Capacitive Effects in the pn Junction

• Depletion capacitance
 Charge stored in depletion layer changes with the change of voltage across
pn junction gives rise to capacitive effect.
 pn junction is reverse biased

• Diffusion Capacitance
 Minority carrier charge stored in the n and p materials as a result of the
concentration profiles established by carrier injection.
 Charge stored in bulk region changes with the change of voltage across pn
junction gives rise to capacitive effect.
 pn junction is forward biased
Depletion or Junction Capacitance
According to the definition:
C j  dQ
dVR V V
R Q
Actually this capacitance is similar to parallel plate capacitance.

s A s A
Cj  
W 2 s  1 1 
   (V0  VR )
q  N A NB 
C j0

 1  VR 
Where,  
 Vo 

  sq   N A NB   1 
C j0 A    
 2  A
N  N B   V0 
3
Depletion or Junction Capacitance
• A more general formula for depletion capacitance is :
C j0
Cj  m
1  VR 
 V0 

1 1
• Where m is called grading coefficient. m  3 ~ 2
1
• If the concentration changes sharply, m 
2
• Forward-bias condition, C j  2C j 0
• Reverse-bias condition, C j  Cd

4
 Diffusion Capacitance
According to the definition:
Cd  dQ
dV Q

The charge stored in bulk region is obtained from below

equations:
Qp   p I p
Similarly for electron charge stored in the p region

Qn   n I n

The expression for diffusion capacitance:

 T 
Cd   I
 VT  5
Low Frequency Model
High Frequency Model
High Frequency Model
Problems