CHAPTER:1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Semiconductors
A semiconductor material has an electrical
conductivity value falling between that of a
metal, like copper, gold, etc. and an insulator,
such as glass. Their resistance decreases as their
temperature increases, which is behaviour
opposite to that of a metal. Their conducting
properties may be altered in useful ways by the
deliberate, controlled introduction of impurities
("doping") into the crystal structure. Where two
differently-doped regions exist in the same
crystal, a semiconductor junction is created. The
behavior of charge carriers which include
electrons, ions and electron holes at these
junctions is the basis of diodes, transistors and
all modern electronics. Some examples of
semiconductors are silicon, germanium, and
gallium arsenide. After silicon, gallium arsenide
is the second most common semiconductor
used in laser diodes, solar cells, microwave
frequency integrated circuits, and others. Silicon
is a critical element for fabricating most
electronic circuits.

1.1.1 Intrinsic semiconductor

An intrinsic(pure) semiconductor, also called an
undoped semiconductor or i-type
semiconductor, is a pure semiconductor without
any significant dopant species present. The
number of charge carriers is therefore
determined by the properties of the material
itself instead of the amount of impurities. In
intrinsic semiconductors the number of excited
electrons and the number of holes are equal: n
= p. This may even be the case after doping the
semiconductor, though only if it is doped with
both donors and acceptors equally. In this case,
n = p still holds, and the semiconductor remains
intrinsic, though doped.
The electrical conductivity of intrinsic
semiconductors can be due to crystallographic
defects or electron excitation. In an intrinsic
semiconductor the number of electrons in the
conduction band is equal to the number of holes
in the valence band. An example is Hg 0.8 Cd
0.2Te at room temperature.

1.1.2 Extrensic semiconductor

An extrinsic semiconductor is one that
has been doped; during manufacture of
the semiconductor crystal a trace
element or chemical called a doping
agent has been incorporated chemically
into the crystal, for the purpose of giving
it different electrical properties than the
pure semiconductor crystal, which is
called an intrinsic semiconductor. In an
extrinsic semiconductor it is these foreign
dopant atoms in the crystal lattice that
mainly provide the charge carriers which
carry electric current through the crystal.
The doping agents used are of two types,
resulting in two types of extrinsic
semiconductor. An electron donor
dopant is an atom which, when
incorporated in the crystal, releases a
mobile conduction electron into the
crystal lattice. An extrinsic semiconductor
which has been doped with electron
donor atoms is called an n-type
semiconductor, because the majority of
charge carriers in the crystal are negative
electrons. An electron acceptor dopant is
an atom which accepts an electron from
the lattice, creating a vacancy where an
electron should be called a hole which
can move through the crystal like a
positively charged particle. An extrinsic
semiconductor which has been doped
with electron acceptor atoms is called a
p-type semiconductor, because the
majority of charge carriers in the crystal
are positive holes
P-type semiconductor

P-type semiconductors are created by

doping an intrinsic semiconductor with
an electron acceptor element during
manufacture. The term p-type refers to
the positive charge of a hole. As opposed
to n-type semiconductors, p-type
semiconductors have a larger hole
concentration than electron
concentration. In p-type semiconductors,
holes are the majority carriers and
electrons are the minority carriers. A
common p-type dopant for silicon is
boron or gallium. For p-type
semiconductors the Fermi level is below
the intrinsic Fermi level and lies closer to
the valence band than the conduction
band.
N-type semiconductors

N-type semiconductors are created by

doping an intrinsic semiconductor with an
electron donor element during manufacture.
The term n-type comes from the negative
charge of the electron. In n-type
semiconductors, electrons are the majority
carriers and holes are the minority carriers.
A common dopant for n-type silicon is
phosphorus or arsenic. In an n-type
semiconductor, the Fermi level is greater
than that of the intrinsic semiconductor and
lies closer to the conduction band than the
valence band.

1.2 PN Junction
A p–n junction is a boundary or interface
between two types of semiconductor
materials, p-type and n-type, inside a single
crystal of semiconductor. The "p" (positive)
side contains an excess of holes, while the
"n" (negative) side contains an excess of
electrons in the outer shells of the
electrically neutral atoms there. This allows
electrical current to pass through the
junction only in one direction. The p-n
junction is created by doping, for example
by ion implantation, diffusion of dopants, or
by epitaxy (growing a layer of crystal doped
with one type of dopant on top of a layer of
crystal doped with another type of dopant).
If two separate pieces of material were
used, this would introduce a grain boundary
between the semiconductors that would
severely inhibit its utility by scattering the
electrons and holes.
1.2.1 Forward biasing

