 Review of Semiconductors :

 Semiconductors are materials which have a conductivity between

conductors and insulators.
 Semiconductors can be compounds, such as gallium arsenide, or pure
elements, such as germanium or silicon.

Properties of Semiconductors

1. Intermediate Electrical Conductivity

Semiconductors have moderate electrical conductivity, which is higher than

insulators but lower than conductors.

2. Negative Temperature Coefficient

The resistance of a semiconductor decreases when temperature increases.

 At low temperature → very few charge carriers → low conductivity

 At high temperature → more electrons and holes generated → high
conductivity

This property is opposite to metals.

3. Small Energy Band Gap

Semiconductors have a small forbidden energy gap between the valence band
and conduction band.

4. Conduction by Two Types of Charge Carriers

Current in semiconductors is carried by two types of charge carriers:

 Electrons (negative charge)

 Holes (positive charge)

Both contribute to electrical conduction.

5. Effect of Doping

The conductivity of semiconductors can be greatly increased by adding

impurities, a process called doping.

Two types are formed:

 N-type semiconductor (excess electrons)

 P-type semiconductor (excess holes)

This property allows precise control of electrical behavior.

6. Sensitivity to Light and Heat

Semiconductors are sensitive to light, heat, and radiation.

For example:

 Light falling on semiconductor materials can generate current.

 This principle is used in solar cells and photo devices such as Photodiode.

Types of Semiconductors

(a) Intrinsic Semiconductor - A pure semiconductor without impurities.

Examples:

 Silicon
 Germanium

Characteristics:

 Equal number of electrons and holes

 Conductivity is low

(b) Extrinsic Semiconductor - A semiconductor formed by adding impurities

(doping) to increase conductivity.

Two types:

1. N-type Semiconductor - Formed by adding pentavalent impurity atoms.

Example impurity:

 Phosphorus
 Arsenic

Features:

 Electrons are majority carriers

 Holes are minority carriers
2. P-type Semiconductor - Formed by adding trivalent impurity atoms.

Example impurity:

 Boron
 Gallium

Features:

 Holes are majority carriers

 Electrons are minority carriers

 PN Junction Diode

 A PN junction diode is a semiconductor device formed by joining P-type

and N-type semiconductors.
 It allows current to flow in only one direction and blocks current in the
opposite direction.
 Common semiconductor materials used are Silicon and Germanium.
 Pure semiconductors have very low conductivity, so impurities are added
to improve conductivity.
 The process of adding impurities to a semiconductor is called doping.
 Doping converts the pure semiconductor into two different regions:

(a) Formation of P-type Region

The P-type region is created by adding trivalent impurity atoms (having three
valence electrons).

Common impurities:

 Boron
 Gallium

Characteristics:

 Creates holes (absence of electrons)

 Holes are majority carriers
 Electrons are minority carriers

This region is called the P-region.

(b) Formation of N-type Region

The N-type region is formed by adding pentavalent impurity atoms (having five
valence electrons).

Common impurities:

 Phosphorus
 Arsenic

Characteristics:

 Provides extra free electrons

 Electrons are majority carriers
 Holes are minority carriers

This region is called the N-region.

Formation of PN Junction

 In a piece of semiconductor material if one half is doped by P-type impurity

and the other half is doped by N-type impurity, a PN junction is formed.

 The plane dividing the two halves or zones is called PN junction.

 The N-type material has high concentration of free electrons while P-type
material has high concentration of holes.

 Therefore at the junction there is a tendency for the free electrons to diffuse
over to the P-side and the holes to the N-side. This process is called
diffusion.

 As the free electrons move across the junction from P-type to N-type, the
donor ions become positively charged.

 Hence a positive charge is built on the N-side of the junction.

 Free electrons that cross the junction uncover the negative acceptor ions by
filling in the holes.

 Therefore a net negative charge is established on the P-side of the junction.

 This net negative charge on the P-side prevents further diffusion of electrons
into the P-side.
 Similarly the net positive on the N-side repels the holes crossing from P-side
to N-side.

