MIT Art Design and Technology University

MIT School of Computing, Pune

Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering

Subject - Electrical & Electronics

Engineering

NOTES: Unit III

Class – F.Y. (SEM-I)

A.Y. 2024 - 2025

 Electrical and Electronics Engineering

UNIT III
DIODES AND DIODE CIRCUITS
Main Topic-1 PN Junction diode: characteristic and analysis, Types of diodes – Zener diodes,
Photodiodes, Light emitting diodes (LED’s)
Main Topic-2: Rectifiers: Half wave, Full wave and Bridge rectifier circuits and their analysis
Main Topic-3: BJT, types, construction, configurations and characteristics

Introduction:
Based on the electrical conductivity all the materials in nature are classified as insulators,
semiconductors, and conductors.

Insulator:
An insulator is a material that offers a very low level (or negligible) of conductivity when voltage
is applied. Eg: Paper, Mica, glass, quartz. Typical resistivity level of an insulator is of the order of
1010 to 1012 Ω-cm. The energy band structure of an insulator is shown in the fig.1.1. Band structure
of a material defines the band of energy levels that an electron can occupy. Valance band is the
range of electron energy where the electron remains bonded too the atom and do not contribute
to the electric current. Conduction bend is the range of electron energies higher than valance
band where electrons are free to accelerate under the influence of external voltage source
resulting in the flow of charge.
The energy band between the valance band and conduction band is called as forbidden band
gap. It is the energy required by an electron to move from balance band to conduction band i.e.
the energy required for a valance electron to become a free electron.
1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J
For an insulator, as shown in the fig.1.1 there is a large forbidden band gap of greater than 5Ev.
Because of this large gap there a very few electrons in the CB and hence the conductivity of
insulator is poor. Even an increase in temperature or applied electric field is insufficient to transfer
electrons from Valence Band (VB) to Conduction Band (CB).

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CB
CB C
B

Forbidden Eo =≈6eV
band gap Eo
≈6eV
V V
VB B B

Insulator Semiconductor Conductor

Energy band diagrams insulator, semiconductor and conductor
Conductors:
A conductor is a material which supports a generous flow of charge when a voltage is applied
across its terminals. i.e., it has very high conductivity. Eg: Copper, Aluminum, Silver, Gold. The
resistivity of a conductor is in the order of 10-4 and 10-6 Ω-cm. The Valance and conduction bands
overlap (fig given above) and there is no energy gap for the electrons to move from valance band
to conduction band. This implies that there are free electrons in CB even at absolute zero
temperature (0K). Therefore, at room temperature when electric field is applied large current flows
through the conductor.
Semiconductor:
A semiconductor is a material that has its conductivity somewhere between the insulator and
conductor. The resistivity level is in the range of 10 and 104 Ω-cm. Two of the most commonly
used are Silicon (Si=14 atomic no.) and germanium (Ge=32 atomic no.). Both have 4 valance
electrons. The forbidden band gap is in the order of 1eV. For eg., the band gap energy for Si, Ge
and GaAs is 1.21, 0.785 and 1.42 eV, respectively at absolute zero temperature (0K). At 0K and
at low temperatures, the valance band electrons do not have sufficient energy to move from V to
CB. Thus, semiconductors act a insulator at 0K. as the temperature increases, a large number of
valance electrons acquire sufficient energy to leave the VB, cross the forbidden bandgap and
reach CB. These are now free electrons as they can move freely under the influence of electric
field. At room temperature there are sufficient electrons in the CB and hence the semiconductor
is capable of conducting some current at room temperature.
Inversely related to the conductivity of a material is its resistance to the flow of charge or current.
Typical resistivity values for various materials are given as follows.
Insulator Semiconductor Conductor
10-6 Ω-cm (Cu) 50Ω-cm (Ge) 1012 Ω-cm (mica)
50x103 Ω-cm (Si)

Typical resistivity values

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Types of Semiconductors
Semiconductors can be classified as follows:
• Intrinsic Semiconductor
• Extrinsic Semiconductor

Classification of Semiconductors
Intrinsic Semiconductor
An intrinsic type of semiconductor material is made to be very pure chemically. It is made up
of only a single type of element.

Conduction Mechanism in Case of Intrinsic Semiconductors (a) In the absence of an

electric field (b) In the presence of an electric field

Germanium (Ge) and silicon (Si) are the most common types of intrinsic semiconductor elements.
They have four valence electrons (tetravalent). They are bound to the atom by a covalent bond
at absolute zero temperature.
When the temperature rises due to collisions, few electrons are unbounded and become free to
move through the lattice, thus creating an absence in its original position (hole). These free
electrons and holes contribute to the conduction of electricity in the semiconductor. The negative
and positive charge carriers are equal in number.
The thermal energy is capable of ionising a few atoms in the lattice, and hence, their conductivity
is less.

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The Lattice of Pure Silicon Semiconductor at Different Temperatures

• At absolute zero Kelvin temperature: At this temperature, the covalent bonds are very
strong, there are no free electrons, and the semiconductor behaves as a perfect insulator.
• Above absolute temperature: With an increase in temperature, a few valence electrons
jump into the conduction band, and hence, it behaves like a poor conductor.
Energy Band Diagram of Intrinsic Semiconductor
The energy band diagram of an intrinsic semiconductor is shown below.

