T ENGINEERING PHYSICS LABORATORY II

THERMISTOR
THEORY: The name thermistor comes from thermally sensitive resistor. They are basically semiconducting materials and are of two distinct classes: 1. METAL OXIDES: They are made from fine powders that are compressed and sintered at high temperature. Mn2O3 (manganese oxide), Ni O (nickel oxide), Co O3 (cobalt oxide), Cu2O3 (copper oxide), Fe2O3 (iron oxide), TiO3 (titanium oxide) U2O3 (uranium oxide) etc, are the few examples. They are suitable for temperatures 200-700 K. If the temperature is higher than this range then Al2O3, Be O, Mg O, ZrO2 Y2O3 and Dy2O3 (Dy :dysprosium) are used. 2. SINGLE CRYSTAL SEMICONDUCTORS: They are usually Germanium and Silicon doped with 1016 to 1017 dopant atoms/cm3. Ge thermistors are suitable for cryogenic range 1100 K. Si thermistors are suitable for 100-250 K. After 250 K the Silicon thermistors will become PTC (positive temperature coefficient) from NTC. The resistivity and the conductivity of the thermistor are related to the concentration of electrons and holes n and p of the semiconductor though the relation, = = + ... (1) The concentrations n and p are strongly dependent on temperature T in Kelvin. Where Ea is called activation energy which is related to the energy band gap of that semiconductor. Hence, As temperature increases, the resistance R(T) changes according to the relation, () = . (2)

ordinary metals. Thermistors are available from 1K to 1M. Advantages: They are low cost, compact and highly temperature sensitive devices. Hence are more useful than conventional thermometric devices. Using eq. (2) at some constant reference temperature, say 0 , the resistance will be = Where, A represents the characteristic resistance of the thermistor at reference (zero Kelvin). To make the expression to look like a linear relation to determine the values of A and B constants, take natural logarithm on both sides of the above expression, ln = ln + .. (4) The exponential curve now became linear. If we 1 plot the variable ln , we will get A and B constants from the intercept and slope of the straight line. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT: PRINCIPLE: If we measure the resistance I of thermistor at various temperatures (T), we can plot the graph and obtain the values of A and B. How to vary the temperature T? Using an electric heater we can change the temperature roughly from 30 to 60. How to measure the resistance R? Using Wheatstones bridge. Wheatstones bridge principle: The circuit shown here is a Wheatstones bridge and it consists of four resistors R1, R2, R3 and R4, a galvanometer (G) and a Battery R1 R2 (V). Suppose the resistance R4 be unknown. The G voltage applied to this circuit by the battery is R4 R3 only to set up some current and V its magnitude has no importance, i.e. whether or 2V or 5V it does not matter at all. Wheatstone bridge gets balanced, i.e. the Galvanometer shows a zero deflection when,
T

Where RO is the resistance of the thermistor at absolute temperature To. B is a characteristic temperature that lies between 2000K to 5000K. The temperature coefficient of resistance is defined as the ratio of fractional change in resistance to the infinitesimal change in temperature . = = = ..(3)

The typical value of is about 0.05/K. It is almost 10 times more sensitive compared with
1

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1 2 3 4 2 3 1

Or

4 =

R1=1K

R2=1K
G T

If the resistances R1 and R2 are equal, then the bridge will be balanced, i.e. the null deflection in Galvanometer, when R4 = R3. If we choose R3 as a variable resistor, like a decade resistance box, the unknown resistance R4 will be equal to the resistance maintained in the box. Measurement of resistance of thermistor: Here in this experiment we employ a 1K (at room temperature) thermistor. We form a wheatstones bridge with two fixed value resistors each of 1K resistance along with a variable decade resistance box. Two arms of the bridge are occupied by 1K resistors and the other two arms, one with thermistor and the other with decade resistance box. The reason for choosing a 1K fixed resistor. The sensitivity of measurement of resistance will be better when all the four resistors here are of same (comparable) magnitude hence the remaining Rs are 1K each.