 Thus a barrier is set up near the junction, which prevents further movement
of charge carriers, i.e., electrons and holes. This is called potential barrier or
junction barrier 𝑉𝑏 .

𝑉𝑏 is 0.3 V for germanium and 0.72 V for silicon.

 The electrostatic field across the junction caused by the positively charged
N-type region tends to drive the holes away from the junction and the
negatively charged P-type region tends to drive the electrons away from the
junction.
 Thus the junction region is depleted of mobile charge carriers. Hence it is
called depletion layer.

Symbol of Diode :

 P-side terminal → Anode

 N-side terminal → Cathode

Operation of PN Junction Diode

The diode operates under two biasing conditions:

1. Forward Bias
2. Reverse Bias
1) Forward bias condition

 When positive terminal of the battery is connected to the P-type and

negative terminal to the N-type of the PN junction diode, the bias applied is
known as forward bias.

 As shown in figure the applied potential with external battery acts in

opposition to the internal potential barrier.

 Under the forward bias condition, the applied positive potential repels the
holes in P-type region so that the holes move towards the junction and the
applied negative potential repels the electrons in the N-type region and the
electrons move towards the junction.

 Eventually when the applied potential is more than the internal barrier
potential, the depletion region and the internal barrier potential disappear.

2) Under Reverse bias condition

 When the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the P-type and the
positive terminal of the battery is connected to the N-type of the PN
junction, the bias applied is known as reverse bias.
 Under applied reverse bias as shown in fig , holes which form the majority
carriers of the P-side move towards the negative terminal of the battery and
electrons which form the majority carriers of the N-side are attracted
towards the positive terminal of the battery.

V-I characteristics of a diode under Forward bias condition

 Under forward bias condition, as the forward voltage (𝑉𝑓 ) is increased, for
𝑉𝑓 < 𝑉𝑏 (barrier potential) the forward current 𝐼𝑓 is almost zero .

 This is because, the potential barrier prevents the holes from P-region and
electrons from N-region to flow across the depletion region in the opposite
direction.

 For 𝑉𝑓 > 𝑉𝑏 , the potential barrier at the junction completely disappears

and hence the holes cross the junction from P-type to N-type and the
electrons cross the junction in the opposite direction, resulting in relatively
large current flow in the external circuit.

 The cut-in or threshold voltage (𝑉𝑐 ) below which the current is very small. At
the cut-in voltage, the potential barrier is overcome and the current through
the junction starts to increase rapidly.
V-I characteristics of a diode under reverse bias condition

 Under reverse bias condition, the holes of the P-region move towards the
negative terminal of the battery and the electrons of the N-region move
towards the positive terminals of the battery.
 Hence, the width of the depletion region increases (due to the depletion of
mobile charge carriers).
 Therefore the resultant potential barrier increases preventing the flow of
current.
 Theoretically no current should flow in the external circuit. However, in
practice, a small current of the order of few microamperes flows through the
circuit.
 For large applied reverse bias voltage, breakdown of the junction occurs,
leading to large reverse current.
 Breakdown occurs due to two effects avalanche breakdown and zener
breakdown.
 Avalanche effect occurs due to high reverse potential at the junction, which
gives rise to the breaking of covalent bonds in the semiconductor atom and
hence large number (avalanche) of electrons.

 Zener Diode

A properly doped crystal diode, which has sharp breakdown voltage, is known
as a Zener diode. The symbol of zener diode is shown as below fig.

The symbol looks just like an ordinary diode except that the bar is turned into
z-shape.

 High-level impurities are added to a Zener diode to make it more conductive

and thus the Zener diodes can easily conduct electricity compared to other
p-n junction diodes.
 These impurities reduce the depletion layer of the Zener diode and make it
very thin. Thus, this diode also works even if the voltage applied is very
small.
 In no biasing condition of the Zener diode, all the electrons accumulate in
the valence band of the p-type semiconductor material and thus no current
flow occurs through the diode.
 In reverse bias conditions, if the Zener voltage is equal to the supplied
voltage, the diode conducts electricity in the direction of reverse bias. When
the Zener voltage equals the supplied voltage the depletion layer vanishes
completely.

