AIR UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER

ENGINEERING
EXPERIMENT NO 7

Lab Title: SPECIAL PURPOSE DIODES

Student Name: Muhammad Usama Khalid Reg. No: 200329
Objective: To get familiarization with Special Purpose Diodes.

LAB ASSESSMENT:

Excellent Good Average Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Attributes
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)
Ability to Conduct
Experiment
Ability to assimilate the
results
Effective use of lab
equipment and follows
the lab safety rules

Total Marks: Obtained Marks:

LAB REPORT ASSESSMENT:

Excellent Good Average Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
Attributes
(5) (4) (3) (2) (1)

Data presentation

Experimental results

Conclusion

Total Marks: Obtained Marks:

Date: Signature:
 Experiment#07
SPECIAL PURPOSE DIODES
Objectives:

To get familiarization with function and operation of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) and
observe the behavior and working of Zener Diode.

Equipment:
 DC Power Supply
 Function Generator
 Digital Multimeter
 Bread Board
 Oscilloscope
 Diode
 Resistor

Discussion:
There are few diodes which are designed to serve some special purposes. There are many of
such kinds like Transient voltage suppression diodes, Gold doped diodes, Super barrier diodes,
Point contact diodes, Peltier diodes etc. But other than these, there are few prominent diodes
like Light-Emitting Diode (LED) and Zener Diode, which have got many applications.
Light-Emitting Diode (LED):
Light-emitting diode (LED) is a widely used standard source of light in electrical equipment. It
has a wide range of applications ranging from your mobile phone to large advertising billboards.
They mostly find applications in devices that show the time and display different types of data.
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current
flows through it. When current passes through an LED, the electrons recombine with holes emitting
light in the process. LEDs allow the current to flow in the forward direction and blocks the current
in the reverse direction.
Light-emitting diodes are heavily doped p-n junctions. Based on the semiconductor material
used and the amount of doping, an LED will emit a colored light at a particular spectral
wavelength when forward biased. An LED is encapsulated with a transparent cover so that
emitted light can come out.
LED Symbol:
The LED symbol is the standard symbol for a diode, with the addition of two small
arrows denoting the emission of light.
Simple LED Circuit:
The circuit consists of an LED, a voltage supply and a resistor to regulate the current and
voltage.
When the diode is forward biased, the minority electrons are sent from p → n while the
minority holes are sent from n → p. At the junction boundary, the concentration of minority
carriers increases. The excess minority carriers at the junction recombine with the majority
charges carriers.
The energy is released in the form of photons on recombination. In standard diodes, the energy
is released in the form of heat. But in light-emitting diodes, the energy is released in the form of
photons. We call this phenomenon electroluminescence.
Electroluminescence is an optical phenomenon, and electrical phenomenon where a material
emits light in response to an electric current passed through it. As the forward voltage
increases, the intensity of the light increases and reaches a maximum.
The color of an LED is determined by the material used in the semiconducting element. The two
primary materials used in LEDs are aluminium gallium indium phosphide alloys and indium
gallium nitride alloys. Aluminium alloys are used to obtain red, orange and yellow light, and
indium alloys are used to get green, blue and white light. Slight changes in the composition of
these alloys change the color of the emitted light.
Uses of LED:
LEDs find applications in various fields, including optical communication, alarm and security
systems, remote-controlled operations, robotics, etc. Below are a few standards LED uses:
• Used for TV back-lighting
• Used in displays
• Used in Automotives
• LEDs used in the dimming of lights
Types of LED:
Below is the list of different types of LED that are designed using semiconductors:
• High-Power LEDs
• Flash LED
• Bi and Tri-Color
• Red Green Blue LEDs
• Alphanumeric LED
• Lighting LED
Advantages of LED in electronic displays:
The followings are the major advantages of the LED in electronics displays.
• The LED are smaller in sizes, and they can be stacked together to form
numeric and alphanumeric display in the high-density matrix.
• The intensity of the light output of the LED depends on the current flows
through it. The intensity of their light can be controlled smoothly.
• The LED are available which emits light in the different colors like red, yellow,
green and amber.
