Introduction

 A diode is a two-terminal
electronic component that conducts
current primarily in one direction
(asymmetric conductance). It has low
(ideally zero) resistance in one
direction, and high (ideally infinite)
resistance in the other.
 A semiconductor diode, the most
commonly used type today, is a
crystalline piece of semiconductor
material with a p–n junction
connected to two electrical terminals.
[4]
It has an exponential
current–voltage characteristic.
Semiconductor diodes were the first
semiconductor electronic devices. The
discovery of asymmetric electrical
conduction across the contact
between a crystalline mineral and a
metal was made by German physicist
Ferdinand Braun in 1874.
 TYPES OF DIODES
• There are many types of diodes. Ja scu ujs
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• Light-Emitting Diode
• An LED produces light when electricity
flows through it. It is a longer lasting and
more efficient way of creating light than
incandescent light bulbs.
• Depending on how it was made, the LED
can make different colors. LEDs were first
used in the 1970's. The light-emitting diode
may eventually replace the light bulb as
developing technology makes it brighter
and cheaper (it is already more efficient
and lasts longer). In the 1970's the LEDs
were used to show numbers in appliances
such as calculators, and as a way to show
the power was on for larger appliances.
 PHOTODIODE
• A photodiode is a light-sensitive
semiconductor diode.[1] It produces
current when it absorbs photons.
• The package of a photodiode allows
light (or infrared or ultraviolet
radiation, or X-rays) to reach the
sensitive part of the device. The
package may include lenses or
optical filters. Devices designed for
use specially as a photodiode use a
PIN junction rather than a
p–n junction, to increase the speed of
response. Photodiodes usually have a
slower response time as their surface
area increases. A photodiode is
designed to operate in reverse bias.[2]
A solar cell used to generate electric
solar power is a large area
photodiode.
 PRINCIPLE OF
OPERATION
• A photodiode is a PIN structure or
p–n junction. When a photon of
sufficient energy strikes the diode, it
creates an electron–hole pair. This
mechanism is also known as the
inner photoelectric effect. If the
absorption occurs in the junction's
depletion region, or one diffusion
length away from it, these carriers are
swept from the junction by the built-
in electric field of the depletion
region. Thus holes move toward the
anode, and electrons toward the
cathode, and a photocurrent is
produced. The total current through
the photodiode is the sum of the dark
current (current that is generated in
the absence of light) and the
photocurrent, so the dark current
must be minimized to maximize the
sensitivity of the device.