VIDEO: Basic Atomic Theory - Semiconductor Technology

Lecture Transcript

Chapter eight. We're in the subject of semiconductor technology. We're going to begin by looking at basic atomic theory. Here we have a nice little atom with electrons flying around. Basic understanding of atomic activity is necessary to understand the operation and application of semiconductor devices in electronic circuits. Semiconductor devices such as transistors and diodes form the basis of nearly all modern electronic systems. As we look at microprocessors and operational amplifiers these are all devices that are built from things that we call semiconductor devices.

Classification of materials. Materials can be classified in many ways. One way of classification is into solid, liquid, or gaseous states. The materials in this section are all classed as solid state. One method of classification includes electrical conductivity, color, density, hardness, resiliency, composition, and so on. We will restrict our discussion to classes of material according to electrical conductivity. Those are the types of materials that we will be looking at, and specifically they are insulators, conductors, semiconductors and superconductors.