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p–n junctions represent the simplest case of a semiconductor electronic device; a p-n junction by itself, when connected on both sides to a circuit, is a diode. More complex circuit components can be created by further combinations of p-type and n-type semiconductors; for example, the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is a semiconductor in ...
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]
A p–n diode is a type of semiconductor diode based upon the p–n junction. The diode conducts current in only one direction, and it is made by joining a p-type semiconducting layer to an n-type semiconducting layer. Semiconductor diodes have multiple uses including rectification of alternating current to direct current, in the detection of ...
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).
Unlike other semiconductor diodes, the Shockley diode has more than one p–n junction. The construction includes four sections of semiconductors placed alternately between the anode and cathode in the pattern of PNPN. Though it has multiple junctions, it is termed a diode for being a two-terminal device.
The model of a forward biased pn junction having an approximately constant 0.7V is also a much used approximation for transistor base-emitter junction voltage in amplifier design. The piecewise method is similar to the small signal method in that linear network analysis techniques can only be applied if the signal stays within certain bounds.
At the junction of two different types of the same semiconductor (e.g., p-n junction) the bands vary continuously since the dopants are sparsely distributed and only perturb the system. At the junction of two different semiconductors there is a sharp shift in band energies from one material to the other; the band alignment at the junction (e.g ...
For example, resistors, capacitors, and inductors are linear, while diodes and transistors are nonlinear. An I–V curve which is a straight line through the origin with positive slope represents a linear or ohmic resistor, the most common type of resistance encountered in circuits.