UNIT – II

DIODE APPLICATIONS
Objectives:
 To introduce the applications of pn junction diode, zener diode and
special diodes.

Syllabus: Diode switch, AND/OR Gates, Half-Wave Rectification, Full-Wave

Rectification(with and without capacitor filter), Clippers, Clampers, Zener
diodes, design of Zener voltage regulator, Special Diodes-LED, Photo Diode,
tunnel diode, varactor diode (only characteristics).

Outcomes:
At the end of the unit, student will be able to

 Describe the applications of PN junction diode such as gates, rectifier

 Understand the applications of junction diode as limiting and clamping
circuits
 Describe the I-V characteristics of Zener diode
 Design a voltage regulator using Zener diode for given specifications.

Diode switch:

In the previous unit we found that a p–n junction will permit a generous flow of
charge when forward-biased and a very small level of current when reverse-
biased. Both conditions are reviewed in below figure, with the heavy current
vector in Figure (a) matching the direction of the arrow in the diode symbol and
the significantly smaller vector in the opposite direction in Figure (b)
representing the reverse saturation current.
 An analogy often used to describe the behavior of a semiconductor diode
is a mechanical switch. In Figure (a) the diode is acting like a closed switch
permitting a generous flow of charge in the direction indicated. In Figure (b) the
level of current is so small in most cases that it can be approximated as 0 A
and represented by an open switch.

Figure: Ideal semiconductor diode: () Forward Bias (b) Reverse Bias

In other words:
The semiconductor diode behaves in a manner similar to a mechanical
switch in that it can control whether current will flow between its two
terminals.
However, it is important to also be aware that:
The semiconductor diode is different from a mechanical switch in the
sense that when the switch is closed it will only permit current to flow in
one direction.
Ideally, if the semiconductor diode is to behave like a closed switch in the
forward-bias region, the resistance of the diode should be 0 V. In the reverse-
bias region its resistance should be V to represent the open-circuit
equivalent. Such levels of resistance in the forward and reverse-bias regions
result in the characteristics of Fig. 22.
 Figure: Ideal vs actual semiconductor characteristics

The characteristics have been superimposed to compare the ideal Si

diode to a real-world Semiconductor diodes Si diode. First impressions might
suggest that the commercial unit is a poor impression of the ideal switch.
However, when one considers that the only major difference is that the
commercial diode rises at a level of 0.7 V rather than 0 V, there are a number
of similarities between the two plots.

When a switch is closed the resistance between the contacts is assumed to be 0

V. At the plot point chosen on the vertical axis the diode current is 5 mA and
the voltage across the diode is 0 V. Substituting into Ohm’s law results in
In fact:
At any current level on the vertical line, the voltage across the ideal
diode is 0 V and the resistance is 0 V.
For the horizontal section, if we again apply Ohm’s law, we find

Again:
Because the current is 0 mA anywhere on the horizontal line, the
resistance is considered to be infinite ohms (an open-circuit) at any point
on the axis.
Due to the shape and the location of the curve for the commercial unit in the
forward-bias region there will be a resistance associated with the diode that is
greater than 0 V. However, if that resistance is small enough compared to other
resistors of the network in series with the diode, it is often a good
approximation to simply assume the resistance of the commercial unit is 0 V.
In the reverse-bias region, if we assume the reverse saturation current is so
small it can be approximated as 0 mA, we have the same open-circuit
equivalence provided by the open switch.

The result, therefore, is that there are sufficient similarities between the
ideal switch and the semiconductor diode to make it an effective electronic
device. In the next section the various resistance levels of importance are
determined for use in the chapter “Diode Applications”, where the response of
diodes in an actual network is examined.
 DIODE APPLICATIONS

Applications of Diode
1. Diode logic gates
 Diodes together with resistors can be used to implement digital
functions(logic functions).
 Consider a positive logic system in which voltage values close to 0 V
corresponds to logic 0 (low level) and voltage values close to +5 V
corresponds to logic 1 (high level).
 A three input OR gate and AND gate using diode logic is shown in fig.

Fig.: Diode logic gates: (a) OR gate; (b) AND gate (in positive logic
system)
 The circuit of OR gate has three inputs, vA, vB and vC. The diodes
connected to +5 V input will conduct thus clamping the output vY to a
value equal to+5 V.
 This positive voltage at the output will keep the diodes cutoff (whose
inputs are low). Thus the output will be high if one or more of the inputs
are high. The circuit therefore implements the logic OR function, which
in Boolean notation is expressed as, Y = A+B+C
 Similarly the same logic can be implemented for AND gate. In this
 circuit, if any input is held at a voltage equal to 0 V, corresponding
diodes are shorted and the output clamps to 0 V.If all the inputs are held
at logic high state, diodes will be cut-off and the output voltage is nearly
equal to +5 V.
 The circuit therefore implements the logic AND function, which in
Boolean notation is expressed as, Y = A.B.C
2. Rectifier
 A fundamental application of the diode, one that makes use of its
nonlinear i-v curve, is the rectifier circuit.

