UNIT V SPECIAL SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES .

SCR- UJT- DIAC- TRIAC - SCHOTTY BARRIER DIODE-VARACTOR DIODE - PIN

DIODE - TUNNEL DIODE - GUNN DIODE – LASER DIODE-OPERATION,
CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS

In the recent years, such semiconductor devices have been developed which can
exercise fine control over the flow of large blocks of power in a system. Such devices
act as controlled switches and can perform the duties of controlled rectification,
inversion and regulation of power in a load.

The important semiconductor switching devices are :

(i) Silicon controlled rectifier (SCR)
(ii) Triac
(iii) Diac
(iv) Unijunction transistor (UJT)

Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)

A silicon controlled rectifier is a semiconductor device that acts as a true
electronic switch. It can change alternating current into direct current and at the same
time can control the amount of power fed to the load. Thus SCR combines the features
of a rectifier and a transistor.

Constructional details.
When a PN junction is added to a junction transistor, the resulting three pn junction
device is called a silicon controlled rectifier. Fig. I shows its construction. It is clear that
it is essentially an ordinary rectifier (pn) and a junction transistor (npn) combined in one
unit to form pnpn device. Three terminals are taken; one from the outer p-type material
called anode A, second from the outer n-type material called cathode K and the third
from the base of transistor section and is called gate G. In the normal operating
conditions of SCR, anode is held at high positive potential w.r.t. cathode and gate at
small positive potential w.r.t. cathode. Fig. (ii) shows the symbol of SCR.
The silicon controlled rectifier is a solid state equivalent of thyratron. The gate,
anode and cathode of SCR correspond to the grid, plate and cathode of thyratron. For
this reason, SCR is sometimes called thyristor.

Fig1
 Working of SCR
In a silicon controlled rectifier, load is connected in series with anode. The anode is
always kept at positive potential w.r.t. cathode. The working of SCR can be studied
under the following two heads:

(i) When gate is open. Fig.2 shows the SCR circuit with gate open i.e. no voltage
appliedto the gate. Under this condition, junction J2 is reverse biased while junctions J1
and J3 are forward biased. Hence, the situation in the junctions J1 and J3 is just as in a
npn transistor with base open. Consequently, no current flows through the load RL and
the SCR is cut off. However, if the applied voltage is gradually increased, a stage is
reached when reverse biased junction J2 breaks down. The SCR now conducts heavily
and is said to be in the ON state. The applied voltage at which SCR conducts heavily
without gate voltage is called Breakover voltage.

Fig 2

(ii) When gate is positive w.r.t. cathode.

The SCR can be made to conduct heavily at smaller applied voltage by applying
a small positive potential to the gate as shown in Fig. 20.3. Now junction J3 is forward
biased and junction J2 is reverse biased. The electrons from n-type material start mov-
ing across junction J3 towards left whereas holes from p-type towards the right.
Consequently, the electrons from junction J3 are attracted across junction J2 and gate
current starts flowing. As soon as the gate current flows, anode current increases. The
increased anode current in turn makes more electrons available at junction J2. This
process continues and in an extremely small time, junction J2 breaks down and the SCR
starts conducting heavily. Once SCR starts conducting, the gate (the reason for this
name is obvious) loses all control. Even if gate voltage is removed, the anode current
does not decrease at all. The only way to stop conduction (i.e. bring SCR in off
condition) is to reduce the applied voltage to zero.
 Fig.3

The whole applied voltage V appears as reverse bias across junction J2 as junctions J1
and J3 are forward biased. Because J1 and J3 are forward biased and J2 has broken
down

Conclusion. The following conclusions are drawn from the working of SCR :
(i) An SCR has two states i.e. either it does not conduct or it conducts heavily.
There is no state in between. Therefore, SCR behaves like a switch.
(ii) There are two ways to turn on the SCR. The first method is to keep the gate
open and make the supply voltage equal to the breakover voltage. The second method
is to operate SCR with supply voltage less than breakover voltage and then turn it on by
means of a small voltage ( typically 1.5 V, 30 mA) applied to the gate.
(iii) Applying small positive voltage to the gate is the normal way to close an SCR
because the breakover voltage is usually much greater than supply voltage.
(iv) To open the SCR (i.e. to make it non-conducting ), reduce the supply voltage to
zero.

