What is a Diode?

A diode is defined as a two-terminal electronic component that only

conducts current in one direction (so long as it is operated within a specified
voltage level). An ideal diode will have zero resistance in one direction, and
infinite resistance in the reverse direction.

Although in the real world, diodes cannot achieve zero or infinite resistance.
Instead, a diode will have negligible resistance in one direction (to allow
current flow), and very high resistance in the reverse direction (to prevent
current flow).

“forward biased” When voltage is applied across a diode in such a way that
the diode allows current, the diode is said to be forward-biased.

“reverse biased” When voltage is applied across a diode in such a way that
the diode prohibits current, the diode is said to be reverse-biased. Silicon
diodes have a forward voltage of approximately 0.7 volts. Above this range,
the reverse barrier breaks. The voltage at which this breakdown occurs is
called the “reverse breakdown voltage”.
When the voltage of the circuit is higher than the reverse breakdown voltage,
the diode is able to conduct electricity in the reverse direction

PN junction is the simplest form of the semiconductor diode. In ideal

conditions, this PN junction behaves as a short circuit when it is forward
biased, and as an open circuit when it is in the reverse biased. The name diode
is derived from “di–ode” which means a device that has two electrodes.

Diode Symbol
The symbol of a diode is shown below. The arrowhead points in the direction
of conventional current flow in the forward biased condition. That means the
anode is connected to the p side and the cathode is connected to the n side.

We can create a simple PN junction diode by doping pentavalent or donor

impurity in one portion and trivalent or acceptor impurity in the other portion
of silicon or germanium crystal block.
These doping make a PN junction in the middle part of the block. We can also
form a PN junction by joining a p-type semiconductor and n-type
semiconductor together with a special fabrication technique. The terminal
connected to the p-type is the anode. The terminal connected to the n-type
side is the cathode.
Working Principle of Diode

A diode’s working principle depends on the interaction of n-type and p-type

semiconductors. An n-type semiconductor has plenty of free electrons and a
very few numbers of holes. In other words, we can say that the concentration
of free electrons is high and that of holes is very low in an n-type
semiconductor.

Free electrons in the n-type semiconductor are referred to as majority charge

carriers, and holes in the n-type semiconductor are referred to as minority
charge carriers.

A p-type semiconductor has a high concentration of holes and a low

concentration of free electrons. Holes in the p-type semiconductor are
majority charge carriers, and free electrons in the p-type semiconductor are
minority charge carriers.

If you’d prefer a video explanation of what a diode is, check out the video
below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Coy-WRCfems

Unbiased Diode
Now let us see what happens when one n-type region and one p-type region
come in contact. Here due to concentration differences, majority carriers
diffuse from one side to another. As the concentration of holes is high in the
p-type region and it is low in the n-type region, the holes start diffusing from
the p-type region to the n-type region.

Again the concentration of free electrons is high in the n-type region and it is
low in the p-type region and due to this reason, free electrons start diffusing
from the n-type region to the p-type region.
The free electrons diffusing into the p-type region from the n-type region
would recombine with holes available there and create uncovered negative
ions in the p-type region. In the same way, the holes diffusing into the n-type
region from the p-type region would recombine with free electrons available
there and create uncovered positive ions in the n-type region.

In this way, there would a layer of negative ions in the p-type side and a layer
of positive ions in the n-type region appear along the junction line of these
two types of semiconductors. The layers of uncovered positive ions and
uncovered negative ions form a region in the middle of the diode where no
charge carrier exists since all the charge carriers get recombined here in this
region. Due to the lack of charge carriers, this region is called the depletion
region.

After the formation of the depletion region, there is no more diffusion of

charge carriers from one side to another in the diode. This is due to the electric
field appeared across the depletion region will prevent further migration of
charge carriers from one side to another.
The potential of the layer of uncovered positive ions in the n-type side would
repeal the holes in the p-type side and the potential of the layer of uncovered
negative ions in the p-type side would repeal the free electrons in the n-type
side. That means a potential barrier is created across the junction to prevent
further diffusion of charge carriers.

Forward Biased Diode

Now let us see what happens if a positive terminal of a source is connected to

the p-type side and the negative terminal of the source is connected to the n-
type side of the diode and if we increase the voltage of this source slowly
from zero.

In the beginning, there is no current flowing through the diode. This is

because although there is an external electrical field applied across the diode,
the majority charge carriers still do not get sufficient influence of the external
field to cross the depletion region. As we told that the depletion region acts as
a potential barrier against the majority charge carriers.

This potential barrier is called forward potential barrier. The majority charge
carriers start crossing the forward potential barrier only when the value of
externally applied voltage across the junction is more than the potential of the
forward barrier. For silicon diodes, the forward barrier potential is 0.7 volt
and for germanium diodes, it is 0.3 volt.

When the externally applied forward voltage across the diode becomes more
than the forward barrier potential, the free majority charge carriers start
crossing the barrier and contribute the forward diode current. In that
situation, the diode would behave as a short-circuited path, and the forward
current gets limited by only externally connected resistors to the diode.
Reverse Biased Diode
Now let us see what happens if we connect the negative terminal of the
voltage source to the p-type side and positive terminal of the voltage source to
the n-type side of the diode. At that condition, due to electrostatic attraction of
the negative potential of the source, the holes in the p-type region would be
shifted more away from the junction leaving more uncovered negative ions at
the junction.

In the same way, the free electrons in the n-type region would be shifted more
away from the junction towards the positive terminal of the voltage source
leaving more uncovered positive ions in the junction.

As a result of this phenomenon, the depletion region becomes wider. This

condition of a diode is called the reverse biased condition. At that condition,
no majority carriers cross the junction, and they instead move away from the
junction. In this way, a diode blocks the flow of current when it is reverse
biased.
As we already told at the beginning of this article that there are always some
free electrons in the p-type semiconductor and some holes in the n-type
semiconductor. These opposite charge carriers in a semiconductor are called
minority charge carriers.

In the reverse biased condition, the holes find themselves in the n-type side
would easily cross the reverse-biased depletion region as the field across the
depletion region does not present rather it helps minority charge carriers to
cross the depletion region.

As a result, there is a tiny current flowing through the diode from positive to
the negative side. The amplitude of this current is very small as the number of
minority charge carriers in the diode is very small. This current is called
reverse saturation current.

If the reverse voltage across a diode gets increased beyond a safe value, due to
higher electrostatic force and due to higher kinetic energy of minority charge
carriers colliding with atoms, a number of covalent bonds get broken to
contribute a huge number of free electron-hole pairs in the diode and the
process is cumulative.

The huge number of such generated charge carriers would contribute a huge
reverse current in the diode. If this current is not limited by an external
resistance connected to the diode circuit, the diode may permanently be
destroyed.
Types of Diode
The types of diode include:
1. Zener diode
2. PN junction diode
3. Tunnel diode
4. Varactor diode
5. Schottky diode
6. Photodiode
7. PIN diode
8. Laser diode
9. Avalanche diode
10. Light emitting diode