UNIT- 1
SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES
Intrinsic and extrinsic semi conductors with their energy band diagrams, Mass
action law, Formation of pn junction diode, PN diode working under forward and
reverse bias, current components & V-I characteristics of diode, diode equation,
temperature dependence of V-I characteristics, energy band diagram of diode,
transition and diffusion capacitances, specifications of diodes, breakdowns in
diodes, zener diode, tunnel diode, varactor diode, LED, photo diode and LCD.
OBJECTIVES
To familiarize the students about the different types of semi conductors.
To familiarize the students about the different types of diodes available (PN
junction, Zener, Tunnel and Varactor).
OUTCOMES
After the completion of the unit the students will be able to
Identify different types of diodes depending on the characteristics.
Calculation of transition and diffusion capacitance.
TEXTBOOKS
1. J.Millman and CC Halkias, Electronic Devices and Circuits, 2nd ed.,
Tata McGraw-Hill, , 2007.
2. S.Salivahanan, Electronic Devices and Circuits , 5th ed.,Tata McGraw-
Hill, 2010.
REFERENCES
1. R.L.Boylestad and Lovis Nashelsky, Electronic Devices and Circuits
Theory, 10th ed., Pearson Education, 2010.
2. N.N.Bhargava, Basic Electronics and Linear Circuits, 1st ed.,Tata
McGraw-Hill, 2009.
Introduction:
Based on the ability of conduction of electrons, all the
materials are classified as conductors, insulators and semiconductors. A
conductors is a very good carrier of electricity.
Ex: Silver, Copper, Aluminum etc.
An insulator is a very poor conductor.
Ex: Glass, Wood, Mica etc.
A semiconductor having conductivity which is between conductor and an
insulator.
Ex: Silicon and Germanium.
These semiconductors do not conduct current at low temperature but as
the temperature increases, these behave as good conductors.
Classification of Semiconductor:
Semiconductors are classified as (a) Intrinsic (pure) and (b)
Extrinsic (impure) types. The extrinsic semiconductors are of N-type and
P-type.
Intrinsic Semiconductor:
A semiconductor in its purest form is called intrinsic
semiconductor. The impurity level is very small, of the order of one part
in 100 million parts of semiconductor.
Intrinsic Semiconductors behave as a perfect insulator at
absolute temperature. At room temperature, some of the valence
electrons absorb the thermal energy. So they break the covalent bond and
enter into the conduction band. Such electrons become free to move in
the crystal one and are called conduction electrons. A missing electron in
Semiconductor Diodes Page 2 K Rachananjali
Dept of EEE VFSTR University
Holes
Extrinsic Semiconductor:
At room temperature, the conduction capability of an intrinsic
semiconductor is very little. Its conduction properties should be
increased, in order to use in electronic devices. This can be done by
adding some impurities to the intrinsic semiconductors. The added
impurity is very small of order of one atom per million atoms of pure
semiconductor. The process of adding pure impurity to a semiconductor
is known as doping. Such a semiconductor is called extrinsic
semiconductor.
Depending on the type of impurity added, the extrinsic
semiconductor can be divided into two types
a) N- type semiconductor and b) P- type semiconductor
N- Type extrinsic semiconductor:
impurity atom is of the order of only 0.01eV for Ge and 0.05eV for Si.
This energy is very small and may be provided with thermal agitation at
room temperature. A small amount of arsenic impurity provides enough
atoms to supply millions of free electrons.
Each impurity atom donates one electron to the
semiconductor, it is called donor impurity. After donating one electron,
Arsenic atom becomes positively charged ion. It cannot take part in
conduction because it is fixed in the crystal lattice.
n.p=2
Where n=number of free electrons per unit volume
p=number of holes per unit volume
=Intrinsic concentration
Charge density
d2 v
2
=
dx E
dv
E = - dx
But both these currents vary with distance, they are represented as (x)
and I (x)
Where x=0
I (0) decreases on N side as we move away from the junction.
Similarly (0) decreases on P side as we move away from the junction.
Io
=
11,600
Diode Equation:
= ( + )
= ( + ) .
-----------------> (2)
Substitute equation (1) in (2)
=( + ) .
