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Lecture 12

The document summarizes key concepts about pn junction diodes, including: 1) Junction breakdown occurs when the peak electric field exceeds a critical value, resulting in a large reverse current flowing at the breakdown voltage, VBR. 2) Deviations from the ideal diode I-V curve include high-level injection effects at high forward biases, series resistance effects, and generation-recombination current under reverse and small forward biases. 3) The dominant breakdown mechanism is avalanche or tunneling depending on doping concentration.

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49 views

Lecture 12

The document summarizes key concepts about pn junction diodes, including: 1) Junction breakdown occurs when the peak electric field exceeds a critical value, resulting in a large reverse current flowing at the breakdown voltage, VBR. 2) Deviations from the ideal diode I-V curve include high-level injection effects at high forward biases, series resistance effects, and generation-recombination current under reverse and small forward biases. 3) The dominant breakdown mechanism is avalanche or tunneling depending on doping concentration.

Uploaded by

baburao_kodavati
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 12

OUTLINE
• pn Junction Diodes (cont’d)
– Junction breakdown
– Deviations from the ideal I-V
• R-G current
• series resistance
• high-level injection

Reading: Pierret 6.2; Hu 4.5


pn Junction Breakdown

Breakdown
voltage, VBR
VA

A Zener diode is designed


to operate in the
breakdown mode:
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 2
Review: Peak E-Field in a pn Junction
E(x)

  dx -xp xn
x
 Si
qN A x p qN D xn 2qVbi  VA  N A N D
 (0)   
 Si  Si  Si N A  ND E(0)

For a one-sided junction,

2qVbi  VA N
 ( 0) 
 Si
where N is the dopant concentration on the lightly doped side
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 3
Breakdown Voltage, VBR
• If the reverse bias voltage (-VA) is so large that the peak electric
field exceeds a critical value ECR, then the junction will “break
down” (i.e. large reverse current will flow)

2qN Vbi  VBR 


 CR 
s
• Thus, the reverse bias at which breakdown occurs is
 s CR
2

VBR   Vbi
2qN

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 4


Avalanche Breakdown Mechanism
 s CR
2
High E-field: VBR  if VBR >> Vbi
2qN

ECR increases slightly with N:


For 1014 cm-3 < N < 1018 cm-3,
105 V/cm < ECR < 106 V/cm
Low E-field:

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 5


Tunneling (Zener) Breakdown Mechanism
Dominant breakdown mechanism when both sides of a
junction are very heavily doped.
VA = 0 VA < 0

Ec

Ev

 s CR
2

VBR   Vbi
2qN
 CR  106 V/cm
Typically, VBR < 5 V for Zener breakdown
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 6
Empirical Observations of VBR

• VBR decreases with


increasing N

• VBR decreases with


decreasing EG

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 7


VBR Temperature Dependence
• For the avalanche mechanism:
– VBR increases with increasing T, because the mean free
path decreases

• For the tunneling mechanism:


– VBR decreases with increasing T, because the flux of
valence-band electrons available for tunneling increases

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 8


Deviations from the Ideal I-V
Forward-Bias Current Reverse-Bias Current
(log scale) (linear scale)

Ideally, Ideally, I   I 0  constant



log(I )  log(I 0 )  log e qV A / kT 
 qVA 
 kT 
 qV 
 const.   A  log(e)  const.   
 kT  ln(10)
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 9
Effect of Series Resistance

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 10


High-Level Injection (HLI) Effect
• As VA increases, the side of the junction which is
more lightly doped will eventually reach HLI:
nn > nno for a p+n junction
or
pp > ppo for a pn+ junction
 significant gradient in majority-carrier profile
Majority-carrier diffusion current reduces the diode
current from the ideal case.

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 11


Effect of R-G in Depletion Region
• The net generation rate is given by
2
p n ni  np
 
t t τ p (n  n1 )  τ n ( p  p1 )
where n1  ni e ( ET  Ei ) / kT and p1  ni e ( Ei  ET ) / kT
ET  trap - state energy level

• R-G in the depletion region contributes an additional


component of diode current IR-G:
p xn
I R G  qA dx
 x p t
R G

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 12


Net Generation in Reverse Bias
• For reverse bias greater than several kT/q,
qAniW 1  n1 p1 
I R G  where τ 0   τ p  τ n 
2τ 0 2  ni ni 

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 13


Net Recombination in Forward Bias
• For forward bias:
qV A / 2 kT
I R G  qAniWe

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 14


Summary: Junction Breakdown
• If the peak electric field in the depletion region exceeds a
critical value ECR, then large reverse current will flow.
This occurs at a negative bias voltage called the breakdown
voltage, VBR:
 s CR
2

VBR   Vbi
2qN
where N is the dopant concentration on the more lightly doped side

• The dominant breakdown mechanism is


avalanche, if N < ~1018/cm3
tunneling, if N > ~1018/cm3

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 15


Summary: Deviations from Ideal I-V
• At large forward biases (high
current densities)
D: high-level injection
qV A / 2 kT
 I  e
E: series resistance
limit increases in current with
increasing forward bias
voltage.

B: Excess current under reverse bias


is due to net generation in the C: Excess current under small forward
depletion region. bias is due to net recombination in
I R G  W the depletion region.

I R G  We qV A / 2 kT
A: At large reverse biases (high E-field),
large reverse current flows due to
avalanching and/or tunneling
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 12, Slide 16

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