DIODE:

When Doping of a crystal is made in such a manner that one half of its is p-
type and the other half is n-type then the border between p-type and n-type is
called pn-junction. This will led towards the inventions of diodes, transistors
and integrated circuits.

Unbiased Diode and Depletion Layer:

Each pentavalent atom in a silicon crystal produces one free electron. For
this reason, we can visualize a piece of n-type semiconductor as shown on
the right side of fig. Each circled plus signed represents a pentavalent atom,
and each minus sign is the free electron that it contributes to the
semiconductor.

Similarly the trivalent atoms and holes of a p-type semiconductor as shown

on the left side of fig. Each circled minus sign is the trivalent atom and each
plus sign is the hole in its valence orbit. Each piece of semiconductor
material electrically neutral because the number of pluses and minuses is
equal.

This can be produced by a single crystal with p-type material on e-side and
n-type on the other side. The junction is the border where the p and n type
regions meet, and junction diode is another name for a pn crystal.

Because of their repulsion for each other, the free electron on the n-side of
tend to diffuse in all directions, some of the free electrons diffuse across the
junction. When a free electron enters the p region, it becomes a minority
carrier, with so many holes around it, this minority carrier has a short
lifetime. Soon after entering the p-region, the free electrons falls into a hole.
When this happens, the hole disappears and the free electron becomes a
valence electron.

Each time an electron diffuse across a junction, it creates a pair of ions,

when an electron leaves the n side, it leaves behind a pentavalent atom that
is short one negative charge, this pentavalent atom becomes a positive ion.
After the migrating electron falls in to a hole on the p-side, it makes a
negative ion out of the trivalent atom and captures it.

The ions are fixed in crystal structure because of covalent bonding and they
cannot move around like free electrons and holes. Each pair of positive and
negative ions at the junction is called a dipole.

Diode -1-
The creation of a dipole means one free electron and one hole have been
taken out of circulation. As the no of dipole builds up, the region near
junction is emptied of carriers. We call this charge-empty region the
Depletion Region.

Each dipole has an electric field between the positive and negative ions,
therefore, if additional free electrons enter the depletion layer, the electric
field tries to push these electrons back into the n-region. The strength of the
electric field increases with each crossing electron until equilibrium is
reached. To a first approximation, this means the electric field eventually
stops the diffusion of electrons across the junction. The electric field
between the ions is equivalent to a difference of potential called the barrier
potential. At 25C the barrier potential equals approx. 0.3V for germanium
and 0.7V for silicon diodes.

Forward and Reverse Biasing:

When a negative terminal of a voltage source connected to the n-side of a

diode and positive terminal with p-side this connection is called forward
bias. The battery will force free electrons and holes to flow toward the
junction. When the free electrons move toward the junctions, positive ions
are created at the right hand side of the crystal. These positive ions pull
electrons into the crystal from the external circuit. In this way free electrons
can leave the negative source terminal and flow into the right end of the
crystal.

P N
+ + + + - - - -

+ + + + - - - -

+ + + + - - - -

Electrons enter the right end of the crystal, while the bulk of electrons in the
n region move toward the junction. The left edge of this moving group
disappears as it hits the junction (the electrons fall into holes). In this way
there is a continuous stream of electrons from the negative source terminal
toward the junction.

Diode -2-
The free electrons that disappear at the junction become valence electrons
they move through holes in the p-region. In other words, the valence
electrons on the p-side move toward the left end of the crystal, equivalent to
holes moving toward the junction. When the valence electrons reach the left
end of the crystal, they enter the external circuit and flow to the positive
terminal of the source.

In Reverse biasing the n-side is connected with positive terminal and the
p-side with negative terminal of battery, the negative battery terminal
attracts the hole and positive terminal attracts the free electron, because of
this the depletion region gets wider. The wider the depletion region the
greater the difference of potential, this depletion region stops growing when
its difference of potential equals the applied reverse voltage. When this
happens, electrons and holes stop moving away from the junction.

Still a small current exists with reverse bias, as the thermal energy present to
create pairs of free electrons and holes. This means a few minority carriers
exist on both sides of the junction. Most of these recombine with the
majority carriers. But those inside the depletion layer may exist long enough
to get across the junction. When this happens a small current flows in the
external circuit.

P N

Assume that thermal energy has created a free electron and hole near the
junction. The depletion layer pushes the free electron to the right, forcing
one electron to leave the right end of the crystal. The hole in the depletion
layer is pushed to the left. This extra hole on the p-side lets one electron
enter the left end of the crystal and fall into a hole. Since thermal energy is
continuously producing electron-hole pairs inside the depletion layer, we
will get a small continuous current in the external circuits.

Diode -3-
The reverse current caused by the thermally produced minority carriers is
called the saturation current, it is symbolized by Is. The term saturation
current is means we cannot get more other minority carrier current than is
produced by the thermal energy.

In reverse mode a small current flows on the surface of the crystal known as
Surface leakage current , it is caused by surface impurities and
imperfections in the crystal structure.

Breakdown:
Keep increasing the reverse voltages eventually reach the breakdown
voltage. Once the breakdown voltage is reached, a large number of the
minority carriers suddenly appears in the depletion layer and the diode
conducts heavily.

The carriers are produced by the avalanche effect, which occurs at higher
reverse voltages. Actually there is a small reverse minority carrier current.
When the reverse voltage increases, it forces the minority carriers to move
more quickly. These minority carriers will collide with the atoms of the
crystal. When these minority carriers have enough energy, they can knock
valence electrons loose, i.e., produce free electrons. These new minority
carriers then join the existing minority carriers to collide with other atoms.
The process is geometric because one free electron liberates one valence
electron to get two free electrons. These two free electrons then free two
more electrons to get four free electrons. The process continues until the
reverse current becomes huge.

