Semiconductor Devices and Technology

PREFACE It is customary for a book to have a preface, wherein the author explains why he wrote it and how it differs from all the other books on a similar subject. This book came about because I was asked to update one of our sophomore courses, in part to add some material on semiconductor devices and technology and in part to increase the breadth of the course and improve its links to other parts of the ECE curriculum. Doing all this in a single semester requires a very careful choice of topics and the depth for each of the topics. That is, to a large degree one needs to make choices about what is to be left out, more so than what is to be added in. This book embodies my own personal opinions about these choices. I believe this book is written in a similar spirit to the " blue book " series (the Modular Series on Solid State Devices) by Neudeck and Pi-erret, now regrettably out of print but still valuable as a compact introduction to semiconductor devices. This book has broader aims, and thus a different set of topics. In Chapter 1 have chosen to discuss only two semiconductor devices, the junction diode and the fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator field effect transistor. The SOI-FET is the easiest of the FETs to understand, both physically and mathematically. It may become the mainstream FET technology in the near future. By limiting the discussion to this one transistor type I intend to provide a useful introduction to active devices that includes the most essential device physics. Chapter 2 introduces the basic processes of semiconductor device fabrication and describes the process flow of an SOI CMOS process. This chapter also introduces the basic concepts of layout and relates device cross sections to the layout. Chapters 3-8 concern linear circuit theory and applications. Linear circuit theory remains an essential part of the ECE vocabulary-ECEs are apt to use circuits in the solution of all sorts of problems, in electromagnetic, mechanical, fluid, thermal, etc. domains. Chapter 3 is a summary of linear circuit analysis concepts, including the analysis of circuits with dependent sources. Chapter 4 concerns (low frequency) op amp circuit analysis, providing a both a link to real circuit applications and also a good example of the application of dependent sources to model practical circuits. Chapter 5 introduces energy storage elements and the …