EE 152 BASIC ELECTRONICS

GIDEON ADOM-BAMFI
What to expect?

Equivalent
PN Junction Biasing Circuit of a
diode

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PN – JUNCTION DIODE

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 1. PN JUNCTION

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A p-n junction is the junction between an n-type semiconductor
and a p-type semiconductor

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PN Junction
• A p-n junction is the junction between an n-type semiconductor and a p-type
semiconductor.

• It is fabricated by introducing donor impurities into one side of an intrinsic

semiconductor crystal and acceptor impurities into the other side.

• It is also called a semiconductor diode.

(a) schematic diagram (b) block diagram

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PN Junction

(b) The positive terminal of

(a) When N-type and P-type dopants are
introduced side-by-side in a the diode is known as the
semiconductor, a PN junction or a diode anode; the negative terminal
is formed is the cathode.

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PN Junction
• The figure below illustrates the cross-section of a p-n junction.

• Assume the p-n junction is initially made (t = 0); A diffusion current consisting
of both holes and free electrons will flow across the junction.

• Holes diffuse out of the p-type side and into the n-type side and free electrons
diffuse out of the n-type side and into the p-type-side.

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PN Junction
• The p-side becomes negatively charged and the n-side becomes positively charged
(t = t1), caused by the ionized acceptor atoms and ionized donor atoms on the p-
side and n-side respectively.

• The charges on either side of the p-n junction cause an electric field to build up
across the junction which is directed from the n-type side to the p-type side.

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PN Junction in Equilibrium
• The electric field opposes the diffusion of holes and electrons across the junction.

• Equilibrium is reached when the force exerted on the charge carriers by the electric
field is equal to the diffusion force.

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Depletion Region
• Because no free electrons or holes can exist in the region about the junction, there are
no mobile charges to neutralize the ions in the region.

• The ions on the n-type side have a positive charge on them and those on the p-type
side have a negative charge.

• The region about the junction in which the ions exist is called depletion region.

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Depletion Region
• Other names are the space-charge region and the transition region.

• The width of the depletion region is called the depletion width (W dep).

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Junction Capacitance
• Junction capacitance is the capacitance associated with the depletion region.

• The positive ions on the n-type side and the negative ions on the p-type side serve as
the positive and negative plates respectively as in a parallel plate capacitor.

• The dielectric of the junction capacitance result from the depletion region space
between the positive and negative ions.

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Junction Capacitance
•▷ As
  in a parallel plate capacitor, the junction capacitance is given by:
Cdep =
Where
• ɛoɛr =ɛ is the absolute permittivity of the semiconductor
• A is the cross-sectional area of the junction and
• Wdepis the depletion width

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Built-In Potential
•▷ Because
  there is an electric field in the depletion region of a p-n junction that is
directed from the n-type side to the p-type side, it follows that there is a difference in
potential or voltage across the junction

• This voltage difference is called the built-in potential or contact potential or potential
barrier

• The built-in voltage VB is given by:

VB = VTln
Where VT is the thermal voltage.

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Built-In Potential

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 2. BIASING

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Biasing establishes a voltage across the pn junction
diode terminals

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Biasing
• For semiconductors to conduct, a voltage potential is connected across it in a process
called biasing.

• The external voltage, based on the how the biasing is done, can increase or decrease
the potential barrier.

There are three possible biasing conditions for the standard junction diode namely:
1. Zero biasing
2. Forward biasing
3. Reverse biasing.

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Zero Bias
• In zero bias condition, no external voltage is applied to the PN-junction.

• No current flows through the diode.

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Forward Biasing
• 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, 0.7V
for Silicon and 0.3 V for Germanium, the potential barrier’s opposition will be
“subdued” and current will start to flow.

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Forward Biasing
• The negative voltage repels electrons towards the
junction giving them the energy to cross over and
the holes are repelled in the opposite direction
towards the junction by the positive voltage.

• These result in the depletion layer becoming very

thin and narrow representing a low impedance
path. In that event, a very small potential barrier is
produced, allowing high currents to flow.

