Special Purpose Diodes

Dr. Navneet Gupta

Lecture:36-37

Lecture - 36

Special Purpose Diodes

Photodiodes,
Solar cells,
Light Emitting Diodes,
Tunnel diodes,
Gunn diodes and
p-n-p-n diodes.

Dr. Navneet Gupta

Optoelectronic Devices

High-Frequency Devices

High-Power Devices

Photodiodes
Basically a p-n junction operated under reverse bias.
Optical generation of carriers in a p-n junction:

N-side:

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Total reverse current with illumination:

qV
Lp

L
n
kT
I qA
pn
n p e 1 qAg op L p Ln W

If we neglect the generation within W

and gop >> gth; then

Voc

kT

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g op
ln

g th

 But Voc can increase only upto Vo

Junction at equilibrium Appearance of Voc with illumination

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Power is delivered from

the external circuit
Dr. Navneet Gupta

Power is delivered to
the external circuit
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Solar Cell
Convert solar energy into electrical energy.
Iop = 10-100 mA for junction area ~1cm2. However if area
is increased (Arrays), the resulting power can be
significant.

Cells are interconnected to form modules, modules to form arrays

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High quality mono-crystalline solar panels

Solar panel array as the roof on a house

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Solar cell arrays attached to the ISS.

Each wing contains 32,800 solar cells and can produce

62 kW of power for the station.
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Photovoltaic Device Principle

Antireflection
coating

Photogenerated

e-h are collected efficiently if they are

created within Lp, Ln away from the depletion region edges.
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 EHPs

generated in the dead zone will not be collected.

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 Design Aspect:
Junction depth d < Lp in n material
Thickness of p region
[This requirement implies a proper match between]

Penetration depth (1/)

Ln

Desirable Aspect:
Large Vo and Long lifetimes: heavy doping
Very small series resistance. (power loss I2R)
Contact to be distributed over n-surface by providing small
contact fingers.
Dr. Navneet Gupta

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EEE C381

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Idealized equivalent circuit of a solar cell.

qV

kT
I I th e 1 I op

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Maximum power :

Pm I mVm
qV
Pm I th m
kT

qVm
kT

qVm
kT
V

ln
1

oc
q
kT

Efficiency of solar energy conversion:

Pm
I mVm

Pin
Pin
Fill Factor:

I mVm
I mVm
FF

I opVoc
I scVoc

ratio of the maximum power rectangle to the

rectangle of IopVoc. Most solar cells FF~0.7
(Si)~25%
Dr. Navneet Gupta

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Figure (a) Current voltage characteristics of a solar cell under

illumination. (b) Inversion of (a) about the voltage axis.
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Lecture 37

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)

LEDs: visible part of spectrum (radiative recombination)

Normal Diodes: Thermal region (heat) (nonradiative)

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 Frequency (colour) of the photons:

1.24
Eg (eV )
( m)

External quantum efficiency:ext.

no. of photons escaped

no. of injected charge carriers

Internal efficiency:

int

no. of photons radiated

no. of injected charge carriers

Extraction efficiency: extraction no. of photons escaped

no. of photons radiated

ext = int x extraction

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 Loss mechanism

Absorption within the LED material

Fresnel loss:
Critical angle loss: TIR at angles > critical angle (c)
Hence , typically LEDs are made with a dome-type
encapsulation, which acts as lens so that more of the
photons can be extracted.

Dr. Navneet Gupta

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Dr. Navneet Gupta

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Light-Emitting Materials

EEE C381

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Eg A1 x BxC Eg ( AC )

Eg ( BC ) Eg ( AC ) x
Eg (GaAs1-xPx)
Direct Band gap:
GaAs = 1.43 eV
GaP = 2.75 eV
Indirect band gap:
GaAs = 1.86 eV
GaP = 2.26 eV

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Figure Quantum efficiency versus alloy composition with

and without nitrogen.
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 Infrared
LEDs:
GaAs,
InP
and
mixed
Application: TV remote controls and FOCS

alloys

An opto-isolator in which an input signal is decoupled from

the output signal.
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 LEDs vs Incandescent light bulb (ILB)

Luminous efficiencies ~ 2 times greater than ILB
Longer life times (5000-100,000 hours) versus 2000 hours (ILB)

It is another form of LCD TV that uses LEDs to provide

its light source.
Dr. Navneet Gupta

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High Frequency Devices:

HF application: instability in semiconductors
(negative conductance)
Tunnel Diode (Esaki diode): Quantum Mechanical
tunneling
IMPATT diode (Read Diode): carrier injection and
transit-time effects
Gunn diode (TED): transfer of electrons from high
mobility state to a low mobility state.

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Degenerate Semiconductors

Consists of a simple p-n junction in which both

the p- and n-sides are degenerate.

N-type

P-type

Degenerate n-type: CB n > NC

Degenerate p-type: VB p > NV
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ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM

Energy-band diagram of pn junction in thermal equilibrium in

which both the n and p region are degenerately doped.
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AT ZERO BIAS

Tunnel diode at zero bias.

-Zero current on the I-V diagram;

-All energy states are filled below EF on both sides of the junction;
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AT SMALL FORWARD VOLTAGE

-Electrons in the conduction band of the n region are directly

opposite to the empty states in the valence band of the p region.
-So a finite probability that some electrons tunnel directly into
the empty states resulting in forward-bias tunneling current.
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AT MAXIMUM TUNNELING CURENT

-The maximum number of electrons in the n region are opposite

to the maximum number of empty states in the p region.
- Hence tunneling current is maximum.
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AT DECREASING CURRENT REGION

-The forward-bias voltage increases so the number of electrons on

the n side, directly opposite empty states on the p side decreases.

- Hence the tunneling current decreases.

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AT HIGHER FORWARD VOLTAGE

- No electrons on the n side are directly opposite to

the

empty states on the p side.

- The tunneling current is zero.

-The normal ideal diffusion current exists in the device.

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AT REVERSE BIAS VOLTAGE

- Electrons in the valence band on the p side are directly opposite

to empty states in the conduction band on the n side.

- Electrons tunnel directly from the p region into the n region.

- The reverse-bias current increases monotonically and rapidly

with reverse-bias voltage.
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Tunnel diode (I-V Characteristics)

Type-N
negative
resistance.
Voltage-controlled
negative resistance.

IP
8 : 1(Ge)
IV
IP
12 : 1(GaSb & GaAs )
IV

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I-V characteristics of different

tunnel diodes

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