Zener Diode Working in Reverse Bias

 In forward-biased conditions, the Zener Diode works like any normal diode
but in the reverse-bias condition, a small leakage current flows through the
diode.

 As the reverse voltage is increased, it reaches a point where the reverse

voltage equals the breakdown voltage.

 The breakdown voltage is represented as 𝑉𝑍 and in this condition the current

starts flowing in the diode.

 After the breakdown voltage the current increase drastically until it reaches
a stable value.

 In reverse bias condition, two kinds of breakdowns occur for Zener Diode
which are, i. Avalanche Breakdown ii . Zener Breakdown

i. Avalanche Breakdown

 The phenomenon of Avalanche breakdown occurs both in the ordinary diode

and Zener Diode at high reverse voltage.
 For a high value of reverse voltage, the free electron in the PN junction diode
gains energy and acquires high velocity and these high-velocity electrons
collide with other atoms and knock electrons from those atoms.
 This collision continues and new electrons are available for conducting
current thus the current increase rapidly in the diode.
 This phenomenon of a sudden increase in the current is called the
Avalanche breakdown.
 This phenomenon damages the diode permanently whereas the Zener diode
is a specific diode that is made to operate in this reverse voltage area.
 If the reverse voltage is greater than 6V the avalanche breakdown happens
in the Zener diode.
ii. Zener Breakdown

 Zener breakdown happens in heavily doped PN junction diodes.

 In these diodes, if the reverse bias voltages reach closer to Zener Voltage,
the electric field gets stronger and is sufficient enough to pull electrons from
the valance band.
 These electrons then gain energy from the electric field and break free from
the atom.
Thus, for these diodes in the Zener breakdown region, a slight increase in the
voltage causes a sudden increase in the current.

V-I Characteristics of Zener Diode

Forward Characteristics of Zener Diode

Forward characteristics of the Zener Diode are similar to the forward

characteristics of P-N junction diode.
Reverse Characteristics of Zener Diode

 In reverse voltage conditions a small amount of current flows through the

Zener diode.

 This current is because of the electrons which are thermally generated in

the Zener diode.

 As the reverse voltage is kept increasing at any particular value of reverse

voltage, the reverse current increases suddenly (at the breakdown point)

 This voltage is called Zener Voltage and is represented as 𝑉𝑍 .

Applications of Zener Diode

 used as a voltage regulator to maintain constant output voltage.
 used as a voltage reference in electronic circuits.
 used for overvoltage protection of devices.
 used in clipping circuits to limit voltage levels.
 used in clamping circuits to shift voltage levels.
 used for surge suppression in power systems.
 used to protect measuring instruments.
 used in transistor biasing for stable operation

Zener diode as Voltage Regulator

 The d.c. voltage is connected to the Zener diode through a series resistance
𝑅𝑆 such that the Zener diode is reverse biased.
 If the input voltage increases, the current through 𝑅𝑆 and the Zener diode
also increases.
 This increases the voltage drop across 𝑅𝑆 without any change in the voltage
across the Zener diode.
 This is because the Zener voltage remains constant in the breakdown region
even though the current through it changes.
 Similarly, if the input voltage decreases, the current through 𝑅𝑆 and the
Zener diode also decreases.
 The voltage drop across 𝑅𝑆 decreases without any change in the voltage
across the Zener diode.
 Thus, any increase or decrease in the input voltage results in an increase
or decrease of the voltage drop across 𝑅𝑆 without any change in the voltage
across the Zener diode. Hence, the Zener diode acts as a voltage regulator.

 A rectifier is an electronic device that converts Alternating current (AC) to

Direct current (DC). The process of converting AC to DC is called
rectification. A p-n junction diode is a primary component that is used as a
rectifier. Rectifiers can be broadly classified into two: Half-wave rectifiers
and Full-wave rectifiers. Both half-wave rectifiers and full-wave rectifiers
consist of p-n junction diodes.

