Semiconducting junctions

The discovery of the rectifying properties 1 of the junctions of metals with sulphides (namely PbS) was discovered by Braun 2 in 1874 and was one of the first applications of semiconductor materials. The physics of the semiconductor junction, whether bipolar (junction of semiconductors with different dopings) or unipolar (metal/semiconductor junction or Schottky junction) was only developed in the 1930s by Neville Mott and Walter Schottky 3 . The semiconductor junction remains an essential ingredient in most semiconductor applications. We start by analyzing the physics of the bipolar junction and then present some (non-exhaustive) examples of semiconductor applications.