The V-I characteristics of the SCR reveal that the SCR can be operated in three modes
There are three modes of operation for an SCR depending upon the biasing given to it:

1. Forward blocking mode (off state)

2. Forward conduction mode (on state)
3. Reverse blocking mode (off state)
Forward blocking mode
In this mode of operation, the anode is given a positive potential while the
cathode is given a negative voltage, keeping the gate at zero potential i.e.
disconnected. In this case junction J1 and J3 are forward biased while J2 is reversed
biased due to which only a small leakage current exists from the anode to the cathode
until the applied voltage reaches its breakover value, at which J2 undergoes avalanche
breakdown and at this breakover voltage it starts conducting, but below breakover
voltage it offers very high resistance to the current and is said to be in the off state.
Forward conduction mode
SCR can be brought from blocking mode to conduction mode in two ways: either
by increasing the voltage across anode to cathode beyond breakover voltage or by
applying of positive pulse at gate. Once it starts conducting, no more gate voltage is
required to maintain it in the on state. There are two ways to turn it off: 1. Reduce the
current through it below a minimum value called the holding current and 2. With the
Gate turned off, short out the Anode and Cathode momentarily with a push-button
switch or transistor across the junction.

Reverse blocking mode

In this mode SCR is reversed biased , ie when anode is negative compared to
cathode. the characteristic of this region are similar to those of an ordinary PN junction
diode. in this region ,junctionJ1and J3 are reversed biased whereas j2 is farward biased
.the device behaves as if two diodes are connected in series with a reverse voltage
applied to them.a small leakage current of the order of milliamperes or micro amperes
flow in the device. this reverse blocking mode is called the OFF state of the thyristor
.when the reverse voltage of the SCR increases to a large extent breakdown occurs
and the current in the device increases rapidly. Thus when the SCR is biased in this
region the power dissipated is very high, if the power dissipated is more than the rated
value of the SCR , the SCR is permanently damaged .thus in the reverse bias condition
the voltahe should never cross the breakdown voltage

V-I Characteristics of SCR

It is the curve between anode-cathode voltage (V) and anode current (I)of an SCR at
constant gate current. Fig. 4 shows the V-I characteristics of a typical SCR.

Forward characteristics.
When anode is positive w.r.t. cathode, the curve between V and I is called the forward
characteristic. In Fig. 4, OABC is the forward characteristic of SCR at IG = [Link] the
supply voltage is increased from zero, a point is reached (point A) when the SCR starts
conducting. Under this condition, the voltage across SCR suddenly drops as shown by
dotted curve AB and most of supply voltage appears across the load resistance RL. If
proper gate current is made to flow,SCR can close at much smaller supply voltage.

Reverse characteristics.
When anode is negative w.r.t. cathode, the curve between V and I is known as reverse
characteristic. The reverse voltage does come across SCR when it is operated witha.c.
supply. If the reverse voltage is gradually increased, at first the anode current remains
small ([Link] current) and at some reverse voltage, avalanche breakdown occurs
and the SCR starts conducting heavily in the reverse direction as shown by the curve
DE. This maximum reverse voltage at which SCR starts conducting heavily is known as
reverse breakdown voltage.

FIG:4 VI CHARACTERISTIC OF SCR

EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT OF SCR

The SCR shown in Fig. 20.4 (i) can be visualised as separated into two transistors as
shown in

Fig 5

Fig. 5. Thus, the equivalent circuit of SCR is composed of pnp transistor and npn
transistorconnected as shown in Fig.5. It is clear that collector of each transistor is
coupled to the baseof the other, thereby making a positive feedback loop.

The working of SCR can be easily explained from its equivalent circuit. Fig. 6
shows the equivalent circuit of SCR with supply voltage V and load resistance RL.
Assume the supply voltage V is less than break over voltage as is usually the case.
With gate open (i.e. switch S open), there is no base current in transistor T2. Therefore,
no current flows inthe collector of T2 and hence that of T1. Under such conditions, the
SCR is open. However, if switch S is closed, a small gate current will flow through the
base of T2 which means its collector current will increase.

