Angel D.

Acevedo Ross

Intermediate Lab ll

Lab report 1: Specific charge of electron e/m

Universidad de Puerto Rico: Rio Piedras

Aim of Experiment
In this experiment we will be analyzing the behavior and characteristics of diodes. In this case,

L.E.D.s and the Zener diode. To understand what a diode is it is also important to look at

semiconductors and analyze their properties. The diodes will be analyzed in forward and reverse

bias in order how current flows in the diodes.

Experiment Details

To apparatus consists of several components. These are a circuit board that can measure the

voltage being applied to the diodes and it can measure the current, and LEDs table is used, and a

pair of terminal cables are connected from the circuit board to the diode table, a Zener diode and

a breadboard. The experiment is divided in two parts first the LEDs will be analyzed and then the

Zener diode. For the first part the I-V characteristics of the diode will be measured. First, we

connect the terminal cables to their respecting jacks from the circuit board to the LEDs table.

After everything is setup properly the voltage will be increased until the first current reading is

noticed. Then the voltage will be increase by 0.25 volts at a time. All the voltage and current

readings must be noted down. This will be done for all the LEDs in the table. The LED colors

are 480nm (blue), 560nm (light green), 590nm (orange), 665nm (red) and 950nm (infrared).

When he data is noted a graph can be made for current vs. voltage. This graph should display a

behavior between the different LEDS.

For the second part of the experiment the terminal cables should be connected from the circuit

board to the breadboard. The Zener diode operates in reverse bias so we will. The breadboard has

holes arranged in rows so when voltage is applied to a row all the holes across the board are held

at the same potential. So, the wires in the breadboard must be connected to different rows for the

current to arise. For this part of the experiment the Zener diode is placed on the breadboard. It is
important to mention that the Zener diode operates in reverse bias the cathode should be

connected to the positive side and the anode to the negative side of the board. To collect data the

same process is done, the voltage is increased by 0.1V increments and the currents is noted down

at each increment. A graph of currents vs voltage can also be made.

Theory

Semiconductors can conduct electricity under preferable conditions. the charge carriers in

semiconductors arise only because of external energy (thermal agitation). It causes a certain

number of valence electrons to cross the energy gap and jump into the conduction band.

Semiconductor acts like an insulator at Zero Kelvin. On increasing the temperature, it works as a

conductor. Due to their exceptional electrical properties, semiconductors can be modified by

doping to make semiconductor devices suitable for energy conversion, switches, and amplifiers.

There are two types of semiconductors, extrinsic and intrinsic. Intrinsic semiconductors are made

to be chemically pure and consist of a single element. They have four valence electrons. They are

bound to the atom by covalent bond at absolute zero temperature. When the temperature rises,

due to collisions, few electrons are unbounded and become free to move through the lattice, thus

creating an absence in its original position (hole). These free electrons and holes contribute to the

conduction of electricity in the semiconductor. Now extrinsic semiconductors are doped with

impurities, and this improves their conducting capacities. These are divided in two categories,

P-type and N-type semiconductors. The difference depends on the impurity that is used to dope

the semiconductor. P-types are doped with acceptor impurities that create a hole. N-type

semiconductors impurities are donors that contribute to a free electron. Since the N-Type has

electrons in the lattice it is considered a cathode and the P-Type that has holes in the valence

band is the anode. The pairing of the cathode and the anode from the semiconducting diode.
On passing a current through the diode, minority charge carriers and majority charge carriers

recombine at the junction. On recombination, energy is released in the form of photons. As the

voltage is increased, the intensity of the light increases and reaches a maximum. A diode allows

current to flow in only one direction. When forward biased, there is a small amount of voltage

necessary to get the diode going. This voltage is needed to start the hole-electron combination

process at the junction. When reverse-biased, an ideal diode would block all current. If the

reversed voltage is increased enough the junction will breakdown and it will let current through.

This is known as the breakdown voltage.

