Prof.

Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

EDC
(handout)
ELEC (SEM III)

By

Prof. Faiz Rangari

(FR SiR) - 8976530729

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

Schottky Barrier Diode:

The Schottky diode or Schottky Barrier diode is an electronics component that is widely
used for radio frequency, RF applications as a mixer or detector diode.

The diode is also used in power applications as a rectifier, again because of its low
forward voltage drop leading to lower levels of power loss compared to ordinary PN
junction diodes.

Symbol

Advantages

Schottky diodes are used in many applications where other types of diode will not
perform as well. They offer a number of advantages:

 Low turn on voltage: The turn on voltage for the diode is between 0.2 and 0.3
volts for a silicon diode against 0.6 to 0.7 volts for a standard silicon diode. This
makes it have very much the same turn on voltage as a germanium diode.
 Fast recovery time: The fast recovery time because of the small amount of
stored charge means that it can be used for high speed switching applications.
 Low junction capacitance: In view of the very small active area, often as a
result of using a wire point contact onto the silicon, the capacitance levels are
very small.

Schottky diode structure

Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR Sir]

Schottky diode IV characteristic 8976530729

The IV characteristic is generally that shown below. In the forward direction the current
rises exponentially, having a knee or turn on voltage of around 0.2 V. In the reverse
direction, there is a greater level of reverse current than that experienced using a more
conventional PN junction diode.

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

Schottky diode IV characteristic

The use of a guard ring in the fabrication of the diode has an effect on its performance in
both forward and reverse directions. [see page on structure and fabrication]. Both
forward and reverse characteristics show a better level of performance.

However the main advantage of incorporating a guard ring into the structure is to
improve the reverse breakdown characteristic. There is around a 4:1 difference in
breakdown voltage between the two - the guard ring providing a distinct improvement
in reverse breakdown. Some small signal diodes without a guard ring may have a
reverse breakdown of only 5 to 10 V.

Comparison of Characteristics of Schottky Diode and PN Diode

Characteristic Schottky Diode PN Junction Diode
Forward Majority carrier transport. Due to diffusion currents, i.e.
current minority carrier transport.
mechanism Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR Sir]
8976530729

Reverse Results from majority carriers Results from the minority

current that overcome the barrier. This
is less temperature dependent
than for standard PN junction.
Turn on Small - around 0.2 V.
voltage
Switching Fast - as a result of the use of
speed majority carriers because no
recombination is required.
carriers diffusing through the
depletion layer. It has a strong
temperature dependence.
Comparatively large - around
0.7 V.
Limited by the recombination
time of the injected minority
carriers.

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

Photo Detectors:
Photo Diode:
Symbol:

Structure:

Working:

The photodiode is operated under a moderate reverse bias. This keeps the depletion
layer free of any carriers and normally no current will flow.

However when a light photon enters the intrinsic region it can strike an atom in the
crystal lattice and dislodge an electron. In this way a hole-electron pair is generated.
The hole and electron will then migrate in opposite directions under the action of the
electric field across the intrinsic region and a small current can be seen to flow.

It is found that the size of the current is proportional to the amount of light entering the
intrinsic region. The more light, the greater the numbers of hole electron pairs that are
generated and the greater the current flowing.

Operating diodes under reverse bias increases the sensitivity as it widens the depletion
layer where the photo action occurs. In this way increasing the reverse bias has the
effect of increasing the active area of the photodiode and strengthens what may be
termed as the photocurrent.

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

VI Characteristics:

PIN PHOTODIODE:
Structure:

Working:

A p–i–n photodiode, also called PIN photodiode, is a photodiode with an intrinsic (i) (i.e.,
undoped) region in between the n- and p-doped regions. Most of the photons are
absorbed in the intrinsic region, and carriers generated therein can efficiently
contribute to the photocurrent. In Figure 1, the electrodes are shown in black: the
cathode is a flat electrode, whereas the anode has the form of a ring (of which two
opposite parts are seen in the shown cross section). The positive pole of the (reverse)
bias voltage is connected to the cathode. On top of the p region, there is an anti-
reflection coating.

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 Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

VI Characteristics:

− Advantages of the p–i–n Design

Ordinary p–n photodiodes can suffer from the following problems:

 The width of the depletion region may be well below the absorption length, so
that only some fraction of the generated photocarriers are generated within the
depletion region. The collection of the carriers generated outside the depletion
region may be limited, leading to a reduced quantum efficiency.
 Even for those carriers generated outside the depletion region which eventually
diffuse into the depletion region and can thus contribute to the photocurrent,
that diffusion takes some time; that results in a tail in the impulse response
function, which can limit the detection bandwidth.

