PHY3026 : Electronic Devices
- Offered for Year: 2021/22
- Incoming Study Abroad and Exchange students must contact and seek approval from school prior to enrolling
- Module Leader(s): Professor Anthony O'Neill
- Owning School: Mathematics, Statistics and Physics
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 5.0 |
Aims
To provide to specialist knowledge of electronic devices. To enable students to have a better
understanding of state-of-the-art devices (e.g. transistors). To enable students to compare competing
electronic technologies.
Outline Of Syllabus
Introduction to electronic devices. Electronic system exemplar: smartphone. Review of semiconductor properties, sheet resistance.
Junctions. Metal-semiconductor junction, Schottky contact, Ohmic contact. p-n junction, LED, photodiode, Smartphone: camera, optical and electromechanical sensors.
MOS Junction, MOS electrostatics, depletion accumulation and inversion, MOS C-V curve.
MOSFET mode of operation, I-V characteristic, delay time, sub-threshold, transistor and IC cross sections.
CMOS: Short channel effects, impact of scaling of electrical characteristics, threshold Voltage, DIBL, scaling strategies, limits to scaling.
Carrier transport, transconductance degradation, mobility, velocity-field, universal mobility, field dependence.
MOSFET Evolution, STI and LOCOS isolation, metal and polysilicon gates, LDD, parasitics, halo doping, retrograde doping, strained Si, High-k dielectrics, physical and economic scale/complexity of semiconductor devices, evolution, ITRS.
III-V compound semiconductor devices, properties of silicon versus other semiconductors, MESFET, mode of operation, I-V characteristic, heterojunctions, MODFETs, I-V characteristic
Bipolar Transistor, dc characteristic, Early effect, Gummel plot, Bipolar evolution, heterojunction bipolar (HBT).
Displays, OLED, touchscreen, digitizer (smartphone)
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | 1hr lecture per week over 11 weeks (PIP) |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Final Exam in Assessment Period |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 24 | 1:00 | 24:00 | Revision for final exam |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured research and reading activities | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Reading activity to supplement knowledge of material taught in each week. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 10 | 1:00 | 10:00 | One online synchronous tutorial per week from second week, covering worked examples & tutorial sheet |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 42:00 | 42:00 | Reviewing lecture notes; general reading |
| Total | 100:00 |
Jointly Taught With
| Code | Title |
|---|---|
| EEE3020 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures provides the core material and synchronous review sessions give students the opportunity to query material taught in that week. Face-to-face lectures can be replaced with online synchronous sessions support by non-synchronous videos if the public health situation requires it.
Problem solving is introduced and practiced through synchronous tutorial sessions.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Exams
| Description | Length | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written Examination | 120 | 1 | A | 100 | Closed-Book Exam |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
The examination allows students to demonstrate their ability to solve engineering problems focused on electronic devices, based on the knowledge and methodology presented in the course material.
Should it not be possible to hold the semester 1 examination due to the prevailing C-19 situation, an alternative "on-line" assessment will be held.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- PHY3026's Timetable