Questions tagged [semiconductors]
Most generally a class of materials that are neither insulators or conductors in their natural state, but which can be manipulated via doping or electric fields to change their conduction state. Silicon, Germanium, and GaAs are some usual materials. The term is also used to speak about devices that are made from such materials, for example, a processor from Intel can be called a semiconductor.
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How is a semiconductor electrically neutral?
I'm in the process of learning how transistors works, which starts with understanding how doping is used to create n-type and p-type semiconductor materials.
All the resources I've read sort of ...
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In a JFET, is the gate *always* connected to the bulk/substrate?
In a JFET, is the gate always connected to the bulk/substrate ?
Or is there "no rule" (sometimes it is, sometimes it is not)?
And what about the case of the MOSFET ?
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Can Tesla valve concept work for electrons?
This is a Tesla valve. It works by diverting liquid or gas back on itself when it is flown in one direction and allowing a smooth flow in the other direction.
Can the same concept be used to create a ...
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What is the reason of difference in distributed gate thyristor design
As in the pictures, they use different designs (current rate, voltage rate etc. are same.)
What is difference between these two designs?
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Why "substrate" is exposed through a "do not connect" pin at all?
I've were reading through MOC3041 opto-isolated triac when I noticed this part:
"Substrate". It's also repeated later on one page down further, but there's no explanation. I guess that might be the ...
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How does it work when multiple companies sell the same IC? [closed]
Very common ICs are sold by many manufacturers, for example let's say the TL07x range (which is vintage, but does demonstrate the case).
Inspecting datasheets of two manufacturers, TI and Diodes Inc,...
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Doping of pure semiconductors
When adding extra electrons to pure silicon in a conduction band, the extra electrons will occupy a donor level below the conduction band (we get n-type), as shown here:
When adding electron-deficient ...
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Measuring barrier potential of a pn junction using a voltmeter
The image above is from the book "The Electronics companion". Can someone please explain why the barrier potential of a pn junction cannot be measured due to the presence of the contact potential?
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Orientaion Flat on Semiconductor Wafer
On semiconductor wafers there is a straight line, which is called Orientation Flat.
What exactly are these and how they are formed?
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Understanding reverse biased PN junction
I'm trying to understand a reverse biased PN junction, conceptually. For reference, I'll adopt the convention that the P-type is on the left, and N-type is on the right. So without a bias, the ...
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Modelling and simulating multiple-collector/emitter BJTs
I occasionally like to try to understand how well-known integrated circuits work by building them up in a simulator and observing how they respond to changing conditions. However, I keep coming across ...
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Why reverse connected MOSFET start to turn on at Vgs<Vth?
The circuit shown below is implemented using two AO3400 N-MOSFETs.
AO4300 datasheet here.
The right-hand MOSFET is connected with normal polarity (Vds is positive),
while the left-hand MOSFET is ...
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Why were bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) better than metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) in the past? [closed]
I know that MOSFETs are used much more in industry than BJTs at the present, but I heard that performance of BJTs was better than that of MOSFETs in the past.
Can you tell me why?
Additionally, where ...
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Does diffusion current cause drift current?
I was studying about currents in an injected semiconductor (by illumination) from Integrated Electronics by Millman and Halkias. They consider the diffusion hole current in an injected n-type open-...
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Connecting phototriac substrate to adjacent pins
For a regulatory exercise I am analyzing the result of a short fault between a phototriac's substrate (MOC3023) and its anodes (one at a time). The datasheet warns ...
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