Valence and Conduction Bands

Valence band: The band of energy occupied by the valence electrons is

called the valence band and is, obviously, the highest occupied band. It
may be completely filled or partially filled with electrons but never empty.

Eg Energy gap
Conduction band: The next higher permitted energy band is called the
conduction band and may either be empty or partially filled with electrons.
In fact, it may be defined as the lowest unfilled energy band.

Fig-1: bands in a semiconductor

Forbidden energy gap: The gap between these two bands is known as the
forbidden energy gap (Eg). The electrons cannot exist in the energy gap. Is is 0.72 eV for Ge and 1,1 eV for Si. All
bands are shown in fig-1

Intrinsic Semiconductors

An intrinsic semiconductor is one which is made of the semiconductor

material in its extremely pure form. Common examples of such
semiconductors are : pure germanium and silicon which have forbidden
energy gaps of 0.72 eV and 1.1 eV respectively.

Charge carriers in an intrinsic semiconductor: When a valence electron

drifts from valence to conduction band, a vacancy is created in the valence
Fig-2: Fermi level in an intrinsic
band and is known as hole. In an intrinsic semiconductor, the number of semiconductor
holes in the valence band is equal to the number of electrons in the
conduction band.

There are two types of charge carriers in an intrinsic semiconductor.

 Negative charge carriers (electrons)
 Positive charge carriers (holes)
Current in intrinsic semiconductor = hole current + electron current

Fermi Level in an Intrinsic Semiconductor:

Fermi level : It is an energy level in crystal which lies between conduction band and valence band. In intrinsic
semiconductor, the Fermi level lies exactly midway of conduction and valance bands as shown in fig-2.

Extrinsic Semiconductors

Those intrinsic semiconductors to which some suitable impurity or doping agent or dopant has been added in
extremely small amounts (about 1 part in 108) are called extrinsic or impurity semiconductors.

The usual doping agents are :

1. Pentavalent atoms having five valence electrons (arsenic, antimony, phosphorus) or
2. Trivalent atoms having three valence electrons (gallium, indium, aluminium, boron).

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Donor : Pentavalent doping atom is known as donor atom because it donates or
contributes one electron
to the conduction band of pure germanium.

Acceptor: The trivalent atom, on the other hand, is called acceptor atom because
it accepts one electron from the germanium atom.
Depending on the type of doping material used, extrinsic semiconductors can be
sub-divided into two classes:
(i) N-type semiconductors and (ii) P-type semiconductors.

N-type Extrinsic Semiconductor. This type of semiconductor is obtained when a

pentavalent material like antimonty (Sb) is added to pure germanium crystal. As
shown in Fig-3a each antimony atom forms covalent bonds with the surrounding
four germanium atoms with the help of four of its five electrons. The fifth electron
is superfluous and is loosely bound to the antimony atom.

Hence, it can be easily excited from the valence band to the conduction band by the
application of electric field or increase in thermal energy. The energy band of N- Fig-3: N-type semiconductor and
its band diagram
type semiconductor is shown in fig-3b

P-type Extrinsic Semiconductor. This type of semiconductor is obtained when traces of a trivalent like boron (B)
are added to a pure germanium crystal. In this case, the three valence electrons of
boron atom form covalent bonds with four surrounding germanium atoms but one
bond is left incomplete and gives rise to a hole as shown in Fig. 4.
Thus, boron which is called an acceptor (Na ) impurity causes as many positive holes
in a germanium crystal as there are boron atoms thereby producing a P-type (P for
positive) extrinsic semiconductor.

Majority and Minority Carriers

A P-type material contains following

charge carriers:
 Large number of positive holes—from
dopants (acceptor)
 A very small number of thermally
generated electrons

Fig-5: Majority and minority carriers An N-type material contains following

Fig-4: P-type semiconductor and
in extrinsic semiconductor charge carriers: its band diagram

 Large number of electrons— from dopants (donor)

 Very small number of thermally generated holes

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P-N Junction
It a part of N-type material is doped by acceptor atoms then a single material
becomes a P-N junction as shown in figure. This is known as semiconductor P-N
junction diode.
Formation of depletion Layer:

Suppose that a junction has just been formed. There is greater concentration of holes
in P-region than in N-region. Similarly, concentration of electrons is greater in N-region than in P-region. This
concentration differences establishes density gradient
across the junction resulting in carrier diffusion. Holes
diffuse from P to N-region and electrons from N-to P-
region and terminate their existence by recombination
as shown in fig-6a.

This recombination of free and mobile electrons and

holes produces the narrow region at the junction called Figure-6: Formation of P-N junction

depletion layer as shown in fig-6b. The separation of

fixed ions in the depletion layer produce an electric field. This field produces an electric force on the charge
carriers and oppose the carriers to diffuse. The diffusion process stops when these two forces become equal and
equilibrium condition is established.

The I-V characteristics of a rectifier diode:

A typical I-V characteristic for a forward-biased
P-N junction is shown in the first quadrant of
Fig-7. It is seen that forward current rises
exponentially with the applied forward voltage.
The forward current starts to flow when input is
greater than the barrier voltage of diode. But as
applied voltage increases beyond the threshold
value, the forward current increases sharply.

In the reverse biased condition, holes are

attracted by the negative battery terminal and
electrons by the positive terminal so that both
holes and electrons move away from the junction
and away from each other. Since there is no
electron-hole combination, no current flows and Figure 7: I-V characteristics of rectifier diode

the junction offers high resistance. Although

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there is practically no current due to majority carriers, yet there is a small amount of current (reverse current or
reverse saturation current 𝐼𝑜 or 𝑰𝒔 ., a few μA only) due to the flow of minority carriers across the junction.

Avalanche breakdown:
The velocity of minority carrier increase with reverse voltage across diode. At a particular reverse voltage, these
high energy minority carriers collides with atoms in the depletion region and knock out electrons from the atoms.
These newly generated electrons also gain high energy and collide with more atoms. In this fashion, a large number
of free electrons are generated and produce very large current. These process is called carrier multiplication. Finally
large current produces heat and destroy the junction. This is known as avalanche effect.
The reverse voltage at which the breakdown occurs is known as reverse breakdown voltage. It depends on the
doping.

Zener breakdown (for Zener diode):

When a p-n junction is heavily doped the width of the depletion region becomes very narrow. Under reverse biased
condition, the electric field is very strong in the depletion layer. The high electric field is enough to pull electrons
out of the valence bands and becomes free. So this is not due to the collision of electrons with atoms. Such a creation
of free electrons is called zener effect. The minority carriers constitutes very large current in reverse biased diode.
The mechanism is called zener break down and the corresponding voltage is known as zener breakdown voltage.

Ideal diode:
There is no such thing as an ideal diode or perfect diode. The existence of such a
diode is visualized simply as an aid in analyzing the diode circuits.
An ideal diode may be defined as a two-terminal device which
(a) Conducts with zero resistance when forward-biased, and
(b) As an infinite resistance when reverse-biased.

Zener Diode Voltage Regulation:

It is a measure of a circuit's ability to maintain a constant output voltage even when

either input voltage or load current varies. A Zener diode, when working in the breakdown region, can serve as a
voltage regulator.

The Zener diode is reverse-connected across Vin as shown in fig-9. When p.d.
across the diode is greater than Vz, it conducts and draws relatively large current
through the series resistance R. The total current I passing through R equals the
sum of diode current and load current i.e. I = Iz + IL. It will be seen that under
all conditions Vout = Vz. Hence, Vin = IR + Vout = IR + Vz.
Figure 9: Zener diode voltage
regulator circuit

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Suppose RL is kept fixed but supply voltage Vin is increased slightly. It will increase I. This increases in I will be
absorbed by the Zener diode without affecting IL. The increase in Vin will be dropped across R thereby keeping
Vout constant.
Conversely if supply voltage Vin falls, the diode takes a smaller current and voltage drop across R is reduced, thus
against keeping Vout constant. Hence, when Vin changes, I and IR drop change in such a way as to keep Vout ( = Vz)
constant.

Single-phase Half-Wave Rectifier: The basic circuit of a half-wave rectifier with a resistive load (but no filter circuit) is
shown in Fig-8.

(a) Working principle:

During the positive half-

cycle of the input ac voltage,
the diode D is forward-biased
(ON) and conducts. While
conducting, the diode acts as
a short-circuit so that circuit
current flows and hence,
positive half-cycle of the Figure 10: Half wave rectifier circuit and its output
input ac voltage is dropped
across RL. Waveform of the load voltage is also shown in Fig-10 (b).
During the negative input half-cycle, the diode is reverse-biased (OFF)
and so, does not conduct i.e. there is no current flow. Hence, there is no
voltage drop across RL.

