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SOLID STATE DEVICE FUNDAMENTALS

ENS 345

Lab Manuals
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Content
Notes about this Lab Course
Safety First!
Lab Reports
Lab Works
1. Preparatory Lab Work: Assembling the measuring set-up and using LabView.
2. Basic Electrical Parameters of Semiconductors: Sheet Resistivity, Resistivity and
Conduction Type
3. Measuring Hall-Effect: Conductivity type, Concentration of Charge Carriers and Their
Mobility
4. Temperature Activation of Charge Carriers in Semiconductors: Measuring Bandgap
Energy and Activation Energies of Donors and Acceptors
5. Simulation of Ion Doping of Semiconductors
6. Bipolar Diode
7. Bipolar Junction Transistor
8. Field Effect Transistor
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Notes about this Lab Course

The experiments developed for this lab course ENS345 have been designed to expand on the
material covered in lectures and to experimentally demonstrate the validity of physical principles
which lay in the foundation of basic semiconductor electronic devices. The manual describes 8
experiments and instructors will select the most important topics for experimental confirmation.
The students would better understand the fundamentals of solid state electronic devices and how
to use them in electronic circuits if the students were able to experimentally see for themselves
that the principles presented in the text are real, or pretty close to reality. It also important that
through measuring and comparing the experimental results with analytical solutions and
simulations the students become aware of the limitations of the analytical description of
semiconductor materials and solid state devices. Most analytical approaches to description of
electronic devices are limited to low currents and voltages, where the semiconductor the devices
are made of retain its electrical properties. Thus the performance of real devices may deviate
from these simplified theoretical predictions considerably when working at high voltages and
currents.
The parameters of the electronic devices and materials studied in this course and measured
experimentally are nominal values, valid as average values applicable for most electronic
circuits. By measuring actual material and device parameters and comparing these values with
the values in the text, or device description, the students obtain a feel of possible deviation of the
magnitudes of the nominal device parameters from the real ones used in electronic circuits. For
instance, the discrete devices (diodes and transistors) measured in these lab works can operate at
much larger currents and voltages than the currents and voltages you would measure for similar
devices in an integrated circuit. The reason is that integrated circuits contain devices which are
physically much smaller and hence they are unable to handle as much power as the larger
discrete components.
The lab course “Solid State Devices” is a newly developed one. Therefore the feedback from
student is extremely important for improving the design of experiments. The students are asked
to give a brief assessment of the laboratory work in the lab reports. After each lab work, the
students are invited to comment on ways to improve the experiment just completed. Students are
also encouraged to propose topics they feel would benefit through experimental confirmation of
principles discussed in class.

Safety First!
Safety is always an important topic whenever laboratory work is being considered, and it is
certainly true in the case of ENS345 labs. Safety is important. The experiments in the laboratory
use low voltages and low currents. However, the lab equipment is powered by the standard 110
V, 60 Hz line voltage. Be careful with the line voltages. Do not touch exposed prongs on the
equipment plugs when connecting the equipment to the lines. Take care when using power
supplies, which may be low voltage but can supply currents in the ampere range. Shorting such a
supply can lead to a serious burn as current arc can ignite flammable material.
The equipment is heavy enough to be generally stable on the bench. Be sure to keep the
equipment away from the edges of the benches to avoid having a piece of equipment fall off the
bench. Besides endangering people who might be struck, falling equipment endangers everyone
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in vicinity by stressing the power cords, possibly causing a line short or live fault on the
equipment, not to mention damage to the expensive lab equipment. In general, electronic
equipment does not survive harsh treatment.

General Laboratory Rules

1. No eating, or drinking in the lab.
2. No use of cell phones in the lab.
3. Lab computers are for experiment use only. No web surfing, e-mail reading, or computer
games allowed.
4. When finished using lab computer, put keyboard and mouse in the original place.
5. After the experiment is finished, the used equipment must be arranged in the way you found it.
6. Some equipment is required to be signed out and checked back in.
7. When leaving, clean up after yourself and leave your working lab desk in the state you found
it.
8. If you need any assistance, ask your lab teacher, lab technician, or call 718 982 2812.

Thank you for your co-operation!

Lab Reports
Engineers are most effective if they can clearly communicate their ideas and developments to
others, both other engineers and their managers. For this reason, writing and documenting are
essential aspects of an engineer’s job. On average, engineers spend most of their time
documenting their work and communicating the results to others. Many engineering students do
not realize the importance of this documentation and communication process and have
difficulties in their first job because of lack of skill in documenting their work. Engineers in the
workplace are evaluated on their communication skills, which include both the quality and
quantity of their publications and technical reports.
In this lab class the students are required to prepare lab reports for each lab work. The lab report
is the main document in which the student communicate the results of her/his experimental work,
processing the experimental data and the conclusions made.
The lab report is as important as the work itself done in the lab. Unless you can communicate the
results of your work, the work has little usefulness. Furthermore, the lab report reinforces the
material that was learned in the lecture class. Development of both oral and written technical
communication skills is one of the most important things you can learn as an undergraduate
student.
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General requirements
Lab report should conform to the following guidelines.
- Each report should be a self-contained document and should present all the information
regarding the pre-experiment preparations, experimental work, measurements, obtained data,
data processing, discussion and conclusions.
- Each report is to be typed using a word processor.
- Figures, drawings, charts, and tables should be added where they are needed and should contain
understandable labels, including units for the axes of the graphs.
- When plotting B vs. A, B is the dependent variable and is plotted on the y-axis, while A is the
independent variable and is plotted on the x-axis. The figure should refer to the main text and
should not stand alone. Except for raw data, all figures should be computer-drawn using any
suitable plotting programs such as Origin or Excel.
- All pages should be consecutively numbered. Sign your report on the cover page. This
signature shows that you take responsibility for what is contained in the report. Reports are due
in a week after the lab has been performed.

Lab report content

1. Title page – the first separate page showing the student name, course and section numbers, lab
title, date of the performance of experiment and the names of teammates.
2. Objectives - a short description (a few sentences) of the purpose and aim of the experiment.
3. Physical principles - a short description (up to one page) of the basic physical principles,
definitions and relevant formulae describing the experiment and used for the processing of the
obtained experimental data.
4. List of the experimental equipment used.
5. Experimental procedure - description of the major steps of performance of the experiment.
6. Laboratory data Sheet with the original experimental data preferentially arranged in tabular
form. IMPORTANT: The lab data sheet of every student must be signed by the instructor at
the end of the lab work session. The lab report without signed lab data sheet is not accepted.
7. Computations and graphs. This part of the report contains computations of the physical
values and their experimental errors with indication of the corresponding units. Standard graph
paper can be used for the graphical presentation of the experimental and calculated data.
8. Discussion. In this section, students discuss and analyze the obtained experimental data,
results of calculations, graphs and the experimental errors. Discussion is the most creative and
as such the important part of the lab report. Quality of the Discussion largely determines the
grade of the lab report.
9. Conclusion, in which a statement is made as to whether the aim of the lab work has been
achieved. In most cases, this statement is supported by the numerical data obtained.
10. Answers to the questions given at the end of every lab manual.