P-N JUNCTION

ASHVANI SHUKLA
Manager(c&i)
Bgr Energy

Introduction
History of p-n Junction
In November 16, 1904 first vacuum tube was invented
by Sir John Ambrose Fleming and it is called the
Fleming valve, the first thermionic valve. There was no
existence of p-n junction in electronics field. In
October 20, 1906 Triode Tube had been developed by
Dr. Lee de Forest. A conceptual figure of vacuum diode
is shown below.

 Here the vacuum tube works mostly like modern

diode. But its size is larger. It consists of a vacuum
container with cathode and anode inside. This cathode
and anode are connected across a high voltage
source. Generally it works on principle of thermo ionic
emission. This cathode is heated by filament an hence
electron get emitted from cathode towards anode. So
it is also known as thermionic tube. Current only flow
from the anode to cathode i.e. unidirectional flow. The
V-I characteristics of a vacuum tube is shown below.

How does vacuum tube diode work?

 Filament creates heat to the cathode to emit electrons.

Beam of electrons flows from cathode to anode through the
space between cathode and anode. The voltage difference
is created across the cathode and anode by applying high
voltage across their terminal. The replacement of the
electrons in the electrodes is happened by this voltage
source. Under reverse bias this vacuum tube does not work
or it does not have any breakdown. This vacuum tube was
the basic component of electronics throughout the first half
of the twentieth century. It was available and common in
the circuit of radio, television, radar, sound reinforcement,
sound recording system, telephone , analog and digital
computers, and industrial process control.

 Gradually p-n junction semiconductor has come in the market and

vacuum tubes got replaced by them. But till today somewhere
vacuum tubes are being used widely. These fields for application of
the vacuum tubes are in Atomic Clocks Audio Systems Car
Dashboards Cellular Telephone Satellites Computer Monitors DVD
Players & Recorders Electromagnetic Testing Electron Microscopes
Gas Discharge Systems Gas Lasers Guitar Amplifiers Ham
Radio High-speed Circuit Switching Industrial Heating Ion
Microscopes Ion Propulsion Systems Lasers LCD Computer
Displays Lighting Microwave Systems Microwave Ovens Military
Systems Mobile Phone, Bluetooth & Wi-Fi Microwave Components
Musical Instrument Amplifiers Particle Accelerators Photomultiplier
Tubes Plasma Panel Displays Plasma Propulsion Systems
Professional Audio Equipment Radar Systems Radio
Communications Radio Stations Recording Studios Solar
Collectors Sonar Systems Strobe Lights Satellite Ground Stations
Semiconductor Vacuum Electronic Systems TV Stations Vacuum
Electron Devices Vacuum Panel Displays

 Types of Vacuum Diodes

The vacuum diodes are classified as 1. frequency
range wise (audio, radio, microwave) 2. power rating
wise (small signal, audio power) 3. cathode/filament
type wise (indirectly heated, directly heated) 4.
application wise (receiving tubes, transmitting tubes,
amplifying or switching) 5. specialized parameters
wise (long life, very low micro phonic sensitivity and
low noise audio amplification) 6. specialized functions
wise (light or radiation detectors, video imaging tubes)

 After the vacuum tubes, p-n junction semiconductor

came in the market. The circuit gets lighter and more
compact. The p-n junction semiconductor made of
either Silicon or Germanium material which has four
numbers of electrons in the valence band. From this
valence band the electron transit to the conduction
band penetration the energy gap of one electron volt
approximately. Generally pure Silicon or Germanium
has no extra electron available in their crystal
structure. But applying of thermal energy to this
crystal some bonds break and some electrons get
available in the conduction band. But current is very
small or in the order of microampere.

 This pure semiconductor is called intrinsic

semiconductor. But some impurities are added to the
pure semiconductor material like Al, P etc. Boron has
three electrons in valence band. So one Boron atom
holds four Silicon atoms with one bond with one
electron. This deficiency of one electron in this bond is
called as hole. After adding Boron to the intrinsic
material this semiconductor gets abundance of holes
in its lattice structure. This semiconductor is called
extrinsic semiconductor. Due to abundance of holes it
is known as positive type or p-type semiconductor.

 Phosphorus has five electrons in valence band. So one

phosphorus atom holds four Silicon atoms. But one
electron becomes extra. After adding phosphorus to the
intrinsic material this semiconductor gets abundance of
electrons in its lattice structure. This semiconductor is
called extrinsic semiconductor. Due to abundance of
electrons it is known as negative - type or n - type
semiconductor.

 A p-n junction is formed by placing p-type and n-type

semiconductor substrate side by side. It has homo
junction between p-type and n-type.

 When p-type and n-type semiconductor comes to contact, some

interesting cases arise.
The region of p-type is enriched of holes and the region of n-type is
enriched of electrons.
Now Electrons and holes come into action to diffuse from zone of high
concentration toward zone of low concentration, i.e. electrons travel
from the n-region to the p-region and ionized donor atoms are left in this
region.
In the p-region of the p- type substrate the electrons recombine with the
abundant holes. Again, holes come to diffuse from the p-region into the
n-region. Hence negatively charged ionized acceptor atoms are left in
the p-region.
Next, at the contact region in n - type semiconductor the holes which
come from p - type semiconductor recombine with the mobile electrons
and at the contact region in p - type semiconductor electrons come from
n - type semiconductor recombine with holes. This kind of diffusion
process will be continuing up to the charge balance in two regions.