Diode -4-
Approximations:
The diode is a non linear device, below 0.7V the diode has very little current
and just above 0.7 the current increases rapidly.

 The first approximation called the ideal diode in which, in forward

bias the rectifier diode offer no resistance and work like a conductor.
Whereas in reverse mode it offers maximum resistance and work like
an insulator.

 The second approximation says that no current exists until 0.7V

appears across the diode. At this point the diode turns on. Thereafter
only 0.7V can appear across the diode, no matter what the current.

We can think of a diode as a switch in series with a barrier potential of 0.7V.

2nd Approximation

0.7V
0.7V

If the source voltage is at least 0.7V, the switch will close, In this case, the
voltage across the device is 0.7V.

 In the third approximation of the diode, we include the bulk resistance

rB. After the silicon diode turn on the voltage increases linearly or
proportionally with an increase in current. The greater the current, the
larger the voltage because we have to add the IR drop across rB to the
total diode voltage. The total voltage across the diode is:

0.7V rB

Diode -5-
Half Wave Rectifier:
The simplest way to convert alternating current to direct current is the half-
wave rectifier,

N1 N2
VL

34v

RL
t

The frequency of the half wave signal is equal to the line frequency, which is
60Hz. The period T equals the reciprocal of the frequency, the half wave
signal has a period of
T = 1/f = 1/60 = 16.7ms

the start of the next positive This is the amount of time between the
beginning of a positive half cycle and half cycle.

Average DC value:

The DC voltmeter across the load resistor will indicate a DC voltage of

Vp/, which may be written as:
Vdc = 0.318Vp

Where Vp is the peak value of the half wave signal across the load resistor.
For instance, if the peak voltage is 34V the dc voltmeter will read:

Vdc = 0.318(34v) = 10.8V

This dc voltage is sometimes called the average value of the half wave signal
because the voltmeter reads the average voltage over one complete cycle.

Diode -6-
Full Wave Rectifier:
Here the secondary of the transformer is center taped and hence the circuit is
equivalent to two half wave rectifiers.

N1 N2 D1 1N4001
VL

120v, 60Hz 17v

RL=1K
t

D2

The upper rectifier handles the positive half cycle of secondary voltage,
while the lower rectifier handles the negative half cycle of secondary
voltage. In other words, D1 conducts on the positive half cycle and D2
conducts on the negative half cycle.
The transformer with a turns ratio of 5:1, the peak primary voltage is still
equal to,
Vp1 = 120v/0.707 = 170v

Vp2 = 170v/5 = 34v

Because of the grounded center tap, each half of the secondary winding has
a sinusoidal voltage with a peak of only 17V. There fore, the load voltage
has an ideal peak value of only 17v instead of 34v.

The load current is a full wave signal with a peak value of:

Ip = 17v / 1K = 17mA

Average DC value:

The DC voltmeter across the load resistor will indicate a DC voltage of

2Vp/, which may be written as:

Vdc = 0.636Vp

Diode -7-
Where Vp is the peak value of the half wave signal across the load resistor.
For instance, if the peak voltage is 17V the dc voltmeter will read:

Vdc = 0.636(17v) = 10.8V

This dc voltage is sometimes called the average value of the half wave signal
because the voltmeter reads the average voltage over one complete cycle.

Output Frequency:

The frequency of the full wave signal is double the input frequency, the
rectified waveform begins repeating after one half cycle of the primary
voltage. Since line voltage has a period of:

T1 = 1/f = 1/60 = 16.7ms

The rectified load voltage has a period of

T2 = 16.7ms/2 = 8.33ms

The frequency of the load voltage equals

f2 = 1/T2 = 1/8.33ms = 120 Hz

It means fout = 2fin

Because the secondary voltage is greater than the knee voltage, the second
approximation results in a full wave output voltage with a peak value of
16.3v instead of 17v. Once more, the small bulk resistance of a 1N4001 has
almost no effect. In conclusion either the ideal diode or the second
approximation is adequate in analyzing most full wave circuits.

Diode -8-
Bridge Rectifier:

The usage of four diodes eliminates the need for a grounded center tap. The
advantage of not using a center tap is that the rectified load voltage is twice
what it would be with the full wave rectifier.

D1 D3
120v 60Hz

D2 D4 RL = 1K

VL

34v

The upper rectifier handles the positive half cycle of secondary voltage,
During the positive half cycle of line voltage, diodes D2 and D3 conduct,
this produces a positive half cycle across the load resistor, during the
negative half cycle of line voltage, diodes D1 and D4 conduct, this produces
wave signal across the load resistor.

For the turns ratio of 5:1 the peak primary voltage equal to:

Vp1 = 120 V = 170V

0.707

The peak secondary voltage is:

Vp2 = 170 V = 34V

5

Diode -9-
Because the full secondary voltage is applied to the conducting diodes in
series with the load resistor, the load voltage has an ideal peak value of 34v,
twice that of the full wave rectifier. Therefore, the frequency of the rectified
signal equals 120Hz, twice the line frequency, because of Ohm’s law, the
load current is a full wave signal with a peak value of:

Ip = 34 V = 34 mA
1K

There is a new factor when using the second approximation with a bridge
rectifier, there are two conducting diodes in series with the load resistor
during each half cycle. Therefore, we must subtract two diode drops instead
of only one. This means the peak voltage with the second approximation is:

= 34 – 2(0.7) = 32.6V

2Vp

Diode - 10 -