=( + )
+ =
= ( -1)
Where =constant
Total current I= +
= ( -1) + ( -1)
I= 0 ( -1)
For reverse bias, I= 0 ( -1)
If V is large, then
<<1
So I=0 ------------>Reverse saturation Current
The barrier voltage is also temperature dependent and its value decreases
2 1
by 2mv/c. This is given by 0 2 = 0 1 *2 10
C.B
C.B
ECP
1 E0
EG
2 ECn
_
E1 E0
1
EF
EG _ E2
2
EVP
E0
V.B EVn
V.B
We know that np= and np=2
From above equations, we get
= ln ----------------> (2)
2
For N type material = - ln
- = ln ----------------> (3)
Similarly for P type material = + ln
- = ln ----------------> (4)
= ln [ * * ]
2
0 = ln
2
0 = ln
2
Diode resistance:
An ideal diode after zero resistance in forward bias condition
and infinite resistance in reverse bias condition. But no diode can act as
an Ideal diode. So actual diode offers less resistance in forward bias and
very high resistance in reverse bias.
Tunnel Diode:
A tunnel diode is a high conductivity PN junction diode
doped heavily about 1000 times higher than a conventional junction
diode.
The impurity concentration in a conventional diode is 1 part
in 108 atoms. With this doping, the depletion layer is relatively wide. If
the concentration of impurity atoms is greatly increased by about 1000
times, width of depletion layer reduces to about 10-6cm and the device
characteristics are completely changed. When there is not enough energy
to overcome the potential barrier, many carriers penetrate through the
junction. Consequently, large forward current is produced.
a) No Forward bias
No Tunneling
b) Peak voltage
Full Tunneling
c) Valley voltage
Tunneling Stopped
Circuit Symbol
When a forward bias is applied to an LED, both the electrons and holes
move towards the junction and they will recombine. Due to this
recombination, the electrons in the conduction band of N region fall into
the holes in the valence band of a P region. The difference of energy
between the conduction band and valence is radiated in the form of light
energy. The brightness of the emitted light is directly proportional to the
forward bias current. Recombination of carriers and emission of light of
LED will be shown in fig C. First take a substrate, an N type layer is
grown on that substrate and a P type layer is deposited on it by diffusion.
Since carrier recombination takes place in P layer, it is kept upper most.
A metal film is applied to the bottom of the substrate for reflecting as
much light as possible to the surface and also to provide cathode
connection LEDs are always encased to protect their delicate wires.
The wavelength of the light emitted and thus its colour depends on the
band gap energy of the materials forming the PN junction.
Gallium Arsenide (Ga As)-infrared radiation (invisible)
Gallium Phosphide (Ga P)-red or green
Gallium Arsenide Phosphide (Ga As P)-red or yellow
When LEDs are reverse biased, they emit no light. LEDs operate at
voltage levels from 1.5 V to 3.3 V with some tens of mill amperes
current. LEDs require power of 10 to 150mw with a life time of 100000+
hours.
They are used in wide applications.
Burglar Alarms, Picture Phones, Multimeters , Calculators, Digital
Meters, Microprocessors, Digital Computers etc
Photo diode:
A photo diode is a two terminal PN junction device which operates in a
reverse bias. It converts light signals into electric signals. It is also called
photo detector.
Applications:
Photo detection, Demodulation, Logic circuit, High speed switching
Optical communication systems.
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD):
LCDs are passive type display devices used for display of numeric and
alphanumeric character in dot matrix and segmental display. The main
advantage of LCD is the low power consumption because no light
generation is required. Normally two liquid crystal materials are used
such as nematic and cholesteric.
Based on the construction, LCDs are classified as
a) Dynamic scattering type and b) Field effect type.
Advantages:
1) Required voltage is small.
2) Low power consumption.
3) They are economical.
Disadvantages:
1) Very slow devices.
2) They occupy a large area.
3) They are used with a.c supplies having a frequently less than 50Hz.
Specifications of semiconductor diodes:
Specification sheets of some of the commonly used PN junction diode,
Zener diode, Varactor diode, Tunnel diode are given in the following
tables.