MODULE 2

JUNCTION DIODE
Q With a neat diagram explain PN junction diode?
Ans:
1. A PN junction is formed from a piece of semiconductor (Ge or Si) by diffusing p-type
material (Acceptor impurity Atoms) to one half side and N type material to (Donar
Impurity Atoms) other half side.
2. The plane dividing the two zones is known as 'Junction'. The P-region of the
semiconductor contains a large number of holes and N region, contains a large number of
electrons.
3. When PN junction is formed, there is a tendency for the electrons in the N-region to
diffuse into the p- region, and holes from P-region to N-region. This process is called
diffusion.
4. While crossing the junction, the electrons and holes recombines with each other, leaving
the immobile ions in the neighborhood of the junction neutralized.
5. These immobile + ve and –ve ions, set up a potential across the junction. This potential
is called potential barrier or junction barrier.
6. Due to the potential barrier no further diffusion of electrons and holes takes place across
the junction. Potential barrier is defined as a potential difference built up across the PN
junction which restricts further movement of charge carriers across the junction.
7. The potential barrier for a silicon PN junction is about 0.7 volt, whereas for Germanium
PN junction is approximately 0.3 volt.
8. The symbol of PN junction diode which shows P-type and N-type regions that
referred to as Anode and Cathode respectively. The arrowhead shows the
conventional direction of current flow when the diode is forward biased.

9.
 (Q) With a neat diagram explain the working of a PN junction
diode in forward bias and reverse bias ?

Forward Bias:
1. When the positive terminal of the external battery is connected to the P-region
and negative terminal to the N-region, the PN junction is said to be forward
biased as shown in Fig.
2. When the junction is forward biased, the holes in the p-region are repelled by the positive
terminal of the battery and are forced to move towards the junction. similarly, the
electrons in the N-region are repelled by the negative terminal of the battery and are
forced to move towards the-junction.
3. This reduces the width of the depletion layer and barrier potential. If the applied
voltage is greater than the potential barrier vr, then the majority carriers namely
holes in P-region and electrons in N-region, cross the barrier.
4. During crossing some of the charges get neutralized the remaining charges after
crossing, reach the other side and constitute current in the forward direction. The
PN junction offers very low resistance under forward biased condition.
5. Since the barrier potential is very small (nearly 0.7 V for silicon and 0.3 V for
Germanium junction), a small forward voltage is enough to completely eliminate
the barrier. once the potential barrier is eliminated by the forward voltage, a large
current start flowing through the PN junction.

Reverse Bias:
1. When the positive terminal of the external battery is connected to the N-region and
negative terminal to the p-region, the PN junction is said to be reverse biased.
2. When the junction is reverse biased, the holes in the P-region are attracted by the
negative terminal of the battery. Similarly, the electrons in the N-region are attracted
by the positive terminal of the external battery.
3. This increases the width of the depletion layer and barrier potential (Vs).
4. The increased barrier potential makes it very difficult for the majority carriers to
diffuse across the junction.
5. Thus, there is no current due to majority carriers in a reverse biased PN junction. In
other words, the PN junction offers very high resistance under reverse biased
condition.
6. In a reverse biased PN junction, a small amount of current (in µA) flows through the
junction because of minority carriers. ( i.e., electrons in the P-region and holes in the
N region).
7. The reverse current is small because the number of majority carrier in both regions is
small.

(Q) Explain IV characteristics of PN junction diode for forward and reverse

bias?
Ans: A graph between the voltage applied across the PN junction and the current flowing
through the junction is called the V-I characteristics of PN junction diode. Fig. shows the
V-I characteristics of PN junction diode.

Forward characteristics:
1. Fig. (a) shows the circuit arrangement for drawing the forward V-I characteristics
of PN junction diode. To apply a forward bias, the +ve terminal of the battery is
connected to Anode (A) and the negative terminal of the battery is connected to
Cathode (K). Now, when supply voltage is increased the circuit current increases
very slowly and the curve is nonlinear (region-OA).
2. The slow rise in current in this region is because the external applied voltage is
used to overcome the barrier potential (0.7 V for Si; 0.3V for Ge ) of the PN
junction'
3. However once the potential barrier is eliminated and the external supply voltage is
increased further, the current flowing through the PN junction diode increases
rapidly (region AB). This region of the curve is almost linear.
4. The applied voltage should not be increased beyond a certain safe limit, otherwise
the diode will burnout.
5. The forward voltage at which the current through the PN junction starts
increasing rapidly is called by knee voltage. It is denoted by the letter VB.
Reverse Characteristics:
1. Fig (b) shows the circuit arrangement for drawing the reverse V-I characteristics
of PN junction diode. To apply a reverse bias, the +ve terminal of the battery is
connected to cathode (K) and - ve terminal of the battery is connected to anode
(A).
 2. Under this condition the potential buried at the junction is increased. Therefore,
the junction resistance becomes very high and practically no. current flows
through the circuit. However, in actual practice, a very small current (of the order
of µA) flows in the circuit.
3. This current is called reverse current and is due to minority carriers. It is also
called as reverse saturation current (I). The reverse current increases slightly with
the increase in reverse bias supply voltage.
4. If the reverse voltage is increased continuously at one state (marked by point C on
the reverse characteristics) breakdown of junction occurs and the resistance of the
barrier regions falls suddenly.
5. Consequently, the reverse current increases rapidly (as shown by the curve CD in
the current) to a large value.
6. This may destroy the junction permanently. The reverse voltage at which the PN
junction breaks is called as break down voltage.

