Module Title: Analog Electronics 1

(TEE 1206).

PN Junction Diode-Lecture 02

Sri Lanka Technological Campus (SLTC)

School of Technology: Electronics Technology.

Year 01 –Semester 2 (2025A:S2)

Conducted by: Dayantha Lankanath.

Email: [email protected]
Lecture Overview.

Basic Structure of the PN Junction.

Forward Biased PN Junction Diode.
Reverse Biased PN Junction Diode.
 Basic Structure of the PN Junction.
P-N Junction.
When p-type and n-type materials are placed in contact with each other, the junction behaves
very differently than either type of material alone.
Specifically, current will flow readily in one direction (forward biased) but not in the other
(reverse biased), creating the basic diode.
This non-reversing behaviour arises from the nature of the charge transport process in the two
types of materials.
Junction Diode
 Basic Structure of the PN Junction.
P-N Junction.  When the N-type semiconductor and P-type semiconductor
materials are first joined together a very large density
gradient exists between both sides of the PN junction.

 The result is that some of the free electrons from the donor
impurity atoms begin to migrate across this newly formed
junction to fill up the holes in the P-type material
producing negative ions.

 When the electrons have moved across the PN junction

from the N-type silicon to the P-type silicon, they leave
behind positively charged donor ions (ND) on the negative
side.

 Holes from the acceptor impurity migrate across the

junction in the opposite direction into the region where
there are large numbers of free electrons.

 As a result, the charge density of the P-type along the

junction is filled with negatively charged acceptor ions
(NA), and the charge density of the N-type along the
junction becomes positive.
 Basic Structure of the PN Junction.

P-N Junction.
Transfer of electrons and holes across the PN junction is known as diffusion. The width of these P
and N layers depends on how heavily each side is doped with acceptor density NA , and donor
density ND, respectively.
This process continues back and forth until the number of electrons which have crossed the junction
have a large enough electrical charge to repel or prevent any more charge carriers from crossing
over the junction. Eventually a state of equilibrium (electrically neutral situation) will occur
producing a “potential barrier” zone around the area of the junction as the donor atoms repel the
holes and the acceptor atoms repel the electrons.
Since no free charge carriers can rest in a position where there is a potential barrier, the regions on
either sides of the junction now become completely depleted of any more free carriers in comparison
to the N and P type materials further away from the junction. This area around the PN Junction is
now called the Depletion Layer.
 basic structure of the PN Junction
P-N Junction. • Now a free charge requires some extra energy to overcome
the barrier that now exists for it to be able to cross the
depletion region junction.
• Electric field created by the diffusion process has created a
“built-in potential difference” across the junction with an
open-circuit (zero bias) potential of:

Where; Eo=Zero bias junction voltage, VT =Thermal voltage

of 26mV at room temperature, ND=Donor impurity
concentrations, NA=Acceptor impurity concentration
ni=Intrinsic concentration.

• Typically at room temperature the voltage across the

depletion layer for Si is about 0.6 – 0.7 volts and for Ge is
about 0.3 – 0.35 volts. This potential barrier will always
exist even if the device is not connected to any external
power source.
 Basic Structure of the PN Junction.
Biasing & V-I Characteristics.

There are two biasing conditions that we should discuss;

1. Reverse Bias – The voltage potential is connected negative, (-ve) to the P-type material and
positive, (+ve) to the N-type material across the diode which has the effect of Increasing the PN
junction diode’s width.
2. Forward Bias – The voltage potential is connected positive, (+ve) to the P-type material and
negative, (-ve) to the N-type material across the diode which has the effect of Decreasing the PN
junction diodes width.
Biasing & V-I Characteristics.
 When a diode is connected in a Forward Bias condition, a
Forward Biased PN Junction Diode:
negative voltage is applied to the N-type material and a
positive voltage is applied to the P-type material.

 If this external voltage becomes greater than the value of

the potential barrier, approx. 0.7 volts for Si and 0.3 volts
for Ge, the potential barriers opposition will be overcome
and current will start to flow.

