01-Sep-21

Diode

• Made from a combination of 2 extrinsic semiconductors, P-type and N-

type material.
• The joint between the P-type and N-type material is called PN junction.
• Have 2 terminal( anode and cathode).
• Produced from the silicon wafer(mostly).
• Diode is a non linear, unidirectional device.

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Zero Bias Condition

• Initially, the concentration of holes is high in the p region and low in the n region, holes
diffuse across the junction from the p side to the n side. Similarly, electrons diffuse
across the junction from the n side to the p side. These two current components add
together to form the diffusion current ID , whose direction is from the p side to the n
side
• The flow of holes from the p-region uncovers negatively charged acceptor ions, and the
flow of electrons from the n-region uncovers positively charged donor ions.
• This action creates a charge separation, which sets up an electric field oriented in the
direction from the positive charge to the negative charge.
• This electric field creates a drift component of current from n to p, opposing the
diffusion current.
• If no voltage is applied to the pn junction, the diffusion of holes and electrons must
eventually cease. The direction of the induced electric field will cause the resulting
force to repel the diffusion of holes from the p-region and the diffusion of electrons
from the n-region.
• In addition to the current component ID due to majority-carrier diffusion, a component
due to minority-carrier drift exists across the junction.

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• Specifically, some of the thermally generated holes in the n material move

toward the junction and reach the edge of the depletion region. There,
they experience the electric field in the depletion region, which sweeps
them across that region into the p side.
• Similarly, some of the minority thermally generated electrons in the p
material move to the edge of the depletion region and get swept by the
electric field in the depletion region across that region into the n side.
• These two current components—electrons moved by drift from p to n and
holes moved by drift from n to p—add together to form the drift current Is
, whose direction is from the n side to the p side of the junction.
• No net current can flow across the junction at equilibrium, the current due
to the drift of carriers in the Electric field must exactly cancel the diffusion
current

ID = majority-carrier diffusion
Is= Drift current

• Electrons in the conduction band of the n region see a potential barrier in

trying to move into the conduction band of the p region. This potential
barrier is referred to as the built-in potential barrier.
• This potential difference across the junction cannot be measured with a
voltmeter.
• If we assume that no voltage is applied across the pn junction, then the
junction is in thermal equilibrium—the Fermi energy level is constant
throughout the entire system.
• The region which becomes depleted (free) of the mobile charge carriers is
called the depletion region.
• Width of depletion region depends upon the doping level. The higher the
doping level, thinner will be the depletion region.

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The Junction Built-in Voltage

• Junction built in voltage can seen as

𝑁 = doping concentrations of the p side of the junction

𝑁 = doping concentrations of the n side of the junction
𝑛 = Intrnisic carrier concentration
𝑉 = Thermal Voltage

• V0 depends both on doping concentrations and on temperature.

• Typically, for silicon at room temperature, V0 is in the range of 0.6 V to 0.9
V.
• When the pn junction terminals are left open-circuited, the voltage
measured between them will be zero i.e. the voltage V0 across the
depletion region does not appear between the junction terminals..
• This is because of the contact voltages existing at the metal–
semiconductor junctions at the terminals, which counter and exactly
balance the barrier voltage.

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Width of and Charge Stored in the Depletion Region

A pn junction with the terminals open-circuited

Carrier concentrations; note that :NA > ND

The charge stored in both sides of the depletion region;

Q = |Q | = |Q |

The built-in voltage V0.

Note : subscript “0” signifying equilibrium (i.e., before external voltages are applied,

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• if we denote the width of the depletion region in the p side by xp and in the n
side by xn,

where A is the cross−sectional area of the junction

The charge equality condition can now be written as

which can be rearranged to yield

The width W of the depletion layer is given by

where s is the electrical permittivity of silicon

Typically W is in the range 0.1 μm to 1 μm.

