Estudiante: Ferreyra Ríos, José ángel Matrícula: 1850141
Materia: Sistemas electrónicos de Grupo: 005
aeronaves y laboratorio
Evidencia: DIODE No. evidencia: 2
Fecha: 9/09/2020
Comentarios: Puntaje:
THE DIODE
What is a diode? And what is its
function?
The diode is a semiconductor device that has
two terminals, an anode (+) and cathode (-),
and essentially acts as a one-way switch for
current. Its operation is due to the popular
American inventor Lee De Forest, from whom
John Fleming took some principles for the
creation.
Diodes have polarity, determined by an anode
(positive lead) and cathode (negative lead).
Most diodes allow current to flow only when
positive voltage is applied to the anode.
The first diodes that appeared were valves or
empty tubes called thermionic valves and that
were built by means of two electrodes
surrounded by vacuum in a glass tube, similar
to incandescent lamps. Which had a lot of
disadvantages such as size and electrical
energy consumption.
Diode’s composition
To can talk about the diode’s composition firstly
we must know the differences between a
material “P type” and “N type”.
Material P type: A P type semiconductor is
obtained by carrying out a process of doped,
adding atoms to the semiconductor to increase
UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE NUEVO LEÓN
Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica
Ingeniería en Aeronáutica
the number of charge carriers (in this case
positive or hollow charges).
Material N type: An N-type Semiconductor is
obtained by carrying out a doping process,
adding atoms to the semiconductor to increase
the number of charge carriers (in this case
negative charges or electrons).
The semiconductor diode is fundamentally
constituted by a PN junction, adding a
connection terminal to each of the metal
contacts at its ends and a capsule that houses
the whole assembly, leaving the terminals that
correspond to the anode (zone P) and the
cathode (Zone N).
Diode’s polarization
Forward bias of a diode
The anode connects to the positive terminal of
the battery and the cathode to the negative
terminal. One of the characteristics of forward
bias is that the diode conducts with a voltage
drop from 0.6 to 0.7 V. The applied voltage
exceeds the contact potential and reduces the
depletion region. The anode becomes a source
of holes and the cathode becomes a source of
electrons, so that holes and electrons are
continuously generated at the junction. The
current increases exponentially as the applied
voltage tends to the value of the contact
potential.
This effect is quantitatively described with the
diode equation:
 qV

I D =I O
( D
)
[e kT −1]

Where I D is the current throught the junction,

I O is the reverse saturation current, q is the
electron’s charge (1.60 x 10−19 C), k is the
−23 J
Boltzman constant (1.381 x 10 ), V D is the
K
forward bias voltage across the junction and T
is the absolute junction temperature in degrees
Kelvin.

Reverse bias of a diode Diode Applications

The anode connects to the negative terminal of
the battery and the cathode to the positive Some Common Applications of Diodes
terminal. One of the characteristics of reverse
bias is that the value of the internal resistance
of the diode is very high and consequently it Diode as a Rectifier
acts as an open switch. The anode connects to
The most common and important application of
n-type silicon and the cathode to p-type silicon,
a diode is the rectification of AC power to DC
the depletion region increases, which inhibits
power. Using the diodes, we can construct
the diffusion of electrons and therefore the
different types of rectifier circuits. The basic
current.
types of these rectifier circuits are half wave,
Diode types full wave center tapped and full bridge
rectifiers. A single or combination of four
diodes is used in most of the power conversion
There are different types of diodes, which can applications. Below figure shows diode
differ in their physical appearance, impurities, operation in a rectifier.
use of electrons and some that have particular
electrical characteristics used for a special
application in a circuit.
These are some of the commonly used diodes:
֎ Rectifier Diode
֎ Schottky diode
֎ Zener diode
֎ Varicap diode
֎ Diode Pin Diodes in Clipping Circuits
֎ Tunnel Diode
֎ LED diode
֎ Photodiode
Clipping circuits are used in FM transmitters
where noise peaks are limited to a particular
value so that excessive peaks are removed
from them. The clipper circuit is used to put off
the voltage beyond the preset value without
disturbing the remaining part of the input
waveform.
Diodes in Clamping Circuits
A clamper circuit is used to shift or alter either
positive or negative peak of an input signal to a
desired level. This circuit is also called as level
shifter or DC restorer.
Diodes in Logic Gates
Diodes can also perform digital logic
operations. Low and high impedance states of
logic switch are analogous to the forward and
reverse-biased conditions of the diode
respectively. Thus, the diode can perform logic
operations such as AND, OR, etc. Although
diode logic is an earlier method with some
limitations, these are used in some
applications.
Diodes in Solar Panels
The diodes which are used for protection of
solar panels are called as bypass diodes. If the
solar panel is faulty or damaged or shaded by
fallen leaves, snow and other obstructions, the
overall output power decreases and arise hot
spot damage because the current of the rest of
the cells must flow through this faulty or
shaded cell causes a overheating. The main
function of the bypass diode is to protect the
solar cells against this hot spot heating
problem.
Industrial impact of the diode
Since the invention of the diode, and its
variations, it has been afflatus for other
scientists to improve inventions to fix electrical
problems. One of the most important invention
from the diode was the triode which is the
principle device for the signal amplifications.
Signal amplification is the principle by which
many devices work today, from cell phones to
stereos. The triode made the television and
radio industry grow, naming this industry as
electronics.
Thanks to its work to voltage regularization, the
diode has a hit for avoid voltage peaks damage
The application areas of diodes include
communication systems as limiters, clippers,
gates; computer systems as logic gates,
clampers; power supply systems as rectifiers
and inverters; television systems as phase
detectors, limiters, clampers; radar circuits as
gain control circuits, parameter amplifiers, etc.
Advantages
o Diodes are compact
in size and compatible.
o Designing electronic
circuit is simple with certain diodes like Zener
diodes.
o Diodes help in
controlling the current flow.
o These diodes and other devices that we couldn't imagine in
the past.
produce less unwanted noise.

o Certain diodes like

Schottky diodes can operate at high
frequencies. REFERENCES

B. E. LAXMI ASHRIT (2015). “DIODE OPERATION MODES VI;

o Light emitting
CHARACTERISTICS”. [INTERNET]. AVAILABLE IN
diodes are highly efficient compared to other HTTPS://ELECTRICALFUNDABLOG.COM/DIODE-OPERATION-MODES-
diodes and they can emit light of the expected VI-CHARACTERISTICS/#ADVANTAGES_OF_DIODE

colors.

o Operates at high ELECTRONICS HUB (MAY 5, 2019). [INTERNET]. AVAILABLE IN

HTTPS://WWW.ELECTRONICSHUB.ORG/APPLICATIONS-OF-
switching speed.
DIODES/#:~:TEXT=THE%20APPLICATION%20AREAS%20OF
%20DIODES,CIRCUITS%2C%20PARAMETER%20AMPLIFIERS%2C
%20ETC.
Disadvantages

o Power dissipation is more for Zener

FLUKE CORPORATION (2019). [INTERNET]. AVAILABLE IN
diodes and hence it is less efficient for heavy
HTTPS://WWW.FLUKE.COM/EN-US/LEARN/BEST-
loads. PRACTICES/MEASUREMENT-BASICS/ELECTRICITY/WHAT-IS-A-DIODE

o Diodes are highly sensitive to

temperature. MECATRONICA LATAM (2017). [INTERNET]. AVAILABLE IN
HTTPS://WWW.MECATRONICALATAM.COM/ES/TUTORIALES/ELECT
o Amplification is necessary in RONICA/COMPONENTES-ELECTRONICOS/DIODO/
photodiode-based circuits.

o Light emitting diodes are expensive

compared to other diodes.

o Certain diodes like Schottky diodes have

low maximum reverse voltage

o They have high reverse current and

impedance.

The diode was the key for the modern electrical

revolution, and most of the devices that we
used nowadays wouldn't have functionality.
Combined with all the modern electrical
inventions we have communication systems