Diode Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare（二极管史重回di运动Nucleare）.pdf

Diode Circuits The PN Junction and the Diode Effect Initially both semiconductors are totally neutral. The concentration of positive and negative carriers are quite different on opposite sides of the junction and the thermal energy-powered diffusion of positive carriers into the N-type material and negative carriers into the P-type material occurs. The N-type material acquires an excess of positive charge near the junction and the P-type material acquires an excess of negative charge. Eventually diffuse charges build up and an electric field is created which drives the minority charges and eventually equilibrium is reached. A region develops at the junction called the depletion region. This region is essentially un-doped or just intrinsic silicon. To complete the diode conductor, leads are placed at the ends of the PN junction. Current in the Diode The behaviour of a diode depends on its polarity in the circuit (figure 2). If the diode is reverse biased (positive potential on N-type material) the depletion region increases. The only charge carriers able to support a net current across the PN junction are the minority carriers and hence the reverse current is very small. Aforward-biased diode (positive potential on P-type material) has a decreased depletion region; the majority carriers can diffuse across the junction. The voltage may become high enough to eliminate the depletion region entirely. Figure 2:  Diode circuit connections: a) reversed biased and b) forward biased. An approximation to the current in the PN junction region is given by (shown in figure 3a) I = I (eV /VT − 1) o where both I and V are temperature dependent. This equation gives a reasonably accurate o T prediction of the current-voltage relationship of the PN junction itself - especially the t