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Diode

PN- junction diode

The p-n junction A p-type material consists of silicon atoms and trivalent impurity atoms such as boron. The boron atom adds a hole when it bonds with the silicon atoms. However, since the number of protons and the number of electrons are equal throughout the material, there is no net charge in the material and so it is neutral. An n-type silicon material consists of silicon atoms and pentavalent impurity atoms such as antimony.

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PN- junction diode

As it is seen earlier, an impurity atom releases an electron when it bonds with four atoms. Since there is still an equal number of protons and electrons throughout the material, there is no net charge in the material and so it is neutral. If a piece of intrinsic silicon is doped so that half is n-type and the other half is p-type, a pn-junction forms between the two regions as indicated in Figure 6.10. The p region has many holes. The n region has many free electrons.

PN- junction diode

Fig 6.10 Formation of pn junction

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Depletion region
Formation of the depletion region The free electrons in the n region are randomly drifting in all directions. At the instant of the pn 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 6.11(a). Before the pn junction is formed, recall that there are as many electrons as protons in the n-type material making neutral in terms of net charge. The same is true for the p-type material.

Depletion region

Fig 6.11 Formation of repletion region

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Depletion region
When the pn junction is formed, the n region loses free electrons as they diffuse across the junction. As the electrons move across the junction, the p region loses holes as the electrons and holes combine. This creates a layer of negative charges near the junction. These two layers of positive and negative charges form the depletion region, as shown in figure 6.11(b).

Depletion region
Keep in mind that the depletion region is formed very quickly and is very thin compared to the n region and p region. The width of the depletion region in figure 6.11 is exaggerated for purposes of illustration.

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Diode concepts

Barrier potential
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 Coulombs 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 field of forces called an electric field. 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.

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Barrier potential
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 energy required to move electrons through the electric field. This potential difference is called as barrier potential and is expressed in volts. The barrier potential of a pn junction depends on several factors, including the type of semiconductor material, the amount of doping, and the temperature. Typical barrier potential is approximately 0.7V for silicon and 0.3V for germanium at 25C.

Barrier potential
Biasing the PN junction

Forward bias

Reverse bias

Figure 6.12 Biasing pn junction

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Forward biasing
Forward bias To bias a pn junction, apply an external dc voltage across it. Forward bias is the condition that allows current through a pn junction. Figure 6.13 shows a dc voltage source connected by conductive material across a pn junction in the direction to produce forward bias. This external bias voltage is designated as VBIAS. Notice that the negative side of VBIAS is connected to the n region and positive side is connected to the p region.

Forward biasing
ID

IS

Vbias
Figure 6.13 Forward biasing a pn junction diode

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Forward biasing
This is one of the requirement for forward bias. A second requirement is that the VBIAS must be greater than the barrier potential. A fundamental picture of what happens when a pn junction is forward biased is shown in Figure 6.14. Because like charges repel, the negative side of the bias voltage source pushes the free electrons, which are the majority carriers in the n region, towards the pn junction. This flow of free electrons is called electron current.

Forward biasing

Figure 6.14 Forward biasing pushes the electrons to the pn junction

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Forward biasing
The effect of forward bias on the depletion region As more electrons flow into the depletion region, the number of positive ions is reduced. As more holes effectively flow into the depletion region on the other side of the pn junction, the number of negative ions is reduced. This reduction in positive and negative ions during forward bias causes the depletion region to narrow, as indicated in Figure 6.15.

Figure 6.15 Effect of forward bias

Forward biasing
Effect of the barrier potential during forward bias When forward bias applied, the free electrons are provided with enough energy from the bias voltage source to overcome the barrier potential and effectively climb the energy hill and cross the depletion region. The energy that the electrons require in order to pass through the depletion region is equal to the barrier potential. This energy loss results in a voltage drop across the pn junction equal to the barrier potential as shown in figure 6.15(b). An additional small voltage drop occurs across the p and n regions due to the internal resistance of the material.

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Reverse bias
As illustration of what happens when pn junction is reversebiased is shown in figure 6.16. Notice that the positive side of VBIAS is connected to the n region of the pn junction and the negative side is connected to the p region. Also note that the depletion region is shown wider than in forward bias or equilibrium. Because unlike charges attract, the positive side of the bias voltage source pull the free electrons, which are the majority carriers in the n region, away from the pn junction. In the n region, as the electrons flow toward the positive side of the voltage source, additional positive ions are created. This results in a widening of the depletion region.