 Height of the potential barrier at junction will be lowered

by the applied forward voltage.

 Negative voltage pushes or repels electrons towards the

Figure 5 junction giving them the energy to cross over and
combine with the holes being pushed in the opposite
direction towards the junction by the positive voltage.

 This results in a characteristics curve of zero current

flowing up to this voltage point, called the “knee” on the
static curves and then a high current flow through the
diode with little increase in the external voltage (refer
next slide)
Biasing & V-I Characteristics.
Forward Biased PN Junction Diode:
 The application of a forward biasing voltage on the
junction diode results in the depletion layer
becoming very thin and narrow which represents a
low impedance path through the junction thereby
allowing high currents to flow.

 The point at which this sudden increase in current

takes place is represented on the static I-V
characteristics curve above as the “knee” point.

 During the forward bias holes cross the junction

from p-type into n-type region where they
constitute injected minority current.

 Similarly electrons cross the junction from n-side

into p-side and become minority current in to p-
side.
Biasing & V-I Characteristics.
Forward Current in PN Junction:
When external voltage is applied across the junction in the forward bias, a current will flow
continuously through this junction.

Where;

VD = Diode Voltage >>26 mV

IS = Reverse Saturation Current (10-9 to 10-18 A)

VT =Volt-equivalent temperature (= 26 mV at room temperature)
n =Emission coefficient (1 ≤ n ≤ 2 for Si ICs)
Biasing & V-I Characteristics
• When a diode is connected in a Reverse Bias condition,
Reverse Biased PN Junction Diode:
a positive voltage is applied to the N-type material and
a negative voltage is applied to the P-type material.

• The positive voltage applied to the N-type material

attracts electrons towards the positive electrode and
away from the junction, while the holes in the P-type
end are also attracted away from the junction towards
the negative electrode.

• Height of the potential barrier at junction will be

increased by the applied reversed voltage.

Figure 8 • The net result is that the depletion layer grows wider
due to a lack of electrons and holes and presents a high
impedance path, almost an insulator. The result is that
a high potential barrier is created thus preventing
current from flowing through the semiconductor
material.
 Biasing & V-I Characteristics
Reverse Biased PN Junction Diode:
This condition represents a high resistance value to the PN
junction and practically zero current flows through the
junction diode with an increase in bias voltage. However, a
very small leakage current does flow through the junction
which can be measured in micro-amperes, ( μA ).

When the reverse bias voltage Vr applied to the diode is

increased to a sufficiently high enough value, it will cause
the diode’s PN junction to overheat and fail due to the
avalanche effect around the junction. This may cause the
diode to become shorted and will result in the flow of
maximum circuit current, and this shown as a step
Figure 10 downward slope in the reverse static characteristics curve
below.
Avalanche Breakdown
Under very high reverse bias voltage kinetic energy of
minority carriers become so large that they knock out
electrons from covalent bonds, which in turn knock more
electrons and this cycle continues until and unless junction
breakdowns.
Reverse Biased PN Junction Diode:
Biasing & V-I Characteristics.
Reverse Biased Current in PN Junction:
When external voltage is applied across the junction in the reverse bias, a very small
current will flow through junction.

Reverse Saturation Current:

In a PN junction diode, the reverse saturation current is due to the diffusive flow of minority
electrons from the p-side to the n-side and the minority holes from the n-side to the p-side. In a
reverse characteristic of pn junction, current increase in range of nano amp or microamp with
respect to reverse voltage .until voltage breakdown occurs, current remains constant and not
increase even though there is increase of voltage this current is known as reverse saturation current.
Hence, the reverse saturation current depends on the diffusion coefficient of electrons and holes. The
minority carriers are thermally generated so the reverse saturation current is almost unaffected by
the reverse bias but is highly sensitive to temperature changes.
Biasing & V-I Characteristics
Junction Diode Static I-V Characteristics.
Summery Forward & Reverse Bias.
PN Junction Forward Bias. PN Junction Reverse Biased.