Fig. : (a) Rectifier circuit (b) Input waveform (c) Equivalent circuit when
vi ≥ 0 (d) Equivalent circuit when vi ≤ 0 (d) Output waveform

 The circuit consists of the series connection of a diode D and a resistor R

as shown in above Fig.
 During the positive half-cycles of the input sinusoid, the positive Vi will
cause current to flow through the diode in its forward direction. It follows
that the diode voltage Vd will be very small (ideally zero). The output
 voltage V0 will be equal to the input voltage Vi.
 During the negative half-cycles of Vi, the diode will not conduct and V0
will be zero.
 While Vi alternates in polarity and has a zero average value but V0 is
unidirectional and has a finite average value or a dc component.
 Thus the circuit rectifies the signal and hence is called a Rectifier.
Rectifier circuits
 One of the applications of Diode is in the design of Rectifier circuit.
 A diode rectifier circuit is an essential building block of Power supplies
required to power electronic equipment.

Fig. : Block diagram of a dc power supply

 To achieve its purpose a power supply must:

 Step down transformer is used to step down the magnitude of the
voltages Ac voltage
 Convert AC to Pulsating DC (non-zero average or DC component)
using rectifiers like Half-wave & Full-wave rectifiers.
 Use the filters to reduce the Ripples in rectifier output (time
dependent component)
 Use Regulators to stabilize filter output voltage against the supply
voltage and change in load variations.
(i) Half wave Rectifier
 It is a simplest process used to convert ac to dc.
 A diode is used to clip the input signal excursions of one polarity to zero.
 In half-wave rectifier circuit mains voltage (220 to 240 V) is applied to
 the primary of a step-down transformer. The secondary of transformer
steps down the 240 V r.m.s. to 12 V r.m.s.
 The Diode will be forward biased during each positive half-cycle of input
hence current flows from cathode to anode of the diode. In forward bias
diode behaves like a closed switch.
 The circuit current flows in the opposite direction, when the voltage bias
across the diode will be reversed, causing the diode to act like an open
switch.
 The switching action of diode results in a pulsating output voltage which
is developed across the load resistor R.

Fig. : a).Half wave rectifier; b) Equivalent circuit of half wave rectifier with
diode replaced with battery and resistor model; c) Transfer characteristics
of rectifier circuit; d) Input and output waveforms

 From the above fig.(b) we can write

 Transfer characteristics represented equations is shown in fig

  In many applications rD << R .hence equation 2 simplified as

VDo = 0.7V or 0.8V

 Peak Inverse voltage (PIV): The diode must be able to withstand

without damage under applied reverse bias voltage. PIV is one of the
important parameter of the rectifier circuit.
 When Vs is negative in figure(a) the diode will be cut-off and Vo = 0
(ii) Full wave Rectifier
 A Full Wave Rectifier is a circuit, which converts an ac voltage into a
pulsating dc voltage using both half cycles of the applied ac voltage. It
uses two diodes of which one conducts during one half cycle while the
other conducts during the other half cycle of the applied. ac voltage.
 Center tapped transformer is used to provide 2 equal input voltages.

Fig. : a) Full wave rectifier; b) Transfer characteristics of rectifier circuit;

c) Input and output waveforms

 To find the PIV of the diodes in the full-wave rectifier circuit, consider the
situation during the positive half-cycles. Diode D1 is conducting, and D2
is cut-off. The voltage at the cathode of D 2 is v0, and that at anode is –vs.
Thus the reverse voltage across D 2 will be (V0+Vs), which will reach its
maximum when v0 is at its peak value of (VS – VD), and vs is at its peak
value of VS; thus
PIV= 2VS -VD
(iii) Bridge Rectifier
 Another type of circuit that produces the same output waveform as the
 full wave rectifier circuit is the Full Wave Bridge Rectifier.
 This type of single phase rectifier uses four individual rectifying diodes
connected in a closed loop “bridge” configuration to produce the desired
output.
 The main advantage of this bridge circuit is that it does not require a
special centre tapped transformer, thereby reducing its size and cost.
 The single secondary winding is connected to one side of the diode bridge
network and the load to the other side as shown below.

Fig.: a) Bridge Rectifier circuit diagram; b) Input, Output forms

 To determine the peak inverse voltage of each diode, consider circuit

during the positive half cycle. Then the reverse voltage across the D 3 is
from the above fig. (a)

 The maximum value of VD3 occurs at the peak of Vo and is given by

 PIV of bridge rectifier is about half the value of center taped rectifier.

