MAKING A DIODE:

Now well see how the above described two types are used to manufacture a
diode. We have the p-type and n-type semiconductors as follow:

Now we combine the two types of materials as follow and we have to observe
what would happen when we combine the two:

When we combine the two types of material, the holes of p-type material and
electrons of n-type start recombining as there is a force of attraction between
them. This is also called diffusion of charges.
Diffusion is defined as
movement of charges from HIGH concentration to LOW concentration. We
have high concentration of electrons in n-type semiconductor and high
concentration of holes in p-type semiconductors while there is low
concentration of electrons in p-type semiconductor and high concentration of
holes in n-type semiconductors. Due to this difference in concentration of
charges, diffusion occurs. Hence electrons move from n-type to p-type and
holes move from p-type to n-type. Due to this movement some of the
electrons and holes recombine.
Due to this recombination of holes and electrons, a depletion region is
generated near the junction. Depletion region is the region where no mobile
charges exist (neither electrons nor holes, only fixed charges). As the
recombination of charges continues, an opposite electric field is developed
and recombination continues only till the opposite electric field becomes
equal to the force of attraction.

Now when the electric field is generated, it opposes the flow of electrons from
the n-type and it opposes the flow of holes from the p-type.

DIFFERENT FORCES ACTING ON CHARGE CARRIERS

So we can say there are two types of forces that exit to the electrons of ntype and holes of p-type as shown:

FE1 is force acting on electrons due to electric field.

FE2 is force acting on holes due to electric field.
Hence we call that there is barrier at the junction and to cross that barrier,
there has to be some extra energy supplied to the mobile charge carriers &
this extra energy can supplied by applying forward biased voltage.
Lets now discuss the different forces acting on the charge carriers (majority
carriers):

FE1 is force acting on electrons (in p-type) due to electric field.

FE2 is force acting on holes (in n-type) due to electric field.
FA1 is force acting on electrons (in p-type) due to hole-electron attraction.

FA2 is force acting on holes (in n-type) due to hole-electron attraction.

The forces satisfy FE1 > FA1 & FE2 > FA2 and hence holes & electrons are not
able to cross the barrier.

Q- How does the width of depletion region vary with

change in doping of two regions?
Ans: As we have already discussed how depletion region is formed and now
we know that depletion region is formed when recombining of electrons and
holes occur. We discuss different cases as follow:
Doping of only p-type is greater: As doping of p type is greater and hence
there would be more number of holes per unit area in p-type region and to
recombine with electrons of n-type region we need the same number of
holes. As we have the more density of holes and hence lesser region would
provide enough number of holes and hence depletion width in the p-type
would be lesser as shown below:

Doping of only n-type is greater: As doping of n type is greater and hence

there would be more number of electrons per unit area in n-type region and
to recombine with holes of p-type region we need the same number of
electrons. As we have the more density of electrons and hence lesser region
would provide enough number of electrons and hence depletion width in the
n-type would be lesser as shown below:

Doping of both p-type & n-type is increased: As doping of both p-type &
n-type is greater and hence there would be more number of electrons per
unit area in both regions and to develop same level of barrier we need the
same number of electrons and holes. As we have the more density of
electrons and holes hence lesser region would provide enough number of
charge carriers and hence depletion width in the both p-type & n-type would
be lesser as shown below:

Q- Would there be any current flow when we connect

both ends of a diode and can we measure it using
multimeter?
Ans: Well when we connect both sides of a diode, it is actually the same case
when we connect the
n-type and p-type material at the junction. There
would be diffusion of charges i.e. holes flowing from p-side to n-side and
electrons flowing from n-side to p-side. Hence there would be recombination
of electrons and holes and so there be formation of depletion region at the
ends too as shown below:

Hence there would be flow of charge carriers for very small time till the
barrier voltage is developed. So well have very small amount of current
flowing that even for very small time.
But this current cannot be measured or detected using multimeter.

FORWARD BIASING
When we apply voltage across the diode, as shown below:

When the voltage applied across the diode is greater than the barrier voltage,
the electrons and the holes present in the n-type and the p-type regions of
the diode acquire enough energy to cross the barrier at the junction.
Now if we talk in terms of forces acting on the charge carriers, then
there are 3 kinds of forces acting on both types of carrier as shown:

FE1 is force acting on electrons (in p-type) due to electric field.

FE2 is force acting on holes (in n-type) due to electric field.
FA1 is force acting on electrons (in p-type) due to hole-electron attraction.
FA2 is force acting on holes (in n-type) due to hole-electron attraction.
FV1 is force acting on electrons (in p-type) due to external voltage source.
FV2 is force acting on holes (in n-type) due to external voltage source.
The forces satisfy FE1 + FV1 > FA1 & FE2 + FV2 > FA2 and hence holes &
electrons are able to cross the barrier and hence flow of charge carriers
continue.
The flow of charges doesnt stop as long external battery is connected
because battery itself generates electrons and holes.

REVERSE BIASING:
When the polarity of the external voltage source is opposite to the above
case i.e. when positive terminal is connected to n-side and negative terminal
to p-side, then diode is said to be reverse biased as shown below:

When we reverse bias the diode, the majority carriers have again 3 types of
forces acting on them as shown below but in this case both forces due to
barrier electric field and the external voltage act in the same direction and
hence pull the majority carriers away from the junction.

Hence the space charge region or say depletion region is enlarged and
minority carriers are attracted to move to the other region crossing the
barrier as shown:

But as number of minority carriers is very less and current is proportional to

the charge carriers flowing across the barrier, hence current through the
diode is less and measured in micro-amperes

IDEAL DIODE
When we talk about the ideal diode, the diode is a device which acts as a
short circuit when forward biased and acts as open circuit when reverse
biased. Hence the behavior of ideal diode can be shown in the following
graph:

In forward biased, current is zero till the point forward voltage is less than
breakdown voltage and after that diode offers no resistance while in the
reverse biased, there is no current flow at all.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A PRACTICAL DIODE

BREAKDOWN OF DIODE:
When the reverse voltage applied across diode becomes greater than the
breakdown voltage, then the diode breaks down and very high current starts
flowing in the circuit. There are generally two types of breakdowns in a diode:

1. Zener breakdown
2. Avalanche breakdown
And based on the above classifications of breakdown of diode, we have the
two special types of diode as

1. Zener Diode
2. Avalanche Diode
The difference between the Zener Diode and avalanche Diode is the
doping level. The doping level of Zener diode is more than avalanche diode
or we can say diodes which have higher doping level undergo Zener
breakdown when reverse bias voltage is increased while diodes with lesser
doping level undergo Avalanche breakdown.

Zener diode

As we have already mentioned doping level of Zener diode is very high and
hence width of depletion region is less. As we know

E = VB / d
VB is the barrier voltage
E is the electric field
d is the depletion width
As doping is high, hence width (d) is less and as barrier voltage varies with
doping as stated by the formula:

From the formula we can get that the voltage varies proportional to log of
doping and hence the barrier voltage is almost constant.
So from the above discuss we find that Electric field in the depletion region
would be large as VB is almost constant and d has decreased. Due to this
large electric field, electrons from the outer shell of the atom in the depletion
region are expelled out and hence carriers are generated within the depletion
region. The high electric field in the depletion region pulls out large number
of electrons from the large number of atoms. This leads to large current flow
and this type of breakdown is called Zener breakdown.

Avalanche diode
The diode which have lesser doping undergo avalanche breakdown when
high reverse voltage is applied. The lesser doping means the depletion width
is large and so electric field within depletion region is not so high. Hence the
electric field would not be able to pull out electrons from the outer shell of
atoms and breakdown doesnt occur in depletion region. But as the depletion
region is large and hence when the minority charge carriers move through
the depletion region, they get accelerated by the electric field and that even
for larger time (as distance through which acceleration is provided is large).
Hence minority charge carriers acquire high velocity and so high kinetic
energy. When these charge carriers strike with atoms in the n-type and p-type
regions, the high kinetic energy gets converted to thermal energy and hence
due to this energy electrons from the outermost shell are pulled out and large
current starts flowing. This type of breakdown is called avalanche breakdown.
But due to the high thermal energy, the temperature rises and
diode gets burned. Due to this reason the simple diodes (where avalanche
breakdown occurs) is not used in the applications and instead Zener diode is
used in the application circuits of breakdown diodes such as regulating power
supply.
Differences between Zener breakdown and Avalanche breakdown:

Zener breakdown
breakdown

1. The Zener breakdown occurs in HIGH

breakdown occurs in LOW doping

diodes.

