What Is a Diode?

Video 1

in this video, we'll learn about a new circuit element, which is known as a diode. We have looked at
different circuit elements, resistors, inductors, and capacitors. All these elements are what are
known as linear elements, in that the current through the element is proportional to the voltage or its
first derivative. Now, you can't design all applications in the world with just our Ls and Cs. Design
meaningful applications, we need something what are known as active devices. We apply nonlinear
elements, and some of the nonlinear elements employed in circuit design are known as diodes and
transistors. Now let's focus our attention on what is a diode. A diode is essentially a two-terminal
circuit element in which the current through the element is proportional to the exponential of the
voltage across it. The symbol for the diode is a triangle with a flat line. A diode has two terminals,
one terminal is known as the cathode and the other terminal is known as an anode. The triangle
starts at the anode and ends at the cathode.
The current i_D is proportional to the exponential of the voltage across it. Please pay attention to the
sign of the voltage. The voltage is positive at the anode terminal and negative at the cathode
terminal. When such a voltage is set up, then the current through this two-terminal element is
proportional to the voltage across it. In other words, we can write i_D, so accurate if I want to write
the value of the current flowing through the diode, it is written in terms of I_S exponent(V_D/V_TH)-
1. Now this constant I_S, is known as the saturation current of the diode. It is a parameter of the
diode. The second term you see in the expression is V_TH, and that is known as the thermal
voltage. It is a quantity which is dependent only on physical constants. Thermal voltage is given by
kT/q, where k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the temperature in Kelvin or the absolute temperature,
and q is the electronic charge so kT/q is a voltage that is proportional to the temperature of the
circuit or temperature of the ambient, hence we call it the thermal voltage. At room temperature,
which is taken to be 300 degrees Kelvin, the value of this thermal voltage is taken to be
approximately 26 millivolts.
Now, let's look at the I-V characteristics of the diode. When you look at the I-V characteristics, the
first thing that pops out is that the I-Vs are essentially non-linear. What do I mean when I say non-
linear? What I mean is that the current is not proportional to the voltage applied. If I double the
voltage across diode, the current does not double, in many cases, it increases more than double the
voltage.

The other interesting thing you see in the I-V characteristics of this element is that very low, almost
zero current flows through the diode when I apply a negative voltage across it. We talk about bias
conditions of a diode. We talk about a diode being in forward bias or in reverse bias. A diode is set to
be in forward bias when the anode voltage is greater than the cathode voltage. When the anode
voltage is greater than the cathode voltage, or in this case, V_D is positive, the diode conducts
current, and the current flowing through the diode is proportional to the exponent of the voltage.
When the voltage at the anode terminal is less than the voltage at the cathode terminal, the diode is
set to be under reverse bias. It is in this bias condition, when the diode is in reverse bias, that
virtually no current flows through the diode.
 The way you remember the two bias conditions are in forward bias, the diode can support a lot of
current, in reverse bias, the diode does not support any current through it.

How do you ascertain the bias? You ascertain that bias by comparing the potential difference
between the anode and the cathode.

Diodes are normally made by what are known as the class of materials known as semiconductors.
Now, semiconductors are materials class whose conductivity or the electrical conductivity of that
material can be engineered. When we talk about semiconductors, we talk about two semiconductors
a p-type and an n-type semiconductor whose conductivities are essentially different. They have
different electrical properties. The simplest way of forming a diode is by bringing together a p-type
semiconductor and an n-type semiconductor. When both these materials are brought together, what
you create is a p-n junction diode, which is the most common diode that we use in circuits.

Most common semiconductors available are silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide. Most of you are
aware that almost all chips that we use in computers, etc. are made of silicon. Silicon is the most
common semiconductor used in electronics. Now we can also manufacture diodes for special use
conditions. Some of those kinds of diodes are known as Zener diodes, light emitting diodes, etc.
Now let's figure out how to compute the current in the diode circuit. Like always, we want to
understand how a circuit functions when a diode is present in it. Let's take a simple circuit. I have an
independent voltage source connected to a diode, which is connected to a resistor. I want to
compute what is the current flowing through the circuit. Now, the issue here comes about is that we
don't really have an algebraic equation that connects the current to voltage in a simple fashion.
Because of the fact that the resistance, if you will, of the diode, that is how much current flows
through the diode when a voltage of V_D is applied across it, really depends on what that value of
V_D is. It's not a resistor, it's a element whose resistance is varying, if you will, as a function of V_D.
How do you solve a circuit like this? The one thing we know is KCL and KVL continued to hold.
Which means that if I assume that the voltage across the diode is V_D, then the voltage across the
load resistor, R_L is V_A-V_D. We have two equations. We know that the same current flows
through the diode and the same current flows through the load resistor. If I plot current, so the red
curve on the graph there shows the value of the current flowing through the diode as a function of
the voltage across the diode. The blue line on the other hand, shows the current flowing through the
resistor as a function of the voltage drop across the diode. How do we do that? Because we know
that the voltage drop across the diode plus the voltage drop across the load resistor is equal to the
applied voltage. In this case, you can graphically solve this equation. To find the solution is to find
the point of intersection between these two graphs, and that gives you the voltage that is developed
across the diode and the current that is flowing in the circuit. Now this that we've discussed is a very
cumbersome method of finding the current, because this involves you using some signs of plotting
software or using a graph to lay out all the I_D V_D points and then try and find the solution. Instead,
we use simple models which help us analyze circuits quickly. The first model I'd like to discuss is the
ideal diode model. Again, the way we now think about the diode is we say that when the diode is in
forward bias, it works as a short-circuit. In the sense that if I apply a positive voltage across the
diode, it can support any current flowing through it. It's a short circuit. When the diode is in reverse
bias, I say that the diode functions as an open circuit. What I've done is I've replaced the diode with
a switch. The switch is either closed or open, depending on the voltage that is dropped across the
diode. This is known as an ideal diode model or a switched model of the diode. This makes analysis
of circuits very simple because once you are certain what is the polarity of the voltage across the
diode, you then know whether to treat it as an open circuit or short circuit. This is a switch model of
the diode. Normally these models work well when we have applied voltages in the range of a few
volts to 10 volts to100 volts. In those regions of operation, this model works as a good fit for the real
diode characteristics. In this video, we have learned about a new circuit element, which is known as
a diode. A diode is a non-linear element in that the current flowing through the diode is dependent on
the voltage across the diode in a non-linear fashion. The diode conducts current when it is in forward
bias, and the diode conducts minimal to no current when it isn't reversed bias. In the forward bias,
the current flowing through the diode is proportional to the exponential of the voltage across the
diode. A simple model for a diode is known as the switch model, which treats the diode as a short
circuit when it is under forward bias and an open circuit when it is under reverse bias.