DIODE

PN Junction
 If donor impurities are introduced into one side and acceptor impurities into
other side of a semi-conductor crystal, a PN Junction is formed.
 Donor ion is represented by a +ve sign, because after this impurity “donates”
an e- , it becomes a +ve sign.
 Acceptor ion is represented by a –ve sign, because after this impurity
“accepts” an electron, it becomes a –ve sign.
 Initially there are only p-type carriers to the left and only n-type to the right
of the junction.
 Due to very large density gradient across the junction, holes diffuse to the
right and electrons to the left of the junction.
 The +ve holes which neutralized the acceptor ions near the junction in p-
type have disappeared as a result of combination with electrons which have
diffused across the junction.
 Similarly, the neutralized electrons in the n-type have combined with the
holes which have crossed the junction from the p-type.
 The space charge density is zero at the junction , +ve to the right and –ve to
the left of the junction
 This distribution constitutes an electric dipole and gives rise to electric field.
 This electric field created by the diffusion process has created a “built-in
potential difference” across the junction with a certain open-circuited
potential.
 Under open circuited conditions, the concentration of holes in the p-type is
much greater than that in n-type, which leads to a large hole diffusion
current flowing across the junction from n to p type.
 In order to counter balance this diffusion current, an electric field is
developed across the junction causing a hole drift current to flow from n to
p.
 This equilibrium condition of zero net hole current allows the calculation of
potential barrier height V in terms of the donor and acceptor concentration.
 The value of V is approximately a few tenths of a volt: Si  0.6-0.7; Gr 
0.3-0.35.
  There are two operating regions and three possible “biasing” conditions for
the standard PN Junction didoe.

BIAS: Application of external voltage across the two terminals.

Zero Biased Junction Diode

 When a diode is connected in a Zero Bias condition, no external potential
energy is applied to the PN junction.
 However if the diodes terminals are shorted together, a few holes (majority
carriers) in the P-type material with enough energy to overcome the potential
barrier will move across the junction against this barrier potential. This is
known as the “Forward Current” and is referenced as IF.
 Likewise, holes generated in the N-type material (minority carriers), find
this situation favourable and move across the junction in the opposite
direction. This is known as the “Reverse Current” and is referenced as I .
This transfer of electrons and holes back and forth across the PN junction is
known as diffusion, as shown below.

Zero Biased PN Junction Diode

 The potential barrier that now exists discourages the diffusion of any more
majority carriers across the junction.
  However, the potential barrier helps minority carriers (few free electrons in
the P-region and few holes in the N-region) to drift across the junction.
 Then an “Equilibrium” or balance will be established when the majority
carriers are equal and both moving in opposite directions, so that the net
result is zero current flowing in the circuit.
 When this occurs the junction is said to be in a state of “Dynamic
Equilibrium.”
 The minority carriers are constantly generated due to thermal energy so this
state of equilibrium can be broken by raising the temperature of the PN
junction causing an increase in the generation of minority carriers, thereby
resulting in an increase in leakage current but an electric current cannot flow
since no circuit has been connected to the PN junction.

Reverse Biased PN Junction Diode

 When a diode is connected in a Reverse Bias condition, a positive voltage is
applied to the N-type material and a negative voltage is applied to the P-type
material.
 The positive voltage applied to the N-type material attracts electrons towards
the positive electrode and away from the junction, while the holes in the P-
type end are also attracted away from the junction towards the negative
electrode.
 The net result is that the depletion layer grows wider due to a lack of
electrons and holes and presents a high impedance path, almost an insulator
and a high potential barrier is created across the junction thus preventing
current from flowing through the semiconductor material.

