9.1.

1 Forward-biased region

In the forward-biased region, the voltage across the diode is positive. If we

assume that the voltage across the diode is greater than 0.1 V at room
temperature, then Equation (9.1) simplifies to

i = I S e ( v / nVT ) (9.3)

For a particular operating point of the diode ( i = I D and v = VD ), we have

i D = I S e ( v D / nVT ) (9.4)

To obtain the dynamic resistance of the diode at a specified operating point, we

differentiate Equation (9.3) with respect to v, and we have

di I s e ( v / nVT )
=
dv nVT

di I s e ( v D / nVT ) I
v =VD = = D
dv nVT nVT

and the dynamic resistance of the diode, rd , is

dv nVT
rd = v =VD = (9.5)
di ID

From Equation (9.3), we have

i
= e ( v / nVT )
IS
thus
v
ln( i ) = + ln( I S ) (9.6)
nVT

Equation (9.6) can be used to obtain the diode constants n and I S , given the
data that consists of the corresponding values of voltage and current. From

© 1999 CRC Press LLC