pn junction

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A pn junction. The circuit symbol is shown: the triangle corresponds to the p side.
See also: pn diode and Diode Semiconductor diodes
A pn junction is a boundary or interface between two types of semiconductor material, p-type
and n-type, inside a single crystal of semiconductor. It is created by doping, for example by ion
implantation, diffusion of dopants, or by epitaxy (growing a layer of crystal doped with one type
of dopant on top of a layer of crystal doped with another type of dopant). If two separate pieces
of material were used, this would introduce a grain boundary between the semiconductors that
would severely inhibit its utility by scattering the electrons and holes.[citation needed]
pn junctions are elementary "building blocks" of most semiconductor electronic devices such as
diodes, transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and integrated circuits; they are the active sites where the
electronic action of the device takes place. For example, a common type of transistor, the bipolar
junction transistor, consists of two pn junctions in series, in the form npn or pnp.
The discovery of the pn junction is usually attributed to American physicist Russell Ohl of Bell
Laboratories.[1]
A Schottky junction is a special case of a pn junction, where metal serves the role of the p-type
semiconductor.

Contents

1 Properties of a pn junction

2 Equilibrium (zero bias)

3 Forward bias

4 Reverse bias

5 Governing Equations

o 5.1 Size of depletion region

o 5.2 Current across depletion region

6 Summary

7 Non-rectifying junctions

8 See also

9 References

10 Further reading

11 External links

Properties of a pn junction
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Image silicon atoms (Si) enlarged about 45,000,000x.

The pn junction possesses some interesting properties that have useful applications in modern
electronics. A p-doped semiconductor is relatively conductive. The same is true of an n-doped
semiconductor, but the junction between them can become depleted of charge carriers, and hence
non-conductive, depending on the relative voltages of the two semiconductor regions. By
manipulating this non-conductive layer, pn junctions are commonly used as diodes: circuit
elements that allow a flow of electricity in one direction but not in the other (opposite) direction.
Bias is the application of a voltage across a p-n junction; forward bias is in the direction of easy
current flow, and reverse bias is in the direction of little or no current flow.

Equilibrium (zero bias)

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In a pn junction, without an external applied voltage, an equilibrium condition is reached in

which a potential difference is formed across the junction. This potential difference is called
built-in potential
.
After joining p-type and n-type semiconductors, electrons from the n region near the pn
interface tend to diffuse into the p region. As electrons diffuse, they leave positively charged ions
(donors) in the n region. Likewise, holes from the p-type region near the pn interface begin to
diffuse into the n-type region, leaving fixed ions (acceptors) with negative charge. The regions
nearby the pn interfaces lose their neutrality and become charged, forming the space charge
region or depletion layer (see figure A).

Figure A. A pn junction in thermal equilibrium with zero-bias voltage applied. Electron and
hole concentration are reported with blue and red lines, respectively. Gray regions are chargeneutral. Light-red zone is positively charged. Light-blue zone is negatively charged. The electric
field is shown on the bottom, the electrostatic force on electrons and holes and the direction in
which the diffusion tends to move electrons and holes.
The electric field created by the space charge region opposes the diffusion process for both
electrons and holes. There are two concurrent phenomena: the diffusion process that tends to
generate more space charge, and the electric field generated by the space charge that tends to
counteract the diffusion. The carrier concentration profile at equilibrium is shown in figure A
with blue and red lines. Also shown are the two counterbalancing phenomena that establish
equilibrium.

Figure B. A pn junction in thermal equilibrium with zero-bias voltage applied. Under the
junction, plots for the charge density, the electric field, and the voltage are reported.
The space charge region is a zone with a net charge provided by the fixed ions (donors or
acceptors) that have been left uncovered by majority carrier diffusion. When equilibrium is
reached, the charge density is approximated by the displayed step function. In fact, the region is
completely depleted of majority carriers (leaving a charge density equal to the net doping level),
and the edge between the space charge region and the neutral region is quite sharp (see figure B,
Q(x) graph). The space charge region has the same magnitude of charge on both sides of the pn
interfaces, thus it extends farther on the less doped side in this example (the n side in figures A
and B).

Forward bias

In forward bias, the p-type is connected with the positive terminal and the n-type is connected
with the negative terminal.

PN junction operation in forward-bias mode, showing reducing depletion width. Both p and n
junctions are doped at a 1e15/cm3 doping level, leading to built-in potential of ~0.59 V.
Reducing depletion width can be inferred from the shrinking charge profile, as fewer dopants are
exposed with increasing forward bias.
With a battery connected this way, the holes in the P-type region and the electrons in the N-type
region are pushed toward the junction. This reduces the width of the depletion zone. The positive
potential applied to the P-type material repels the holes, while the negative potential applied to
the N-type material repels the electrons. As electrons and holes are pushed toward the junction,
the distance between them decreases. This lowers the barrier in potential. With increasing
forward-bias voltage, the depletion zone eventually becomes thin enough that the zone's electric
field cannot counteract charge carrier motion across the pn junction, as a consequence reducing
electrical resistance. The electrons that cross the pn junction into the P-type material (or holes
that cross into the N-type material) will diffuse in the near-neutral region. Therefore, the amount
of minority diffusion in the near-neutral zones determines the amount of current that may flow
through the diode.
Only majority carriers (electrons in N-type material or holes in P-type) can flow through a
semiconductor for a macroscopic length. With this in mind, consider the flow of electrons across
the junction. The forward bias causes a force on the electrons pushing them from the N side
toward the P side. With forward bias, the depletion region is narrow enough that electrons can
cross the junction and inject into the P-type material. However, they do not continue to flow
through the P-type material indefinitely, because it is energetically favorable for them to

