Alcantara, John Laurence G.

(Contribution: 50%) MEXE-3101

Jacinto, Joevylea R. (Contribution: 50%)

Laboratory #1
Power Diode Characteristics

A. Objective:
After completing this lab assignment, you will be able to:
● Explain the voltage-current (static and dynamic) characteristics of a power diode.
● Describe the effects of temperature on the diode characteristics.

B. Materials/Apparatus:
● 1 1.2V DC source
● 1 1mΩ resistor
● 1 D1N4002 diode or equivalent, RFUH60TS6D
● 1 earth ground

C. Procedure:

1. Create the circuit in LTSpice XVII.

2. Get the part, DC battery (VDC), Resistance R, and diode.

3. Connect all the components using the wire command.

4. After connecting the circuit, label the parts and put the corresponding values.

5. From the Analysis, click on the set up. Use the spice directive .op to simulate the Bias
Point Details. For the DC Sweep
6. Simulating the effect of temperature on diode.

7. Press keyboard letter “T” to show the spice directive. Do not forget to tick the “Spice
directive”. Otherwise, your inputs will be treated as comment only and it will not run. Enter
the same thing as below in the spice directive window.
8. You can simply click this icon to display the spice directive window.

9. The next step is to set up a transient command.

10. Click on “Simulate” icon bar then “Edit Simulation Command” to show the Transient
section. In this particular example we are using a transient command. You can use other
commands in conjunction with the temperature sweep.

What will happen if the Start external DC supply voltage at 0V is unchecked?

11. Run the Simulation. To run, simply go to “Simulate” then press “Run”.
 12. Print the graphs, with the voltage and current across the diode.

13. Complete the table below and comment on the effect of the temperature on the diode’s
voltage drop, VD and diode’s current ID.

D. Results/Solution:

FIGURE D1: Sweeping Temperature Waveforms when Start external DC supply voltage at 0V
is Checked
FIGURE D2: Sweeping Temperature Waveforms when Start external DC supply voltage at 0V
is unchecked

The result of the circuit simulation in FIGURE D1 shows that when the “Start
external DC supply voltages at 0V” is ticked, the simulation will start from zero and the
ramping or rising of the waveforms will be shown. On the contrary, when “Start external
DC supply voltages at 0V” is unticked, the waveform will only show the steady state
based on the result of the circuit simulation in FIGURE D2.

The operating point of a device, also known as bias point, quiescent point, or
Q-point, is the steady-state (DC) voltage or current at a specified terminal of an active
device (a transistor or vacuum tube) with no input signal applied. This means that in
order to obtain the values of current and voltage at Q-point for every operating
temperature, we have to untick “Start external DC supply voltages at 0V” and start
getting I and V values.

Operating I​D ​(at Q-point) V​D ​(at Q-point) P​D ​= V​D​I​D

Temperature

27-degrees 2.6163A 1.1974V 3.1328W

100-degrees 4.1873A 1.1958V 5.0072W

150-degrees 5.0381A 1.1950V 6.0205W

TABLE D1: Effect of the temperature on the diode’s voltage drop, V​D​ and diode’s current I​D
ID​ ​ and VD​ (at
​ Q-point) based on LTSpice graph

I​D​ and V​D ​(at Q-point) ​at 27-degrees

I​D​ and V​D ​(at Q-point) ​At 100-degrees

I​D​ and V​D (at

​ Q-point) ​At 150-degrees
Diode’s Knee Voltage and its corresponding Current based on LTSpice graph

Knee Voltage and its corresponding Current At 27-degrees

Knee Voltage and its corresponding Current At 100-degrees

Knee Voltage and its corresponding Current At 150-degrees

E. Conclusion:

Explain the effect of temperature on a diode.

Based on this lab experiment, we have concluded that temperature has major effects on
how a diode performs. We’ve learned that as the temperature increases, the voltage forward
drop slowly decreases but its current increases very fast.

Identify the diode’s knee voltage and its corresponding current on your graph for all the
temperature.

The result of circuit simulation in FIGURE D1 shows the different diode’s knee voltage
and its corresponding current on your graph for all the temperature. The data shows that the
diode’s knee voltage for 27, 100 and 150 degrees are 899.8003mV, 899.4102mV, and
899.0639mV respectively. Furthermore, the corresponding current for 27, 100 and 150 degrees
are 0.1997A, 0.5898A, and 0.9361A respectively.

Explain the relationship between current and voltage when the diode is forward-biased and
reverse-biased.

When voltage is applied across a diode in such a way that the diode allows current, the
diode is said to be forward-biased. When voltage is applied across a diode in such a way that the
diode prohibits current, the diode is said to be reverse-biased.