Semiconductor Materials

Semiconductor Materials

Silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) are well-known semiconductor materials. When they are pure crystals, these substances are close to insulators (intrinsic semiconductors), but doping a small amount of dopant causes the electrical resistance to drop greatly, turning them into conductors.

Depending on the kind of dopant, n-type or p-type semiconductor can be made.

Semiconductors made of several elements are called compound semiconductors, as opposed to those made of a single element such as silicon semiconductors. There are combinations such as Group III and Group V of the periodic table, Group II and Group VI, Group IV, etc.

*Doping phosphorus (P) of Group V into silicon (Si) of Group IV makes n-type semiconductor
*Doping boron (B) of Group III into silicon (Si) of Group IV makes p-type semiconductor.

Chapter I : Basis of Semiconductors

What is a Semiconductor?
n-type Semiconductor
p-type Semiconductor
What is a Compound Semiconductor?
What is a pn Junction?
Types of Semiconductor Devices

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