Semiconductors and Modern

Electronics

Online at: https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-2571/ab2cc8

Semiconductors and Modern
Electronics
Chuck Winrich
Babson College, Wellesley, MA, USA

Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Copyright ª 2019 Morgan & Claypool Publishers

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ISBN 978-1-64327-590-1 (ebook)

ISBN 978-1-64327-587-1 (print)
ISBN 978-1-64327-588-8 (mobi)

DOI 10.1088/2053-2571/ab2cc8

Version: 20190801

IOP Concise Physics

ISSN 2053-2571 (online)
ISSN 2054-7307 (print)

A Morgan & Claypool publication as part of IOP Concise Physics

Published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 1210 Fifth Avenue, Suite 250, San Rafael, CA,
94901, USA

IOP Publishing, Temple Circus, Temple Way, Bristol BS1 6HG, UK

 Contents

Preface vii
Acknowledgments viii
Author biography ix

1 Introduction 1-1
References 1-3

2 Conductors, insulators, and electric circuits 2-1

2.1 Conductors versus insulators 2-1
2.2 Electric circuits: voltage and current 2-2
2.3 Electrical resistance, current, and Ohm’s law 2-4
2.4 Summary 2-5
References 2-5

3 Early developments in semiconductors 3-1

3.1 Changes with temperature and light 3-1
3.2 Rectifiers 3-2
3.3 Developments towards a theory 3-2
References 3-3

4 Band theory and impurities in semiconductors 4-1

4.1 The band theory of solids 4-1
4.2 Impurities 4-9
4.3 Donor impurities 4-10
4.4 Acceptor impurities 4-12
4.5 Summary 4-13
References 4-14

5 Diodes and solar cells 5-1

5.1 Diodes 5-1
5.2 Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) 5-6
5.3 Solar cells 5-7
5.4 Summary 5-8
References 5-8

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 Semiconductors and Modern Electronics

6 Transistors and logic circuits 6-1

6.1 Junction transistors 6-1
6.2 Field-effect transistors 6-4
6.3 Logic gates 6-5
6.4 Logic circuits 6-8
6.5 Summary 6-11
References 6-11

7 Development of semiconductors to modern devices 7-1

References 7-5

vi
 Preface

This book came out of an electronics course for students at Babson College. Babson
is a small business college, so none of the students are majoring in science. In my
classes, I try to emphasize the applicability of the science we study to everyday
experience. In electronics, that means connecting the concepts we discuss to the
electronic devices that people have and use. My electronics course is also an
introductory course with no prerequisites or assumptions of prior knowledge.
There are many fine books on semiconductors and semiconductor devices, but I
found that most of them were either written for advanced students in physics or
electrical engineering, or presented material as facts to be accepted without
explanation. As a result, I developed materials for my course to present the concepts
behind semiconductors in a way that would help explain the science behind
semiconductors to understand their applications.
As a book that was developed from teaching materials, it is natural to suggest that
others could use this book in courses. However, I think it can also serve as an
introduction to anyone interested in the science behind the many types of semi-
conductor devices we find commonplace today, including LED lights, solar cells,
and computers to name just a few. I suggest this as an introduction because I think
that this book is an example of the Pareto principle – the majority of your results
come from a small part of your efforts. This book focuses on a few big ideas that we
can use to understand and explain semiconductor devices. From that big-idea
introduction (the small part of effort) we can understand the basis for many
applications where semiconductors are useful (the large part of results) even if we
do not examine every variation of every type of device.
Like any author, I hope you enjoy this book. If this is the end of your study of
semiconductors, I hope you find a new appreciation of semiconductors and all of the
ways that they can be useful in devices. If this serves to whet your appetite to study
further, I hope this introduction will continue to be useful as you learn more about
the differences and variations among different semiconductor materials and the
different devices that are made from them.
Chuck Winrich
Wellesley, Massachusetts
July, 2019

vii
 Acknowledgments

There are many people I would like to thank for their help and support through
writing this book. I would like to express my great appreciation to Jeff Wetter for
reading drafts and providing helpful and insightful comments to improve this book.
I would also like to thank Meryl Poku for help in proofreading the text. Thanks also
to the many (too many to list) helpful and supportive colleagues who encouraged
and supported me through this project. I am grateful to the many students over
the years whose questions and curiosity are a continuous motivation to me. Lastly,
I would like to thank my family for their continued support and encouragement.

