Education and Career Forum

please explain about semiconductor in electronics...please inform to me the details

We have three types of materials in electronics:

1. Conductor: Forbidden energy gap is almost zero that is both valence band and conduction band overlaps. Example Copper, aluminium etc.

2. Insulator: The gap between valence band and conduction band is of 3-5 electron volt and electrons can not jump from valence band to conduction band. So they do not conduct electricity. Example - glass, mica etc.

Now semiconductor material has conductivity that lies between conductor and insulator. The forbidden energy gap is of 1 electron volt. Semiconductors behave as insulator at room temperature. But when excitation is given, electrons crosses the gap and enters conduction band.

Examples are silicon and germanium.

The conductivity of semiconductors are increased by the process of doping in which pentavalent and trivalent atoms are doped with silicon or germanium resulting in n-type and p-type semiconductors.

Semiconductors are the backbone of electronic equipments without which they can not work properly.