(a) Intrinsic Semiconductor at T = 0 Kelvin, behaves like an insulator (b) At t>0, four
thermally generated electron pairs
In intrinsic semiconductors, current flows due to the motion of free electrons, as well as holes.
The total current is the sum of the electron current Ie due to thermally generated electrons and
the hole current Ih.
Total Current (I) = Ie + Ih
For an intrinsic semiconductor, at finite temperature, the probability of electrons existing in a
conduction band decreases exponentially with an increasing band gap (Eg).
n = n0e-Eg/2.Kb.T
Where,
Eg = Energy band gap
Kb = Boltzmann’s constants

Extrinsic Semiconductor
The conductivity of semiconductors can be greatly improved by introducing a small number of
suitable replacement atoms called IMPURITIES. The process of adding impurity atoms to the
pure semiconductor is called DOPING. Usually, only 1 atom in 107 is replaced by a dopant atom
in the doped semiconductor. An extrinsic semiconductor can be further classified into types:
• N-type Semiconductor
• P-type Semiconductor

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Classification of Extrinsic Semiconductor

N-Type Semiconductor
• Mainly due to electrons
• Entirely neutral
• I = Ih and nh >> ne
• Majority – Electrons and Minority – Holes
• When a pure semiconductor (silicon or germanium) is doped by pentavalent impurity (P,
As, Sb, Bi), then four electrons out of five valence electrons bond with the four electrons
of Ge or Si.
• The fifth electron of the dopant is set free. Thus, the impurity atom donates a free electron
for conduction in the lattice and is called a “Donar“.
• Since the number of free electrons increases with the addition of an impurity, the negative
charge carriers increase. Hence, it is called an n-type semiconductor.
• Crystal as a whole is neutral, but the donor atom becomes an immobile positive ion. As
conduction is due to a large number of free electrons, the electrons in the n-type
semiconductor are the MAJORITY CARRIERS, and holes are the MINORITY
CARRIERS.
P-Type Semiconductor
• Mainly due to holes
• Entirely neutral
• I = Ih and nh >> ne
• Majority – Holes and Minority – Electrons
• When a pure semiconductor is doped with a trivalent impurity (B, Al, In, Ga), then the
three valence electrons of the impurity bond with three of the four valence electrons of the
semiconductor.

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• This leaves an absence of electron (hole) in the impurity. These impurity atoms which are
ready to accept bonded electrons are called “Acceptors“.
• With an increase in the number of impurities, holes (the positive charge carriers) are
increased. Hence, it is called a p-type semiconductor.
• Crystal, as a whole, is neutral, but the acceptors become an immobile negative ion. As
conduction is due to a large number of holes, the holes in the p-type semiconductor are
MAJORITY CARRIERS, and electrons are MINORITY CARRIERS.
Difference between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Semiconductors

Intrinsic Semiconductor Extrinsic Semiconductor

Pure semiconductor Impure semiconductor

The density of electrons is equal to the The density of electrons is not equal to the
density of holes density of holes

Electrical conductivity is low Electrical conductivity is high

Dependence on temperature only Dependence on temperature, as well as on the

amount of impurity

No impurities Trivalent impurity and pentavalent impurity

PN Junction Diode

A PN-junction diode is formed when a p-type semiconductor is fused to an n-type semiconductor

creating a potential barrier voltage across the diode junction.
A PN junction diode is a semiconductor device that allows the flow of electric current in one
direction and blocks the flow in the opposite direction. It is created by joining two types of
semiconductors – P-type and N-type – together. The interface between the P-type and N-type
regions is known as the PN junction.
The circuit symbol of the PN junction diode or simple diode is shown in the figure.

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Formation of PN junction diode:

PN junction diode is formed either from Ge or Si crystal. When a p-type material is intimately
joined to an n-type a PN junction is formed. Actually, PN junction is fabricated by special
techniques like growing, alloying, and diffusion methods.
A PN junction is illustrated in the below figure. The figure shows the p-type and n-type
semiconductor pieces before they are joined. Before joining both types of semiconductors are
electrically neutral. In the p-type material holes are the majority carriers and electrons are the
minority carriers, in n-type material electrons, are the majority carriers and holes are the minority
carriers.

Now, let us consider the PN junction produced from a single crystal of intrinsic silicon doped first
with a pentavalent material (to get a p-type semiconductor) as shown in the figure above. But
more commonly a PN junction is produced by solid-state diffusion of one type of impurity (p-type)
into existing (n-type) material.

PN junction diode under open circuit condition:

After joining P-type and n-type materials, the crystal becomes a single piece as shown in the
figure below. The plane dividing the two is called PN Junction. The p-type region has holes as
the majority of charge carriers and similarly, the n-type region has electrons as the majority of
charge carriers. In addition to these majority charge carriers, there are a few minority charge
carriers in each region. In the p-region, electrons are the minority charge carriers, and in the n-
region holes are the minority charge carriers.

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The majority of carriers near or at the junction diffuse across the junction and recombine. After a
few recombination of majority carriers at the junction, the process stops. This is because the
electrons crossing over the junction into the p-type material are repelled by the large negative
ions.
Similarly, holes crossing over the junction are repelled by the large positive ions in the n-type
material. The immobile ions at the junction create a zone depleted of majority carriers called the
depletion region as shown in the figure above.
Thus, there is no current flow under open circuit conditions. The thickness of this region is of the
order of 10-6 m. The potential difference across the depletion region is called the potential barrier.
The potential barrier can be increased or decreased by applying an external voltage.

Working of PN junction diode:

When an external voltage is applied to the PN junction diode, it is said to be based. In order to
consider the working of a PN junction diode, let us consider the effect of biasing across the PN
junction diode.
There are two types of Biasing:
• Forward Bias
• Reverse Bias
1. Forward-biased PN Junction diode
• A forward biasing can be applied to a PN junction diode by connecting the positive terminal
of the battery to the p-type semiconductor and the negative terminal of the battery to the n-
type semiconductor, as shown in the figure below.
• When an external voltage is applied to a PN junction diode, the chances of the potential barrier
and permitting the current flow means, the junction is said to be in the forward-biased
condition. If the forward bias is greater than the potential barrier, the majority of carriers move
toward the junction and cross it resulting in a considerable current flow. The current which
flows due to the majority of carriers is called forward current. It increases with forward bias.