RB 1.5 V

RT

Applications of thermistors: 1. They are used as temperature sensing elements in microwave ovens, heaters and also in some electronic thermometers. 2. Used as sensor in cryogenic liquid storage flasks. 3. Used as compensator for providing thermal stability to transistor based circuits. 4. Used in fire alarms, Infrared detectors as sensor.

THERMISTOR EXPERIMENT
Aim: 1. To study the variation of resistance of a thermistor with temperature. 2. To find the temperature (thermoelectric) coefficient of resistance () of the thermistor. 3. To determine I and B coefficients. Apparatus: Thermistor (1 K), electric heater (max 700 C), 1.5 volt battery or a D.C. power supply, mercury or benzene thermometer (0 110 ), test tube containing insulating oil (edible oil / castor oil), resistors (1k - 2 No.s), Galvanometer (30 0 30), resistance box (1 to 1000range), connecting wires. Formulae: = = = Procedure: 1. Construct the bridge according to the R1=1K R2=1K circuit diagram (Maintain at least 1000 resistance in the Resistance box before connecting the circuit, i.e. remove the 1000 G plug key). 2. The 1 K resistors are already connected on the back panel of the board. Hence no RB need to connect them again. 3. If a variable D.C. source is given instead of a battery, set the voltage to 1.5 or 2 Volt with the help of a multimeter. T 1.5 V 4. The bridge gets balanced (Galvanometer shows 0 deflection) when the resistance of Test tube with thermistor gets equal to that of the resistance Coconut oil box. Remove the plug keys of resistance box Electric heater and find out the null point resistance.
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T ENGINEERING PHYSICS LABORATORY II

5. Start heating the thermistor by turning on the heater switch on the board. 6. Measure the resistance of thermistor for every two degrees centigrade rise in temperature. Note the readings up to 600 C in steps of 20 C. 7. At each temperature bridge is not balanced initially and it shows some deflection. It can be made zero by adjusting the resistances in the variable resistance box. Tabulate the readings. 8. Remove the power supply or battery, soon after you complete the experiment. If you forget doing this, it will cause the galvanometer to deflect more causing damage to its restore spring. Graph: A graph is plotted by taking R versus T(0 C). This graph gives the value of .

R1 R2 T1 T2 T in0 C

ln R

Slope = B
1

in K-1

Another graph is plotted between ln R and (1/T(K)). The slope of this graph gives B and its intercept on y (ln R) axis gives ln A from which A can be calculated. But it is not possible to find out the intercept from the graph. It can be done with the help of least square fit method as described in the Appendix. Use this method to compute both slope (B) and intercept (ln A) of the straight line. Here assume X as (1/T) and Y as lnR. The intercept C gives the value of ln A and the slope will give B (in K). From the intercept find out the value of A (in ). Precautions: 1. Temperature of the thermistor should be less than 700 C. 2. Thermistor must be immersed completely inside the hot oil bath. 3. Readings of thermometer must be noted without parallax. Viva-Voce Questions: 1. Where do you find applications of thermistor? Name a few of them. They are useful in temperature sensing and controlling equipments. Ex. Microwave ovens, Infrared heat sensors, Liquefied gas temperature sensors in cryogenics. 2. Explain the principle of Wheatstones bridge. In the bridge circuit, the potential at the two nodes across which the galvanometer is connected will be same when the four resistors R1 to R4 satisfy the relation 1 = 3
2 4

4. Connections should be made properly without any loose contact. 5. Resistance must be varied quickly in the resistance box to get the null point within the 20C intervals. 6. Battery must be disconnected immediately after completion of the experiment. the temperature of your body? I will provide you only a thermistor and a multimeter. If yes, describe the method. If No, justify your answer. Yes, it is possible. Suppose that you want to measure your body temperature. Just keep it in tight contact with your body (cover it tightly with skin). Use the multimeter to measure the resistance of this thermistor. After few seconds of contact with body, thermistor attains constant resistance. With the known A and B coefficients, we can measure the body temperature by substituting in = =