(iv) Comparison of Rectifiers

Table: Comparison of various rectifiers
FWR FWR
Parameters HWR
(CT) (BR)

VDC Vm 2Vm 2Vm

  
 Vm Vm Vm
Vrms
2 2 2


1.21 0.482 0.482
Ripple factor

Rectification 40.6% 81% 81%

efficiency

PIV
Vm 2 Vm Vm
Peak Inverse
Voltage

(v) Full wave rectifier with capacitor filter (peak rectifier)

 The property of capacitor is that it allows ac component and blocks the
dc component. The operation of capacitor filter is to short the ripple to
ground but leave the dc to appear at the output when it is connected
across a pulsating dc voltage.

Fig.: a) Circuit diagram of full wave rectifier with capacitor filter; b)

Voltage and current waveforms in waveforms in peak rectifier.
 To analyze the circuit in figure (a) take the assumption RC >> T and
observe the steady state input and output waveforms in above fig. (c)
 The waveform of the load current

 Diode current when conducting

 The diode conducts for a brief interval, Δt near the peak of the input
sinusoid and supplies the capacitor with charge equal to that lost during
the much longer discharge interval. The latter is approximately equal to
the period T
 Assuming an ideal diode, the diode conduction begins at time t1, at
which the input v1 equals the exponentially decaying output v0.
Conduction stops at t2 shortly after the peak of vi; the exact value of t2
can be determined by setting iD =0.
 During the diode-off interval, the capacitor, C discharges through R, and
thus v0 decays exponentially with a time constant ‘RC’. The discharge
interval begins just past the peak of v1. At the end of the discharge
interval, which lasts for almost the entire period T, v0 = Vp-Vr, where, Vr is
the peak to peak ripple voltage. When RC >> T, the value of Vr is small.
 When Vr is small, v0 is almost constant and equal to the peak value of v1.
Thus the dc output voltage is approximately equal to Vp. Similarly, the
current iL is almost constant, and its dc component IL is given by
IL = Vp / R
 If desire, a more accurate expression for the output dc voltage can be
obtained by taking the average of the extreme values of v0,
V0 = Vp – (1/2). Vr
 With these observations, Vr will be derived and the average and peak
values of the diode current. During the diode off interval, V0 can be
expressed as
 V0 = Vp.e –t/RC

 At the end of the discharge interval,

Vp –Vr =Vp. e-T/RC
Now, since RC >> T , we can use the approximation e-T/RC = 1-T/RC to
obtain

 The ripple voltage in terms of frequency

,
 We can determine the conduction interval, ∆t from

Where, ω = 2πf =2π/T is the angular frequency of v1. Since (ω Δt) is a

small angle, we can employ the expression cos (ω Δt) ≈ 1-1/2 (ω Δt)2 to
obtain
ω Δt ≈ (2 Vr/ Vp)1/2
Note that Vr<< Vp, the conduction angle ω Δt will be small as assumed
To determine the average diode current during conduction, iDav , we relate
the charge that the diode supplies to the capacitor

 To discharge the capacitor loses during the discharge interval

 Observe that Vr << Vp the average diode current during conduction is

much greater than the dc load current.
 Assuming that IL almost constant, we obtain

Waveform of iD is almost right angle triangle.

 The accuracy of the results can be improved by taking the diode drop
 into consideration. This can be easily done by replacing the peak voltage
Vp to which the capacitor charges with (Vp-VD) for half-wave circuit and
full-wave circuit using a center-tapped transformer and with (Vp-2VD) for
the bridge rectifier.
 The peak rectifier circuits find application in signal processing systems
where it is required to detect the peak of an input signal. In such a case
the circuit is referred to as a peak detector.
 A particularly popular application of the peak detector is in the design of
a demodulator for amplitude-modulated signals.

Limiting (or) Clippers And Clamping Circuits

 Use of diodes along with resistor and capacitors to shape wave forms
 If we want to clip portion of the waveform we use clippers for this
purpose and if we want to shift or clamp the dc voltage level we use
clampers.
Clippers (Limiting) : clippers are networks that use diodes to clip a portion
of input signal without distorting the remaining part of the wave form.
Clampers : A clamper is a network constructed of diodes, a resistor and
capacitor that shift the waveform to a different dc level without changing the
appearance of the applied signal.
(i) Limiting Circuits (or) Clipper circuit
 Clippers are further divided into series and parallel clippers.
 Within series and parallel there is biased and un biased clippers.
 Fig. General transfer characteristic for a limiter circuit
 Figure shows the general transfer characteristics of a limiter circuit.
 As indicated for inputs in a certain range L- / K ≤ VI ≤ L+ / K,
 The limiter act as a linear circuit providing an output proportional to
the input, Vo =K VI . In general K >1.
 If K≤1 and are known as passive limiters
 If VI exceeds the upper threshold (L+ / K), the output voltage is limited
or clamped to the upper limiting level L+
 on the other hand , If VI reduced below the lower limiting threshold
(L- / K), the output voltage is limited or clamped to the upper limiting
level L-
 The above fig describes a double limiter i.e. a limiter that works on
both the positive and negative peaks of an input wave form as shown
in below fig 2.23

