Chapter 9:

Diodes and Diode Circuits

Diode Characteristics
A diode is simply a pn junction, but its applications are extensive in electronic circuits. Three important characteristics of a diode are:
Forward voltage drop. Reverse voltage drop. Reverse breakdown voltage.

Chapter 9 - Diodes and Diode Circuits

Diode Elements
A diode has two leads connected to the external circuit. Since a diode behaves differently depending upon forward or reverse bias, it is critical to be able to distinguish the leads. The anode connects to the p-type material, the cathode to the n-type material of the diode.
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Ideal Diodes
In an ideal diode, current flow freely through the device when forward biased, having no resistance. In an ideal diode, there would be no voltage drop across it when forward biased. All of the source voltage would be dropped across circuit resistors. In an ideal diode, when reverse biased, it would have infinite resistance, causing zero current flow.

Chapter 9 - Diodes and Diode Circuits

Practical Diodes
A practical diode does offer some resistance to current flow when forward biased. Since there is some resistance, there will be some power dissipated when current flows through a forward biased diode. Therefore, there is a practical limit to the amount of current a diode can conduct without damage. A reverse biased diode has very high resistance. Excessive reverse bias can cause the diode to conduct.
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Practical Diode

Chapter 9 - Diodes and Diode Circuits

Current versus Voltage

In a practical diode, there is very little forward current until the barrier voltage is reached. When reverse biased, only a small amount of current flows as long as the reverse voltage is less than the breakdown voltage of the device.
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Power Supply Applications

Nearly all computers have some sort of power supply. Power supply circuits must: Convert the ac line voltage into a dc voltage required by the circuit. Reduce the ac voltage to a lower value. Continuously adjust the dc output voltage to keep it constant under varying load conditions.
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Half-wave Rectifier
The term rectify is used to describe the conversion of ac into dc. In the circuit shown, only one-half of the input waveform is allowed to pass through to the output. This is called half-wave rectification.
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Circuit Operation
During the positive alternation, the diode is forward biased and the full applied voltage is dropped across the load resistor. During the negative alternation, the diode is reverse biased and acts like an open circuit. No voltage is present across the load resistor. The output voltage is actually pulsating dc. An application for a half-wave rectifier is shown on the following slide.

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Circuit Operation

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Full-wave Rectifier
A full-wave rectifier applies both halves of an ac waveform to the output. The circuit shown is called a biphase half-wave rectifier and a center-tapped rectifier circuit. Operation of a full-wave rectifier is demonstrated in the figure shown on the following slide.

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Full-wave Rectifier

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Bridge Rectifier
A bridge rectifier is more widely used than the center-tapped rectifier. Circuit operation is best understood by examining the current paths of the forward and reverse biased diodes during each half-cycle of the input waveform.
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Filter Networks
Most electronic applications require smooth dc current to operate properly. Filtering pulsating dc circuits accomplishes this. Adding a capacitor to the output of a half-wave rectifier filters the pulsating dc into smooth dc.
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Full-wave Rectifier with Filter

A capacitive filter added to the output of a full-wave bridge rectifier is shown at the right. One drawback of a half-wave rectifier is the higher level of ripple voltage after filtering. Full-wave rectification reduces this ripple voltage.
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Other Types of Filtering

Simple capacitor filtering is adequate for many electronic applications. In more critical applications, more complex filter networks are required to reduce or eliminate ripple voltage Examples of more complex filters are:
L filters. Pi filters.
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Miscellaneous Diode Applications

There are many practical applications for diodes beyond power supplies. Some of these applications include:
Clipper circuits that serve to protect circuits from damage as a result of over-voltage conditions. Clippers are common in computer circuits.

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Miscellaneous Diode Applications

Isolation diodes are used to isolate various sections of circuits from another. An example of this is the battery backup for computer memory.

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Miscellaneous Diode Applications

Diodes can be used to create an RC circuit that has different time constants for charge and discharge. This principle is called asymmetrical time constants.

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Miscellaneous Diode Applications

Diodes can also be used as AM (amplitude modulation) detector circuits in radio receivers.
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Special Diodes
There are many diodes that have special properties that are useful in electronic circuits. A zener diode is much like a standard diode in many respects, except it is designed to operate in the reverse breakdown region of its operating curve.

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Basic Zener Characteristics

Zener diodes are operated in their reverse breakdown mode to provide voltage regulation in a circuit. The point where the reverse current begins to increase is called the knee voltage. The current at this point is the knee current.
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Zener Voltage Regulator

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Varactor Diodes
Junction capacitance is present in all reverse biased diodes because of the depletion region. Junction capacitance is optimized in a varactor diode and is used for high frequencies and switching applications. Varactor diodes are often used for electronic tuning applications in FM radios and televisions. They are also called voltage-variable capacitance diodes.
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Schottky Diodes
While varactor diodes are designed to optimize the effect of junction capacitance, Schottky diodes are designed to minimize the junction capacitance. Schottky diodes are able to switch between conducting and nonconducting states much faster than conventional diodes. This fast switching speed is the identifying characteristic of a Schottky diode. They are also referred to as hot-carrier diodes.
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Current Regulator Diodes

Current regulator diodes are designed to provide a relatively constant forward current over a wide range of voltages. The diode functions as a constant-current source. The forward resistance of a current regulator diode is very high, from 250 k; to over 20 M;.
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Tunnel Diodes
Tunnel diodes are another device designed to be operated at very high frequencies. The pn junction is doped much more heavily than other types of diodes. Tunnel diodes are used in the forward-biased state and exhibits what is known as negative resistance.

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PIN Diodes
PIN diodes are another device intended for use at extreme frequencies (100 MHz100 GHz). A layer of p-type material is separated from a layer of n-type material by a layer of intrinsic or very lightly doped silicon. This semiconductor sandwich of p-type,intrinsic, and n-type materials gives this diode its name.

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Step-recovery Diodes
Step-recovery diodes are characterized by very fast switching times. They are primarily used in communication circuits above 1 GHz. Step-recovery diodes are doped differently than other types of diodes, with less doping at the pn junction than away from it.

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Troubleshooting Diode Circuits

Because diodes are so common in the electronics industry, it is important to be able to troubleshoot and repair systems that employ diodes. Diode defects include:
Anode-to-cathode short. Anode-to-cathode open. Low front-to-back ratio. Out-of-tolerance parameters.
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Troubleshooting Diode Circuits

Tests that can performed on diodes to check for their operation are:
Voltage measurements. Ohmmeter tests. Diode testers.

Rectifier diode defects fall into one of two classes:

Power supply is defective, but no visible damage and no fuses are blown. The rectifier circuit shows damage or a fuse is blown.
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