Electronic Devices

(ECE F214)

Lecture – 18

PN-Junction Diode

Dr. Manish Gupta

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
BITS-Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus
Content
❑ Reverse Bias Breakdown

• Zener Breakdown

• Avalanche Breakdown

❑ Applications of Junction Diode

BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus

Reverse Bias Breakdown

• In general, small current flows

through the diode during reverse bias
condition
• However, at a critical voltage, current
increases sharply.
• This critical voltage is called
breakdown voltage
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Reverse Bias Breakdown

• Reverse breakdown can occur by two mechanisms, and each of

the mechanism required a critical electric field across the
depletion region

• If the breakdown occurs at relatively lower voltage, the

mechanism is known as Zener breakdown.

• If the breakdown occurs at relatively higher voltage, the

mechanism is called avalanche breakdown

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Zener Breakdown
• It is a reverse bias mechanism

• For reverse voltage < breakdown voltage, the saturation current

is independent of applied reverse bias

• If the reverse bias across the depletion region increases, electric

field increases

• If the electric field is sufficiently high enough (~106 V/m),

electrons are pulled from their covalent bond in the valence
band, and move to the conduction band. This mechanism is
called tunneling

• Dominant in heavily doped diode such as p+-n+

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Zener Breakdown
Tunneling

• In heavily doped diode, depletion width is small

• Tunneling occurs when the valence band and conduction aligns
such that large number of empty states in the conduction band of
the n-side aligns with filled states in the valence band of the p-
side
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Zener Breakdown
Tunneling

• If the separation between the two bands ‘d’ is small (i.e.

depletion width), electrons tunnel from the valence band to the
conduction band
• The flow of electron constitutes a reverse current from ‘n’ to ‘p’
• The rate of generation of carriers in Zener breakdown is lower
than that in avalanche breakdown
• Note: The Zener breakdown occurs within the depletion region

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Avalanche Breakdown
• Avalanche breakdown occurs in a lightly doped diode (such as
p-n or p+-n or p-n+). In lightly doped diode, tunneling is
negligible

• The ionization of the host atom by energetic carriers, called as

impact ionization, is responsible for the breakdown

• If the reverse bias across the depletion region increases, electric

field increases

• If the electric field is high enough, minority carriers crossing

the junction acquire sufficient energy (kinetic energy) to collide
with the host atoms or crystal atoms and break the covalent
bond
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Avalanche Breakdown
• Resulting from the disruption in the covalent bond, electron-
hole pairs will generate
• The new generated electron may have sufficiently high energy
to collide and generate additional carriers (multiplication
process)
• This cumulative effect, known as avalanche effect, eventually
results in a large reverse current flow across the diode

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Reverse Bias Breakdown

How to identify avalanche or Zener breakdown…?

• Avalanche breakdown occurs if one side of the diode is lightly

doped as compared to the other side

• Zener breakdown occurs if both the sides of the diode are

heavily doped.

• Thus, depending on the doping of the junction diode, one can

design a diode with a specific breakdown mechanism

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Diode: Impact of Temperature
• The current increases with
increase in temperature due to
excess thermally generated
carriers

• In the forward-bias region, the

characteristics of a silicon diode
shift to the left at a rate of 2.5
mV per centigrade degree
increase in temperature.

• In the reverse-bias region the

reverse current of a silicon
diode doubles for every 10°C
rise in temperature.
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Diode: Impact of Temperature
• It is interesting to see that during
reverse bias condition, the increase in
temperature increases the reverse
saturation current along with the
increase in breakdown voltage

• The reason for increase in breakdown voltage at higher temperature is

because of the reduction in the mobility due to increased thermal vibration
of crystal atoms. The reduction in the mobility lowers the drift velocity (or
kinetic energy). The lowering in kinetic energy adversely affects the
breakdown voltage.

• It is also noted that at higher temperature, thermal generation of electron-

hole pairs results in higher value of the current (i.e. the constant (or
saturation current) region)
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Impact of Temperature

If Is (Ta) is the saturation current at temperature Ta, then the

saturation current at temperature Tb is evaluated using above
equation.

• The increase in current is due to the increase in electron-hole

pairs at higher temperature.

• For Si diode, by decreasing the voltage appropriately, it is

possible to compensate for increase in temperature

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Ideal vs Practical Diodes
Diode as a switch

Forward Bias Reverse Bias

The semiconductor diode behaves similar like a mechanical

switch. It can control whether current will flow between its
two terminals.
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Ideal vs Practical Diodes
Ideal diode

• During forward bias, the voltage across the diode is 0 V (Short

circuit)

• During reverse bias, the current flows through the diode is 0 A

(Open circuit)
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Ideal vs Practical Diodes
Practical diode

• Practical diode offers finite resistance, when forward or reverse

biased.
• Significant current flows when the applied voltage > built in
voltage
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Applications of PN-Diode
Two most important applications of a PN-Diode
❑ Rectifiers ❑ Voltage Regulators

❑ Rectifiers
• It uses the unilateral property (i.e. current flows in one
direction) of the junction-diode
• In ideal diode, built-in-voltage is assumed to zero and reverse
saturation current is also zero

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Applications of PN-Diode
Half-wave rectifiers
• Negative-half gets clipped

• Positive-half gets clipped

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Applications of PN-Diode
Full-wave rectifier

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Applications of PN-Diode
Voltage Regulator or Breakdown diode or Zener diode

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Thank you

BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus