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The saturation current (or scale current), more accurately the reverse saturation current, is the part of the reverse current in a semiconductor diode caused by diffusion of minority carriers from the neutral regions to the depletion region. This current is almost independent of the reverse voltage. [1]
Shockley derives an equation for the voltage across a p-n junction in a long article published in 1949. [2] Later he gives a corresponding equation for current as a function of voltage under additional assumptions, which is the equation we call the Shockley ideal diode equation. [3]
The effect of reverse saturation current on the I-V curve of a crystalline silicon solar cell are shown in the figure to the right. Physically, reverse saturation current is a measure of the "leakage" of carriers across the p–n junction in reverse bias.
is the reverse saturation current, the current that flows when the diode is reverse biased (that is, is large and negative). n {\displaystyle n} is an ideality factor introduced to model a slower rate of increase than predicted by the ideal diode law.
Reverse biased: For a bias between breakdown and 0 V, the reverse current is very small and asymptotically approaches -I s. For a normal P–N rectifier diode, the reverse current through the device is in the micro-ampere (μA) range. However, this is temperature dependent, and at sufficiently high temperatures, a substantial amount of reverse ...
The Shockley diode equation relates the diode current of a p-n junction diode to the diode voltage .This relationship is the diode I-V characteristic: = (), where is the saturation current or scale current of the diode (the magnitude of the current that flows for negative in excess of a few , typically 10 −12 A).
In this case, the net current flows from the N-side to the P-side. The carrier density (mostly, minority carriers) is small and only a very small reverse saturation current flows. Determining the depletion layer width
Designers must rely on a diode's specification sheet, which primarily provides a maximum forward voltage drop at one or more forward currents, a reverse leakage current (or saturation current), and a maximum reverse voltage limited by Zener or avalanche breakdown. Effects of temperature and process variation are usually included. Typical examples: