ASSIGNMENT OF B.

VARACTOR
AND
OPTICAL DIODE

—
SUBMITTED BY:BISMA PARI
MEMON (20TL034)
—
SUBMITTED TO : MAAM SHAKILA
MEMON
 VARACTOR DIODE
DEFINITION:
■ A varactor diode is one kind of semiconductor
microwave solid-state device.
■ The diode whose internal capacitance varies with the
variation of the reverse voltage such type of diode is
known as the Varactor diode.
■ It is used for storing the charge.
■  it is a voltage-dependent semiconductor device.
o The voltage-dependent device means the output of the
diode depends on their input voltage. 
■ The Varactor diode is also known as the Varicap,
Voltcap, Voltage variable capacitance or Tunning
diode.
■ A varactor is a diode that always operates in reverse
bias and is doped to maximize the inherent capacitance
of the depletion region.
■ The depletion region acts as a capacitor dielectric
because of its nonconductive characteristic.
■ The p and n regions are conductive and act as the
capacitor plates.

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 2
WORKING PRINCIPLE:
■ Varactor diode is the one which works on the
principle of variation in capacitance by
changing the width of the depletion region of
P-N junction. The P-N Junction diode creates
capacitor effect.
■ The capacitance is controlled by applied
voltage.
■ It works on reverse biased mode.

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 3
FORMULA:

CHARACTERISTIC CURVE:
■ The graph shows that when the reverse bias

voltage increases the depletion region

increases, and the capacitance of the diode
reduces.

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 4
 OPTICAL DIODES
■ The three types of optoelectronic devices are introduced:
1. The photodiode (the photodiode is a light detector).
2. The light-emitting diode (the light-emitting diode is a
light emitter).
3. Quantum dots (Quantum dots are very tiny light emitters
made from silicon with great promise for various devices,
including light-emitting diodes).

LED(Light emitting diode):

■ A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source
that emits light when current flows through it.
■ It is heavily dopped p-n junction diode which converts
electrical energy into light energy.
■ This diode emits light under forward biasing.

WORKING:

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 5
 ■ LED (Light Emitting Diode) is an optoelectronic device
which works on the principle of electro-luminance.
■ Electro-luminance is the property of the material to
convert electrical energy into light energy and later it
radiates this light energy.
■ The electrons are majority carriers in N-type and holes
are majority carriers in P-type. The electrons of N-type
are in the conduction band and holes of P-type are in
the valence band. The energy level of the Conduction
band is higher than the energy level of the Valence
band. Thus, if electrons tend to recombine with holes
they have to lose some part of the energy to fall in
lower energy band.
■ The electrons can lose their energy either in the form of
heat or light. The electrons in Silicon and Germanium
lose their energy in the form of heat. Thus, they are not
used for LEDs as we want semiconductor in which
electrons lose their energy in the form of light.

CHARACTERISTIC CURVE:

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 6
 USES:
■ In burglar alarm system.
■ In calculators, Digital watches.
■ In traffic light.
■ In remote control appliances.

PHOTODIODE:
■ It is a device used to detect and convert light energy into
electrical energy.
■ It is operated under reverse bias below breakdown voltage.

WORKING:
■ When photodiode is illuminated with light (photons) ,
with energy greater than the energy gap of the
semiconductor, the electron-hole pairs are generated
dueASSIGNMENT
to the absorption of photons, thus charge carriers
PAGE 7
contribute to the reverse current.
■ When a photon of certain energy strikes the diode, it
CHARACTERISTIC CURVE:

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 8
• On increasing the intensity, reverse current also increases.

DARK CURRENT:
■ When the photodiode is reverse biased with a voltage
less than its breaking down voltage and no light is
incident on its junction , the reverse current is
extremely small. This current is known as dark current.
USES:
■ In photo-detection for optical signals.
■ In optical communication equipment.
■ In counting machine.

ASSIGNMENT PAGE 9