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Chapter 9: Diodes and Diode Circuits

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9.1 Diode Characteristics

A diode is simply a pn junction, but its applications are extensive in electronic circuits. Three important characteristics of a diode are:
Forward voltage drop
Forward Bias, about .7 volts

Reverse voltage drop.

Depletion layer widens, usually the applied voltage

Reverse breakdown voltage.

Reverse voltage drop that will force current flow and in most cases destroy the diode.

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Diode Elements
A diode has two leads connected to the external circuit. Since a diode behaves differently depending upon forward or reverse bias, it is critical to be able to distinguish the leads. The anode connects to the p-type material, the cathode to the n-type material of the diode.
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Ideal Diodes
In an ideal diode, current flows freely through the device when forward biased, having no resistance. In an ideal diode, there would be no voltage drop across it when forward biased. All of the source voltage would be dropped across circuit resistors. In an ideal diode, when reverse biased, it would have infinite resistance, causing zero current flow.

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Practical Diodes
A practical diode does offer some resistance to current flow when forward biased. Since there is some resistance, there will be some power dissipated when current flows through a forward biased diode. Therefore, there is a practical limit to the amount of current a diode can conduct without damage. A reverse biased diode has very high resistance. Excessive reverse bias can cause the diode to conduct.

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Practical Diode Forward Bias

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Practical Diode Forward Bias

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Practical Diode Forward Bias

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Reverse Bias

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Reverse Bias

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Exceed Breakdown Voltage

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Current versus Voltage

In a practical diode, there is very little forward current until the barrier voltage is reached. When reverse biased, only a small amount of current flows as long as the reverse voltage is less than the breakdown voltage of the device.

Current Vs Voltage Curve for a practical diode

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9.2 Power Supply Applications

Nearly all computers have some sort of power supply. Power supply circuits must: Convert the ac line voltage into a dc voltage required by the circuit. Reduce the ac voltage to a lower value. Continuously adjust the dc output voltage to keep it constant under varying load conditions.

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Half-wave Rectifier
The term rectify is used to describe the conversion of ac into dc. In the circuit shown, only one-half of the input waveform is allowed to pass through to the output. This is called half-wave rectification.

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Circuit Operation
During the positive alternation, the diode is forward biased and the full applied voltage is dropped across the load resistor. During the negative alternation, the diode is reverse biased and acts like an open circuit. No voltage is present across the load resistor. The output voltage is actually pulsating dc. An application for a half-wave rectifier is shown on the following slide.

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Circuit Operation

12:1 ratio, about 10 volts rms or 14.1 VP Pulsating DC = VP / , or .318 x VP in this case 4.48 VDC average (formula not in text) 16

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Full-wave Rectifier
A full-wave rectifier applies both halves of an ac waveform to the output. The circuit shown is called a biphase half-wave rectifier and sometimes a center-tapped rectifier circuit. Operation of a full-wave rectifier is demonstrated in the figure shown on the following slide.

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Full-wave Rectifier

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Bridge Rectifier
A bridge rectifier is more widely used than the center-tapped rectifier. Circuit operation is best understood by examining the current paths of the forward and reverse biased diodes during each half-cycle of the input waveform.

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Filter Networks
Most electronic applications require smooth dc current to operate properly. Filtering pulsating dc circuits accomplishes this. Adding a capacitor to the output of a half-wave rectifier filters the pulsating dc into smooth dc. Ripple----20

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Full-wave Rectifier with Filter

A capacitive filter added to the output of a full-wave bridge rectifier is shown at the right. One drawback of a halfwave rectifier is the higher level of ripple voltage after filtering. Full-wave rectification reduces this ripple voltage.

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Other Types of Filtering

Simple capacitor filtering is adequate for many electronic applications. In more critical applications, more complex filter networks are required to reduce or eliminate ripple voltage Examples of more complex filters are:
L filters.
Shape of L

Pi filters.
Shape of End 9.2
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9.3 Miscellaneous Diode Applications

There are many practical applications for diodes beyond power supplies. Some of these applications include:
Clipper circuits that serve to protect circuits from damage as a result of over-voltage conditions. Clippers are common in computer circuits.