recombine with holes. The average length an electron travels through the P-type material before
recombining is called the diffusion length, and it is typically on the order of micrometers.[2]
Although the electrons penetrate only a short distance into the P-type material, the electric
current continues uninterrupted, because holes (the majority carriers) begin to flow in the
opposite direction. The total current (the sum of the electron and hole currents) is constant in
space, because any variation would cause charge buildup over time (this is Kirchhoff's current
law). The flow of holes from the P-type region into the N-type region is exactly analogous to the
flow of electrons from N to P (electrons and holes swap roles and the signs of all currents and
voltages are reversed).
Therefore, the macroscopic picture of the current flow through the diode involves electrons
flowing through the N-type region toward the junction, holes flowing through the P-type region
in the opposite direction toward the junction, and the two species of carriers constantly
recombining in the vicinity of the junction. The electrons and holes travel in opposite directions,
but they also have opposite charges, so the overall current is in the same direction on both sides
of the diode, as required.
The Shockley diode equation models the forward-bias operational characteristics of a pn
junction outside the avalanche (reverse-biased conducting) region.

Reverse bias
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A silicon pn junction in reverse bias.

Connecting the P-type region to the negative terminal of the battery and the N-type region to the
positive terminal corresponds to reverse bias. If a diode is reverse-biased, the voltage at the
cathode is comparatively higher than the anode. Therefore, no current will flow until the diode
breaks down. The connections are illustrated in the diagram to the right.
Because the p-type material is now connected to the negative terminal of the power supply, the
'holes' in the P-type material are pulled away from the junction, causing the width of the
depletion zone to increase. Likewise, because the N-type region is connected to the positive
terminal, the electrons will also be pulled away from the junction. Therefore, the depletion region
widens, and does so increasingly with increasing reverse-bias voltage. This increases the voltage
barrier causing a high resistance to the flow of charge carriers, thus allowing minimal electric

current to cross the pn junction. The increase in resistance of the pn junction results in the
junction behaving as an insulator.
The strength of the depletion zone electric field increases as the reverse-bias voltage increases.
Once the electric field intensity increases beyond a critical level, the pn junction depletion zone
breaks down and current begins to flow, usually by either the Zener or the avalanche breakdown
processes. Both of these breakdown processes are non-destructive and are reversible, as long as
the amount of current flowing does not reach levels that cause the semiconductor material to
overheat and cause thermal damage.
This effect is used to one's advantage in Zener diode regulator circuits. Zener diodes have a
certain low breakdown voltage. A standard value for breakdown voltage is for instance 5.6 V.
This means that the voltage at the cathode can never be more than 5.6 V higher than the voltage
at the anode, because the diode will break down and therefore conduct if the voltage gets any
higher. This in effect regulates the voltage over the diode.
Another application of reverse biasing is Varicap diodes, where the width of the depletion zone
(controlled with the reverse bias voltage) changes the capacitance of the diode.

Governing Equations
Size of depletion region
See also: Band bending
For a pn junction, letting

and

be the concentrations of acceptor and donor atoms

respectively, and letting

and
be the equilibrium concentrations of electrons and
holes respectively, yields, by Poisson's equation:

where is the electric potential, is the charge density, is permittivity and is the magnitude of
the electron charge. Letting be the width of the depletion region within the p-side, and letting
be the width of the depletion region within the n-side, it must be that

because the total charge on either side of the depletion region must cancel out. Therefore, letting
and
represent the entire depletion region and the potential difference across it,

Where
, because we are in the depletion region. And thus, letting be the total
width of the depletion region, we get

Where
can be written as
, where we have broken up the voltage difference
into the equilibrium plus external components. The equilibrium potential results from diffusion
forces, and thus we can calculate
by implementing the Einstein relation and assuming the
semiconductor is nondegenerate (i.e. the product
is independent of the Fermi energy):

where T is the temperature of the semiconductor and k is Boltzmann constant.[3]

Current across depletion region

The Shockley ideal diode equation characterizes the current across a p-n junction as a function of
external voltage and ambient conditions (temperature, choice of semiconductor, etc.). To see how
it can be derived, we must examine the various reasons for current. The convention is that the
forward (+) direction be pointed against the diode's built-in potential gradient at equilibrium.

Forward Current (

o Diffusion Current: current due to local imbalances in carrier concentration

the equation

Reverse Current (

o Field Current
o Generation Current

Summary

, via

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The forward-bias and the reverse-bias properties of the pn junction imply that it can be used as
a diode. A pn junction diode allows electric charges to flow in one direction, but not in the
opposite direction; negative charges (electrons) can easily flow through the junction from n to p
but not from p to n, and the reverse is true for holes. When the pn junction is forward-biased,
electric charge flows freely due to reduced resistance of the pn junction. When the pn junction
is reverse-biased, however, the junction barrier (and therefore resistance) becomes greater and
charge flow is minimal.

Non-rectifying junctions
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In the above diagrams, contact between the metal wires and the semiconductor material also
creates metalsemiconductor junctions called Schottky diodes. In a simplified ideal situation a
semiconductor diode would never function, since it would be composed of several diodes
connected back-to-front in series. But, in practice, surface impurities within the part of the
semiconductor that touches the metal terminals will greatly reduce the width of those depletion
layers to such an extent that the metal-semiconductor junctions do not act as diodes. These nonrectifying junctions behave as ohmic contacts regardless of applied voltage polarity.