Manfred Micallef

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

1. a) A semiconductor is a material that behaves in between a conductor and an insulator. At ambient temperature, it conducts electricity more easily than an insulator, but less readily than a conductor. The addition of impurities to a pure semiconductor can also increase its conductivity. This process is called doping. Examples of semiconductors include chemical elements and compounds such as silicon, germanium and gallium arsenide. The conductivity of a semiconductor increases with temperature, light, or the addition of impurities because these increase the number of conductive valence electrons of the semiconductor. Valence or outer electrons are the carriers of the electrical current. In an intrinsic semiconductor like silicon at temperatures above absolute zero, there will be some electrons which are excited across the band gap into the conduction band and which can produce current. When the electron in pure silicon crosses the gap, it leaves behind an electron vacancy or "hole" in the regular silicon lattice. Under the influence of an external voltage, both the electron and the hole can move across the material. In an n-type semiconductor, the dopant contributes extra electrons, dramatically increasing the conductivity. In a p-type semiconductor, the dopant produces extra vacancies or holes, which likewise increase the conductivity. It is however the behaviour of the p-n junction which is the key to the enormous variety of solid-state electronic devices. You find semiconductors at the heart of microprocessor chips as well as transistors. Anything that's computerized or uses radio waves depends on semiconductors.

Electrons and Holes

b) N-Type Semiconductor This type of semiconductor has a surplus of negatively charged electrons. It is produced by adding a small trace of an impurity such as arsenic to a pure silicon or germanium crystal. The name, N-type is short for negative-type. In this case the arsenic is called a donor because the impurity gives extra electrons to the semiconductor.

Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3

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Manfred Micallef

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

P-Type Semiconductor This type is made by adding a trace of an impurity such as boron or indium to a pure crystal of silicon or germanium. The result is that the crystal becomes short of its full complement of electrons so a positive charge is produced; hence the name P-type.

c) Diodes A diode is the simplest form of semiconductor device. A diode consists of a section of N-type material bonded to a section of P-type material, with electrodes on each end. This arrangement conducts electricity in only one direction. When no voltage is applied to the diode, electrons from the N-type material fill holes from the P-type material along the junction between the layers, forming a depletion zone.

Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3

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Manfred Micallef

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

When a P-type semiconductor is connected to the battery positive side, the electrons in the N semiconductor readily flow to fill the holes in the P semiconductor. The P-N junction is said to be forward biased and this will cause the lamp to illuminate. Reversing the battery connections applies a reverse bias to the P-N junction. This condition will not allow electron flow from P to N at normal battery voltage.

Transistors A transistor is a semiconductor which is a fundamental component in almost all electronic devices. Transistors have many uses including switching, voltage/current regulation and amplification. A transistor is formed when two P-N junctions are placed back to back. Positioned one way gives a P-N-P type and the other way, an N-P-N type transistor. The three parts are named collector (c), base (b) and emitter (e).

How do Transistors Work? When an N-P-N transistor is connected in the simple circuit shown in Figure T1, no current, other than slight leakage, will pass the transistor from P to N. Electrons can be urged to cross the N-P junction from emitter to base but they will not pass to the collector because the collector has no spare holes for the electrons to fill. The base circuit is used to influence and control the flow of electrons and give the switching action. When the switch in the base circuit is closed a disturbance occurs at the P-N junction. The very small current in the base circuit reduces the junction potential and this allows the electron charge carriers to bridge the P-N base-collector junction. This action closes the Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3 Page 3

Manfred Micallef

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

transistor switch and allows current to flow freely in the main circuit. In this diagram, this current operates the lamp.

There are two types of transistors: Bipolar or junction type Unipolar or field effect type 2. a) Analogue Signals Most electrical signals or measurements are continuous but variable quantities and are called analogue. For example, an instrument that uses a needle to sweep across a fixed scale is called an analogue type. Analogue signals can vary in frequency, amplitude or both. The diagram shows a typical oscilloscope trace of an analogue signal.

Analogue Signal

Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3

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Manfred Micallef Digital Signals

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

Digital signals are a series of pulses consisting of just two states, ON (1) or OFF (0). There are no values in between; this is called a binary system. Many of the electronic units fitted to motor vehicles operate by means of digital signals which pass around the system. These signals transmit data from one part of the system to another by means of a digital code. The diagram shows a typical oscilloscope trace of a digital signal.

Digital Signal

b) Bit A bit is the smallest unit of data that a computer uses. It can be used to represent two states of information, such as Yes or No. Byte A byte is equal to 8 bits. A byte can represent 256 states of information, for example, numbers or a combination of numbers and letters. 1 byte could be equal to one character. 10 bytes could be equal to a word. 100 bytes would be equal to an average sentence. Kilobyte (kb) A kilobyte is approximately 1000 bytes (actually 1024 bytes). Megabyte (Mb) A megabyte is approximately 1000 kilobytes. For example, a 3 floppy disk can hold 1.44Mb and a CD-ROM disk can hold 600Mb. c) Numbers in everyday use are based in denary notation; this uses the ten digits between 0 and 9. Binary notation is based on two digits 0 and 1 with each extra digit representing a power of 2. Hence a binary number of 1 1 1 1 is: 1 x 23 + 1 x 2 2 + 1 x 21 + 1 x 20 This represents a denary number of 8 + 4 + 2 +1 = 15. 128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 Denary digit (base 10) 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 20 Binary digit (base 2) 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Bit sequence 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 128 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 255 Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3 Page 5

Manfred Micallef

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

d) The largest decimal number using an 8 bit memory store: 1 x 27 + 1 x 26 + 1 x 25 + 1 x 24 + 1 x23 + 1 x 22 + 1 x 21 + 1 x 20 = 255 e) Decimal numbers recorded using 8 bit store: 109 211 54 7 128 0 1 0 0 64 1 1 0 0 32 1 0 1 0 16 0 1 1 0 8 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1

3. This question is about logic circuits. a) AND Gate The simplest AND gate shown below has two inputs (A and B) and one output (X). It is designed to produce a digital output of logic level 1 only when all inputs are at logic 1. In all other conditions the output will be at the low level or state, namely logic 0.

NOT Gate The NOT gate is a single input/output device called an inverter because it changes the logic level as the signal pulse passes through the gate. When the input is logic 0, the output is logic 1 and vice versa.

b) OR Gate A 0 0 1 1

B 0 1 0 1

X 0 1 1 1

Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3

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Manfred Micallef c)

IMI 0897-12-10

09/10/2011

A 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

B 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1

C 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1

D 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

4. This question is about ecu, maps and sensors. a)

Electrical and Electronics Assignment No.3

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