DIODE

● A semiconductor device with two terminals,

typically allowing the flow of current in one
direction only.
 IMPATT DIODE
An IMPATT diode is a form of high-power semiconductor diode used in
high-frequency microwave electronics devices. They have negative
resistance and are used as oscillators and amplifiers at microwave
frequencies.
 CONSTRUCTION

● Production of first
IMPATT diode
● Concept of ionization
● Movement of charges
● Parts of diode
The IMPATT microwave diode uses
avalanche breakdown combined and
the charge carrier transit time to
create a negative resistance region
which enables it to act as an oscillator.

As the nature of the avalanche

breakdown is very noisy, and signals
created by an IMPATT diode have high
levels of phase noise.
VARACTOR DIODE
Introduction:
Varactor diode is a one kind of semiconductor microwave solid-state device and the
applications of this diode mainly involve in where variable capacitance is preferred
which can be accomplished by controlling voltage. These diodes are also named as
varicap diodes. Even though the outcome of the variable capacitance can be
showed by the normal P-N junction diodes, but these diodes are chosen for giving
the desired capacitance changes as they are special types of diodes. Varactor
diodes are specifically fabricated and optimized such that they permits a high range
of changes in capacitance.
Symbol:
Construction of Varactor Diode
It is formed of P-type and N-type semiconductor and reverse biasing is applied
to it. The majority carriers in an N-type semiconductor are electrons and the
majority carriers in a P-type semiconductor are holes. At the junction, the
electrons and holes recombine. Due to which immobile ions accumulate at the
junction. And no more current can flow due to majority carriers.

Thus, the depletion region is formed. The depletion region is called so because
it is depleted of charge carriers i.e. the majority carriers are absent in depletion
region. This works as a dielectric layer and P and N-type semiconductor works
as plates of a capacitor.
Working of a Varactor Diode:
To know the Varactor diode working principle, we must know the function of capacitor and capacitance. Let us
consider the capacitor that comprises of two plates alienated by an insulator as shown in the figure.

We know that, the capacitance of a capacitor is directly proportional to the region of the terminals, as the region of
the terminals increases the capacitance of the capacitor increases. When the diode is in the reverse biased mode,
where the two regions of P-type and N-type are able to conduct and thus can be treated as two terminals. The
depletion area between the P-type & N-type regions can be considered as insulating dielectric. Therefore, it is
similar to the capacitor shown above.

The volume of the depletion region of the diode varies with change in reverse bias. If the reverse voltage of the
diode is increased, then the size of the depletion region increases. Likewise, if the reverse voltage of the Varactor
diode is decreased, then the size of the depletion region decreases. Hence, by changing the reverse bias of the
diode the capacitance can be changed.
Characteristics of Varactor Diode
The characteristics of Varactor diode have the following:
● These diodes significantly generate less noise compared to other
diodes.
● The cost of these diodes is available at lower and more reliable also.
● These diodes are very small in size and very light weight.
● There is no useful when it is operated in forward bias.
● In reverse bias mode, Varactor diode enhances the capacitance as
shown in the graph below.
 Applications:
Owing to the special property of varying capacitance with varying
voltage, varactor diodes are mostly used in frequency modulation or
tuning circuits where the value of capacitance determines the output
modulation frequency. Some of the other applications include:

Automatic Frequency Controllers (AFCs)

Ultra High Frequency Television sets
High frequency Radios
Frequency Multipliers
Band Pass Filters
Harmonic Generators
TUNNEL DIODE
WHAT IS TUNNEL DIODE?
A Tunnel Diode is a special type of PN junction that exhibits negative
resistance. Which means whenever the voltage increases the current will
be decreased. Tunnel Diode is highly doped PN junction Diode with
impurities, That is the reason it exhibits negative resistance in forward
bias such a diode is known as Tunnel Diode.
It is sometimes known as Esaki Diode named after Leo Esaki.
The tunnel diode is very helpful device because it
provides very fast switching
The tunnel diode is a two terminal device one terminal is Cathode and
another Anode. Its cathode is shaped like T letter.
CONSTRUCTION:
The device is constructed by using the terminals namely anode and
cathode. The p-type semiconductor act as an anode and n-type
semiconductor act as a cathode. The germanium material is commonly
used to make the TUNNEL DIODE.The ratio of the peak value of the
forward current to the value of the valley current is maximum in case of
germanium and is less in silicon. Hence, silicon is not used for
fabrication material In this diode the p-type and n-type semiconductor
are heavily doped which means a large number of impurities are
introduced into the p-type and n-type semiconductor. This heavy doping
process produces an extremely narrow depletion region. The
concentration of impurities in this diode is 1000X times much greater
than the normal p-n junction diode.
To understand the Working of Tunnel-Diode, we have to
understand first tunneling effect because the working of tunnel
diode D1 is totally depending on Tunneling Effect.
What is Tunneling Effect?
“The movement of valence electrons from the valence energy band
to the conduction band with little or no applied forward voltage is
called tunneling.”
Tunnel diode can operate either in a forward direction or reverse
direction. Here we are explaining the operation of the tunnel diode
in both biasing. Operation with the help of V-I characteristics curve
is explained in the next heading below.
•Forward biasing:
In forward bias operation, when the voltage increases electrons at the first tunnel
start to flow through the narrow p-n junction barrier and got aligned with empty
valence band holes on the p-side of the p-n junction. As voltage increases, this
state becomes misaligned and, as a result, the current starts falling. The region
into which the current drops is known as negative resistance region. By
increasing voltage further, diode begins to operate as a normal diode into which
electrons starts moving across the p-n junction through conduction and no longer
by tunneling through the p-n junction barrier.
•Reverse Biasing:

In Reverse bias operation, filled state on the p-side of the junction becomes
increasingly aligned with empty states at the N-side. When they get properly
aligned electrons starts tunnel through the p-n junction barrier in the reverse
direction. In the reverse direction, these are also known as back diodes and can
act as fast rectifiers with extreme linearity for power signals and zero offset
voltage.
 I-V CHARACTERISTIC
In forward biasing the immediate conduction occurs in the diode because
of their heavy doping the current in diode is maximum when a voltage of
VP is applied across it. When further voltage increases the current
decreases. It decreases until it reaches a minimum value called VALLEY
current Iv
The current decreases with increase in
voltagethis is the negative resistance region.
In this region the TUNNEL produces
power instead of absorbing it.
TRANSFERRED
ELETRON
DIODE(TED)
What is TED?
● TED or Transferred Electron Diode is also called is
Gunn Diode.
● The Gunn diode is unique diode it is different from an
ordinary P-N junction diode because there is no P-
region and no junction in Gunn Diode. But still, it is
called a diode due to the presence of two
electrodes in the construction of this Diode
● It is composed of only one type of doped
semiconductor i.e N-region.
CONTRUCTION
● The Gunn diode is fabricated from a single N-type semiconductor
layer.
● It has three layers of N-type semiconductor. Most widely used
material for the construction of the Gunn diode is Gallium
arsenide (GaAs), and Indium Phosphide (InP).
● Among these three layers of the Gunn diode, the first layer and
third layer is widely doped of the n-type semiconductor.
● While the in-between second layer of this Diode is lightly doped
compared to 1st and 3rd layer.
● During the manufacturing process of the Gunn Diode, the first
and third layer are formed by the ionization process and the
middle layer is an epitaxial layer grown on the N-type substrate.
The heat sink is used to make the Diode
stable for the excessive heat and to prevent damages.
• The range of generation of microwave frequencies
depends on the amount of doping in the first and
third layers of the Diode.
WORKING
● When the external voltage is applied to this diode, the entire
voltage appears in the active region. Here active region is
referred to as a middle layer of the device.
● Due to which the electrons from the 1st layer of the
conduction band (having almost zero resistivity) are
transferred into the third layer of the valence band. Because
applied voltage has made the electrons to flow from
conduction band to valence band. The third layer of Gallium
arsenide has the mobility of electrons which is less than that of
the conduction band of the first layer.
 I-V CHARACTERISTICS
When the electrons have transferred from the conduction band to the valence band,
after some threshold value the current through the device starts decreasing, Due to
this the effective mass of electrons starts increasing and thus mobility starts
decreasing due to which the current starts decreasing, And this creates the negative
differential resistance region in the Gunn diode.

In this negative differential resistance region, the current and voltage have an inverse
relationship, which means when the current starts to increase the voltage starts to
fall. And when voltage starts to increase the current start to decrease. Thus, it
generates pulses with 180° phase reversal and thus this device is able for the
operation of amplifier and oscillator circuits.
● The characteristic of Gunn Diode is almost similar to the tunnel diode
characteristics.
● The graph below shows the V-I characteristics of a Gunn Diode with the
negative differential resistance region.
Application of TED:-
● Gunn’s are used for amplification and oscillation.
● These are used as a sensor in the Collision avoidance radar
systems in electronic communication.
● These are used in Vehicle ABS system.
● They are used as Traffic analyzer sensors
● They are used in commercial applications of electronic
instruments and devices such as, `Blindspot’ car radar, Pedestrian
safety systems, Elapsed distance meters, Automatic identification.