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2. Reverse-biased PN Junction diode

• A reverse biasing can be applied to a PN junction diode by connecting the positive terminal
of the battery to the n-type semiconductor and the negative terminal of the battery to the p-
type semiconductor as shown in the figure.
• When an external voltage applied to a PN junction diode increases the potential barrier
means, then it is called reverse bias. The applied reversed voltage established an electric
field that acts in the same direction as the potential barrier. Due to this, the resultant field at
the junction gets strengthened and the barrier height also gets increased. This increased
potential barrier prevents the flow of charge carriers across the junction.
• However, a very little amount of current flows in the circuit due to the motion of minority
carriers. This current is called reverse current.

• Thus, when a PN junction diode is forward biased, the junction has a low resistance path, and
hence current flows in the circuit. But on the other hand, when it is reverse biased, it has a
high resistance path and no current flows in the circuit. Hence a PN Junction diode can be
used as a rectifier, i.e., for converting alternating current into direct current.

V-I Characteristics of PN Junction diode:

It is very important to study how a device responds when it is connected to an electrical circuit.
The behaviour of a diode can be obtained by means of a graph known as volt-ampere or VT
characteristics.
VI Characteristics is a graph between the applied voltage across the terminal of the device and
the current flows through it.
The characteristics of a diode are studied under two conditions:
1. Forward Biasing characteristics
2. Reverse biasing characteristics
1. Forward Characteristics of PN Junction Diode
• The circuit diagram for obtaining the forward characteristics of a diode is shown in the Figure
below:

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• When the PN Junction diode is forward biased and the applied voltage is gradually increased
in steps, at some forward voltage (Vf), 0.3V for Ge and 0.7V for Si, the potential barrier is
altogether eliminated and the current starts flowing. This voltage is known as threshold
voltage (Vth) Knee voltage or Cut-in voltage.
• The milliammeter readings are noted at various steps of the applied voltage and a graph is
plotted between voltage and current, as shown in the figure above. From the graph, it is seen
that practically no current flows until the barrier voltage (VB) is overcome, THis is shown by
point A in the graph. Once the external voltage exceeds the barrier potential or the threshold
value, the current increases exponentially, as shown by portion AB in the graph. This portion
is known as the linear operating region of the diode. At point A,

Δ𝑉𝑓
• From the graph, the forward resistance of the diode is 𝑅𝑓 =
Δ𝐼𝑓

• If the forward voltage is increased beyond a safe limit, damage is likely to occur to the diode
due to overheating.

2. Reverse Characteristics of PN Junction Diode

• The circuit diagram for obtaining the reverse characteristics of a diode is shown in the figure
below. When the PN junction diode is reverse biased, majority carriers are blocked and only
a small current due to minority carriers flows through the diode. As the reverse voltage is
increased from zero in suitable steps, the reverse current very quickly reached its maximum
or saturation value which is called reverse saturation current (Ir) or leakage current.

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• The diode current is recorded at each step of reverse voltage (Vr) and a graph is drawn with
reverse voltage along the horizontal axis and the diode current along the vertical axis. Curve
OCD as shown above the figure is obtained. The curve OCD is called the reverse
characteristics of the diode.
• It can be seen from the graph that when the applied reverse voltage is below the breakdown
voltage (VBR), the diode current is small and remains constant (portion OC of the curve).
When the reverse voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage, the leakage current suddenly and
sharply increased. The curve CD indicates zero resistance at this point. The reverse current
is of the order of microampere (uA) for Ge and nano ampere (nA) for Si.
• Any further increases in voltage are likely to produce damage to the PN junction diode unless
protected by a current-limiting resistor.
Δ𝑉𝑟
• The reverse resistance of the diode from the slope of the curve is C𝑅𝑟 =
Δ𝐼𝑟

The combined forward and reverse characteristics Forward and Reverse VI characteristics
The combined forward and reverse characteristics are shown in the figure below for both Ge and
Si. It can be seen from the VI characteristics curve that the leakage current of the Ge junction is
much more than that of the Si junction. Also, Note the difference in the scale of voltage and
current in the forward and reverse characteristics.

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Zener Diode

A diode that is heavily doped (Si or Ge) and which operates in the reverse breakdown region with
a sharp breakdown voltage is called a Zener Diode.
• In a simple diode, the doping is light; as a result, the breakdown voltage is high and not sharp.
But if doping is made heavy, the depletion layer becomes very narrow and even the
breakdown voltage gets reduces to a sharp value.
• The Zener diode is designed to operate in the breakdown region without damage.
Note:
• During heavy doping, Si is preferred to Ge because of its higher temperature and current
capability.
• The Zener breakdown voltage of the Zener diode is set by carefully controlling the doping
level during manufacturing.

Circuit Symbol of Zener Diode

• The schematic symbol of a Zener diode is shown in the figure above.

• This is similar to a normal diode except that the line representing the cathode is bent at both
ends like the letter Z for the Zener diode.

Working Principle of Zener diode

The reverse breakdown of a Zener diode may occur either due to the Zener effect or avalanche
effect. But Zener diode primarily depends on the Zener effect for its working.
Zener effect?
• When the electric field across the junction is sufficiently high due to the applied voltage, the
Zener breakdown occurs because of covalent bonds. This produces a large number of
electrons and holes which constitute a steep rise in the reverse saturation current (also called
Zener current Iz). This effect is called as Zener effect. Zener current is independent of the
applied voltage and depends only on the external resistance.
• Zener diode with reverse voltage less than 6v operate predominantly in zener breakdown.
Avalanche effect
• When the electric field existing in the depletion layer is sufficiently high, the velocity of carriers
crossing the depletion layer increases. here, the majority of carriers accelerated by the field

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collide with the semiconductor atoms in the depletion region. Due to some violent collision
few electrons get knocked off from the crystal atoms, thud creating electron-hole pairs. These
new carriers so produced acquire energy from the applied potential voltage and in turn
produce additional carriers. this forms a cumulative process called avalanche effect or
multiplication effect, which in turn leads to a breakdown called avalanche breakdown.
• Those with breakdown voltage greater than 6V operate predominantly in avalanche
breakdown.

Characteristics of Zener diode

• The V-I characteristics of Zener diodes are shown in the figure below. The forward
characteristic is simply that of an ordinary forward-biased junction diode.

•
• Under reverse bias conditions, a breakdown of junction occurs. This breakdown depends on
the amount of doping. It can be seen from the figure that as the reverse voltage is increased,
the reverse current remains negligibly small up to the ‘knee’ of the curve, point K.
• At point K, the effect of the breakdown process begins. The voltage corresponding to the point
K in the figure is called the Zener breakdown voltage or simply Zener voltage (VZ), which is
very sharp compared to a simple p-n junction diode. Beyond this voltage, the reverse current
(Iz) increases sharply to a high value.
• The Zener diode is not immediately burnt just because it has entered the breakdown region.
As long as the external resistance connected to the diode in the circuit limits the diode current
to less than the burn-out value, the diode will not burn out. The Zener voltage VZ remains

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constant even when Zener current IZ, increases greatly. This ability of a diode is called
regulating ability and it enables us to use Zener diode for voltage regulation.
• The maximum permissible value of current is denoted by Izmax and the minimum current to sustain
breakdown is denoted by Izmin. By considering any two points A and B on the reverse V-I
characteristic, the Zener resistance is given by the relation,

𝒓𝒛 = 𝚫𝑽𝒛
𝚫𝑰𝒛
Application of Zener diode
Zener diode has a number of applications in the electronics field. Some of their common
applications are listed below:
• Zener diodes are used as voltage regulators.
• They are used as a fixed reference voltage in transistor biasing and for comparison
purposes.
• They are used in wave shaping circuits as peak limiters or clippers.
• They are used for meter protection against damage from accidental applications of
excessive voltage.

Light Emitting Diode (LED)

• The LED is an optical diode, which emits light when forward biased. Figure. 1 shows the
symbol of LED which is similar to the p-n junction diode apart from the two arrows
indicating that the device emits light energy.

Basic Operation of Light Emitting Diode (LED)

• Whenever a p-n junction is forward biased, the electrons cross the p-n junction from the n-
type semiconductor material and recombine with the holes in the p-type semiconductor
material. The free electrons are in the conduction band while the holes represent the valence
band. Thus, the free electrons are at a higher energy level with respect to the holes. When a
free electron recombines with the hole, it falls from the conduction band to a valance band.

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Thus, the energy level associated with it changes from a higher level and a lower level is
released by an electron while traveling from the conduction band to the valance band.
• In the normal diodes, this energy released is in the form of health. But LED is made up of
some special material that releases this energy in the form of photons which emit light energy.
Hence such diodes are called Light Emitting Diode. This process is
called electroluminescence.

• The above figure shows the basic principle of this process. The energy released in the form
of light depends on the energy corresponding to the forbidden gap. This determined the
wavelength of the emitted light. The wavelength determines the color of the light and also
determines whether the light is visible or invisible(infrared). The various impurities are added
during the doping process to control the wavelength and color of the emitted light energy
corresponding to that of the infrared light spectrum hence in the normal diodes the light is not
visible. The infrared light is not visible.

Materials and Colors of Light Emitting Diode (LED)

• The LEDs use mixtures of Gallium (Ga), Arsenic (As), and Phosphorous (P).
• The colour of the emitted light is decided by its wavelength which depends on the
forbidden energy gap. This gap is different mixtures. Hence different mixtures give
different colours.

Sr. No. Mixture Used Symbol Color

1. Gallium arsenide GaAs Infrared, invisible

2. Gallium phosphide GaP Red or green

3. Gallium arswenide phosphide GaAsP Red or yellow

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Construction of LED
• One of the methods used for LED construction is to deposit three semiconductor layers on
the substrate as shown in the figure below.

• In between the p type and n type three exist an active region that emits light when an electron
and hole recombine. When the diode is forward biased, holes from p-type and electrons from
n-type both get driven into the active region. And when recombine the light is emitted.
• In this particular structure, the LED emits light all the way around the layered structure. Thus
the basic layered structure is placed in a tiny reflective cup so that the light from the active
layer will be reflected towards the desired exit direction. This is shown in the below figure.
while the symbol of LEd indicating identification of anode and cathode is shown in the figure
below.

Biasing of LED

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• Consider a source connected to LED and a resistor as shown in the figure.

• The outward arrows associated with a diode indicate that it is LED.
• The resistor Rs is the current limiting resistor. Due to this resistor, the current through the
circuit is limited and prevented from exceeding the maximum current rating of the diode.
• Let, Vs = Supply Voltage and VD = Drop across LED
• Applying the KVL to the circuit we can write,

•
• When forward biased, the voltage drops across conducting LED is about 2 to 3 V which is
considerably greater than the across a normal silicon or germanium diode. The current range
of commercially available LEDs is 10 to 80 mA. Unless otherwise specified, while analyzing
LED circuits, the drop across LED is considered as VD = 2V.
• The reverse breakdown voltage of LED is much less than the normal diode, which is about
3V to 10V.
Output Characteristics of LED
• The amount of Power output translated into the light is directly proportional to the forwarded
current If. More the forward current If, the greater the output light. The graph of forwarded
current and output light is mW is shown in the figure. These are called output characteristics
for LED.

