Practice portal › Semiconductor Electronics › p-n Junction Formation
Asked in GUJCET 2011 · Depletion region and barrier potential
Idea: an unbiased p-n junction already carries a built-in potential barrier, the n-side standing at a higher potential than the p-side.
Reverse bias puts the battery's positive terminal on the n-side and its negative terminal on the p-side, so the applied field inside the junction points the same way as the built-in field.
The two add, so the potential step across the junction grows and the depletion region widens.
With a taller barrier almost no majority carrier has the energy to cross, and the only current left is the tiny drift of minority carriers.
So reverse bias raises the potential barrier.
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