DC

Characteristics
of Diodes
 Exp #2
DC Characteristics of Diodes
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Objectives:

• Detect the I/V characteristic curve of semiconductor diode.

• To be familiar with Diode data sheet and familiarize the student with some
important specification.
• How to check diode with help of multimeter‫؟‬

Equipments:
• Simple diode.
• Resistors.
• DC power supply.
• Oscilloscope.

Theoretical Background:
• The semiconductor diode is formed by doping P-type impurity in one
side and N-type of impurity in another side of the semiconductor crystal
forming a p-n junc tion as shown in the following figure.

At the junction initially free charge carriers from both side recombine forming
negatively c harged ions in P side of junction(an atom in P-side accept electron
and be comes negatively c harged ion) and po sitive ly c harged ion on n side (an atom
in n-side accepts hole i.e. donates electron and becomes positively charged
ion)region. This region deplete of any type of free charge carrier is called as
depletion region. Further recombination of free carrier on both side is prevented
because of the depletion voltage generated due to charge carriers kept at distance
by depletion (acts as a sort of insulation) layer as shown dotted in the above
figure.
Working principle:
When voltage is not app lied acros s the diode , de pletion region for ms as shown
in the above figure. When the voltage is applied be tween the two terminals of
the diode (anode and cathode) two possibilities arises depending on polarity of DC
supply.
[1] Forward-Bias Condition: When the +Ve terminal of the battery is connected
to P-type material & -Ve terminal to N-type terminal as shown in the circuit diagram,
the diode is said to be forward biased. The application of forward bias voltage will
force electrons in N-type and holes in P-type material to recombine with the
ions near boundary and to flow crossing junction. This reduces width of
depletion region. This further will result in increase in majority carriers flow
across the junction. If forward bias is further increased in magnitude the
depletion region width will continue to
decrease, resulting in exponential rise in current as shown in ideal diode
characteristic curve.
[2] Reverse-biased: If the negative terminal of battery (DC power supply) is
connected with P-type terminal of diode and +Ve terminal of battery
connected to N type then diode is said to be reverse biased. In this condition the free
charge carriers (i.e. electrons in N-type and holes in P-type ) will move away
from junction widening depletion region width. The minority carriers (i.e. –ve
electrons in p-type and + ve holes in n-type) can cross the depletion region
resulting in minority carrier current flow called as reverse saturation current(Is).
As no of minority carrier is very small so the magnitude of Is is few
microamperes. Ideally current in reverse bias is zero.
In short, current flows through diode in forward bias and does not
flow through diode in reverse bias. Diode can pass current only in one
direction.
The general relationship be tween the current and the voltage of a diode is as follows:
VD
hV T
I D = I S (e - 1)
Where
• Is is called the reverse saturation current and its value is constant for a specific
diode. Usually this is a very small value of current since virtually no current
flows in the reverse direction.
• η is another constant whose value ranges from 1 to 2 depending on the material
of the semiconductor diode.
KT
• V T is the thermal equivalent voltage. It is equal to where K is the
q
Boltzman's constant (1.38e-23 J/K), T is the temperature in Kelvins and q is the
basic electronic charge (1.6e-19C). The value of V T at the room temperature is
usually taken as 26mV.
• V D is the applied voltage between the terminals of the diode.
• ID is the diode current.
Experiment Procedure:
• Connect the power supply, voltmeter, current meter with the diode as shown in
the figure for forward bias diode. You can use two multimeter (one to measure
current through diode and other to measure voltage across diode)
• Increase voltage from the po wer supp ly from 0V to 20 V in step as shown in
the observation table
• Measure voltage across diode and current through diode. Note down readings
in the obs ervation table.
• Reverse DC power supply polarity for reverse bias
• Repeat the above procedure for the different values of supply voltage for
reverse bias
• Draw VI characteristics for forward bias and reverse bias in one graph .

Circuit diagram (forward bias)

Circuit diagram (reverse bias):

 :: WORKSHEET ::

Observation table: (Forward bias)

Supply voltage Diode voltage Diode current
(Volt) (Vd) (Id)
.2
.4
.6
.8
1
1.3
1.6
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5

Observation table: (Reverse bias)

Supply voltage Diode voltage Diode current
(Volt) (Vd) (Id)
.2
.4
.6
.8
1
1.6
2
2.5
3
Draw V-I characteristics of diode:

Write your observation :

Draw V-I characteristics of diode using Orcad
In this segment you will plot out the current vs. voltage characteristics of a non- linear
resistive device, specifically the D1N4007 diode.

• The diode network is shown below.

R1

V1
100
12 D1
I
D1N4007

0
• create a New Simulation Profile. The simulation profile set up for a DC
Sweep is shown below.

Click OK to close this window and run PSpice. When the circuit is finished
simulating, the Probe window will appear. At that point, you will want to change the
x-axis from V_V1 to
V1(D1). Pull down the Plot menu and c lick o n the Axis Settings… option. This will
bring up the following menu.
Click o n the Axis Variable button and then choo se V1(D1). After you have chosen
the x-axis the above window will reappear. Now set the Data Range to User Defined
and adjust the settings to what you prefer. I n the abo ve example 0V to 2.0 V was
selected. W hen you close this window , you can now select your Y-axis trace. Use
the I(D1) selection to plot the
ID vs. VD
diode characteristics.