Semiconductor Physics

Abstract

This course is dedicated to the students of the Bachelor's Degree electronic option as part of the official program. Even in higher education, students who want to deepen their knowledge or have a basic document in semiconductor physics. The basics of semiconductor physics are very interesting since, on the one hand, the course is aimed at students of electronic formation, and on the other hand, semiconductor physics appeals to solid chemistry, which can conduct electricity under some conditions but not in others, making it a good way to control an electric current. Indeed, its electrical properties allow it to be both conductive (like metals) and insulating. The course as a whole is designed to develop a good understanding of the physical mechanisms that underlie semiconductor applications. Particular importance is therefore given to the physical content of theoretical developments rather than their mathematical aspect. For this reason, theoretical developments are, sometimes to the detriment of their rigor, greatly simplified compared to those encountered in most books dealing with the concept of semiconductors. The course is structured according to a common thread whose logic makes it possible to highlight the enormous progress made by person in the field of mastery of semiconductor physics. This course subject passes, in fact, gradually through four chapters: The first chapter is intended to describe the most famous semiconductors, silicon Si and germanium Ge from column IV of the periodic table. These two semiconductors are composed of identical atoms. In the second chapter, we focus on the PN junction which designates a zone of the crystal where the doping varies abruptly, changing from a P doping to an N doping, as well as the polarized PN junction, the effects of a polarization and the types of diodes.