viii
 Author biography

Chuck Winrich
Chuck Winrich teaches Physics and Astronomy at Babson College.
He earned a BS in Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire, an MS in Astrophysics from Iowa State University, and an
EdD in Curriculum and Teaching, focused on Physics Education,
from Boston University. His work is focused on courses, curricula,
and pedagogy for teaching students who are not majoring in
science. He is particularly interested in the use of the history and
philosophy of science for understanding scientific concepts, and the application of
science to understanding technology and practical problems. This latter effort
involves working with students on prototype devices, and alternative spring break
trips. In addition to classroom teaching, Chuck has worked on teaching science in
less formal settings. He managed the planetarium at the Schenectady Museum where
he engaged schools and community groups in exploring scientific principles.
Chuck has also been active in the physics education community. He has presented
his work at National Science Teaching Association meetings and at the American
Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) meetings. He was appointed to AAPT’s
Committee on Science Education for the Public and served one term. He is currently
a member of AAPT’s Committee on History and Philosophy of Physics.

ix
 IOP Concise Physics

Semiconductors and Modern Electronics

Chuck Winrich

Chapter 1
Introduction

In Profiles of the Future, Arthur C Clark wrote, ‘Any sufficiently advanced

technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ In some ways, semiconductors fulfill
Clarke’s statement through the wide variety of devices made with semiconductors.
Not all of the devices made with semiconductors are unique to semiconductors, but
even in those cases, semiconductors make the devices measurably better.
An example of a device that can be made without semiconductors is the radio.
Radio broadcasting in the US began in the 1920s—well before the wide availability
of semiconductors. At that time, radios were large appliances, some small enough to
sit on a table and larger console radios that had cabinets that would sit on the floor.
These radios had to be large because of the technology they used.
A radio requires two devices to be practical: a rectifier and an amplifier. As the
broadcast waves are received by the radio, they create currents that flow through the
circuitry of the radio. If you think of a wave on the water, it will have crests and
troughs. The same is true of radio waves where the crest of the radio wave will make
a current flow in one direction, and the trough will make a current flow in the
opposite direction. This is where the rectifier comes in. A rectifier allows current to
pass in one direction but not the other. Having a rectifier allows the radio to detect
when the amplitude of the wave is large versus when it is small, which is the first step
in reproducing the sound from an AM radio wave.
The other piece of the radio is the amplifier. The amplifier is necessary to make
the current in the radio large enough to drive the speaker and control the volume.
The current in the radio from the incoming broadcast wave is relatively small. If it
was allowed to flow directly through a speaker, it might be able to move the speaker
a little and produce a very quiet sound. With an amplifier, the current can be made
larger to create more movement in the speaker and produce a louder sound.
For the first forty years or so of radio broadcast, the practical way to make
amplifiers and rectifiers was to use vacuum tubes. Relative to their equivalent
semiconductor devices, vacuum tubes are large and require tremendous amounts of

doi:10.1088/2053-2571/ab2cc8ch1 1-1 ª Morgan & Claypool Publishers 2019

 Semiconductors and Modern Electronics

power to operate. The size comparison can be seen in figure 1.1—both of the devices
shown are rectifiers. In terms of the power requirements, vacuum tubes require high
power because they operate at high temperatures to allow charges to move between
the internal parts of the tubes. Vacuum tubes are also fragile and, much like
lightbulbs, will burn out after some time in use.

Figure 1.1. A vacuum tube rectifier (left) compared to a silicone diode rectifier (right).

A great advance in radio technology came about with the invention of semi-
conductor rectifiers, like the diode above, and amplifiers, specifically the transistor,
which we will explore later in this book. By the 1960s, portable transistor radios
were available. The lower power usage of the semiconductor components allowed
these radios to run on batteries instead of being plugged into the wall. The smaller
size of the components allowed for the radios to be small and light enough to be
carried around as well.
A 1960s transistor radio might not evoke Clarke’s sense of magical technology,
but the foundation of semiconductors represented by those radios led to many other
developments that have transformed technology and produced a proliferation of
devices. As semiconductor components replaced vacuum tubes in other applications,
televisions got smaller and more efficient; computers became smaller, more reliable,
and less expensive.
At first, many of the advances brought on by semiconductors had little impact on
most people’s lives. Most people did not use computers, and certainly did not own
them. In fact, many of the leaders of the technology companies at the time did not

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 Semiconductors and Modern Electronics