Increase in the Depletion Layer due to Reverse Bias

  This condition represents a high resistance value to the PN junction and
practically zero current flows through the junction diode with an increase in
bias voltage.
 However, a very small reverse leakage current does flow through the
junction which can normally be measured in micro-amperes, ( μA ).
 One final point, if the reverse bias voltage Vr applied to the diode is
increased to a sufficiently high enough value, it will cause the diode’s PN
junction to overheat and fail due to the avalanche effect around the junction.
This may cause the diode to become shorted and will result in the flow of
maximum circuit current, and this shown as a step downward slope in the
reverse static characteristics curve below.

Reverse Characteristics Curve for a Junction Diode

  Sometimes this avalanche effect has practical applications in voltage
stabilising circuits where a series limiting resistor is used with the diode to
limit this reverse breakdown current to a preset maximum value thereby
producing a fixed voltage output across the diode. These types of diodes are
commonly known as Zener Diodes.

Forward Biased PN Junction Diode

 When a diode is connected in a Forward Bias condition, a negative voltage
is applied to the N-type material and a positive voltage is applied to the P-
type material.
 If this external voltage becomes greater than the value of the potential
barrier, approx. 0.7 volts for silicon and 0.3 volts for germanium, the
potential barriers opposition will be overcome and current will start to flow.
 This is because the negative voltage pushes or repels electrons towards the
junction giving them the energy to cross over and combine with the holes
being pushed in the opposite direction towards the junction by the positive
voltage.
 This results in a characteristics curve of zero current flowing up to this
voltage point, called the “knee” on the static curves and then a high current
flow through the diode with little increase in the external voltage as shown
below.
Forward Characteristics Curve for a Junction Diode

 The application of a forward biasing voltage on the junction diode results in

the depletion layer becoming very thin and narrow which represents a low
impedance path through the junction thereby allowing high currents to flow.
 The point at which this sudden increase in current takes place is represented
on the static I-V characteristics curve above as the “knee” point.

Reduction in the Depletion Layer due to Forward Bias

 This condition represents the low resistance path through the PN junction
allowing very large currents to flow through the diode with only a small
increase in bias voltage.
  The actual potential difference across the junction or diode is kept constant
by the action of the depletion layer at approximately 0.3v for germanium and
approximately 0.7v for silicon junction diodes.
 Since the diode can conduct “infinite” current above this knee point as it
effectively becomes a short circuit, therefore resistors are used in series with
the diode to limit its current flow.
 Exceeding its maximum forward current specification causes the device to
dissipate more power in the form of heat than it was designed for resulting in
a very quick failure of the device.

The PN junction region of a Junction Diode has the following important

characteristics:
1. Semiconductors contain two types of mobile charge carriers, “Holes” and
“Electrons”.
2. The holes are positively charged while the electrons negatively charged.
3. A semiconductor may be doped with donor impurities such as Antimony (N-
type doping), so that it contains mobile charges which are primarily
electrons.
4. A semiconductor may be doped with acceptor impurities such as Boron (P-
type doping), so that it contains mobile charges which are mainly holes.
5. The junction region itself has no charge carriers and is known as the
depletion region.
6. The junction (depletion) region has a physical thickness that varies with the
applied voltage.
7. When a diode is Zero Biased no external energy source is applied and a
natural Potential Barrier is developed across a depletion layer which is
approximately 0.5 to 0.7v for silicon diodes and approximately 0.3 of a volt
for germanium diodes.
8. When a junction diode is Forward Biased the thickness of the depletion
region reduces and the diode acts like a short circuit allowing full circuit
current to flow.
9. When a junction diode is Reverse Biased the thickness of the depletion
region increases and the diode acts like an open circuit blocking any current
flow, (only a very small leakage current will flow).
Half Wave Rectification
 A rectifier is a circuit which converts the Alternating Current (AC) input
power into a Direct Current (DC) output power.
 The input power supply may be either a single-phase or a multi-phase supply
with the simplest of all the rectifier circuits being that of the Half Wave
Rectifier.
 The diode in a half wave rectifier circuit passes just one half of each
complete sine wave of the AC supply in order to convert it into a DC supply.
 Then this type of circuit is called a “half-wave” rectifier because it passes
only half of the incoming AC power supply as shown below.

Half Wave Rectifier Circuit

 During each “positive” half cycle of the AC sine wave, the diode is forward
biased as the anode is positive with respect to the cathode resulting in
current flowing through the diode.
 Since the DC load is resistive (resistor, R), the current flowing in the load
resistor is therefore proportional to the voltage (Ohm´s Law), and the
voltage across the load resistor will therefore be the same as the supply
voltage, Vs (minus Vƒ), that is the “DC” voltage across the load is
sinusoidal for the first half cycle only so Vout = Vs.
  During each “negative” half cycle of the AC sinusoidal input waveform, the
diode is reverse biased as the anode is negative with respect to the cathode.
Therefore, NO current flows through the diode or circuit.
 Then in the negative half cycle of the supply, no current flows in the load
resistor as no voltage appears across it so therefore, Vout = 0. The current on
the DC side of the circuit flows in one direction only making the circuit
Unidirectional.
 As the load resistor receives from the diode a positive half of the waveform,
zero volts, a positive half of the waveform, zero volts, etc, the value of this
irregular voltage would be equal in value to an equivalent DC voltage of
0.318*Vmax of the input sinusoidal waveform or 0.45*Vrms of the input
sinusoidal waveform.

Full Wave Rectifier

 Diodes can be connected together to form a full wave rectifier that convert AC
voltage into pulsating DC voltage for use in power supplies.
 Full wave rectifier converts both halves of each waveform cycle into pulsating
DC signal using four rectification diodes.
 While this method may be suitable for low power applications it is unsuitable to
applications which need a “steady and smooth” DC supply voltage.

Full Wave Rectifier Circuit

  The full wave rectifier circuit consists of two power diodes connected to a
single load resistance (RL ) with each diode taking it in turn to supply current
to the load.
 When point A of the transformer is positive with respect to point C, diode D1
conducts in the forward direction as indicated by the arrows.
 When point B is positive (in the negative half of the cycle) with respect to
point C, diode D2 conducts in the forward direction and the current flowing
through resistor R is in the same direction for both half-cycles.
 As the output voltage across the resistor R is the phasor sum of the two
waveforms combined, this type of full wave rectifier circuit is also known as
a “bi-phase” circuit.
 As the spaces between each half-wave developed by each diode is now
being filled in by the other diode the average DC output voltage across the
load resistor is now double that of the single half-wave rectifier circuit and is
about 0.637V of the peak voltage, assuming no losses.

Clipper Circuit

 Clipper circuits are the electronic circuits that clip off or remove a portion
of an AC signal, without causing any distortion to the remaining part of the
waveform. These are also known as clippers, clipping circuits, limiters,
slicers, etc
 The main component of a clipper circuit is a diode.
 The diode clips a portion from the input waveform. The shape of the
waveform depends on the configuration as well as the design of the circuit.
Therefore, there are different types of clipper circuits discussed below.

Types of Clippers
The diode-based clipper circuit can be classified into the following two types.
1. Series Diode Clippers
2. Shunt Diode Clippers

Series Clippers
 In series clipper circuits, the diode is connected in series with the output.
 In such clippers, the input signal appears at the output when the diode is
forward biased and conducting.
It is divided into positive and negative clippers.
Series Positive Clippers
 Series positive clipper removes or clips the positive half of the waveform.
 The input signal Vin is applied at the input side while the output is taken at
the load resistor.

 During the positive half cycle, the voltage at point A is greater than point B
due to which, the diode is in reverse bias and switched off. But there is
another voltage source whose positive is connected to the P-side of the
diode. This voltage source or battery puts the diode in forward bias.
 If the input voltage is less than the battery voltage, the diode remains in
forward bias and it conducts. Therefore, the signal appears at the output.
Vin<Vb  Vo=Vin
 When the input voltage increases above the battery voltage, the diode
becomes reverse-biased and does not conduct the input signal. Therefore, the
battery voltage Vb appears at the output. Vin>Vb  Vo=Vb

 During the negative half cycle, the diode is forward biased due to the input
voltage as well as the battery voltage. Therefore, the input signal passes
through the diode, appears across the R L. Hence, the negative half cycle
passes through the circuit and appears at the output.

