Chapter 14 – Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices and Simple Circuits

Semiconductor electronics devices are a necessity and a tool for modernisation. Every semiconductor chip, transistors used in the development of modern PCs, servicers, and supercomputers are a step towards human development. Nvidia, AMD, Apple are some of the biggest companies grazing the world and are all due to the best quality semiconductor chips that they produce. Also, for your information, Taiwan is the semiconductor chips manufacturing hub in the world. Let’s read about some of the semiconductor devices that are used by us:

• Resistors: Resistors are passive two-terminal semiconductor electronics devices that use electrical resistance as the circuit completion element. It is used in all conventional to modern-day communication tools, reducing the current, adjusting the signals, and dividing voltages, and many more.
  You must be familiar with this term while doing the experiments in your physics lab class.

• Semiconductor diode: Primarily used for rectifying AC voltage, diodes give direction to the electric Voltage. They can restrict voltage flow in any particular direction to attain a DC steady voltage. They contain a unique and single p-n junction and can help in the phenomenon of generating light.
  There is a special purpose Pn junction diode which operates in reverse bias in the breakdown region.

• Junction transistor: These little devices are chipped on the integrated circuit’s surface where they work to amplify, control, and generate electrical signals. These devices are composed of three main parts, namely, the collector, the base, and the emitter. The base acts as the switch, where when the electric current is applied, it acts and influences the device’s ability to conduct electricity between the collector and emitter. They are extensively used in computer chips and radios.
  Do you know, these transistors were used extensively in world wars for communication and were a reliable source for extracting information.

• Digital electronics and logic gates: GATES are digital circuits. It tells us about the relationship between the input and output signals of any electronic device. These are also known as the fundamental building units of any digital system. There are seven logic gates, namely, AND, OR, XOR, NOT, NAND, NOR, and XNOR. The inputs are in the form of binary inputs which have only 2 characters, 0 and 1. 0 signifies false value and 1 signifies true value.
  GATES are one of the easiest topics which are asked in 12th board exams. Learn this topic by heart to score good marks.

• Capacitors: These semiconductor devices are passive electronic devices and store electrical energy in the electrical fields of its plates/ surface. The physical form of the capacitor is composed of any two conducting surfaces separated by any non-conducting medium like vacuum or dielectric.
  C=Q/V where,
  C= Capacitance of the device
  Q= electric charge on the surface
  V= Voltage applied.

The capacitance is also defined as the charge stored per unit voltage.

• In the designing and making of logic gates and circuits, semiconductor devices are used.
• Microprocessors, integrated circuits are the heavy users of semiconductor materials. The laptop and PC industry is a mammoth consumer of these chips.
• Oscillators and amplifiers are some of the analogue circuits where these semiconductor devices are used.
• These are used in high voltage applications to reduce, convert, or divert the Voltage.
• Application of Junction Diode as a Rectifier: The Pn Junction diode is a device that can be used as a rectifier to convert and modify the AC or Voltage to DC or Voltage. The working principle depends on the Pn Junction diode, which can become high when reversing biased and vice versa.