Professional Documents
Culture Documents
AE.1 Lecture 2
AE.1 Lecture 2
AE.1 Lecture 2
The pn Junction
Martha T/Giorgis
Applied Electronics I
ECEG-2131
2019/20AY, Semester-I
Martha T/Giorgis (AAiT/SECE) Lecture-2 2019/20AY, Semester-I 1 / 26
Overview
Overview
1 Overview
2 Objective
3 The pn Junction
Physical Structure
Operation with Open-Circuit Terminals
The Drift Current IS and Equilibrium
The Depletion Region
Operation with an Applied Voltage
Qualitative Description of Junction Operation
The Current-Voltage Relationship of the Junction
Lecture Objectives
The pn Junction
Physical Structure
When a pn-junction is newly formed (when the p-type and n-type semi-
conductors first touch one another):
1. The p-type and n-type semiconductors are joined at the junction.
When bound charges neutralize the electrical attraction of majority carriers to one
another, diffusion occurs.
Martha T/Giorgis (AAiT/SECE) Lecture-2 2019/20AY, Semester-I 8 / 26
The pn Junction Operation with Open-Circuit Terminals
Figure 10: The charge stored in both sides of the depletion region, and
the built-in voltage V0 .
Where;
I = total current
VT = thermal voltage
IS = saturation current
diffusion current is not dependent on the concentration gradient of
minority charge carriers.
It is most dependent on two factors: applied forward-bias voltage
and doping.
Questions?