ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND CIRCUITS

UNIT I - SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES AND RECTIFIERS

SYLLABUS

SEMICONDUCTOR DIODES: Introduction to semiconductors- PN junction diode Forward and Reverse

bias characteristics - Specification - Zener diode - Construction & working principle-Characteristics - Zener
break down-Avalanche break down - Zener diode as a voltage regulator - Applications-Specifications.

RECTIFIER: Introduction-Classification of Rectifiers-Half wave rectifier - Full wave rectifier (Center

tapped, Bridge) - Efficiency - Ripple factor - comparison – Applications. Filters - Capacitor, LC and PI
Filters.

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.

ATOMIC THEORY:

• All matter consists of atoms.

Atom:

• It consists of three particles

• They are protons, electrons and neutrons.
• Protons are positively charged particle, Electrons are negatively charged particle and neutron is
electrically neutral in charge (No charge).
• The central part of atom consists of protons and neutrons is called nucleus.
• Electrons revolve around nucleus in various orbits (Revolving path is called orbit).
• The maximum number of electrons in each orbit is limited by the formula 2n2.

Atomic Number: is the number of proton or number of electrons in an atom.

Atomic Weight: is the total number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
ARRANGEMENT OF ELECTRONS IN AN ATOM

• The electrons revolve around the nucleus in different energy levels called K, L, M, N shells.
• The K shell is placed closer to nucleus; the next shell is L and so on.

Valence electrons: The electrons in the outermost orbit are called valence electrons.

Free electrons: The valence electrons which are loosely connected with the nucleus are called free electrons.
They can move from one atom to other.

Bounded electrons: Electrons in the inner orbit are called Bound electrons.

Valance band:

• It is the range of energy occupied by valence electrons.

• The band may be completely or partially filled in.

Conduction band:

• It is the range of energy occupied by free electrons.

• Electrons in conduction band move freely and conduct electric current.

Forbidden energy gap:

• The energy gap between the valence and conduction bands is called forbidden energy gap.
• This gap indicates the amount of energy needed to push an electron from valence band to
conduction band. It is represented by electron-volt (e-v).

CLASSIFICATION OF SOLIDS:

On the basis of electrical conductivity the solids are classified as three groups
1. Insulator
2. Conductor
3. Semiconductor

INSULATOR:

• The conductivity is poor in insulator. Ex: plastic, mica, glass, wood

• The energy gap between valence band and conduction band is larger. (Eg > 7 ev)
• No free electrons are available in conduction band.
• Insulator can be used as di-electric material in capacitor.

CONDUCTOR:

• At room temperature, large number of free electrons exist in conduction band.

• The energy gap does not exist valence band and conduction band. Ex: Copper, Aluminium

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.

Drift current:
• An electric field is applied across the semiconductor. The holes move towards the negative terminal of
the battery. The electrons move towards the positive terminal of the battery. The effect of movement
of charge carriers constitutes a current. This is called drift current.

• It can be defined as the flow of electric current due to the movement of the charge carriers under the
influence of an external electric field.

Diffusion current:

Let us assume that one type of charge carrier concentration is occurred at one end of semiconductor.
There is a force of repulsion between the charge carriers. The result is that there is a tendency for the
charge carriers to move gradually from the region of high concentration to one of low concentration.
This movement continues until all the carriers are evenly distributed. This movement of carriers
constitutes an electric current known as diffusion current.
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:

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.

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.
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠
Ripple Factor γ = or
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝐼𝑑𝑐

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.

D.C.power output
Ƞ= X 100%
A.C power input

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.
D.C.power output
Efficiency of half wave rectifier, Ƞ= X 100%
A.C power input

Ƞ=40.6%

𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠
Ripple Factor of half wave rectifier, γ = or
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝐼𝑑𝑐
 γ =1.21

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.
D.C.power output
Efficiency of full wave rectifier, Ƞ= X 100%
A.C power input

Ƞ = 81.2%
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠
Ripple Factor of full wave rectifier, γ = or
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝐼𝑑𝑐

γ =0.483

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.
D.C.power output
Efficiency of full wave (Bridge) rectifier, Ƞ= X 100%
A.C power input

Ƞ = 81.2%
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠
Ripple Factor of full wave (Bridge) rectifier, γ = or
𝑉𝑑𝑐 𝐼𝑑𝑐

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.
• Filter consists of passive components like capacitor and Inductor.
• Capacitor opposes sudden variation in voltage. It allows AC signal and blocks DC.
• Capacitor is connected in parallel with the load.
• Inductor opposes sudden variation current. It allows DC signal and blocks AC signal.
• Inductor is connected in series with the load.

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
R L.
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.
LC FILTER

• The LC section filter is a combination of capacitor and inductor.

• The capacitor opposes any change in voltage and inductor opposes any change in current. So they
are used to remove voltage and current ripples.
• The capacitor charges when the voltage is increased above VDC and delivers energy to the load when
the input voltage is decreased below VDC.
• The inductor stores energy in magnetic field, when the current is above the average value and it
delivers energy to the load when the current decreases below IDC.
• The ripple factor of L section filters is made independent of load current.
• Due to the presence of capacitor and inductor the output voltage and current are more stable.

π SECTION FILTER:

• The π filter contains two capacitors and only one inductor, form a symbol of π.
• It is also called capacitor input filter.
• The capacitor C1 offers low impedance to the ac components of the rectified output. So the AC
components are bypassed to ground through C1.
• The inductor L provides high reactance to AC components. So the AC components are dropped across
the inductor, it passes only the DC components.
• The capacitor C2 again removes the ac component present in the DC signal. Finally the output
contains only pure DC components.