• When forward biased, the voltage drop across conducting LED is about 2 to 3 V which is
considerably greater than that across a normal silicon or germanium diode. The current range
of commercially available LEDs is 10 to 80 mA. Unless otherwise specified, while analysing
the LED circuits, the drop across LED is considered as VD=2V.

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• The reverse breakdown voltage of LED is much less than the normal diode, which is about
3V to 10V.
Advantages of LED
• The various advantages of LED are
• LEDs are small in size, and hence can be regarded as a point source of light. Because of
their small size, several thousand LEDs can be packed in one sq. meter area.
• The brightness of light emitted by LED depends on the current flowing through the LED. hence
the brightness of the light can be smoothly controlled by varying the current. This makes it
possible to operate LED displays under different ambient lighting conditions.
• LEDs are fast operating devices. They can be turned on and off in time less than 1
microsecond.
• The LEDs are light in weight.
• The LEDs are available in various colours.
• The LEDs have a long life.
• The LEDs are cheap and readily available.
• The LEDs are easy to interface with various other electronic circuits.
• Some LEDs radiate infrared light which is invisible but still useful in some applications like
burglar alarm systems.
• LEDs are useful for applications that are subjected to frequency on-off cycling. The
fluorescent lamps burn out more quickly when cycled.
• LEDs can be easily dimmed using pulse width modulation or by controlling the forward
current.
• LEDs are shock resistant and difficult to damage due to external shocks.
• LEDs do not contain toxic materials like mercury which is used in fluorescent lamps.
Disadvantages of LED
The various disadvantages of LED are,
• It draws considerable current requiring frequent replacement of battery in low power battery
operated devices.
• The luminous efficiency of LEDs is low which is about 1.5 lumen/watt.
• The characteristics are affected by temperature.
• Need large power for the operation compared to normal p-n junction diode
Applications of LED
Due to the advantages like low voltage, long life, cheap, reliability, fast on-off switching, etc, the
LEDs are used in many applications. The various applications of LED are,

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• All kinds of visual displays i.e. seven segment displays and alphanumeric displays such
displays are commonly used in the watches and calculators.
• In optical devices such as optocouplers.
• As on-off indicator in various types of electronic circuits.
• Some LEDs radiate infrared light which is invisible. But such LEDs are useful in remote
controls and applications like a burglar alarms.

Photodiode:
• The photodiode is a semiconductor p-n junction device whose region of operation is
limited to the reverse bias region. The below figure shows the symbol of the photodiode
and the working principle of the photodiode.

Working Principle of Photodiode:

• The photodiode is connected in reverse bias condition as shown in the above figure. The
depletion region width is large. Under normal conditions, it carries a small reverse current
due to minority charge carriers. When light is incident through the glass window on the p-
n junction, photons in the light bombard the p-n junction, and some energy is imparted to
the valance electrons. Due to this, valance electrons are dislodged from the covalent
bonds and become free electrons. Thus, more electron-hole pairs are generated. Thus,
the total number of minority charge carriers increases and hence the reverse current
increases. This is the basic principle of operation of the photodiode.

Characteristics of Photodiode:
• The photodiode is designed such that it is sensitive to light.
• When there is no light, the reverse-biased photodiode carries a current that is very small
and called a dark current. It is noted as 𝐼𝜆 . it is purely due to thermally generated minority
carriers.

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• When light is allowed to fall on the p-n junction through a small window, photons transfer
energy to valance electrons to make them free. Hence reverse current increases. It is
proportional to the light intensity.
• The below figures show the photodiode characteristics. One figure shows the relation
between reverse current and light intensity while the second figure shows the relation
between reverse voltage and reverse current at different light intensities.
• It can be seen that reverse current is not dependent on reverse voltage and totally
depends on the light intensity.

Why Photodiode operated in reverse biased:

• The reverse current without light in the diode is in the range of μA. The change in this
current due to the light is also in the range of µA. Thus, such a change can be significantly
observed in the reverse current. If the photodiode is forward-biased, the current flowing
through it is in mA. The applied forward-biased voltage takes control of the current instead
of the light. The change in forwarding current due to light is negligible and cannot be
noticed. The resistance of the forward-biased diode is not affected by the light. Hence to
have a significant effect of light on the current and to operate the photodiode as a variable
resistance device, it is always connected in reverse-biased conditions.

Advantages of Photodiode
The advantages of a photodiode are,
1. can be used as a variable resistance device
2. Highly sensitive to the light
3. The speed of operation is very high.
4. reverse-biased conditions.

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Disadvantages of Photodiode
The various disadvantages of Photodiode are,
1. The dark current 𝐼𝜆 is temperature dependent.
2. The overall photodiode characteristics are temperature dependent and hence have poor
temperature stability.
3. The current and the change in current are in the range μA which may not be sufficient to
drive other circuits. Hence amplification is necessary.

Applications of Photodiode
• The two commonly used systems using photodiodes are alarm systems and counting
systems.
1. The photodiode in an alarm System
The below figure shows a photodiode employed in an alarm system.

The reverse current 𝐼𝜆 continues to flow as long as the light beam is incident on the photodiode.
When the light is interrupted, the current 𝐼𝜆 drops to the dark current level. This initiates the alarm
system to sound the alarm.
2. Photodiode in the counter operation
The below figures show a photodiode used to count the items on a conveyor belt. As each item
passes, the light beam is broken. Thus, reverse current 𝐼𝜆 drops to the dark current level. In this
activity, the counting mechanism and the counter are increased by one.