(Q) Explain depletion region in PN junction diode wuth energy

band diagram?
Ans:
1. On joining n-type semiconductor with p-type semiconductor, diffusion of carriers
takes place due to large concentration gradients at the junction. Holes diffuse from
p-side to n-side and electrons diffuse from n-side to p-side.
2. Electrons diffusing from n-side to p-side leave behind donor ions (Nd+) and holes
diffusing from p-side to n-side leave behind acceptor ions (Na-).
 3. Thus, positive space charge is developed on n-side near the junction and negative space
charge is developed on p-side near the junction. This results in internal electric field E
which gives rise to a drift current opposing the diffusion current. Thus at equilibrium,
Jp (drift) + Jp (diffusion) = 0
Jn (drift) + Jn (diffusion) = 0
4. The region near the junction, where positive donor ions are created on n-side and
negative acceptor ions are created on p-side is called as depletion region. Equilibrium
potential difference across this depletion region is called as contact potential (V0) or
barrier potential .
5. This contact potential is the internal potential barrier that is necessary to maintain
equilibrium at the junction. The contact potential separates the energy bands as shown
in fig (c).
6. The valence band and conduction band on p-side are higher than these bands on n-side
by an amount eV0.
7. This separation of bands at equilibrium is required to make Fermi level constant
throughout the device.

Where , k = Boltzmann constant

 = 8.625 x 10-5 eV / 0K,

T = Temperature in 0K,

e = charge of electron = 1.6 x 10-19 C,

Na = acceptor concentration on p-side,

Nd = donor concentration on n-side

(Q) Construction and working of LED with neat labeled diagram?

Ans:
1. The lighting emitting diode is a p-n junction diode. It is a specially doped diode and made
up of a special type of semiconductors. When the light emits in the forward biased, then it
is called a light-emitting diode.
2. The LED symbol is similar to a diode symbol except for two small arrows that specify
the emission of light, thus it is called LED (light-emitting diode). The LED includes two
terminals namely anode (+) and the cathode (-).

Construction of LED:

1. The construction of LED is very simple because it is designed through the deposition of
three semiconductor material layers over a substrate. These three layers are arranged one
by one where the top region is a P-type region, the middle region is active and finally, the
bottom region is N-type.
2. The three regions of semiconductor material can be observed in the construction. In the
construction, the P-type region includes the holes; the N-type region includes elections
whereas the active region includes both holes and electrons.
3. When the voltage is not applied to the LED, then there is no flow of electrons and holes
so they are stable. Once the voltage is applied then the LED will forward biased, so the
electrons in the N-region and holes from P-region will move to the active region.
4. This region is also known as the depletion region. Because the charge carriers like holes
include a positive charge whereas electrons have a negative charge so the light can be
generated through the recombination of polarity charges.
Working of LED:
1. The light emitting diode works like a normal PN-junction diode. When the
diodeisforward biased, then the current flows through the diode.
2. The flow of current inthesemiconductors is caused by the both flow of holes in the
opposite directionof current and flow of electrons in the direction of the current. Hence
there will berecombination due to the flow of these charge carriers
3. The recombination indicates that the electrons in the conduction band jumpdownto the
valence band.
4. When the electrons jump from one band to another band the electrons will emit the
electromagnetic energy in the form of photons andthephoton energy is equal to the
forbidden energy gap (Eg).
5. Eg = hʋ
6. Where h is known as a Planck constant, and ʋ is the frequency of the emitted
electromagnetic radiation.
7. The frequency of radiation is related to the velocity of light as a
ʋ=
where c is the speed of light λ is denoted as a wavelength of an electromagnetic radiation
and the above equation will become as Eg = hc / λ
 From the above equation, we can say that the wavelength of electromagneticradiation is
inversely proportional to the forbidden gap.
8. For LED the wavelength of the emitted photon, lies in the visible or infrared region