EEE 714 Solid State Electronics.

Presentation by Mrs Adekogba Opeyemi (PEE0017).

P-N JUNCTION
What is P-N Junction?

Definition: A p-n junction is an interface or a boundary between two semiconductor material types,
namely the p-type and the n-type, inside a semiconductor.

The p-side or the positive side of the semiconductor has an excess of holes and the n-side or the
negative side has an excess of electrons.

In a semiconductor, the p-n junction is created by the method of doping.

FORMATION OF P-N JUNCTION

Doping means adding of impurities to a pure/intrinsic semi-conductor. P-type semiconductor is formed

when we add trivalent (group 3) impurities while N-type is formed when we add pentavalent (Group 5)
impurities. The impurity is called Dopant.

Boron doped Silicon, Aluminum doped Silicon, Boron doped Germanium etc. are the examples of p-type
semiconductors.

Arsenic doped Silicon, Phosphorus doped Silicon, Arsenic doped Germanium, Phosphorus doped
Germanium etc. are the examples of n-type semiconductor.

(Question: but why is silicon mostly used in producing semiconductor materials?)

P-n junctions are formed by joining n-type and p-type semiconductor materials, as shown below. Since
the n-type region has a high electron concentration and the p-type a high hole concentration, electrons
diffuse from the n-type side to the p-type side (take note of this direction please). Thus creating a
depletion region at the pn junction region.
Biasing conditions for the p-n Junction Diode

There are three biasing conditions for p-n junction diode and this is based on the voltage applied:

 Zero bias: There is no external voltage applied to the p-n junction diode. Carriers only flows (i.e
from the n-type to p-type) due to diffusion until a depletion layer is formed .

 Forward bias: The positive terminal of the voltage potential is connected to the p-type while the
negative terminal is connected to the n-type.

 Reverse bias: The negative terminal of the voltage potential is connected to the p-type and the
positive is connected to the n-type.

Forward Biasing :

The positive terminal of the voltage potential is connected to the p-type while the negative
terminal is connected to the n-type.

When the p-n junction is forward biased, the built-in electric field at the p-n junction and the
applied electric field are in opposite directions. When both the electric fields add up, the
resultant electric field has a magnitude lesser than the built-in electric field. This results in a less
resistive and thinner depletion region. The depletion region’s resistance (potential barrier)
becomes negligible when the applied voltage is large. In silicon, at the voltage of 0.6 mV
(germanium is 0.3mV, the resistance of the depletion region becomes completely negligible and
the current flows across it unimpeded.

Fig 1.1 Forward biasing of the PN JUNCTION.

 Reversed Biasing

When the p-type is connected to the negative terminal of the battery and the n-type is
connected to the positive side then the p-n junction is said to be reverse biased. In this case, the
built-in electric field and the applied electric field are in the same direction. When the two fields
are added, the resultant electric field is in the same direction as the built-in electric field creating
a more resistive, thicker depletion region. The depletion region becomes more resistive and
thicker if the applied voltage becomes larger.

Fig 2: reverse biasing of PN Junction.

V-I Characteristics of PN Junction Diode

Fig 3: IV Characteristics of PN Junction Diode

When the PN junction diode is under forward bias condition, there is a reduction in the potential barrier.
For silicone diodes, when the voltage is 0.6 V and for germanium diodes 0.3 V, the potential barriers
decrease and there is a flow of current. 

When the diode is in forward bias, the current increases slowly and the curve obtained is non-linear as
the voltage applied to the diode is overcoming the potential barrier. Once the potential barrier is
overcome by the diode, the diode behaves normally and the curve rises sharply as the external voltage
increases and the curve obtained is linear.

When the PN junction diode is under negative bias condition, the p-type is connected to the negative
terminal while the n-type is connected to the positive terminal of the external voltage. This results in an
increase in the potential barrier. Reverse saturation current flows in the beginning as minority carriers
are present in the junction. 

When the applied voltage is increased, the minority charges will have increased kinetic energy which
affects the majority charges. This is the stage when the diode breaks down. This may also destroy the
diode.
Breakdown
When a reverse bias is applied no conduction should take place. But due to the presence of minority
charge carriers, a small reverse current flows through the diode known as leakage current.

Due to the flow of reverse current the width of the junction barrier increases gradually until a certain
point a rapid increase in the reverse current can be observed. This is known as Reverse Breakdown
Voltage/ avalanche breakdown of a pn junction.

Capacitance
Capacitance is the ability of a PN junction to store charges. And can be given by:

where, 
C is capacitance, dQ is change in charge, and dV is change in applied voltage.

the PN junction diode with narrow depletion width and large P and N regions can store more electric
charge. The diode with broad depletion width and small P and N regions can store less electric charge.
Therefore, the applied voltage is inversely proportional to junction capacitance formed in a PN junction
diode under reverse bias condition.

Here, Cj is junction capacitance, ε s is permittivity of semiconductor material, A is area of P and N type

regions (electrodes) and w is width of the depletion region.

Bipolar junction transistor (BJT)

BJT transistor is a three terminal semiconductor device, based on three layers of p and n layers, with
different doping concentration. It is mainly used to amplify current. BJT transistor can be two types –
PNP and NPN BJT transistor. Bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is characterised by three regions – base (B),
collector (C) and emitter (E).