In forward bias, the p-type is connected

with the positive terminal and the n-type is
connected with the negative terminal.With
a battery connected this way, the holes in
the p-type region and the electrons in the
n-type region are pushed toward the
junction and start to neutralize the
depletion zone, reducing its width. The
positive potential applied to the p-type
material repels the holes, while the
negative potential applied to the n-type
material repels the electrons. The change in
potential between the p side and the n side
decreases or switches sign. With increasing
forward-bias voltage, the depletion zone
eventually becomes thin enough that the
zone's electric field cannot counteract
charge carrier motion across the p–n
junction, which as a consequence reduces
electrical resistance. Electrons that cross
the p–n junction into the p-type material
(or holes that cross into the n-type
material) diffuse into the nearby neutral
region. The amount of minority diffusion in
the near-neutral zones determines the
amount of current that can flow through
the diode.

1.2.2 Reverse biasing

Connecting the p-type region to the

negative terminal of the battery and the n-
type region to the positive terminal
corresponds to reverse bias. If a diode is
reverse-biased, the voltage at the cathode
is comparatively higher than at the anode.
Therefore, very little current flows until the
diode breaks down. The connections are
illustrated in the adjacent diagram.Because
the p-type material is now connected to the
negative terminal of the power supply, the
'holes' in the p-type material are pulled
away from the junction, leaving behind
charged ions and causing the width of the
depletion region to increase. Likewise,
because the n-type region is connected to
the positive terminal, the electrons are
pulled away from the junction, with similar
effect. This increases the voltage barrier
causing a high resistance to the flow of
charge carriers, thus allowing minimal
electric current to cross the p–n junction.
The increase in resistance of the p–n
junction results in the junction behaving as
an insulator.

1.3 Diode
A diode is a two-terminal electronic
component that conducts current primarily
in one direction (asymmetric conductance);
it has low (ideally zero) resistance in one
direction, and high (ideally infinite)
resistance in the other.A semiconductor
diode, the most common type today, is a
crystalline piece of semiconductor material
with a p–n junction connected to two
electrical terminals.Semiconductor diodes
were the first semiconductor electronic
devices.However, diodes can have more
complicated behavior than this simple on–
off action, because of their nonlinear
current-voltage characteristics.[7]
Semiconductor diodes begin conducting
electricity only if a certain threshold voltage
or cut-in voltage is present in the forward
direction (a state in which the diode is said
to be forward-biased). The voltage drop
across a forward-biased diode varies only a
little with the current, and is a function of
temperature; this effect can be used as a
temperature sensor or as a voltage
reference. Also, diodes' high resistance to
current flowing in the reverse direction
suddenly drops to a low resistance when
the reverse voltage across the diode
reaches a value called the breakdown
voltage.
1.3.1 Characteristics of a PN junction
Diode
A p–n junction diode is made of a crystal of
semiconductor, usually silicon, but
germanium and gallium arsenide are also
used. Impurities are added to it to create a
region on one side that contains negative
charge carriers (electrons), called an n-type
semiconductor, and a region on the other
side that contains positive charge carriers
(holes), called a p-type semiconductor.
When the n-type and p-type materials are
attached together, a momentary flow of
electrons occur from the n to the p side
resulting in a third region between the two
where no charge carriers are present. This
region is called the depletion region
because there are no charge carriers
(neither electrons nor holes) in it. The
diode's terminals are attached to the n-type
and p-type regions. The boundary between
these two regions, called a p–n junction, is
where the action of the diode takes place.
When a sufficiently higher electrical
potential is applied to the P side (the
anode) than to the N side (the cathode), it
allows electrons to flow through the
depletion region from the N-type side to
the P-type side. The junction does not allow
the flow of electrons in the opposite
direction when the potential is applied in
reverse.

1.3.1.1 Forward bias characteristics

When a diode is connected in a Forward
Bias condition, a negative voltage is applied
to the N-type material and a positive
voltage is applied to the P-type material. If
this external voltage becomes greater than
the value of the potential barrier, approx.
0.7 volts for silicon and 0.3 volts for
germanium, the potential barriers
opposition will be overcome and current
will start to flow.This is because the
negative voltage pushes or repels electrons
towards the junction giving them the
energy to cross over and combine with the
holes being pushed in the opposite
direction towards the junction by the
positive voltage. This results in a
characteristics curve of zero current flowing
up to this voltage point, called the “knee”
on the static curves and then a high current
flow through the diode with little increase
in the external voltage as shown below.

