SEMICONDUCTORS
“Nobody is perfect!” A very famous line
uttered by everyone to defend oneself when he/she got mistaken. Same with the
things around us, they are not also perfect. Especially in the field of
electronics in which there are a lot of available materials that can be used
but their conductivity differs and this conductivity would be the consideration
in choosing them or not.
After reading this paper, you
will learn about semiconductor, some semiconductor substances, types of semiconductor, the process undergone by semiconductors to
increase its conductivity and its application in the field of electronics.
I.
Nature of Semiconductors
As what its name
suggests, it is a material that has a conductivity that falls between a
conductor and an insulator. If we try to review, conductor is a material whose
ability to conduct electricity is very high and insulator, on the other hand,
has very poor conductivity or has very high resistivity. From its prefix
“semi”, it means “half” or “partial.” Semiconductors are usually made of
germanium and silicon which are known to be good semiconductors.
II.
Some semiconductor substances
1. Indium
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3. Germanium
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III.
Types of Semiconductors
1.
Intrinsic semiconductors
In layman’s definition, this type of
semiconductor is innately semiconductor in form. In higher aspect, it is
defined as a material whose number of holes is the same to the number of
electrons.
2.
Extrinsic semiconductors
This type of semiconductor is the
advanced intrinsic one. Meaning, extrinsic semiconductors are just intrinsic
semiconductors which undergone a certain process called doping. This process is
undergone to increase the conductivity of a semiconductor specifically the
intrinsic one. The process of doping can produce two types, the n-type and
p-type.
2.a. N-type
N-type
semiconductor has many free electrons and these electrons are called majority
carriers.
Let’s
have silicon as our example here. If silicon is doped with phosphorus, it
becomes an n-type semiconductor since phosphorus will contribute electrons
instead of holes. In this case, there are already free electrons that will help
generate electricity. In this case, phosphorus will be called an n-type impurity
since it will make silicon as a n-type semiconductor.
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P-type semiconductors
have more holes than electrons. In this case, its majority carriers will be the
holes instead of electrons.
In the other way around, if Silicon will be
doped with Boron, it will become a p-type semiconductor since Boron will
contribute holes.Hence, boron will be called also as p-type impurity since it
will make Silicon as a p-type semiconductor.
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| https://goo.gl/hqZh4j |
IV.
Application of Semiconductors
Semiconductors are
widely used in the field of electronics since conductivity can be controlled or
manipulated unlike the real high conductive materials. If that is the case,
desired voltage outputs and currents can be achieved.
V.
References
Retrieved on October 20, 2015 at http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/semiconductor
Retrieved on October 20, 2015 at http://www.brighthubengineering.com/diy-electronics-devices/41694-n-type-and-p-type-semiconductors/
Retrieved on October 20, 2015 at http://www.radartutorial.eu/21.semiconductors/hl07.en.html
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