• The voltage at which the diode starts conducting is

called the knee voltage or cut-in voltage

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Reverse Biasing
• To reverse bias a diode, a positive voltage is applied
to the N-type material and a negative voltage is
applied to the P-type material as shown below

• 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.
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Reverse Biasing

• Consequently, a high potential barrier is created thus preventing current from flowing
through the semiconductor material.

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Reverse Biasing
• However, a very small leakage current does flow through the junction that can be
measured in microamperes, (µ A).

• This leakage current is due to drift of thermally produced electron-hole pairs

across the junction i.e. the electric field across the junction causes the electron to
be swept to the n-type side and the hole to be swept to the p-type side.

• If the reverse bias voltage, VR applied to the junction is increased to a sufficiently

high enough value called the Reverse Breakdown Voltage, it will cause the PN-
junction to overheat and fail.

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Reverse Biasing

• This may cause the diode to become shorted and will result in maximum circuit
current to flow.

• This effect is called the Zener Breakdown or Avalanche Breakdown

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Reverse Biasing
• The I-V Characteristic curve of the P-N diode illustrates the current (I) and voltage
relationship of the diode under forward and reverse bias conditions.
• It is obtained by sweeping the voltage across the diode from negative to positive
whiles measuring the corresponding currents.

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Definition of Terms
Knee voltage or Cut-in Voltage
It is the forward voltage at which the diode starts conducting.

Breakdown voltage
It is the reverse voltage at which the diode (p-n junction) breaks down with sudden rise
in reverse current.

Peak-inverse voltage (PIV)

• It is the maximum reverse voltage that can be applied to a p-n junction without
causing damage to the junction.

• If the reverse voltage across the junction exceeds its peak-inverse voltage, then the
junction gets destroyed because of excessive heat.
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Definition of Terms
• In rectification, one thing to be kept in mind is that, care should be taken that reverse
voltage across the diode during negative half cycle of A.C. does not exceed the peak-
inverse voltage of the diode.

• It is usually safer to select a diode that has reverse breakdown voltage at least 50%
greater than the expected PIV.

Maximum Forward current/Current handling Capacity

• It is the maximum instantaneous forward current that a p-n junction can conduct
without damaging the junction.

• If the forward current is more than the specified rating, then the junction gets
destroyed due to overheating.
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Equivalent Circuit of a Diode
• When the forward voltage VF is applied across a diode, it will not conduct till the
potential barrier VB at the junction is overcome.

• When the forward voltage exceeds the potential barrier voltage, the diode starts
conducting as shown below.

• The forward current IF flowing through the diode causes a voltage drop in its internal
resistance rf.

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Equivalent Circuit of a Diode
• Hence, the forward voltage VF applied across the actual diode has to overcome
(a) potential barrier VB
(b) internal drop rf

• Hence, the approximate equivalent circuit for a diode is a switch in series with a
battery VB and internal resistance rf as shown below.

• For most applications, the internal resistance rf can be ignored

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Equivalent Circuit of a Diode
• An ideal diode is one which behaves as a perfect conductor when forward biased and
as a perfect insulator when reverse biased.

• This implies that the forward resistance rf =0 and potential barrier VB is considered
negligible.

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Example 1
An AC voltage of peak value 20V is connected in series with a silicon diode and load
resistance of 500 Ω.
If the forward resistance of diode is 10 Ω, find under real and ideal conditions the:
(i) Peak current through diode
(ii) Peak output voltage

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Solution
The diode will only conduct during the positive half-cycles of AC input voltage. The
equivalent circuit is shown below:

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Solution
▷   Conditions
Real
The peak current through the diode will occur at the instant when the input voltage
reaches positive peak i.e. Vin = VF = 20V
(i) Peak Current
VF = VB +Ifpeak(rf + RL)
Ifpeak = = = 37.8mA

(ii) Peak output voltage

VPout= Ifpeak × RL = 37.8mA × 500Ω = 18.9V

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Solution
▷   Conditions
Ideal
(i) Peak Current
For an ideal diode, put VB =0 and rf =0
VF = Ifpeak × RL
Ifpeak = = = 40mA

(ii) Peak output voltage

Peak Output Voltage = Ifpeak × RL = 20V

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Thanks!
Any questions?

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