University of Tripoli

Engineering College
Electrical and Electronics Department

EE331
Experiment 1

Diode characteristics
Student Name : Mahmoud mohameed omar
ID : 2180205509
Group : B
Instructor :Dr. Osama Fituri

Introduction:
The diode is a very basic two-terminal electronic device, constructed of a
simple junction of n- and p-type materials. The basic concept of a pn-junction
diode is that it allows current to flow through its terminals or doesn’t, under
some conditions indicated with its i-v characteristics. The two terminals of the
diode are called the Anode and the Cathode, and as the i-v characteristics
curve shows, when the voltage at the anode is higher than the cathode with a
magnitude of the threshold voltage, the diode will allow current to flow from
the anode to the cathode, and the diode is said to be forward biased. And
when the voltage across the diode is less than the threshold voltage, the diode
allows a very small current to flow, called the saturation current -approximately
zero-, and the diode then is said to be reverse biased.
It's important to note that the maximum reverse bias voltage that can be
applied to a pn-junction diode is limited by a breakdown. Breakdown region is
indicated in the i-v characteristics curve with the rapid increase of current in
reverse bias region, and the corresponding voltage is referred to as the
breakdown voltage. This large current causes the device to heat up and to be
destroyed unless a sufficient heat sinking is provided -as in Zener diodes.

Fig(1)

Objectives:
 ● Using a digital multimeter to make measurements on the diode.
● Measuring currents and voltages to draw the current verses voltage
characteristics of a diode.

Components used:

• Variable Dc power supply.

• Digital multimeter.
• Resistors: 2.2kΩ and 1MΩ.
• breadboard.
• Silicon diode and selenium diode.
• Jumpers and wires.

Procedure:

As we tested in the lab, the experiment is separated into three parts:

Part 1: Diode Testing Using Digital Multimeter:

In this part, the resistance of the diode is measured in both forward and
reverse mode using a digital multimeter. For a forward position, the positive
port of the multimeter is connected to the anode, and the negative is
connected to the cathode, and vice versa for the reverse position.
The same procedure is done for both Si and Se diodes.

Part 1 measurements:

Table(1)

Test Si Se

Forward 141.4kΩ 80Ω

Reverse Can’t be measured >20M 766KΩ

● (Rf<Rr) Which is a condition for the diodes to work normally .

Part 2: Forward bias characteristics of the diode:

 ⦁ Connect the Si diode with the circuit as shown in Fig(2):

Fig(2)

⦁ Adjust the power supply so that the voltage drop on the resistor ( increases from 0.2V
to 30V.
⦁ For each value of measure the diode voltage and current and take the results.

Measurements:

1. for Si diode:

Table(2)

VR(V) 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 13 16 20

VD(V) 0.47 0.5 0.51 0.54 0.55 0.58 0.6 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.64 0.65 0.66 0.67 0.68

ID(mA 103 134 198 0.34 0.42 0.9 1.36 1.76 2.28 2.75 3.64 4.49 5.85 7.21 9.04
)
 10
9
8
7
6
ID (mI)

5
4
3
2
1
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
VD(V)

fig(3) Si Diode characteristic

2- for Se diode:

Table(3)
VR(V) 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 13 16 20

VD(V) 0.56 0.62 0.66 0.69 0.74 0.79 0.84 0.87 0.89 0.94 0.99 1.03 1.15 1.22 1.37

ID(mA) 0.08 0.19 0.27 0.36 0.46 0.98 1.36 1.82 2.28 2.74 3.16 4.52 5.87 7.16 9.03

10

6
ID (mI)

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6
VD(V)

fig(4) Se Diode characteristic

Part 3: Determining the reverse saturation current for the diodes:
The current in the PN junction diode when diode is reverse biased is called as Reverse
Saturation Current.
To find the revers saturation current of the diode connect the circuit shown and measure VR
Across the resistor for both Si and Se and then calculate Is and Rr

Fig(5)

Table(4)
TEST E VR Is=VR/R VD=E-VR RT=VD/Is

si 10V -2mv 2nA -9.98 4.99GΩ

si 20V -3.3mv 3.3nA -19.9 6.05GΩ

se 10V -4,8v 4.8muA -5.2 1,083GΩ

se 20V -10.9v 10.9muA -9.1 834MΩ

Exercise Simulation:
2-

Fig(6)

Table(5)
ID1=ID2 ID3 VD3 VD1=VD2 IR VR

41.22muA 9.27mA 0.718V 0.359V 9.283mA 9.282V

Conclusion:

● A diode is a non-linear, two terminal semiconductor devices.

● Selenium is a semiconductor and is used in electronic applications such as
photocells.
● The diode is said to be forward-biased if the voltage v across it is positive.
● The diode is reverse biased if v is negative .
● The saturation current is very small when the diode is reversed biased, it’s
approximately measured with Nano amperes for silicon diodes and micro amperes
for selenium diodes.

References:

http://whatis.techtarget.com
https://ecee.colorado.edu/~bart/book/book/chapter4/ch4_5.htm