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Rectifiers:
A rectifier is a circuit, which uses one or more diodes to convert A.C. voltage into pulsating D.C.
voltage. A rectifier may be broadly categorized in the following two types:
1. Half-wave rectifier, and
2. Full-wave rectifier.
Half-wave Rectifier:
Fig. 1 (a) shows a half-wave rectifier circuit. It consists of a single diode in series with a load
resistor. A P-N junction diode can easily be used as a rectifier because it conducts current only
when forward biased voltae is acting, and does not conduct when reverse bias voltage is acting.
The input to the half-wave rectifier is supplied from the 50 Hz A.C. supply, whose wave form is
shown in Fig. 1 (b).

Fig. 1 Half Wave Rectifier

Operation:
When and A.C. voltage source is connected across the junction diode as shown in Fig. 49 (a) the
positive half cycle of the input acts as a forward bias voltage and the output across the load
resistance varies correspondingly. The negative half cycle of the input acts as a reverse bias and
practically no current flows in the circuit. The output is, therefore, intermittent, pulsating and
unidirectional. It is evident from the above discussion, that as the circuit uses only one-half cycle
of the A.C. input voltage, therefore, it is popularly known as a “half-wave rectifier”.
In Half Wave Rectifier, when the AC supply is applied at the input, a positive half cycle appears
across the load, whereas the negative half cycle is suppressed. This can be done by using the
semiconductor PN junction diode. The diode allows the current to flow only in one direction.
Thus, converts the AC voltage into DC voltage.

Circuit Diagram of Half Wave Rectifier

In half-wave rectification, only one crystal diode is used. It is connected in the circuit as shown
below

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The AC supply to be rectified is generally given through a transformer. The transformer is used
to step down or step up the main supply voltage as per the requirement. It also isolates the rectifier
from power lines and thus reduces the risk of electric shock.

Operation of Half Wave Rectifier

When AC supply is switched ON the alternating voltage (Vin) shown in the figure below appears
across the terminal AB at the secondary winding.

During the positive half cycle, terminal A is positive with respect to B and the crystal diode is
forward biased. Therefore, it conducts and current flows through the load resistor RL. This current
varies in magnitude as shown in the wave diagram shown below.

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Thus, a positive half cycle of the output voltage (Vout = iRL) appears across the load resistor
RL shown in the figure below.

Peak Inverse Voltage:

During the negative half-cycle when the diode is reverse biased the maximum value of the voltage
coming across the diode is called the peak inverse voltage. As the current flows through the
load resistor RL, only in one direction, i.e., from M to L. Hence, a DC output is obtained across
RL, which is pulsating in nature.

Full Wave Rectifiers:

In Full Wave Rectification, when the AC supply is applied at the input, during both the half-
cycles (i.e., positive as well as negative) current flows through the load in the same direction. This
can be achieved by using two crystal diodes. The two diodes conduct the current alternately.
To obtain the same direction of flow of current in the load resistors RL during positive as well as
the negative half cycle of input, the two circuits are used. They are named as follows: -
• Centre tapped full wave rectifier
• Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier

The Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier employs a transformer with the secondary winding AB
tapped at the centre point C. It converts the AC input voltage into DC voltage. The two diode D1,
and D2 are connected in the circuit as shown in the circuit diagram below.

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Each diode uses a one-half cycle of the input AC voltage. The diode D1 utilizes the AC voltage
appearing across the upper half (AC) of the secondary winding for rectification. The diode D2 uses
the lower half (CB) of the secondary winding.

Operation of the Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier

• When AC supply is switched ON the alternating voltage, Vin appears across the terminals AB
of the secondary winding of the transformer. During the positive half cycle of the secondary
voltage, end A becomes positive, and end B becomes negative. Thus, the
diode D1 becomes forward biased, and diode D2 becomes reverse biased.
• The two diodes conduct simultaneously. Therefore, when the diode D1 conducts, the diode
D2 does not conduct and vice versa.
• When the Diode D1 is conducting, the current (i) flows through the diode D1 load resistor
RL (from M to L) and the upper half of the secondary winding as shown in the circuit diagram
marked by the red colour arrowheads. During the negative half-cycle, the end B becomes
positive, and end A becomes negative. This makes the diode D2 forward biased, and diode
D1 reverse biased.
• When the diode D2 conducts while the diode D1 does not. The current (i) flows through the
diode D2 load resistor RL (from M to L) and the lower half of the secondary winding as shown
by the red dotted arrows.
• The current flowing through the load resistor RL is in the same direction (i.e., from M to L)
during both the positive as well as the negative half cycle of the input. Hence, the DC output
voltage (Vout = i RL) is obtained across the load resistor.
• The wave diagram of the input voltage, the current flowing through the load, and the output
voltage developed across the load is shown in the figure below:

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Peak Inverse Voltage of Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier

The circuit diagram given below shows the instant when the secondary voltage attains its
maximum positive value.

At this instant, Vm developed in the upper half of the secondary winding of the transformer will
forward bias the diode D1. This diode conducts, and the current flows through RL, developing
Vm voltage across it.
The diode D2 at this instant is reverse biased, and the voltage was coming across it is the sum of
the maximum value of voltage developed by the lower half of the secondary winding and the
voltage developed across the load. Hence, the peak inverse voltage across the diode D2 is 2Vm.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of Centre Tapped Full Wave Rectifier

The main advantage is that the output and efficiency are high because an AC supply delivers
power during both half cycles.
The Disadvantages of the Centre tapped full wave rectifier are as follows: -
• Each diode utilizes only one-half of the voltage developed in the transformer secondary, and
thus the DC output obtained is small.
• It is difficult to locate the centre on the secondary for the tapping.
• The diode used must be capable of bearing high peak inverse voltage. Because the peak
inverse voltage coming across each diode is twice the maximum voltage across the half of
the secondary winding

Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

In Full Wave Bridge Rectifier, an ordinary transformer is used in place of a center-tapped
transformer. The circuit forms a bridge connecting the four diodes D1, D2, D3, and D4. The circuit
diagram of the Full Wave Bridge Rectifier is shown below.

