Chapter 16: Diodes vocab

Semiconductor

A material whose electrical conductivity can be controlled by doping or electrical conditions.

Pure Silicon

Silicon without intentional impurities; it conducts poorly at room temperature.

Doping

Adding small amounts of impurities to a semiconductor to control its conductivity.

Impurity Atom

An atom intentionally added to a semiconductor during doping.

N-Type Silicon

Silicon doped with donor atoms so electrons are the main mobile charge carriers.

P-Type Silicon

Silicon doped with acceptor atoms so holes are the main mobile charge carriers.

Donor Atom

A dopant atom that provides an extra mobile electron to silicon.

Acceptor Atom

A dopant atom that creates a hole in silicon’s bonding structure.

Electron

A negatively charged particle that can act as a mobile charge carrier.

Hole

An apparent positive charge carrier representing a missing electron.

Majority Carrier

The type of mobile charge carrier present in greatest quantity in a semiconductor.

P-N Junction

The boundary formed where p-type and n-type semiconductor materials meet.

Semiconductor Diode

A p-n junction device that conducts mainly in one direction.

Forward Bias

A diode condition where the p-side is more positive than the n-side, allowing current flow.

Reverse Bias

A diode condition where the n-side is more positive than the p-side, blocking most current.

Ideal Diode

A simplified diode model that acts as either a perfect short circuit or a perfect open circuit.

Diode ON State

The conducting diode state modeled as a short circuit.

Diode OFF State

The nonconducting diode state modeled as an open circuit.

Assumed Diode States Method

A method that analyzes a diode circuit by testing possible ON and OFF diode combinations.

Piecewise-Linear Model

A nonlinear-device model made from separate straight-line regions.

Subcircuit

One simpler circuit created by choosing a particular diode state.

State Consistency Check

Checking whether a solved circuit result agrees with the ON/OFF states that were assumed.

Thermal Voltage

A temperature-dependent voltage in the exponential diode equation.

Reverse Saturation Current

The very small diode current scale used in the exponential diode model.

Diode Threshold Model

A model that treats a conducting silicon diode as having an approximately constant voltage drop.

Diode Resistance Model

A model that includes a threshold voltage and a small series resistance for an ON diode.