Fig 6

The collector current of T2 is the base current of [Link], collector current of T1

increases. But collector current of T1 is the base current of T2. This action is
accumulative since an increase of current in one transistor causes an increase of
current in the other transistor. As a result of this action, both transistors are driven to
saturation, and heavy current flows through the load RL. Under such conditions, the
SCR closes.

APPLICATIONS

silicon controleld rectifiers, SCRs are used in many areas of electronics where they find
uses in a variety of different applications. Some of the more common applications for
them are outlined below:

 AC power control (including lights, motors,etc).

 Overvoltage protection crowbar for power supplies.
 AC power switching.
 Control elements in phase angle triggered controllers.
 Within photographic flash lights where they act as the switch to discharge a
stored voltage through the flash lamp, and then cut it off at the required time.

Thyristors are able to switch high voltages and withstand reverse voltages making them
ideal for switching applications, especially within AC scenarios.
 Fig. 12 shows the V-I characteristics of a diac. For applied positive voltage less
than + VBO and negative voltage less than − VBO, a small leakage current (± IBO)
flows through the device. Under such conditions, the diac blocks the flow of current and
effectively behaves as an open circuit. The voltages + VBO and − VBO are the
breakdown voltages and usually have a range of 30 to 50 volts. When the positive or
negative applied voltage is equal to or greater than the breakdown voltage, diac begins
to conduct and the voltage drop across it becomes a few volts. Conduction then
continues until the device current drops below its holding current. Note that the
breakover voltage and holding current values are identical for the forward and reverse
regions of operation.

Diacs are used primarily for triggering of triacs in adjustable phase control of a.c. mains
power. Some of the circuit applications of diac are

(i) light dimming

(ii) (ii) heat control and

(iii) (iii) universal motor speed control.

UNI JUNCTION TRANSISTOR (UJT)

A unijunction transistor (abbreviated as UJT) is a three-terminal semiconductor

switching device. This device has a unique characteristic that when it is triggered, the
emitter current increases regeneratively until it is limited by emitter power supply. Due to
this characteristic, the unijunction transistor can be employed in a variety of applications
e.g., switching, pulse generator, saw-tooth generator etc

CONSTRUCTION.

Fig. 13 (i) shows the basic *structure of a unijunction transistor. It consists of an

n-type silicon bar with an electrical connection on each end. The leads to these
connections arecalled base leads base-one B1 and base two B2. Part way along the
bar between the two bases, nearer to B2 than B1, a pn junction is formed between a p-
type emitter and the bar. The lead to this junction is called the emitter lead E.

Fig. 13 (ii) shows the symbol of unijunction transistor. Note that emitter is shown
closer to B2 than B1.
 FIG13

(i)Since the device has one pn junction and three leads, it is commonly called a
unijunction transistor (uni means single).

(ii) With only one pn-junction, the device is really a form of diode. Because the two base
terminals are taken from one section of the diode, this device is also called double-
based diode.

(iii) The emitter is heavily doped having many holes. The n region, however, is lightly
doped. For this reason, the resistance between the base terminals is very high ( 5 to 10
kΩ) when emitter lead is open.

OPERATION.

FIG 14

Fig. 14 shows the basic circuit operation of a unijunction transistor.

The device has normally B2 positive w.r.t. B1.

(i) If voltage VBB is applied between B2 and B1 with emitter open [See Fig. 14
(i)], a voltage gradient is established along the n-type bar. Since the emitter is located
nearer to B2, more than **half of VBB appears between the emitter and B1. The voltage
V1 between emitter and B1 establishes a everse bias on the pn junction and the emitter
current is cut off. Of course, a small leakage current flows from B2 to emitter due to
minority carriers.

(ii) If a positive voltage is applied at the emitter [See Fig. 14 (ii)], the pn junction
will remain reverse biased so long as the input voltage is less than V1. If the input
voltage to the emitter exceeds V1, the pn junction becomes *forward biased. Under
these conditions, holes are injected from p-type material into the n-type bar. These
holes are repelled by positive B2 terminal and they are attracted towards B1 terminal of
the bar. This accumulation of holes in the emitter to B1 region results in the decrease of
resistance in this section of the bar. The result is that internal voltage drop from emitter
to B1 is decreased and hence the emitter current IE increases. As more holes are
injected, a condition of saturation will eventually be reached. At this point, the emitter
current is limited by emitter power supply only. The device is now in the ON state.

(iii) If a negative pulse is applied to the emitter, the pn junction is reverse biased
and the emitter current is cut off. The device is then said to be in the OFF state.

CHARACTERISTICS OF UJT

Fig 15
Fig. 15 shows the curve between emitter voltage (VE) and emitter current (IE ) of a UJT
at a given voltage VBB between the bases. This is known as the emitter characteristic
of UJT. The following points may be noted from the characteristics :

(I)Initially, in the cut-off region, as VE increases from zero, slight leakage current
flows from terminal B2 to the emitter. This current is due to the minority carriers in the
reverse biased diode.

(ii) Above a certain value of VE, forward IE begins to flow, increasing until the peak
voltage VP and current IP are reached at point P.

(iii) After the peak point P, an attempt to increase VE is followed by a sudden

increase in emitter current IE with a corresponding decrease in VE. This is a negative
resistance portion of the curve because with increase in IE, VE decreases. The device,
therefore, has a negative resistance region which is stable enough to be used with a
great deal of reliability in many areas e.g., trigger circuits, sawtooth generators, timing
circuits

ADVANTAGES OF UJT

The UJT was introduced in 1948 but did not become commercially available until 1952.
Since then, the device has achieved great popularity due to the following reasons :

(i) It is a low cost device.

(ii) It has excellent characteristics.

(iii) It is a low-power absorbing device under normal operating conditions.

APPLICATIONS OF UJT

Due to above reasons, this device is being used in a variety of applications. A few
include oscillators, trigger circuits, saw-tooth generators, bistable network etc.

The UJT is very popular today mainly due to its high switching speed.

A few select applications of the UJT are as follows:

(i) It is used to trigger SCRs and TRIACs

(ii) It is used in non-sinusoidal oscillators

(iii) It is used in phase control and timing circuits

(iv) It is used in saw tooth generators

(v) It is used in oscillator circuit design

SCHOTTY BARRIER DIODE

Schottky Diode:

It is also called Schottky barrier diode or hot-carrier diode.

A Schottky barrier diode is a metal semiconductor junction formed by bringing

metal in contact with a moderately doped n type semiconductor material. A Schottky
barrier diode is also called as known as Schottky or hot carrier diode. It is named after
its inventor Walter H. Schottky, barrier stands for the potential energy barrier for
electrons at the junction. It is a unilateral device conducting currents in one direction
(Conventional current flow from metal to semiconductor) and restricting in the other.

Fig.16

 The charge storage problem of P-N junction can be minimize or limited in

schottky diodes.
 The potential barrier is set with a contact between a metal & semiconductor.

 The rectifying action is depends on majority carrier only.

 As the result there are is o excess minority carrier to recombination hence low
level of reverse recovery time.

 These diodes are used as rectifier at a single frequency exceeding 300 MHz to
20 GHz.

CONSTRUCTION SCHOTTKY BARRIER DIODE:

A Schottky barrier diode is shown in the figure 17

A metal–semiconductor junction is formed between a metal and a semiconductor,

creating a Schottky barrier (instead of a semiconductor–semiconductor junction as in
conventional diodes).Typical metals used are molybdenum, platinum, chromium or
tungsten,and certain silicides, e.g. palladium silicide and platinum silicide; andthe
semiconductor would typically be n-type silicon.

The metal side acts as the anode and n-type semiconductor acts as the cathode of
the diode. This Schottky barrier results in both very fast switching and low forward
voltage drop.

The choice of the combination of the metal and semiconductor determines the forward
voltage of the diode. Both n- and p-type semiconductors can develop Schottky barriers;
the p-type typically has a much lower forward voltage.

As the reverse leakage current increases dramatically with lowering the forward
voltage, it can not be too low; the usually employed range is about 0.5–0.7 V and p-type
semiconductors are employed only rarely.