Series Negative Clippers

 The series negative clipper circuit clips the negative half of the input cycle.
 During the positive half cycle, the diode is forward biased due to input
signal voltage. While it is reversed biased due to the battery voltage.
 The state of the diode depends on both the voltage sources. Therefore, the
diode will be forward biased and conduct only if the input voltage is greater
than the battery voltage.
  At first, the input voltage is lower than battery voltage, therefore, the diode
is reversed biased and does not conduct. So the battery voltage appears at the
output. Vin<Vb  Vo=Vb
 When the input voltage is greater than battery voltage, then the input voltage
appears at the output. Vin>Vb  Vo=Vin

 During the negative half of the cycle, the diode is reversed biased due to
both the input voltage as well as the battery voltage. therefore, only battery
voltage appears at the output for the whole negative half cycle.

Shunt Clippers
 In shunt clippers, the diode is connected in parallel with the output. The
input signal appears the output when the diode is blocking as opposed to the
series clippers.
 The shunt clippers passes the input signal when the diode is reverse biased
or blocking.
The shunt clippers can also be divided into positive and negative clippers.
1. Shunt Positive Clippers
2. Shunt Negative Clippers

Shunt Positive Clippers

 The shunt positive clipper clips the positive half cycle of the input
waveform.
 During the positive half cycle, the diode is forward biased due to the input
voltage. but it is reversed biased due to the battery voltage. The sum of both
voltages will decide the state of the diode.
  If the input voltage is greater than the battery voltage, the diode will be
forward biased otherwise it will remain in reverse bias.

 At first, the input signal is less than the battery voltage, so the diode is
reversed biased and the signal appears at the output. Vin<Vb  Vo=Vin
 When it exceeds the battery voltage, the diode starts conducting the signal
and only the battery voltage starts to appear at the output. Vin>Vb  Vo=Vb
 During the negative half cycle, the diode is reversed biased due to both input
voltage as well as battery voltage. Therefore, the input signal appears for the
whole negative half-cycle at the output.

Shunt Negative Clippers

 The shunt negative clipper clips the negative half of the input waveform.
 During the positive half cycle, the diode is reversed biased for input voltage
but forward biased for battery voltage. So, the diode will be reversed biased
only when the input voltage exceeds the battery voltage and then the input
signal will appear at the output.

 At first, the signal is less than the battery, so the diode is forward biased and
it conducts the signal. Therefore, only the battery voltage appears at the
output. Vin<Vb  Vo=Vb
  When the input signal exceeds the battery voltage, the diode becomes
reversed biased and the signal appears at the output as shown in the figure.
Vin>Vb  Vo=Vin
 During the negative half cycle, the diode is forward biased for both input
signal and battery voltage. Therefore, the diode conducts and only the
battery voltage appears at the output for the whole negative cycle.

Dual or Combination Clippers

 Dual clipper or combination clipper can clip a portion off from both positive
and negative half cycle of the waveform.
 Two diodes are connected in parallel to each other where each diode has a
battery or voltage source in series that reverse biases the respective diode.
Here is the circuit diagram of a combination clipper.

 The circuit operates using a simple principle. If both diodes are reversed
biased or if they do not conduct, the input signal would appear across the
diode and also appears at the output.
 Now, if one of the diodes starts conduction, their respective battery voltage
will start to appear at the output.
 During the positive half cycle, the diode D1 is forward biased while the D2
is reversed biased for input voltage. But the diode D1 and D2 is reversed
biased for the battery voltage VB1 and VB2 respectively.

