 Half-Wave Rectification

"Figure shows a half-wave rectifier circuit. The signal is exactly the top half
of the input voltage signal, and for an ideal diode does not depend at all on
the size of the load resistor.

"The rectified signal is now a combination of an AC signal and a DC component. 

Generally, it is the DC part of a rectified signal that is of interest, and the un-welcomed AC
component is described as ripple. It is desirable to move the ripple to high frequencies
where it is easier to remove by a low-pass filter.

"When diodes are used in small-signal applications - a few volts - their behaviour is not
closely approximated by the ideal model because of the PN turn-on voltage. The equivalent
circuit model can be used to evaluate the detailed action of the rectifier under these
conditions. During the part of the wave when the input is positive but less than the PN
turn-on voltage, the model predicts no loop current and the output signal voltage is
therefore zero. When the input exceeds this voltage, the output signal becomes proportional
to, or about 0.6 V lower than the source voltage."

(source)

Op Amp solution to PN turn-on problem

 (source)

 
Half-wave rectifier with filter capacitor or peak detector

 Full-Wave Retification
o Version 1 - Center-Tap Full-Wave Rectifier

(source)

o Version 2 - Bridge Full-Wave Rectifier

"The diode bridge circuit shown Ö is a full-wave rectifier. The diodes
act to route the current from both halves of the AC wave through the
load resistor in the same direction, and the voltage developed across
the load resistor becomes the rectified output signal. The diode bridge
is a commonly used circuit and is available as a four-terminal
component in a number of different power and voltage ratings."

(source)
Go to Diode Bridge Modules for a collection of pdf data sheets on many 
integrated diode bridges.

Op Amp solution to PN turn-on problem

(source)
Split Power Supply
 
"Often a circuit requires a power supply that provides negative voltage as well as positive
voltage. By reversing the direction of the diode and the capacitor (if it is polarized), the half-
wave rectification circuit with low-pass filter provides a negative voltage. Similarly,
reversing the direction of the diodes and capacitor in the full-wave rectified supply produces
a negative voltage supply. A split power supply is shown in figure Ö" 
1. Applications of diodes
 Signal rectifier
If the input is not a sine wave, we usually do not think of it as a rectification in the sense as it
was for power supply. For instance, we might want to have a series of pulses corresponding to
the rising edge of a square wave (see Fig. 10, left hand side and right hand side of the capacitor
C). While both, the rising and the falling, pulses are in the output after differentiation performed
by CR circuit. The simplest way is to rectify the differentiated wave.

Fig.10. A series of pulses' rectifier.

We should remember about forward drop voltage of the diode: This circuit gives no output for
signal for input smaller then, forward drop voltage, let us say 0.5 V pp (peak to peak). If this is a
problem, there are various tricks that help to combat this limitation. For instance:
1. use Schottky diodes with smaller forward drop voltage (approximately 0.2V),
2. use so called circuit solution, which means modifying the circuit structure and compensating
the drop,
3. use matched-pair compensation, use transistors, FETs.

 Diode gates
Another application of diode is to pass the higher of two voltages without affecting the lower. A
good example is battery backup, a method of keeping s device running (for instance a precision
electronic clock) in case of power failure. Figure 11 shows a circuit that does the job.
 Fig.11. Diode OR gate, battery backup.

[OR gate: The output of OR gate is HIGH if either input (or both) is HIGH. In general, gates
can have any number of inputs. The output is LOW only if all inputs are LOW].

1. The battery does nothing until the power fails.

2. Then the battery takes over the control, without interruption.

 Diode clamps (stabilizatory poziomu)

Sometimes it is necessary to limit the range of signal (for instance not to exceed certain voltage
limit and not to destroy a device). The circuit in Fig. 12 will accomplish this.

Fig.12. Diode voltage clamp.

The diode prevents the output from exceeding ¿ 5.6V, with no effect on voltages smaller than
this, including negative voltages. The only limitation is that the input must not be so negative
that the reverse breakdown voltage is exceeded. Diode clamps are the standard equipment on all
inputs in the CMOS family of digital logic (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor).
Without them, the delicate input circuits are easily destroyed by static electricity.

 Limiter
The circuit in Fig.13 limits the output swing to one diode drop, roughly 0.6V.
 Fig.13. Diode limiter.

