SUMMARY doped with controlled amount' of pentavalent

atoms, like Arsenic, Phosphorus, Antimony or

. Electronics is a branch of applied physics Bismuth. Electrons are the majority carriers and
which deals with controlled motion of charged holes are minority carriers.
particles. The collection ofthese closely spaced In an n-type semiconductor, the donor energy level
lies just below the conduction band.
energy levels is called an energy band.
• A p-type semiconductor is formed when pure
Valence band contains valence electrons. This Si or Ge having four valence electrons is
band may be partially or completely filled with doped with controlled amount of trivalent
electrons but never be empty. The electrons in atoms, like Gallium,
this band are not capable of gaining energy 7. Indium, Boron or Aluminium. Holes are the
from external electric field to take part in majority carriers and electrons are minority
conduction of current. carriers.
Conduction band contains conduction In a p-type semiconductor, the acceptor energy
electrons. This band is either empty or partially level lies just above the valence band,
filled with electrons. Electrons present in this
band take part in the conduction of current.
• When a p-type semiconductor crystal is brought
into close contact with an "-type semiconductor
• The separation between conduction band and crystal, the resulting arrangement is called a pan
valence band on the energ,' level diagram is junction or junction diode.
known as forbidden enerß' gap or the minimum
energy required by an electron to jump from • Depletion region or depletion jayer is the
valence band to fre conduction band is called spacecharge region on both the sides ofp•n
forbidden energy gap. junction having immobile ions and is devoid of
any charge carrier,
• Fermi energy is the maximum possible energy
possessed by free electrons ofa material at • A pen junction is said to be forward biased if the
absolute zero temperature (0 K). positive terminal of the external battery is
• Semiconductors are of two types: intrinsic connected to p-side and the negative terminal to
semiconductors and extrinsic semiconductors. the n-side of p-n junction,
• Intrinsic semiconductors are pure semiconductors • A p-n junction is said to be reverse biased if the
free of any impurity. Their electrical conductivity positive terminal of the external battery is
is toully governed by the number of electrons connected to n-side and the negative terminal to
excited from the valence band to the conduction the p-side of p-n junction.
band. For example, silicon and germanium are
intrinsic semiconductors. • The voltage in forward biased junction at which
• Doping is a process of deliberate addition of the current starts to increase rapidly is called cut-
in voltage or knee voltage.
desirable impurity atoms to a pure
semiconductor to modi& its properties in a • Rectifier is a device which is used for converting
controlled manner alternating current/voltage into direct current/
•A doped semiconductor or a semiconductor voltage.
with suitable impurity atom added to it, is • A half wave rectifier is formed when single
called extrinsic semiconductor. junction diode is used. Its working is based on the
• An n-type semiconductor is formed when fact that the resistance of "-n junction becomes
pure Si or Ge having four valence electrons is
 low when forward biased and becomes high when
reverse biased.
• A full-wave rectifier is formed when two
junction diodes are used in a circuit.
• A junction transistor is a three terminal
semiconductor device having two junctions and
three terminals.
• The three layers of junction transistors are emitter.
base and collector.
• In an n-p-n transistor. two segments of n.type
semiconductor (emitter and collector) are
separated by a segment of p-type semiconductor
(base). The arrow direction for n•p-n transistor is
indicated outwards in the emitter.
• In a p-n-p transistor, two segments of p-type
semiconductor (emitter and collector) are
separated by a segment of n-type semiconductor
(base). The arrow head indicates the direction of
the conventional current in the transistor. Logic
gates are electronic circuits which control the
flow of information based on the logical relations,
Logic gate can also be defined as a digital circuit
which follows a logical relationship between the
input and output
Some of the basic types of logical gate are NOT.
OR. AND, NOR and NANO, Every gate has a single
or multiple input and output.
NAN!) and NOR gates are universal logic gates.