Lecture 13

OUTLINE
• pn Junction Diodes (cont’d)
– Charge control model
– Small-signal model
– Transient response: turn-off

Reading: Pierret 6.3.1, 7, 8.1; Hu 4.4, 4.10-4.11

 Minority-Carrier Charge Storage
• Under forward bias (VA > 0), excess minority carriers are
stored in the quasi-neutral regions of a pn junction:
 
QN  qA n p ( x)dx QP  qA pn ( x)dx
xp xn

  qAn p ( x p ) LN  qApn ( xn ) LP

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 2

Derivation of Charge Control Model
Consider the n quasi-neutral region of a forward-biased pn junction:
•The minority carrier diffusion equation is (assuming GL=0):
pn  2 pn pn
 DP 
t x 2
p
p n
•Since the electric field is very small, J P   qDP x

 (qpn ) J P qpn
•Therefore  
t x p

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 3

 Derivation Assuming a Long Base
• Integrating over the n quasi-neutral region:

    J P ( )
1 
 
qA  pn dx    A  dJ P  qA  pn dx
t  x n  J p ( xn )
 p  x n 

J P ()

• Note that  A  dJ
J p ( xn )
P   AJ P ()  AJ P ( xn )  AJ P ( xn )  I P ( xn )

dQP QP
• So  I P ( xn ) 
dt p

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 4

 Charge Control Model
We can calculate pn-junction current in 2 ways:
1. From slopes of np(-xp) and pn(xn)
2. From steady-state charges QN, QP stored in each excess-
minority-charge distribution:
dQP QP
 I P ( xn )  0
dt τp
QP
 I P ( xn ) 
τp
 QN
Similarly, I N ( x p ) 
τn
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 5
Charge Control Model for Narrow Base
• For a narrow-base diode, replace p and/or n by the
minority-carrier transit time tr
– time required for minority carrier to travel across the quasi-
neutral region
– For holes in narrow n-side:
WN 1
QP  qA pn ( x)dx  qA pn ( xn )WN
xn 2
dpn pn ( xn )
I P  AJ P   qADP  qADP
dx WN
QP WN 
2
 τ tr , p  
IP 2 DP
 WP 
2

– Similarly, for electrons in narrow p-side: τ tr ,n 

2 DN
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 6
 Charge Control Model Summary
• Under forward bias, minority-carrier charge is stored in the
quasi-neutral regions of a pn diode.

– Long base: QN   qA
ni2 qVA / kT
NA
e 
 1 LN 
QP  qA
ND
e 
ni2 qVA / kT
 1 LP 

– Narrow base: QN  qA

1 ni2 qVA / kT
2 NA
e  1 WP 
QP  qA
1 ni2 qV A / kT
2 ND
e 
 1 WN 
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 7
• The steady-state diode current can be viewed as the
charge supply required to compensate for charge loss
via recombination (for long base) or collection at the
contacts (for narrow base).
 QN QP
– Long base (both sides): I  
τn τp
 QN QP
– Narrow base (both sides): I  
τ tr ,n τ tr , p

τ tr ,n 
 WP 
2

 WN 
2

where and τ tr , p
2 DN 2 DP
LN DN L D
Note that  and P  P
τn LN τ p LP
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 8
 Small-Signal Model of the Diode
i

+
va dva
i  C v
R dt


1 dI d d
  I 0 (e qVA / kT
 1)  I 0 e qVA / kT
R dVA dVA dVA
Small-signal 1 q I DC
conductance: G   
qVA / kT
I 0e
R kT kT / q
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 9
Charge Storage in pn Junction Diode

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 10

pn Junction Small-Signal Capacitance
2 types of capacitance associated with a pn junction:
dQdep
depletion capacitance CJ 
 due to variation of depletion charge dVA
dQ
diffusion capacitance CD 
dVA
–due to variation of stored
minority charge in the quasi-neutral regions

For a one-sided p+n junction Q = QP + QN  QP so

dQP dI τ p I DC
CD   τp  τ pG 
dVA dVA kT / q
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 11
 Depletion Capacitance

dQdep s
CJ  A
dVA W

What are three ways to reduce CJ?

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 12

 Total pn-Junction Capacitance
C = CD + CJ
s
CD 
τI DC
kT / q

 e qV A / kT  1  CJ  A
W

•CD dominates at moderate to high forward biases

•CJ dominates at low forward biases, reverse biases

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 13

Using C-V Data to Determine Doping
1 W2 2(Vbi  VA )
 2 2  2
CJ
2
A s A q S N

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 14

 Example
If the slope of the (1/C)2 vs. VA characteristic is -2x1023 F-2 V-1,
the intercept is 0.84V, and A is 1 m2, find the dopant
concentration Nl on the more lightly doped side and the
dopant concentration Nh on the more heavily doped side.

N l  2 /( slope  q s A2 )
Solution:
 2 /( 2 10  1.6 10
23 19
 10 12
 10 )
8 2

 6  1015 cm 3
2 qV 0.84
kT N h N l ni kTbi 10 20 0.026 3
Vbi  ln  N h  e  e  1 . 8  1018
cm
q ni
2
Nl 6  1015

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 15

 Small-Signal Model Summary
C  C J  CD

I DC  I 0 (e qVA / kT  1)

A s
Depletion capacitance CJ 
W I DC
Conductance G 
τI DC kT / q
Diffusion capacitance C D 
kT / q

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 16

 Transient Response of pn Diode
• Suppose a pn-diode is forward biased, then suddenly turned
off at time t = 0. Because of CD, the voltage across the pn
junction depletion region cannot be changed instantaneously.

The delay in switching between

the ON and OFF states is due
to the time required to change
the amount of excess minority
carriers stored in the
quasi-neutral regions.

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 17

 Turn-Off Transient
• In order to turn the diode off, the excess minority
carriers must be removed by net carrier flow out of
the quasi-neutral regions and/or recombination
– Carrier flow is limited by the switching circuitry

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 18

 Decay of Stored Charge
Consider a p+n diode (Qp >> Qn):
pn(x) i(t)

ts
t

vA(t)

dpn i t
For t > 0:  0 ts
dx x  xn qAD p
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 19
 Storage Delay Time, ts
• ts is the primary “figure of merit” used to characterize the
transient response of pn junction diodes
dQ p Qp  Qp 
i   I R   0  t  ts
dt τp  τ 
 p 
• By separation of variables and integration from t = 0+ to t = ts,
noting that I F  Q p (t  0) / τ p

and making the approximation Q p (t  t s )  0

 IF 
We conclude that t s  τ p ln1  
 IR 
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 20
 Qualitative Examples
Illustrate how the turn-off transient response would change:

Increase IF Increase IR Decrease p

i(t) i(t) i(t)

ts ts ts
t t t

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 21