It might seem very small, but if the next device is an amplifier with large voltage amplification,
its input has to be always near zero voltage. Otherwise the output is in state of saturation. For
instance we have an op amp with a gain of 1000. The amplifier operates with supply voltage
15V. Sometimes it can be 12V or 18V or something in between. It will never give output
voltage bigger than the supply voltage, i.e. 15V. It means that the input signal 15mV
(15V/1000) or bigger will saturate the output. This particular amplifier gives the output
proportional to the input (proportionality factor is 1000) only for input signals from the interval
(-15mV,+15mV).
This diode limiter is often used as input protection for high-gain amplifiers.
Applications
[edit] Radio demodulation

The first use for the diode was the demodulation of amplitude modulated (AM) radio broadcasts.
The history of this discovery is treated in depth in the radio article. In summary, an AM signal
consists of alternating positive and negative peaks of voltage, whose amplitude or “envelope” is
proportional to the original audio signal. The diode (originally a crystal diode) rectifies the AM
radio frequency signal, leaving an audio signal which is the original audio signal, minus
atmospheric noise. The audio is extracted using a simple filter and fed into an audio amplifier or
transducer, which generates sound waves.

[edit] Power conversion

Rectifiers are constructed from diodes, where they are used to convert alternating current (AC)
electricity into direct current (DC). Automotive alternators are a common example, where the
diode, which rectifies the AC into DC, provides better performance than the commutator of
earlier dynamo. Similarly, diodes are also used in Cockcroft–Walton voltage multipliers to
convert AC into higher DC voltages.

[edit] Over-voltage protection

Diodes are frequently used to conduct damaging high voltages away from sensitive electronic
devices. They are usually reverse-biased (non-conducting) under normal circumstances. When
the voltage rises above the normal range, the diodes become forward-biased (conducting). For
example, diodes are used in (stepper motor and H-bridge) motor controller and relay circuits to
de-energize coils rapidly without the damaging voltage spikes that would otherwise occur. (Any
diode used in such an application is called a flyback diode). Many integrated circuits also
incorporate diodes on the connection pins to prevent external voltages from damaging their
sensitive transistors. Specialized diodes are used to protect from over-voltages at higher power
(see Diode types above).

[edit] Logic gates

Diodes can be combined with other components to construct AND and OR logic gates. This is
referred to as diode logic.

[edit] Ionizing radiation detectors

In addition to light, mentioned above, semiconductor diodes are sensitive to more energetic
radiation. In electronics, cosmic rays and other sources of ionizing radiation cause noise pulses
and single and multiple bit errors. This effect is sometimes exploited by particle detectors to
detect radiation. A single particle of radiation, with thousands or millions of electron volts of
energy, generates many charge carrier pairs, as its energy is deposited in the semiconductor
material. If the depletion layer is large enough to catch the whole shower or to stop a heavy
particle, a fairly accurate measurement of the particle’s energy can be made, simply by
measuring the charge conducted and without the complexity of a magnetic spectrometer or etc.
These semiconductor radiation detectors need efficient and uniform charge collection and low
leakage current. They are often cooled by liquid nitrogen. For longer range (about a centimetre)
particles they need a very large depletion depth and large area. For short range particles, they
need any contact or un-depleted semiconductor on at least one surface to be very thin. The back-
bias voltages are near breakdown (around a thousand volts per centimetre). Germanium and
silicon are common materials. Some of these detectors sense position as well as energy. They
have a finite life, especially when detecting heavy particles, because of radiation damage. Silicon
and germanium are quite different in their ability to convert gamma rays to electron showers.

Semiconductor detectors for high energy particles are used in large numbers. Because of energy
loss fluctuations, accurate measurement of the energy deposited is of less use.

[edit] Temperature measurements

A diode can be used as a temperature measuring device, since the forward voltage drop across
the diode depends on temperature, as in a Silicon bandgap temperature sensor. From the
Shockley ideal diode equation given above, it appears the voltage has a positive temperature
coefficient (at a constant current) but depends on doping concentration and operating
temperature (Sze 2007). The temperature coefficient can be negative as in typical thermistors or
positive for temperature sense diodes down to about 20 kelvins. Typically, silicon diodes have
approximately −2 mV/˚C temperature coefficient at room temperature.

[edit] Current steering

Diodes will prevent currents in unintended directions. To supply power to an electrical circuit
during a power failure, the circuit can draw current from a battery. An Uninterruptible power
supply may use diodes in this way to ensure that current is only drawn from the battery when
necessary. Similarly, small boats typically have two circuits each with their own
battery/batteries: one used for engine starting; one used for domestics. Normally both are
charged from a single alternator, and a heavy duty split charge diode is used to prevent the higher
charge battery (typically the engine battery) from discharging through the lower charged battery
when the alternator is not running.

Diodes are also used in electronic musical keyboards. To reduce the amount of wiring needed in
electronic musical keyboards, these instruments often use keyboard matrix circuits. The
keyboard controller scans the rows and columns to determine which note the player has pressed.
The problem with matrix circuits is that when several notes are pressed at once, the current can
flow backwards through the circuit and trigger "phantom keys" that cause “ghost” notes to play.
To avoid triggering unwanted notes, most keyboard matrix circuits have diodes soldered with the
switch under each key of the musical keyboard. The same principle is also used for the switch
matrix in solid state pinball machines.