Lecture 1

EE-215 Electronic Devices & Circuits

Dr. Muhammad Anis Chaudhary

EE-215 Electronic Devices & Circuits

• Credit Hours: 3-1

• Course Book:

– Adel S. Sedra and Kenneth C. Smith, “Microelectronic Circuits”, Sixth Edition

• Reference Book:

– B. Razavi, “Fundamentals of Microelectronics”, Second Edition

– B.G. Streetman and S. Banerjee, “Solid State Electronic Devices”, Sixth Edition

• Software Tools

– LTspice, Matlab/Octave

Basic Electronic Devices:

Electronics

• is defined as the science of motion of charges in a vacuum or semiconductor. (not in conductors)

Semiconductor Devices:

• Diodes

• Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)

• Field Effect Transistors (FET)

Vacuum Electronic Devices

• Low Frequency Vacuum Tubes

– i.e. Vacuum diode tubes, Vacuum triode tubes

• High Frequency Vacuum Tubes

– i.e. TWTs, Klystrons, Magnetrons etc.

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Basic Electronic Devices:

• Our emphasis in this course is on semiconductor devices based circuits.

Semiconductor Devices:

• Diodes
• Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJT)
• Field Effect Transistors (FET)

• the semiconductor electronic devices can be used singly along with resistors, capacitors and
inductors

– for the design of discrete circuits.

• Or as components of an integrated circuit (IC) chip

Basic Electronic Devices:

Integrated Circuit(IC)

• An integrated circuit (IC) has multiple electronic devices (diodes or transistors) in a small piece
of silicon (or any other semiconductor).

– e.g. A microprocessor has hundreds of millions of components in a small piece of silicon

whose area is on the order of 100mm2

Microelectronics

• refers to integrated circuit (IC) technology, which can produce a circuit with multimillions of
components on a single piece of semiconductor material.
• we commonly encounter microelectronics in the form of

– cellphones, radios, televisions, computers etc

– also in household appliances like vacuum cleaner, washing machine, refrigerator, air con-
ditioner etc.

Diodes
Diodes

Diodes
A Diode

• is a two terminal device

• is the most fundamental non-linear circuit element

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The Ideal Diode
The Ideal Diode

The Ideal Diode

• from the i-v characteristics of the ideal diode,

– one can see that the diode can operate in two distinct modes
– either as a Reverse Biased Diode
– or as a Forward Biased Diode

The Ideal Diode

Reverse Biased Diode
• If a negative voltage ’v’ is applied to the diode,

– no current flows through the diode

– the diode behaves as an open circuit
– and the diode is said to be cutoff

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The Ideal Diode
Forward Biased Diode

• If a positive current i is applied to the ideal diode,

– zero voltage drop appears across the diode.

– i.e. the diode acts as a short circuit in the forward direction
– the diode will pass any current with zero voltage drop.

The Ideal Diode

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 4 of 31

The Ideal Diode

• The external circuit must be designed to limit

– the current through the conducting (forward biased) diode

– the reverse voltage across a cut off (reverse biased) diode

The Ideal Diode

• The external circuit must be designed to limit

– the current through the conducting (forward biased) diode (10mA in fig-a)
– the reverse voltage across a cut off (reverse biased) diode (10V in fig-b)

The Ideal Diode

A Simple Application: The Rectifier

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The Ideal Diode
A Simple Application: The Rectifier

• A diode can be used as a rectifier

– i.e. to convert AC to DC

• A simple circuit consisting of series connection of a diode and a resistor, can act as a rectifier.

• the diode is assumed to be ideal and the input signal is a sinusoid.

The Ideal Diode

A Simple Application: The Rectifier

• Now during the positive half-cycle of the input sinusoid,

– +ve vI will cause current iD to flow through the diode

– i.e. the diode is forward biased
– =⇒ vD , the voltage across the diode will be zero

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The Ideal Diode
A Simple Application: The Rectifier

• Now during the negative half-cycle of the input sinusoid,

– a -ve voltage vD will appear across the diode

– hence the diode is reverse biased
– and will act as an open circuit

The Ideal Diode

A Simple Application: The Rectifier

• As a consequence, the output voltage waveform will be of the form

• Note that

– vI alternated in polarity and has a zero average value.

– while vO is unidirectional and has a finite average value (or a DC component)

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 7 of 31

The Ideal Diode
A Simple Application: The Rectifier

The Ideal Diode

Exercise 4.2

• For the circuit in Fig. 4.3(a), sketch the waveform of vD

Solution

• from the circuit, vD can be given as vD = vI − vO

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 •

The Ideal Diode

Exercise 4.2, continued

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The Ideal Diode
Exercise 4.3

• In the circuit of Fig. 4.3(a), let vI have a peak value of 10V and R=1kΩ. Find the peak value of
iD and the dc component of vO .

