Professional Documents
Culture Documents
As with all of these lecture slides, I am indebted to Dr. Dieter Schroder from Arizona State University for his generous contributions and freely given resources. Most of (>80%) the figures/slides in this lecture came from Dieter. Some of these figures are copyrighted and can be found within the class text, Semiconductor Device and Materials Characterization. Every serious microelectronics student should have a copy of this book!
Diodes
PN Junction Diodes Current - Voltage Series Resistance Schottky Diodes
PN Junction Diodes
The current in a Si pn junction diode at room temperature is due to recombination in the space-charge region, Iscr, and the quasi-neutral regions, Iqnr
q (V Irs ) q (V Irs ) exp 1 + Io ,qnr exp I = Io ,scr n kT n kT 1 scr qnr
100
Current (A)
10-2 10-4 10-6 10-8 scr 10-10 10-12 0 Io,scr Io,qnr 0.2 0.4 0.6
qV I = Io exp nkT
Slope =
0.8 1
1 d log I = ln 10 nkT q dV
Voltage (V)
ECE 4813 Dr. Alan Doolittle
I + V _
rs + Vd _
100
Current (A)
10-2 10-4 10-6 10-8 scr 10-10 10-12 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 qnr
V = Irs
0.8
Voltage (V)
ECE 4813 Dr. Alan Doolittle
Diode Resistance
I/gd (V)
0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 Slope = rs Intercept = nkT/q 0.2 0.4 0.6
Diode conductance
gd = I (1 rs gd ) nkT q
0.8
gd 1 rs gd = I nkT q
gd/I (V-1)
I nkT = + Irs gd q
Current (A)
40 30 Slope = qrs/nkT 20 10 Intercept = 1/rs 0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 Intercept = q/nkT
gd (S)
ECE 4813 Dr. Alan Doolittle
Schottky barrier diodes have I-V curves very similar to pn junction diodes The turn-on voltage can be controlled more than that of pn diodes because the barrier height can be controlled somewhat I = I s (e qV nkT 1); I s = AA*T 2e q kT
B
* * A* = 4qk 2 mn h 3 = 120(m0 mn ) A / cm 2K 2
Richardson Constant
Ec EF
Ec
Ev
EF Ev
1); I s = AA*T 2e q
kT
Want n, A* and B
Current - Voltage
log I = log IS + qV nkT ln 10 V = 0 intercept I = IS
10-5
Current (A)
10-7
Slope = 1/2.3nkT/q
10-9
Intercept = IS
kT AA*T 2 B = ln q IS
10-11 0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
Need to know A*
B and A*
J/T2 (A/cm2K2)
q (B V n ) ln (J T ) = ln A kT
2 *
J = A*T 2 exp( q (B V n ) kT )
10-6
Intercept = A*
10-7
Slope= -q(B-V/n)/2.3k
1/T = 0 intercept = A*
3.3 10-3
1/T (K-1)
Barrier height can be determined from I-V or I-T plots Forward-biased current is very sensitive to barrier height If barrier height non-uniform, the lowest barrier height regions dominate Series resistance is important
101 101
Current (A)
Current (A)
0.6 V
B=0.7 V
B=0.7 V, rs=0.1
Vbi Vo Ec EF Ei
Slope ND
Slope =
(A/C)2 (cm4/F2)
2 qK s 0ND
Intercept B
B = Vbi + Vo
Vo = EG q E i / q F
Slope
Review Questions
Why is the I-V curve a straight line on a semilog plot? Why does a Si diode logI V curve have two slopes? How does series resistance affect the diode current? How is the barrier height of Schottky diodes determined? Why can the Schottky diode barrier heights be different when determined from I-V or C-V data?