 Then a narrow region on both sides of the junction is

created where no charge carriers (electrons or holes) are
there. This region is called the depletion layer.
In p - type or n - type region, just after creation of
depletion region, it contains only holes in p-type and
electron in the n-type semiconductor.
The depletion layer depends on the impurity level or
doping level in both type of semiconductor. It is inversely
proportional to the doping level.
Now, as a whole joint of two layers looks like a depletion
region in the middle portion with two electric fields at the
both end. These electric field points to p-type from the ntype region.
This depletion layer in the middle portion creates build-inpotential or contact potential with respect to two regions.

 No net current flows through this depletion region.

This depletion layer is also known as potential barrier.

 Symbol of p - n Junction Diode

A p - n junction is nothing but a diode hence an p-n
junction can also be refereed as p-n junction diode.

 Arrowed portion is called anode or positive terminal

and bar portion is called cathode or negative terminal.
Biased p-n Junction
Forward Bias of p-n Junction
When the p-type end of a p-n junction is connected to
the positive end of a battery and negative end of this
junction is connected to the negative of this battery
this biasing is called as the forward biasing.

At this biasing condition, the positive potency always repels the holes of the connected p-region.
Similarly the negative voltage repels the electrons from the n-type region. Now both the major
carriers i.e. the electrons and the holes penetrate to the depletion region and arrive their
opposite region. Hence current flows from the positive region to the negative region. When
battery voltage is applied across the junction in the forward bias, a current will flow continuously
through this junction.

IS is Saturation Current (10-9 to 10-18 A) VT is Volt-equivalent temperature (= 26 mV at room

temperature) n is Emission coefficient (1 n 2 for Si ICs) Actually this expression is
approximated. Reverse Bias of p-n Junction
When a p-n junction is connected across a battery in such a manner that its n-type region is
connected to the positive potency of the battery and the p-type region is connected to the
negative potency of the battery. Now the holes are engulfed by the negative potency of the
battery leaving behind negative static ions in the region and the electrons are engulfed by the
positive potency of the battery leaving behind positive static ions in the region . Ultimately the
depletion region at the p-n junction covers total p and n region of the diode. Hence no current
will flow through this diode.

iD drops to zero value or very small value. iD can be written as i0.

IS is Saturation Current (10-9 to 10-18 A) VT is Volt-equivalent temperature (= 26

mV at room temperature) n is Emission coefficient (1 n 2 for Si ICs)
Actually this expression is approximated.

 General Specification of p-n Junction

A p-n junction is specified in four manners. Forward voltage
drop (VF) : Is the forward biasing junction level voltage (0.3V for
Germanium and 0.7V for Silicon Diode )
Average forward current (IF): It is the forward biased current
due to the drift electron flow or the majority carriers. If the
average forward current exceeds its value the diode gets over
heated and may be damaged.
Peak reverse voltage (VR) : It is the maximum reverse voltage
across the diode at it reverse biased condition. Over this
reverse voltage diode will go for breakdown due to its minority
carriers.
Maximum power dissipation (P) : It is the product of the forward
current and the forward voltage.

V-I Characteristics of A P-N

Junction

 In the forward bias, the operational region is in the first quadrant.

The threshold voltage for Germanium is 0.3V and for Silicon is
0.7V. Beyond this threshold voltage the graph goes upward in a
non linear manner. This graph is for the dynamic Resistance of the
junction in the forward bias.
In the reverse bias the voltage increases in the reverse direction
across the p-n junction, but no current due to the majority carriers,
only a very small leakage current flows. But at a certain reverse
voltage p-n junction breaks in conduction. It is only due to the
minority carriers. This amount of voltage is sufficient for these
minority carriers to break the depletion region. At this situation
sharp current will flow through this junction. This breakdown of
voltage is of two types. (a) Avalanche breakdown: it is not properly
sharp, rather inclined linear graph i.e. after break down small
increase in reverse voltage causes more sharp current gradually.
(b) Zener Breakdown: this breakdown is sharp and no need to
increase reverse bias voltage to get more current, because current
flows sharply.

 Resistances of p-n Junction

Dynamic Resistance of p - n Junction
From V-I characteristics of a p-n junction, it is clear
that graph is not linear. The forward biased p-n
junction resistance is rd ohm it is called AC resistance
or dynamic resistance. It is equivalent to slope of
voltage current of the PN junction.

 Average AC Resistance of p - n Junction

Average AC resistance is determined by the straight
line that is drawn linking the intersection of the
minimum and maximum values of external input
voltage.

 Some important terms related to p-n Junction Transition

Capacitance of p-n Junction
When depletion region exist in the common junction around, the
diode acts as a capacitor. Here the depletion region is the dielectric
and two regions (p-type and n-type) at both ends act as the charged
plates of a capacitor. As the depletion layer decreases the
capacitance value goes down. Diffusion Capacitance of p-n
Junction
It the capacitance of the diode in forward biased condition and it is
defined as the ratio of transiting charge created to the differential
change in voltage. When the current through the junction increases
the diffusion capacitance also increases. Along with this increase in
current, the forward biased resistance also decreases. This diffusion
capacitance is somewhat greater than the Transition capacitance.
Storage Time of p-n Junction
It is the time taken by the electrons to move from n-type region to ptype region and p-type region to n-type region by applying
simultaneous forward and reverse bias voltage during switching.

 Transition Time of p-n Junction

It is the time taken by the current to decrease to reverse
leakage current. This transition time can be determined by
geometry of P-N junction and concentration of the doping
level.

 Reverse Recovery Time of p-n Junction

It is sum of the storage time and transition time. It is
the time for diode to raise applied current to get 10%
of the constant state value from the reverse leakage