P-N JUNCTION DIODE

AND
IT’S CHARACTERISTICS

Class 12

Ram Sundar Matang

 Semiconductors

• materials which have a conductivity between conductors and 

insulators .
• Intrinsic Semiconductors: purest form
of semiconductor elements, Si or Ge
• Extrinsic semiconductors:
formed by adding small amounts of impurities to pure
semiconductors causing large changes in the conductivity of
the material.
• Doping:
Process of adding impurity atoms in intrinsic semiconductors
 Types of extrinsic semiconductors
• P type semiconductor:  
made by adding trivalent impurities like Boron (B), Aluminum (Al) etc. to
an intrinsic semiconductor. Impurities atoms are called acceptor. It has more
holes than electrons.
N type semiconductor: 
made by adding pentavalent impurities like phosphorus, arsenic, etc to a
pure semiconductor such as silicon or germanium.  
Impurities atoms are called donor. It has more free electrons than holes.
 Formation of PN junction diode
Formed by combining N-type and type semiconductors

Electrons

Holes
PN junction
Diffusion current:
the current which is due to
flow of charges due to
concentration difference of
charged particles in a
semiconductor.
 Vb-Barrier potential

potential barrier in diode is

the barrier which does not
allow charge flow across the
junction.
Vb = 0.3V for Germanium
Vb = 0.7V for silicon

Depletion region  is a

region in a P-N
junction diode where
free mobile charge
carriers are absent.

Depletion Layer

Symbol of P-N junction diode

 Biasing of diode
The process of connecting voltage source to diode.

Forward Biasing Reverse biasing

The voltage potential is The voltage potential is connected

connected positive to the P-type
and negative to the N-type of the
diode which has the effect
of Decreasing the depletion layer
‘s width.
negative to the P-type and positive
to the N-type of the diode which
has the effect of Increasing the PN
depletion layer’s width.
I-V Characteristics of PN junction diodes
The relationship between voltage across diode and current flowing through diode.

Forward characteristics

Circuit diagram for Knee Voltage

forward characteristics
Current Vs voltage graph
 Reverse characteristics of PN junction diode

In reverse biasing, the depletion layer

becomes wider.

If this reverse voltage is increased

continually, the depletion layer
becomes more and more wider.

 There will be a constant reverse

saturation current due to minority
carriers. Circuit diagram for
reverse characteristics
After certain reverse voltage, the
minority carriers get sufficient kinetic
energy due to the strong electric field.
•Free electrons with sufficient kinetic energy collide with stationary
ions and knock out more free electrons.

•These newly created free electrons also get sufficient kinetic

energy due to the same electric field, and create more free
electrons by collision.

•Due to this this, huge free electrons get created in the depletion
layer, and the entire diode will become conductive.

•This type of breakdown of the depletion layer is known as

Avalanche break down

•The corresponding voltage is called Avalanche breakdown voltage

Avalanche Breakdown voltage
Thank You