The charge stored on either side of the depletion region can be expressed
in terms of W by

substitute the value of W in above equation

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Example

Example

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Forward Bias
• When an external voltage is applied to the P-N junction making the P side
positive with respect to the N side the diode is said to be forward biased.

• The barrier potential difference is decreased by the external applied

voltage. The depletion band narrows which urges majority carriers to flow
across the junction.
• A Forward biased diode has a very low resistance.

Reverse Bias P-N Junction

• When an external voltage is applied to the P-N junction making the P side
negative with respect to the N side the diode is said to be Reverse Biased.

• The barrier potential difference increases. The depletion band widens

preventing the movement of majority carriers across the junction.
• A Reverse Bias diode has a very high resistance.

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V
VT
i  I 0 (e  1)

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• A positive value of I means that current flows from the p to the n side.
• The symbol eta  is unity for germanium and is approximately 2 for silicon
at rated current.
V
VT
i  I 0 (e  1)
• For forward bias, The current i is a diffusion current
• I0 or some time written as IS is the reverse saturation current
• Current flows relatively freely in the forward direction of the diode, but
almost no current flows in the reverse direction.
• In reverse Bias, the current is very low and saturates to I0
• If the voltage in reverse bias is increased from a threshold value, then
diode will breakdown.
• Reverse saturation current I0 varies with the temp.

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Consider a pn junction at T = 300 K in which IS = 10-14A and  = 1. Find the

diode current for vD = +0.70 V and vD = −0.70 V. Determine the current in a pn
junction diode.

Temperature Dependence on V-I

Characteristics
• From experimental data we observe that the reverse saturation current
increases approximately 7 percent/ Celcius for both silicon and
germanium.
• It means, the reverse saturation current approximately doubles for every
10°C rise in temperature.
If at T  T1 , the reverse saturation current is I 01
then at T  T2 , the reverse saturation current will be
I 0 (T2 )  I 01 x 2T2 T1 /10
• If the temperature is increased at a fixed voltage, the current increases.
• in order to maintain a constant value of I
dV
 2.5 mV / 0C for Si, Ge
dT

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Diode Resistance
• The static resistance/DC Resistance R of a diode is defined as the ratio V / I
of the voltage to the current.

• For small-signal operation the dynamic, or incremental, resistance r is an

important parameter, and is defined as the reciprocal of the slope of the
volt-ampere characteristic.

• The dynamic resistance/AC resistance is not a constant, but depends upon

the operating voltage. V

• dynamic conductance g = 1/r is i  I 0 (eV  1)

T

• for a forward bias greater than a few tenths of a volt,

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Breakdown
• When a reverse-bias voltage is applied to a pn junction, the electric field in
the spacecharge region increases. The electric field may become large
enough that covalent bonds are broken and electron–hole pairs are
created. Electrons are swept into the n-region and holes are swept into
the p-region by the electric field, generating a large reverse bias current.
This phenomenon is called breakdown.
• The breakdown voltage is a function of the doping concentrations in the n-
and p-regions of the junction.
• Larger doping concentrations result in smaller breakdown voltages.

• Avalanche breakdown
• Zener Breakdown

Avalanche breakdown
• occurs when carriers crossing the space charge region gain sufficient
kinetic energy from the high electric field to be able to break covalent
bonds during a collision process.
• Collision of carrier with crystal ion take place.
• This carrier collides with a crystal ion and imparts sufficient energy to
disrupt a covalent bond generating a new electron hole pair
• The generated electron–hole pairs can themselves be involved in a
collision process generating additional electron–hole pairs, thus the
avalanche process.
• Larger doping concentrations result in smaller breakdown voltages.
• Avalanche breakdown is seen at lightly doped diodes( wider depletion
width)
• Avalanche breakdown is seen at a voltage greater than 6V.