Fig 17

Schottky barrier diode is an extension of the oldest semiconductor device that is

the point contact [Link],the metal-semiconductor interface is a surface ,Schottky
barrier rather than a point [Link] Schottky doide is formed when a metal ,such as
Aluminium ,is brought into contact with a moderately doped N-type semiconductor as
shown on fig..It is a unipolar device because it has electrons as majority carriers on both
sides of the [Link] ,there is no depletion layer formed near the [Link]
shares the advantage of point contact diode in that there is no significant current from
the metal to the semiconductor with reverse [Link] ,the delay present in the junction
diodes due to hole-electron recombination time is absent [Link],because of the
large contact area between the metal and semiconductor than in the point contact
diode,the forward resistance is lower and so is noise.
Below certain width the charge carriers can tunnel through the depletion region. At very
high doping levels the junction does not behave as a rectifier anymore and becomes an
ohmic contact. This can be used for simultaneous formation of ohmic.

The forward current is dominated by electron flow from semiconductor to metal and
the reverse is mainly due to electron from metal to semiconductor. As there is very little
minority carrier injection from semiconductor into metal, Schottky diodes are also said to
be majority carrier devices. The diode is also referred to as hot carrier diode because
when it is forward biased,conduction of electrons on the N-side gains sufficient energy
to cross the junction and enter the metal. Since these electrons plunge into the metal
with large energy, they are commonly called as hot carriers.

 Operation is due to the fact that the electrons in different material have different
potential energy.

 N type semiconductors have higher potential energy as compare to electrons of

metals.

 When these two are brought together in contact, there a flow of electron in both
direction across the metal-semiconductor interface when contact is first made.

 A voltage is applied to the schottky diode such that the metal is positive with
respect to semiconductor.

 The voltage will oppose the built in potential and makes it easier to current flow.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SCHOTTKY DIODE

FIG .18
 Above figure shows the V-I characteristics of a Schottky and a PN junction diode.
The current in a PN junction diode is controlled by the diffusion of minority carriers
whereas the current in the schottky diode results from the flow of majority carriers over
the potential barrier at the metal-semiconductor [Link] reverse saturation current
for a Schottky diode is larger than that of a PN junction [Link] storage time for a
Schottky diode is theoretically [Link] schottky diode has a smaller turn-on voltage
and shorter switching time than the PN junction diode.

ADVANTAGES :

 Schottky diode turns on and off faster than ordinary P-N junction diode the basic
reason behind this is that schottky diodes are based on majority carrier.

 As there is no minority carrier there is no worry about depletion layer.

It has much less voltage overshoot

APPLICATIONS SCHOTTKY BARRIER DIODE:

 Schottky diode can be used for rectification of signals of frequencies even

exceeding 300 MHz.
 It is commonly used in switching power supplies at frequencies of 20 GHz
 Its low noise figure finds application in sensitive communication receivers
likeradars.
 It is also used in clipping and clamping circuits and in computer gating.
 Schottky barrier diodes are used in bipolar transistor TTL based 74LS (low
power Schottky) and 74S (Schottky) families of logic circuits . The Schottky
diode by preventing the BJT going into hard saturation reduces the switching
time of BJT from saturation to cut off.
 Schottky diodes are often used as ant saturation clamps on transistors.
 They play an important role in GaAs circuits.
 They are used as rectifiers in high power applications circuits.
 Schottky Barrier Diodes are used in voltage clamping applications.
 Schottky Barrier Diodes are used in stand-alone photo voltaic systems
 They are used in radio frequency applications as mixer (or) detector diode
VARACTOR DIODE

The varactor diode was named because of the variable reactor or variable
reactance or variable capacitor or variable capacitance property of these diodes. A
varactor diode is considered as a special type of diode that is widely used in the
electronics industry and is used in various electronics applications. Varactor diode is
also a semiconductor microwave solid-state device, it is frequently used in applications
where variable capacitance is desired which can be achieved by controlling voltage.

Varactor diodes are also termed as varicap diodes, in fact, these days they are
usually termed as varactor diodes. Even though the variable capacitance effect can be
exhibited by the normal diodes (P-N junction diodes), but, varactor diodes are preferred
for giving the desired capacitance changes as they are special types of diodes. These
diodes are specially manufactured and optimized such that they enables a very high
range of changes in capacitance. Varactor diodes are again classified into various types
based on the varactor diode junction properties. And, these are termed as abrupt
varactor diodes, gallium-arsenide varactor diodes, and hyperabrupt varactor diodes.

