Lecture 13

OUTLINE
• pn Junction Diodes (cont’d)
– Charge control model
– Small-signal model
– Transient response: turn-off

Reading: Pierret 6.3.1, 7, 8.1; Hu 4.4, 4.10-4.11

 Minority-Carrier Charge Storage
• Under forward bias (VA > 0), excess minority carriers are
stored in the quasi-neutral regions of a pn junction:
 
QN  qA n p ( x)dx QP  qA pn ( x)dx
xp xn

 qAn p ( x p ) LN  qApn ( xn ) LP

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 2

Derivation of Charge Control Model
Consider the n quasi-neutral region of a forward-biased pn junction:
•The minority carrier diffusion equation is (assuming GL=0):
pn  2 pn pn
 DP 
t x 2
p
p n
•Since the electric field is very small, J P  qDP x

(qpn ) J qpn
•Therefore  P 
t x p

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 3

 Derivation Assuming a Long Base
• Integrating over the n quasi-neutral region:

    J P ()
1   
qA  pn dx    A  dJ P  qA  pn dx 
t  xn  J p ( xn )
p  xn 

J P ()

• Note that  A  dJ
J p ( xn )
P   AJ P ()  AJ P ( xn )  AJ P ( xn )  I P ( xn )

dQP QP
• So  I P ( xn ) 
dt p

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 4

 Charge Control Model
We can calculate pn-junction current in 2 ways:
1. From slopes of np(-xp) and pn(xn)
2. From steady-state charges QN, QP stored in each excess-
minority-charge distribution:
dQP QP
 I P ( xn )  0
dt τp
QP
 I P ( xn ) 
τp
 QN
Similarly, I N ( x p ) 
τn
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 5
Charge Control Model for Narrow Base
• For a narrow-base diode, replace p and/or n by
the minority-carrier transit time tr
– time required for minority carrier to travel across the quasi-
neutral region
– For holes in narrow n-side:
WN 1
QP  qA pn ( x)dx  qA pn ( xn )WN
xn 2
dpn pn ( xn )
I P  AJ P  qADP  qADP
dx WN
QP WN 
2
 τ tr , p  
IP 2 DP
WP 
2

– Similarly, for electrons in narrow p-side: τ tr ,n 

2 DN
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 6
 Charge Control Model Summary
• Under forward bias, minority-carrier charge is stored in the
quasi-neutral regions of a pn diode.

– Long base: QN  qA

ni2 qVA / kT
NA
e 
 1 LN 
QP  qA
ND
e 
ni2 qVA / kT
 1 LP 

– Narrow base: QN  qA

1 ni2 qVA / kT
2 NA
e 
 1 WP 
QP  qA
1 ni2 qVA / kT
2 ND
e 
 1 WN 
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 7
• The steady-state diode current can be viewed as the
charge supply required to compensate for charge loss
via recombination (for long base) or collection at the
contacts (for narrow base).

– Long base (both sides): I 

 QN QP

τn τp
 QN QP
– Narrow base (both sides): I  
τtr ,n τtr , p

where τ tr ,n 
WP 
2
and τ tr , p 
WN 
2

2 DN 2 DP

LN DN L D
Note that  and P  P
τn LN τ p LP
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 8
 Small-Signal Model of the Diode
i

+
va dva
i  C v
R dt


1 dI DC d d
  I 0 (e qVA / kT
 1)  I 0 e qVA / kT
R dVA dVA dVA
Small-signal
1 q I DC
conductance: G   I 0e qVA / kT

R kT kT / q
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 9
Charge Storage in pn Junction Diode

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 10

pn Junction Small-Signal Capacitance
2 types of capacitance associated with a pn junction:
dQdep
depletion capacitance CJ 
 due to variation of depletion charge dVA
dQ
diffusion capacitance CD 
dVA
–due to variation of stored
minority charge in the quasi-neutral regions

For a one-sided p+n junction Q = QP + QN  QP so

dQP dI τ p I DC
CD   τp  τ pG 
dVA dVA kT / q
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 11
 Depletion Capacitance

dQdep s
CJ  A
dVA W

What are three ways to reduce CJ?

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 12

 Total pn-Junction Capacitance
C = CD + CJ
s
CD 
τI DC
kT / q

 e qVA / kT  1  CJ  A
W

•CD dominates at moderate to high forward biases

•CJ dominates at low forward biases, reverse biases

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 13

Using C-V Data to Determine Doping
1 W2 2(Vbi  VA )
 2 2  2
CJ
2
A s A q S N

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 14

 Example
If the slope of the (1/C)2 vs. VA characteristic is -2x1023 F-2 V-1,
the intercept is 0.84V, and A is 1 mm2, find the dopant
concentration Nl on the more lightly doped side and the
dopant concentration Nh on the more heavily doped side.

Solution: N l  2 /( slope  q s A2 )
 2 /( 2 10 1.6 10
23 19
10 12

 10 )
8 2

 6 1015 cm 3
2 qV 0.84
kT N h Nl ni kTb i 10 20 0.026 3
Vbi  ln  N  e  e  1. 8  1018
cm
6 1015
2 h
q ni Nl

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 15

 Small-Signal Model Summary
C  C J  CD

I DC  I 0 (e qVA / kT  1)

A s
Depletion capacitance CJ 
W I DC
Conductance G 
τI DC kT / q
Diffusion capacitance CD 
kT / q

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 16

 Transient Response of pn Diode
• Suppose a pn-diode is forward biased, then suddenly turned
off at time t = 0. Because of CD, the voltage across the pn
junction depletion region cannot be changed instantaneously.

The time delay in switching between

the FORWARD-bias and REVERSE-bias
states is due to the time required to
change the amount of excess minority
carriers stored in the quasi-neutral regions.

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 17

 Turn-Off Transient
• In order to turn the diode off, the excess minority
carriers must be removed by net carrier flow out of
the quasi-neutral regions and/or recombination
– Carrier flow is limited by the switching circuitry

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 18

 Decay of Stored Charge
Consider a p+n diode (Qp >> Qn):
pn(x) i(t)

ts
t

vA(t)

dpn i t
For t > 0:  0 ts
dx x  xn qAD p
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 19
 Storage Delay Time, ts
• ts is the primary “figure of merit” used to characterize the
transient response of pn junction diodes
dQ p Qp  Qp 
i   I R   0  t  ts
dt τp  τ 
 p 
• By separation of variables and integration from t = 0+ to t = ts,
noting that I F  Q p (t  0) / τ p

and making the approximation Q p (t  t s )  0

 IF 
We conclude that t s  τ p ln 1  
 IR 
EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 20
 Qualitative Examples
Illustrate how the turn-off transient response would change:

Increase IF Increase IR Decrease p

i(t) i(t) i(t)

ts ts ts
t t t

EE130/230M Spring 2013 Lecture 13, Slide 21