These problems can be mitigated or avoided with p–i–n photodiode design. There, most
carriers are generated in the intrinsic region, because that can be much thicker than the
depletion region of a p–n structure. Another effect of the thick intrinsic region can be
the reduced capacitance, which allows for a higher detection bandwidth.

Some p–i–n diodes are made from different semiconductor materials, where the
bandgap energy is below the photon energy only for the intrinsic region, but not for the
p and n regions. In that case, any absorption outside the intrinsic region can be avoided.

The fastest p–i–n photodiodes have bandwidths well above 100 GHz. Their active areas
typically have a diameter of only a few microns. They are often made in fiber-coupled
form and can be applied e.g. in receivers for optical fiber communications; the achieved
bit rates can be as high as 160 Gbit/s.

− Materials for p–i–n Photodiodes

Some p–i–n diodes are based on silicon. They are sensitive throughout the visible
spectral region and in the near infrared up to ≈ 1 μm. At longer wavelengths, the
absorption efficiency and thus the responsivity drops sharply, but the parameters of
that cut-off depend on the thickness of the intrinsic region.

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

For longer wavelengths up to ≈ 1.7 μm (or with extended spectral response up to

2.6 μm), InGaAs p–i–n diodes are available, although at significantly higher prices
(particularly for large active areas). Small InGaAs photodiodes can be extremely fast.

Germanium p–i–n diodes can be a cheaper alternative to InGaAs diodes, but they have a
much slower response and exhibit a much larger dark current.

Avalanched Photodiode:
Structure:

Working:

Avalanche Photodiodes ( APDs ) are high sensitivity, high speed semi-conductor "light"
sensors. Compared to regular PIN construction photodiodes, APDs, have an internal
region where electron multiplication occurs, by application of an external reverse
voltage, and the resultant "gain" in the output signal means that low light levels can be
measured at high speed. Incident photons create electron – hole pairs in the depletion
layer of a silicon photodiode structure and these move towards the respective PN
junctions at a speed of up to 105 metres per second, depending on the electric field
strength. If the external bias increases this localised electric field to above about 105 V /
cm then the carriers in the semi-conductor collide with atoms in the crystal lattice, and
the resultant ionization creates more electron – hole pairs, some of which then go on to
cause further ionization giving a resultant gain in the number of electron – holes
generated for a single incident photon (See schematic above).

Characteristics:

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

MOSFET:

As well as the Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET), there is another type of Field
Effect Transistor available whose Gate input is electrically insulated from the main
current carrying channel and is therefore called an Insulated Gate Field Effect
Transistor or IGFET. The most common type of insulated gate FET which is used in
many different types of electronic circuits is called the Metal Oxide Semiconductor
Field Effect Transistor or MOSFET for short.

The IGFET or MOSFET is a voltage controlled field effect transistor that differs from a
JFET in that it has a “Metal Oxide” Gate electrode which is electrically insulated from the
main semiconductor n-channel or p-channel by a very thin layer of insulating material
usually silicon dioxide, commonly known as glass.

This ultra thin insulated metal gate electrode can be thought of as one plate of a
capacitor. The isolation of the controlling Gate makes the input resistance of the
MOSFET extremely high way up in the Mega-ohms ( MΩ ) region thereby making it
almost infinite.

As the Gate terminal is isolated from the main current carrying channel “NO current
flows into the gate” and just like the JFET, the MOSFET also acts like a voltage controlled
resistor were the current flowing through the main channel between the Drain and
Source is proportional to the input voltage. Also like the JFET, the MOSFETs very high
input resistance can easily accumulate large amounts of static charge resulting in the
MOSFET becoming easily damaged unless carefully handled or protected.

Like the previous JFET tutorial, MOSFETs are three terminal devices with a Gate, Drain
and Source and both P-channel (PMOS) and N-channel (NMOS) MOSFETs are available.
The main difference this time is that MOSFETs are available in two basic forms:

 Depletion Type – the transistor requires the Gate-Source voltage, ( VGS ) to

switch the device “OFF”. The depletion mode MOSFET is equivalent to a
“Normally Closed” switch.
 Enhancement Type – the transistor requires a Gate-Source voltage, ( VGS ) to
switch the device “ON”. The enhancement mode MOSFET is equivalent to a
“Normally Open” switch.

Enhancement-mode MOSFET
For the n-channel enhancement MOS transistor a drain current will only flow when a
gate voltage ( VGS ) is applied to the gate terminal greater than the threshold voltage (
VTH ) level in which conductance takes place making it a transconductance device.

