Dissemination of IT for the Promotion of Materials Science (DoITPoMS)

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Summary

The purpose of this teaching and learning package has been to give a very basic introduction to semiconductors.

By the end of this package you should be conversant with various aspects of terminology used to describe semiconducting materials, such as n-type semiconductor, p-type semiconductor, electrons, holes, band gap, majority carrier, minority carrier, work function, chemical potential, Fermi level, electron affinity, forward bias, reverse bias, Schottky barriers and Ohmic contacts. You should have an appreciation of what types of materials are semiconductors and what distinguishes wide-band-gap semiconductors from insulators. You should also be able to appreciate how very simple devices made from semiconducting materials such as p-n junctions and MOSFETs are able to respond to applied voltages.

Finally, the textbooks listed in the Going further section should be consulted for greater detail about the different topics covered in this TLP.