11/16/22, 3:40 PM OneNote

PN Junctions 
Monday, February 14, 2022  7:19 PM 

PN junction 
1. Almost all the semiconductor devices have multiple P-type and N-type region. 
2. The interface between P-type and N-type semiconductor region is called a PN junction. 
3. When P-type and N-type regions come in contact excess electrons from N-type and holes
from P-type diffuse into opposite regions and recombine. 
4. When electrons from N-type move into P-type area around junction and recombine, those
atoms in P-type get -ve charge (ionic atoms) and around junction area in N-type atoms
gets +ve charge therefore a built-in potential exists which is also called as potential
barrier. It is 0.7V for silicon diodes.  
5. P-N junction is mostly produced by a heat driven diffusion of dopants into the
semiconductor, which is a metallurgical process, it is called a "metallurgical junction". 
6. In and around P-N junction there exists not any free carrier hence it is called depletion
region. 
7. Higher the doping concertation higher will be the built-in potential. 
  
  

  
  
Free charge carriers concentration  

  
  
PN Diodes 
1. A PN junction forms a very useful solid-state device called Diode. 
2. Name Diode is derived from it's 2 nodes, anode (P-type) and cathode (N-type). 
3. Diode conducts current in only one direction hence it acts as a rectifier which is used in
power supplies, radio receivers, and signal processing. 
4. 3 bias conditions of diode: 
a. Zero bias → built-in potential exists. 
b. Reverse bias → depletion region widens and no conduction takes place. 
c. Forward bias → depletion region shrinks and conducts heavy current when potential
across diode is equal to or more than built-in potential (potential barrier). 
5. In reverse bias there is a leakage current present due to thermally generated carriers. 
6. Leakage current is dependent on temperature and increase in temperature aids to higher
leakage. 
7. The maximum operating temperature of a semiconductor device is therefore limited by
leakage current. A maximum junction temperature of 150°C is widely accepted for silicon-

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integrated circuits. 
  
  
Diode characteristics 

  
Schottky diodes 
1. Schottky diodes are similar to PN junctions diodes except in Schottky diodes a metal (ex,
aluminum) is used in place of P-type material to form a junction. 
2. Like PN diodes, built-in potential is formed in the Schottky diode for the same reasons. This
potential could be much lower than PN diode potential barrier voltage. 
3. Conduction in Schottky diodes takes place due to majority carriers (electrons), holes only
contribute a much smaller fraction of total current. 
4. Like in case of reverse bias leakage in PN diodes, leakage current occurs due to thermally
generated minority carriers hence increase in temperature increases leakage current. 
5. Most practical Schottky diodes result from the union between lightly doped N-type silicon and a
class of materials called silicides. These substances are definite compounds of silicon and certain
metals, for example platinum and palladium. 
6. Schottky diodes are used in various applications like, radio frequency mixer and detector, power
rectifiers, switching mode power supplies, solar cells, clamp diodes, etc.  
  

  
  
Zener diodes 
1. Under normal conditions, only a small current flows through a reverse-biased PN junction. 
2. This leakage current remains about constant until the reverse bias exceeds a certain critical
voltage, beyond which the PN junction suddenly begins to conduct large amounts of current. The
sudden onset of significant conduction is called reverse breakdown. 
3. If there is no external means to control the current in reverse breakdown then it may lead to
device destruction. 
4. A junction in reverse breakdown can provide a fairly stable voltage reference. Often reverse
breakdown sets the maximum operating voltage of the diode. 
5. Large conduction in reverse breakdown can be caused by 2 phenomenon: 
a. Tunnelling - because of high electric field intensity regardless of obstacles carrier move in
short distances eventually crossing the depletion region at certain voltage, called Zener
breakdown. 
b. Avalanche multiplication - because of high electric field accelerated carriers hit lattice and
break free 1000s of valence electrons at once, called avalanche breakdown. 
c. Avalanche breakdown usually occurs at higher voltage level than Zener breakdown. 
6. Zener diodes are always connected in reverse bias mode. 
7. Zener diodes are used in circuits like, over voltage protection, diode clipping circuits, voltage
regulator, etc. 
  
  
  

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Ohmic contacts 
1. Contacts must be made between metals and semiconductors in order to connect solid-state
devices into a circuit. These contacts would ideally be perfect conductors, but in practice they are
ohmic contacts that exhibit a small amount of resistance. 
2. Unlike rectifying contacts, these Ohmic contacts will conduct current equally well in either
direction.  
3. Schottky barriers can exhibit Ohmic conduction if the semiconductor material is doped heavily
enough.  
4. The high concentration of dopant atoms thins the depletion region to the point where carriers can
easily tunnel across it.  
5. Unlike normal Zener diodes, Ohmic contacts can support tunnelling at very low voltages.  
6. A lightly doped silicon region can be ohmically contacted only if a thin layer of more heavily doped
silicon is placed beneath the contact. At the surface of semiconductor accumulation layer is
provided to avoid formation of depletion region. 
7. This resistance is small enough that it can be neglected for most applications. 
8. Contact potentials are strong functions of temperature. 
  
  

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