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Zener Breakdown
• Even if the initially available carriers do not acquire sufficient energy to disrupt
bonds, it is possible to initiate breakdown through a direct rupture of the
bonds.
• Because of the existence of the electric field at the junction, a sufficiently
strong force may be exerted on a bound electron by the field to tear it out of
its covalent bond.
• The new hole-electron pair which is created increases the reverse current.
• The field intensity E increases as the impurity concentration increases, for a
fixed applied voltage.
• It is found that Zener breakdown occurs at a field of approximately 2 X 107 V/m
which can be achieved at voltages below about 6 V for heavily doped diodes.
• Occurs in highly doped diode ( narrower depletion width)
• For lightly doped diodes, the breakdown voltage is higher, and avalanche
multiplication is the predominant effect.

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Capacitive Effects in the pn Junction

• There are two charge-storage mechanisms in the pn junction
1. charge stored in the depletion region
2. minority-carrier charge stored in the n and p materials as a result of
the concentration profiles established by carrier injection.

• While the first is easier to see when the pn junction is reverse biased, the
second is in effect only when the junction is forward biased.

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SPACE-CHARGE, OR TRANSITION,
CAPACITANCE CT or Cj
• a reverse bias causes majority carriers to move away from the junction,
thereby uncovering more immobile charges.
• Hence the thickness of the space-charge layer at the junction increases
with reverse voltage.
• This increase in uncovered charge with applied voltage may be considered
a capacitive effect.

Where, W is the width of the depletion region

• where dQ is the increase in charge caused by a change dV in voltage.

• CT is referred to as the transition region, space-charge, barrier, or
depletion-region, capacitance.
• this capacitance is not a constant, but depends upon the magnitude of the
reverse voltage.

Depletion or Junction Capacitance

• When a pn junction is reverse biased with a voltage VR, the charge stored
on either side of the depletion region is given by

Junction capacitance Cj , relates the change

in the charge QJ to a change in the voltage
VR ,

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The value of Cj at zero reverse bias can be obtained

This expression is for abrupt junction

where the doping concentration is made to
change abruptly
at the junction boundary.

This expression is for graded junction where

the carrier concentration is made to change
gradually from one side of the junction to the
other.

where m is a constant called the grading coefficient, whose value ranges from 1/3
to ½ depending on the manner in which the concentration changes from the p to the
n side.

DIFFUSION CAPACITANCE CD
• For a forward-biased junction, holes diffuse from the p side to the n side and
electron diffuses from n side to p side.
• Consequently, in the vicinity of the junction on the n side, we have a greater
hole concentration than normally exists because of the diffusion.
• Similarly, the grater electron concentration exist on p side
• This "excess" hole/electron density can be considered as charge storage in the
neighborhood of the junction.
• The amount of excess charge is established by the degree of forward bias.
• As we move further from the junction, the excess hole/electron concentration
decreases because of recombination with the majority charge carrier.
• Now, if a signal is applied which increases the forward bias by V , the
increased hole (electron) diffusion causes a change Q in the charge stored
near the junction.
• This causes the capacitance known as diffusion capacitance

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Contd.
• rate of change of injected charge with voltage, called the diffusion, or
storage, capacitance CD

• diffusion capacitance is proportional to the current I.

• For a reverse bias, g is very small and CD may be neglected compared with
CT.
• In a forward biased diode, the transition capacitance exist. However, the
transition capacitance is very small compared to the diffusion capacitance.
Hence, transition capacitance is neglected in forward biased diode.

Diffusion Capacitance Derivation

• a forward-biased pn junction

The forward-bias voltage V results in an

excess concentration of minority holes at
x = xn, given by

The excess hole charge stored in the n region can be found from the shaded area under
the exponential

Lp, which is called the diffusion length

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Lp, which is called the diffusion length

The time constant τp is known as the excess minority-carrier (hole)

Now lifetime.
It is the average time it takes for a hole injected into the n region to
recombine with a majority electron.

the excess hole charge stored in the n region,

the electron charge stored in the p region,

The total excess minority-carrier charge

where τT is called the mean transit time of

the junction

• For small changes around a bias point, we can define an incremental

diffusion capacitance Cd as

where I is the forward-bias current

Note that Cd is directly proportional to the forward current I and thus is negligibly
small when the diode is reverse biased.