3. After obtaining the data from this experiment, you will have the values of A and B coefficients. Can you determine
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REFERENCES: 1. Physics of semiconductor devices, S. M. Sze, 3rd ed, John Wiley publications, chapter 14, sensors, Thermal sensors, p.744-746. 2. The art of Electronics, Paul Horowitz, 2nd ed, Cambridge university press, chapter 15, Measurement transducers, Thermistors, p.992-993 3. Electronic devices and circuit theory, R. Boylestad, 7th ed, Prentice hall publications, Art. 20.11 Thermistors, p.837-838 4. Electronic sensor circuits and projects, Forrest Mims III, Master publishing, p.13, 46-47.

BAND GAP OF SEMICONDUCTOR USING PN JUNCTION DIODE

THEORY: PN junction diode is an example for extrinsic semiconductor. It can be biased in both forward and reverse directions. The current that flow through the diode when its junction is biased with a voltage V will be = With =

B = a constant independent of T EG = Energy band gap of semiconductor (in Joule) NA = Acceptor ion concentration (/m3) ND = Donor ion concentration (/m3) The term Is is highly temperature dependent. The expression for it can be written as = +

Where, V = applied voltage across junction Is = Reverse saturation current, a constant dependent on temperature of junction = a constant equal to 1 for Ge (high rated currents) and 2 for Si (low rated currents) VT = Volt equivalent of temperature = 11600 , T = Temperature of junction in Kelvin A = area of cross section of junction e = elementary charge =1.6 1016 C Dp(n)= Diffusion constant for holes (electrons) = for holes and for electrons

= + = =

2

+ = 3 + 3 = +
11600
+ Experimentally it was observed that the mobility term in the bracket varies as 2 . Hence,

= 11600 2

= mobility of holes Lp(n) = Diffusion length for holes (electrons) pno = equilibrium concentration of holes (p) in the n type material =
2

npo = equilibrium concentration electrons (n) in p type material = ni

2

of

= (1) is a constant whose magnitude is in nano or pico ampere. Under reverse biased condition applied voltage V will be negative and hence the expression for current through diode will be,

= intrinsic carrier concentration (/cm3)

= 1 = 0 1 = Diode will have only the reverse saturation current flowing through it. The negative sign indicates that the current is flowing in opposite

ni2 = 3
4

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direction to that of forward bias. Hence the current ID through diode in reverse bias will be = = 0 exp

. (2)

Applying natural logarithms on both sides implies, ln ( ) = ln (0 ) + ln exp 1 ln ( ) = ln (0 ) T . (3)

This is the equation of the straight line with ln(ID) as ordinate(y axis) and 1/T as abscissa (x axis). Ln(I0) is the y intercept of the graph. If we plot 1/T versus ln(ID) graph, its slope with x axis gives the value of

By knowing the Boltzmann constant kB we can evaluate the energy band gap of the semiconductor, similarly we can estimate the value of Boltzmann constant if we know the energy band gap of the given semiconductor. Applications: 1. We can use this to make a diode thermometer. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT: PRINCIPLE: If we measure the reverse saturation current through the diode by varying its temperature, we can plot the graph and obtain slope .

Which diode is suitable for this? OA79, Germanium diode, used as envelope detector in amplitude demodulation circuits. Why this OA 79? Why not any other? Because reverse current variation is more in the case of Germanium than with silicon. Hence for a small temperature range of variation (300 to 600C), it is better to choose Ge diode than any other silicon diodes. If we want to do this experiment with silicon diodes, we must have an electric heater capable of giving temperatures up to 1500C. How to vary the temperature T? Using an electric heater we can change the temperature roughly from 30 to 60. How to measure the reverse current? Using a moving coil micro ammeter. Biasing the diode: Use a constant voltage D.C. power supply or a battery to bias it in reverse direction. The voltage applied must be very low, 2 Volt. In case of an ideal diode the reverse current does not vary with applied reverse voltage. But in practical diode case, it increases with increase
5

in reverse voltage. This is due to the increase of leakage currents across the junction with applied voltage. At room temperature, the reverse current may be small and different for same type of diodes, but it follows the equation (2). The values of Io may vary from diode to diode. Description of heater: The heater contains an electric heating element attached to a stainless steel container holding some cold water. A test tube containing oil is immersed in the water bath. Oil is an insulator of electricity and hence it is used for heating the diode. This also provides uniform heating of diode. The diode with properly insulated connecting wires is immersed in the oil bath. Thermometer is also kept inside the oil bath to measure its temperature. We cannot directly insert the diode inside the water bath as tap water contains lots of minerals dissolved in it and acts like conductor. This will short circuit the diode. Useful data: From the data sheet of the OA 79 diode: Material of the diode is Germanium. Maximum surrounding temperature is 600C. Maximum allowed reverse current through the diode is 60A.

BAND GAP EXPERIMENT Aim: To determine the energy band gap of the material of the semiconductor by studying the variation of reverse saturation current through given PN junction diode with temperature. Apparatus: OA 79 Ge diode, heater (max 600 C), thermometer, test tube containing insulating oil (edible oil or castor oil), power supply (2V D.C.), connecting wires, micro ammeter (0 50 A) and a voltmeter or multimeter. Formula: Reverse current through diode is given by =

Where, EG is the energy band gap of the material of the semi conductor diode, T is the absolute temperature of the diode junction and kB = 1.38 x 10-23 J/K is Boltzmann constant.

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Circuit diagram:

VD

+ 2V _

+
A

+
ID

Stainless steel container water bath Test tube containing oil

Electric Heater

Caution: Set the applied reverse bias voltage at 2 Volt. Do not increase this value more. Do not heat the diode beyond 600C. Procedure: 1. Build the circuit as shown in the circuit diagram. 2. Observe the initial temperature of the thermometer. If it is high (>300 C) then replace the water in the heater jar with some cold water and try to reduce the temperature below 300 C. 3. Apply the reverse voltage (2 Volt) by adjusting the potentiometer (if a battery is given, then there is no need of doing this adjustment). 4. Switch on the heater. Note down the reverse current in the micro ammeter for say, every 20C rise, in temperature of the diode (if micro ammeter is not available, you can use a multimeter in D.C. current mode under 200 A ranges). 5. Tabulate the readings. 6. Complete the calculations relevant to the tabular form and get the answer for slope. 7. Plot a graph between lnI and 1/T to obtain its slope. 8. Calculate the EG from both slopes obtained from graph and table. Precautions: 1. Readings of thermometer must be noted without any parallax error. 2. Reverse bias voltage must be regulated at 2 Volt throughout the experiment. 3. Diode should be completely immersed inside the oil bath.
6

GRAPH: Plot a graph by taking the values of ln I vs 1/T. Find out the slope of the curve. Do not consider the origin of this graph. Usually we start at 300K and go up to 333K, hence 1/T varies roughly from 2.99 103 1 to 3.33 103 1 . So start at 2.98 and go up to 3.34 by choosing the scale On 1/T axis as 1 = 0.02 103 1 Usually ID varies from 2 A to 60 A. So ln ID varies roughly from to 13.2. So start at 9.7 and go up to 13.2 by choosing the scale On ln I axis as 1 = 0.1 Slope (EG/kB) can be calculated from both straight line data fit as well as from the graph.

