EXPERIMENT
AIM
Determination of reverse saturation current I0 and material constant
APPARATUS REQUIRED
1. Study of P-N Junction, PN-01 : One
2. Oven : One
3. Sample Set : One
(BC-109-Si ; IN-34-Ge ; IN5408-Diode : Mounted on Teflon Plugs)
FORMULA USED :
Material constant is given by:
q V
kT ln I
The reverse saturation current is given by
VG 0
VT
I 0 kT e
m
And Energy Band gap
dV mkT
VG 0 V T
dT q
For notations please see the theory of both the experiments.
DIAGRAM :
Circuit Diagram of pn junction diode in reverse bias
THEORY
The current I in a p-n junction is given by
qV
I I 0 e kT 1 (1)
Where,
q, electronic charge = 1.602 X 10-19 coulomb
,material constant = 1 for Ge
= 2 for Si
K, Boltzman constant=1.381 X 10-23 J/K
T, Temperature in Kelvin
V, Junction voltage n volts
The reverse saturation current is usually too small to be measured directly. An indirect graphical
qV
kT
method may be obtained by taking logarithm of eqn. (1) for e 1 as,
qV
ln I = ln I0 +
kT
If, V and In I are plotted on a graph paper a straight line is obtained. This line intersects
the current (In I) axis at In I0 and its slope may be solved to compute ,
q V
kT ln I
PROCEDURE
The diode to be tested is connected to the terminals with the polarity as indicated (already
connected). Readings are now recorded from the two display set to JUNCTION and CURRENT
respectively with the current source adjusted in steps from 100 µA to 10 mA.
OBSERVATIONS
Sample: BC 109 (Base – Emitter Junction)
Forward Current Junction Voltage
S.NO. ln I
I in µA V in Volts
1 100 4.61
2 200 5.30
3 400 5.99
4 700 6.55
5 1000 6.91
6 2000 7.60
7 4000 8.29
8 7000 8.85
9 10000 9.21
Graph 1 Reverse Saturation current
CALCULATIONS:
*Note: Values written here are just for your understanding. Actual readings may differ.
From graph no. 1, we get
ln I0 = -11.5
V 0.18
Slope of the curve
ln I 4.7
Therefore,
I0 =0.10 X 10-10 A
And,
q V 1.602 10 19 0.18
kT ln I 1.381 10 23 305 4.7
= 1.46
EXPERIMENT-II
AIM
Determination of Temperature Coefficient of Junction Voltage and Energy band - gap.
THEORY
The reverse saturation current is given by
VG 0
VT
I 0 kT e
m
, and the diode forward current by
VV V
I I 0 e 1 I 0e
T VT
V VG 0
VT
kT e
m
, where for Si: m = 1.5, = 2 and for Ge: m=2.0, =1
kT
Also VT , taking logarithm,
q
V VG 0
ln I = ln k + m ln T
VT
At I=Constant, differentiating w.r.t. T
m d V VG 0 q
0 0
T dT kT
m q dV V VG 0 q 1
0 . . 2
T kT dT k T
0
m
q dV
.
q
V VG 0
T kT dT kT 2
kT 2 m
V VG 0
dV
0 . T
q T dT
dV mkT
VG 0 V T
dT q
At 300 K for Si,
mkT
(1.5 X 2 X 1.381 X 10-23 X 300) / 1.602 X 10-19
q
= 0.078 V
Where slope of the V-T curve is the temperature coefficient of the junction voltage and VG0 is the
energy band-gap.
PROCEDURE
With the connections as in Experiment-I, the OVEN and SENSOR leads are inserted in the
respective sockets. The diode is put in the oven and its forward current is set to low value (say 1
mA) to avoid heating. The display-1 is now switched to TEMP, to read the oven temperature.
The Oven temperature can now be varied from room temperature to about 360 K in
suitable steps and the junction voltage may be recorded. The temperature controlled oven
requires about 5 minutes to stabilize at every new setting. Before noting any readings, one must
ensure that a few ON/OFF cycles of the oven have been completed as shown by the indicator.
OBSERVATIONS
Sample : BC 109 (Base – Emitter Junction)
If = 1.00 mA (Constant for the set)
S.No. Temperature Junction Voltage
1 305
2 313
3 320
4 328
5 336
6 344
7 353
8 360
Graph 2
CALCULATIONS
We know,
dV mkT
Energy Band gap VG0 = V(T) - T
dT q
From graph no. 2
dV
At T = 300 K, V(T) = 0.720 V, 1.79 10 3 V / K
dT
mkT
& for Si at 300 K, 0.078V
q
VG0 = 0.720 – [300(-1.79X10-3)]-0.078
= 0.720 – [-0.357]-0.078
= 0.720 + 0.537 – 0.078
= 1.18 eV
