4

CHARACTERISTICS OF LIGHT DEPENDANT RESISTOR (LDR)

OBJECTIVE

To determine the characteristics of Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After the completion of the experiment, the students are expected to

 To know the relation between resistance and light intensity
 To have a better understanding about working of a semiconductor

THEORY

Electrical conduction occurs in semiconductor materials when free charge carriers, e.g. electrons
are available in the material and when an electric field is applied. In some types of
semiconductors, light energy falling on them is of the correct order of magnitude to release
charge carriers. This increases the flow of current produced by an applied voltage. The increase
of current with increase in light intensity remains constant and the resistance of semiconductors
decreases with increase in light intensity. Therefore, these semiconductors are called
photoconductive cells or Photo Resistors or sometime Light Dependent Resistors (LDR), since
incident light effectively varies their resistance.
The two most commonly used photoconductive semiconductor materials are cadmium sulphide
(CdS). Due to the larger energy bands, the material will have a very high resistivity at ambient
temperature and this gives a very high value of resistance for practical purposes. The
photoconductive cells uses a special type of construction that helps to minimize the resistance
while providing maximum surface and enclosing them in a protective envelope of glass or
plastic.
DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

SCHEMATIC OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

To measure Current and Resistance

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