Hyperphysics Pn Junction Diode

July 15, 2017

The application of a reverse voltage to the p n junction will cause a transient current to flow as both electrons and holes are pulled away from the junction. The pn junction diode is a two terminal device which is formed when one side of the pn junction diode is made with p type and doped with the n type material.

Core Tutorial

How Would One Explain The Formation Of Depletion Regions In

Biasing Of P N Junctions

For a p n junction at equilibrium.

Hyperphysics pn junction diode. The behaviour of the pn junction with regards to the potential barriers width produces an asymmetrical conducting two terminal device better known as the pn junction diode. Hyperphysics condensed matter. A pn junction diode allows electric charges to flow in one direction but not in the opposite direction.

When the potential formed by the widened depletion layer equals the applied voltage the current will cease except for the small thermal current. An electron can move across the junction and fill a vacancy or hole near the junction. The property of rectification also leads to other applications such as clamping am detection and fm detection.

It is the most essential and the basic building block of the electronic device. Leds are p n junction devices constructed of gallium arsenide gaas gallium arsenide phosphide gaasp or gallium phosphide gap. Silicon and germanium are not suitable because those junctions produce heat and no appreciable ir or visible light.

Junction diode the basic junction diode makes use of a p n junction to achieve rectification and is widely used for that application. Negative charges electrons can easily flow through the junction from n to p but not from p to n and the reverse is true for holes. The way that a diode operates can be difficult to understand as it involves fairly advanced quantum mechanicshowever at the simplest level the operation of a diode can be understood by looking at the flow of positive charges or holes and the negative charges the electronstechnically a semiconductor diode is referred to as a p n junction.

A pn junction diode is one of the simplest semiconductor devices around and which has the characteristic of passing current in only one direction only. A hole is not the result of a charge neutral atom losing an electron. The p n junction diode appeared in the year 1950.

P n energy bands to forward bias the p n junction the p side is made more positive so that it is downhill for electron motion across the junction. The junction in a led is forward biased and when electrons cross the junction from the n to the p type material the electron hole recombination. A hole is created when an acceptor atom is located in a silicon crystal but that atom does not have as many electrons available for bonding as do the silicon atoms.

When p type and n type materials are placed in contact with each other the junction behaves very differently than either type of material alone. P n junction one of the crucial keys to solid state electronics is the nature of the p n junction. When the pn junction is forward biased electric charge flows freely due to reduced resistance of the.

Specifically current will flow readily in one direction forward biased but not in the other reverse biased creating the basic diode.

The P N Junction