millimeter EM waves.
1904
Obtained patent for PbS point-contact rectifiers
Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
How does it look inside?
P N P
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
A BJT that we commonly use as a component in discrete circuits
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
How does it look inside?
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
An IC commonly used in mobile phones
Integration Levels
Semiconductor → Device → Modeling
Semiconductor
(b)
• Si, Ge, SiGe, GaAs, SiC, InP, CdS, ZnO, PbSnTe, MoS2, P3HT, Nanotube, Quantum Dot…
• Groups - IV, III-V, II-VI
• Dimensions – 3D, 2D, 1D, 0D
• Inorganic, Organic, Hybrid
• Intrinsic – Extrinsic
Device
Diode, Avalanche Diode, Tunnel Diode, Schottky Diode, Zener Diode, IMPATT Diode, LED, Laser,
Solar Cell, PIN Diode, BJT, Phototransistor, JFET, MOSFET, MESFET, HEMT, CCD, Memory …
Modeling
Representation of the device behavior using equations, circuits, and graphs
Make assumptions; Understand the impact of the assumptions; Justify the assumptions
LED
• Practical LED invented in 1962 (Nick Holonyak)
• First LED invented in 1927 (Oleg Vladimirovich Losev)
• ZnO-SiC diode
• Gave theoretical explanations (QM)
• Called it ‘inverse photoelectric effect’
Oleg Losev
1903-1942