Full-wave Rectifier (center taped): In this case, both half-cycles of the

input are utilized with the help of two diodes working alternately. The
full-wave rectifier circuit using two diodes and a Centre-tapped
transformer shown in fig-11(a). The Centre-tap is usually taken as the
ground or zero voltage reference point.
Working principle: When input ac supply is switched on, the ends M and
N of the transformer secondary become +ve and − ve alternately. During
the positive half-cycle of the ac input, terminal M is +ve, G is at zero
potential and N is at −ve potential. Hence, being forward-biased, diode D1
conducts (but not D2 which is reverse-biased) and current flows along
MD1CABG. As a result, positive half-cycle of the voltage appears across
Figure 11 : Full wave rectifier circuit and
RL. its output

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During the negative half-cycle, when terminal N becomes +ve, then D2 conducts (but not D1) and current flows
along ND2CABG. So, we find that current keeps on flowing through RL in the same direction (i.e. from A to B) in
both half-cycles of ac input.

Clipping Circuit: The function of a clipping circuit is to clips or

slices the amplitude of electrical signal. It consists of diode and
resistor. Sometimes a battery is also used to clip a desired level.
There are two types of clipper: (i) Positive clipper and (ii)
Negative clipper.
Based on biasing, it can also divided into two categories: (i)
Unbiased clippers and (ii) Biased clipper. Figure-12: Negative clipper

Negative Clipper: A negative clipper is used to clips off the negative portion of a signal. An example of a
negative clipper is shown in fig-12. It is seen that the negative
portion of the signal voltage has been removed. Hence, such a
circuit is called a negative clipper.

Positive Clipper: A positive clipper is used to clips off the

positive portion of a signal. An example of a positive clipper is
shown in fig-13. It is seen that the positive portion of the signal Figure 1 : Diode negative clipper circuit
voltage has been removed from the output. Hence, such a
circuit is called a positive clipper. Figure 13: Positive Clipper circuit

Clampers: clamping is
the process of introducing
a dc level into an ac
signal as shown in fig-14.
Clampers are also
sometimes known as dc
restorers. Minimum three
elements are needed to
build up a clamping Figure -14 : Example of signal clamping

circuit.

Regulated Power Supply: It is that dc power supply whose terminal voltage remains almost constant regardless of the
amount of current drawn from it. An unregulated supply can be converted into a regulated power supply by adding a voltage
regulating circuit to it as shown in fig-15

Rectifier. It is a circuit which employs one or more diodes to convert ac voltage into pulsating dc voltage.

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Filter. The function of this circuit element is to remove the fluctuations or pulsations (called ripples) present in
the output voltage supplied by the rectifier.

Figure 15 : Regulated DC power supply

Voltage Regulator. Its main function is to keep the terminal voltage of the dc supply constant even when
(i) ac input voltage to the transformer varies (deviations from 220 V are common); or
(ii) the load varies.

Applications of diodes:
The main applications of semiconductor diodes in modern electronic circuitry are as under :
1. As power or rectifier diodes. They convert ac current into dc current for dc power supplies of electronic circuits.
2. As signal diodes in communication circuits for modulation and demodulation of small signals.
3. As Zener diodes in voltage stabilizing circuits.
4. As varactor diodes–for use in voltage-controlled tuning circuits as may be found in radio and TV receivers. For this
purpose, the diode is deliberately made to have a certain range of junction capacitance. The capacitance of the reverse-biased
diode is given by C = K /VR
5. In logic circuits used in computers.

Problem-1: A half-wave rectifier using silicon diode has a secondary emf of 14.14 V (rms) with a resistance of 0.2 Ω. The
diode has a forward resistance of 0.05 Ω and a threshold voltage of 0.7 V. If load resistance is 10 Ω, determine
(i) dc load current (ii) dc load voltage .

Problem-1: Calculate the battery current I, Iz and IL in the circuit of Fig. How will these values be affected if source
voltage increases to 70 V? Neglect Zener resistance.

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Problem-3: A sinusoidal voltage of peak value 50 V is applied to a diode as shown in Figure. Sketch the waveform of voltage
VO treating the diode as an ideal one.

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