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Group 9: Christian Frayna Mhelco R. Fuellas Marvin B. Vitor Sergio Garbilao

Group 9 consists of Christian Frayna, Mhelco R. Fuellas, Marvin B. Vitor, and Sergio Garbilao. The document discusses step recovery diodes (SRDs), which are semiconductor junction diodes that can generate extremely short pulses. SRDs work by abruptly stopping the reverse current flow when switching from forward to reverse conduction. This allows them to be used as pulse generators or parametric amplifiers in microwave electronics. The drift step recovery diode was later discovered and functions similarly but requires pulsed rather than continuous forward pumping current. SRDs generate pulses by storing electric charge during forward conduction then rapidly removing it when the bias switches, resulting in a fast transition time that produces short voltage

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71 views

Group 9: Christian Frayna Mhelco R. Fuellas Marvin B. Vitor Sergio Garbilao

Group 9 consists of Christian Frayna, Mhelco R. Fuellas, Marvin B. Vitor, and Sergio Garbilao. The document discusses step recovery diodes (SRDs), which are semiconductor junction diodes that can generate extremely short pulses. SRDs work by abruptly stopping the reverse current flow when switching from forward to reverse conduction. This allows them to be used as pulse generators or parametric amplifiers in microwave electronics. The drift step recovery diode was later discovered and functions similarly but requires pulsed rather than continuous forward pumping current. SRDs generate pulses by storing electric charge during forward conduction then rapidly removing it when the bias switches, resulting in a fast transition time that produces short voltage

Uploaded by

Destiny Abelong
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Group 9:

Christian Frayna
Mhelco R. Fuellas
Marvin B. Vitor
Sergio Garbilao
In electronics, a step recovery diode (SRD) is a
semiconductor junction diode having the ability to
generate extremely short pulses. It is also called snap-
off diode or charge-storage diode or memory varactor,
and has a variety of uses in microwave electronics as
pulse generator or parametric amplifier.

When diodes switch from forward conduction to reverse


cut-off, a reverse current flows briefly as stored charge
is removed. It is the abruptness with which this reverse
current ceases which characterises the step recovery
diode.
The Drift Step Recovery Diode (DSRD) was discovered by Russian scientists
in 1981 (Grekhov et al., 1981). The principle of the DSRD operation is
similar to the SRD, with one essential difference - the forward pumping
current should be pulsed, not continuous, because drift diodes function with
slow carriers.
The principle of DSRD operation can be explained as follows: A short pulse
of current is applied in the forward direction of the DSRD effectively
"pumping" the P-N junction, or in other words, “charging” the P-N junction
capacitively. When the current direction reverses, the accumulated charges are
removed from the base region.
As soon as the accumulated charge decreases to zero, the diode opens rapidly.
A high voltage spike can appear due to the self-induction of the diode circuit.
The larger the commutation current and the shorter the transition from
forward to reverse conduction, the higher the pulse amplitude and efficiency
of the pulse generator (Kardo-Sysoev et al., 1997).
• The main phenomenon used in SRDs is the storage of electric charge during
forward conduction, which is present in all semiconductor junction diodes
and is due to finite lifetime of minority carriers in semiconductors. Assume
that the SRD is forward biased and in steady state i.e. the anode bias current
does not change with time: since charge transport in a junction diode is
mainly due to diffusion, i.e. to a non constant spatial charge carrier density
caused by bias voltage, a charge Qs is stored in the device. This stored
charge depends on

• Intensity of the forward anode current IA flowing in the device during its
steady state.
• Minority carrier lifetime τ, i.e. the mean time a free charge carrier moves
inside a semiconductor region before recombining.
• Now suppose that the voltage bias abruptly changes, switching
from its stationary positive value to a higher magnitude
constant negative value: then, since a certain amount of charge
has been stored during forward conduction, diode resistance is
still low (i.e. the anode-to-cathode voltage VAK has nearly the
same forward conduction value). Anode current does not cease
but reverses its polarity (i.e. the direction of its flow) and stored
charge Qs starts to flow out of the device at an almost constant
rate IR. All the stored charge is thus removed in a certain
amount of time: this time is the storage time tS and its
approximate expression is
• When all stored charge has been removed, diode resistance
suddenly changes, rising to its cut-off value at reverse
bias within a time tTr, the transition time: this behavior can be
used to produce pulses with rise time equal to this time

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