• The on and off time or switching time of the LED is less than of 1 nanosecond.
Because of this, the LED are used for the dynamic operation.
• The LEDs are very economical and giving the high degree of reliability
because they are manufactured with the same technology as that of the
transistor.
• The LED are operated over a wide range of temperature say 0° – 70°. Also, it is very
durable and can withstand shock and variation.
• The LED have a high efficiency, but they require moderate power for operation.
Typically, the voltage of 1.2V and the current of 20mA is required for full
brightness. Therefore, it is used in a place where less power is available.
Zener Diode:
The Zener diode is like a general-purpose signal diode. When biased in the forward
direction it behaves just like a normal signal diode, but when a reverse voltage is applied to
it, the voltage remains constant for a wide range of currents.
Avalanche Breakdown:
There is a limit for the reverse voltage. Reverse voltage can increase until the diode breakdown
voltage reaches. This point is called Avalanche Breakdown region. At this stage maximum
current will flow through the Zener diode. This breakdown point is referred as “Zener voltage”.
The Zener Diode is used in its "reverse bias". From the I-V Characteristics curve, we can study
that the Zener diode has a region in its reverse bias characteristics of almost
a constant negative voltage regardless of the value of the current flowing through the diode and
remains nearly constant even with large changes in current as long as the Zener diode current
remains between the breakdown current IZ (min) and the maximum current rating IZ (max).
This ability to control itself can be used to great effect to regulate or stabilize a voltage source
against supply or load variations. The fact that the voltage across the diode in the breakdown
region is almost constant turns out to be an important application of the Zener diode as a
voltage regulator.
The forward bias region of a Zener diode is identical to that of a regular diode. The typical
forward voltage at room temperature with a current of around 1 mA is around 0.6 volts. In the
reverse bias condition, the Zener diode is an open circuit and only a small leakage current is
flowing as shown on the exaggerated plot. As the breakdown voltage is approached, the current
will begin to avalanche. The initial transition from leakage to breakdown is soft but then the
current rapidly increases as shown in the plot. The voltage across the Zener diode in the
breakdown region is very nearly constant with only a small increase in voltage with increasing
current. At some high current level, the power dissipation of the diode becomes excessive and
the part is destroyed. There is a minimum Zener current Iz (min) that places the operating point
in the desired breakdown. There is a maximum Zener current Iz (max) at which the power
dissipation drives the junction temperature to the maximum allowed. Beyond that current the
diode can be damaged.
Zener diodes are available from about 2.4 to 200 volts typically using the same sequence of
values as used for the 5% resistor series –2.4, 2.7, 3.0, 3.3, 3.6, 3.9, 4.3,
4.7, 5.1, 5.6, 6.2, 6.8, 7.5, 8.2, 9.1, 10, 11, 12, 13,
15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, etc. All Zener diodes have a power rating, PZ. From Watt’s law the
maximum current is IZ (MAX) = PZ / VZ. Zener diodes are typically available with power
ratings of 0.25, 0.4, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 5 watts. However, other values are also available.
Zener Diode as Voltage Regulator:
The function of a regulator is to provide a constant output voltage to a load connected in parallel
with it in spite of the ripples in the supply voltage or the variation in the load current. The Zener
diode permits current to flow in the forward direction as normal as well as allows it to flow in
the reverse direction when the voltage is above a certain value i.e., the breakdown voltage
known as the Zener voltage. The Zener diode is specially made to have a reverse voltage
breakdown at a specific voltage. In breakdown the voltage across the Zener diode is close to
constant over a wide range of currents thus making it useful as a shunt voltage regulator.
The resistor is selected so that when the input voltage is at VIN (min) and the load current is at
IL (max) that the current through the Zener diode is at least Iz (min). Then for all other
combinations of input voltage and load current the Zener diode conducts the excess current thus
maintaining a constant voltage across the load. The Zener conducts the least current when the
load current is the highest and it conducts the most current when the load current is the lowest.
Basically, there are two types of regulations such as:
(i) Line Regulation
(ii) Load Regulation

