Semiconductor Devices – A semiconductor material is a device that allows the passage of electric current through it. Consider the device CPU, it consists of many numbers of transistors within it and these transistors contain the semiconductor material which allows the passage of current and all these are controlled by a switch. Here is a transistor, the passage of electric current is controlled by the actions based on the state of the switch whether it is on or off. Hence, such a device, which allows the current to pass through them partially is called a Semiconductor Device.
Types of Semiconductor Devices
These devices are classified accordingly whether they are two-terminal or three-terminal devices and sometimes for terminal devices. The examples of two-terminal devices include Diode, Zener diode, Laser diode, Schottky diode, Light-emitting diode (LED), Photocell, Phototransistor, Solar cell, etc.
Some examples of three-terminal semiconductor devices include Bipolar transistor, IGBT, Field-effect transistor, Silicon-controlled rectifier, TRIAC, Thyristor, etc.
Diode
A diode is a semiconductor device that comprises a single p-n junction. P-n junctions are usually formed by joining up of p-type and n-type semiconductor materials. This formation is due to the reason that the n-type region has a higher number of electron concentrations whereas the p-type region has a higher number of hole concentrations, hence, the electrons get diffused from the n-type region to the p-type region. Hence, this phenomenon is used in generating light.
Transistors
Transistors are of two types bipolar junction transistor and field-effect transistor. The bipolar junction transistor is achieved by the formation of two p-n junctions in two different configurations like n-p-n or p-n-p. In this type of transistor, the three regions formed are named as emitter, collector, and base or the middle region.
The field-effect transistor works on the principle of conductivity and the conductivity can be altered by the presence of an electric field.
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