• The AC supply which is to be rectified is applied diagonally to the opposite ends of the
bridge. Whereas, the load resistor RL is connected across the remaining two diagonals of
the opposite ends of the bridge.

Operation of Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

When an AC supply is switched ON, the alternating voltage Vin appears across the terminals AB
of the secondary winding of the transformer which needs rectification. During the positive half
cycle of the secondary voltage, end A becomes positive, and end B becomes negative as shown
in the figure below

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• The diodes D1 and D3 are forward biased and the diodes D2 and D4 are reversed biased.
Therefore, diode D1 and D3 conduct, and diode D2 and D4 do not conduct. The current (i)
flows through diode D1, load resistor RL (from M to L), diode D3, and the transformer
secondary. The waveform of the full-wave bridge rectifier is shown below.

• During the negative half-cycle, end A becomes negative and end B positive as shown in
the figure below:

•
• From the above diagram, it is seen that the diode D2 and D4 are under forward bias and
the diodes D1 and D3 are reverse bias. Therefore, diode D2 and D4 conduct while diodes

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D1 and D3 do not conduct. Thus, current (i) flows through the diode D2, load resistor
RL (from M to L), diode D4, and the transformer secondary.
• The current flows through the load resistor RL in the same direction (M to L) during both
the half cycles. Hence, a DC output voltage Vout is obtained across the load resistor.

Peak Inverse Voltage of Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

When the secondary voltage attains its maximum positive value and the terminal A is positive,
and B is negative as shown in the circuit diagram below.

At this instant diode, D1 and D3 are forward biased and conducts current. Therefore,
terminal M attains the same voltage as that A’ or A, whereas the terminal L attains the
same voltage as that of B’ or B. Hence the diode D2 and D4 are reversed biased and the
peak inverse voltage across both of them is Vm. Therefore,

Advantages of Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

• The centre tap transformer is eliminated.
• The output is double that of the centre-tapped full-wave rectifier for the same secondary
voltage.
• The peak inverse voltage across each diode is one-half of the centre tap circuit of the
diode.

Disadvantages of Full Wave Bridge Rectifier

• It needs four diodes.
• The circuit is not suitable when a small voltage is required to be rectified. It is because, in
this case, the two diodes are connected in series and offer double voltage drop due to
their internal resistance.

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BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR

INTRODUCTION
• The transistor was developed by Dr. Shockley along with Bell Laboratories team in 1951
• The transistor is a main building block of all modern electronic systems
• It is a three terminal device whose output current, voltage and power are controlled by its
input current
• In communication systems it is the primary component in the amplifier
• An amplifier is a circuit that is used to increase the strength of an ac signal
• Basically, there are two types of transistors
i. Bipolar junction transistor
ii. Field effect transistor
• The important property of the transistor is that it can raise the strength of a weak signal
• This property is called amplification
• Transistors are used in digital computers, satellites, mobile phones and other
communication systems, control systems etc.,
• A transistor consists of two P-N junctions
• The junction is formed by sand witching either p-type or n-type semiconductor layers
between a pair of opposite types which is shown below

TRANSISTOR CONSTRUCTION

• A transistor has three regions known as emitter, base and collector

• Emitter: it is a region situated in one side of a transistor, which supplies charge carriers
(ie., electrons and holes) to the other two regions
• Emitter is heavily doped region
• Base: It is the middle region that forms two P-N junctions in the transistor
• The base of the transistor is thin as compared to the emitter and is a lightly doped region
• Collector: It is a region situated in the other side of a transistor (ie., side opposite to the
emitter) which collects the charge carriers

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• The collector of the transistor is always larger than the emitter and base of a transistor
• The doping level of the collector is intermediate between the heavy doping of emitter and
the light doping of the base
TRANSISTOR SYMBOL

• The transistor symbol carries an arrow head in the emitter pointing from the P- region
towards the N- region
• The arrow head indicates the direction of a conventional current flow in a transistor
• The direction of arrow heads at the emitter in NPN and PNP transistor is opposite to
each other
• The PNP transistor is a complement of the NPN transistor
• In NPN transistor the majority carriers are free electrons, while in PNP transistor these
are the holes

UNBIASED TRANSISTORS
• A transistor with three terminals (Emitter, Base, Collector) left open is called an unbiased
transistor or an open – circuited transistor
• The diffusion of free electrons across the junction produces two depletion layers
• The barrier potential of three layers is approximately 0.7v for silicon transistor and 0.3v
for germanium transistor
• Since the regions have different doping levels therefore the layers do not have the same
width
• The emitter base depletion layer penetrates slightly into the emitter as it is a heavily doped
region where as it penetrates deeply into the base as it is a lightly doped region
• Similarly, the collector- base depletion layer penetrates more into the base region and
less into the collector region
• The emitter- base depletion layer width is smaller than the that of collector base depletion
layer

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• The unbiased transistor is never used in actual practice. Because of this we went for
transistor biasing

OPERATION OF NPN TRANSISTOR:

• The NPN transistor is biased in forward active mode ie., emitter – base of transistor is
forward biased and collector base junction is reverse biased
• The emitter – base junction is forward biased only if V is greater than barrier potential
which is 0.7v for silicon and 0.3v for germanium transistor
• The forward bias on the emitter- base junction causes the free electrons in the N –type
emitter to flow towards the base region. This constitutes the emitter current. Direction of
conventional current is opposite to the flow of electrons
• Electrons after reaching the base region tend to combine with the holes
• If these free electrons combine with holes in the base, they constitute base current ().
• Most of the free electrons do not combine with the holes in the base
• This is because of the fact that the base and the width is made extremely small and
electrons do not get sufficient holes for recombination
• Thus most of the electrons will diffuse to the collector region and constitutes collector
current. This collector current is also called injected current, because of this current is
produced due to electrons injected from the emitter region
• There is another component of collector current due to the thermal generated carriers.
• This is called as reverse saturation current and is quite small

