c
Copyright
Virginio de Oliveira Sannibale, 2001
Contents
10 Semiconductors Conduction 3
10.1 Conduction in a Solid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
10.1.1 Electron and Hole Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
10.1.2 Doped Semiconductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
10.2 The Semiconductor Junction (Diode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
10.2.1 Junction at the Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
10.2.2 Forward Biased Junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
10.2.3 Reverse Biased Junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
10.2.4 Junction I-V Characteristic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
10.2.5 The Diode Simplified Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2
Chapter 10
Semiconductors Conduction
3
CHAPTER 10. SEMICONDUCTORS CONDUCTION 4
Energy Energy
Conduction
Band
Conduction Band
∆E ∆E
Forbidden Gap
Forbidden
Gap
Valence
band
Valence
band
Density of Energy levels g(E) Density of Energy levels g(E)
p + + − n
−
Holes Diffusion −
− +
+ −
−
+ −
−
+ − − −
+ + −
+
Holes Drift
+ + + −
+ + − −
− −
+ Electrons Drift − −
+ +
+
+
− + +
−
−
−
+ Electrons Diffusion − −
E
− +
− +
− +
− +
p − + n
∆E
+ −
x
V0 d
− +
V0
The diode conducts a very small current, and is said to be reverse bi-
ased.
For large negative voltage bias, we have the so called reverse break-
down current, which corresponds to an electric field across the junction
strong enough to ionize some of the electrons of the depletion region. If
the breakdown current is not limited, the device will be damaged.
A similar argument can be used to obtain the hole current.
ID
A
ID VD
B
Vb 0
I0 Von VD
Figure 10.5 also shows the standard symbol for diodes. The arrow
points to the current direction when the device is forward biased.
Silicon diodes have typically η ' 2 for currents below ∼ 100mA, break-
down voltages Vb ' −6V, and typical reverse saturation current I0 ∼ 1µA.
10