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Understanding Semiconductors and Doping

Semiconductors are materials that can conduct electricity under certain conditions but not others. They do not conduct as well as good conductors like copper or silver. Semiconductors form the foundation of modern electronics and can be made into transistors, which are small amplifiers used in devices like computers, phones, and music players. Semiconductors have energy bands that determine how electrons can move within the material. There are two categories of semiconductors - intrinsic semiconductors which are very pure elements, and extrinsic semiconductors which have small amounts of impurities added through doping to alter conductivity, creating either n-type or p-type semiconductors.

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Ammar Saleem
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302 views1 page

Understanding Semiconductors and Doping

Semiconductors are materials that can conduct electricity under certain conditions but not others. They do not conduct as well as good conductors like copper or silver. Semiconductors form the foundation of modern electronics and can be made into transistors, which are small amplifiers used in devices like computers, phones, and music players. Semiconductors have energy bands that determine how electrons can move within the material. There are two categories of semiconductors - intrinsic semiconductors which are very pure elements, and extrinsic semiconductors which have small amounts of impurities added through doping to alter conductivity, creating either n-type or p-type semiconductors.

Uploaded by

Ammar Saleem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as RTF, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Semi-Conductors

A semiconductor is a material that in some cases will conduct electricity but not in others. Good
electrical conductors, like copper or silver, easily allow electricity to flow through them. Materials that
block the flow of electricity, like rubber or plastic, are called insulators. Insulators are often used to
protect people from electric shock. As the name implies, a semiconductor does not conduct as well as a
conductor. Semiconductors are the foundation of modern electronics.

By the addition of different atoms into the crystal lattice (grid) of the semiconductor it changes its
conductivity by making n-type and p-type semiconductors. Silicon is the most important commercial
semiconductor, though many others are used. They can be made into transistors, which are small
amplifiers. Transistors are used in computers, mobile phones, digital audio players and many other
electronic devices.

Like other solids, the electrons in semiconductors can have energies only within certain bands (i.e.
ranges of energy levels) between the energy of the ground state, corresponding to electrons tightly
bound to the atomic nuclei of the material, and the free electron energy, which is the energy required
for an electron to escape entirely from the material.

Two categories:

1- Intrinsic semiconductors

An intrinsic semiconductor material is very pure and possesses poor conductivity. It is a single element
not mixed with anything else.

2- extrinsic semiconductors

a semiconductor material to which small amounts of impurities are added in a process called doping
which cause changes in the conductivity of this material. The doping process produces two groups of
semiconductors which are known as the negative charge conductor known as n-type and the positive
charge conductor known as p-type

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