Semiconductor Engineering and its applications

Crystal lattices, unit cells, Miller indices, crystal directions, energy levels and energy bands, direct and indirect bandgap materials, semiconductor materials (Si, Ge, GaAs), intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, carrier concentration, Fermi energy, density of states, drift and diffusion of carriers, mobility, conductivity and resistivity, carrier generation and recombination, Einstein relation

PN junction formation, equilibrium conditions, built-in potential, depletion region, Poisson's equation, carrier injection and current flow under bias, I-V characteristics, junction capacitance, temperature effects, Zener and avalanche breakdown, diode models and approximations, switching behavior, small signal analysis, real diode characteristics, metal-semiconductor contacts (ohmic and Schottky), Schottky diode, tunneling process, tunnel diodes.

Bipolar junction transistor structure, modes of operation, current components, configurations and I-V characteristics, large signal current gains, Early effect, JFET structure and operation, MOSFET types (enhancement and depletion), MOSFET I-V characteristics, light-matter interaction in semiconductors, LEDs and photodiodes, photoconductivity, solar cells, phototransistors, laser diodes (introductory), PIN and avalanche photodiodes, applications in sensors and communication systems

Overview of IC fabrication, crystal growth and wafer preparation, oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation, photolithography, etching, metallization, cleanroom protocols, device modeling basics, continuity equation, drift-diffusion model, small-signal and large-signal models for PN junctions and optoelectronic devices, introduction to TCAD simulation tools (conceptual overview only)