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OPERATION OF PNP TRANSISTOR

• Operation of a PNP transistor is similar to npn transistor

• The current within the PNP transistor is due to the movement of holes whereas, in an NPN
transistor it is due to the movement of free electrons
• In PNP transistor, its emitter – base junction is forward biased and collector base junction
is reverse biased.
• The forward bias on the emitter – base junction causes the holes in the emitter region to
flow towards the base region
• This constitutes the emitter current ( ).
• The holes after reaching the base region, combine with the electrons in the base and
constitutes base current.
• Most of the holes do not combine with the electrons in the base region
• This is due to the fact that base width is made extremely small, and holes does not get
sufficient electrons for recombination.
• Thus, most of the holes diffuse to the collector region and constitutes collector region
• This current is called injected current, because it is produced due to the holes injected
from the emitter region
• There is small component of collector current due to the thermally generated carriers
• This is called reverse saturation current.

TRANSISTOR CURRENTS
• We know that direction of conventional current is always opposite to the electron current
in any electronic device.
• However, the direction of a conventional current is same as that of a hole current in a PNP
transistor
• Emitter current

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• Base current
• Collector current
• Since the base current is very small

TRANSISTOR CONFIGURATIONS
• A transistor is a three-terminal device, but we require four terminals (two for input and two
for output) for connecting it in a circuit.
• Hence one of the terminals is made common to the input and output circuits.
• The common terminal is grounded
• There are three types of configurations for the operation of a transistor

Common base configuration (CB)

• This is also called grounded base configuration
• In this configuration emitter is the input terminal, collector is the output terminal and base
is the common terminal
Common emitter configuration (CE)
• This is also called grounded emitter configuration
• In this configuration base is the input terminal, collector is the output terminal and emitter
is the common terminal
Common collector configuration (CC)
• This is also called grounded collector configuration
• In this configuration, base is the input terminal, emitter is the output terminal and collector
is the common terminal.

Common base configuration (CB)

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• The input is connected between emitter and base and output is connected across collector
and base
• The emitter – base junction is forward biased and collector – base junction is reverse
biased.
• The emitter current, flows in the input circuit and the collector current flows in the output
circuit.
• The ratio of the collector current to the emitter current is called current amplification factor.
• If there is no input ac signal, then the ratio of collector current to emitter current is called
dc alpha
• The ratio of change in the collector current to change in the emitter current is known as
ac alpha
• The input characteristics look like the characteristics of a forward-biased diode. Note that
VBE varies only slightly, so we often ignore these characteristics and assume:
Common approximation: VBE = Vo = 0.65 to 0.7V
• The higher the value of better the transistor. It can be increased by making the base thin
and lightly doped
• The collector current consists of two parts transistor action. Ie., component depending
upon the emitter current, which is produced by majority carriers
• The leakage current due to the movement of the minority carriers across base collector
junction

CHARACTERISTICS OF CB CONFIGURATION
• The performance of transistors determined from their characteristic curves that relate
different d.c. currents and voltages of a transistor
• Such curves are known as static characteristics curves
• There are two important characteristics of a transistor
i. Input characteristics
ii. Output characteristics
The common base transistor arrangement produces a low input impedance while producing a
high output impedance. When the voltage of the CB transistor is high, the current gain and overall
power gain are both poor in comparison to other transistor layouts. The key feature of the CB
(common base) transistor is that its input and output are in phase.

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COMMON – EMITTER CONFIGURATION:

• The input is connected between base and emitter, while output is connected between
collector and emitter
• Emitter us common to both input and output circuits.
• The bias voltage applied are Vce and Vbe.
• The emitter-base junction is forward biased and collector-emitter junction is reverse
biased.

Common Emitter Configuration

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• The base current Ib flows in the input circuit and collector current Ic flows sin the output
circuit.
• CE is commonly used because its current, Voltage, Power gain are quite high nd output
to input impedance ratio is moderate
• The rate of change in collector current to change in base current is called amplification
factor B.
• The current gain in the common-emitter circuit is called BETA (b). Beta is the relationship
of collector current (output current) to base current (input current).
• Two voltages are applied respectively to the base and collector with respect to the
common emitter.
• Same as the CB configuration, here in the CE configuration, the BE junction is forward
biased while the CB junction is reverse biased. The voltages of CB and CE configurations
are related by:

• The base current is treated as the input current, and the collector current is treated as the
output current:
The most common transistor configuration is the common emitter transistor arrangement. The
CE transistor circuit provides medium input and output impedance levels. The gain of both voltage
and current can be characterised as a medium, however the output is 180 degrees out of phase
with the input. This provides good performance and is frequently regarded as one of the most
regularly utilised combinations.

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Common Collector Configuration:

• Input is applied between base and collector while output is applied between emitter and
collector.
• The collector forms the terminal common to both the input and output. GAIN is a term
used to describe the amplification capabilities of an amplifier. It is basically a ratio of output
to input. The current gain for the three transistor configurations (CB, CE, and CC) are
ALPHA(a), BETA (b), and GAMMA (g), respectively

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• i) Input Characteristics
• To determine the i/p characteristics Vce is kept at a suitable fixed value.
• The base collector voltage Vbc is increased in equal steps and the corresponding
increase in Ib is noted.
• This is repeated for different fixed values of Vce.
• ii) Output Characteristics
• The common collector transistor arrangement is also known as the emitter follower
because the transistor’s emitter voltage follows the base terminal. Buffers with a high input
impedance and a low output impedance are often employed. This transistor has a voltage
gain of less than one, a high current gain, and the output signals are in phase.

Input Characteristics Output Characteristics

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