PHT.301 Physics of Semiconductor Devices

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Outline

Introduction

Electrons in crystals

Intrinsic Semiconductors

Extrinsic Semiconductors

Transport

pn junctions

Contacts

JFETs/MESFETs

MOSFETs

Bipolar transistors

Opto-electronics

Lectures

Books

Exam questions

Html basics

TUG students

Student projects

      

Bipolar transistors

Reading: Singh chapter 7 or Sze chapter 5 or Thuselt 5.1 - 5.5

    For the exam:
  • know the forward active, reverse active, cut-off, and saturation operation modes of a bipolar transistor.
  • know how the emitter, base, and collector are doped and why.
  • know what the Ebers-Moll model is and how it is derived.
  • know what the Early effect is.
  • be able to explain how a bipolar transistor works and why the base must be thin.
  • be able to describe a heterojunction bipolar transistor and explain what advantages it has over an ordinary bipolar transistor.

Problems

1. pnp transistor

2. Minority charge distribution in a BJT

3. In a n+pn bipolar transistor, VBE = 0.5 V and VBC = 0.5 V. What mode of operation (forward active, cut-off, ...) is this transistor in? Sketch the minortity carrrier profile in the device.

4. How does the base transport factor B depend on the width of the base Wb and the diffusion length in the base Lb. How should the transistor be doped to maximize B?