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Chapter 3 - Part II

This document discusses the PN junction, its structure, and its role in semiconductor devices like diodes and bipolar junction transistors. It explains the concepts of diffusion and drift currents, depletion regions, and the effects of applied voltages on the junction's behavior. Additionally, it covers the current-voltage relationship and the impact of forward and reverse biases on the junction's electrical properties.

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Gideon Tyree
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views

Chapter 3 - Part II

This document discusses the PN junction, its structure, and its role in semiconductor devices like diodes and bipolar junction transistors. It explains the concepts of diffusion and drift currents, depletion regions, and the effects of applied voltages on the junction's behavior. Additionally, it covers the current-voltage relationship and the impact of forward and reverse biases on the junction's electrical properties.

Uploaded by

Gideon Tyree
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 3 Part II

ENG 3530
Middle Tennessee State University
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The PN Junction

• PN Junction
• The PN junction implements the
diode (Chapter 4) and plays the
dominant role in the structure and
operation of the bipolar junction
transistor (BJT, Chapter 6)
• It consists of a p-type
semiconductor (e.g., silicon)
brought into close contact with an
n-type semiconductor material (also
silicon).
Uncovered charges, an over-all negative

The PN Junction
charge in the p-type material and an over-all
positive charge in the n-type material. This
separation of charges develops a potential across
the depletion region, preventing further diffusion of
• The Diffusion Current lD carriers across the junction.
• 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
• 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

• The Depletion Region


• The holes that diffuse across the junction into the n
region quickly recombine with some of the majority
electrons present there and thus disappear from the
scene. This results in the disappearance of some
majority holes, causing some of the bound negative
charge to be uncovered (i.e., no longer neutralized by
holes).
• This recombination process results also in the
disappearance of some free electrons from the n-type
material. Since recombination takes place close to the The carrier-depletion region will exist on both sides of the
junction, there will be a region close to the junction
that is depleted of free electrons and contains junction, with the n side of this region positively charged and
uncovered bound positive charge, as indicated in Fig. the p side negatively charged. This carrier-depletion region—
3.9.
or, simply, depletion region—is also called the space-charge
region.
Barrier Voltage

A barrier is built near the junction which prevents the


further movement of electrons and holes.

The barrier voltage at the p-n junction opposes only the flow
of majority charge carriers.

It allows the flow of minority charge carriers


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The PN Junction
• Drift Current ls and Equilibrium
• Electrons moved by drift from p
to n and holes moved by drift
from n to p—add together to
form the drift current.
• Since the current Is is carried by
thermally generated minority
carriers, its value is strongly
dependent on temperature;
• It is independent of the value of
the depletion-layer voltage V0.
The PN Junction
• Under open-circuit
conditions
• The two opposite currents
across the junction must be
equal in magnitude .

A barrier is build near the junction which prevents the


further movement of electrons and holes.
The PN Junction
• The Junction Built-in Voltage (open circuit)
• With no external voltage applied, the barrier voltage Vo across the PN
junction can be shown as:
The PN Junction
• Figure 3.10 provides further
illustration of the situation in
the PN junction in equilibrium.
• In Fig. 3.10(a) we show a
junction in which NA > ND, a
common situation in practice.
• We have denoted the minority-
carrier concentrations in both
sides by np0 and pn0, with the
additional subscript “0”
signifying equilibrium.
The PN Junction
• Since we usually use unequal
dopings Na and ND), as in Fig.
3.10, the width of the depletion
layer will not be the same on
the two sides.
• Rather, to uncover the same
amount of charge, the depletion
layer will extend deeper into the
more lightly doped material.
The PN Junction
• we denote the width of the depletion region in the p side by xp and
in the n side by xn. We can express the magnitude of the charge on
the n side of the junction as
The width W of the depletion layer

The depletion region extends in both the p and n materials and


equal amounts of charge exist on both sides (0+ and Q_ in Fig.
Total charge
3.10c).
Electrical permittivity of silicon
The PN Junction with an Applied Voltage

• Having studied the open-circuited PN junction in detail, we are now


ready to apply a DC voltage between its two terminals to find its
electrical conduction properties.
• If we apply a voltage so that the p side is made more positive than
the n side, it is referred to as a forward-bias.
• Conversely, if we make the n side more positive than the p side, it is
said to be a reverse-bias voltage.
The PN Junction with an Applied
Voltage

Default Barrier Voltage


Applied Voltage
The Impact of Reverse Bias
• With reverse-bias, the externally applied reverse-bias voltage VR adds
to the barrier voltage VR, thus increasing the effective barrier voltage
to (Vo + VR).
• This reduces the number of holes that diffuse into the n region and
the number of electrons that diffuse into the p region.
• As a result, the diffusion current ID is dramatically reduced.
The Impact of Reverse Bias
The width W of the depletion layer

Without applied voltage VR With applied voltage VR

Magnitude of the charge

Without Barrier voltage VR With Barrier voltage VR


Reduced barrier voltage
• This reduced barrier voltage will be
accompanied by reduced depletion-
region charge and correspondingly
narrower depletion-region width W.
• The lowering of the barrier voltage will
enable more holes to diffuse from p to n
and more electrons to diffuse from n to
p. Thus the diffusion current ID increases
substantially and can become many
orders of magnitude larger than the drift
current Is. The current I in the external
circuit is the difference between ID and Is.
The Current-Voltage Relationship of
the Junction
• A forward-bias voltage V subtracts from the built-in voltage V o, thus resulting in a
lower barrier voltage (Vo — V). The lowered barrier in turn makes it possible for a
greater number of holes to overcome the barrier and diffuse into the n region.
• Let us now consider the holes injected into the n region. The concentration of holes in
the n region at the edge of the depletion region will increase considerably.
• In fact, an important result from device physics shows that the steady-state
concentration at the edge of the depletion region will be
Excess Concentration of Minority Holes
and the Total Hole Concentration
Depletion region in the n side by xn

Diffusion Length in P region

Total hole concentration

Max value

The hole-diffusion current density


Minority-carrier distribution in a
forward-biased pn junction.
The total current I
Typical values for Is, for junctions of various areas, range from
10-18 A to 10-12 A

Also written as

Is called saturation current

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