Semiconductor Diodes
Diodes
The main application of p-n junction diode is in rectification
circuits.
An ideal diode passing electricity in one direction but not
the other
Diode performance with AC and DC currents.
One application of diodes is in rectification
Rectifier converting an ac voltage to a dc voltage
– The example below shows a half-wave rectifier
In practice, no real diode has ideal characteristics but
semiconductor pn junctions make good diodes
To understand such devices we need to look at some
properties of materials
Electrical Properties of Solids
Conductors
– e.g. copper or aluminum
– have a cloud of free electrons (at all temperatures
above absolute zero). If an electric field is applied
electrons will flow causing an electric current
Insulators
– e.g. polythene
– electrons are tightly bound to atoms so few can break
free to conduct electricity
Semiconductors (e.g. silicon or germanium)
Semiconducting materials like Silicon and Germanium have
fewer free electrons.
Impurities added to semiconductor material can either add free
electrons or create an absence of electrons (holes).
at very low temperatures these have the properties of insulators
as the material warms up some electrons break free and can
move about, and it takes on the properties of a conductor -
albeit a poor one
however, semiconductors have several properties that make
them distinct from conductors and insulators
Semiconductors
Pure semiconductors
– thermal vibration results in some bonds being broken
generating free electrons which move about
– these leave behind holes which accept electrons from
adjacent atoms and therefore also move about
– electrons are negative charge carriers
– holes are positive charge carriers
At room temperatures there are few charge carriers
– pure semiconductors are poor conductors
– this is intrinsic conduction
Doping
– the addition of small amounts of impurities drastically
affects its properties
– some materials form an excess of electrons and
produce an n-type semiconductor
– some materials form an excess of holes and produce a
p-type semiconductor
– both n-type and p-type materials have much greater
conductivity than pure semiconductors
– this is extrinsic conduction
The dominant charge carriers in a doped semiconductor
(e.g. electrons in n-type material) are called majority
charge carriers. Other type are minority charge carriers
The overall doped material is electrically neutral
pn Junctions
When p-type and n-type materials are joined this
forms a pn junction
– majority charge carriers on each side diffuse across
the junction where they combine with (and remove)
charge carriers of the opposite polarity
– around the junction there are few free charge carriers
and we have a depletion layer (also called a space-
charge layer)
The diffusion of positive
charge in one direction and
negative charge in the other
produces a charge imbalance
– this results in a potential
barrier across the junction
Potential barrier
the barrier opposes the flow of majority charge carriers and
only a small number have enough energy to surmount it.
this generates a small diffusion current.
the barrier encourages the flow of minority carriers and
any that come close to it will be swept over
this generates a small drift current.
for an isolated junction these two currents must balance
each other and the net current is zero.
Forward bias
– if the p-type side is made positive with respect to the
n-type side the height of the barrier is reduced
– more majority charge carriers have sufficient energy to
surmount it
– the diffusion current therefore increases while the drift
current remains the same
– there is thus a net current flow across the junction which
increases with the applied voltage
– This diode is forward biased meaning current will flow.
Reverse bias
– if the p-type side is made negative with respect to the
n-type side the height of the barrier is increased
– the number of majority charge carriers that have sufficient
energy to surmount it rapidly decreases
– the diffusion current therefore vanishes while the drift
current remains the same
– thus the only current is a small leakage current caused by the
(approximately constant) drift current
– the leakage current is usually negligible (a few nA)
– This diode is reverse biased meaning no current will flow.
Currents in a pn junction
Diode Highest Current Highest Reverse Voltage
1N4001 1A 50V
1N4002 1A 100V
1N4007 1A 1000V
1N4001 3A 100V
1N4008 3A 1000V
Silicon diodes
– generally have a turn-on voltage of about 0.5 V
– generally have a conduction voltage of about 0.7 V
– have a breakdown voltage that depends on their
construction
– have a maximum current that depends on their
construction
Diode types (Basic- LED - Zenier)
Turn-on and breakdown voltages for a silicon device
Special-Purpose Diodes
Light-emitting diodes (LED)
In normal diodes, when electrons combine with holes heat is
produced.
With some materials, when electrons combine with holes,
photons of light are emitted.
LEDs are generally used as indicators though they have the
same properties as a regular diode.
discussed earlier when we looked at light actuators
Zener diodes
– uses the relatively constant
reverse breakdown voltage
to produce a voltage
reference
– breakdown voltage is called
the Zener voltage, VZ
– output voltage of circuit
shown is equal to VZ despite variations in input voltage V
– a resistor is used to limit the current in the diode
Schottky diodes
-The Schottky Diode is a type of metal-semiconductor diode having a low
forward voltage drop and a very fast switching speed
-formed by the junction between a layer of metal(e.g. aluminium) and a
semiconductor, and used as a rectifying device.
-action relies only on majority charge carriers
-much faster in operation than a pn junction diode
-has a low forward voltage drop of about 0.25 V
-used in the design of high-speed logic gates.
-The main advantage is that the forward voltage drop of a Schottky Diode is
substantially less than the 0.7 volts of the conventional silicon pn-junction
diode.
- when Reverse Biased the depletion region is increased blocking current flow.
Tunnel diodes
– high doping levels produce
a very thin depletion layer
which permits ‘tunnelling’
of charge carriers
– results in a characteristic
with a negative resistance
region
– used in high-frequency oscillators, where they can be
used to ‘cancel out’ resistance in passive components
Varactor diodes
– a reversed-biased diode has two conducting regions
separated by an insulating depletion region
– this structure resembles a capacitor
– variations in the reverse-bias voltage change the width
of the depletion layer and hence the capacitance
– this produces a voltage-dependent capacitor
– these are used in applications such as automatic
tuning circuits
Diode Circuits
There are two primary methods of diode rectification
1. Half-wave rectifier
-peak output voltage is
equal to the peak input
voltage minus the
conduction voltage of the
diode
-reservoir capacitor used
to produce a steadier
output
2. Full-wave rectifier
use of a diode
bridge reduces
the time for which
the capacitor has
to maintain the
output voltage
and thus reduced
the ripple voltage
Full-wave rectifier
– use of a diode
bridge reduces
the time for which
the capacitor has
to maintain the
output voltage
and thus reduced
the ripple voltage
Signal clamping
– a simple form of
signal conditioning
– circuits limit the
excursion of the
voltage waveform
– can use a
combination of
signal and Zener
diodes
Catch diode
– used when switching
inductive loads
– the large back e.m.f.
can cause problems
such as arcing in switches
– catch diodes provide a low impedance path across
the inductor to dissipate the stored energy
– the applied voltage reverse-biases the diode which
therefore has no effect
– when the voltage is removed the back e.m.f. forward
biases the diode which then conducts
Notes
Diodes allow current to flow in only one direction.
At low temperatures semiconductors act like insulators.
At higher temperatures they begin to conduct.
Doping of semiconductors leads to the production of p-type and
n-type materials.
A junction between p-type and n-type semiconductors has the
properties of a diode.
Silicon semiconductor diodes approximate the behavior of ideal
diodes but have a conduction voltage of about 0.7 V.
There are also a wide range of special purpose diodes.
Diodes are used in a range of applications.