Also note that to keep Cd small, the transit time τT must be made small, an important
requirement for a pn junction intended for high-speed or high-frequency operation.

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For Ideal Diode

• Short circuit while conducting
• Open circuit while non conducting

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DIODE EQUIVALENT CIRCUITS

• Exponential Model
• Piecewise-Linear Equivalent Circuit
– approximate the characteristics of the device by
straight-line segments,
– the straight-line segments do not result in an
exact duplication of the actual characteristics,
especially in the cut in voltage region.
• Simplified model

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The Exponential Model

• The most accurate description of the diode operation
• But, its severely nonlinear nature makes this model the most difficult to
use.

Assuming that the diode parameter IS is known

two unknown quantities ID and VD.

Two alternative ways for obtaining the solution are:

 graphical analysis
 iterative analysis.

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Graphical Analysis Using the Exponential

Model
• load line represents

• The load line intersects the diode curve at point Q, which represents the
operating point of the circuit

Graphical analysis aids in the

visualization of circuit
operation

For Complex circuits, not

useful

Iterative Analysis Using the

Exponential Model

To begin the iteration, we assume that VD = 0.7 V and use

We then use the diode equation to obtain a better estimate for VD.

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Simplified Equivalent model/

The Constant-Voltage-Drop Model
• For most applications, the resistance of diode is sufficiently small in
comparison to the other elements of the network and hence can be
neglected.

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Ideal Equivalent Circuit

• If the resistance of the diode is negligible as compared to the other
elements of the network and voltage drop across diode is also considered
negligible compared to the applied voltage

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Practical Diode Equivalent Circuit

The Small-Signal Model

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• We express the voltage across the diode as the sum of the dc voltage VD
and the time-varying signal vd(t),

Correspondingly, the total instantaneous diode current iD(t) will be

Substituting for vD

In the absence of the signal vd(t), the diode voltage is equal to VD, and the diode
current is ID

Now if the amplitude of the signal vd(t) is kept sufficiently small such that

This is the small-signal approximation

diode small-signal resistance, or incremental resistance, rd

Note: the value of rd is inversely proportional to the bias current ID

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Consider the circuit shown in Fig. for the case in which R = 10 kΩ. The power supply V+
has a dc value of 10 V on which is superimposed a 60-Hz sinusoid of 1-V peak
amplitude. Calculate both the dc voltage of the diode and the amplitude of the sine-
wave signal appearing across it. Assume the diode to have a 0.7V drop at 1mA current.

Steps1. Perform the dc analysis

Step 2: the small-signal equivalent circuit is obtained by eliminating all dc

sources (i.e., short-circuiting dc voltage sources and open-circuiting dc current
sources) and replacing the diode by its small-signal resistance.

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the diode incremental resistance rd is

Small signal
model justified

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JUNCTION-DIODE SWITCHING TIMES

• The transient response of diode signifies that when a diode goes from On
state to off state or vice versa, Some time is elapsed for the diode to reach
the steady state.

input waveform

Current waveform displaying storage

and transition times

Voltage waveform displaying storage

and transition times

Transition time t t :
The time which elapses between t 1, and the time when the diode has nominally
recovered
Storage time t S :
The interval 0 to t1, for the stored-minority charge to become zero, is called the
storage time.

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Reverse Recovery Time t rr :

The time trr is the interval from the current reversal at t = 0 until the diode has
recovered to a specified extent in terms either of the diode current or of the diode
resistance

Commercial switching- type diodes are available with times trr in the range from less
than 1 nanosecond (ns) up to as high as 1 microsecond (.s)

The forward recovery time t rf

It is the time required for the diode voltage to change from 10 to 90 percent of its final
value when the diode is switched from off to on.

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