The Shockley diode equation describes the behavior of diodes in ideal conditions. It is an

equation of current as a function of voltage. V D∧I D represent the diodes voltage and current. n is

the emission factor T is the temperature of the diode, k is the Boltzmann constant, q is the charge

of the electron and I s is the saturation current.

( )
nVT
I D =I s e nkT −1 (eq .1)

Results and Discussion

For the five LEDs tested using the circuit board the flowing current was obtained at every

increment of 0.25volts. The exponential behavior of the curves in figure1 is seen when the

voltage is increased expected in the theory. At the first increments of voltage the currents

remains at zero. As the voltage keeps being increased the potential barrier at the junction is

surpassed and this results in the flow of current in the diode.

 =

When the potential barrier is surpassed the LED begins to emit light and as the voltage is

increased the light becomes brighter. Another characteristic we can obtain from the data is how

for smaller wavelength LEDs the voltage needed for it to light up was larger than compared to

the larger wavelength LEDs. This can be seen in table2. Using this starting voltage V o it is

possible to calculate the wavelength of the LED with de following equation.

hc
λ= (2)
eV0

Wavelength

(nm) 480(blue) 560(green) 660(0range) 665(red) 950(infrared)

Starting

voltage(V) 2.61 1.77 1.56 1.72 1.01

 LED λ Theoretical λ experimental

Blue 480nm 473nm

Lightgreen 560nm 680nm

orange 660nm 772nm

Red 665nm 702nm

Infrared 950nm 1177nm

Table 2: Shows experimental values for wavelength compared to known values.

Here we can see that the values obtained experimentally using equation 2 are relatively within

range of the known values. Since the values where obtained using the starting voltage obtained

earlier it shows consistency in the experiment .

The next part of the experiment involves the Zener diode. It was measured in reverse bias.

Similar to LEDs, the Zener diode maintained the current at zero until about 2 volts.

Zener diode
20
18
16
14
Current (mA)

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8
Voltage (V)

When a Zener diode is connected in reverse biased mode, a small leakage current flows through

the diode. As the reverse voltage increases to the predetermined breakdown voltage (Vz), current
starts flowing through the diode. The breakdown voltage was obtained in the experiment when

the current was noted to remain constant when the voltage was increased. This happened at

around 3.5 volts. The curve in figure 2 shows an exponential curve as the voltage is increased

this is expected to happen as in the first part of the experiment.

Error analysis

All the curves graphed showed exponential behavior. It is worth noting that the curves don’t fit

perfectly with the exponential fit given to the curves but the curves don’t necessarily act like

what is expected from eq.1 because the equation is for diodes under ideal conditions. Another

source for error is that the circuit board isn’t capable of measuring currents under mA so even

when the board read zero current there could have been some current present. If these were able

to be measured better results would have been possible.

The error percentages for the values in table 2 were obtained using the common error percentage

formula.

Error % 480 nm=1.4 %

Error % 560 nm=21.4 %

Error % 660 nm=16.9 %

Error % 665 nm=5.5 %

Error % 950 nm=23.8 %

The error percentages are relatively low they lie within a reasonable margin to the known values.

The error percentages could surface because f the limitations of the equipment.
Conclusion

The relationship between voltage and current displayed a general exponential behavior in

accordance with the Shockley equation. The characteristics of semiconductor diodes were

identified, and this is supported by the observation that the LEDs with shorter wavelengths

presented a wider energy band gap. The proprieties of LEDs and the Zener diode where analyzed

and they followed what was expected from theory. The behavior of diodes in forward and

reverse bias was analyzed.

References

Admin. “General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) Guidelines BYJU’S.” BYJUS, 22 Mar.

2021, byjus.com/jee/semiconductors.

“General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR) Guidelines BYJU’S.” BYJUS, 22 Mar. 2021,

byjus.com/physics/light-emitting-diode.

Habib. “Semiconductor Diode/Types of Diode/And Their Application.” ICEEET, 6 May 2021,

www.iceeet.com/semiconductor-diode.