Electrical – Confused about higher potential at junction in real(practical) diode

1. Yes, a test positive unit charge will lose energy when it goes across the diode. The actual process of the transfer of energy is a somewhat more statistical thing, though. Thinking about the test charge as a single charge carrier like an electron or hole isn't a very precise thing, although it is sufficient to understand the operation of the diode for most practical uses. The actual transfer of energy is due to a change in the energy level of the unit charge (well, actually, net nechange in energy level of many charge carriers). In steady state, which is where all practical uses of diodes takes place (the physics definition of it - really short time scales), this energy loss comes in two ways. One is resistive, and ends up as heat. This is often described as being due to collisions. The other is the effect of a charge carrier moving from area A to B with different local density of states. There, you'd say the energy goes into the lattice, which ultimately turns up as heat (in steady state). This energy is actually liberated from the lattice as an EM wave with a frequency that works out to contain that much energy. In the case of LEDs, you can actually take the forward drop and calculate the frequencies, which would give you what is essentially the frequency of light emitted. Since diodes are better efficient than not, the frequencies are infrared or less and absorbed by the lattice or casing which ultimately becomes heat. Note that even high speed electronics are usually slow enough to qualify as steady state in this context.

2. The reverse electric field has to be applied from outside. This is where the forward drop voltage of a diode comes in (note that the forward resistance of the diode is more a part of point 1 than 2). The voltage drop that is generated across a diode is basically the energy you need for your test charge to cross the barrier. You may think of it as the toll you pay to get on the highway, and the resistance as the fuel you use to drive your car across it.

3. See 2, and get back to me if it doesn't make sense.

Junction diodes are constructed from a single crystal of semiconductor material that has been altered to form a PN junction.

Semiconductors fall somewhere between the conductors (metallic elements) and non conductors (non metallic elements). Generally speaking pure (intrinsic) semiconductor is an element with 4 electrons in its outer shell and is pretty useless electrically. It is neither a good conductor or a good insulator. The first semiconductors used Germanium. Devices today use Silicon.

The reason semiconductor materials are useful is that we can easily alter their electrical properties (especially conductivity) by adding or DOPING them with (very) small amounts of other elements. These doping atoms fit into the crystal lattice but their different electron structure alters the way electrical current can flow through the material.

Making P type and N type semiconductors.

N type has lots of 'extra' electrons because the dopant had 5 electrons in its outer shell - 1 more than (intrinsic) semiconductor.

Similarly P Type has gaps or HOLES in the outer electron shells because the dopant only as 3 electrons compared to 4 of the (intrinsic) semiconductor.

When the PN junction is made the material in the 'middle' is neither P or N type as all the free charge carriers are swept to one side or the other. This is known as the DEPLETION layer. (a bit like no-man's land between two opposing armies)

This depletion layer is the source of the voltage drop across the diode.

To get current (flow of charge) through the diode the charge has to 'jump over' this barrier (its more technical than that but let's keep it simple). It needs an extra bit of energy to do this.

Now energy is charge x voltage. The value of the charge is fixed - its simply the electronic charge - 1.602 X 10^-19 so the only charges that can cross the barrier must have have energies of more than the barrier. As the charge is fixed and unchangeable we simply talk about the barrier voltage. For Silicon this is about 0.6 volts. For Germanium this is about 0.2 volts.

The barrier acts like a small battery of 0.6V connected in the OPPOSITE direction to the current flow. (Conventional current - positive to negative). You can only measure this when current is flowing through the diode.

Photodiodes can generate actual voltage but that's another matter.

This means that for every diode in the circuit we will lose 0.6V when they are conducting (forward biased). (This increases slightly with current value)

In a series circuit with resistors it does not really matter if the resistor comes before or after the diode. The current passing through resistor and diode is the same. The total voltage drop across the resistor and diode will be the same.

The LIGHT EMITTING DIODE has a much larger voltage drop (about 1.5V - 3.0 V) than a 'normal' diode. It uses this extra energy to output light.