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Chapter 4 part I

Chapter 4 discusses diodes, focusing on their voltage and current characteristics, including the ideal diode's behavior as a short circuit in the forward direction and its application in rectifier circuits. It explains the terminal characteristics of junction diodes, including forward-bias, reverse-bias, and breakdown regions, highlighting the importance of saturation current and temperature effects. The chapter emphasizes the need for external circuit design to limit current and voltage in diode applications.

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Gideon Tyree
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6 views

Chapter 4 part I

Chapter 4 discusses diodes, focusing on their voltage and current characteristics, including the ideal diode's behavior as a short circuit in the forward direction and its application in rectifier circuits. It explains the terminal characteristics of junction diodes, including forward-bias, reverse-bias, and breakdown regions, highlighting the importance of saturation current and temperature effects. The chapter emphasizes the need for external circuit design to limit current and voltage in diode applications.

Uploaded by

Gideon Tyree
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 4: Diodes

Middle Tennessee State University

Hongbo Zhang
Summary: Diode Voltage and
Current Relationship
Summary: Diode Voltage and
Current Relationship
Diode
• The positive terminal of the diode is
called the anode and the negative
terminal the cathode, a carryover
from the days of vacuum-tube
diodes.
• The i–v characteristic of the ideal
diode (conducting in one direction
and not in the other) self-explain
the choice of its arrow-like circuit
symbol.
The Ideal Diode
• Current–Voltage Characteristic
• The ideal diode can be considered the most fundamental nonlinear
circuit element.

Figure 4.1 (a) The ideal diode: diode Figure 4.1 (b) The ideal diode: i–
circuit symbol. v characteristic.
The Ideal Diode

Ideal Diode: No Voltage Drop

Figure 4.1 (d) The ideal diode:


Figure 4.1 (c) The ideal diode: equivalent
equivalent circuit in the forward direction.
circuit in the reverse direction.
The Ideal Diode
• If a positive current (relative to the reference direction
indicated in Fig. 4.1a) is applied to the ideal diode, zero
voltage drop appears across the diode.
• An ideal diode behaves as a short circuit in
the forward direction. Fig. 4.1

• It passes any current with zero voltage drop. A forward-


biased diode is said to be turned on, or simply on.
• External circuit must be designed to limit the forward
current through a conducting diode, and the reverse
voltage across a cutoff diode, to predetermined values.
The Ideal Diode

For forward bias:


Current = 10 v /1000 ohm = 0.01 A = 10 mA
No voltage drop across diode

For reverse bias:


Current = 0 A.
The Rectifier
• A fundamental application of the diode, one that makes use of its
severely nonlinear i–v curve, is the rectifier circuit shown in below.

Input waveform Output waveform


Rectifier Circuit.
The circuit rectifies the signal and

The Rectifier
hence is called a rectifier.

Equivalent circuit when vI > 0. Equivalent circuit when vI < 0.

Positive cycle output voltage is VI. Negative cycle output voltage is 0


Limiting and Protection Circuits

• Limiter circuits use diodes to limit voltage excursions. This can provide
useful waveform shaping or protect sensitive circuits.
• It has two following forms.
Limiting and Protection Circuits
(1) When the input vi, is below V+,
the diode is off and therefore an open circuit.

Under this condition, vo = vi.

(2) When the input vi exceeds V+, the diode turns on.

v 0 = V+
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes
• The most common implementation
of the diode uses a pn junction.
• The pn junction can conduct
substantial current in the forward
direction and almost no current in
the reverse direction.
• Figure 4.7 shows the i-v characteristic
of a silicon junction diode.
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes
The characteristic curve consists of three
distinct regions:

1. The forward-bias region, determined by v > 0


2. The reverse-bias region, determined by v < 0
3. The breakdown region, determined by v < — VBR
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region
• The Forward-Bias Region
• The diode enters the forward-bias—or, simply, forward—region of
operation when the terminal voltage v is positive.
• In the forward region the i-v relationship is closely approximated by

In this equation, Is is a constant for a given diode at a given temperature. The current Is is usually called the
saturation current, also called scale current (shown in chapter 3).
Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region

ls is directly proportional to the cross-sectional area of the


diode.

Recall chapter 3!!


Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region
• For “small-signal” diodes, which are small-size diodes intended for
low-power applications, Is on the order of 10 -15 A.
• The value of Is is, however, a very strong function of temperature. As a
rule of thumb, Is doubles in value for every 5°C rise in temperature.
• The voltage VT in Eq. (4.1) is a constant called the thermal voltage and
is given by
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region

Thus, at room temperature (20°C) the value of VT is 25.3


mV. In rapid approximate circuit analysis we will use VT ~
25 mV at room temperature.
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region

Remember
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region

I2

I1

V1 V2
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region
• Current is negligibly small for v less than about
0.5 V. This value is usually referred to as the
cut-in voltage.
• Thus, for a “fully conducting” diode, the
voltage drop lies in a narrow range,
approximately 0.6-V to 0.8-V.
• This gives rise to a simple “model” for the
diode where we assume that a conducting
diode has approximately a 0.7-V drop across it.
• A small-signal diode can be considered to have a
0.7-V drop at i = 1 mA, while a higher-power diode
can have a 0.7-V drop at i = 1 A.
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region
• Diodes made from different semiconductor materials may exhibit
values of Is differing by several orders of magnitude.
• As a result, for example, germanium diodes can conduct appreciable
current at much lower voltages, around 0.3-V.
• Light-emitting diodes appear to turn on at a much higher voltage,
typically over 1 V depending on the color of light.
• Silicon diodes that have an approximately 0.7-V drop when
conducting.
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Forward-Bias Region
• Any given diode both Is and VT
are functions of temperature,
the forward i-v characteristic
varies with temperature, as
illustrated in Fig. 4.9.
• At a given constant diode
current, the voltage drop
across the diode decreases by
about 2 mV for every 1°C
increase in temperature.
• Electronic thermometers relies
on this property.
Hotter environment, drops less!
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Reverse-Bias Region
• The Reverse-Bias Region
• Diode enters the reverse-bias region of
operation when the voltage v is made
negative.
• Equation (4.1) predicts that if v is
negative and a few times larger than VT
(25 mV) in magnitude, current will A small-signal diode whose Is
is roughly 10-14 A to 10-15 A,
become very small  converge to
potentially could show a
saturation current. reverse current on the order of
1 nA.
Terminal Characteristics of Junction
Diodes: The Reverse-Bias Region
• Is doubles for every 5°C rise in temperature, the corresponding rule of
thumb for the temperature dependence of the reverse current is
that it doubles for every 10°C rise in temperature.
Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes:
The Breakdown Region

• The third distinct region of diode operation is the


breakdown region, which is easy to identify on the
diode i-v characteristic in Fig. 4.8.
• The diode enters the breakdown region when the
magnitude of the reverse voltage exceeds a
threshold value that is specific to the particular
diode, called the breakdown voltage and denoted VBR
• Diode breakdown is normally not destructive,
provided the power dissipated in the diode is limited
by external circuitry to a “safe” level.
• This safe value is normally specified on the device data
sheets.
• limit the reverse current in the breakdown region to a
value consistent with the permissible power dissipation.

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