Forward Characteristics Curve for a Junction Diode

pn junction forward characteristics

1.2.2 Reverse biasing

When a diode is connected in a Reverse
Bias condition, a positive voltage is applied
to the N-type material and a negative
voltage is applied to the P-type material.The
positive voltage applied to the N-type
material attracts electrons towards the
positive electrode and away from the
junction, while the holes in the P-type end
are also attracted away from the junction
towards the negative electrode.The net
result is that the depletion layer grows
wider due to a lack of electrons and holes
and presents a high impedance path,
almost an insulator. The result is that a high
potential barrier is created thus preventing
current from flowing through the
semiconductor material.However, a very
small leakage current does flow through the
junction which can be measured in micro-
amperes, ( μA ).One final point, if the
reverse bias voltage Vr applied to the diode
is increased to a sufficiently high enough
value, it will cause the diode’s PN junction
to overheat and fail due to the avalanche
effect around the junction. This may cause
the diode to become shorted and will result
in the flow of maximum circuit current, and
this shown as a step downward slope in the
reverse static characteristics curve below.
1.3.2 I-V Characteristics

When the diode is forward biased, anode

positive with respect to the cathode, a
forward or positive current passes through
the diode and operates in the top right
quadrant of its I-V characteristics curves as
shown. Starting at the zero intersection, the
curve increases gradually into the forward
quadrant but the forward current and
voltage are extremely small.When the
forward voltage exceeds the diodes P-N
junctions internal barrier voltage, which for
silicon is about 0.7 volts, avalanche occurs
and the forward current increases rapidly
for a very small increase in voltage
producing a non-linear curve. The “knee”
point on the forward curve.Likewise, when
the diode is reversed biased, cathode
positive with respect to the anode, the
diode blocks current except for an
extremely small leakage current, and
operates in the lower left quadrant of its I-V
characteristic curves. The diode continues
to block current flow through it until the
reverse voltage across the diode becomes
greater than its breakdown voltage point
resulting in a sudden increase in reverse
current producing a fairly straight line
downward curve as the voltage losses
control. This reverse breakdown voltage
point is used to good effect with zener
diodes.
1.4 Different types of diodes
1.4.1 Zener diode
A Zener diode is a particular type of diode
that, unlike a normal one, allows current to
flow not only from its anode to its cathode,
but also in the reverse direction, when the
Zener voltage is reached.Zener diodes have
a highly doped p-n junction. Normal diodes
will also break down with a reverse voltage
but the voltage and sharpness of the knee
are not as well defined as for a Zener diode.
Also normal diodes are not designed to
operate in the breakdown region, but Zener
diodes can reliably operate in this region.A
conventional solid-state diode allows
significant current if it is reverse-biased
above its reverse breakdown voltage. When
the reverse bias breakdown voltage is
exceeded, a conventional diode is subject to
high current due to avalanche breakdown.
Unless this current is limited by circuitry,
the diode may be permanently damaged
due to overheating. A Zener diode exhibits
almost the same properties, except the
device is specially designed so as to have a
reduced breakdown voltage, the so-called
Zener voltage. By contrast with the
conventional device, a reverse-biased Zener
diode exhibits a controlled breakdown and
allows the current to keep the voltage
across the Zener diode close to the Zener
breakdown voltage. For example, a diode
with a Zener breakdown voltage of 3.2 V
exhibits a voltage drop of very nearly 3.2 V
across a wide range of reverse currents. The
Zener diode is therefore ideal for
applications such as the generation of a
reference voltage (e.g. for an amplifier
stage), or as a voltage stabilizer for low-
current applications.
1.4.2 Light emitting diodes
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a
semiconductor light source that emits light
when current flows through it. Electrons in
the semiconductor recombine with electron
holes, releasing energy in the form of
photons. This effect is called
electroluminescenceThe color of the light
(corresponding to the energy of the
photons) is determined by the energy
required for electrons to cross the band gap
of the semiconductor.White light is
obtained by using multiple semiconductors
or a layer of light-emitting phosphor on the
semiconductor device.
1.4.2.1 Working of LEDs
The working principle of the Light emitting
diode is based on the quantum theory. The
quantum theory says that when the
electron comes down from the higher
energy level to the lower energy level then,
the energy emits from the photon. The
photon energy is equal to the energy gap
between these two energy levels. If the PN-
junction diode is in the forward biased, then
the current flows through the diode.

The flow of current in the semiconductors

is caused by the both flow of holes in the
opposite direction of current and flow of
electrons in the direction of the current.
Hence there will be recombination due to
the flow of these charge carriers.

The recombination indicates that the

electrons in the conduction band jump
down to the valence band. When the
electrons jump from one band to another
band the electrons will emit the
electromagnetic energy in the form of
photons and the photon energy is equal to
the forbidden energy gap.

