Department Of Technical Education

Andhra Pradesh

Name : G Sudhakara Reddy.

Designation : Senior Lecturer.
Branch: : ECE
Institute : Government Polytechnic Narsipatnam.
Year/Semester : III semester.
Subject : ELECTRONICS CIRCUITS-I.
Subject Code : EC-302.
Topic : FET&UJT.
DURATION : 50 MIN
SUB TOPIC : WORKING OF VARACTOR DIODE.
TEACHING AIDS : ANIMATION & PHOTOGRAPHS

EC-302.45 1
OBJECTIVES

On completion of this period you would be able to know

• Construction of varactor diode.

• Working of varactor diode.

• Features of varactor diode.

• Applications of varactor diode.

EC-302.45 2
 Known to unknown

• we have all ready know about the

construction and operation of p-n junction
diode.
• When the p-n junction is reverse – biased,

 The width of depletion layer increases and it

contains immobile charges.

 The depletion layer can be treated as

di- electric material

EC-302.45 3
DO YOU KNOW

TRANSISTOR Structural Diagram

Fig.1

EC-302.45 4
VARACTOR DIODE
• The varactor diode is a
semiconductor, voltage
dependent variable
capacitor also known as
varicap or voltacap or Circuit Symbols
epicap or voltage-
variable capacitor (VVC)
diode.
• It is a reverse biased
junction diode whose
mode of operation
depends on capacitance
of the junction depletion Fig. 2
region.

EC-302.45 5
 Working Principle of Varactor Diode

• In a P-N junction diode, Depletion

the depletion region region
width
forms a barrier which
separates the immobile
positive ions on the N Dielectric conducting
side and immobile plates
negative ions on the P-
side of the junction.
• When a P-N junction is
reverse biased majority
charge carriers move
away from the junction
and the number of
immobile ions increase. Fig.3
EC-302.45 6
Working Principle of Varactor Diode (contd)

Depletion
region
• Thus opposite charges are stored width

at the distance of depletion

Dielectric conducting
plates
region.

EC-302.45 7
Working Principle of Varactor Diode (contd)

• Thus a reverse biased P-

n junction can be
compared to a charged
parallelplateCapacitor.
The P and N regions on
either side, having low
resistance areas due to
high concentration of
majority charge carriers,
act as plates of the
capacitor and the
depletion (transition) Fig.4
region acts as the
dielectric (insulting)
medium

EC-302.45 8
Working Principle of Varactor Diode (contd)

• The reverse biased P-N junction thus has an effective

capacitance, whose value is given by
CT=ἐA/WD

• Where ἐ = permittivity of the semiconductor material,

A= the area of junction and
WD=width of the depletion layer.

EC-302.45 9
Working Principle of Varactor Diode (contd)

• As the reverse bias increases, the depletion

region becomes wider which effectively

increases the distance between the plates and

consequently decreases the capacitance.

EC-302.45 10
Working Principle of Varactor Diode (contd)
• The capacitance varies with the reverse
voltage (VR) as CT α 1/VRn

• Where n depends upon doping concentration

and varies from 1/3 to 1/2 .

• Hence we can change diode capacitance by simply

changing VR.

• Silicon diodes which are optimized for this variable

capacitance effect are called Varactor.

EC-302.45 11
• Varactors may be of two types
(i) Abrupt junction varactor diodes.
(ii) Hyper abrupt junction varactor diodes.

• Doping density is constant in the abrupt junction

device.
• In the hyper abrupt junction diode the doping density is
greatest at the junction.
• This increased density makes the depletion region
narrower and consequently produces a larger value of
junction capacitance.
EC-302.45 12
Doping profile in Varactor diode

Abrupt change from constant

density of p to constant
density of n

p P density
density

density n n
density

(a) Abrupt junction (b) Hyper abrupt junction

Fig 5a Fig 5b

EC-302.45 13
 Capacitance/voltage characteristics of Varactor diode

300
Capacitance (pF)

Abrupt junction device

200

100 Hyper abrupt junction device

80

40

20
v
0.5
0.8 1.0 2 3 4 5 6 8 20

Reverse bias (v) Fig 6

EC-302.45 14
Applications of Varactor Diodes

• Varactor diodes are replacing mechanically tuned

capacitors in a number of applications because of

their small size, lack of moving parts, Reliability,

faster response, Rugged in construction, operation

over wide range of frequency etc.

EC-302.45 15
 Main applications
• Automatic frequency control device.

• FM Modulator.

• Adjustable band pass filter.

• Parametric amplifiers.

• Harmonic generators.

• Mixers.

EC-302.45 16
SUMMARY

• The varactor diode is a semiconductor,

voltage dependent variable capacitor.

• It also known as varicap or voltacap or epicap or

voltage-variable capacitor (VVC) diode.

Applications

• Automatic frequency control device.

• Tuning capacitor to adjust the frequency of resonant circuit.

EC-302.45 17
QUIZ

1. Varactor is usually

A. Forward biased

B. Reverse biased

C. Unbiased

D. none

EC-302.45 18
2. Varactor diode is used in

A) AM generation

B) PM generation

C) FM generation

D) none

EC-302.45 19
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION

1. Draw the characeristics of varactor diode

4. Explain the working priniciple of varactor Diode

7. List the applications of varactor diode

EC-302.45 20