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The contact potential of a pn-junction diode is signified by the turn-on or barrier voltage, which is the voltage beyond which non-negligible current con be measured flowing in the forward-bias direction. To put it simply, one can run a variable potential difference across a diode in it forward-bias direction until one measures a current. That is the contact potential of the diode. Theoretically, the contact potential is a function of the temperature and doping concentration, and intrinsic hole-electron pair concentrations. However, in the real world, there maybe other factors that will affect the contact potential of a diode.

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