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

Basic MOSFET Structure and Symbol

Working:

Case [i]: when VGS ≤ 0 [Accumulation mode]

When Negative voltage is applied at gate holes starts accumulating nearby gate region,
which will make mosfet to remain in off condition as shown in below figure.

Case [ii]: when 0 ≤ VGS ≤ VTH [Depletion mode]

As positive Gate voltage is applied Electrons starts depleting nearby gate region as
shown below.

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Prof. Faiz Rangari [FR SiR]-8976530729 EDC (ELEC - SEM III)

Case [iii]: when VGS ≥ VTH [Inversion mode]

As the gate potential across the semiconductor increases beyond twice the bulk potential,
another type of negative charge emerges at the oxide-semiconductor interface: this charge is
due to minority carriers, which form a so-called inversion layer.
As one further increase the gate voltage, the depletion layer width barely increases further since
the charge in the inversion layer increases exponentially with the surface potential.

Characteristics:

Drain Characteristics:

Transfer Characteristics:

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Depletion MOSFET:
Figure shows the construction of an N-channel depletion MOSFET.

It consists of a highly doped P-type substrate into which two blocks of heavily doped N-
type material are diffused forming the source and drain.

An N-channel is formed by diffusion between the source and drain. The type of impurity
for the channel is the same as for the source and drain.

Now a thin layer of SiO2 dielectric is grown over the entire surface and holes are cut
through the SiO2 (silicon-dioxide) layer to make contact with the N-type blocks (Source
and Drain).

Metal is deposited through the holes to provide drain and source terminals, and on the
surface area between drain and source, a metal plate is deposited. This layer constitutes
the gate.

Operation:

Cases:

D-MOSFET can be operated with either a positive or a negative gate.

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When gate is positive with respect to the source it operates in the enhancement—or E-
mode and when the gate is negative with respect to the source it operates in depletion-
mode.

When the drain is made positive with respect to source, a drain current will flow, even
with zero gate potential and the MOSFET is said to be operating in E-mode. In this mode
of operation gate attracts the negative charge carriers from the P-substrate to the N-
channel and thus reduces the channel resistance and increases the drain-current. The
more positive the gate is made, the more drain current flows.

On the other hand when the gate is made negative with respect to the substrate, the
gate repels some of the negative charge carriers out of the N-channel. This creates a
depletion region in the channel, as illustrated in figure, and, therefore, increases the
channel resistance and reduces the drain current. The more negative the gate, the less
the drain current. In this mode of operation the device is referred to as a depletion-mode
MOSFET. Here too much negative gate voltage can pinch-off the channel. Thus operation
is similar to that of JFET.

Characteristics of D-MOSFET:

Drain Characteristics:

Transfer Characteristics:

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Zener Diode:
The Zener diode behaves just like a normal general-purpose diode consisting of a
silicon PN junction and when biased in the forward direction, that is Anode positive
with respect to its Cathode, it behaves just like a normal signal diode passing the rated
current.

However, unlike a conventional diode that blocks any flow of current through itself
when reverse biased, that is the Cathode becomes more positive than the Anode, as
soon as the reverse voltage reaches a pre-determined value, the zener diode begins to
conduct in the reverse direction.

This is because when the reverse voltage applied across the zener diode exceeds the
rated voltage of the device a process called Avalanche Breakdown occurs in the
semiconductor depletion layer and a current starts to flow through the diode to limit
this increase in voltage.

The current now flowing through the zener diode increases dramatically to the
maximum circuit value (which is usually limited by a series resistor) and once achieved,
this reverse saturation current remains fairly constant over a wide range of reverse
voltages. The voltage point at which the voltage across the zener diode becomes stable
is called the “zener voltage”, ( Vz ) and for zener diodes this voltage can range from less
than one volt to a few hundred volts.

The point at which the zener voltage triggers the current to flow through the diode can
be very accurately controlled (to less than 1% tolerance) in the doping stage of the
diodes semiconductor construction giving the diode a specific zener breakdown voltage,
( Vz ) for example, 4.3V or 7.5V. This zener breakdown voltage on the I-V curve is almost
a vertical straight line.

Zener Diode I-V Characteristics

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The Zener Diode is used in its “reverse bias” or reverse breakdown mode, i.e. the
diodes anode connects to the negative supply. From the I-V characteristics curve above,
we can see that the zener diode has a region in its reverse bias characteristics of almost
a constant negative voltage regardless of the value of the current flowing through the
diode and remains nearly constant even with large changes in current as long as the
zener diodes current remains between the breakdown current IZ(min) and the maximum
current rating IZ(max).

