Applied Physics (PHY-102)
Lecture # 14
“Solid State Physics and Electronics”
Doping, Types of Semi-conductors, N-Type and P-Type semi-conductors,
The junction Diode, Biasing of PN-Junction, Characteristics of PN-
Junction
Doping of Semiconductor
P-Type Semiconductor:
When the trivalent impurity is added to an intrinsic or pure semiconductor (silicon or
germanium).
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Doping of Semiconductor
N-Type Semiconductor:
An n-type semiconductor is an intrinsic semiconductor doped with phosphorus (P) or
arsenic (As) etc. (the pentavalent impurities)
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Aim
Formation of PN
Junction Diode
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Forward and Reverse Biasing
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Aim
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Characteristics of PN Junction (I-V Curve)
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Characteristics of PN Junction (I-V Curve)
Reverse Leakage Current:
When a diode is reverse biased, the width of the depletion region
increases. Minority carriers of each material are pushed through the
depletion zone to the junction. This action causes a very small leakage
current to occur. Generally, leakage current is so small that it can be
considered as negligible.
Avalanche Effect:
When the reverse bias voltage V applied to the diode is increased to a
sufficiently high enough value, it will cause the diode’s PN junction to
overheat and fail due to the avalanche effect around the junction. This
may cause the diode to become shorted and will result in the flow of
maximum circuit current.
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Half wave rectification by diode
A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC),
which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which
flows in only one direction.
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Full wave rectification by diodes
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Light- Emitting Diodes
LEDs
Red LED White LED
LED for displays LED for traffic light 10/20
Blue LED
What is an LED?
• Light-emitting diode
• Semiconductor
• Has polarity
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LED: How It Works
• The wholes exist at a lower
energy level than the free
electrons
• When sufficient voltage is applied to the chip
across the leads of the LED, electrons can move
easily in only one direction across the junction
between the p and n regions.
• Therefore when a free electrons falls it losses
energy
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LED: How It Works
• This energy is emitted
in a form of a photon,
which causes light
• The color of the light is determined by
the fall of the electron and hence
energy level of the photon
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Inside a Light Emitting Diode
1. Transparent Plastic
Case
2. Terminal Pins
3. Diode
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Kinds of LEDs
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Photon Emission in Semiconductor
Conduction When an electron meets a
band hole, it falls into a lower
energy level, and releases
EC Photon energy in the form of a
Eg photon.
EF
The wavelength of the light
EV depends on the band gap of
the semiconductor material
Valence
band
Semiconductor materials: Si, Ge, GaAs, InGaAs, AlGaAs,
InP, SiGe, etc 16/20
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DIODE LASERS
Diode lasers have been used for cutting,
surgery, communication (optical fibre),
CD writing and reading etc
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Photodiode
When a light is made to illuminate the PN junction, covalent bonds are
ionized. This generates hole and electron pairs. Photocurrents are
produced due to generation of electron-hole pairs. Electron hole pairs are
formed when photons of energy more than 1.1eV hits the diode.
1) Photovoltaic Mode
2) Photoconductive Mode
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Semiconductors
• In most of today’s solar cells the absorption of photons, which results in
the generation of the charge carriers, and the subsequent separation of the
photo-generated charge carriers take place in semiconductor materials.
• Therefore, the semiconductor layers are the most important parts of a
solar cell; they form the heart of the solar cell.
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Harvesting the sunlight
The entire spectrum of sunlight, from infrared to ultraviolet, covers a range of about
0.5 eV to about 2.9 eV. The primary reason why solar cells are not 100% efficient is
because semiconductors do not respond to the entire spectrum of sunlight. Photons
with energy less than silicon's band gap pass through the cell and are not absorbed,
which wastes about 18% of incoming energy. The energy content of photons above
the band gap will be wasted surplus re-emitted as heat or light. This accounts for an
additional loss of about 49%. Thus about 67% of energy from the original sunlight is
lost, or only 33% is usable for electricity in an ideal solar cell.
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