Electronic – Electric field and potential plots across a pn junction diode

pn-junction

Below shows how the charge density, electric field and potential is varying along the horizontal axis of a pn junction diode under equilibrium:

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I can understand the the charge density plot easily because the left part of the depletion region is negatively charged and right part is positively charged after diffusion of electrons and the holes end, and the rest part of the diode(besides the depletion region) is neutral hence zero charge density there.

How are rest of the plots i.e electrical field and potential plots are derived/obtained from this charge density plot? Some mathematical or physical interpretation would help.

Best Answer

Calculating the electric field from the charge density can be done using the first Maxwell equation:

$$\nabla\cdot \vec E = \frac{\rho}{\epsilon}$$

Where \$\rho\$ is the charge density, and \$\epsilon\$ is the permittivity of the material. In a single dimension, this equation is simply:

$$\begin{align} \frac{dE}{dx} &= \frac{\rho(x)}{\epsilon} \\ &\Downarrow \\ E(x) &= \frac{1}{\epsilon}\int_{-\infty}^{x} \rho(u)du \end{align}$$

The potential is defined as:

$$\begin{align} V &= -\int \vec E \cdot d\vec l \\ &\Downarrow \\ V(x) &= -\int_{-\infty}^{x} E(u)du \end{align}$$

So the integral of a constant charge density results in a linear electric field dependency.

Integrating the linear electric field, results in a quadratic potential.