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Academic Year: | 2013/4 |
Owning Department/School: | Department of Physics |
Credits: | 3 |
Level: | Intermediate (FHEQ level 5) |
Period: |
Semester 2 |
Assessment: | EX 100% |
Supplementary Assessment: |
PH20015 - Mandatory Extra Work (where allowed by programme regulations) |
Requisites: | Before taking this unit you must take PH10007 and take PH10008 and take PH20029 and while taking this unit you must take PH20017 |
Description: | Aims: The aims of this unit are to explore some of the physics underlying the behaviour of electrons in semiconductor materials and the operation of simple semiconductor devices. Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to: * discuss the basic concepts of semiconductor physics; * calculate carrier concentrations and effective masses; * outline the basic principles of semiconductor device operation; * describe the interactions between electrons and photons such as absorption, spontaneous emission and stimulated emission; * give examples of common optoelectronic devices for emitting, detecting and modulating light, and explain their physical principles of operation. Skills: Numeracy T/F A, Problem Solving T/F A. Content: Basic properties of semiconductors (4 hours): Electrons and holes and their effective masses. Extrinsic and intrinsic semiconductors; donors and acceptors. Electron and hole concentrations, semiconductor statistics. Transport properties (2 hours): Electrical conduction and scattering of electrons and holes in solids. Drift velocity, resistivity, diffusion, electron-hole recombination, recombination length. The Hall effect. The p-n junction (2 hours): The unbiased p-n junction; junction formation, depletion layer width. Biased p-n junctions; band profiles, depletion region width, junction capacitance. Balance of drift and diffusion currents. Qualitatitive introduction to the ideal diode equation, reverse bias breakdown. Electron-photon interaction in semiconductors (3 hours): Optical absorption in bulk semiconductors; spectral dependence, photocurrent, P-I-N photodiodes. Optical emission in semiconductors; radiative and non-radiative transitions, light-emitting diodes. |
Programme availability: |
PH20015 is Compulsory on the following programmes:Department of Physics
PH20015 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Physics
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