Handbook

Solid state electronics has been the number one tool that engineers choose to create novel technologies, from mobile phones to solar cells. By taking this course you will learn how to stay on top of the new inventions of the future.

• What are the challenges in making better CPUs? Does it need to be made out of silicon at all?
• How can we produce more colourful monitor screens? What limits photonic communication? When will detectors enable my car to self-drive?
• What if the devices get so small that you only have a few atoms and electrons? And what is the big deal with nanotechnology?

This is an elective course for computer, telecommunications, and electrical engineering students. It provides a detailed understanding of the physics, design, operation, and limitations of important solid-state electronic and optoelectronic devices used by electrical and telecommunications engineers. It is highly relevant for electrical engineers who intend to pursue further studies of integrated circuit design and/or microfabrication. The topics to be covered include the following:

• Band-structure and doping of semiconductors.
• Drift-Diffusion Equations; Density of states; Fermi function; Law of Mass Action.
• PN Junctions: Derivation of I-V characteristics; Capacitance; Breakdown; Non-idealities.
• Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT): Operation principles; Derivation of I-V characteristics; Ebers-Moll model; Non-idealities.
• MOSFET: Derivation of I-V characteristics; Structure; Threshold Voltage; Operating modes. CMOS devices.
• Microfabrication of: BJTs; MOSFETs; CMOS; Integrated circuits.
• Quantum effects: Tunnelling effects in diodes; Tunnel FETs; Quantization of transport; Energy levels in ultra-scaled transistors.
• Optoelectronic & Photonic Devices: Direct vs Indirect Band-gap devices.
• LEDs; Semiconductor Lasers; Photovoltaic Cells.