Notes - PIN diode

 

• Special type of Diode
• Converts optical to electrical energy and hence used as photo detector
• Intrinsic region between P-Type and N-Type regions. The 'I' in PIN indicates the same
• Intrinsic means pure semiconductor region without any doping and hence no conductivity
• Functionality is same as P-N Diode
• under Forward bias condition, PIN diode acts as variable resistor
• P and N regions are heavily doped
• PIN diode is used due to it's fast switching is used in High speed applications
• PIN diodes are used for RF switching applications
• Also used as high voltage rectifier
• PIN diode can also be used as attenuator