22ECPC204 Electronic Devices and Circuit Analysis

UNIT I - BASIC DIODES AND ITS APPLICATIONS

SYLLABUS

Characteristics of PN junction diode and Zener diode – Rectifier circuits – Clipper and Clamper circuits – Voltage
regulators

ELECTRONICS

 The branch of engineering which deals with current conduction through a vacuum or gas or semiconductor is
known as electronics.
 It has active and passive components.

Passive component: It consumes power or stores energy. (Example) - Resistor, Inductor, capacitor

Resistance: It opposes the flow of current. Unit – Ohm (Ω)

Inductance: It opposes the change in current. It stores energy in terms of magnetic field.
Unit –Henry (H)
Capacitance: It opposes sudden change in voltage. It stores energy in terms of electric field.
Unit – Farad (F)

Active component: It is used to deliver power to the load. Ex: Diode, FET, BJT, UJT.

SEMICONDUCTOR

 A material whose electrical conductivity lies in between conductor and insulator is called semiconductor.
Ex: Silicon and Germanium
 At 0ºK the valence band remains full and the conduction band is empty. So it acts as an insulator.
 The forbidden energy gap is very small about 1ev.By giving minimum external energy, the valence
electrons move into conduction band. So the conductivity increases.
 It has negative temperature co-efficient of resistance i.e. when the temperature increases, the resistance
decreases.

ATOMIC STRUCTURE OF SILICON & GERMANIUM

Silicon:

 Its atomic number is 14.

 It consists of 14 protons & 14 electrons.
 The 1st orbit consists of 2 electrons. The 2nd orbit has 8 electrons. The 3rd has 8 electrons. The
valence number is 4.
Germanium:
 Its atomic number is 32.
 It consists of 32 protons& 32 electrons.
 The 1st orbit consists of 2 electrons. The 2nd orbit has 8 electrons. The 3rd has 18 electrons. The 4th
has 4 electrons. The valence number is 4.

Bonding in semiconductors:

 In semiconductors, to have atomic stability, co-valent bonds are formed.

 The semiconductor has 4 valence electrons. So each atom is forced to make bonding with other atom.
 Bonds are formed by sharing valence electrons in such a way that last orbit gets 8 electrons.

Electron – Hole pair generation:

 By breaking a co-valent bond, electron-hole pair is created.

 This is done by giving external energy to the semiconductor.
 The valence band electrons get additional energy.
 When this energy exceeds the forbidden energy level, the valence electrons move to conduction band.
 The missing electron in the valence band leaves a vacant space, which is known as a hole.
 In semiconductors even at room temperature electron-hole pairs are generated.

Classification of semiconductors:
Semiconductors are classified as
1. Intrinsic or pure semiconductors
2. Extrinsic or impure semiconductors

Intrinsic semiconductors:

 A pure semiconductor is called intrinsic semiconductor.

 At room temperature, some valence electrons get additional energy to break the co-valent bonds. So electron-
hole pairs are created.
  When an electric field is applied, the current conduction takes place. The conduction is due to both electrons
and holes. The total current is the sum of two currents due to free electrons and holes.
 It has poor conductivity.
 In intrinsic semiconductors, the total number of free electrons is always equal to the number of holes.

Extrinsic semiconductor:

 To improve the conductivity, a small amount of impurity is added to the pure semiconductor.This type of
semiconductor is known as impure or extrinsic semiconductor.
 The process of adding impurity is known as doping.
 The extrinsic semiconductors are classified as n-type semiconductor & p-type semiconductor.

N type semiconductor:

 A small amount of pentavalent impurities (Arsenic,Antimony,and Phosphorous) are added to pure

semiconductor to form N type semiconductor.
 Silicon has 4 valence electrons and Arsenic has 5 valence electrons.The 4 valence electrons of As form
co-valent bond with 4 surrounding atoms of Si. The 5th electron is left free. This electron moves to the
conduction band. So number of free electrons in conduction band is increased. The conductivity is
increased.

