ELE 346 - Tutorial #5

1. An abrupt silicon pn junction at zero bias has dopant concentrations of

Na = 1017 cm-3 and Nd = 5 x 1018 cm-3 on the p-region and n-region
respectively.
(a) Calculate the Fermi level on each side of the junction with respect to
the intrinsic Fermi level at T = 300 K.
(b) Sketch the equilibrium energy-band diagram for the junction and
determine Vbi.
(c) Determine xn , and xp.

2. Consider a uniformly doped silicon pn junction with duping

concentrations Na = 5 x 1017 cm-3 and Nd = 1017 cm-3 at T = 300 K. The
junction has a cross-sectional area of 10-4 cm2 and has an applied
reverse-bias voltage of VR = 5 V. Calculate
(a) the built-in potential, Vbi
(b) xn and Xp
(c) the maximum electric field, Emax
d) the total junction capacitance.

3. An ideal silicon pn junction at T=300K is under forward bias. The

minority carrier life times are n0=10-6 and p0=10-7seconds. The doping
concentration in the n-region is Nd = 1015 cm-3 whereas in the p-region
it is Na = 10I6 cm-3. The minority carriers diffusion coefficients are Dp =
Dn = 12 cm2/s. Calculate
(a) the reverse saturation current and
(b) the diode current at a forward-bias voltage of 0.50 V given the cross-
sectional area is A = 10-4 cm2.