3.1 P-N JUNCTION

All modern semiconductor devices and integrated circuits (IC), which are the backbone of modern day electronics, contain at least one junction between p-type and n-type semiconductor, commonly known as p-n junction. This p-n junction is the most fundamental semiconductor device as all other devices like various types of transistors (Bipolar Junction Transistor, Field Effect Transistor, Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor, etc.) require p-n junctions of various configurations, which will be discussed in subsequent chapters. Various analog and digital operations and performance like rectification, amplification, switching, logic operations require this fundamental semiconductor device. In this chapter, we will discuss various issues related to the p-n junction followed by application of such junction diodes, called p-n junction diodes, for various operations.

In chapter 2, we have been familiar with different types of semiconductors, classified in different aspects. We recall p- and n-type semiconductor, which are realized by doping an intrinsic semiconductor with different type of impurities to obtain large number of free carriers in the form of holes in p-type semiconductor and electrons in n-type semiconductor, respectively. However, these n-type and p-type semiconductors having electrons and holes in abundance are electrically neutral, as they are neutralized by the impurity ions which have created them. To be more specific, electrons are neutralized by associated donor ions, each of which has equal (opposite in sign) amount of charge as that of each electron, and holes are neutralized by acceptors ions, each of which has equal (opposite in sign) amount of charge as that of a hole, ensuring a charge neutrality. This is clearly shown in Figure 3.1. However, if we consider a semiconductor whose two sides are differently doped with acceptor and donor impurities, their effect is not like two isolated pieces of p- and n- type semiconductor due to the transport phenomena of the mobile charge carriers. Such a device is known as p-n junction and needs to be discussed in detail. It is the most fundamental semiconductor device and is the backbone of modern day electronics.

12.1 INTRODUCTION

In electronics, an integrated circuit (also known as IC, microcircuit, microchip, silicon chip or chip) is a miniaturized electronic circuit (consisting mainly of semiconductor devices, as well as passive components) that is manufactured on the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material. A hybrid Integrated Circuit is a miniaturized electronic circuit constructed of individual semiconductor devices, as well as passive components, bonded to a substrate or circuit board. Integrated circuits are used in almost all electronic equipment and have revolutionized the world of electronics.

To a large extent, the demand for miniaturization was driven by the demands of the American Space Program. For some time, people had been thinking that it would be a good idea to be able to fabricate an entire circuit on a single piece of semiconductor. The first public discussion of this idea is credited to a British radar expert, Geoffrey William Arnold Dummer (1909–2002), in a paper presented in 1952. Jack Kilby's first prototype was a phase-shift oscillator comprising of five components on a piece of germanium, half an inch long and thinner than a toothpick. Although manufacturing techniques subsequently took different paths from those used by Kilby, yet he is considered as the pioneer in the area of IC fabrication.

ICs are polarized and every pin is unique in terms of both location and function. Most ICs use either a notch or a dot to indicate the pin numbers and its counting sequence. This is depicted in Figure 12.1.

12.2 IC: ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

The main advantages of ICs over those made by interconnecting discrete components are as follows:

• 1. Extremely small size, i.e. thousands times smaller than discrete circuits. It is because of fabrication of various circuit elements on a single chip of semiconductor material.

• 2. Very small weight owing to miniaturized circuit.

• 3. Very low cost because of simultaneous production of hundreds of similar circuits on a small semiconductor wafer. Owing to mass production, IC costs as much as an individual transistor.

• 4. More reliable because of elimination of soldered joints and need for fewer interconnections.

• 5. Lower power consumption because of their smaller size.

• 6. Easy replacement as it is more economical to replace them than to repair them.

• 7. Increased operating speed because of absence of parasitic capacitance effect.

• 8. Close matching of components and temperature coefficients because of bulk production in batches.

10.1 INTRODUCTION

In Chapter 6, we derived various small-signal models of BJT, followed by detailed analysis of the BJT amplifiers for CE, CB and CC configurations. In designing such small-signal amplifier the main focus is on amplification linearity and magnitude of gain. Since signal voltage and current in the small-signal amplifier is restricted to small amplitude for maintaining linearity, their power handing capability or the power efficiency with which it delivers AC power to the load at the expense of DC power are of secondary concern. A voltage (current) amplifier provides voltage (current) amplification primarily to increase the applied input voltage (current). Thus, in general, these small-signal amplifiers are not capable of delivering large amount of power to a passive load. But most of the practical electronic amplifiers (starting from audio amplifier to switching power supply) require a final output stage capable of delivering large power to the load. Such amplifier/amplifying stage at the output stage of a practical amplifier circuit is known as power amplifier. It can be designed using BJTs, MOSFETs and various special semiconductor devices like thyristors. However, we will consider only BJTs while discussing the design of such amplifiers.

10.2 PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF POWER AMPLIFIERS

The quality of power amplifiers is characterized by the following parameters:

• • Power handling capability: The amplifier must be capable of delivering the required amount of power to the load in an efficient manner. This demands that the power dissipation in the transistors be as low as possible.

• • High power conversion efficiency: Power conversion efficiency is another important figure of merit of a power amplifier defined as the ratio of AC power delivered to the load to the DC input power. It is expressed as,

We will calculate the power conversion efficiency η of different types of power amplifiers. A high value of η is desired as it utilizes less DC power to deliver same output AC power to the load.

• • Low total harmonic distortion: Since a power amplifier deals with relatively large signals, the small-signal approximations and resultant linear equivalent circuit models are not applicable here due to the nonlinearities of the transistors while dealing with large signals. Even though power handling capability and high conversion efficiency are major design criteria in power amplifiers, linearity still remains an important criterion.