Bipolar Devices (Winter semester 2023/2024)

This two-hour lecture is offered during the winter semester and is accompanied by a one-hour tutorial. It serves as a complementary course to the MOS-Transistors and Memories lecture, which is typically offered in the summer semester. The content of this lecture builds upon the foundational knowledge gained in the Fundamentals of Semiconductor Devices and Fundamentals of Materials Science lectures. Its primary focus is the comprehensive examination of semiconductor devices based on silicon.

In the beginning, the lecture revisits and delves more deeply into the fundamentals of semiconductor physics, particularly emphasizing concepts related to band structure, carrier concentration in intrinsic and doped semiconductors, charge transport, and the generation and recombination of carriers. Subsequently, the course explores the static and dynamic behavior of pn-diodes before discussing the properties of metal-semiconductor junctions.

The discussion then extends to semiconductor heterojunctions, including their relevance in optoelectronic applications like LEDs and lasers. Bipolar transistors are covered as an additional focus. Static and dynamic behavior using simple models in addition to the basic operating principle derived from the pn-diode is presented. The final segment of the course is dedicated to the study of heterobipolar transistors.

As part of their coursework, students are required to prepare poster presentations on various application-specific diode types, which they will present in a poster workshop.