• Length:
    5 Weeks
  • Effort:
    8–12 hours per week
  • Price:

    FREE
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  • Institution
    MITx
  • Subject:
    Engineering
  • Level:
    Advanced
  • Language:
    English
  • Video Transcript:
    English
  • Course Type:
    Instructor-led on a course schedule

Prerequisites

  • Physics, calculus, and chemistry at the first year university level
  • Familiarity with materials structure and bonding
  • A background in solid state physics is helpful, but is not absolutely essential

About this course

Skip About this course

In this engineering course, you will learn about diodes, bipolar junction transistors, MOSFETs and semiconductor properties.

This course is part 1 of a series that explain the basis of the electrical, optical, and magnetic properties of materials including semiconductors, metals, organics, and insulators. You will learn how devices are built to take advantage of these properties. This is illustrated with a wide range of devices, placing a strong emphasis on new and emerging technologies.

Part 2 - 3.15.2x: Optical Materials and Devices
Part 3 - 3.15.3x: Magnetic Materials and Devices

What you'll learn

Skip What you'll learn
  • The origins of semiconductor properties
  • Carrier action in semiconductors: drift, diffusion, recombination and generation
  • The behavior of p-n junctions at equilibrium and under bias
  • The derivation and application of the ideal diode equation, and how real diodes differ from ideal diodes
  • Operating principles of bipolar junction transistors and MOSFETs

Syllabus

Skip Syllabus

Week 1:

  • Semiconductor Fundamentals

Week 2:

  • Carrier Action: Drift and Diffusion
  • Carrier Action: Recombination and Generation

Week 3:

  • pn Junction at Equilibrium
  • pn Junction Under Bias
  • The Ideal Diode Equation and Real Diodes

Week 4:

  • Bipolar Junction Transistor
  • Field Effect Transistors

Week 5:

  • Final Quiz

Meet your instructors

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Caroline Ross
Toyota Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
MIT

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