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Voltage, The Reverse Current Will Drastically Increase

1) When the reverse bias voltage of a diode exceeds the breakdown voltage, the reverse current drastically increases due to avalanche multiplication. Minority carriers gain enough energy to liberate other electrons, multiplying the number of current carriers. 2) The forward voltage-current characteristic of a diode shows a rapid rise in current above the knee of the curve. The dynamic resistance is highest below the knee voltage and decreases with increasing forward bias. 3) Increasing temperature causes the forward current to rise and forward voltage to decrease at a given current, due to a reduction in the potential barrier. The reverse current remains very small and can be neglected.

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Talib Abbas
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41 views

Voltage, The Reverse Current Will Drastically Increase

1) When the reverse bias voltage of a diode exceeds the breakdown voltage, the reverse current drastically increases due to avalanche multiplication. Minority carriers gain enough energy to liberate other electrons, multiplying the number of current carriers. 2) The forward voltage-current characteristic of a diode shows a rapid rise in current above the knee of the curve. The dynamic resistance is highest below the knee voltage and decreases with increasing forward bias. 3) Increasing temperature causes the forward current to rise and forward voltage to decrease at a given current, due to a reduction in the potential barrier. The reverse current remains very small and can be neglected.

Uploaded by

Talib Abbas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

ELECTRONICS I (LECTURE 3) PAGE 1 OF 6

REVERSE BREAKDOWN REGION

 If the external reverse bias voltage is increased to a value called the breakdown
voltage, the reverse current will drastically increase.

 The high reverse bias voltage imparts energy to the free minority electrons.

 This energy will increase their speed through the p region, as well as collision
with valence electron.

 This energy is enough to knock valence electrons out of orbit and into the
conduction band.

 The newly created conduction electrons are also high in energy and repeat the
process. If one electron knocks only two others the numbers quickly multiply.

 As these high-energy electrons go through the depletion region, they have enough
energy to go through the n-region as conduction electrons, rather than combining
with holes.

 The multiplication of conduction electrons just discussed is known as Avalanche


Effect.

 This results in a very high reverse current that can damage the diode because of
excessive heat dissipation.

V I CHARACTERISTIC FOR FORWARD BIAS

 Normal operation for a forward biased diode is above the knee of the curve.
ELECTRONICS I (LECTURE 3) PAGE 2 OF 6

 DYNAMIC RESISTANCE (rD)

o Unlike linear resistance, the resistance of the forward – biased diode is


not constant over the entire curve. Such resistance is known as
dynamic resistance.

 Below knee voltage rD is maximum.

V I CHARACTERISTIC FOR REVERSE BIAS

o Reverse Voltage = VR
o Reverse Current = IR
o Reverse Breakdown
Voltage = VBR

 Normally very small reverse


current flow from the diode in
reverse bias.

 Reverse current increases rapidly


when bias voltage reaches to
breakdown voltages.

 Breakdown is not a normal mode


of operation for most pn-junction
devices.

 For typical silicon diode, minimum voltages are 50 V for breakdown.


ELECTRONICS I (LECTURE 3) PAGE 3 OF 6

COMPLETE V I CHARACTERISTIC CURVE

TEMPERATURE EFFECT ON THE DIODE

 For given value of forward voltages, current will increase as temperature is


increased.

 For a given value of forward current, the forward voltage decreases i.e. potential
barrier get minimize.

 Remember reverse current is very small and can be neglected.


ELECTRONICS I (LECTURE 3) PAGE 4 OF 6

DYNAMIC RESISTANCE

 Consider a biased PN junction. As the applied bias increases in magnitude the


depletion region will continue to decrease in width until a flood of electrons can
pass through the junction, resulting in an exponential rise in current as shown in
the forward-bias region of the characteristics curve.

 The horizontal scale in the forward-bias region has a maximum of 1 V. Therefore,


the voltage across a forward-biased diode will be less than 1 V. Note also, how
quickly the current rises beyond the knee of the curve, while reverse saturation
current Is has a very small value as compare to forward current diode ID.

 It can be demonstrated through the use of solid-state physics that the general
characteristics of a semiconductor diode can be defined by the following
Shockley’s equation for the forward- and reverse-bias regions:

 kVD

Is  e  1
TK
=> ID = ------ 
 

 Is = reverse saturation current


 k = 11,600/ with  = 1 for Ge and  = 2 for Si for relatively low levels of
diode current (at or below the knee of the curve) and  = 1 for Ge and Si
for higher levels of diode current (in the rapidly increasing section of the
curve).
 TK = TC + 273°
ELECTRONICS I (LECTURE 3) PAGE 5 OF 6

The dynamic resistance of the PN junction can be develop by taking derivative of the
above Shockley’s Equation #,
d d   kVD TK 
=>  ID  = I s  e  1
dVD dVD   

d d  kVD TK 
=>  ID  =  Ise  Is 
dVD dVD  
d d  kVD TK  d
=>  ID  = Is  e   Is (1)
dVD dVD   dVD
d kI s  kVD TK 
=>  ID  =  e   0
dVD TK  
d k  kVD TK 
=>  ID  =  I s e  ------ 
dVD TK  

From equation #,


kVD
=> Is e TK = ID + Is
But ID >> Is
So,
kVD
=> Is e TK ≈ ID
Therefore,
d k
=>  ID  =  ID 
dVD TK
Substituting  = 1 for Ge and Si in the vertical-rise section of the characteristics, we
obtain,

And at room temperature,


=> TK = TC + 273
=> TK = 25 + 273 = 298 K
Thus,
d 11600
=>  ID  =  ID  = 38.93 ID
dVD 298
dVD 0.0257
=> =
dI D ID
But,
dVD
=> = rD
dI D
ELECTRONICS I (LECTURE 3) PAGE 6 OF 6

26mV
=> rD = ID

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