History of BJT

 Prior to the bipolar junction transistors, vacuum tubes were used in electronic circuits which
were highly expensive, those too were available in the form of a triode which was a three
terminal device like a transistor back then.
 The vacuum tube triodes remained a hyped-up thing for almost half of a century, but they
occupied large space and were less reliable in terms of usage, the other major drawback was the
increase in complications related to current, voltage.
 Due to this short coming, scientist started devising other ways to run and control circuits.
 Finally, in 1947 the efforts of john Walter and Bardeen a rough two-point contact device was
made which was nowhere near to the modern of a bipolar junction transistor but it laid the
foundation for the construction of a solid-state transistor when previously everything was
vacuum!
 After this not-so-recognized venture, William Shockley made a successful attempt of making a
bipolar junction transistor by pressing together the wafers of semiconductor materials.
 And guess what? William Shockley, John Walter, and Bardeen were awarded with the Noble
Prize for their achievements in 1956.
 The invention of bipolar junction transistors revolutionized the world of electronics beyond
imagination.
 Until the last decades of the 19th century, bipolar junction transistors were manufactured
individually as separate components and individual devices but later on, with the invention of
integrated circuits, the world saw another electronic revolution.

Features of BJT

 BJT is a current-controlled device, you will, later on, get to know how it works.
 As the name indicates BJT is a bipolar device, which means it uses both the electrons and holes
as charge carriers to perform its function.
 It has 3 components: base (B), emmiter (E), collector (C).
 The working principle of both the NPN and PNP transistor is almost the same,
 The NPN Bipolar junction Transistor has the majority of charge carriers as electrons, while PNP
has it majority of electrons as holes.
 The emitter-base junction is always forward biased.

 The collector-base junction represented by CB is always reverse biased.

 The Emitter current is written as IE=IB + IC

NPN BIPOLAR JUCTION TRANSISTORS.

 As the name indicates, in an NPN BJT a p-type semiconductor is sandwiched between the two n-
type semiconductors just as a cheese slice between two sides of a bun.

The n-type emitter region is heavily doped because of the fact that it has to pass on charge
carriers to the base. The base is not heavily doped and is very thin as compared to the emitter
and collector, The collector of the NPN transistor is moderately doped and as the name
indicates, it collects the charge carriers from the base.

Fig 5: Working principle of NPN BJT.

 for forward biasing we connect the base-emitter junction with the power supply VBE.

 The collector-base junction represented by CB Junction is reverse biased by applying the voltage
VCB.

 The depletion region of the two PN junctions varies in size, In simple words depletion region
opposes the flow of current, it acts like a barrier or a block to current flow and is the area where
mobile electrons are not present. Have a look at the diagram given below,
 the emitter-base region has a smaller depletion region, meanwhile, the collector-emitter
junction has a wider one due to the reason that the base-emitter region is forward biased.

 NPN type Bipolar junction Transistor has a majority of electrons , when the emitter-base
junction is forward biased, the electrons start flowing towards the base which is lightly doped,
only a few of the electrons would combine with the base holes and the rest of them would then
travel to the collector.

 The current flowing through the emitter-base junction is the emitter current IB, meanwhile, the
current flowing through the base is called base current and is represented by IB.

 Base current IB is very limited as compared to the other types of current present in the circuit.

 The remaining electrons which missed the recombination pass through the collector-base region
to the collector which produces the collector current IC.

 The emitter current is written as; IE = IB+ IC

PNP Bipolar Junction Transistor

  PNP BJT is made up of two layers of p type semiconductor which sandwiches the n type
semiconductor layer in between.

 The entrance for the current is emitter terminal in PNP Bipolar Junction Transistor.

 The emitter base junction represented by EB is forward biased in this case.

 Collector base junction represented by CB is reverse biased.

 Also, all the polarities for a PNP transistor are reversed which means that it “sinks” current into
its Base as opposed to the NPN transistor which “sources” current through its Base.

 The main difference between the two types of transistors is that holes are the more important
carriers for PNP transistors, whereas electrons are the important carriers for NPN
transistors.NPN and PNP bipolar junction transistors work on the same principle, the only
difference they have is of the majority and minority charge carriers.

I V characteristics of BJT

There are three dominant regions in which a bipolar junction transistor works;

 Active region
 Saturated region
 Cut off region
Active Region of a Bipolar Junction Transistor
 In The active region of a bipolar junction transistor, the collector base region is forward biased
meanwhile the emitter base junction is reverse biased. The BJT works as an amplifier here. Saturated
 In the saturated region, the Bipolar Junction Transistor passes a saturated current after reaching a
maximal value of threshold voltage. At this region BJT works as a switch, an ON switch, and the
collector current is fairly equal to the emitter current.
 Cut off region: there is no collector current in the circuit in this region. The transistor is off and the
collector is in a reverse-biased state.
 EBER MOLLS MODEL
It is used to model the behavior of a transistor. it allows the state of conduction of the
device to be easily determined for different modes of operation of the device

The collector and base currents are calculated thus:

Where:

 IB and IC are base and collector currents, defined as positive into the device.
 IS is the saturation current.
 VBE is the base-emitter voltage and VBC is the base-collector voltage.
 βF is the ideal maximum forward current gain BF
 βR is the ideal maximum reverse current gain BR
 VA is the forward Early voltage VAF
 q is the elementary charge on an electron (1.602176e–19 Coulombs).
 k is the Boltzmann constant (1.3806503e–23 J/K).
 Tm1 is the transistor temperature, as defined by the Measurement temperature parameter
value.

Thank you for listening.