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DIODES

Sonia H. Contreras Ortiz, PhD.

scontreras@unitecnologica.edu.co
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Outline
1. Introduction
2. Ideal Diode.
3. Semiconductor Materials.
4. Energy Levels.
5. Extrinsic Materials
6. Semiconductor Diode.
7. Resistance Levels.
8. Diode Equivalent Circuits.
9. Transition and Diffusion Capacitance.
10. Zener Diodes.
11. Light-Emitting Diodes.
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Introduction
• In 1873 Guthrie discovered that a positively charged
electroscope could be discharged by bringing a grounded piece
of white-hot metal close to it (but not actually touching it).
• The first amplifier device was the triode vacuum tube,
invented by Fleming in 1904
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Introduction
• In 1874 Braun discovered the "unilateral conduction" of crystals

• In 1906 Pickard patented a silicon crystal detector for wireless

telegraphy
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Introduction
• 1947 the silicon transistor was invented by Bardeen, Bratain,
and Shockley at Bell Telephone Laboratories

• In 1950, the unipolar field-effect transistor was invented by

Shockley
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Introduction
• In 1956, when Bell Laboratories developed the pnpn triggering
transistor, also known as a thyristor or a silicon-controlled
rectifier (SCR).
• In 1958, the first integrated circuit (IC) was developed by Kilby
at Texas Instruments, and Noyce and Moore at Fairchild
Semiconductor. Kilby described the IC as “a body of
semiconductor material … wherein all the components of the
electronic circuit are completely integrated.”
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Introduction
• In 1968, the first commercial IC operational amplifier, the
A709, was developed by Fairchild Semiconductor
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Introduction
• Moore’s law: transistors in IC double every 2 years
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Ideal Diode
• The ideal diode is the most fundamental non-linear circuit
element.
• It has two terminals and can conduct current in only one
direction
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Semiconductor materials
• A semiconductor has a conductivity level somewhere in
between an insulator and a conductor.

𝜌𝜌
𝑅= Ω
𝐴
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Semiconductor materials
• Silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge) are the most widely used
materials in electronics.
• They can be manufactured to a very high purity level
(1:10.000’000.000 impurities)

Valence shell (4 valence electrons)

shells
Valence
+ electron

Nucleus

orbiting
electrons
Silicon
Atomic structure Covalent bonding
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Semiconductor materials
• Intrinsic materials: semiconductors with a very low level of
impurities
• Intrinsic carriers: electrons that absorb enough energy from
natural causes to break the covalent bond and assume a “free”
state.
• Conductivity vs temperature: an increase in temperature
results in an increase in the number of free electrons, what
reduces resistance (negative temperature coefficient).

Semiconductor Intrinsic carriers/cm3

GaAs 1.7 X 106
Si 1.5 X 1010
Ge 2.5 X 1013
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Energy levels
• In the atom there are discrete energy levels associated with
each orbiting electron. The more distant the electron from the
nucleus, the higher the energy state.
• Valence and conduction bands
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Extrinsic materials
• Doping: addition of certain impurity atoms to intrinsic materials
• It alters significantly their electric properties.
• Impurities can be as few as 1 part in 10 million.

N-type P-type
Impurities have 5 Impurities have 3
valence electrons: valence electrons
• Antimony • Boron
• Arsenic • Gallium
• Phosphorus • Indium
Inserted atoms donate Inserted atoms provide
“free” electrons “holes” that can accept
“free” electrons
Donor atoms Acceptor atoms
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Extrinsic materials
N-type P-type
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Extrinsic materials
• Electron vs hole flow
• The valence electron
acquires sufficient
kinetic energy to break
its covalent bond and
fills the void created by
hole
• When the electron
move to fill the hole
therefore a transfer of
holes to the left and
electrons to the right
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Extrinsic materials
N-type P-type
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Semiconductor diode
• The diode is constructed by joining n- and p- type materials.
• Electrons and holes in the region of the junction combine →
depletion region
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Reverse- vs forward- bias

Reverse-bias
VD < 0

Forward-bias
VD > 0
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Diode I-V characteristic

𝐼𝐷 = 𝐼𝑆 𝑒 𝑉𝐷 ⁄𝑛𝑉𝑇 − 1

𝑉𝑇 = 𝑘𝑘⁄𝑞

IS: reverse saturation

current

n = ideality factor (1 or 2)

k: Boltzman constant

T: absolute temperature

q: charge of an electron
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Temperature effect

IS increases with temperature

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Zener region
• At large reverse-bias, current increases → breakdown region
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Resistance levels
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Diode equivalent circuits

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Transition and diffusion capacitance

• It affects the diode operation at high frequencies. It can be
modeled with a capacitor in parallel with the diode
CT or CD
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Zener diode
• It is designed to work in the reverse-bias region.
• The direction of the current is opposite to the arrow in its
symbol
• The zener potential (Vz) is controlled by varying doping levels
• Vz changes with temperature
Δ𝑉𝑍
𝑇𝐶 = × 100% %⁄°𝐶
𝑉𝑍 𝑇1 − 𝑇0
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Light-emitting diode
• Are made of materials such as GaAsP, GaP, AlGaAs
• With electron-hole recombination, energy is released in form
of photons
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Light-emitting diode
• Color (wavelenght) depends on material