Fig. Applying a sine wave to a limiter cn result in clipping off its

two peaks
  Limiters find applications in a variety of signal processing systems,
and op-amps.
The Clamped Capacitor or DC Restorer

Fig. The clamped capacitor or dc restore with a square-wave input

and no load

 If in the basic rectifier circuit the output is taken across the diode
rather than across the capacitor , an interesting circuit with
important application results.
 The circuit called a dc restorer as shown in above fig. fed with a
square wave.
 The polarity in which the diode is connected , the capacitor will
charge to a voltage Vc with the polarities indicated in fig. and equal
to magnitude of the most negative peak of the input voltage.
 subsequently the diode turns off and the capacitor retains its
voltage indefinitely.
 if, for instance the inpur square wave has the arbitrary level -6 V,
then Vc will equal to 6 V. The output voltage Vo is given by Vo= Vf+
Vc
 In above example the output will be a square wave with levels of 0
V and +10 V.

(ii) The Voltage Doubler

  Below fig. shows a circuit composed of two section in cascade.
 a clamp formed by C1 and D1 and a peak rectifier formed by D2 and
C2
 When excited by a sinusoid of amplitude Vp the clamping section
provide the voltage waveform shown in below fig. Assuming ideal
diodes.
 The positive peaks are clamped to 0 V , the negative peak reaches
to -2Vp.
 In response to this waveform the peak detector section provides
across capacitor C2 a negative dc voltage magnitude 2Vp.
 The output voltage is double the input peak, the circuit is known
as voltage doubler.

Fig: Voltage doubler (a) Circuit (b) Waveform of the voltage across D1
Zener Diode:
 Zener diode which are fairly popular for the voltage regulation. Voltage
regulator is the circuits that provide constant d.c output voltages in the
face of changes in their load current and in the system power voltage
supplies.
 Zener diode sometimes referred as Breakdown diodes.

Fig.: The diode i-v characteristics in Breakdown region

Where, Izk - Knee current and IzT – Test current

Vz – Voltage across the zener diode

Vzo – the point at which the straight line of slope 1/rz intersects the
voltage axis

Vzk – Knee voltage

Specifying and modelling the Zener diode

Fig.: a) Symbol of Zener diode; b) Models for the zener diode

Vi  Vz
 Is  ;Vi  Vz
Rs

Vz
 rz 
I z
Use of the Zener as a shunt voltage regulator
 A voltage regulator circuit using a zener diode is shown in below Fig. This
circuit is called as a shunt regulator because the zener diode is
connected in shunt to the load.
 Thw function of a regulator is to provide an output voltage V 0 that is as
constant as possible in spite of the ripple in VS and the variations in the
load current IL.
 Two parameters that can be used to measure regulation are line
regulation and load regulation.
 Line regulation: It is defined as change in V0 corresponding to a 1-V
change in Vs
Line regulation = ΔV0 / ΔVs
 Load regulation: It is defined as change in V0 corresponding to a 1-mA
change in IL
 Load regulation = ΔV0 / ΔIL

Fig. : a) Practical voltage regulator b) Simplified voltage regulator

Light-Emitting Diode (LED)

 A PN junction diode, which emits light when forward biased, is known as
Light Emitting Diode (LED).The amount of light output is directly
proportional to the forward current
 The circuit symbol of LED is shown in figure

Fig. Circuit symbol of Light Emitting Diode

 A P-type layer is grown on the N-type layer. When an external positive

voltage is applied to the P- type region with respect to N- type, both the
depletion region width and the resulting potential barrier are reduced
and the diode is said to be forward biased.

Fig. Constructional diagram of LED

 When LED is forward biased, the electrons and holes moves towards the
junction and recombination takes place.
 After recombination, the electrons lye in the conduction band of N-
region, holes lye in the valence band of P-region.
 The difference of energy between the conduction band and valence band
is radiated in the form of light energy.
Eg = hf =hc/λ
=> λ=1.24/Eg
Where, λ= wave length of light
h=Plank’s constant =6.626*10-34Jsec
c= Velocity of light=3*108 m/sec
 Materials used: GaAs (Infrared light(invisible)), GaAsP (red or yellow
visible light), GaP ( red or green visible light)
 Advantages
 Very low voltage and current are enough to drive the LED.

 Voltage range – 1 to 2 volts.

 Current – 5 to 20mA.

 Total power output will be less than 150 mW

 The response time is very less – only about 10 nanoseconds.