2. The breakdown occurs within the

Avalanche

1. The avalanche
doping diodes.
2. The breakdown

occurs outside the depletion depletion

region.
region.
3. The breakdown voltage is lesser than

3. The breakdown

voltage is more than zener that of avalanche

breakdown.
breakdown voltage.

As Zener breakdown voltage is less than that of avalanche breakdown

voltage, hence Zener breakdown is said to occur before the avalanche
breakdown.
Hence we can say if we increase the doping of a diode, the chances of zener
breakdown increases and hence breakdown voltage decreases

TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON DIODE

The following graph shows the effect of temperature on the characteristics of
diode

A-B curve: This curve shows the characteristics of diode for different
temperatures in the forward biase. As we can see from the figure given
above, that curve moves towards left as we increase the temperature. We
know with increase in temperature, conductivity of semiconductors increase.
The intrinsic concentration (ni) of the semiconductors is dependent on
temperature as given by:

Eg is the energy gap

K is a voltage man constant
A is a constant independent of temperature
When temperature is high, the electrons of the outermost shell take the
thermal energy and become free. So conductivity increases with temperature.
Hence with increase in temperature, the A-B curve would shift towards left i.e.
curve would rise sharply and the breakdown voltage would also decrease with
increase in temperature.
A-C curve: This curve shows the characteristics of diode in the reverse
biased region till the breakdown voltage for different temperatures. We know
niconcentration would increase with increase in temperature and hence
minority charges would increase with increase in temperature. The minority
charge carriers are also known as thermally generated carriers and the
reverse current depends on minority carriers only. Hence as the number of

minority charge carriers increase, the reverse current would also increase
with temperature as shown in the figure given on the previous page.
The reverse saturation current gets double with every 10 C
increase in temperature.
C-D curve: This curve shows the characteristics of a diode in reverse biased
region from the breakdown voltage point onwards. As with increase in
temperature, loosely bonded electrons are already free and to free the other
electrons, it would take more voltage than earlier. Hence breakdown voltage
increases with increase in temperature as depicted in the figure shown in the
figure given on the previous page..

Comparison between Silicon and Germanium diodes

Silicon

Germanium

1. The silicon diodes have higher PIV (peak

1. The Ge diodes
have lower PIV with maximum inverse voltage)with max as
1000V
PIV around 400V.

2. Si diodes have wider operating range

have small operating range.

2. The Ge diodes

3. Higher cut-off voltage (0.7V)

3. Lower cut-off

4. Lower saturation current

4. Higher saturation

voltage (0.3 V)
current

The above points would also make it clear why the silicon diodes are better
than germanium diodes.

REVERSE SATURATION CURRENT: The Ge diode is more temperature

dependent than Si diode. The value of n i2 for Ge diode is more that of Si
diode. Hence there would be more number of minority carriers and hence
reverse saturation current is larger in germanium diode.

SWITCHING TIME OF DIODE

The switching time of a diode is defined as the time which a diode takes to
change its state from forward biased state to reverse biased state or in other
words the forward current through diode doesnt reduce to reverse saturation
current immediately as the reverse voltage is applied. In fact it takes time for
the current to reduce from forward current to reverse saturation current. This
time is also called reverse recovery time.
To discuss more about the switching time, we first need to discuss charge
distribution of diode in normal state, forward biased state and reverse biased
state assuming doping of p-type is more than n-type.

