ECE 398 NC - Introduction to Semiconductors and Devices

Summer 2009 | Fall 2009 | Spring 2010 | Summer 2010
Official Description Subject offerings of new and developing areas of knowledge in electrical and computer engineering intended to augment the existing curriculum. See Class Schedule or departmental course information for topics and prerequisites. Approved for both letter and S/U grading. May be repeated in the same or separate terms if topics vary.
Hours 0 to 4 hours.
Course Prerequisites Credit in PHYS 214
Course Directors Keh-Yung Cheng
Description This introductory course on semiconductor devices is designed for juniors in the ECE department. This course divided into three major parts: The semiconductor fundamentals are introduced first such that carrier distributions and transportation concepts are clearly established. In the second part, devices utilizing a single type of carriers will be discussed along with their circuit models, biasing schemes, and circuit applications. The bipolar devices, where two types of carrier – electron and hole – are utilized at the same time, will be discussed in the last part of the course. Photonic devices, where photons are involved in addition to electrons and holes, will also be introduced. The course is designed at a level such that ECE 329 is not required but provides a solid foundation for other core courses including ECE 441 and ECE 442. The credit of this course counts in place of ECE 440.
Credit 3 hours.
Topics
  • Structure, growth, and doping of semiconductor crystals - Solids, covalent bonding, energy bands, crystallographic axes and planes, crystal doping, crystal growth
  • Electrons and holes - Optical and thermal excitation of valence electrons, conduction mechanism, doped semiconductors, Fermi-Dirac distribution function
  • Carrier motion in semiconductors - Carrier drift in electric fields, conductivity, diffusion, relation between drift and diffusion, recombination
  • Basic device fabrication processes - Solid-state diffusion, ion implantation, thermal oxidation, pattern delineation
  • Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitor - MOS capacitor, depletion mode analysis, accumulation and inversion, threshold voltage, experimental MOS capacitors, energy band model, metal-semiconductor contacts, CCDs
  • MOS transistors – Basic device theory and electrical characteristics - Enhancement mode MOSFET, depletion mode MOSFET, channel shape and drain current, pinch-off, MOSFET amplifier, biasing networks, small signal model, CMOS inverters
  • P-N junctions - Contact potential, depletion region formation, electron and hole current flows, reverse bias, junction capacitance
  • Diodes and related one-junction devices - Junction characteristics, forward bias and minority carrier distribution, continuity equation, reverse bias and saturation current, reverse breakdown, photodiodes and solar cells, light-emitting diodes and diode lasers
  • Operation principles for junction transistors - Diffusion model of transistor, charge control model of a transistor, short-base model, Ebers-Moll model