 The device does not need any heating and warm up time.

 Miniature in size and hence light weight.

 Have a rugged construction and hence can withstand shock and

vibrations.
 An LED has a life span of more than 20 years.

 Disadvantages
 A slight excess in voltage or current can damage the device.

 The device is known to have a much wider bandwidth compared to the

laser.
 The temperature depends on the radiant output power and
wavelength.
 Applications
LEDs are used in a wide variety of applications. Some typical
applications of LEDs include:
  On-off indicator

 Traffic lights

 Visual displays

 Medical applications

 Signs and indicators

 in remote controls

 in optical communications as Opto-couplers and opto-isolators

Photodiode
 Photodiode is a light sensitive device, also called photo detector, which
converts light signals into electrical signals.

Fig. Circuit symbol of photodiode

 The diode is made of a semiconductor PN junction kept in a sealed
plastic or glass casing. The cover is so designed that the light rays are fall
on one surface across the junction.
 When light falls on reverse biased PN photodiode junction, electron-hole
pairs are created.

Fig. Basic biasing arrangement and construction of photodiode

 The movement of these electron-hole pairs in a properly connected circuit

results in current flow.
 The magnitude of photocurrent depends on the number of charge
 carriers generated. This current is also affected by the frequency of the
light falling on the junction of photodiode.
 The magnitude of the current under large reverse bias is given by
I = Io[exp(V / ηVT) - 1]
Where, Io is reverse saturation current or dark current, η =1 for Ge and 2
for Si.

Fig. Photo Diode characteristics

 Advantages
 Low resistance
 Very good spectral response
 Fastest photo detector
 Disadvantages
 Light sensitive device
 Dark current increased with temperature
 Should not exceed the working temperature limit specified by the
manufactures.
 Applications:
 Light detector
 Demodulators
 Encoders
 Optical Communication System
 High speed counting and switching circuits
Varactor Diode:
 Varactor diode is basically a reverse biased PN junction, which utilizes
the capacitance of depletion layer. It is also known as varicap, voltcap or
tuning diode. It is used as voltage variable capacitor.
 When the reverse bias voltage increases, the depletion region widens.
This increases the dielectric thickness, which in turn reduces the
capacitance.
CT = 𝐀𝛆/𝐰 => CT α 1/w => as ‘w’ increases, CT decreases
 When the reverse bias voltage decreases, the depletion layer narrows
down. This decreases the dielectric thickness, which in turn increases
the capacitance. The depletion layer acts as insulator preventing
conduction between the N and P regions of the diode, just like a
dielectric, which separates the two plates of the capacitor.

Fig. Varactor diode construction and its symbol

Fig. Varactor diode characteristics

 Applications
 used in FM radio receivers
 used in TV Receivers
Tunnel Diode:
 The tunnel diode, or Esaki diode, is a thin-junction diode which exhibits
negative resistance under low forward-bias conditions.

 An ordinary PN junction diode has an impurity concentration of about 1

part in 108. With this amount of doping, the width of the depletion layer is
of the order of 5 microns.
 This potential barrier restrains the flow of carriers from the majority carrier
side to the minority carrier side. If the concentration of impurity atoms is
greatly increased to the level of 1 part in 103, the device characteristics are
completely changed.

 The width of the junction barrier varies inversely as the square root of the
impurity concentration and, therefore, is reduced from 5 microns to less
than 100 Å (10–8 m).

 This thickness is only about 1/50th of the wavelength of visible light. For
such thin potential-energy barriers, the electrons will penetrate through the
junction rather than surmounting them.

 This quantum mechanical behavior is referred to as tunneling and hence,

these high impurity-density PN junction devices are called tunnel diodes.

 The V–I characteristic for a typical germanium tunnel diode is shown in

below figure. It is seen that at first forward current rises sharply as applied
voltage is increased, where it would have risen slowly for an ordinary PN
junction diode (which is shown as dashed line for comparison).

 Also, reverse current is much larger for comparable back bias than in other
diodes due to the thinness of the junction.
 The interesting portion of the characteristic starts at the point A on the
curve, i.e., the peak voltage. As the forward bias is increased beyond this
point, the forward current drops and continues to drop until point B is
reached. This is the valley voltage.

