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Diffusion and Drift currents in forward bias

Physics Asked by Nanda Sinha on December 6, 2020

Why do the current in diode in forward bias configuration called “Diffusion current” even if this current is a resultant of external voltage supply which create electric field in diode ,hence should be called drift current? I also acknowledge that there is concentration gradient as P side is full of holes and N side is full of electrons but do you think diffusion should be even considered where strong electric field due to bias voltage due to battery is present there ?

One Answer

You are right that there are both drift and diffusion currents in the pn-diode. However, due to current continuity in the one-dimensional diode model, the total current (electrons and holes) can be described as the sum of the minority diffusion currents in the quasi-neutral p- and n-regions at the respective depletion zone boundaries. This corresponds to the so-called Shockley model of the diode, which works pretty well at not to high voltages when recombination/generation in the depletion zone can be neglected.

Answered by freecharly on December 6, 2020

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