This was my high school physics project and I just DIYd it without internet or anything. Learnt about adders at first in my computer science course in std 11 and later in my physics course in std 12 (in semiconductors) so thought of implementing it in real life. I miss those days and found my report yesterday so thought of writing a blog on it. It’ll mostly be a copy of my report as I gave my all (we didn’t have ChatGPT back then) to make this. Hope this helps someone out.
To demonstrate the use of semiconductors in digital circuits by creating a binary adder that adds two 2-bit binary numbers.
Semiconductors are materials that have conductivity between conductors and insulators. They can be pure elements, such as silicon or germanium, or compounds like gallium arsenide or cadmium selenide. Through a process called doping, adding small amounts of impurities to pure semiconductors creates large changes in the material's conductivity.
Semiconductors are crucial to our lives through their role in electronic devices. Imagine life without electronics—no radios, TVs, computers, video games, and only basic medical diagnostic equipment. While electronic devices could be built using vacuum tubes, semiconductor technology's advances over the past 50 years have made devices smaller, faster, and more reliable.
Binary addition in digital circuits uses half adders and full adders. A one-bit adder consists of an XOR gate for calculating the sum and an AND gate for determining the carry. This project involves four types of logic gates: NOT, AND, OR, and XOR. These gates will be constructed using PNP transistors on a breadboard.
| Sl. No. | Item | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Power Supply(5V) | 1 | |
| 2. | Breadboard | 2 | |
| 3. | 5 Ω Resistance | 3 | |
| 4. | XOR Gate | 4 | = 6 x 4 transistors |
| 5. | AND Gate | 3 | = 2 x 3 transistors |
| 6. | OR Gate | 1 | = 2 x 1 transistors |
| 7. | NOT Gate | 4 | = 1 x 4 transistors |
| 8. | M-M Connecting | ||
| Wire | APR |
A transistor is a semiconductor device that amplifies or switches electronic signals and electrical power. It consists of semiconductor material with at least three terminals that connect to an external circuit. When voltage or current is applied to one pair of terminals, it controls the current flowing through another pair. Since the output power can exceed the input power, transistors can amplify signals. While some transistors are packaged individually today, most are embedded within integrated circuits.