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R2
1k

Clipper

V1
10 V 60 Hz 0Deg

D2
DIODE_VIRTUAL

V2
5V

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Clipper
R2
1k

V1
10 V 60 Hz 0Deg

D2
DIODE_VIRTUAL

V3
5V

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V1

Combination Clipper
R2
1k

D2
DIODE_VIRTUAL

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10 V 60 Hz 0Deg

D3
DIODE_VIRTUAL

V3
5V

V2
5V

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Industrial application of a Clipper Protection from high voltage input

The clipper here will limit the input to 5.7 volts

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Miscellaneous Diode Applications

Isolation diodes are used to isolate various sections of circuits from another. An example of this is the battery backup for computer memory.

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Miscellaneous Diode Applications

Diodes can be used to create an RC circuit that has different time constants for charge and discharge. This principle is called asymmetrical time constants.

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S Miscellaneous l Diode i Applications d e Diodes can also 3 0

be used as AM (amplitude modulation) detector circuits in radio receivers. See simulation in Multisim Fig09_26.msm End 9.3
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9.4 Special Diodes

There are many diodes that have special properties that are useful in electronic circuits. A zener diode is much like a standard diode in many respects, except it is designed to operate in the reverse breakdown region of its operating curve. Fig09-31.msm

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Basic Zener Characteristics

Zener diodes are operated in their reverse breakdown mode to provide voltage regulation in a circuit. The point where the reverse current begins to increase is called the knee voltage. The current at this point is the knee current.

VZK voltage zener knee IZK knee current IZM maximum allowable current

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Zener Voltage Regulator

See circuit Fig09_30(a).msm

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9.4B Varactor Diodes

Junction capacitance is present in all reverse biased diodes because of the depletion region. Junction capacitance is optimized in a varactor diode and is used for high frequencies and switching applications. Varactor diodes are often used for electronic tuning applications in FM radios and televisions. They are also called voltage-variable capacitance diodes. Values vary from 2 pf to more than 1000pf.

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Schottky Diodes
While varactor diodes are designed to optimize the effect of junction capacitance, Schottky diodes are designed to minimize the junction capacitance. Junction is made of gold or aluminum and n type silicon. This configuration eliminates capacitance and therefore gives them their high frequency ability Schottky diodes are able to switch between conducting and nonconducting states much faster than conventional diodes. This fast switching speed is the identifying characteristic of a Schottky diode. They are also referred to as hot-carrier diodes.
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Current regulator diodes remains constant from about 4-110 volts of input. are designed to provide a relatively constant forward current over a wide range of voltages. The diode functions as a constant-current source. The forward resistance of a current regulator diode is very high, from 250 k to over 20 M .

Current Regulator Diodes Of note is the long flat portion of the curve. Current

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Step-recovery Diodes
Step-recovery diodes are characterized by extremely fast switching times. They are primarily used in communication circuits above 1 GHz.
Suitable for microwave use

Step-recovery diodes are doped differently than other types of diodes, with less doping at the pn junction than away from it.

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Tunnel Diodes
Tunnel diodes are another device designed to be operated at very high frequencies. The pn junction is doped much more heavily than other types of diodes. Tunnel diodes are used in the forward-biased state and exhibits what is known as negative resistance.
A portion of the characteristic curve actually has decreased current as voltage across it increases.
Your text has a picture of this curve

This is called the negative resistance portion of the curve. This contradicts ohms law

38 Image from Atlantic-Microwave

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PIN Diodes
PIN diodes are another device intended for use at extreme frequencies (100 MHz100 GHz). A layer of p-type material is separated from a layer of n-type material by a layer of intrinsic or very lightly doped silicon.
3 layers, see picture in text

This semiconductor sandwich of p-type,intrinsic, and n-type materials gives this diode its name.

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PIN Diodes
Because of the intrinsic semiconductor material in between the p and n material the capacitance when reverse biased is very low.
The MPN3404 has only 1.3pF over a wide range of reverse voltages This makes it well suited for use at very high frequencies.

The rf resistance can very from less than one ohm with a high forward current to well over one thousand ohms for lesser currents.
This makes them well suited to acting as a current controlled resistance.

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Partial Data Sheet for MPN3404

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End 9.4

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9.5 Troubleshooting Diode Circuits

Because diodes are so common in the electronics industry, it is important to be able to troubleshoot and repair systems that employ diodes. Diode defects include:
Anode-to-cathode short. Anode-to-cathode open. Low front-to-back ratio. Out-of-tolerance parameters.

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Troubleshooting Diode Circuits

Tests that can performed on diodes to check for their operation are:
Voltage measurements. Ohmmeter tests. Diode testers.

Rectifier diode defects fall into one of two classes:

Power supply is defective, but no visible damage and no fuses are blown. The rectifier circuit shows damage or a fuse is blown.

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