This ability to control itself can be used to great effect to regulate or stabilise a voltage
source against supply or load variations. The fact that the voltage across the diode in the
breakdown region is almost constant turns out to be an important characteristic of the
zener diode as it can be used in the simplest types of voltage regulator applications.

The function of a regulator is to provide a constant output voltage to a load connected in

parallel with it in spite of the ripples in the supply voltage or the variation in the load
current and the zener diode will continue to regulate the voltage until the diodes
current falls below the minimum IZ(min) value in the reverse breakdown region.

The Zener Diode Regulator

Zener Diodes can be used to produce a stabilised voltage output with low ripple under
varying load current conditions. By passing a small current through the diode from a
voltage source, via a suitable current limiting resistor (RS), the zener diode will conduct
sufficient current to maintain a voltage drop of Vout.

We remember from the previous tutorials that the DC output voltage from the half or
full-wave rectifiers contains ripple superimposed onto the DC voltage and that as the
load value changes so to does the average output voltage. By connecting a simple zener
stabiliser circuit as shown below across the output of the rectifier, a more stable output
voltage can be produced.

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Zener Diode Regulator

The resistor, RS is connected in series with the zener diode to limit the current flow
through the diode with the voltage source, VS being connected across the combination.
The stabilised output voltage Vout is taken from across the zener diode. The zener diode
is connected with its cathode terminal connected to the positive rail of the DC supply so
it is reverse biased and will be operating in its breakdown condition. Resistor RS is
selected so to limit the maximum current flowing in the circuit.

With no load connected to the circuit, the load current will be zero, ( IL = 0 ), and all the
circuit current passes through the zener diode which in turn dissipates its maximum
power. Also a small value of the series resistor RS will result in a greater diode current
when the load resistance RL is connected and large as this will increase the power
dissipation requirement of the diode so care must be taken when selecting the
appropriate value of series resistance so that the zener’s maximum power rating is not
exceeded under this no-load or high-impedance condition.

The load is connected in parallel with the zener diode, so the voltage across RL is always
the same as the zener voltage, ( VR = VZ ). There is a minimum zener current for which
the stabilization of the voltage is effective and the zener current must stay above this
value operating under load within its breakdown region at all times. The upper limit of
current is of course dependant upon the power rating of the device. The supply voltage
VS must be greater than VZ

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs):

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are the most widely used semiconductor diodes among all
the different types of semiconductor diodes available today. Light emitting diodes emit
either visible light or invisible infrared light when forward biased. The LEDs which emit
invisible infrared light are used for remote controls.
A light Emitting Diode (LED) is an optical semiconductor device that emits light when
voltage is applied. In other words, LED is an optical semiconductor device that converts
electrical energy into light energy.

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When Light Emitting Diode (LED) is forward biased, free electrons in the conduction
band recombines with the holes in the valence band and releases energy in the form of
light.

The symbol of LED is similar to the normal p-n junction diode except that it contains
arrows pointing away from the diode indicating that light is being emitted by the diode.

The process of emitting light in response to the strong electric field or flow of electric
current is called electroluminescence.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) works only in forward bias condition. When Light Emitting
Diode (LED) is forward biased, the free electrons from n-side and the holes from p-side
are pushed towards the junction.

When free electrons reach the junction or depletion region, some of the free electrons
recombine with the holes in the positive ions. We know that positive ions have less
number of electrons than protons. Therefore, they are ready to accept electrons. Thus,
free electrons recombine with holes in the depletion region. In the similar way, holes
from p-side recombine with electrons in the depletion region.

Because of the recombination of free electrons and holes in the depletion region, the
width of depletion region decreases. As a result, more charge carriers will cross the p-n
junction.

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Some of the charge carriers from p-side and n-side will cross the p-n junction before
they recombine in the depletion region. For example, some free electrons from n-type
semiconductor cross the p-n junction and recombines with holes in p-type
semiconductor. In the similar way, holes from p-type semiconductor cross the p-n
junction and recombines with free electrons in the n-type semiconductor.

Thus, recombination takes place in depletion region as well as in p-type and n-type
semiconductor.

The free electrons in the conduction band releases energy in the form of light before
they recombine with holes in the valence band.

In silicon and germanium diodes, most of the energy is released in the form of heat and
emitted light is too small.

However, in materials like gallium arsenide and gallium phosphide the emitted photons
have sufficient energy to produce intense visible light.

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