Reverse bias

Figure 6.16 Effect of reverse bias

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Reverse bias
In the p region, electrons from the negative side of the voltage source enter as valence electrons and move from hole to hole toward the depletion region where they create additional negative ions. This results in a widening of the depletion region and a depletion of majority carriers. The flow of valence electrons can be viewed as holes being pulled toward the positive side.

Reverse current
Reverse current The extremely small current that exists in reverse bias after the transition current dies out is caused by the minority carriers in the n and p regions that are produced by thermally generated electron-hole pairs. The small number of free minority electrons in the p region are pushed toward the pn junction by the negative bias voltage. When these electrons reach the wide depletion region, they fall down the energy hill and combine with the minority holes in the n region as valence electrons and flow toward the positive bias voltage, creating a small hole current.

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Reverse current
The conduction band in the p region is at a higher energy level than the conduction band in the n region. Therefore, the minority electrons easily pass through the depletion region because they require no additional energy. Reverse current is illustrated in figure 6.17

Figure 6.17 Figure 6.17

Current-voltage characteristic
Current-voltage characteristic of a PN junction When a forward bias voltage is applied across a silicon pn junction, there is current through the junction. This current is called the forward current and is designated IF. Figure 6.18 illustrates what happens as the forward bias voltage is increased positively from 0V. The resistor is used to limit the forward current to a value that will not overheat the pn junction and cause damage. With 0V across the pn junction, there is no forward current, as indicated in figure 6.18(a).

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Current-voltage characteristic
As the bias voltage is gradually increased, the forward current and the voltage across the pn junction gradually increase, as shown in part (b). A portion of the applied bias voltage is dropped across the limiting resistor. When the applied bias voltage is increased to a value the voltage across the pn junction reaches approximately 0.7V, the forward current begins to increase rapidly. As you continue to increase the bias voltage, the current continues to increase very rapidly, but the voltage across the pn junction increases very gradually above 0.7V, as illustrated in figure 6.18(c). This small increase in the pn junction voltage above the barrier potential is due to the dynamic resistance.

Current-voltage characteristic

(a)

(b)

(c)

Figure 6.18 current-voltage measurement of a diode

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Current-voltage characteristic / forward bias plot

Graphing the I-V curve If the results of the type of measurement shown in Figure 6.19 are plotted on a graph, you get the I-V characteristic curve for a forward biased pn junction, as shown in Figure 6.19(a). The forward current IF values increase upward along the vertical axis and the pn junction forward voltage VF values increased to the right along the horizontal axis. As you can see in Figure 6.19(a), the forward current increases very little until the forward voltage across the junction reaches approximately 0.7V at the knee of the curve. After this point, the forward voltage remains at 0.7V, but IF increases rapidly.

Current-voltage characteristic / forward bias plot

Figure 6.19 Forward bias curve

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Current-voltage characteristic
Normal operation for a forward biased pn junction is above the knee of the curve. The IF scale is typically in mA. The three points A, B, and C shown on the curve in Figure 6.19(a), can be related to the measurements in figure 6.18. Point A corresponds to Figure 6.19(a), which is a zero bias condition. Point B corresponds to figure 6.19(a) where the forward voltage is less than the barrier potential of 0.7V. Point C corresponds to figure 6.19 (a)where the forward voltage approximately equals the barrier potential and the external bias voltage and forward current have continued to increase.

Reverse bias measurements

(a) (b)

Figure 6.20 Reverse bias measurements

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Reverse bias measurements

As you continue to increase the bias voltage, the current continues to increase very rapidly, but the voltage across the pn junction increases very little above VBR, as illustrated in figure 6.20(b). Breakdown, with exceptions, is not a normal mode of operation for most pn junction devices. If the results of the type of measurements shown in figure 1.9, are plotted on a graph, you get the I-V characteristic curve for a reverse biased pn junction. A typical curve is shown in figure 6.21. As you can see, there is very little reverse current (usually A or nA) until the reverse voltage across the junction reaches approximately the breakdown value.

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