EXPERIMENT NO.

2
PN-JUNCTION DIODE CHARACTERISTICS
Electronics components are basically classified into three main groups according to their
resistivity.

• Conductors
– Materials that have very low values of resistivity, usually in the micro-ohms per
metre.
– This low value allows them to easily pass an electrical current due to there
being plenty of free electrons floating about within their basic atom structure.
– Examples: Copper, Aluminium, Silver or non metals such as Carbon

• Insulators
– Materials that have very High values of resistivity, usually in the millions of
ohms per metre
– If a potential voltage is applied to the material no current will flow as there are
no “free electrons” available to move and which gives these materials their
insulating properties.
– Examples: Marble, fused quartz, PVC plastics, rubber etc.

• Semiconductors
– Semiconductors materials have electrical properties somewhere in the middle,
between those of a “conductor” and an “insulator”.
– They are neither good conductors nor good insulators (hence their name
“semi”-conductors).

– They have very few “free electrons” because their atoms are closely grouped
together in a crystalline pattern called a “crystal lattice” but electrons are still
able to flow, but only under special conditions.
– Examples: silicon (Si), germanium (Ge) and gallium arsenide (GaAs)
– Pure form of Semiconductors is called as intrinsic semiconductors.
– If any other material (Impurities) added with semiconductor materials then it will
called as Extrinsic Semiconductors. And adding of other materials is called as
Doping of Semiconductors.
– Extrinsic Semiconductors are of two types: N-type and P-type.
N-type Semiconductors

– The materials having valency of 5 (Pentavalent) are used for doping of Intrinsic
semiconductors to make them N-type semiconductors.

– e.g. of Pentavalent atoms are Arsenic, Antimony or Phosphorus

– This allows four out of the five orbital electrons to bond with its neighboring
semiconductor atoms leaving one “free electron” to become mobile when an
electrical voltage is applied (electron flow).
– As each impurity atom “donates” one electron, pentavalent atoms are generally
known as “donors”.

– In N-type Semiconductors; Electrons are Majority charge carriers and Holes are
Minority charge carriers.
 P-Type Semiconductor

– The materials having valency of 3 (Trivalent) are used for doping of Intrinsic
semiconductors to make them P-type semiconductors.
– e.g. of Trivalent atoms are Aluminium, Boron or Indium.
– This allows three Electrons of semiconductor material to make bond with its
neighboring trivalent atom and the fourth closed bond cannot be formed.

– Therefore, a complete connection is not possible, giving the semiconductor

material an abundance of positively charged carriers known as “holes” in the
structure of the crystal where electrons are effectively missing.
– As each impurity atom generates a hole, trivalent impurities are generally
known as “Acceptors” as they are continually “accepting” extra or free
electrons.
– In P-type Semiconductors; Holes are Majority charge carriers and Electrons are
Minority charge carriers.

FORMATION OF PN-JUNCTION

 If we join (or fuse) N-type and P-type semiconductor materials together they behave in
a very different way merging together and producing what is generally known as a “PN
Junction“.
 When these two types of 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.
 However, because 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 and now the 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.
 This charge transfer of electrons and holes across the PN junction is known
as diffusion.
 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.

Formation of Depletion layer

PN-JUNCTION DIODE

 A PN Junction Diode is one of the simplest semiconductor devices around, and which
has the characteristic of passing current in only one direction only.
 The PN Junction diode is formed by applying any external voltage source (Battery)
across the P and N type of the PN-junction formation part.
 This external voltage source (Battery) now acts as a parameter to overcome the
potential barrier. The effect of adding this additional energy source results in the free
electrons being able to cross the depletion region from one side to the other.
 the diode has an exponential current-voltage ( I-V ) relationship.

PN Junction diode Symbol

There are two operating regions and three possible “biasing” conditions for the standard
junction diode and these are:

1. Zero Bias – No external voltage potential is applied to the PN junction diode.

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.
3. 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.

Forward Biased PN Junction Diode

 When a diode is connected in a Forward Bias condition, a 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 silicon and 0.3 volts for germanium, the potential barriers opposition will
be overcome and current will start to flow.
 This is because the negative voltage pushes or repels electrons towards the 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.

Forward biasing of a PN-Junction Diode

V-I Characteristics of Forward Biased PN-Junction Diode

 This condition represents the low resistance path through the PN junction allowing
very large currents to flow through the diode with only a small increase in bias
voltage.
 The actual potential difference across the junction or diode is kept constant by the
action of the depletion layer at approximately 0.3v for germanium and approximately
0.7v for silicon junction diodes.
Reverse Biased PN Junction Diode
 When a diode is connected in a Reverse Bias condition, 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.
 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.

Reverse Biasing of a 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 ).
 One final point, if 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 downward slope in the reverse static
characteristics curve below.
 V-I Characteristics of Reverse Biased PN-Junction Diode

Sometimes this avalanche effect has practical applications in voltage stabilising circuits
where a series limiting resistor is used with the diode to limit this reverse breakdown current
to a preset maximum value thereby producing a fixed voltage output across the diode.

Components used for the Experiment No. 1

1. PN-Junction Diode
2. Resistance
3. Power supply
4. Multimeters
5. Bread Board
6. Connecting wires

PN-Junction Diode
Breadboard Connections