Università Roma Tre

1. Physics of Semiconductors. Materials for electronics. Band structure and general properties. Group IV semiconductors, III-V and II-VI. Alloys. Amorphous and polycrystalline semiconductors. Intrinsic carriers. Conductivity. Doping. Mobility and factors affecting it. Phenomena of non-equilibrium. Fick's equation: diffusion. Diffusion/Drift of the charge carriers. Recombination and generation. Theory SHR with a single trap level.
- The equation of continuity of electrons and holes. Boundary conditions. Poisson equation. Einstein relationship. Quasi-Fermi levels. Mathematical model of a semiconductor.
- Ramo Theorem. Photoconductivity. Photoresistors. Photoconductive gain.

2. Bipolar devices. The pn junction. Static characteristics. Forward and reverse bias. Excess carriers profile. Drift and diffusion current. The Shockley ideal diode. Electrostatic p+n junction. Potential and electric field. Dynamic characteristics. Transition capacity. A mathematical model for the diode. Quality factor. Temperature coefficient. The prototype transistor. Transistors for switching and amplification devices. Vertical and lateral devices. Npn and pnp BJT. The BJT as switch and amplifier. Current gain. Gummel’s number. Early effect. Kirk effect.
- The pn junction in the light. The pin and avalanche photodiode. Spectral response.
- Electroluminescence. Radiative and non-radiative transitions. Luminescence efficiency. Device architectures. LED for IR and UV-VIS.
- Heterojunction: the junction GaAs-Ge. Bands alignment. Anderson Theory. The ideal transistor. HBT Npn-heterojunction. Thermionic-Diffusive model.

3. Unipolar Devices. The metal-semiconductor barrier. The Schottky diode. Work function and electron affinity. I-V characteristic. Ohmic contact. Surface charge and the Debye length. M-S Junction electrostatics. Thermionic current. Drift-diffusion current. Barrier lowering: Schottky effect. Non-uniform doping.
- JFET and MESFET. Channel resistance. Input characteristics: IDS vs VGS. Trans-characteristic. Trans-conductance, Channel conductance. The JFET as a signal amplifier. Dynamic behavior. Small signal model. Frequency behavior and fT.
- Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor structures. The MIS diode. MOS system capacitance. Interface states. - MOSFET: gradual channel approssimation. NMOS, PMOS and CMOS. Depletion and enrichment devices. Subthreshold current. Geometric effects. Scaling laws.

Elements of micro/nano-electronic technologies
Silicon growth and purification. Doping by diffusion. Doping by implantation. Metals deposition: evaporation and sputtering. Photolithography. Reactive Ion Etching. Silicon oxidation. Epitaxy. BJT, NMOS, CMOS and BiCMOS technologies.

D.A. Neamen - Semiconductor Physics and Devices, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill, 2003.
R.S Muller, T.I. Kamins - Device Electronics for Integrated Circuits, 3rd Ed., John Wiley, 2009