(i) Line Regulation:

In this type of regulation, series resistance and load resistance are fixed, only input voltage is
changing. Output voltage remains the same as long as the input voltage is maintained above a
minimum value.
𝛥𝑉𝑜
Percentage of line regulation can be calculated by = *100
𝛥𝑉𝐼𝑁
Where V0 is the output voltage and VIN is the input voltage. ΔV0 is the change in output
voltage for a particular change in input voltage ΔVIN.

(ii) Load Regulation:

In this type of regulation, input voltage is fixed and the load resistance is varying. Output
voltage remains same, as long as the load resistance is maintained above a minimum value.
𝛥𝑉𝑁𝐿−
Percentage of line regulation can be calculated by = 𝛥𝑉𝐹𝐿 *100
𝛥𝑉𝑁𝐿
Where VNL is the null load resistor voltage (i.e., remove the load resistance and
measure the voltage across the Zener Diode) and VFL is the full load resistor voltage.
LAB TASK 1
 Make the connections as shown in figure below by taking R=1kΩ.
 Supply input voltage from the DC power supply and vary the voltage from 1V to 12V.
 Measure the VD, ID, level of brightness and record the values in the table.

Proteus Simulation & Results:

E[VOLTS] Vo Io Brightness

0 0 0 NO

1 1.0 0 NO

2 1.6 0.4 VERY LOW

3 1.7 1.3 LOW

4 1.8 2.6 MEDIUM

6 1.8 5.1 HIGH
12 1.9 12.4 VERY HIGH
LAB TASK 2

 Make the connections as shown in figure below by taking R=1kΩ.

 Supply input voltage from the DC power supply and vary the voltage from 1V to 12V.
 Measure the VD, ID, level of brightness and record the values in the table.

Proteus Simulation & Results:

E[VOLTS] Vo Io Brightness

0 0 0 NO

1 1 0 NO

2 2 0 NO

3 3 0 NO

4 4 0 NO
6 6 0 NO
12 12 0 NO
LAB TASK 3
Line Regulation:
 Make the connections as shown in figure below.
 Supply input voltage from the power supply and vary the voltage from 1V to 20V.
 Measure the output voltage Vout, voltage across resistor VR1, current through diode
IZ (mA) and record the values in the table.

Proteus Simulation & Results:

Vin(V) Vout(V) VR1(V) IZ (mA) PZ=VoutIZ Is the Output

Regulated?
0 0 0 0 0 NO

1.4 1.4 0 0 0 NO

2 1.9 0 0 0 NO

2.5 2.4 0 0 0 NO

3 2.9 0 0 0 NO

3.5 3.4 0 0 0 NO

4 3.9 0 0 0 NO

4.5 4.4 0.1 0.1 0.44 NO

5 4.6 0.1 0.4 1.84 NO

5.5 4.8 0.6 0.7 3.36 YES

6 4.9 1.0 1.3 6.37 YES

LAB TASK 4
Load Regulation:
 Make the connections as shown in figure.
 Supply a fixed input voltage of 12V from the DC power supply and vary the load.
 Measure the output voltage Vout, current through diode Iz (mA) and current
through the load IR2 (mA).
 Record the values in table.
Proteus Simulation & Results:

R2 (Ω) Vout (V) IR2 (mA) IZ (mA) Is the Output

Regulated?
1kΩ 0.79 11.34 11.34 YES
10kΩ 0.793 11.36 11.36 YES
100kΩ 12.1 11.31 11.31 YES

CONCLUSION:

In this lab we learned about special diodes. We also learned

the function and operation of a light emitting diode (LED) and observe the
behavior and operation of a Zener diode. In the end, we were able to complete
the assigned tasks.