The symbol of varactor diode is shown in the Fig 19

Fig 19

The varactor diode symbol consists of the capacitor symbol at one end of the
diode that represents the variable capacitor characteristics of the varactor diodes. n
general, it looks like a normal PN- junction diode in which one terminal is termed as the
cathode and the other terminal is termed as anode. Here, varactor diode consists of two
lines at one end (cathode end of normal diode) that indicates the capacitor symbol.

VARACTOR DIODE WORKING

To understand the working principle of the varactor diode, we must know what is
a capacitor and how can we change the capacitance. Let us consider the capacitor that
consists of two plates separated by an insulating dielectric as shown in the figure 20.
 Fig 20

We know that the capacitance of an electrical capacitor is directly proportional to the

area of the plates, as the area of the plates increases the capacitance of the capacitor
increases. Consider the reverse biased mode of the diode, in which P-type region and
N-type region are able to conduct and thus can be treated as two plates. The depletion
region between the P-type and N-type regions can be considered as insulating
dielectric. Thus, it is exactly similar to the capacitor shown above.

Fig 21

The size of the depletion region of diode changes with change in reverse bias. If the
varactor diode reverse voltage is increased, then the depletion region size increases.
Similarly, if the varactor diode reverse voltage is decreased, then the depletion region
size decreases or narrows. Hence, by varying the reverse bias of the varactor diode the
capacitance can be varied
 Fig 22

VARACTOR DIODE CHARACTERISTICS

The varactor diodes have the following significant characteristics:

 Varactor diodes produces considerably less noise compared to other

conventional diodes.
 These diodes are available at low costs.
 Varactor diodes are more reliable.
 The varactor diodes are small in size and hence, they are very light weight.
 There is no useful purpose of varactor diode operated when it is operated in
forward bias.
 Increase in reverse bias of varactor diode increases the capacitance as shown in
the figure below.

Fig 23
APPLICATIONS
Few important applications of varactor diodes can be listed as follows:
 RF Filters
 Voltage Controlled Oscillators (VCOs)
 Varactor diodes can be used as frequency modulators.
 In microwave receiver LO, varactor diodes can be used as frequency multipliers.
 Varactor diodes can be used as RF phase shifters.
 Varactor diodes are used to vary the capacitance in variable resonant tank LC
circuits. Since the junction capacitance of a varactor is in the pF range, it is
suitable for use in highfrequency circuits.
 automatic frequency control device,
 FM modulator,
 adjustable band-pass filter
 Parametric amplifier

TUNNEL DIODE

This diode was first introduced by Dr. Leo Easki in 1958.

A tunnel diode is a pn junction that exhibits negative resistance between two values of
forward voltage (i.e., between peak-point voltage and valley-point voltage).

A conventional diode exhibits *positive resistance when it is forward biased or reverse

biased. However, if a semiconductor junction diode is heavily doped with impurities, it
exhibits negative resistance (i.e. current decreases as the voltage is increased) in
certain regions in the forward direction. Such a diode is called tunnel diode

CONSTRUCTION

It is a high-conductivity two-terminal P-N junction diode having doping density

about 1000 times higher as compared to an ordinary junction diode. This heavy doping
produces following three unusual effects :

Firstly, it reduces the width of the depletion layer to an extremely small value
(about 0.00001 mm).

Secondly, it reduces the reverse breakdown voltage to a very small value

(approaching zero) with the result that the diode appears to be broken down for any
reverse voltage.

Thirdly, it produces a negative resistance section on the V/I characteristic of the

diode. It is called a tunnel diode because due to its extremely thin depletion layer,
electrons are able to tunnel through the potential barrier at relatively low forward bias
voltage (less than 0.05 V).
 Such diodes are usually fabricated from germanium, gallium-arsenide (GaAs)
and gallium antimonide (GaSb). The commonly-used schematic symbols for the diode
are shown in fig 23. It should be handled with caution because being a low-power
device, it can be easily damaged by heat and static electricity.

THEORY.

The tunnel diode is basically a pn junction with heavy doping of p-type and n-type
semiconductor materials. In fact, a tunnel diode is doped approximately 1000 times as
heavily as a conventional diode. This heavy doping results in a large number of majority
carriers. Because of the large number of carriers, most are not used during the initial
recombination that produces the depletion layer. As a result, the depletion layer is very
narrow. In comparison with conventional diode, the depletion layer of a tunnel diode is
100 times narrower. The operation of a tunnel diode depends upon the tunneling effect
and hence the name.

Tunneling effect. The heavy doping provides a large number of majority

carriers. Because of the large number of carriers, there is much drift activity in p and n
sections. This causes many valence electrons to have their energy levels raised closer
to the conduction region. Therefore, it takes only a very small applied forward voltage to
cause conduction.

The movement of valence electrons from the valence energy band to the
conduction band with little or no applied forward voltage is called tunneling. Valence
electrons seem to tunnel through the forbidden energy band.

As the forward voltage is first increased, the diode current rises rapidly due to
tunneling effect. Soon the tunneling effect is reduced and current flow starts to decrease
as the forward voltage across the diode is increased. The tunnel diode is said to have
entered the negative resistance region. As the voltage is further increased, the tunneling
effect plays less and less part until a valley-point is reached. From now onwards, the
tunnel diode behaves as ordinary diode i.e., diode current increases with the increase in
forward voltage.

V-I CHARACTERISTIC.

shows the V-I characteristic of a typical tunnel diode.

As the forward voltage across the tunnel diode is increased from zero, electrons from
the nregion “tunnel” through the potential barrier to the p-region. As the forward voltage
increases, the diode current also increases until the peak-point P is reached. The diode
current has now reached peak current IP (= 2.2 mA) at about peak-pointvoltage VP (=
0.07 V). Until now the diode has exhibited positive resistance. (ii) As the voltage is
increased beyond VP, the tunneling action starts decreasing and the diode current
decreases as the forward voltage is increased until valley-point V is reached at valley-
point voltage VV (= 0.7V). In the region between peak-point and valley-point (i.e.,
between points P and V), the diode exhibits negative resistance i.e., as the forward bias
is increased, the current decreases. This suggests that tunnel diode, when operated in
the negative resistance region, can be used as an oscillator or a switch.

Fig 24

(iii) When forward bias is increased beyond valley-point voltage VV (= 0.7 V), the tunnel
diode behaves as a normal diode. In other words, from point V onwards, the diode
current increases with the increase in forward voltage i.e., the diode exhibits positive
resistance once [Link] may be noted that a tunnel diode has a high reverse current but
operation under this condition is not generally used.

Tunneling Effect

In a normally-doped P-N junction, the depletion layer is relatively wide and a

potential barrier exists across the junction. The charge carriers on either side of the
junction cannot cross over unless they possess sufficient energy to overcome this
barrier (0.3 V for Ge and 0.7 V for Si). As is well-known, width of the depletion region
depends directly on the doping density of the semiconductor. If a P-N junction is doped
very heavily (1000 times or more)*, its depletion layer becomes extremely thin (about
0.00001 mm). It is found that under such conditions, many carriers can ‘punch through’
the junction with the speed of light even when they do not possess enough energy to
overcome the potential barrier. Consequently, large forward current is produced even
when the applied bias is much less than 0.3 V. This conduction mechanism in which
charge carriers (possessing very little energy) bore through a barrier directly instead of
climbing over it is called tunneling
 Fig 25

EXPLANATION

Energy band diagrams (EBD) of N-type and Ptype semiconductor materials can
be used to explain this tunneling phenomenon. Fig. 54.16 shows the energy band
diagram of the two types of silicon separately. As explained earlier (Art. 51.21), in the N-
type semiconductor, there is increased concentration of electrons in the conduction
band. It would be further increased under heavy doping. Similarly, in a Ptype material,
there is increased concentration of holes in the valence band for similar reasons. (a) No
Forward Bias When the N-type and P-type materials are joined, the EBD under no-bias
conditiion becomes as shown in Fig. 24(a).

The junction barrier produces only a rough alignment of the two materials and
their respective valence and conduction bands. As seen, the depletion region between
the two is extremely narrow due to very heavy doping on both sides of the junction. The
potential hill is also increased as shown.

(b) Small Forward Bias When a very small forward voltage (≅ 0.1 V) is applied,
the EBDs become as shown in Fig. 54.17 (b). Due to the downward movement of the N-
region, the P-region valence band becomes exactly aligned with the N-region
conduction band. At this stage, electrons tunnel through the thin depletion layer with the
velocity of light thereby giving rise to a large current called peak current Ip.

