Basic Electronics (ES-112)

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2
 Lecture 4-5

PN Junction Diode and its V-I

Characteristics (CLO-1)
References

 Chapter 1 & 2 , Electronic Devices and Circuits by Thomas L Floyd

 Chapter 2 , Introductory Electronic devices and circuits by Robert T paynter
 Chapter 1 , Electronic devices and circuits by Robert Boylested

4
PN Junction Diode
Introduction

 The origin of a wide range of electronic devices being used can be traced back to
a simple device, the p–n junction diode.
 The p–n junction diode is formed when a p-type semiconductor impurity is doped
on one side and an n-type impurity is doped on the other side of a single crystal.
 All the macro effects of electronic devices, i.e., wave shaping, amplifying or
regenerative effects, are based on the events occurring at the junction of the p–n
device.
 Most modern devices are a modification or amalgamation of p–n devices in
various forms.
 Prior to the era of semiconductor diodes, vacuum tubes were being extensively
used. These were bulky, costly and took more time to start conducting because of
the thermo-ionic emission.
 The semiconductor diodes and the allied junction devices solved all these
problems.

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Diode

 A diode is a p-n junction

 A diode is a boundary between a

p-type and n-type material.

 The p region has many holes

(majority carriers) from the
impurity atoms and only a few
thermally generated free
electrons (minority carriers).

 The n region has many free

electrons (majority carriers) from
the impurity atoms and only a few
thermally generated holes
(minority carriers).
 - -
++ - -
++ - -
++ - -
++ - - -
++ +
Formation of the depletion layer

 The free electrons in the n region are randomly drifting in all directions.

 At the instant of the p-n junction formation. the free electrons near the
junction in the n region begin to diffuse across the junction into the p region
where they combine with holes near the junction, as shown in Figure
 When the p-n junction is formed,
the n region loses free electrons
as they diffuse across the
junction.

 This creates a layer of positive

charges (pentavalent ions) near
the junction.

 As the electrons move across the

junction. the p region loses holes
as the electrons and holes
combine.
 Separation of a sea of charge, leaving
behind a charge depleted region

http://scott.club365.net/uploaded_images/Moses-Parts-the-Red-Sea-2-782619.jpg
 The term depletion refers to the fact that the region near the pn junction is
depleted of charge carriers (electrons and holes) due to diffusion across
the junction.

 After the initial surge of free electrons across the pn junction. the depletion
region has expanded to a point where equilibrium is established and there
is no further diffusion of electrons across the junction.

 This occurs as follows. As electrons continue to diffuse across the junction,

more and more positive and negative charges are created near the
junction as the depletion region is formed.

 A point is reached where the total negative charge in the depletion region
repels any further diffusion of electrons (negatively charged particles) into
the p region (like charges repel) and the diffusion stops.

 In other words. the depletion region acts as a barrier to the further

movement of electrons across the junction.
Barrier Potential

 Any time there is a positive charge and a negative charge near each
other, there is a force acting on the charges as described by
Coulomb's law.

 In the depletion region there are many positive charges and many
negative charges on opposite sides of the pn junction,

 The forces between the opposite charges form a "field of forces"

called an electric field, between the positive charges and the negative
charges.

 This electric field is a barrier to the free electrons in the n region, and
energy must be expended to move an electron through the electric
field.

 That is. external energy must be applied to get the electrons to move
across the barrier of the electric field in the depletion region.
 The potential difference of the electric field across the depletion
region is the amount of voltage required to move electrons through
the electric field.
 This potential difference is called the barrier potential and is
expressed in volts.
 Stated another way, a certain amount of voltage equal to the barrier
potential and with the proper polarity must be applied across a pn
junction before electrons will begin to flow across the junction.
 The barrier potential of a pn junction depends on several factors.
including
 the type of semi conductive material.
 the amount of doping,
 and the temperature.
 The typical barrier potential is approximately 0.7 V for silicon and 0.3
V for germanium at 25°C.
Biasing a Diode

 Generally the term bias refers to the use of a dc voltage to establish

certain operating conditions for an electronic device.

 In relation to a diode, there are two bias conditions:

 forward and
 reverse.

 Either of these bias conditions is established by connecting a sufficient

dc voltage of the proper polarity across the pn junction.
The Biased PN Junction

Forward Bias: Vapplied > 0

• In forward bias the depletion region shrinks slightly in width. With this
shrinking the energy required for charge carriers to cross the depletion
region decreases exponentially.

• Therefore, as the applied voltage increases, current starts to flow across

the junction.

• The barrier potential of the diode is the voltage at which appreciable

current starts to flow through the diode. The barrier potential varies for
different materials.
The Biased PN Junction

Reverse Bias: Vapplied < 0

• Under reverse bias the depletion region widens.

• This causes the electric field produced by the ions to cancel out the
applied reverse bias voltage.

• A small leakage current, Is (saturation current) flows under reverse bias

conditions.

