Description

On June 30, 1948, AT&T Bell Labs unveiled the transitor to the world, creating a spark of explosive economic growth that would lead into the Information Age. William Shockley led a team of researchers, including Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, who invented the device. Like the existing triode vacuum tube device, the transistor could amplify signals and switch currents on and off, but the transistor was smaller, cheaper, and more efficient. Moreover, it could be integrated with millions of other transistors onto a single chip, creating the integrated circuit at the heart of modern computers.

Today, most transistors are being manufactured with a minimum feature size of 60-90nm--roughly 200-300 atoms. As the push continues to make devices even smaller, researchers must account for quantum mechanical effects in the device behavior. With fewer and fewer atoms, the positions of impurities and other irregularities begin to matter, and device reliability becomes an issue. So rather than shrink existing devices, many researchers are working on entirely new devices, based on carbon nanotubes, spintronics, molecular conduction, and other nanotechnologies.

Learn more about transistors from the many resources on this site, listed below. Use our simulation tools to simulate performance characteristics for your own devices.

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1. ECE 606 Lecture 12: Equilibrium Concentrations

   out of 5 stars 

   16 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Carrier concentrationTemperature dependence of carrier concentrationMultiple doping, co-doping, and heavy-dopingConclusion

2. ECE 606 Lecture 11: Equilibrium Statistics

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   16 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Law of mass-action & intrinsic concentration Statistics of donors and acceptor levelsConclusion

3. ECE 606 Lecture 10: Additional Information

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   16 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Potential, field, and chargeE-k diagram vs. band-diagramBasic concepts of donors and acceptorsConclusion

4. ECE 606 Lecture 13a: Fermi Level Differences for Metals and Semiconductors

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   16 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Short chalkboard lecture on Fermi level and band diagram differences for metals and semiconductors.

5. ECE 606 Lecture 9: Fermi-Dirac Statistics

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   04 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Rules of filling electronic statesDerivation of Fermi-Dirac Statistics: three techniquesIntrinsic carrier concentrationConclusion

6. ECE 606 Lecture 8: Density of States

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   04 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Calculation of density of statesDensity of states for specific materialsCharacterization of Effective MassConclusions

7. ECE 606 Lecture 7: Energy Bands in Real Crystals

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   04 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:E-k diagram/constant energy surfaces in 3D solidsCharacterization of E-k diagram: BandgapCharacterization of E-k diagram: Effective MassConclusions

8. ECE 606 Lecture 5: Energy Bands

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   04 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Schrodinger equation in periodic U(x)Bloch theoremBand structureProperties of electronic bandsConclusions

9. ECE 606 Lecture 6: Energy Bands (continued)

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   04 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

   Outline:Properties of electronic bandsE-k diagram and constant energy surfacesConclusions

10. ECE 606 Lecture 4: Solution of Schrodinger Equation

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    04 Feb 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

    Outline:Time-independent Schrodinger EquationAnalytical solution of toy problemsBound vs. tunneling statesConclusionsAdditional Notes: Numerical solution of Schrodinger Equation

11. ECE 606 Lecture 3: Elements of Quantum Mechanics

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    28 Jan 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

    Outline:Why do we need quantum physicsQuantum conceptsFormulation of quantum mechanicsConclusions

12. ECE 606 Lecture 2: Geometry of Periodic Crystals

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    28 Jan 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

    Outline:Volume & surface issues for BCC, FCC, Cubic latticesImportant material systemsMiller indices ConclusionsHelpful software tool: Crystal Viewer in the ABACUS tool suite.

13. ECE 606 Lecture 1: Introduction

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    28 Jan 2009 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

    Outline:Course information Current flow in semiconductors Types of material systems Classification of crystals

14. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 7: Temperature Dependence of Carrier Concentrations

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    30 Dec 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

15. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 6: Doping, Fermi Level, Density of States

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    04 Dec 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop, Umair Irfan

16. Illinois ECE 440 Solid State Electronic Devices, Lecture 1 Introduction

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    26 Nov 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Eric Pop

    Introduction to Solid State Electronic Devices

17. ECE 606 Lecture 32: MOS Electrostatics I

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    19 Nov 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

18. ECE 606 Lecture 26: Schottky Diode II

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    19 Nov 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

19. ECE 612 Lecture 20: Broad Overview of Reliability of Semiconductor MOSFET

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    14 Nov 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

    Guest lecturer: Muhammad A. Alam.

20. ECE 606: Principles of Semiconductor Devices

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    12 Nov 2008 | | Contributor(s):: Muhammad A. Alam

    In the last 50 years, solid state devices like transistors have evolved from an interesting laboratory experiment to a technology with applications in all aspects of modern life. Making transistors is a complex process that requires unprecedented collaboration among material scientists, solid...