 Half Wave Rectifier :

 A Half-wave rectifier is a device that converts Alternating Current (AC) to

Direct Current (DC).
 In a Half-wave rectifier, only one half-cycle of AC is converted to DC and
the other half-cycle is blocked.
 Therefore, the output waveform produced by a half-wave rectifier consists
of ripples of positive half-cycle of the input waveform and it is called
pulsating DC.
 In a half-wave rectifier, a p-n junction diode is used as a rectifier.

Working of Half Wave Rectifier

 In a half-wave rectifier, the AC supply is connected in series to a p-n

junction diode and load resistor.
 An Alternating current (AC) consists of two half-cycles: Positive half-cycle
and Negative half-cycle.
 In positive half-cycle, the Diode is forward-biased and hence acts like a
short circuit. Therefore in a positive half-cycle, current flows through the
circuit and produces whole AC input as such in DC output.

 In negative half-cycle, the Diode is reverse-biased and hence acts like an

open circuit. Therefore, in a negative half-cycle current does not flow
through the circuit. And output does not consist of input negative half-
cycle.
 This step is repeated in each half-cycle and AC is converted into DC.
 The above figure shows AC input with a maximum voltage of 𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 and the
DC output waveform of a half-wave rectifier.
 From the input first a positive half cycle appears and in the positive half
cycle diode allows the input voltage to pass through it.
 Then a negative half-cycle appears but it does not allow to pass the negative
half-cycle and it can be seen that the negative half-cycle is not present in
the output waveform. At that time output voltage is zero.
 Then again a positive half cycle appears which is passed through the diode
and it is visible in the output waveform. After that a negative half cycle
appears and it is blocked by the diode and is not present in the output. This
process continues to convert AC to DC.

 A full wave rectifier is an electronic circuit that converts alternating current

(AC) into direct current (DC), and it is categorized as two main types:
1. Center-Tapped Full Wave Rectifier: It uses a center-tapped transformer
and two diodes to rectify AC, commonly used in low to moderate power
applications.
2. Bridge Rectifier: This type of rectifier uses four diodes arranged in a bridge
configuration allowing for AC to DC conversion without relying on a center
tapped transformer. It is often employed in high power applications and
compact circuits.

Centre-Tapped Full Wave Rectifier

 A center-tapped full wave rectifier circuit consists of a center-tapped

transformer, two diodes, and a resistive load.
 The center-tapped transformer has a wire connected at the center of its
secondary winding, which divides the input AC voltage into two halves.

 The diodes are connected in parallel to each other, with the load connected
at the center tap of the transformer.

 During the positive half of the input cycle, one diode conducts (forward bias)
while the other diode is non-conducting (reverse bias). This allows current to
flow through the load.

 In the negative part of the cycle, the diodes change their job. The one that
was allowing electricity to flow now stops, and the one that was blocking it
begins to allow it through.

 This dual diode action ensures that both positive and negative halves of the
input AC cycle are transformed into DC resulting in a more stable and
reliable source of power for electronic devices.

 Bridge Rectifier

 This type of single phase rectifier uses four individual rectifying diodes
connected in a closed loop “bridge” configuration to produce the desired
output.

 The main advantage of this bridge circuit is that it does not require a special
centre tapped transformer, thereby reducing its size and cost.
 In this circuit, the diodes are positioned so that two conduct during one half
of the input cycle and the other two conduct during the other.
 By ensuring that both input cycle halves are rectified, a current (DC)
output waveform is produced.
 The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in “series pairs” with only two
diodes conducting current during each half cycle.

The Positive Half-cycle

 During the positive half cycle of the supply, diodes 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 conduct in
series while diodes 𝐷3 and 𝐷4 are reverse biased and the current flows
through the load as shown.
The Negative Half-cycle

 During the negative half cycle of the supply, diodes 𝐷3 and 𝐷4 conduct in
series, but diodes 𝐷1 and 𝐷2 switch “OFF” as they are now reverse biased.
The current flowing through the load is the same direction as before.

 As the current flowing through the load is unidirectional, so the voltage

developed across the load is also unidirectional the same as for the previous
two diode full-wave rectifier.

Input and Output waveforms :