Charge distribution of diode in normal (un-biased) state

Apply the relation given below
law)

n * p = ni2 at constant temperature

(Mass action

Now we apply the above relation to p-type:

p i.e. the concentration of majority carriers (holes) is larger as doping of pside is high and we have the value of ni2as constant at fixed temperature.
Hence from the above relation we find that number of minority carriers
( electrons) is less in p-type material while as doping of n-side is normal,
hence number of majority carriers (i.e. electrons) in n-side is not large with
the value of ni2as constant and hence number of minority carriers is larger as
compared to that in p-side. We depict the above as below:

Npo is defined as the concentration of minority carriers in N-type material i.e.

holes and Pno is defined as the concentration of minority carriers in P-type
material i.e. electrons when diode is in un-biased state (i.e. diode is neither
forward biased or reverse biased).

Charge distribution of diode in Forward Biased state

When diode is forward biased, the majority carriers of both sides cross the
junction and after reaching the other side, the charge carriers start
combining. So holes from p-side start moving towards n-side and electrons
from n-side start moving to p-side. When holes enter the n-side they become
the minority carriers and just at the junction there would be high
concentration of holes in n-side as the recombining has just started. Also all
the holes can not recombine at the junction. Hence when we move away from
the junction in the n-side, the concentration of holes is decreasing as more
and more holes are recombining. This is also shown in the figure below.
Similarly in the p-side, concentration of the electrons is high near the junction
and it starts decreasing as we move away from the junction in the p-side.

The red curve shows the level of concentration of minority carriers at

different distances on the both sides of junction and the shaded blue
part shows the increase in the concentration of minority carriers after forward
biasing the diode. There is a difference in the peak level of minority carriers
as we have the difference in the doping level of both sides.
Now lets analyze that what would happen when we change diode state from
forward biase from reverse biase. This state change takes time which is
known as reverse recovery time. Consider the following circuit of diode to
analyze the switching time of diode.

When the diode is in forward biase, the minority charge distribution of diode
is as:

And when diode is in reverse biase position, the minority charge distribution
is as:

So to change state from forward to reverse biase, the whole minority charge
distribution needs to be inverted as we can see from the figures above.
Now lets analyze that what would happen when we change diode state from
forward biase from reverse biase. This state change takes time which is
known as reverse recovery time. Consider the following circuit of diode to
analyze the switching time of diode.

When the diode is in forward biase, the minority charge distribution of diode
is as:

And when diode is in reverse biase position, the minority charge distribution
is as:

So to change state from forward to reverse biase, the whole minority charge
distribution needs to be inverted as we can see from the figures above.

DIODE REVERSE RECOVERY TIME - II

Now lets see what happens during the period in which state changes.
Firstly we are in forward biase state when voltage applied is +V. So there are
many minority carriers near the junction and then there is an exponential
decrease in the concentration of minority carriers and there is a continuous
flow of majority carriers across the junction. We assume the current as I in
the forward biase. We depict this in the following graph of current across the
junction with time:

Now we change the applied voltage to V at time t=t 1 i.e. diode is now reverse
biased. As minority carrier concentration in both sides was large near junction in
the forward biase, when we have instantly changed the state to reverse biased,
those minority carriers start moving in the opposite direction. And due to large
concentration of such minority carriers, the amount of current flowing remains
the same, only direction changes as shown below:

*Red coloured lines are of reverse biased region.

But the high reverse current continues for small time because the
concentration of the stored minority carriers start decreasing and the current
also starts decreasing exponentially as shown below:

The time gap t2 - t1 in which the reverse current is high (i.e. equal to I) is
known as storage time and the time gap from t2 to t3 i.e. the time reverse
current becomes equal to reverse saturation current is known as transient
time. The total time from t1 to t3 is known as reverse recovery time.

EFFECT OF DOPING ON REVERSE RECOVERY TIME

As we have already known that reverse recovery time is the time it takes to
invert the minority charge distribution of diode from forward biase to minority
charge distribution in reverse biase. Hence when we increase the doping of
material, the concentration fo minority charge carriers decrease. Hence as
the peaks of charge distribution have fallen, it takes lesser time to invert the
charge distribution. Hence we can say that with increase in doping, the
reverse recovery time decrease and with decrease in doping level the reverse
recovery time increases.