Specifications

• Operating Voltage: 3.3V to 5V DC.

• Operating Current: 15ma.
• Output Analog - 0V to 5V based on light falling on it.
LDR or Photo Resistor
• They are light sensitive devices also called Photo conductors or
photocells.
• They are made up of semiconductor material having high resistance.
• LDR are less sensitive than Photo diode and photo transistors
• A photocells is a passive device with no PN-juction nor it convert light
to electricity.
• LDR only changes the Conductivity of path for electricity depending
on the amount of light that falls on it.
Types
• Intrinsic photo resistor. These are made up of pure semiconductor
materials Such as silicon ar germanium.Electrons get exited from
the valence band to conduction band When photons of enough
energy falls on it And number of charge carrier is increased.
• Extrinsic photo Resistor. These are semiconductor materials doped
with impurities which Allocated dopeness .these dopeness creates
new Energy band abount the valence band Which offers electrons
Hence this reduces the band gap and less energy is required in
exciting them.
• The extrinsic photo resistor is used for long wavelength
Applications of LDR
• Used to detect presence or absence of light as in cameras.
• Used in street lamps.
• Alarm clocks.
• Burglar alarm circuits.
• Light intensity meters.
• Counting Pakages moving on a conveyor belt.
• Automatic Street Light
• Detect Day or Night
• Automatic Head Light Dimmer
• Position sensor
• Used along with LED as obstacle detector
• Automatic bedroom Lights
• Automatic Rear view mirror
Working principle of LDR
• A light dependent resistor works on the principle of photoconductivity.
• Photoconductivity is an optical phenomenon In which material conductivity
is reduced When light is absorbed by the material.
• When light falls That means when photon falls on the Device the electrons
in the valence band Of the semiconductor materalare excited to the
conduction band.
• These photons in the incident light Should have energy greater than the
Band gap Of the semiconductor material To make the electrons to jump
from valence band to conduction band.
• hence, when light having enough energy strikes on the device more and
more electrons are exited to the conduction band which results in large
number of charge carriers .
• By this process more and more charge will flow.