 During the positive half cycle, the diode D1 is forward biased for input
voltage and reversed biased for battery voltage V B1. While the diode D2 is
reverse biased for both the input voltage as well as the battery voltage VB2.
 At first, the input voltage is less than the battery voltage V B1, thus the diode
D1 is in reverse bias. while the diode D2 is already in reverse bias. therefore,
the input signal appears at the output. Vin<Vb1  Vo=Vin
  When the input voltage exceeds the V B1, diode D1 starts conduction and
battery voltage VB1 starts to appear at the output. Vin>Vb1  Vo=Vb1

 During the negative half cycle, the diode D1 is reversed biased due to both
input voltage and battery voltage VB1. The diode D2 is forward biased due to
input voltage but reversed biased due to battery voltage VB2.
 At first, the input voltage is lower than the V B2, thus the diode D2 is
reversed biased and it does not conduct. The diode D1 is already in reverse
bias. Therefore, the input signal appears at the output. Vin<Vb2  Vo=Vin
 When the input voltage exceeds the V B2, the diode starts conduction and the
battery voltage VB2 appears at the output. Vin>Vb2  Vo=Vb2

Clamper Circuit
 A clamper circuit is also known as a clamping circuit is an electronic circuit
that shifts the DC level of a signal without changing the shape of its
waveform. It moves the whole signal either up or down about the reference
level.
 Unlike the clipper circuit, it does not change or distort the shape of the
waveform. It simply adds or subtracts the DC level from the waveform to
shift the waveform up or below the 0V reference line.

Working of Clamper Circuit

 The idea behind the clamper circuit is to add the DC component to shift the
waveform above the 0v line or subtract the DC component to shift the
waveform below the –v line.
 This DC component is introduced into the circuit by utilizing a capacitor
(which is the main component of a clamper circuit apart from diode and
resistor).
 The capacitor store the charge in one half-cycle and discharges in another
half cycle where it adds to the input signal and shifts the DC level of the
whole signal.
Type of Clampers
The clamper circuit can be designed in the following types.
1. Positive Clamper
2. Negative Clamper
Positive Clamper
In a positive clamper circuit, the input waveform is shifted upward above the 0v
reference line. Here is the circuit diagram of a positive clamper circuit.

 During the positive half cycle, the diode is reverse biased, therefore,
therefore, the input signal appears at the output as it is. Vo=Vin
 At this point, the capacitor is not charged and there is no clamping.
Therefore, the output at this half cycle is not considered.
 During the next negative half cycle, the diode becomes forward biased and it
starts to conduct, at this half cycle, the capacitor charges up to the peak input
voltage VM with inverse polarity.
 During the next positive half cycle, the diode is reverse biased and it does
not conduct. Due to this, the capacitor starts to discharge.
 The capacitor discharge adds to the input signal which appears at the output
as the summation of both voltages which reaches up to 2VM.
 Vo=Vin+VM
 This is how the signal level is shifted above the 0v line.

Negative Clamper
 The negative clamper shifts the whole input waveform downward. Here is
the circuit diagram of a negative clamper circuit.
  During the positive half cycle, the diode is forward-biased. Therefore, it
conducts and charges the capacitor with inverse polarity up to the peak input
voltage -VM. There is no output during this half cycle.
 During the negative half cycle, the diode is reverse biased and it does not
conduct. Therefore, the capacitor discharges which adds with the input
waveform.
 The addition of both voltages shifts the whole waveform furthermore up to -
2VM. Vo=Vin-VM
 This is how the input signal is shifted downward.

Applications of Clamper Circuit

In simple words, the clamper circuit clamps the voltage to increases its amplitude,
therefore, it is mostly used as a voltage multiplier. Here are some applications of
the clamper circuit.
 It is used as a voltage multiplier.
 It is used for improving the reverse recovery time.
 It is used for removing the distortion in the signal.
 It is also used as test equipment