 In addition to this electron-hole pairs are created due to room temperature.

 The pentavalent element is called donor impurity because it donates electrons for conduction.
 Here electrons are called majority carriers and holes are called minority carriers.
 The current conduction is mainly due to free electrons.
 In n-type semiconductors, number of free electrons is greater than number of holes.

P type semiconductor:

 A small amount of trivalent impurities (Aluminium,Boron) are added to the pure semiconductors to form
P type semiconductor.
 Si has 4 valence electrons and Al has 3 valence electrons. The 3 valence electrons in Al form co-valent
bond with 4 surrounding atoms of Si. This leaves one bond incomplete which gives a hole.
 When a trivalent impurity is added to a pure semiconductor a large number of holes are created. These
holes increase conductivity.
  In addition electron-hole pairs are created due to room temperature.
 The trivalent impurity is called acceptor impurity because it accepts free electrons.
 Here holes are called majority carriers and electrons are called minority carriers.
 The current conduction is mainly due to holes.
 In p-type semiconductors, number of holes is greater than the number of free electrons.

P-N JUNCTION DIODE:

 P-N junction (diode) is formed by joining a P-type and N-type semiconductor.

 The n-type has high concentration of electrons.
 The p-type has high concentration of holes.

 At the junction free electrons in the N region have tendency to move towards the P region (donor ions become
positively charged) .
 The holes in P region have tendency to move towards N region (acceptor ions become negatively charged). This
process is called diffusion.
 Therefore the net positive and negative charge is established near the junction. These two charges prevent the
further movement of electrons and holes across the junction to form immobile ions .
 This immobile ions create a potential across the junction. It is called barrier potential or cut in voltage.
 The cut in voltage is 0.7V for Silicon and 0.3V for Germanium.
 The region containing immobile ions is called depletion region or space charge region.

Forward bias:
  When positive terminal of the battery is connected to the p-type and negative terminal is connected to n-type
semiconductor, the bias is known as forward bias.
 The applied potential opposes barrier potential.
 When the applied voltage is less than the barrier potential (VF < VB), the forward current is zero. Because the
potential barrier prevents the movement of holes from P region to N region and the movement of free
electrons from N region to P region.
 When the applied voltage is greater than the barrier potential (VF >VB), the electrons and holes cross the
junction. This reduces the width of the depletion region. Hence a large current flows in the circuit. The
junction offers very low resistance.
 The minimum forward voltage at which the current starts increasing is known as cut in voltage or Knee
voltage or threshold voltage.

Reverse bias:

 When the negative terminal of the battery is connected to p-type and positive terminal is connected to n-type
semiconductor of the diode is called reverse bias.
 Electrons in the n-side move towards the negative terminal. Holes in the p-side move towards the positive
terminal. Now the barrier potential increases.
 The depletion region widens. No current flow in the external circuit.
 But in practice a very small current flow in the circuit in order of nano or micro ampere current due minority
carriers. This current is known as reverse saturation current.
 The junction offers very high resistance.
 When the applied voltage is increased ,beyond the saturation level breakdown occurs in junction is called
breakdown voltage.
 The minimum reverse voltage at which PN junction breakdown occurs in the junction is called breakdown
voltage.

V-I characteristics:
It gives the relationship between voltage and current in the forward and reverse biases.
Forward bias characteristics :
 When the applied forward voltage is zero (VF=0), the forward current is zero (IF=0).
 When the forward voltage is increased upto the barrier potential (VF =VB) the current increases with increases
in Forward voltage (VF).
 When the forward voltage is greater than the barrier potential (VF > VB).the current increases very sharply
with increase in applied forward voltage (VF).
 The cut in voltage for Germanium is 0.3V and 0.7V for silicon.

