PHYS365LABREPORT05

GroupMembers:
FarhadSadigZada,
KartikDhand,
JulianCastro,
YashJani

LabSectionB07

TA:PiotrStaniaszek

November30,2015

Objective:

TheexperimentwasperformedtoestimatePlancksconstantusinglightemittingdiodes(LEDs).
DifferentforwardandreversebiasconditionswereappliedtowardsLEDs,andtheresulting
changesincurrentwererecorded.Observationsfromthisexperimentalsoadvancedstudents
understandingofLEDs.

Method:

Firstofall,thepropersettingoftheequipmentwascheckedbyapplyingaforwardbiasof10V
toeachLED,andseeinglightemissionfromeachbulb.Then,LED#1waschosen,anda
forwardbiasof0to7Vwasappliedtowardsit,andcorrespondingcurrentvalueswererecorded
toexploretheIVbehaviorviaaplot.Aforwardbiasof3to7Vwasusedonother7LEDs.The
reasonofworkingwithavoltagehigherthan3Vwastoensurethattheappliedvoltageis
greaterthanthebuiltinone,andusetheobtaineddataforestimationoftheLEDs
builtinvoltage.ThiswasdonebyplottingIVgraphforeachoftheLEDs,gettingtheformulafor
thebeststraightfitusingExcel(y=k*x+b),settingytozero,andfindingthecorrespondingx
valuewhichstoodforV
.
0
Tofindthetheoreticalvalueofthepotentialdifferenceacrossthebandgap,thefollowing
formulawasused:

wherecisthespeedoflight,hisPlancksconstant,eischargeofanelectron,andis
thewavelengthforLEDslight(wasgiveninthelabmanual).OncetheV
wasfound,the
BG
constantEofthechosenLEDwascalculatedvia:

Finally,usingtherelationship

astheequationofastraightline,Plancksconstantwasdeterminedfromtheslopeofafitted
linearcurve.

Data:
Table1:DataforLED1
V_bias(V)

Current(mA)

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.2

2.4

0.01

2.6

0.06

2.8

0.14

0.25

3.5

0.54

0.96

4.5

1.39

1.71

5.5

1.95

2.35

6.5

2.64

2.96


Table2:RecordedV_biasandcurrentforthe8LEDbulbswithuncertainties
V_bias(V) 1(mA)

2(mA)

3(mA)

4(mA)

5(mA)

6(mA)

7(mA)

8(mA)

3+/0.1

0.25+/
0.01

0.86+/
0.01

0.87+/
0.01

0.7+/
0.01

0.91+/
0.01

0.7+/
0.01

1.1+/
0.01

1.38+/
0.01

3.5+/0.1

0.54+/
0.01

1.18+/
0.01

1.21+/
0.01

0.98+/
0.01

1.29+/
0.01

1.16+/
0.01

1.49+/
0.01

1.73+/
0.02

4+/0.1

0.96+/
0.01

1.51+/
0.01

1.6+/
0.01

1.52+/
0.01

1.61+/
0.01

1.65+/
0.01

1.86+/
0.02

2.11+/
0.02

4.5+/0.1

1.39+/
0.01

1.85+/
0.02

1.94+/
0.02

1.81+/
0.02

2.02+/
0.02

1.98+/
0.02

2.24+/
0.02

2.51+/
0.02

5+/0.1

1.71+/
0.02

2.1+/
0.02

2.3+/
0.02

2.2+/
0.02

2.37+/
0.02

2.5+/
0.02

2.59+/
0.02

2.86+/
0.02

5.5+/0.1

1.95+/
0.02

2.51+/
0.02

2.64+/
0.02

2.53+/
0.02

2.7+/
0.02

2.85+/
0.02

3+/0.02 3.21+/
0.02

6+/0.1

2.35+/
0.02

2.93+/
0.02

3.02+/
0.02

2.92+/
0.02

3.09+/
0.02

3.24+/
0.02

3.35+/
0.02

3.58+/
0.02

6.5+/0.1

2.64+/
0.02

3.26+/
0.02

3.32+//
0.02

3.26+/
0.02

3.39+/
0.02

3.63+/
0.02

3.7+/
0.02

4+/0.02

7+/0.1

2.96+/
0.02

3.72+/
0.02

3.67+/
0.02

3.66+/
0.02

3.7+/
0.02

3.98+/
0.02

4.06+/
0.02

4.38+/
0.02

Note:
TheunitsfortheuncertaintyshouldbemA,notA,


Figure1:Current(mA)throughLED1withvaryingVoltages(V)

Figure2:GraphforLED1ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)


Figure3:GraphforLED2ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)

Figure4:GraphforLED3ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)


Figure5:GraphforLED4ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)

Figure6:GraphforLED5ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)


Figure7:GraphforLED6ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)

Figure8:GraphforLED7ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)


Figure9:GraphforLED8ofV_biasvs.Current(mA)

