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Module

PHY2027 : Semiconductor Devices

  • Offered for Year: 2020/21
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Sarah Olsen
  • Owning School: Mathematics, Statistics and Physics
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Semester 1 Credit Value: 10
ECTS Credits: 5.0

Aims

To describe the operation of commercially important semiconductor devices (diodes, BJT, MOSFET) and how these are described by the semiconductor physics.

Outline Of Syllabus

Semiconductor Physics
Bond & Band models; Ohm’s law; Einstein Relation; Drift and diffusion current; Current magnitudes; charge transport in solids; Wave-particle duality; DeBroglie wavelength; Heisenberg uncertainty principle; The Quantum mechanics concept;; Tunnelling; E-K bands in solids

p-n junction:
Ideal diode I-V characteristic; Dynamic equilibrium; Built-in voltage; Current flow in p-n junctions; Shockley’s equation; Ideality factor; Generation – Recombination; Small signal equivalent circuit; Characterization of semiconductor devices; Tunnel diode;

Bipolar Transistor:
Simple description of operation, Definitions of gain; Derivation of expressions for base, collector and emitter current; D.C. characteristic, Ebers-Moll equations; Small signal equivalent circuit; Hybrid- model;

MOSFET:
Depletion, accumulation and inversion; Importance of Fermi Energy position; Mode of operation; Pinch-off; Threshold voltage; Enhancement and depletion mode; Analysis of operation; I-V relation; Short channel effects; Transistor delay time; Small signal equivalent circuit.

Teaching Methods

Module leaders are revising this content in light of the Covid 19 restrictions.
Revised and approved detail information will be available by 17 August.

Assessment Methods

Module leaders are revising this content in light of the Covid 19 restrictions.
Revised and approved detail information will be available by 17 August.

Reading Lists

Timetable