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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)

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1.

INTRODUCTION

A photoresistor or light dependent resistor (LDR) is a resistor whose resistance decreases

with increasing incident light intensity; in other words, it exhibits photoconductivity. It
can also be referred to as a photoconductor or CdS device, from "cadmium sulfide,"
which is the material from which the device is made and that actually exhibits the
variation in resistance with light level.
A photo resistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor. If light falling on the device
is of high enough frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor give bound
electrons enough energy to jump into the conduction band. The resulting free electron
(and its hole partner) conduct electricity, thereby lowering resistance.

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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2.

OBJECTIVES

Demonstration of working of light dependent resistor and explaining its

characteristics. Here by explaining application of photocell with two light
sensitive circuits. Finally analyzing its advantages and disadvantages in real
life.

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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3.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

A light sensitive photo resistor ORP 12, a 12 V battery, Relay, Diode IN

4001, BC 108 transistor, 10 K POT, 100 Ohm Resistor.

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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4.

THEORY

A photo resistor is made of a high resistance semiconductor, when light fall

on such a semiconductor; the bound electrons get the light energy from
incident photons. Due to this additional energy these electrons become free
and jump in to conduction band. The electron hole pairs are generated. Due
to these charge carries the conductivity of LDR increases, increasing its
resistivity.
Photoelectric device can be either intrinsic or extrinsic. An intrinsic
semiconductor has its own charge carriers and is not an efficient
semiconductor, e.g. silicon. In intrinsic devices the only available electrons
are in the valence band, and hence the photon must have enough energy to
excite the electron across the entire band gap. Extrinsic devices have
impurities, also called dopants, and added whose ground state energy is
closer to the conduction band; since the electrons do not have as far to jump,
lower energy photons (i.e., longer wavelengths and lower frequencies) are
sufficient to trigger the device. If a sample of silicon has some of its atoms
replaced by phosphorus atoms (impurities), there will be extra electrons
available for conduction. This is an example of an extrinsic semiconductor.
Photo resistors are basically photocells.

Fig 1. Symbol of LDR

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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5.

CONSTRUCTION OF LDR

It is made up of high resistance semiconductor. The light sensitive part of the

LDR is a wavy track of cadmium sulphide. CdS cells rely on the materials ability
to vary its resistance according to the amount of light striking the cell.

Fig 2. Construction of LDR

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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6.

WORKING

There are two basic circuits using light dependent resistors - the first is activated by
darkness, the second is activated by light. The two circuits are very similar and just
require an LDR, some standard resistors, a variable resistor (aka potentiometer), and any
small signal transistor

Fig 3. Light sensitive operated relay type 1

In the circuit diagram above, the relay up whenever the LDR is in darkness. The 10K
variable resistor is used to fine-tune the level of darkness required before the Relay up.
The 10K standard resistor can be changed as required to achieve the desired effect,
although any replacement must be at least 1K to protect the transistor from being
damaged by excessive current.

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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Fig 4. Light sensitive operated relay type 2

By swapping the LDR over with the 10k and 10k variable resistors (as shown above), the circuit
will be activated instead by light. Whenever sufficient light falls on the LDR (manually finetuned using the 10k variable resistor), the relay will up.

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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7. CHARACTERISTICS
7.1 sensitivity
The sensitivity of a photodetector is the relationship between the light falling on the
device and the resulting output signal. In the case of a photocell, one is dealing with the
relationship between the incident light and the corresponding resistance of the cell.

Fig 5. Sensitive characteristic of LDR

Light dependent resistors have a particular property in that they remember

the lighting conditions in which they been stored. This memory effect can be
minimized by storing the LDR in light prior to use. Light storage reduces
equilibrium time to reach steady resistance value

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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7.2 Spectral Response

Like the human eye, the relative sensitivity of a photoconductive cell is dependent on the
wavelength (color) of the incident light. Each photoconductor material type has its own
unique spectral response curve or plot of the relative response of the photocell versus
wavelength of light.

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Fig 6. Spectral response of LDR

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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8. FEATURES
8.1 Advantages
1. Wide spectral response
2. Low cost
3. Wide ambient temperature range

8.2 Disadvantages
1. Very in accurate
2. Batch variation can be really large

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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9. APPLICATIONS
Inexpensive cadmium sulphide cells can be found in many consumer items such as
camera light meters, street lights, clock radios, alarm devices, and outdoor clocks.
They are also used in some dynamic compressors together with a small incandescent
lamp or light emitting diode to control gain reduction.
LDR is used in light interruption detectors, automatic light circuits, and logarithmic law
photographic light meters.

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Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
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9. REFERENCES
[1] A.P.Godse, U.A.Bakshi, Electronic Devices, third revised edition- 2008
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
[3] Earl Gates, Introduction to Electronics, first edition- 2001