CHAPTER-II

JUNCTION DIODE CHARACTERSTICS

 Junction- joining pt.
• P type material • N type material
• It contains holes and • It contains electrons
acceptor ions(shown by and donar ions(shown
–ve sign bcoz it accecpts by +ve sign bcoz it
electrons and become - donates electrons and
ve) become +ve)
 Joining of P type and N type
• Pn junction is formed
• Intially p type carriers
are to the left of the
junction and n type to
the right.
• P type – holes –majority
carriers
• N type- electrons
Application of vtg across the terminals
• 3 possibilties:
• No bais i.e Vd=0
• Forward bais
• Reverse bais
No bais (formation of depletion layer in pn
junction-space charge region)
• On the formation of pn
junction some of holes from
p type tends to diffuse
across the boundary to n
type (leaves –ve ion near
the junction which is fixed
or immobile – forming
depletion layer) and free
electrons from n to p type.
• Its bcoz of conc. Of holes is
higher on p side than that
of n side (diffusion)
• Depletion width- 1 micron
 No bias cont…
• The diffusion of electrons
and holes is for very short
period in actual and a
restraing force will set up
automatically i.e electric
field is created across the
junction(opposing the
further diffusion) k/as
barrier potential Vb/
junction potentail
• 0.7 V- Si
• 0.38- Ge
 Forward bias
• Battery of emf>Vb
• +ve to p side and –ve to n side
• Holes on p side will be repelled
from +ve terminal and driven
towards the junction and same
with electrons
• Depletion region is reduced and
thus Vb.
• Large no. of electrons and
holes(majority carriers) crossing
the junction constitutes the
current- forward current
• Junction resistance- almost zero-
forward resistance
 VI (volt ampere)characterstics of FB
• Battery vtg- 0, diode
does not conduct
• Battery vtg- increases,
Vb starts decreasing
and a small current
flows slowly
• Battery vtg> Vb, the If
increases rapidly.
• Knee vtg/ cutt in vtg
 Reverse bias
• +ve terminal is connected to
n side and –ve to p side
• Holes and electrons in p and
n region are resp. attracted
by – and + terminals of
battery
• Thus these displaced away
from the junction
• Can’t cross the junction-
flow of current is stopped
• Small saturation current and
offers large junction
resistance
 VI characterstics of RB
• Reverse vtg- inc. Then
revesre saturation current =
constant if temp. is
constant
• if Reverse vtg is increased
to a high value –covalent
bonds breaks near the
junction, thus current inc
abruptly to a very high
value
• Breakdown and value of
reverse vtg is called zener
vtg.
Why shud we avoid breakdown in RB?
• During breakdown, • Note- reverse saturation
large reverse current current depends upon
flows it due to which temp. and is
power is dissipiated in independent of the
the diode and it gets applied reverse vtg.
heat up and the diode is
then damaged
permanently.
 P N junction diode
• In FB- short ckt
• In RB- open ckt
 Current in PN junction diode
• Given by:
• I = Io(eV/VT – 1)
• Io= reverse sat. current
• VT is the thermal equivalent voltage and is
approximately 26 mV at room temperature. The
equation to find VT at various temperatures is:
• VT =kT/q
• k = 1.38 x 10-23 J/K T = temperature in Kelvin
q = 1.6 x 10-19 C
•  is the emission coefficient for the diode. For a silicon
diode  is around 2 and for Ge it is 1.
Current in PN junction diode cont…
• FB- IF = Io(eV/VT)……………………eV/VT >>1
• RB- IR= -Io…………………………….. eV/VT <<1
 Solve it…
• A diode operating at 300 K has Vf=0.4 V
across it, when the current thru it is 10 mA
and 0.42V when the current is twice as large.
What values of Io and ὴ allow the diode to be
modelled by the diode equation?
 Other imp. terms
• Peak inverse vtg- max. reverse vtg that can be
applied to pn junction diode without any
damage to it.
• Max. power rating- max. power that can be
dissipated at pn junction diode without any
damage to it.
 Current composition in PN junction diode

• FB- holes from p side and electrons from n side

are injected into n and p region resp. which are
called minority charge carriers.
• These minority charge carriers diffuse away from
the junction exponentially with distance.
• Their conc. Falls steadily due to recombination
with electrons and holes resp.
• Since diffusion current due to minority charge
carriers is proportional to conc. Gradient, it also
must vary exponentially with distance.
 Current composition in PN junction diode
cont….
• 2 minority diffusion currents:
• Iep- electron current in p region
• Ihn- hole current in n region
• 2 majority currents:
• Ipp- hole current
• Inn- electron current
 Current composition in PN junction diode
cont….
• Since depletion layer is narrow,
total current at the junction say
at x=0:
I = Ihn(0) + Iep(0)
Since current is same thru out the
series ckt, the total current is
independent of x.
Now in p region, second component
of current is due to holes and is
given by:

Ihp(x) = I- Iep(x)

And Ien(x) = I - Ihn(x)

Temp. dependence of VI characterstics
• Reduction in cut in vtg takes place with inc in temp. - means
at same Vf, a larger current flows thru diode at increased
temp.
• The breakdown vtg inc with inc in temp
• Reverse sat current inc with inc in temp
• Diode char. Becomes function of temp.
• Experimental results- variation of Io with T is 8%/oC for Si and
11%/oC for Ge
• Therefore Ge is more temp. dependent than Si.
 Temp. dependence of VI characterstics
cont…..
• Experimental results- Io is about double in
magnitude for every 10oC rise in temp.
• i.e. Io(T) = Io* 2(T-T1)/10
• And also reverse sat. current in Ge is 1000
times larger than Si (EG for Si>>> EG for Ge)
 Diode resistance
• Non zero/ finite
• Depends on operating ac and dc conditions
• Static resistance or DC
• Dynamic or AC
 Static resistance or DC

• When DC vtg is applied to a diode, DC current

will flow thru it.
• The resistance at this pt. is thr ratio of Vf and
If, denoted by Rf.
• Rf=Vf/If….10 to 50 ohm
• Rr= Vr/Ir…..few hundred kilo-ohm
 Dynamic resistance
• When AC vt is applied, operating pt. of diode does not remain
fixed.
• It will continuously keep on changing due to change in i/p vtg
• Denoted by rF
• rF= change in Vf/change in If
• rF is actually the reciprocal of the slope of forward
characterstics.
• rF=1/slope of characterstics
• Dynamic resistance of diode: rd =1/(dI/dV)
 Dynamic resistance cont….
• Therefore, the equation for dynamic
resistance is:
• rd = VT /(Io+I)………. Derived by
taking derivative of the foll. Eq. with
respect to V(in class)
• I = Io(eV/VT – 1)
 Solve it…
• The reverse saturation current for Ge= 1 uA at
reverse vtg of -0.52 Volts. Calculate rF and rr.
Assuming Vf=0.52 V at room temp.
 Diode Capactance
• 2 cap. Associated with pn junction diode:
• Transition cap. CT
• Diffusion cap. CD
 Transition cap. CT

• Introduced in RB
• Consider a case when reverse vtg is applied, the
majority carriers move away from the junction due
to which width of depletion layer inc with inc in
reverse vtg.
• So due to movement of charge carriers, there is a
change in charge dQ with change in vtg dV.
• CT = dQ/dV
• CT also called space charge cap./ barrier cap./
depletion region cap.
 Transition cap. CT cont…

• CT = not constant but depends on reverse vtg.

• we know that: Q=CTV
• Diff. both sides with resp. to t:
• dQ/dt=CT (dV/dt)…… but dQ/dt=I
• I=CT (dV/dt)…… …..showing that I is prop. To
CT and rate of change of reverse vtg.
• Derived in class
 Physical significance of CT
• When a reverse bias is applied across a p-n junction the two sides
accumulate positive and negative charges and acts as parallel plate
capacitor whereas the depletion region acts as a dielectric between the
two plates.
• The capacitance originating from such arrangement is called as transition
capacitance.
• It is also called as space charge capacitance.
• The transition capacitance depends upon the reverse voltage applied and
varies between 20 pf (no bias) and 5 pf (5V reverse bias).
• The varactor diodes are based on this principle of capacitance variation.
 Diffusion capacitance (CD)
• Diffusion capacitance is the capacitance due to transport of charge
carriers (miniority) between two terminals of a device.
• When Vf is applied, the barrier potential is reduced and the holes from p
side enter into n side and electrons from n side enter into p side.
• CD = dQ/dV = th I/nVT (derived in class)
• where th = mean life time for holes.
• CD is propotional to I
 Solve it….
• A Ge diode is reverse biases and reverse vtg is
applied is -1V. Contact potential=0.2V and
acceptor impurity atom conc. is 4*1020/m3.
calculate the width of depletion region.
Calculate new width of depletion region if the
reverse bias vtg is increased to -5V. Hence
conclude…
 Junction diode switching times
• Forward recovery time
• Reverse recovery time
• Storage and transistion time
• All the graphs done in class
 Load line concept
• AC load line
• DC load line
• Quisence point
• Derived diode vtg and doide current
• With examples
 Diode models
• Diode is a non linear device because its i/o
characteristics are non linear.
• Ideal diode:
RB: I=0, R=INFINTE………..(OPEN SWITCH)
FB: I=INFINITE, R=0………..(CLOSED SWITCH)
 Diode models cont….
• Piece wise linear model
• Ideal diode
• Practicle diode
• Diode with resistance
• Diode with res. And battery
 Breakdown diodes
• The maximum reverse bias voltage that can be
applied to a p-n diode is limited by
breakdown.
• Breakdown is characterized by the rapid
increase of the current under reverse bias. The
corresponding applied voltage is referred to as
the breakdown voltage.
• The breakdown voltage is a key parameter of
power devices.
 Breakdown diodes cont….
• Two mechanisms can cause breakdown,
namely :
• Zener breakdown
• avalanche multiplication
 Zener breakdown

