VI Characteristic of PN Junction Diode — Notes For Engineering
Volt-Ampere or VI characteristic of PN junction diode is the relationship between voltage across the diode and the current through the diode. The relationship between voltage and current of a diode is mathematically given by
Where,
I D= Diode current
V D= Diode voltage
V T= Thermal voltage
I S= Reverse saturation current
n= Function of VD whose value depends on the material 1<=n<=2
K= Boltzmann’s constant=1.38*10^-23 J/K
T= Temperature in kelvin
Q= Electron charge=1.67*10^-19 Coulombs
The above equation shows that with increase in diode voltage V D, the diode current I D increases. The relationship between I D and V D is exponential. This relationship of the voltage and the current is shown in the characteristics curve below.
Forward Biasing
With the application of forward biasing voltage on the PN junction diode, the depletion width gets narrower. This will provide a low impedance path through the junction thereby allowing high current to flow. Very small current starts to flow across the diode when the forward biased voltage is greater then the junction barrier potential. The junction barrier potential is approximately 0.7V for Si (Silicon) and 0.3V for Ge (Germanium). The voltage at which current increases abruptly is known as knee voltage. Theoretically, diode can conduct infinite current above this knee point and can effectively become short circuit, therefore resistor are used in series with diode to limit its current flow. Beyond the knee point the V-I characteristic curve is almost linear and the potential barrier is completely eliminated.
Reverse Biasing
When the PN junction is reverse biased, the size of the depletion width increases along with the barrier potential. Hence a PN junction in reverse biased region offers very high impedance to the flow of current and there is no possibility of flow of majority charge carriers. But the minority charge carriers contribute to the flow of small amount of current. This current is known as reverse saturation current (I S). -V Z on the reverse biased region is the reverse breakdown voltage above which diode will operate in reverse breakdown region with flow of very high amount of current.
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Originally published at https://www.notesforengineering.com on November 20, 2020.