Lecture 3
OUTLINE
• PN Junction Diodes
– Electrostatics
– Capacitance
Reading: Chapter 2.2
The PN Junction Diode
• When a P‐type semiconductor region and an N‐type
semiconductor region are in contact, a PN junction
diode is formed.
VD
– +
ID
Diode Operating Regions
• In order to understand the operation of a diode, it is
necessary to study its behavior in three operation
regions: equilibrium, reverse bias, and forward bias.
VD = 0 VD < 0 VD > 0
Carrier Diffusion across the Junction
• Because of the difference in hole and electron
concentrations on each side of the junction, carriers
diffuse across the junction:
Depletion Region
• As conduction electrons and holes diffuse across the
junction, they leave behind ionized dopants. Thus, a
region that is depleted of mobile carriers is formed.
– The charge density in the depletion region is not zero.
– The carriers which diffuse across the junction recombine
with majority carriers, i.e. they are annihilated.
quasi- quasi-
neutral neutral
region width=Wdep region
The Depletion Approximation
Potential Distribution
• In the depletion region, the electric potential is
quadratic since the electric field is linear
• The potential difference between the N and the P
side is called built‐in potential, V0
PN Junction in Equilibrium
• In equilibrium, the drift and diffusion components of
current are balanced; therefore the net current
flowing across the junction is zero.
J p ,drift = − J p ,diff
J n,drift = − J n,diff
J tot = J p ,drift + J n,drift + J p ,diff + J n,diff = 0
Built‐in Potential, V0
• Because of the electric field in the depletion region,
there exists a potential drop across the junction:
Built‐In Potential Example
PN Junction under Reverse Bias
Diode Current under Reverse Bias
• In equilibrium, the built‐in potential effectively
prevents carriers from diffusing across the junction.
• Under reverse bias, the potential drop across the
junction increases; therefore, negligible diffusion
current flows. A very small drift current flows, limited
by the rate at which minority carriers diffuse from the
quasi‐neutral regions into the depletion region.
PN Junction Capacitance
Voltage‐Dependent Capacitance
Reverse‐Biased Diode Application
• A very important application of a reverse‐biased PN
junction is in a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO),
which uses an LC tank. By changing VR, we can
change C, which changes the oscillation frequency.