• Zener breakdown occurs in heavily doped pn-

junctions
• If the impurity doping density is high enough
then depletion region is narrow enough to allow
electric field across the region to be very high.
• This high accelerating field and narrow depletion
region allows electrons to tunnel thru, hence
increase in reverse current.
• This is called Zener breakdown.
 Zener breakdown cont….
• Thus zener diodes are designed to breakdown
in RB.
• They can withstand large current without
damage.
• Typically ZD have BD vtg b/w 2 and 200 V
depending upon application.
 Applications of Zener diode
• Zener diodes are typically used to regulate the voltage
in electric circuits.
• Using a resistor to ensure that the current passing
through the Zener diode is at least 5mA
• Zener Diodes in Series With Loads
•
 Avlanche breakdown
• As the magnitude of RB vtg is increased , the
current remains at Io , but eventually the reverse
bias field is so strong that thermally generated
electrons or holes acquire enough Kinetic energy
to ionize atoms within the crystal structure.
• These in turn ionize other atoms leading a very
swift multiplication effect and a large current.
• This is called Avalanche breakdown.
• The RB breakdown vtg is about 500 V for Ge and
1kV for Si.
 Temperature characterstics of breakdown
diodes
• Resistance decreases with the increase in
temp. in reverse bias.
Why zener breakdown have –ve temp.
coefficient while avlanche Breakdown
have +ve temp. coefficient?
 Zener diode as vtg regulator
• A Zener diode is a special kind
of diode which allows current to flow
in the reverse direction when the
voltage is above a certain value
known as the breakdown voltage,
"Zener knee voltage" or "Zener
voltage.“
• A zener diode can be used as vtg
regulator to provide a constant vtg
from a source whose vtg may
fluctuate over a wide range.
• Zener diode is connected across the
fluctuating vtg source thru a
dropping resistance R. Constant vtg
supply is obtained across load
resistance RL .
Zener diode as vtg regulator cont…
• When i/p vtg increases, large vtg drop occurs
across R, hence o/p is maintained across RL to
a desired value….. Because current thru diode
increases.
• When i/p vtg dec, current thru diode also dec,
so now a small vtg drop takes place across R
and again o/p is maintained to a desired
constant value across RL.
 Junction diode as rectifier
• Diode conducts only • 2 types:
when FB and not when • Junction diode as Half
RB. wave rectifier
• Therefore it works as • Junction diode as Full
rectifier wave rectifier
• Center tapped FWR
• Bridge FWR
 Junction diode as Half wave rectifier

• AC i/p is fed to primary

coil and sec. coil is
connected to junction
diode thru RL
• o/p is obtained across
RL
• FB- conducts
• RB- zero current
 Junction diode as Half wave rectifier
cont…
• Avg dc load current:
• Idc=Im/ π
• RMS ac load current:
• Irms=Im/2
• Expression for o/p dc vtg:
• Vdc= Idc*RL
• RMS load vtg:
• Vrms=Vm/2
% regulation:
( V(no laod) – V(load)/V(load)) * 100%
 Ripple factor of rectifiers
• Ripple factor is defined
as the ratio of rms value
of ac component to the
dc component in the
output.
• RF = Vac/Vdc
• RF for HWR
 Form factor
• Ratio of rms value to
average value
• Form factor for HWR
 Rectification/power conversion Efficiency

• Ratio of dc o/p power

to i/p ac power
 Transformer Utilization Factor

• TUF can be used to

determine the rating of
a transformer
secondary.
• TUF for HWR
 Peak inverse voltage
• Max. vtg that appears across diode during non
conducting or OFF stage
• For HWR:
• PIV=Vm
 Ripple freqency
• Frequency of pulsating load vtg.
• For HWR: fr=fs(supply frequency)
 Junction diode as Half wave rectifier

• Disadvantages:
• As o/p is discontinuous, so efficiency is small.
• o/p is not pure dc, therefore it contains
ripples.
• Low TUF
• Low dc o/p vtg and current
 Junction diode as Full wave rectifier
center tapped

• Operation
• +ve half:
• D1= FB, D2=RB
• -ve half:
• D1=RB, D2=FB
• Since o/p is continuous
so efficiency is more
than HWR
 Bridge FWR
• During +ve half diode
d1 and d3 are FB
therefore they conduct
• During –ve half diode
d2 and d4 are in FB
• Therefore conduction is
due to them
• o/p is obtained.
 Note
• All the parameters for HWR (derived in class)
• Similarly drive all parameters for FWR (both
types)
• Compare all of them
• And finally discuss their advantages and
disadvantages.