Reverse bias characteristics

 When the reverse voltage is applied, the width of the depletion region increases and no current flows through
the circuit .
 But practically a small amount of current flows in the circuit due to minority carriers this is called reverse
saturation current (Is).

APPLICATIONS OF PN JUNCTION DIODE:

1. Rectifier
2. Clippers
3. Clampers
4. Logic circuits
5. Modulation and demodulation circuits
6. Switch.
Zener diode:
 Zener diode is a special semiconductor diode.
 It is a heavily doped PN junction diode.
 It is mostly operated in its reverse breakdown region.

Construction:

The symbol of zener diode is shown in fig.

Working principle:

Forward bias:

 It is similar to ordinary PN junction diode in forward bias condition.

 When applied voltage is below cut in voltage the diode act as open switch, hence no current flows .
  When the applied voltage is increased the diode is forward biased.
 When applied voltage is above the cut in voltage the diode conducts.
 Now the current increases with applied forward voltage.

Reverse bias:

 When the applied reverse voltage is less than break down voltage (VR<VZ), the diode is in OFF state. No
current flows through it.
 When the applied reverse voltage exceeds the break down voltage VZ, the current increases very sharply. The
voltage across the diode becomes constant.
 This increase in current is controlled by External Resistance R.
 Zener diode is mostly operated in its reverse breakdown region.

The reverse breakdown in zener diode is due to the following mechanism.

 Zener breakdown:

 Occurs in a heavily doped, thin depletion layer diodes.

 Occurs at small reverse voltage levels.
 A small reverse voltage produces strong electric field across depletion layer.
 This electric field breaks a large number of co-valent bonds and produces large current.
 This process is called zener breakdown.
 Avalanche breakdown:

 Occurs in a lightly doped zener diodes, the width of the depletion region is large.
 Occurs at large reverse voltage levels.
 When the reverse bias voltage is increased, the accelerated free electrons collide with the immobile
ions in the depletion region.
 Due to collision co-valent bonds are broken and electron hole pairs are generated.
 The new carriers acquire additional energy from the field and collide with other atoms, there by
generating additional electron-hole pairs. This process is cumulative.
 This results in generation of large number of charge carriers. This process is known as avalanche
multiplication.
 The junction breaks down and a large amount of reverse current flows.

V-I characteristics:
It gives the relationship between voltage and current in the forward and reverse biases.
 The forward characteristics are similar to that of p-n junction diode.
 When the reverse voltage exceeds the break down voltage VZ, the current increases very sharply.
 The voltage across the diode becomes constant.
APPLICATIONS OF ZENER DIODE:
It is used in
 Voltage regulator
 Wave shaping circuits
 Voltage limiter or clipper
 Meter protection circuits.

ZENER DIODE AS A VOLTAGE REGULATOR:

Here the zener diode Z is connected in reverse bias.The value of RS is to be selected such that the zener
current is above 50% of its maximum value.
The current flowing through RS is equal to the sum of the currents flowing through the diode and the load.
I = IZ + IL
When the load current remains constant and the Unregulated input voltage increases/decreases.
The current drawn from the supply increases/decreases.Hence the zener current also increases/ decreases by the same
amount.
The supply current makes more/less voltage drops in RS. This drop compensates the increase/ decrease in
supply voltage. The output voltage remains constant.
VO = Vin - IS * RS
When the input voltage is constant and the load current increases/ decreases. The zener diode current
decreases/increases by the same amount. The total current through RS remains the same.
Therefore the voltage across RS remains constant. Hence the output voltage remains constant. Thus the circuit
keeps the output voltage constant irrespective of variations in supply voltage or load current.
Disadvantages:
1. The output voltage depends upon zener voltage and cannot be varied.
2. Both IL and IZflow through the series resistance, so there is a power loss in RS.
3. Thus the efficiency will be low.

RECTIFIERS:
Any electrical device which offers a low resistance to the current in one direction but a high resistance to
the current in the opposite direction is called rectifier. Such a device is capable of converting a sinusoidal
input waveform, whose average value is zero, into a unidirectional Waveform, with a non- zero average
component. A rectifier is a device, which converts a.c. voltage (bi-directional) to pulsating d.c. voltage
(Unidirectional).

Definition: It is an electronic circuit which converts A.C signal into pulsating D.C. signal.

Types of Rectifiers:

1. Half wave rectifier

2. Full wave rectifier with centre tapped transformer
3. Bridge rectifier.
i) Average value/dc value/mean value=Area over one period
Total time period

1T
T 0
Vdc  Vd (wt)

ii) Effective (or) R.M.S current:

The effective (or) R.M.S. current squared of a periodic function of time is given by the area of one cycle
of the curve, which represents the square of the function divided by the base.

iii) Peak factor:

It is the ratio of peak value to Rms value

peakvalue
Peak factor =rmsvalue

iv) Form factor:

It is the ratio of Rms value to average value
 Rmsvalue
Form factor=
averageval
ue

i) Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV):

It is defined as the maximum reverse voltage that a diode can withstand without destroyingthe
junction.

ii) Transformer Utilization Factor (UTF):

The d.c. power to be delivered to the load in a rectifier circuit decides the rating of theTransformer used in the
circuit. So, transformer utilization factor is defined as

Pdc
TUF 
pac(rated)
iii) % Regulation:
The variation of the d.c. output voltage as a function of d.c. load current is called regulation. The
percentage regulation is defined as

For an ideal power supply, % Regulation is zero.

Ripple: The A.C. components present in the rectified output is called ripple.

Ripple factor: It is defined as the ratio of the rms value of the A.C. component to the D.C. component in the output.

Ripple Factor γ = or

Rectifier efficiency: It is defined as the ratio of D.C. power output at the load to the A.C. power input to the rectifier.

Ƞ= X 100%

Half wave rectifier:

 A Half wave rectifier is a circuit which converts a.c. voltage into a pulsating d.c voltage for only one half
cycle of the applied a.c. voltage.
 It consist of only one PN Junction diode D, a step down transformer and a load resistor RL.
 Half wave Rectifier circuit

OPERATION:
For the positive half-cycle of input signal,
 Terminal A is positive with respect to B, the diode D is forward biased and hence it conducts.
 The diode acts as closed switch, so the current flows from terminal A to B through diode D and Load
resistor RL.
For the negative half-cycle of input signal,
 Terminal A is negative with respect to B, the diode D is reverse biased and hence it does not conduct.
 The diode acts as open switch, so no current flows in the circuit and output voltage is zero (Vo=0).
 Thus for the negative half- cycle no power is delivered to the load.

 The diode conducts only during positive half cycle of a.c.

input voltage. Hence the output contains only positive half cycle
of the input voltage.
 vi) Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV):
It is defined as the maximum reverse voltage that a diode can withstand without destroying the junction. The peak
inverse voltage across a diode is the peak of the negative half- cycle. For half-wave rectifier, PIV is Vm
DISADVANTAGES OF HALF-WAVE RECTIFIER:
1. The ripple factor is high.
2. The efficiency is low.
3. The Transformer Utilization factor is low.
Because of all these disadvantages, the half-wave rectifier circuit is normally not used as a
power rectifier circuit.

Full wave rectifier with centre tapped transformer:

 A Full wave rectifier is a circuit which converts a.c. voltage into a pulsating d.c voltage during both half
cycles of the applied a.c. voltage.
 It consist of two PN Junction diodes D1 and D2, a center tapped transformer and a load resistor RL.
OPERATION:
For the positive half-cycle of input signal,
 Terminal A is positive and with respect to B, the diode D1 is forward biased and hence it conducts.
 The diode D1 acts as closed switch, so the current I1 flows from terminal A to B through diode D1
and Load resistor RL. Hence the input voltage is dropped across RL. The output voltage is measured
across RL.
 Terminal C is negative with respect to B, the diode D2 is reverse biased and hence it does not conduct.
The diode D2 acts as open switch, so no current flows in the diode D2.
For the negative half-cycle of input signal,
 Terminal C is positive and with respect to B, the diode D2 is forward biased and hence it conducts.
 The diode D2 acts as closed switch, so the current I2 flows from terminal C to B through diode D2
and Load resistor RL. Hence the input voltage is dropped across RL . The output voltage is measured
across RL.
 Terminal A is negative with respect to B, the diode D1 is reverse biased and hence it does not
conduct. The diode D1 acts as open switch, so no current flows in the diode D1.

 The load current flows during both the half cycles of input ac voltage and in the same direction
through the load resistance RL.
 
AVERAGE CURRENT
vi) Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV):
It is defined as the maximum reverse voltage that a diode can withstand without destroying the junction.
The peak inverse voltage across a diode is the peak of the negative half- cycle. For half- wave rectifier,
PIV is 2Vm
 vii) % Regulation

.
Advantages
1) Ripple factor = 0.482 (against 1.21 for HWR)
2) Rectification efficiency is 0.812 (against 0.405 for HWR)
3) Better TUF (secondary) is 0.574 (0.287 for HWR)
4) No core saturation
problemDisadvantages:
1) Requires center tapped transformer.

Bridge rectifier:
 Bridge Rectifier is also a full wave rectifier which converts a.c. voltage into a pulsating d.c voltage during
both half cycles of the applied a.c. voltage.
 It consist of four PN Junction diodes D1, D2, D3, D4, center tapped transformer and a load resistor RL.

OPERATION:
For the positive half-cycle of input signal,
 Terminal M is positive with respect to N.
 The diodes D1 and D4 are forward biased and hence it conducts.
 The diodes D2 and D3 are reverse biased and hence it does not conduct.
 So the current I1 flows from terminal M to N through diode D1, Load resistor RL and diode D4.
 Hence the input voltage is dropped across RL. The output voltage is measured across RL.

For the negative half-cycle of input signal,

 Terminal M is negative with respect to N.
 The diodes D2 and D3 are forward biased and hence it conducts.
 The diodes D1 and D4 are reverse biased and hence it does not conduct.
  So the current I2 flows from terminal M to N through diode D2, Load resistor RL and diode D3.
 Hence the input voltage is dropped across RL. The output voltage is measured across RL.

 The load current flows during both the half cycles of input ac voltage and in the same direction through the
load resistance RL.

Efficiency of full wave (Bridge) rectifier, Ƞ= X 100%

Ƞ = 81.2%

Ripple Factor of full wave (Bridge) rectifier, γ = or

γ =0.483
Advantages of Bridge rectifier

 Center tapped transformer is not required.

 Rectifier efficiency is high
 Very low ripple factor

COMPARISON BETWEEN RECTIFIERS:

S.No Parameter Halfwave Fullwave Bridge Rectifier
Rectifier Rectifier
1 Number of diodes 1 2 4
2 Ripple frequency F 2F F
3 Ripple factor 1.21 0.48 0.48
4 Efficiency 40.8% 81.6% 81.6%
5 Peak Inverse Voltage Vm 2 Vm Vm

APPLICATIONS OF RECTIFIER

 Uninterrupted power supply (UPS)

 Drive DC power from AC supply(AC to DC converter)
 High power output applications
 Power supply for welding
FILTER

 Filter is a circuit which is used to remove unwanted AC signal in the DC output.

 It converts pulsating DC into pure DC.
TYPES OF FILTER

 Capacitor filter
 Inductor filter
 LC filter
 RC filter
 π filter
CAPACITOR FILTER

o Here a capacitor is connected across the rectifier output and also parallel to the load resistor RL.
o The pulsating DC voltage of the rectifier output is applied across the capacitor.
o Capacitor opposes the sudden variation of the voltage applied across it.
o During the rising period of the input voltage, the capacitor charges, and during falling period of the
input voltage, the capacitor discharges through RL.

DIODE CLIPPERS
Definition:

It is a circuit which transmits that part of an arbitrary wave which lies above or below some
reference level.

Positive clipper:

• The positive clipper circuit is connected as shown in the diagram.

• During the positive half cycle, diode becomes reverse biased, and no output is generated across theresistor.
• During the negative half cycle, the diode conducts and the entire input appears as output across the
resistor.
 Series Clipper Circuit

• First introduced as a half-wave rectifier for sinusoidal waveforms.

• Any type of signals that can be applied to a clipper i.e. Sinusoidal, Square, Triangular, sawtooth etc.

• In Series Positive Clipper, the diode is connected in series with the output in Reverse Biasing.

In Series Negative Clipper, the diode is connected in series with the output in Forward Biasing.

• In Series Bias Clipper, a battery is connected with resistance

• Series Positive Clipper

Series Negative Clipper

 Biased Series Negative Clipper

Shunt Parallel Positive Clipper

Shunt Parallel Negative Clipper

Negative clipper:

• The above diagram shows a series negative clipper with its output waveforms.
• During the positive half cycle the diode (considered as ideal diode) appears in the forward biased and
conducts such that the entire positive half cycle of input appears across the resistor connected in parallel as
output waveform.
• During the negative half cycle the diode is in reverse biased. No output appears across the resistor.
• Thus, it clips the negative half cycle of the input waveform, and therefore, it is called as a seriesnegative
clipper.
CLAMPERS:
Definition:

It is a circuit which holds either amplitude extreme of a wave form to a given reference leveliscalled clamper
circuit.

Negative Clampers

Positive clamper

Vo=Vi+Vc=Vm+Vmsinwmt

• In the above circuit the diode is connected in the opposite direction.

• During the positive half cycle, the voltage across the output terminals becomes equal to the sum ofthe input
voltage and capacitor voltage (considering the capacitor as initially fully charged).
• During the negative half cycle of the input, the diode starts conducting and charges the capacitor
rapidly to its peak input value.

• Thus the waveforms are clamped towards the positive direction as shown above.
 Negative clamper

• During the positive half cycle, the input diode is in forward bias- and as the diode conducts-capacitor
gets charged (up to peak value of input supply).
• During the negative half cycle, reverse does not conduct and the output voltage become equal to
the sum of the input voltage and the voltage stored across the capacitor.

VOLTAGE REGULATOR:

Two basic categories of voltage regulation are:

 line regulation
 load regulation
The purpose of line regulation is to maintain a nearly constant output voltage when the input voltage varies.
The purpose of load regulation is to maintain a nearly constant output voltage when the load varies

Types of voltage Regulator:

 Transistor series voltage regulator
 Transistor shunt regulator
 Zener diode voltage regulator
 IC voltage regulator
 ZENER DIODE AS A VOLTAGE REGULATOR:
 Here the zener diode Z is connected in reverse bias.The value of RS is to be selected such that the zener current
is above 50% of its maximum value.
 The current flowing through RS is equal to the sum of the currents flowing through the diode and the load.
 I = IZ + IL
 When the load current remains constant and the Unregulated input voltage increases/decreases.
 The current drawn from the supply increases/decreases.Hence the zener current also increases/ decreases by the
same amount.
 The supply current makes more/less voltage drops in RS. This drop compensates the increase/ decrease in
supply voltage. The output voltage remains constant.
 VO = Vin - IS * RS
 When the input voltage is constant and the load current increases/ decreases. The zener diode current
decreases/increases by the same amount. The total current through RS remains the same.
 Therefore the voltage across RS remains constant. Hence the output voltage remains constant. Thus the circuit
keeps the output voltage constant irrespective of variations in supply voltage or load current.