(c) Large Forward Bias When the forward bias is increased further, the two
bands get out of alignment as shown in Fig. 24(c). Hence, tunneling of electrons stops
thereby decreasing the current. Since current decreases with increase in applied
voltage (i.e. dV/dI is negative), the junction is said to possess negative resistance at this
stage. This resistance increases throughout the negative region. However, it is found
that when applied forward voltage is increased still further, the current starts increasing
once again as in a normal junction diode.

APPLICATIONS

Tunnel diode is commonly used for the following purposes :

1. as an ultrahigh-speed switch-due to tunneling mechanism which essentially

takes place at the speed of light. It has a switching time of the order of nanoseconds or
even picoseconds;
2. as logic memory storage device − due to triple-valued feature of its curve for
current.
3. as microwave oscillator at a frequency of about 10 GHz − due to its extremely
small capacitance and inductance and negative resistance.
4. in relaxation oscillator circuits − due to its negative resistance. In this respect,
it is very similar to the unijunction transistor.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

The advantages of a tunnel diode are :

1. low noise,

2. ease of operation,

3. high speed,

4. low power,

5. Insensitivity to nuclear radiations T

The disadvantages are

: 1. the voltage range over which it can be operated properly is 1 V or less;

2. being a two-terminal device, it provides no isolation between the input and

output circuits
 PIN diode

A PIN diode is a diode with a wide, undoped intrinsic semiconductor region

between a p-type semiconductor and an n-type semiconductor region. The p-type and
n-type regions are typically heavily doped because they are used for ohmic contacts.

Fig 26

the PIN diode consists of a semiconductor diode with three layers. The usual P
and N regions are present, but between them is a layer of intrinsic material a very low
level of doping. This may be either N-type or P-type,

The thickness of the intrinsic layer is normally very narrow, typically ranging from
10 to 200 microns. The outer P and N-type regions are then heavily doped

here is very lightly doped wide region between P and N regions. Wide I – region
makes them inefficient rectifiers. Under zero or Reverse Bias PIN diode has low
capacitance so high resistance to RF signal. Under FB a typical PIN diode will have
very low resistance (typical 1 Ω) an RF conductor. It makes a god RF switch

The PIN diode has heavily doped p-type and n-type regions separated by an
intrinsic region. When reverse biased, it acts like an almost constant capacitance and
when forward biased it behaves as a variable resistor.

The built in field stretches over the intrinsic region, causing minority carriers to be
swept out by the field over a larger volume. It is often used for light detectors, and some
high efficiency solar cells.

The capacitance between the P and N region decreases because of the

increased seperation between P and N [Link] advantage allow the PIN diode to
have fast response time. Hence these diode are useful at very high frequencies (above
300MHZ)

There is a great er electron hole pair generation because of the increased

electricfield between the P and N [Link] advantage allows the PIN diode to
process even the weak signal
OPERATION

When P n region is unbiased (no voltage is applied acrossthe diode)ther is a

diffusion ofelectron aand holesacross the junction due to the different concentration of
atoms in the P I N region

The diffusion of electron s and holes produce a depletion layer across the PI and
NI junction as shown in Fig.7-21(b). The depletion layer penetrate to a little distance in
the P –type and N –type semiconductor regions but to a larger distance in the I-region.
Under such condition , the device has a high value of resistance.

Fig 27

When the PIN diode is forward biased, the width of the depletion layer s
decreases. As a result of this, more carriers are injected into the I-region. This reduces
the resistance of the I-region. I the depletion layer is not thick, then the I-region
becomes flooded with the carriers at a suitable bias. Thus, when a PIN diode is forward
biased, it acts like a variable resistance as shown in fig 27 The forward resistance of an
intrinsic region decreases with the increasing current.

On the other, when the PIN diode is reverse biased, the depletion layers become
thicker. As the reverse bias is increased , the thickness of the depletion layer increases
till the I-region becomes free of mobile caries. The reverse bias , at which this happens,
is called swept out voltage. At this stage the PIN diode acts like an almost constant
capacitance as shown in Fig. 27

APPLICATION

The PIN diode is used in a number of areas as a result of its structure proving some
properties which are of particular use.