The minimum Semaphore value is 0 and cannot be a negative number.
According to "Operating Systems - Design and Implementation by Tanenbaum etc." third edition 2.2.5 Semaphores:
The down operation on a semaphore checks to see if the value is greater than 0...If the value is 0, the process is put to sleep without completing the down for the moment...after an up on a semaphore with process sleeping on it, the semaphore will still be 0, but there will be one fewer process sleeping on it.
The minimum Semaphore value is 0 and cannot be a negative number.
According to "Operating Systems - Design and Implementation by Tanenbaum etc." third edition 2.2.5 Semaphores: