22.12: Summary

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 46347

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

The purpose of this teaching and learning package has been to give a very basic introduction to semiconductors.

By the end of this package you should be conversant with various aspects of terminology used to describe semiconducting materials, such as n-type semiconductor, p-type semiconductor, electrons, holes, band gap, majority carrier, minority carrier, work function, chemical potential, Fermi level, electron affinity, forward bias, reverse bias, Schottky barriers and Ohmic contacts. You should have an appreciation of what types of materials are semiconductors and what distinguishes wide-band-gap semiconductors from insulators. You should also be able to appreciate how very simple devices made from semiconducting materials such as p-n junctions and MOSFETs are able to respond to applied voltages.

Finally, the textbooks listed in the Going further section should be consulted for greater detail about the different topics covered in this TLP.

Going further

Books

There are many excellent textbooks which give an introduction to semiconductors. The following textbooks are just a few examples:

Solid State Physics, N.W. Ashcroft and N. D. Mermin. (Harcourt Brace 1976)
Solid State Physics, J.S. Blakemore (Saunders 1974)
The Electronic Structure and Chemistry of Solids, P.A. Cox (Oxford, 1987)
Electronic Properties of Materials, R.E. Hummel (Springer-Verlag 2001)
Principles of Electronic Materials and Devices, S.O. Kasap (McGraw-Hill 2006)
Introduction to Solid State Physics, C. Kittel (Wiley 1996)
Electronic Materials Science, J.W. Mayer and S.S. Lau (Macmillan 1990)
Introductory Semiconductor Device Physics, G. Parker (Institute of Physics 2004)
The Solid State, H.M. Rosenberg (OUP 1988)
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L. Solymar and D. Walsh (OUP 1993)
Solid State Electronic Devices, B.G. Streetman and S.K. Banerjee (Pearson Prentice Hall 2006)

Some of these texts are deliberately written as introductory texts for undergraduates in physics, chemistry, materials science and electrical engineering, while others are meant for graduate students in these areas and lead the reader into research-level material.

Websites

There are now a great many web sites containing material relevant to this TLP. These web sites offer various levels of sophistication in their treatment of semiconductors. Examples are:

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/semiconductors/
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/transistor/function/index.html
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/integrated_circuit/history/index.html
These three Nobel Prize sites are aimed at the general public and give fairly simple, but useful, treatments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor
The Wikipedia source article is a gateway to further articles on semiconductors