• This saturation current is made up of electron-hole pairs being produced

in the depletion region.
 Diode Biasing

Short Circuit

Forward Biased Diode

Open Circuit

Reverse Biased Diode

19
20
Diode V-I characteristics

21
Graphical PN-Junction Diode V-I Characteristic

 The V-I characteristics or Volt-ampere characteristics depict the diode

behavior and help in understanding the diode operation in both forward
and reverse direction.

 The horizontal line in the below figure represents the amount

of voltage applied across the p-n junction diode whereas the vertical
line represents the amount of current flows in the p-n junction diode

 The V-I characteristics can be subdivided into two- Forward and

reverse characteristics.

22
Graphical PN-Junction Diode V-I Characteristic

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Forward Characteristics

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Reverse Characteristics

 If the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the p-type

semiconductor and the positive terminal of the battery is connected
to the n-type semiconductor, the diode is said to be in reverse bias.

 If the external reverse voltage applied on the p-n junction diode is

increased, the free electrons from the n-type semiconductor and the
holes from the p-type semiconductor are moved away from the p-n
junction.

 This increases the width of depletion region.

 The wide depletion region of reverse biased p-n junction diode

completely blocks the majority charge carrier current.
 Minority carrier current flows instead.
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26
Reverse Characteristics

 voltage or point at which the electric current reaches its maximum level
and further increase in voltage does not increase the electric current is
called reverse saturation current. 
 The reverse saturation current is depends on the temperature. If
temperature increases the generation of minority charge carriers
increases.
 Hence, the reverse current increases with the increase in
temperature. 
 reverse saturation current in the germanium diodes is greater than the
silicon diodes.

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Depletion Region Breakdown

 Reverse voltage damages the depletion region at the junction is called

depletion region breakdown.
 The width of the depletion region increases with the increase in voltage
only up to a certain value or point.
 If the reverse voltage applied on the p-n junction diode is increased
beyond that value or point, the junction breaks down and allows a large
reverse current.
 At this point, a small increase in the voltage will rapidly increase the
electric current.
 The voltage or point at which junction breakdown occurs is called
breakdown voltage.

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Depletion Region Breakdown

 The breakdown voltage of a p-n junction diode depends on the width of

depletion region.
 The p-n junction diodes with wide depletion region have high
breakdown voltage whereas the p-n junction diodes with narrow
depletion region have low breakdown voltage.
 Depletion region breakdown occurs in two ways.
 Avalanche breakdown
 Zener breakdown

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Avalanche breakdown

 The generation of minority carriers in the reverse biased p-n junction

diode does not depend on the applied reverse voltage. It depends only
on the temperature.
 However, the applied reverse voltage on the p-n junction diode
supplies energy to the minority carriers (free electrons at p-type
and holes at n-type semiconductor).
 The free electrons, which gain energy from the external voltage are
accelerated to greater velocities. 
 Further increase in reverse voltage speeds up the charges.
 High speed electrons knock out electrons from other atoms creating
electron hole pairs- a situation called carrier multiplication.
 That situation of carrier multiplication means large reverse current
which causes junction breakdown also called Avalanche breakdown

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Avalanche breakdown

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Diode Equation

ID (mA)
• VD = Bias Voltage
• ID = Current through
Diode. ID is Negative
for Reverse Bias and IS
Positive for Forward VBR
Bias
~V VD
• IS = Saturation Current
• VBR = Breakdown
Voltage
• V = Barrier Potential
Voltage (nA)

32
 Diode Equation

• The Transconductance curve on the previous slide is characterized by the

following equation:
ID = IS(eVD/VT – 1)
• VT is the thermal equivalent voltage and is approximately 26 mV at room
temperature. The equation to find VT at various temperatures is:
VT = kT
q

k = 1.38 x 10-23 J/K T = temperature in Kelvin q = 1.6 x 10-19 C

•  is the emission coefficient for the diode. It is determined by the way the
diode is constructed. It somewhat varies with diode current. For a silicon
diode  is around 2 for low currents and goes down to about 1 at higher
currents

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Example

 A silicon diode has a saturation current of 0.1pA at 20o C . Find its

current when it is forward biased by 0.55V. Find the current in the
same diode when the temperature rises to 100oC.

Solution: at 20o C , we have

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In going from 20oC to 100oC , the temperature increases in 8
increments of 10 each (100-20)=80; 80/10=8. Therefore IS doubles 8
times , i.e. ,increases by a factor of 28 =256. so at 100oC , IS = 256 ×
10-13 A

35
Temperature Effects on V-I characteristics

Increasing temperature causes shift in V-I characteristics to left

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Temperature Effects on V-I characteristics

**Electronic devices and circuits by Robert Boylested

37
Examples

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 Examples

Diode arrangement used in logic circuits ≈ Equivalent circuit

39
Examples
Calculate output voltage

Result

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Examples
Calculate output voltage

41
Exercise

42
Exercise

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Exercise

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End of Lecture