Book Description

Since its inception, the Tutorial Guides in Electronic Engineering series has met with great success among both instructors and students. Designed for first and second year undergraduate courses, each text provides a concise list of objectives at the beginning of every chapter, key definitions and formulas highlighted in margin notes, and references to other texts in the series. Semiconductor Devices begins with a review of the necessary basic background in semiconductor materials and what semiconductor devices are expected to do, that is, their typical applications. Then the author explains, in order of increasing complexity, the main semiconductor devices in use today, beginning with p-n junctions in their various forms and ending with integrated circuits. In doing so, he presents both the "band" model and the "bond" model of semiconductors, since neither one on its own can account for all device behavior. The final chapter introduces more recently developed technologies, particularly the use of compound instead of silicon semiconductors, and the improvement in device performance these materials make possible. True to the Tutorial Guides in Electronic Engineering series standards, Semiconductor Devices offers a clear presentation, a multitude of illustrations, and fully worked examples supported by end-of-chapter exercises and suggestions for further reading. This book provides an ideal introduction to the fundamental theoretical principles underlying the operation of semiconductor devices and to their simple and effective mathematical modelling.