Table3:Valuesforthewavelength,bandgapvoltage,builtinvoltagewithitsuncertainty,the
differenceinenergybetweenboth,andtheinverseofthewavelength

Bulb

Wavelength(nm)

V_bg
(eV)

V_0(eV)

uncertainty DeltaE
V_0(eV)
(eV)

475

2.61

2.6

0.13

0.01

556

2.23

1.87

0.13

0.36

563

2.2

1.75

0.04

0.45

592

2.1

2.06

0.06

0.04

612

2.03

1.67

0.07

0.36

642

1.93

2.06

0.06

0.13

653

1.9

1.49

0.03

0.41

869

1.43

1.18

0.04

0.25

Figure10:BuiltinVoltage(eV)asafunctionof1/(m^1)

Discussion:

12.TheLEDshouldnotlightupwhenreversebiased,astheappliedvoltageinthisdirection
widensthebandgapbetweenthepandnsidesofthediode.Thishastheeffectofpreventing
anyelectrontocrossthegap,whichinturn,wouldproducelight.Adiodeisbasicallyaoneway
streetforelectronstotravelin(fromntoporlowertohighervoltage).Thebiasvoltage
overcomesthenaturalvoltagedifferenceacrossthegapandenableselectronstoovercomethe
gapsothatcurrentcanflowandtheelectronscancontinueontothevoltagesourceorgotoa
lowerenergylevelthroughholesinthesemiconductormaterialgivingoffphotonsinthe
process.

13.Aminimumvoltageof3Vischosentobeusedinthetrials,becauseavoltageunderthis
amountmaynotovercometheV_0ofthebulbsandthuscurrentwillnotflow,inthiscasethe
datawouldnotyieldastraightlinebutahorizontallinewhichspikeswhenthethresholdbias
voltageisreached.

14.Theenergydifferenceacrossthegapisdeterminedbythesemiconductormaterialusedas
wellasitspropertiessuchasconductivityandtheabilitytoholdontoelectrons(electronaffinity).
Thesizeofthegapanditsorientationinspacearealsokeyfactorsthatcanimpacttheenergy
differencebetweenthenandpsidesofthegapandtheabilityofelectronstoflowacrossit.
Dopingortheaddition/removalofcertainmaterialsofthenandpsidessotheyinteractwiththe
electronsdifferentlyisalsoafactorthatcanchangetheenergydifference.

15.

TheacceptedliteraturevalueforPlanck'sconstantis4.135667x10
^15eVs,whereasour
calculatedvaluewas4.51*10^15eVs.Thesevaluesfallwithintheuncertaintycalculatedof
1.1*10^15eVs(uncertaintyinplanck'sconstant).Weseethisthroughthedifferenceinour
theoreticalandexperimentalvaluesofplanck'sconstantbeing0.374x10^15eVscomparedto
theexperimentaluncertaintyasstatedpreviouslybeing1.1*10^15eVs.Lookingatthetable
Wavelengths,CalculatedInternalVoltageandEwecanseethatEchangesseveraltimes
anddoessoabruptlybetweenoneLEDtothenext.Itisthereforelogicaltoconcludethatthe
assumptionthatEisaconstantthroughouttheexperimentisfalse.Thus,themethodsusedin
DataRequirement11ofPlancksConstantfromLEDsexperimentwasnotvalid,andshould
haveaccountedforthechangingEswithintheslopeofthegraphofV_0vs.1/.This
assumptioncouldbetherootofsomeerrors.


SourcesofError:
Oneofthemajorcontributorstocausetheerrorwastheaccuracyofreadingthecurrentvalue
fromtheapparatus,sincethevaluesofcurrentsweredeflectingoverthetimeintervalthatwe
werewaitingtoreadthevaluefromapparatus.Asimilartypeofinaccuracywaseffectedallthe
valuesfrom0to+7volts,andforall8bulbs.Also,ifwireswerenotproperlyconnectedtotheir
respectivecomponentswewouldexpectourresulttohaveerrors.
Anothercauseoferrorwouldbethequalityofapparatus/componentsovertime,seeingashow
theinternalresistanceoftheLEDswouldworedown.Thewiresandmultimetercouldalsohave
avariableresistancebasedontheirconditionaswellastheirtemperatureandthiscouldimpact
ourresults.Finally,thebulbswouldbecomedimmerovertime,andwireswouldnotbein
foremostqualityandthismighthaveaneffectonourexperimentalPlancksconstant.

Conclusion

Afteralltheprocedureswerecomplete,thefollowingresultswereobtained:

AnLEDshouldnotlightupwhenreversebiased

ExperimentalvalueofPlancksconstantwas(4.51+/1.1)eV

TheoreticalvalueofPlancksconstantfellintothetoleranceregiondefinedbyexperimental
calculations

AssumptionthatEisconstantacrossagivensetofLEDswiththesamedesignand
constructionmaterialswasfoundtobewrong

Overall,theexperimentwasconsideredsuccessfulsincetheobjectivewasmetandallthe
requiredprocedureswerefollowed.