Viva-Voce questions: 1. Distinguish intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductor. If the semiconductor material consists of no impurities (dopants), then it will BE intrinsic (pure) semiconductor. If it contains dopants {acceptor type [p-type] III group elements or Donor type [n-type] IV group elements} then it will be an extrinsic semiconductor. 2. What are the band gaps of Silicon and Germanium? For silicon; in electron volts = 1.21 3.60 104 ; For Ge, = 0.785 4 2.23 10 . T is the temperature of the sample in Kelvin. At 300K, EG = 0.72 eV for Ge; EG= 1.1 eV for Si. 3. How do you test the diode for its polarity using a multimeter? There will be a symbol of diode on the multimeters mode changing dial. Turn the dial to diode testing mode. Connect the two leads of the multimeter to the two leads of

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the diode. If the multimeter shows infinite resistance (it shows a 1 Or OL means out of range, very large), then it is reverse biased and the terminal of diode that is connected to positive (red probe) of multimeter will be the cathode of the diode and the other one will obviously be the anode. Similarly, if the meter shows some finite resistance like few hundreds (150, 540 etc), then it is forward biased, i.e. the terminal of diode that is connected to positive (red probe) of multimeter will be the Anode of the diode and the other one will be the Cathode. During this process, multimeter applies some known voltage across its leads and measures its resistance. 4. If I reveal the material of the diode used, can you estimate the Boltzmann constant from this experiment? If yes, describe how do you do it, if no, say why? (Think and answer) 5. Why do we observe small current (of the order of Micro amp) in this experiment? What are responsible for this small current? Because reverse current is due to the minority carries only. As their number is very small the current is also small. 6. In which biasing of diode are you doing this experiment? Reverse bias.

7. Can you determine the band gap by changing the bias of the diode? If yes, describe how you do it. If no, explain why. (think and answer) 8. If I give you a silicon diode and the same experimental set up (micro ammeter 050range), can you find out its band gap? Justify your answer. No, the reverse current variation is very small of the order of few nano amperes per degree centigrade and hence it not possible to observe the variation in reverse current with the micro ammeter for a temperature range of 30-600 C 9. What is the magnitude of reverse current in silicon? Few nano amperes. 10. Can you make a diode thermometer using this setup? If yes, say how? If no, say why? Yes, once if we know the value of I0 (antilog of intercept of lnI vs 1/T graph) from the experiment, we can measure the T. Just bring the diode in contact with the body whose temperature is to be measured and measure the reverse current (ID) accurately. As we know the I0 and ID we can determine the T in Kelvin for that body using the relation = 0 exp .

References: 1. Electronic devices and circuits, Millman and Halkias, McGraw hill student edition p.126-132. 2. Semiconductor device physics and technology, SM Sze, M K Lee, 3rd Ed, John wiley, P.107

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RC CIRCUIT TIME CONSTANT THEORY: Resistor and capacitor combination circuits have got great importance in the field of both electrical and electronics engineering. This is the fundamental circuit to understand the working of many complex electronic circuits. Consider a resistor of resistance R and a capacitor of capacitance C. They can be biased with an external D.C. source to start the process of charging. Suppose that switch S is closed. Apply Kirchhoff voltage law (KVL) to the VR R V C VC Put trial solution, = 0 exp = 0 exp = 2 2 = 2 0 exp = 2 Going back to differential equation, 2 1 2+ =0 1 2 + = 0 1 = (Assuming 0) This implies 1 = 0 exp Voltage across capacitor will be, 1 = = exp = , when capacitor charges to maximum value q0, the voltage across it will be V. Hence, 1 = exp Current will be, 0 1 = = exp 1 = exp ;
0

above circuit of Charging. () () = 0 Where, the sub scripts R and C denote the voltages across the resistor and capacitor. If we assume a current of i(t), a function of time, then from Ohms law, = . If the instantaneous charge on the plates of the ( ) capacitor is , then = , Where, C is the capacitance of the capacitor. Substituting them in above eqn. implies, ( ) = 0; But, is equal to the rate of change of charge in the circuit, i.e. = () () =0 Differentiate this expression with respect to time t. 2 1 =0 2 Voltage V across battery does not change with time, 2 () 1 () 0 =0 2 2 1 + =0 2
8

= 0 = 0 exp

Hence, At t = 0, is , the maximum current flowing through the circuit. Using, = 0 = = 0 exp Where, i0 is the current in the circuit at t=0, i0R represents the initial voltage across the resistor, i.e. V; = 1 exp
= = 0 exp = exp

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ENGINEERING PHYSICS LABORATORY II

DISCHARGING OF CAPACITOR: VR R V C VC

Similarly for discharging of capacitor, KVL gives + () = 0 Proceeding in the same manner as above, we can show that voltage across the capacitor during discharging will be

() = exp

GRAPHS:

VMax0.63 VMax

CHARGINGDURING CHARGING
VMaxVMa

C A P A C I T O R

Max

VMax0.37 VMax

DISCHARGINGDURING DISCHARGING

0.63

DURING

TimeTime

R E S I S T O R

VMaxV

0.37

DURING

TimeTime

Aim: To study the Resistor and Capacitor series (R-C) circuit and hence to determine the time constant of the circuit from the charging and discharging curves. Apparatus: Resistors, capacitors, Toggle switch and a D.C. power source. Miscellaneous: Multimeter, bread board, connecting wires and stop watch. Circuit diagram

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Discharging:

11.92Volt
Range: 20 V

D.C

+ +
of capacitor

VC

s: Charging:

00.0Volt
RR

DC
D.C.

+
_

__

+ VV

Range: 20 V

VC

Charging of capacitorDischarging

Arrows in the circuit show the direction of flow of current during the process. Voltage across capacitor during CHARGING at any time t from the start of the process is given by

Voltage across capacitor during DISCHARGING at any time t from the start of the process is given by

Formulae: = 1

Or = 1 .. While charging and

= Or =

.. While discharging

Components used in this experiment are: RESISTANCE R = .. ; CAPACITANCE = .. FARAD Time constant of the circuit is = RC (theoretical) =.. Seconds Procedure: Charging process: 1. Connect the circuit on the bread board as shown in the above figure (charging). 2. Calculate the theoretical value of the time constant using the above formula.
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3. Switch on the circuit and simultaneously switch on the stop watch and start counting of time. Sometimes it is difficult to switch on the stop watch simultaneously while closing the key wire. So, join the key wire to power bus without any hesitation to start the stop-watch. If we join the ends of the capacitor with a wire, it gets discharged and the voltage across it becomes zero. As the multimeter leads are connected to the ends of the capacitor, join the leads of the multimeter to discharge the capacitor. This will bring the voltage across C to zero. Now hold the two leads of multimeter together until you switch on the stop watch and thereafter leave them separate. 4. Measure the voltage across the capacitor with multimeter in regular intervals of time (say 10 or 20 sec) and tabulate it. {it can be decided on the basis of time constant, if time constant is about 220 sec, then we can go in steps of 20 sec; if it is about 100 sec or less, we can go in steps of 5 or 10 sec}. 5. Take the readings until the capacitor charges to maximum voltage (of power supply). Discharging process: 6. Repeat the same process by connecting the Voltage across C
VMax VMax

0.63 VMax
0.37 VMax

Charging of capacitor

Time

Time

switch wire to the ground and simultaneously switch on the stop watch and start counting of time. There will be a problem similar to the one which you have encountered while charging the capacitor. If we connect the key wire to ground, instantaneously the capacitor discharges and the voltage start falling down. Dont be in a hurry to switch on the stop watch. Just take the positive lead of the multimeter which is already connected to the positive plate of the capacitor and join it directly to the power bus and hold it. This will charge the capacitor to the power supply voltage. Now switch on the stop watch Similarly during discharging, time taken by 7. and simultaneously remove the the capacitor to discharge to 37% of its multimeter lead from the power bus. maximum value is also its time constant. Dont forget to remember the value shown by the multimeter while switching on the stop watch. This will be the reading at t=0 sec, while discharging. Again note down the values of the voltage across capacitor in the same intervals of time as above until some minimum value of voltage appear across it. (Say about one volt) Graph: Plot a graph by taking the voltage across capacitor versus time both for charging and discharging cases. From the graph calculate the time constant of the circuit. During charging, the time taken for the capacitor to charge to 63% of the maximum value is its time constant.
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Discharging of capacitor