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What is a semiconductor
Semiconductors are materials whose conductivity is
between conductors and insulators
They have conductivity better than insulators and
lower than that of conductors at room temperature
Some common semiconductors are
Elemental (Si-Silicon, Ge –Germanium)
Compound (Ga As-Gallium arsenide, GaP - Gallium
phosphide, Aluminum arsenide , Indium Phosphide)
Intrinsic and Extrinsic
Intrinsic semiconductors are pure semiconductors
without any added impurities
Extrinsic semiconductors are semiconductors with
added elements called impurities
The process of adding impurities to an intrinsic
semiconductor to change its electrical characterisitcs
is called Doping
ENERGY LEVELS INSIDE ATOMS
We knows that electrons and holes are mobile charge carriers where as
ions are immobile
The holes from P region diffuse to N region where they combine with
free electrons
The electrons from N region diffuse to P region where they combine
with holes
The diffusion of holes and electrons take place due to the difference in
concentration in the two regions. Ie P region has more no of holes and
N region has more no of electrons. The difference of concentration
creaes a concentration gradient across the junction. this result in
diffusion of charge carriers across the junction
This diffusion of holes and electrons across the junction takes place for
a short time. The hole reaching the N region combine with electrons
leaving behind unbalanced +ve ions. The holes which reach the P
region near the junction combine with electrons there and leaving
behind un balanced –ve ions . So a depletion region is formed near the
junction containing no mobile charge carriers.
Further movement of charge carriers are repelled by the
unbalance ions in the depletion region
Positive Donor ions in the depletion region of N type
material repel the holes from P region and Negative
acceptor ions in the depletion region of P type material
will repel electrons from N region.
Additional holes trying to diffuse to N region are repelled
by positive charge of donor ions near the junction in the
depletion region
Similarly addition electrons trying to diffuse to P region are
repelled by negative charge of acceptor ions
The depletion region is also called as space charge region
BARRIER POTENTIAL
The depletion layer of a PN junction has no mobile
charge carriers and it contains oppositely charged ions
on its two sides. Because of this charge separation an
electric potential is established across the junction
even when the junction is not connected to external
voltage source. This electric potential is called Barrier
potential VB=0.7 for Si and 0.3 for Ge
PN junction forward
biased
When we connect the positive terminal of the battery to P side
and Negative terminal to N side of a PN junction. the junction is
said to be forward biased.This reduces the barrier potential
When the applied voltage is grater than the barrier potential ie
>0.7v for Si and >0.3v for Ge the current start to flow through the
junction
When junction is forward biased holes are repelled by positive
terminal of the battery and moves towards the junction. similary
electrons are repelled from the negative terminal of the battery
and drift towards the junction. this reduces barrier potential and
majoriy carriers diffuse across the junction.these carriers
recombine and cause movement of carriers in depletion region
Cont….
For each recombination of free electron hole that
occures an electron from the negative terminal of the
battery enters the N-type material and drift towards
the junction
Similarly in P type material near the positive terminal
of the battery an electron breaks a bond in the crystal
and enters the positive terminal of the battery.for each
electron that breaks a bond a hole is created. the hole
drift towards the junction and recombine. Note that
there is a continuous flow of current in the external
circuit
.
Next, if the input pulse becomes negative in nature, then
the top and the bottom of the primary winding will acquire
the negative and the positive polarities respectively. This
causes the bottom of the secondary winding to become
positive while its center-tapped terminal will become
negative. Thus the diode D2gets forward biased while the
D1 will get reverse biased which allows the flow of current
as shown in the Figure 2b.
Here the most important thing to note is the fact that the
direction in which the current flows via RL will be identical
in either case (both for positive as well as for negative input
pulses). Thus we get the positive output pulse even for the
case of negative input pulse (Figure 3), which indicates that
both the half cycles of the input AC are rectified.
BRIDGE RECTIFIER
Bridge Rectifiers are the circuits which convert
alternating current (AC) into direct current (DC) using
the diodes arranged in the bridge circuit configuration.
They usually comprise of four diodes which cause the
output generated to be of the same polarity
irrespective of the polarity at the input.
Now consider the case wherein the positive pulse
appears at the AC input i.e. the terminal A is positive
while the terminal B is negative. This causes the
diodes D1 and D3 to get forward biased and at the same
time, the diodes D2 and D4 will be reverse biased.
As a result, the current flows along the short-circuited
path created by the diodes D1 and D3 (considering the
diodes to be ideal), as shown by Figure 2a. Thus
the voltage developed across the load resistor RL will
be positive towards the end connected to terminal D
and negative at the end connected to the terminal C.
Next if the negative pulse appears at the AC input, then the
terminals A and B are negative and positive respectively.
This forward biases the diodes D2 and D4, while reverse
biasing D1 and D3 which causes the current to flow in the
direction shown by Figure 2b.
At this instant, one has to note that the polarity of the
voltage developed across RL is identical to that produced
when the incoming AC pulse was positive in nature. This
means that for both positive and negative pulse, the output
of the bridge rectifier will be identical in polarity as shown
by the wave forms in Figure 3.
Performance of Full wave rectifier
PIV = Vm
Ripple factor=
Vrms= Vm/√2
Vdc=(2Vm)/П
Ripple factor =0.48
Rectification efficiency Pac/Pdc =81.2%