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    P-N Junction Diode

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    Tushar Saxena
    P-N junction diodes have two layers of opposing materials, one doped p-type and one doped n-type. When the materials are joined, charge carriers diffuse across the junction, leaving an empty region called the depletion region. Diodes can be forward or reverse biased by applying a voltage across the terminals. In forward bias, the depletion region narrows allowing current to flow. In reverse bias, the depletion region widens blocking most current flow. Diodes have exponential current-voltage characteristics and are used widely as switches, rectifiers, and regulators.

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    P-N Junction Diode

    Uploaded by

    Tushar Saxena
    34 views7 pages
    P-N junction diodes have two layers of opposing materials, one doped p-type and one doped n-type. When the materials are joined, charge carriers diffuse across the junction, leaving an empty region called the depletion region. Diodes can be forward or reverse biased by applying a voltage across the terminals. In forward bias, the depletion region narrows allowing current to flow. In reverse bias, the depletion region widens blocking most current flow. Diodes have exponential current-voltage characteristics and are used widely as switches, rectifiers, and regulators.

    Original Description:

    Basics of PN DIODE for UGC NET ELECTRONICS

    Original Title

    Diodes

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    P-N junction diodes have two layers of opposing materials, one doped p-type and one doped n-type. When the materials are joined, charge carriers diffuse across the junction, leaving an empty region called the depletion region. Diodes can be forward or reverse biased by applying a voltage across the terminals. In forward bias, the depletion region narrows allowing current to flow. In reverse bias, the depletion region widens blocking most current flow. Diodes have exponential current-voltage characteristics and are used widely as switches, rectifiers, and regulators.

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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    34 views7 pages

    P-N Junction Diode

    Uploaded by

    Tushar Saxena
    P-N junction diodes have two layers of opposing materials, one doped p-type and one doped n-type. When the materials are joined, charge carriers diffuse across the junction, leaving an empty region called the depletion region. Diodes can be forward or reverse biased by applying a voltage across the terminals. In forward bias, the depletion region narrows allowing current to flow. In reverse bias, the depletion region widens blocking most current flow. Diodes have exponential current-voltage characteristics and are used widely as switches, rectifiers, and regulators.

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    P-N Junction Diode

    P-N Junction diode is a 2-terminal, 2-layer, single-junction semiconductor device made out of a
    single block of silicon or germanium, with one side doped with acceptor (p-type) impurity and
    the other side with donor (n-type) impurity. Very important device with numerous applications
    like Switch, Rectifier, Regulator, Voltage multiplier, Clipping, Clamping, etc.

    The two terminals are called Anode and Cathode:


    -

    At the instant the two materials are joined, electrons and holes near the junction cross
    over and combine with each other
    Holes cross from P-side to N-side
    Free electrons cross from N-side to P-side
    At P-side of junction, negative ions are formed
    At N-side of junction, positive ions are formed

    Depletion region is the region having no free carriers


    -

    Further movement of electrons and holes across the junction stops due to formation of
    depletion region
    Depletion region acts as barrier opposing further diffusion of charge carriers. So diffusion
    stops within no time
    Current through the diode under no-bias condition is zero

    Bias
    Application of external voltage across the two terminals of the device
    Reverse bias
    -

    Positive of battery connected to n-type material (cathode)


    Negative of battery connected to p-type material (anode)

    Free electrons in n-region are drawn towards positive of battery, Holes in p-region are
    drawn towards negative of battery.
    Depletion region widens, barrier increases for the flow of majority carriers
    Majority charge carrier flow reduces to zero
    Minority charge carriers generated thermally can cross the junction results in a current
    called reverse saturation current Io
    Io is in micro or nano amperes or less
    Io does not increase significantly with increase in the reverse bias voltage

    Forward bias
    -

    Positive of battery connected to p-type (anode)


    Negative of battery connected to n-type (cathode)

    Electrons in n-type are forced to recombine with positive ions near the boundary,
    similarly holes in p-type are forced to recombine with negative ions
    Depletion region width reduces
    An electron in n-region sees a reduced barrier at the junction and strong attraction for
    positive potential
    As forward bias is increased, depletion region narrows down and finally disappears
    leads to exponential rise in current
    Forward current is measured in milli amperes

    Diode characteristics

    Silicon vs. Germanium

    Diode current equation

    ID is diode current
    Io is reverse saturation current
    VD is voltage across diode
    VT is thermal voltage = T / 11600
    is a constant = 1 for Ge and 2 for Si

    For positive values of VD (forward bias), the first term grows quickly and overpowers the
    second term. So,

    For large negative values of VD (reverse bias), the first term drops much below the second
    term. So,

    Diode resistances
    Two types of resistances are defined for a diode :
    Static or DC resistance:
    It is simply the ratio of diode voltage and diode current

    The dc resistance at the knee and below will be greater than the resistance at the linear
    section of characteristics.
    The dc resistance in the reverse bias region will naturally be quite high

    ID Io
    Dynamic or AC resistance
    -

    Often sinusoidal voltages are applied to diode


    So the instantaneous operating point moves up and down in the characteristic curve
    So DC resistance is not a suitable parameter
    Instead, AC resistance is used
    It is the change in the diode voltage divided by the corresponding change in the diode
    current, where the change is as small as possible

    AC resistance is nothing but reciprocal of the slope of the tangent line drawn at that point
    Derivative of a function at a point is equal to the slope of the tangent line at that point

    Dynamic resistance can be found using previous equation, no need of characteristic curve
    Dynamic resistance in reverse region is very high, since slope of characteristic curve is
    almost zero
    The resistance calculated using equation does not include the resistance due to the metal
    contact (usually less than 0.1 )

    Diode Equivalent Circuit


    -

    Diode is often replaced by its equivalent circuit during circuit analysis and design
    Equivalent circuit is obtained by replacing the characteristic curve by straight-line
    segments

    As further approximation, we can neglect the slope of the characteristic i.e., RF = 0

    As third approximation, even the cut-in voltage can be neglected (Ideal diode)

    Temperature dependence of diode characteristics


    -

    Reverse saturation current approximately doubles for every 10 degree rise in temperature

    Where, Io1 is reverse sat current at temperature T1 and I02 is reverse sat current at
    temperature T2
    Cut-in voltage decreases with increase in temperature

    Breakdown region
    -

    When a diode is applied with too much reverse bias, the current increases sharply. This is
    called diode breakdown
    The reverse voltage at which breakdown occurs is called breakdown voltage or zener
    voltage: VB or VZ

    Two breakdown mechanisms:


    -

    As reverse bias voltage increases, velocity of minority charge carriers increases


    As the charge carriers speed up towards respective terminals, they collide with other
    valence electrons.
    If kinetic energy of speeding electrons are sufficiently high, they release additional
    carriers through collisions
    Additional carriers thus released also speed up and collide with other valence electrons

    The process multiplies, and is called Avalanche breakdown


    Generally occurs in lightly doped diodes

    Zener breakdown:
    -

    Occurs in heavily doped diodes


    Since charge concentration is high, width of depletion region is narrow
    So, high electric filed is generated within the depletion region.
    High electric field disrupts the bonding forces and generates carriers.
    Normally, at lower reverse bias voltages, zener mechanism is prominent, and at higher
    reverse voltages, avalanche breakdown is prominent
    Maximum reverse voltage that can be applied before entering breakdown region is called
    Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV)

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