For an example, let us consider the

quantum theory, the energy of the photon
is the product of both Planck constant and
frequency of electromagnetic radiation. The
mathematical equation is shown

Eq = hf

Where h is known as a Planck constant, and

the velocity of electromagnetic radiation is
equal to the speed of light i.e c. The
frequency radiation is related to the
velocity of light as a f= c /lambda.lambda is
denoted as a wavelength of an
electromagnetic radiation and the above
equation will become as a

Eq = he / lambda
From the above equation, we can say that
the wavelength of electromagnetic
radiation is inversely proportional to the
forbidden gap. In general silicon,
germanium semiconductors this forbidden
energy gap is between the condition and
valence bands are such that the total
radiation of electromagnetic wave during
recombination is in the form of the infrared
radiation. We can’t see the wavelength of
infrared because they are out of our visible
range.

The infrared radiation is said to be as a heat

because the silicon and the germanium
semiconductors are not direct gap
semiconductors rather these are indirect
gap semiconductors. But in the direct gap
semiconductors, the maximum energy level
of the valence band and minimum energy
level of conduction band does not occur at
the same moment of electrons. Therefore,
during the recombination of electrons and
holes are a migration of electrons from the
conduction band to valence band the
momentum of electron band will be
changed.
1.4.2.2 Characteristics of LEDs
There are different types of light emitting
diodes are available in the market and there
are different LED characteristics which
include the color light, or wavelength
radiation, light intensity. The important
characteristic of the LED is color. In the
starting use of LED, there is the only red
color. As the use of LED is increased with
the help of the semiconductor process and
doing the research on the new metals for
LED, the different colors were formed.
The following graph shows the approximate curves
between the forward voltage and the current. Each curve
in the graph indicates the different color. The table
shows the summary of the LED characteristics.
1.4.4.3 Types ofLEDs
There are different types of light emitting
diodes present and some of them are
mentioned below.
Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) – infra-red
Gallium Arsenide Phosphide (GaAsP) – red
to infra-red, orange
Aluminium Gallium Arsenide Phosphide
(AlGaAsP) – high-brightness red, orange-
red, orange, and yellow
Gallium Phosphide (GaP) – red, yellow and
green
Aluminium Gallium Phosphide (AlGaP) –
green
Gallium Nitride (GaN) – green, emerald
green
Gallium Indium Nitride (GaInN) – near
ultraviolet, bluish-green and blue
Silicon Carbide (SiC) – blue as a substrate
Zinc Selenide (ZnSe) – blue
Aluminium Gallium Nitride (AlGaN) –
ultraviolet
1.4.4.4 Advantages of LEDs
Energy efficient – LED’s are now capable of
outputting 135 lumens/watt
Long Lifetime – 50,000 hours or more if
properly engineered
Rugged – LED’s are also called “Solid State
Lighting (SSL) as they are made of solid
material with no filament or tube or bulb to
break
No warm-up period – LED’s light instantly –
in nanoseconds
Not affected by cold temperatures – LED’s
“like” low temperatures and will startup
even in subzero weather Directional – With
LED’s you can direct the light where you
want it, thus no light is wasted
Excellent Color Rendering – LED’s do not
wash out colors like other light sources such
as fluorescents, making them perfect for
displays and retail applications
Environmentally friendly – LED’s contain no
mercury or other hazardous substances
Controllable – LED’s can be controlled for
brightness and color
LEDs are extremely energy efficient and
consume up to 90% less power than
incandescent bulbs. Since LEDs use only a
fraction of the energy of an incandescent
light bulb there is a dramatic decrease in
power costs. Also, money and energy is
saved in maintenance and replacement
costs due to the long LED lifespan.LEDs have
a lifespan of up to 60,000 hours compared
to 1,500 hours for incandescent bulbs.
1.4.4.5 Disadvantages of LEDs
Blue hazard: There is a concern that blue
LEDs and cool-white LEDs are now capable
of exceeding safe limits of the so-called
blue-light hazard as defined in eye safety
specification.
Light quality: Most cool-white LEDs have
spectra that differ significantly from a black
body radiator like the sun or an
incandescent light. The spike at 460 nm and
dip at 500 nm can cause the color of objects
to be perceived differently under cool-
white LED illumination than sunlight or
incandescent sources, due to metamerism,
red surfaces being rendered particularly
badly by typical phosphor-based cool-white
LEDs. However, the color rendering
properties of common fluorescent lamps
are often inferior to what is now available in
state-of-art white LEDs.
Temperature dependence: LED
performance largely depends on the
ambient temperature of the operating
environment. Over-driving the LED in high
ambient temperatures may result in
overheating of the LED package, eventually
leading to device failure. Adequate heat-
sinking is required to maintain long life. This
is especially important when considering
automotive, medical, and military
applications where the device must operate
over a large range of temperatures, and is
required to have a low failure rate.
Blue pollution: Because cool-white LEDs
(i.e., LEDs with high color temperature)
emit proportionally more blue light than
conventional outdoor light sources such as
high-pressure sodium lamps, the strong
wavelength dependence of Rayleigh
scattering means that cool-white LEDs can
cause more light pollution than other light
sources. The International Dark-Sky
Association discourages the use of white
light sources with correlated color
temperature above 3,000 K.
Voltage sensitivity: LEDs must be supplied
with the voltage above the threshold and a
current below the rating. This can involve
series resistors or current-regulated power
supplies.
High initial price: LEDs are currently more
expensive, price per lumen, on an initial
capital cost basis, than most conventional
lighting technologies. The additional
expense partially stems from the relatively
low lumen output and the drive circuitry
and power supplies needed.
Area light source: LEDs do not approximate
a “point source” of light, but rather a
Lambertian distribution. So LEDs are
difficult to use in applications requiring a
spherical light field. LEDs are not capable of
providing divergence below a few degrees.
This is contrasted with lasers, which can
produce beams with divergences of 0.2
degrees or less

1.4.4.6 Applications of Light Emitting Diodes

There are many applications of the LED and
some of them are explained below.
LED is used as a bulb in the homes and
industries
The light emitting diodes are used in the
motorcycles and cars
These are used in the mobile phones to
display the message
At the traffic light signals led’s are used
It is used in optical switching application.
It is used in burglar alarm system.
It is used for indicating power ON/OFF
conditions, power level indicators or stereo
amplifiers.
It is used in image sensing circuits in
videophones.
It is used in optical communication system.
It is used for checking the linearity, speed
etc. of opto-electronic detection circuits.
It is used in motorcycle and bicycle lights.
It is used in traffic lights and signals.
1.5 Planck's constant
The Planck constant (denoted h, also called
Planck's constant) is a physical constant
that is the quantum of electromagnetic
action, which relates the energy carried by
a photon to its frequency. A photon's
energy is equal to its frequency multiplied
by the Planck constant. The Planck constant
is of fundamental importance in quantum
mechanics, and in metrology it is the basis
for the definition of the kilogram.the Planck
constant, as defined by the ISO standard,
was set to 6.62607015×10−34 J⋅s exactly.
The Planck constant is related to the
quantization of light and matter. It can be
seen as a subatomic-scale constant. In a
unit system adapted to subatomic scales,
the electronvolt is the appropriate unit of
energy and the petahertz the appropriate
unit of frequency. Atomic unit systems are
based (in part) on the Planck constant.
The Planck constant is one of the smallest
constants used in physics. This reflects the
fact that on a scale adapted to humans,
where energies are typically of the order of
kilojoules and times are typically of the
order of seconds or minutes, the Planck
constant (the quantum of action) is very
small
In principle, the Planck constant could be
determined by examining the spectrum of a
black-body radiator or the kinetic energy of
photoelectrons, and this is how its value
was first calculated in the early twentieth
century. In practice, these are no longer the
most accurate methods. The CODATA value
quoted here is based on three Kibble
balance measurements of KJ2RK and one
inter-laboratory determination of the molar
volume of silicon,[48] but is mostly
determined by a 2007 Kibble balance
measurement made at the U.S. National
Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST)Five other measurements by three
different methods were initially considered,
but not included in the final refinement as
they were too imprecise to affect the result.

There are both practical and theoretical

difficulties in determining h. The practical
difficulties can be illustrated by the fact that
the two most accurate methods, the Kibble
balance and the X-ray crystal density
method, do not appear to agree with one
another. The most likely reason is that the
measurement uncertainty for one (or both)
of the methods has been estimated too low
– it is (or they are) not as precise as is
currently believed – but for the time being
there is no indication which method is at
fault.
The theoretical difficulties arise from the
fact that all of the methods except the X-ray
crystal density method rely on the
theoretical basis of the Josephson effect
and the quantum Hall effect. If these
theories are slightly inaccurate – though
there is no evidence at present to suggest
they are – the methods would not give
accurate values for the Planck constant.
More importantly, the values of the Planck
constant obtained in this way cannot be
used as tests of the theories without falling
into a circular argument. There are other
statistical ways of testing the theories, and
the theories have yet to be refuted.