Solution

• peak value of vI =VP = 10V

• peak value of iD will occur when vI = VP and diode is conducting

– peak value of iD = IP = VRP = 10

1k = 10mA

The Ideal Diode

Exercise 4.3;continued

• the average value (or the dc component) of vO can be given as

1 RT
• vO,Average = T 0 vO (t)dt

VP sin ωt f or 0 ≤ t ≤ T2

• from the figure, vO (t) =
0 f or T2 ≤ t ≤ T
h i hR i
1 R T /2 RT 1 T /2
• =⇒ vO,Average = T 0 vO (t)dt + T /2 vO (t)dt = T 0 VP sin ωtdt

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 10 of 31

The Ideal Diode
Exercise 4.3;continued
hR i
T /2
• vO,Average = T1 0 VP sin ωtdt
hR i  − cos ωt T /2
T /2 T /2
• vO,Average = VTP 0 sin ωtdt = VTP ω 0
= VP
Tω [− cos ωt]0

2π
• As ω = T and ωT = 2π

VP
T /2 VP
− cos 2π − cos 2π T 2π
 


– vO,Average = 2π T 0t = 2π T 2 − − cos T 0
VP VP
– vO,Average = 2π [(− cos π) + cos 0] = 2π [1 + 1] = VπP

• thus for VP = 10V

– =⇒ vO,Average = VπP = 10
π = 3.1831V

The Ideal Diode

Another Application: Diode Logic Gates

The Ideal Diode

Another Application: Diode Logic Gates

• Diodes along with resistors can be used to

– implement digital logic gates.

• Truth tables for two input AND gate and a two input OR gate can be given as

OR Gate AND Gate

A B Y A B Y
0 0 0 0 0 0
•
0 1 1 0 1 0
1 0 1 1 0 0
1 1 1 1 1 1
• where

– logic 0 corresponds to a votage value near 0V

– and logic 1 corresponds to a voltage value near +5V

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The Ideal Diode
Another Application: Diode Logic Gates

• when vA = vB = +5V = logic1

– Both diodes are forward biased (conducting)

– =⇒ vY = +5V

• when vA = 0V , vB = +5V ,

– Diode A is cut off , Diode B is conducting

– =⇒ vY = +5V

• when vA = +5V , vB = 0V ,

– Diode A is conducting , Diode B is off

– =⇒ vY = +5V

• when vA = vB = 0V = logic0 , Both diodes are reverse biased, vY = 0V

The Ideal Diode

Another Application: Diode Logic Gates

• when vA = vB = 0V = logic0

– Both diodes are forward biased (conducting)

– =⇒ vY = 0V

• when vA = 0V , vB = +5V ,

– Diode A is conducting , Diode B is cut off

– =⇒ vY = 0V

• when vA = +5V , vB = 0V ,

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 12 of 31

 – Diode A is off , Diode B is conducting
– =⇒ vY = 0V

• when vA = vB = 0V = logic0 , Both diodes are conducting, vY = 0V

The Ideal Diode

Another Application: Diode Logic Gates

• Similarly 3 input AND , OR functions can be inplemented using 3 diodes.

The Ideal Diode

Example 4.2

• Assuming the diodes to be ideal, find the values of I and V, in the circuits of Fig. 4.6.

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 •

The Ideal Diode

Example 4.2; continued

• Note:

• It is not always clear in a circuit,

– whether the diode is conducting or not

• In such a case,

– make an assumption
– proceed with the analysis
– see if the solution is reasonable

• e.g. if assumption is that the diode is conducting,

– its current iD must be positive.

The Ideal Diode

Example 4.2; continued

• for circuit (a), lets assume both diodes are conducting

• =⇒ we can replace both diodes with short circuits

• =⇒ VB = 0V and V = 0V

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 • Applying ohms’ law across 10k resistor
10−0
– ID2 = 10k = 1mA

• KCL at node formed by V and VB (0V)

– ID2 + I = I5k(Resistor) = VB −(−10)

5k = 0−(−10)
5k = 10
5k = 2mA
– =⇒ I = 2mA − ID2 = 1mA

• As I and ID2 both are positive currents

– our assumption was correct i.e. both diodes are conducting.

The Ideal Diode

Example 4.2; continued

• for circuit (b), lets assume both diodes are conducting

• =⇒ we can replace both diodes with short circuits

• =⇒ VB = 0V and V = 0V

• Applying ohms’ law across 5k resistor

10−0
– ID2 = 5k = 2mA

• KCL at node formed by V and VB (0V)

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 15 of 31

 – ID2 + I = I10k(Resistor) = VB −(−10)
10k = 0+10
10k = 10
10k = 1mA
– =⇒ I = 1mA − ID2 = −1mA

• As ID2 is positive but I is negative

– =⇒ D2 is conducting but D1 is cut off

The Ideal Diode

Example 4.2; continued

• Now, D2 is conducting but D1 is cut off

• =⇒ we can replace D2 with short circuit, D1 with open circuit

• As D1 is cut off =⇒ I = 0

• ID2 is the current flowing through series combination of 5k and 10k resistors

• Applying ohms’ law across (5k+10k) resistor

10−(−10) 20
– ID2 = 5k+10k = 15k = 1.333mA

• Ohm’s law across 5k resistor

10−V
– 5k = ID2 = 1.333mA
– =⇒ 10 −V = 6.665V
– or V=3.335V

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 •

The Ideal Diode

Example 4.2; continued

• ID2 = 1.333mA and V = 3.335V

• =⇒ ID2 is +ve =⇒ D2 is conducting

• Note that VB = V = 3.335V

– =⇒ VD1 = −3.335V
– thus D1 is reverse biased

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 •

The Ideal Diode

Exercise4.4

• Find the values of I and V in the circuits shown in Fig. E4.4.

The Ideal Diode

Exercise4.4; Continued

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 •

– (a) Diode On
5−0
– I= 2.5k = 2mA
– V = 0V

– (b) Diode Off

– I = 0mA
– V = 5V

– (c) Diode Off

– I = 0mA
– V = 5V

– (d) Diode On
0−(−5)
– I= 2.5k = 2mA
– V = 0V

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 19 of 31

The Ideal Diode
Exercise4.4e

• Find the values of I and V in the circuits shown in Fig. E4.4e.

– only +3V diode conducting

– other two diodes off
– V = +3V
3
– I= 1k = 3mA
– this circuit can be used to select one of the 3 DC sources

The Ideal Diode

Exercise4.4f

• Find the values of I and V in the circuits shown in Fig. E4.4f.

– only +1V diode conducting

– other two diodes off
– V = +1V
5−1
– I= 1k = 4mA

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 20 of 31

 –

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

• Uptill now we have considered

– the behaviour of ideal diode

• lets take a look at the characteristics of real diodes

– specifically, semiconductor junction diodes made of Silicon

• i-v characteristics of a silicon PN junction diode is shown

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 •

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

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Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

• the characteristic curve consists of three distinct regions

– The forward bias region, determined by v > 0

– The reverse bias region, determined by v < 0
– The breakdown region, determined by v < −Vzk

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

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Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
The Forward-Bias Region

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Forward-Bias Region

• A diode is in forward-bias region of operation

– when the terminal voltage v is positive

• In the forward bias region, i-v relationship can be given as

 v 
• i = IS e − 1
nVT

– where IS = SaturationCurrent
– IS is also called scale current.
* As IS is directly proportional to the cross-sectional area of the diode.
* Thus doubling of the junction area =⇒ doubling of IS
– for small-signal diodes, IS is on the order of 10−15 A
– value of IS is a very strong function of temperature
o
* As a rule of thumb, IS doubles for every 5 C rise in temperature
– n is called ideality factor. 1 ≤ n ≤ 2. Assume n = 1

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 24 of 31

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
The Forward-Bias Region
 v 
• i = IS e VT − 1

– where VT is a constant called thermal voltage

kT
– and is VT = q = 0.0862T mV
o
* T =absolute temperature in kelvins= 273+temperature in C
– At room temperature (20 oC),
* VT = 0.0862T mV = 0.0862 (293) mV = 25.26 mV
– for ease of calculations,
* VT ≈ 25 mV at room temperature

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Forward-Bias Region
 v 
• i = IS e VT − 1

v
– =⇒ i = IS e VT − IS
v
– =⇒ i + IS = IS e VT

• for i ≫ IS , which is normally the case for a forward-bias diode

v v
– i + IS = IS e VT =⇒ i ≈ IS e VT
v
• i ≈ IS e VT
v
i
• or IS ≈ e VT

• or in logarithmic form

– taking natural log (base e) on both sides

   v
i
– ln IS ≈ ln e VT
   
– ln IiS ≈ VvT ln (e) = VvT =⇒ v ≈ VT ln IiS

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 25 of 31

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
The Forward-Bias Region

• two forms of i-v relationship for the forward-bias region

v  
• i ≈ IS e VT and v ≈ VT ln IiS

• if now diode voltage is V1 ,

V1
– its current I1 can be given as I1 = IS e VT ............(A)

• if diode voltage is changed to V2 ,

V2
– then its current I2 will be I2 = IS e VT ............(B)
V2 V2
V2 V V2 −V1
I2 IS e VT e VT − V1
• divide (B) by (A) =⇒ I1 = V1 = V1 = e VT T =e VT

IS e VT e VT
 
• taking natural log on both sides =⇒ ln I2
I1 = V2V−V
T
1

 
I2
• or V2 −V1 = VT ln I1

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Forward-Bias Region
 
• V2 −V1 = VT ln II21

• or in terms of base-10 logarithms

– using the identity

log10 x log x
– ln x = loge x = log10 e = log e = 2.3 log x
 
I2
• =⇒ V2 −V1 = 2.3VT log I1

– =⇒ for a decade (factor of 10) change in current,

– the diode voltage drop changes by only 2.3VT = 57.5mV

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 26 of 31

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Forward-Bias Region

• from the i-v characteristics in the forward-bias region

• The current is negligibly small for

– v smaller than about 0.5V

– This value is called cut-in voltage.

• Also the current rapidly increases afterwards

• for a fully conducting diode,

– the voltage drop lies in a narrow range,

– approximately 0.6V to 0.8V

• This observation leads to a simple model for the diode

– where it can be assumed that a conducting diode

– has a 0.7V voltage drop across it.

Electronic Devices and Circuits, Dr. M. Anis Ch, Lecture1 Page 27 of 31

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
Exercise 4.6

• Find the change in diode voltage if the current changes from 0.1mA to 10mA

Solution

• I1 = 0.1mA

• I2 = 10mA

• V2 −V1 = VT ln II21 = 25mV ln 0.1

10
= 0.115V

• or V2 −V1 = 115 mV

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

Exercise 4.7

• A silicon junction diode has v=0.7 V at i=1 mA. Find the voltage drop at i=0.1 mA and i=10
mA.

Solution

• V1 = 0.7V and I1 = 1 mA

• V2 −V1 =? , I2 = 0.1mA

• V3 −V1 =? , I3 = 10 mA

• V2 −V1 = VT ln II21 = 25m ln 0.1

1 = −0.058 V

– V2 − 0.7 = −0.058V
– =⇒ V2 = 0.7 − 0.058 = 0.642 V

• V3 −V1 = VT ln II31 = 25m ln 10

1 = 0.058V

– V3 − 0.7 = 0.058V
– =⇒ V3 = 0.7 + 0.058 = 0.758 V

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Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
Exercise 4.8

• Using the fact that a silicon diode has IS = 10−14 A at 25oC and that IS increases by 15% per oC
rise in termperature, find the value of IS at 125oC.

Solution

• IS = 10−14 A at 25oC
• IS increases by 15% per oC rise in temperature
• IS at 125oC =?
• IS,25oC = 10−14 A
• IS,26oC = IS,25oC + 0.15IS,25oC = 1.15IS,25oC

• IS,27oC = IS,26oC + 0.15IS,26oC = 1.15IS,26oC = (1.15)2 IS,25oC

• =⇒ IS,125oC = (1.15)(125−25) IS,25oC = (1.15)100 IS,25oC

• thus IS at 125oC = (1.15)100 × 10−14 A= 1.1743 × 10−8 A

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Reverse-Bias Region

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Reverse-Bias Region

•
• The reverse-bias region of operation is entered

– when the diode voltage v is made negative.

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Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
The Reverse-Bias Region
 v 
• As i = IS e VT − 1

• if v is -ve and a few times larger than VT = 25mV

– e.g. v = −4VT = −100mV

v
– =⇒ e VT − 1 = e−4 − 1 = 0.018316 − 1

• which clearly indicate that

– exp term is very small with respect to 1

– and can be neglected
 v 
• =⇒ i = IS e VT − 1 ≈ −IS for the reverse bias region

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Reverse-Bias Region
 v 
• i = IS e VT − 1 ≈ −IS

• Real diodes have reverse currents much higher than IS

– e.g. for a small signal diode with IS = 10−14 A to 10−15 A

– reverse current is on the order of 1nA

• Still the reverse current is very small

– and the diode can be considered as cut off

– in the reverse-bias region of operation.

• the reverse current also changes with the change in temperature

– As a rule of thumb, the reverse current doubles for

– every 10oC rise in temperature

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Breakdown Region

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Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes
The Breakdown Region

• The breakdown region is entered when

– magnitude of the reverse voltage exceeds a certain threshold value,

– called the breakdown voltage, VZK

Terminal Characteristics of Junction Diodes

The Breakdown Region

• Breakdown voltage VZK is specific to the particular diode

– and is typically in the range 2V ≤ VZK ≤ 2000V

• VZK is the voltage at the knee of the i-v curve

– The subscript Z stands for zener and K stands for knee.

• In the breakdown region,

– the reverse current increases rapidly,

– while the associated increase in voltage drop is very small.

• thus the diode i-v characteristics in breakdown

– is almost a vertical line.

– this region can be used for voltage regulation.

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