Special

Semiconductor Devices
Tunnel Diode
Varactor Diode

PIN Diode
 Symbol
 Tunnel Diode
 high impurity concentration
• Ordinary diode concentration-1part in
10^8 parts
• Tunnel diode concentration-1part in
10^3 parts
• negative resistance region that allows
very fast switching speeds, up to 5 GHz
• Materials used-Ga and GaAs
 Tunneling phenomenon
 Width of the junction barrier varies
inversely as the square root of
impurity concentration

 Quantum mechanism-Electron
penetrate through the barrier-
tunneling
V-I Characteristics of Tunnel
diode
 Very good conductor
in forward bias
 Huge current for
small applied voltage
 Negative resistance
region
 Low resistance device
 Varactor Diode
 voltage-controlled capacitor
 w inversely proportional to C
 Forward bias –space charge width

decreases and C increases

T

 Reverse bias- space charge width

increases and C decreases

T

 Voltage-variable capacitance of p-n

junction in reverse bias condition –

useful in number of application
 Application based on Voltage-variable

capacitance-varactors, varicaps or
volacaps
Characteristics of Varactor Diode
 PIN Diode
 Intrinsic layer sandwitched between
P and N regions
 Intrinsic layer offers high resistance

 Increase voltage- resistance reduces

 Intrinsic layer-advantages

• Decrease in capacitance between p & N

region –(w inversely proportional to C)
• Allows faster time response

P I N
Characteristics of PIN Diode
Forward Reverse
 Silicon Controlled Rectifier

conventional rectifier controlled by a

gate signal
 The main circuit is a rectifier,

however the application of a forward

voltage is not enough for conduction
 gate signal controls the rectifier

conduction
construction

symbol
 SCR working
 Apply +ve voltage to anode w.r.t
cathode
 J & J –forward biased
1 3

 J –reverse biased
2

 reverse Voltage appears across J3

 Current through the device – reverse

saturation current
 When I <0,Applied voltage increases –
G

J reverse bias voltage increases

2

 current increases slowly until the

breakover voltage (V ) increased

BO

 At this point diode switches from OFF to

ON state
 I >0, forward bias voltage applied to
G

gate -V decreased; current increased

BO

 SCR Switch ON controlled by I G

 Once the SCR turned on- gate loses the

control
SCR Characteristics
Two Transistor Analogy
The general transistor equations are,
I C = β I B + ( 1 + β ) ICBO
I C = α I E + I CBO
I E = IC + I B
I B = I E ( 1 − α ) − ICBO
C o n s id e rin g P N P tra n s is to r
o f th e e q u iv a le n t c irc u it,
I E 1 = I, A I C α =I,C1 1 α , =
IC B O = I C1 ,B O I B I=
1 B

∴ I B1 I( A1 α =1 ) I C −B O(1 )
C o n s id e r in g N P N t r a n s is t
o f th e e q u iv a le n t c ir c u it,
IC = 2I,C I B 2I,B = 2I E IK
I C2 = α 2 Ik I+C B O2
I C2 = α 2 ( IA) IG+ I(C2B) O2 +
From the equivalent circuit,
we see that
∴ I C2 =I B1
α 2 I g + I CBO 1 + I CBO 2
⇒ IA =
1 − ( α 1 + α2)
 If α + α =1;then I =∞
1 2 A

 Anode suddenly reaches high value

 Device triggered from OFF state to ON

state
 Regenerative characteristics

 α + α =1 and proper I
1 2 G

 I =I
G cause a flow of I T -ON state
B2 C2 2

 I = I ; T
C2 - switched ON
B1 1

 Due to regenerative action if the gate

signal removed the device keep on

conducting
 Thyristor Ratings
 Latching current – minimum current
required to latch or trigger device
from OFF to ON state
 Holding current - minimum value of

current to hold the device ON state

 gate current –current applied to the

gate for control purpose

 Voltage safety factor=PIV/√ 2 x RMS

value of operating voltage

 SCR-Most important type of power
semiconductor device.
 Highest power handling capability.

 Rating of 1200V / 1500A with

switching frequencies ranging from

1KHz to 20KHz.
DIAC Construction
 Bidirectional avalanche diode
 No control terminal

 Identical characteristics for both

forward and reverse half

 Positive half cycle –MT1 +ve w.r.t

MT2
 Negative half cycle –MT2 +ve w.r.t

MT1
characteristics
of DIAC
 At voltage less than the
breakover voltage- small
amount of leakage current
flows through the device-
OFF state
 When voltage level reaches
breakover voltage device
starts conducting
 Exhibits –ve resistance
characteristics
Unijunction Transistor(UJT)
 The unijunction transistor(UJT) is a
three terminal device with
characteristics very different from
the conventional 2 junction, bipolar
transistor.
 bar of N type semiconductor material

into which P type material has been

diffused somewhere along its length
 R is known as the interbase
BB

resistance, and is the sum of RB1

and RB2
 RBB = RB1 + R
B2 (1)
 VRB1 is the voltage developed across

RB1; this is given by the voltage

divider rule:
 VRB1 = RB1 / RB1 + R x V
B2 BB (2)

 VRB1 = RB1 / RBB x V
BB

 The ratio RB1 / RBB is referred to as the

intrinsic standoff ratio (η )

 Llll