think the advances would touch the lives of most people. Ken Olson, then president
of Digital, said, ‘There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in [their]
home’ (Schofield 2011). He was referring to a computer to control your entire home,
but even that prediction is questionable with the advent of Apple Home Kit,
Amazon Echo, and the Google Assistant.
Fast forward to today and we can see the impact of those advances. Home
computers have become common in the US and have given way to portable laptop
computers for many people. The modern smartphone is a powerful computer,
capable of much more than placing telephone calls. Typical smartphone specifica-
tions show that the processor clock is 500–2000 times faster than that of the Apollo
guidance computer, with 1000 times or more the memory of the Apollo guidance
computer (NASA n.d.). That is what smaller, lighter, and less expensive components
have brought over time.
Improvements in other areas have also been facilitated by the development of
semiconductors. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) provide an efficient light source.
Solar cells allow for the direct absorption of sunlight and conversion to electrical
energy. Individually, computers, LEDs, and solar cells might not seem magical, but
the fact that all of these advances are related to the same underlying material is
amazing. We do not often think about the materials that make up our technologies,
but it is the materials that make the technology work the way that it does.
In the pages that follow, we will explore the impact of semiconductors. We will go
back a bit to look at the early developments in semiconductors—the hints that there
was a different type of material there. We will also briefly review the physics behind
understanding circuits. Then we will look at a model for understanding semi-
conductors in general and use that model to explore the creation of diodes and
transistors, which have made much of the advances over the last sixty plus years
possible. While the details of semiconductors fill several volumes, this book is
intended to be a short introduction to the science behind semiconductors. We will
emphasize understanding the theories and models used to explain semiconductors
over calculations of the semiconductor properties. We will also endeavor to give
general examples of the properties of semiconductors, with the understanding that
there are multiple types of devices.

References
NASA History Office (n.d.) Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience Retrieved May 17,
2019 from https://history.nasa.gov/computers/Part1.html
Schofield J 2011 Ken Olson obituary Retrieved October 10, 2015 from https://theguardian.com/
technology/2011/feb/09/ken-olsen-obituary

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 Semiconductors and Modern Electronics

Full list of references

Chapter 1
NASA History Office (n.d.) Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience Retrieved May 17,
2019 from https://history.nasa.gov/computers/Part1.html
Schofield J 2011 Ken Olson obituary Retrieved October 10, 2015 from https://theguardian.com/
technology/2011/feb/09/ken-olsen-obituary

Chapter 2
Flowers P, Theoplod K, Langly R, Neth E J and Robinson W R 2019 Chemistry. Atoms First 2nd
edn (Houston, TX: OpenStax) https://openstax.org/details/books/chemistry-atoms-first-2e
Urone P P and Hinrichs R 2017 College Physics (Houston, TX: OpenStax) https://openstax.org/
details/books/College-Physics

Chapter 3
Busch G 1989 Early history of the physics and chemistry of semiconductors—from doubts to fact
in a hundred years Eur. J. Phys. 10 254–64
Lukasiak L and Jakubowski A 2010 History of semiconductors J. Telecommun. Inf. Technol. 3–9
Orton J 2009 The Story of Semiconductors (New York: Oxford University Press)
Pearson G L and Brattain W H 1955 History of semiconductor research Proc. IRE 43 1794–806

Chapter 4
Bardeen J 1957 Research leading to point-contact transistor Science 126 105–12
‘Derferman’ (Wikimedia Commons User) 2008 Simple Magnifying Glass Icon (public domain).
Accessed June 10 2019 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Magnifying_glass_
icon.svg
Eisberg R and Resnick R 1985 Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles
2nd edn (New York: Wiley)
Flowers P, Theoplod K, Langly R, Neth E J and Robinson W R 2019 Chemistry. Atoms First
2nd edn (Houston, TX: OpenStax) https://openstax.org/details/books/chemistry-atoms-first-2e
Merzbacher E 1988 Quantum Mechanics 2nd edn (New York: Wiley)
Mills B 2007 Ball-and-stick model of the unit cell of silicon (public domain). Accessed June 4 2018
from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Silicon-unit-cell-3D-balls.png
‘Offnfopt’ (Wikimedia Commons User) 2017 Simple Periodic Table/Chart (public domain).
Accessed January 9 2019 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Simple_Periodic_
Table_Chart-en.svg
Shockley W 1950 Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors with Applications to Transistor
Electronics (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand)

Chapter 5
Neamen D A 2012 Semiconductor Physics and Devices: Basic Principles 4th edn (New York:
McGraw-Hill)
Shockley W 1950 Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors with Applications to Transistor
Electronics (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand)
 Semiconductors and Modern Electronics

Chapter 6
Neamen D A 2012 Semiconductor Physics and Devices: Basic Principles 4th edn (New York:
McGraw-Hill)
Shockley W 1950 Electrons and Holes in Semiconductors with Applications to Transistor
Electronics (Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand)

Chapter 7
American Experience: Silicon Valley 2013 Directed by Randall MacLowry. First aired Feb. 5,
2013
Bardeen J 1957 Research leading to point-contact transistor Science 126 105–12
Morris R and Penido M 2014 How did silicon valley become silicon valley? three surprising
lessons for other cities and regions Endeavor Insight report. Retrieved April 18, 2019 from
http://endeavor.org.tr/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/How-SV-became-SV.pdf
Noyce R N 1961 Semiconductor device-and-lead structure US Patent 2,981,877 April 25, 1961
The chips are down 2018 The Economist 429 18–20