Diode

DR SHERIEF FATHY
Insulators, Conductors, and
Semiconductors

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Semiconductor Atom

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Illustration of covalent bonds in
silicon

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Covalent bonds in a silicon
crystal

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Creation of electron-hole pairs in a
silicon crystal

Electrons in the conduction band are free electrons.

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 N-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS
To increase the number of conduction-band electrons in intrinsic silicon,
pentavalent impurity atoms are added. These are atoms with five valence
electrons such as arsenic (As), phosphorus (P), and antimony (Sb).

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 Majority and Minority Carriers
The electrons are called the majority carriers
in n-type material.

Holes in an n-type material are called

minority carriers.

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P-TYPE SEMICONDUCTORS
To increase the number of holes in intrinsic silicon, trivalent impurity atoms are
added.
These are atoms with three valence electrons such as boron (B), indium (In), and
gallium (Ga) .

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THE PN JUNCTION

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 (a) Structure

(c) In Lab

(b) Symbol

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Different Diode Packages

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 Current Flow
(A) Drift Current:
The drift current is the current
flows through the device due to
electrical field (𝐸):
A. Holes are accelerated in the
direction of 𝐸:
h+ drift velocity = vp−drift = μp E
B. Free electrons are accelerated in
the direction opposite to 𝐸:
e− drift velocity = vn−drift = −μn E
where 𝜇 is the mobility: 𝜇𝑛 = 2 - 4 times 𝜇𝑝 13
 Current Flow
(B) Diffusion Current
Diffusion current is the current
flows due to carrier concentration
gradient.
Carriers diffuse from the region of
high concentration to the region of
low concentration.

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Diode at equilibrium.
The built-in voltage barrier can be
calculated from:

𝑁𝐴 𝑁𝐷
𝑉0 = 𝑉𝑇 𝑙𝑛
𝑛𝑖2

𝐾𝑇
𝑉𝑇 = = 26 𝑚𝑉 @ 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝑞

where NA is the acceptor concentration (p type),

ND is the donor concentration (n type), and ni is
the intrinsic semiconductor concentration of free
electrons or holes.
Diode at equilibrium.
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Forward Bias

VD

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 𝑽𝑫 𝑽𝑫
VD 𝑫𝒊𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 = 𝑰𝑫 – 𝑰𝑺 = 𝑰𝑺 𝒆𝒏𝑽𝑻 − 𝟏 ≈ 𝑰𝑺 𝒆𝒏𝑽𝑻

VD VD

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 Reverse Bias

the net current is very small ≈ - IS .

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 By User:Hldsc - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, 22
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27168067
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 Diode Models
The Exponential Model
𝑽𝑫
𝑫𝒊𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 = 𝑰𝑺 𝒆𝒏𝑽𝑻 −𝟏
IS : Reverse saturation current, VD: Diode Voltage, VT: Thermal voltage (VT=26mV
at room temperature), n: parameter depends on diode material and fabrication
n=1 to 2 , Default value n=1

Note:
The reverse saturation current is proportional to the diode
area:
𝑰𝑺𝟏 𝑨𝑫𝟏
=
𝑰𝑺𝟐 𝑨𝑫𝟐

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End of the Lecture

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