 At B, the current starts to increase once again and does as very rapidly as
bias is increased further. Beyond this point, the characteristic resembles
that of an ordinary diode. Apart from the peak voltage and valley voltage,
the other two parameters normally used to specify the diode behavior are
the peak current and the peak-to-valley current ratio, which are 2 mA and
10 respectively, as shown.
 Figure: VI Characteristics of Tunnel diode

 The V–I characteristic of the tunnel diode illustrates that it exhibits dynamic
resistance between A and B.
 The below Figure shows energy level diagrams of the tunnel diode for three
interesting bias levels.
 The shaded areas show the energy states occupied by electrons in the
valence band, whereas the cross hatched regions represent energy states in
the conduction band occupied by the electrons.
 The levels to which the energy states are occupied by electrons on either
side of the junctions are shown by dotted lines. When the bias is zero, these
lines are at the same height.
 Unless energy is imparted to the electrons from some external source, the
energy possessed by the electrons on the N-side of the junction is
insufficient to permit to climb over the junction barrier to reach the P-side.
 However, quantum mechanics show that there is a finite probability for the
electrons to tunnel through the junction to reach the other side, provided
there are allowed empty energy states in the P-side of the junction at the
same energy level. Hence, the forward current is zero.
 When a small forward bias is applied to the junction, the energy level of the
P-side is lower as compared with the N-side. As shown in Figure (b),
electrons in the conduction band of the N-side see an empty energy level on
the P-side.
 Hence, tunneling from N-side to P-side takes place. Tunneling in other
directions is not possible because the valence band electrons on the P-side
are now opposite to the forbidden energy gap on the N-side. The energy
band diagram shown in Figure (b), is for the peak of the diode characteristic
 Figure: Energy level diagram of tunnel diode

 When the forward bias is raised beyond this point, tunneling will decrease
as shown in above Figure (c). The energy of the P-side is now depressed
further, with the result that fewer conduction band electrons on the N-side
are opposite to the unoccupied P-side energy levels.
 As the bias is raised, forward current drops. This corresponds to the
negative resistance region of the diode characteristic. As forward bias is
raised still further, tunneling stops altogether and it behaves as a normal
PN junction diode.

Equivalent Circuit:
The equivalent circuit of the tunnel diode, when biased in the negative
resistance region, is as shown in below Figure (a). In the circuit, Rs is the
series resistance and Ls is the series inductance which may be ignored except
at highest frequencies. The resulting diode equivalent circuit is thus reduced to
parallel combination of the junction capacitance Cj and the negative resistance
–Rn. Typical values of the circuit components are
Rs = 6 W, Ls = 0.1 nH, Cj = 0.6 pF and Rn = 75 W.

Applications Tunnel diode is used as

1. An ultra-high speed switch with switching speed of the order of ns or ps
2. Logic memory storage device
3. Microwave oscillator
4. A relaxation oscillator circuit
5. An amplifier

Advantages:
1. Low noise
2. Ease of operation
3. High speed
4. Low power
Disadvantages:
1. Voltage range over which it can be operated is 1 V or less.
2. Being a two-terminal device, there is no isolation between the input and
output circuits.
SCHOTTKY DIODE
Schottky diode definition

Schottky diode is a metal-semiconductor junction diode that has less forward

voltage drop than the P-N junction diode and can be used in high-speed
switching applications.

What is a schottky diode?

In a normal p-n junction diode, a p-type semiconductor and an n-type

semiconductor are used to form the p-n junction. When a p-type
semiconductor is joined with an n-type semiconductor, a junction is formed
between the P-type and N-type semiconductor. This junction is known as P-N
junction.

In schottky diode, metals such as aluminum or platinum replace the P-type

semiconductor. The schottky diode is named after German physicist Walter H.
Schottky.

Schottky diode is also known as schottky barrier diode, surface barrier diode,
majority carrier device, hot-electron diode, or hot carrier diode. Schottky diodes
are widely used in radio frequency (RF) applications.

When aluminum or platinum metal is joined with N-type semiconductor, a

junction is formed between the metal and N-type semiconductor. This junction
is known as a metal-semiconductor junction or M-S junction. A metal-
semiconductor junction formed between a metal and n-type semiconductor
creates a barrier or depletion layer known as a schottky barrier.

Schottky diode can switch on and off much faster than the p-n junction diode.
Also, the schottky diode produces less unwanted noise than p-n junction diode.
These two characteristics of the schottky diode make it very useful in high-
speed switching power circuits.

When sufficient voltage is applied to the schottky diode, current starts flowing
in the forward direction. Because of this current flow, a small voltage loss
occurs across the terminals of the schottky diode. This voltage loss is known as
voltage drop.

A silicon diode has a voltage drop of 0.6 to 0.7 volts, while a schottky diode has
a voltage drop of 0.2 to 0.3 volts. Voltage loss or voltage drop is the amount of
voltage wasted to turn on a diode.

In silicon diode, 0.6 to 0.7 volts is wasted to turn on the diode, whereas in
schottky diode, 0.2 to 0.3 volts is wasted to turn on the diode. Therefore, the
schottky diode consumes less voltage to turn on.
The voltage needed to turn on the schottky diode is same as that of a
germanium diode. But germanium diodes are rarely used because the
switching speed of germanium diodes is very low as compared to the schottky
diodes.

Symbol of schottky diode

The symbol of schottky diode is shown in the below figure. In schottky diode,
the metal acts as the anode and n-type semiconductor acts as the cathode.

Metal-semiconductor (M-S) junction

Metal-semiconductor (M-S) junction is a type of junction formed between a
metal and an n-type
semiconductor when the metal is joined with the n-type semiconductor. Metal-
semiconductor junction is also sometimes referred to as M-S junction.

The metal-semiconductor junction can be either non-rectifying or rectifying.

The non-rectifying metal-semiconductor junction is called ohmic contact. The
rectifying metal-semiconductor junction is called non-ohmic contact.

What is a schottky barrier?

Schottky barrier is a depletion layer formed at the junction of a metal and n-

type semiconductor. In simple words, schottky barrier is the potential
energy barrier formed at the metal-semiconductor junction. The electrons have
to overcome this potential energy barrier to flow across the diode.

The rectifying metal-semiconductor junction forms a rectifying schottky barrier.

This rectifying schottky barrier is used for making a device known as schottky
diode. The non-rectifying metal-semiconductor junction forms a non-rectifying
schottky barrier.

One of the most important characteristics of a schottky barrier is the schottky

barrier height. The value of this barrier height depends on the combination of
semiconductor and metal.

The schottky barrier height of ohmic contact (non-rectifying barrier) is very low
whereas the schottky barrier height of non-ohmic contact (rectifying barrier) is
high.

In non-rectifying schottky barrier, the barrier height is not high enough to form
a depletion region. So depletion region is negligible or absent in the ohmic
contact diode.
On the other hand, in rectifying schottky barrier, the barrier height is high
enough to form a depletion region. So the depletion region is present in the
non-ohmic contact diode.

The non-rectifying metal-semiconductor junction (ohmic contact) offers very

low resistance to the electric current whereas the rectifying metal-
semiconductor junction offers high resistance to the electric current as
compared to the ohmic contact.

The rectifying schottky barrier is formed when a metal is in contact with the
lightly doped semiconductor, whereas the non-rectifying barrier is formed when
a metal is in contact with the heavily doped semiconductor.

The ohmic contact has a linear current-voltage (I-V) curve whereas the non-
ohmic contact has a non-linear current-voltage (I-V) curve.

Energy band diagram of schottky diode

The energy band diagram of the N-type semiconductor and metal is shown in
the below figure.

The vacuum level is defined as the energy level of electrons that are outside the
material. The work function is defined as the energy required to move an
electron from Fermi level (EF) to vacuum level (E0).

The work function is different for metal and semiconductor. The work function
of a metal is greater than the work function of a semiconductor. Therefore, the
electrons in the n-type semiconductor have high potential energy than the
electrons in the metal.
The energy levels of the metal and semiconductor are different. The Fermi level
at N-type semiconductor side lies above the metal side.

We know that electrons in the higher energy level have more potential energy
than the electrons in the lower energy level. So the electrons in the N-type
semiconductor have more potential energy than the electrons in the metal.

The energy band diagram of the metal and n-type semiconductor after contact
is shown in the below figure.
When the metal is joined with the n-type semiconductor, a device is created
known as schottky diode. The built-in-voltage (Vbi) for schottky diode is given
by the difference between the work functions of a metal and n-type
semiconductor.

How schottky diode works?

Unbiased schottky diode
When the metal is joined with the n-type semiconductor, the conduction band
electrons (free electrons) in the n-type semiconductor will move from n-type
semiconductor to metal to establish an equilibrium state.

We know that when a neutral atom loses an electron it becomes a positive ion
similarly when a neutral atom gains an extra electron it becomes a negative
ion.
The conduction band electrons or free electrons that are crossing the junction
will provide extra electrons to the atoms in the metal. As a result, the atoms at
the metal junction gains extra electrons and the atoms at the n-side junction
lose electrons.

The atoms that lose electrons at the n-side junction will become positive ions
whereas the atoms that gain extra electrons at the metal junction will become
negative ions. Thus, positive ions are created the n-side junction and negative
ions are created at the metal junction. These positive and negative ions are
nothing but the depletion region.

Since the metal has a sea of free electrons, the width over which these
electrons move into the metal is negligibly thin as compared to the width inside
the n-type semiconductor. So the built-in-potential or built-in-voltage is
primarily present inside the n-type semiconductor. The built-in-voltage is the
barrier seen by the conduction band electrons of the n-type semiconductor
when trying to move into the metal.

To overcome this barrier, the free electrons need energy greater than the built-
in-voltage. In unbiased schottky diode, only a small number of electrons will
flow from n-type semiconductor to metal. The built-in-voltage prevents further
electron flow from the semiconductor conduction band into the metal.
The transfer of free electrons from the n-type semiconductor into metal results
in energy band bending near the contact.

Forward biased schottky diode

If the positive terminal of the battery is connected to the metal and the negative
terminal of the battery is connected to the n-type semiconductor, the schottky
diode is said to be forward biased.

When a forward bias voltage is applied to the schottky diode, a large number of
free electrons are generated in the n-type semiconductor and metal. However,
the free electrons in n-type semiconductor and metal cannot cross the junction
unless the applied voltage is greater than 0.2 volts.

If the applied voltage is greater than 0.2 volts, the free electrons gain enough
energy and overcomes the built-in-voltage of the depletion region. As a result,
electric current starts flowing through the schottky diode.

If the applied voltage is continuously increased, the depletion region becomes

very thin and finally disappears.
Reverse bias schottky diode

If the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the metal and the positive
terminal of the battery is connected to the n-type semiconductor, the schottky
diode is said to be reverse biased.

When a reverse bias voltage is applied to the schottky diode, the depletion
width increases. As a result, the electric current stops flowing. However, a
small leakage current flows due to the thermally excited electrons in the metal.

If the reverse bias voltage is continuously increased, the electric current

gradually increases due to the weak barrier.

If the reverse bias voltage is largely increased, a sudden rise in electric current
takes place. This sudden rise in electric current causes depletion region to
break down which may permanently damage the device.

V-I characteristics of schottky diode

The V-I (Voltage-Current) characteristics of schottky diode is shown in the

below figure. The vertical line in the below figure represents the current flow in
the schottky diode and the horizontal line represents the voltage applied across
the schottky diode.

The V-I characteristics of schottky diode is almost similar to the P-N junction
diode. However, the forward voltage drop of schottky diode is very low as
compared to the P-N junction diode.

The forward voltage drop of schottky diode is 0.2 to 0.3 volts whereas the
forward voltage drop of silicon P-N junction diode is 0.6 to 0.7 volts.

If the forward bias voltage is greater than 0.2 or 0.3 volts, electric current
starts flowing through the schottky diode.

In schottky diode, the reverse saturation current occurs at a very low voltage as
compared to the silicon diode.

Difference between schottky diode and P-N junction diode

The main difference between schottky diode and p-n junction diode is as
follows:
In schottky diode, the free electrons carry most of the electric current. Holes
carry negligible electric current. So schottky diode is a unipolar device. In P-N
junction diode, both free electrons and holes carry electric current. So P-N
junction diode is a bipolar device.

The reverse breakdown voltage of a schottky diode is very small as compared to

the p-n junction diode.

In schottky diode, the depletion region is absent or negligible, whereas in p-n

junction diode the depletion region is present.

The turn-on voltage for a schottky diode is very low as compared to the p-n
junction diode.

In schottky diode, electrons are the majority carriers in both metal and
semiconductor. In P-N junction diode, electrons are the majority carriers in n-
region and holes are the majority carriers in p-region.

Advantages of schottky diode

 Low junction capacitance

We know that capacitance is the ability to store an electric charge. In a P-N

junction diode, the depletion region consists of stored charges. So there exists
a capacitance. This capacitance is present at the junction of the diode. So it is
known as junction capacitance.

In schottky diode, stored charges or depletion region is negligible. So a schottky

diode has a very low capacitance.

 Fast reverse recovery time

The amount of time it takes for a diode to switch from ON state to OFF state is
called reverse recovery time.

In order to switch from ON (conducting) state to OFF (non-conducting) state,

the stored charges in the depletion region must be first discharged or removed
before the diode switch to OFF (non-conducting) state.

The P-N junction diode do not immediately switch from ON state to OFF state
because it takes some time to discharge or remove stored charges at the
depletion region. However, in schottky diode, the depletion region is negligible.
So the schottky diode will immediately switch from ON to OFF state.

 High current density

We know that the depletion region is negligible in schottky diode. So applying

is small voltage is enough to produce large current.

 Low forward voltage drop or low turn on voltage

The turn on voltage for schottky diode is very small as compared to the P-N
junction diode. The turn on voltage for schottky diode is 0.2 to 0.3 volts
whereas for P-N junction diode is 0.6 to 0.7 volts. So applying a small voltage is
enough to produce electric current in the schottky diode.

 High efficiency
 Schottky diodes operate at high frequencies.
 Schottky diode produces less unwanted noise than P-N junction diode.

Disadvantages of schottky diode

 Large reverse saturation current

Schottky diode produces large reverse saturation current than the p-n junction
diode.

Applications of schottky diodes

 Schottky diodes are used as general-purpose rectifiers.

 Schottky diodes are used in radio frequency (RF) applications.

 Schottky diodes are widely used in power supplies.

 Schottky diodes are used to detect signals.

 Schottky diodes are used in logic circuits.