Experiment No. 4 Aim: Apparatus
Experiment No. 4 Aim: Apparatus
Experiment No. 4 Aim: Apparatus
Circuit Diagram:
Theory:
Electrical conduction in semiconductor materials occurs when free charge carriers e.g. electrons are
available in the material when an electric field is applied in certain semiconductors. Photoconductive cells
are elements whose conductivity is a function of incident electromagnetic radiation. Since, resistance of
these materials decrease with increase in incident light, therefore these materials are also called Light
Dependent Resistor or LDR. Commercially available photoconductive cell materials are cadmium sulphide
(CdS) and cadmium solenoid (CdSe) with band gap of 2.42eV & 1.74 eV respectively. On account of the
large energy bands, both the materials have a very high resistivity at ambient temperature which gives a
very high value of resistance for practical purposes .The photoconductive cells use a special type of
construction which minimizes resistance while providing maximum surface. Photoconductive cells are
made by chemically sintering the required powder into tablets of the protective envelope of glass or plastic.
Electrons are deposited on the tablet surface and are made of materials which give an ohmic contact, but
with low resistance compared with that of the photoconductor. The electrodes usually in the form of
interlocked fingers as shown below:
The characteristics of a photoconductive cell vary considerably depending upon the type of
material used. When the cell is kept in darkness its resistance is called Dark Resistance. The dark resistance
may be as high as 1010 Ω. If the cell is illuminated its resistance decreases. The resistance depends on the
physical character of photoconductive layer as well as on the dimensions of the cell and its geometric
configuration. The current depends upon the electricity voltage applied and it is of the order of the mA.
When using photoconductive cell for a particular application it is important to select the proper dark
resistance, as well as suitable sensitivity, The sensitivity is defined as
Result:
Precaution: