ZENER DIODE

Definition
• A Zener diode is the silicon semiconductor device which permits the
current to flow in either forward direction or reverse direction.
• This diode consists of the special and heavily doped p-n junction. It is
designed to conduct in the reverse direction while certain specified
voltage is reached.
• The Zener diodes are having the well-defined reverse-breakdown
voltage. At such voltage, it starts conducting the current without any
damaged ahead.
symbol
How does a Zener Diode work in reverse bias?

• A Zener diode operates just like a normal diode when it is forward-biased.

• However, a small leakage current flows through the diode when connected in reverse-
biased mode.
• As the reverse voltage increases to the predetermined breakdown voltage (Vz), current
starts flowing through the diode. The current increases to a maximum, which is
determined by the series resistor, after which it stabilizes and remains constant over a
wide range of applied voltage.
• There are two types of breakdowns for a Zener Diode:
• Avalanche Breakdown Vz=5-8V
• Zener Breakdown Vz>8V
V-I characteristics of a Zener diode
• The V-I characteristics of a Zener diode can be divided into two parts
as follows:
(i) Forward Characteristics
(ii) Reverse Characteristics
i)Forward Characteristics of Zener Diode
The first quadrant in the graph represents the forward characteristics of
a Zener diode. From the graph, we understand that it is almost identical
to the forward characteristics of any other P-N junction diode.
ii)Reverse Characteristics of Zener Diode

• When a reverse voltage is applied to a Zener voltage, a small reverse

saturation current Io flows across the diode.
• This current is due to minority carriers.
• As the reverse voltage increases, at a certain value of reverse voltage,
the reverse current increases drastically and sharply.
• This is an indication that the breakdown has occurred. We call this
voltage breakdown voltage or Zener voltage, and Vz denotes it.
Zener Diode Specifications

•Zener/Breakdown Voltage – The Zener or the reverse breakdown voltage ranges from 2.4 V to 200 V
•Current Iz (max) – It is the maximum current at the rated Zener Voltage
Izmax= 200μA to 200 A)
•Current Iz (min) – It is the minimum value of current required for the diode to break down.
Izmin=5mA-10mA
•Power Rating – It denotes the maximum power the Zener diode can dissipate. It is given by the
product of the voltage of the diode and the current flowing through it.
Common power rating= 400mW, 500mW, 1W, 5W
•Temperature Stability – Diodes around 5 V have the best stability
•Voltage Tolerance – It is typically ±5%
•Zener Resistance (Rz) – It is the resistance to the Zener diode exhibits.
Series Voltage regulator
Voltage regulator
• A voltage regulator is a circuit that creates and maintains a fixed
output voltage, irrespective of changes to the input voltage or load
conditions. 
Series voltage regulator
operation
• The series control element controls the amount of the input voltage that gets to
the output.
• The output voltage is sampled by a circuit that provides a feedback voltage to
be compared to a reference voltage.
• If the output voltage increases, the comparator circuit provides a control signal
to cause the series control element to decrease the amount of the output voltage.
• If the output voltage decreases, the comparator circuit provides a control signal
to cause the series control element to increase the amount of the output voltage-
thereby maintaining the output voltage.
Series regulator circuit
• If the output voltage decreases, the increased base-emitter voltage causes
transistor Q1 to conduct more thereby raising the output voltage-
maintaining the output constant.
• If the output voltage increases, the decreased base-emitter voltage causes
transistor Q1 to conduct less thereby reducing the output voltage-
maintaining the output constant.
Improved series regulator
R1 & R2 acts as a sampling circuit with Zener diode Dz, providing reference
voltage and transistor Q2 then controls the base current to Q1 to vary the
current pass by Q1 to maintain the output voltage constant.
• If the o/p voltage increases, V2 (sampled by R1,R2)increases and causes the
base emitter voltage of Q2 to go up.
• If Q2 conducts more current, less goes to the base of Q1, which then passes
less current to the load,reducing the o/p vge- maintaining the o/p voltage.
• The opposite takes place if the o/p voltage decreases
• VBE2+Vz=V2=(R2/R1+R2)Vo
• Vo=R1+R2/R2(VBE2+Vz)
Op-amp series regulator
• In this circuit op-amp compares the Zener diode reference voltage with the
feedback voltage from sensing resistors R1 & R2.
• If the o/p voltage varies, the conduction of transistor Q1 is controlled to
maintain the o/p voltage constant.
• Vo=(1+R1/R2)Vz
Current limiting series voltage
regulator
Foldback limiting series regulator
Problem
Q1)What regulated voltage is provided by the improved series regulator
circuit for the circuit elements r1=20KΩ, R2-30K Ω and Vz=8.3v?
RESERVOIR AND SMOOTHING CIRCUITS
DC POWER SUPPLY
 SIMPLE HWR CIRCUIT WITH
RESERVOIR CAPACITOR

• The reservoir capacitor is added with the HWR circuit.

• It stores a considerable amount of charge and is being constantly topped up
by the rectifier arrangement.
• It ensures that the output voltage remains at or near the peak voltage even
when the diode is not conducting.
operation
• During the positive half cycle,
 Diode D1 is forward biased and capacitor C1 charges to peak value seen across RL.
 Since C1 and R1 are parallel, C1=RL
 The time required for C1 to charge to the maximum level is determined by the
charging circuit time constant τ
• During the negative half cycle,
 Diode D1 is reverse biased and capacitor C1 discharges.
 The time required for C1 to discharge is determined by the capacitance(C) value and
load resistance(RL).
• C1 is referred as reservoir capacitor. It stores charge during the positive half
cycle and releases it during the negative half cycle.
• Thus, it is able to maintain a reasonably constant output voltage.
SIMPLE HWR CIRCUIT WITH RESERVOIR
CAPACITOR WAVEFORMS
 HWR CIRCUIT WITH R-C
SMOOTHING FILTER

• This circuit employs two additional components R1 & C1 which acts as a filter
to remove the ripple.
• The amount of ripple is reduced by an appropriate factor equal to
where Xc=1/2πfC
• Output ripple=input ripple *
Problem
Q1) The RC smoothing filter in a 50Hz mains operated HWR circuit consists of
R1=100 & C2=1000F. If 1V of ripple appears at the input of the circuit, determine
the amount of ripple appearing at the output.
Module 2
transistors
 Introduction
• Transistor-Transfer resistorSignals are transferred from low resistance(input) into high
resistance (output) circuit.
• Transistor is a 3 terminal semiconductor device which can be used to control the flow of electronic
current.
• The three terminals are
 Base
 Emitter
 Collector
• A small amount of current in the base controls a larger current between collector and emitter. It can
produce a stronger output signal which is proportional to the weaker input signal. Thus a transistor
can act as an amplifier.
• Transistors can be used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electric power.
• There are 2 junctions
Emitter-Base junction
Collector-Base junction
• 2 basic types
NPN
PNP
Different types
• Unipolar junction transistor
• Bipolar junction transistor
• Field-effect transistor
• Darlington transistor
• Avalanche transistor
• Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
• Thin-film transistor
Unipolar junction transistor
• In UJT, the current conduction is only due to one type of charge carriers.(majority
carriers).
Bipolar junction transistor

• BJT is bidirectional device that uses both electronics and holes as charge carriers.
• It is a current controlled device.
• The current flows from emitter to collector or from collector to emitter depending
on the type of connection.
Terminals of BJT
i)Emitter

• The emitter is the portion on one side of the transistor which emits electrons
or holes to the other two portions.
• It is the most heavily doped region of the BJT.
• The emitter-base junction should be always forward bias in both PNP and
NPN transistors.
• Emitter supplies electrons to the emitter-base junction in NPN while it
supplies holes into the same junction in PNP.  
ii)Collector

• The portion on the opposite side of the Emitter that collects the emitted charge
carriers (i.e. electrons or holes) is known as collector.
• The collector is heavily doped but the doping level of the collector is in between
the lightly doping level of base and heavily doped level of emitter.
• Collector-base junction should be always reversed biased in both PNP and 
NPN transistors.
• The reason for reverse biasing is to remove charge carriers (electrons or holes)
from the collector-base junction.
• The collector of NPN transistor collects electrons emitted by emitter. While in PNP
transistor, it collects holes emitted by emitter. 
 iii)Base

• The base is the middle portion

between collector and emitter & it forms two PN junctions
between them.
• The base is the most lightly doped portion of the BJT. Being the
middle portion of the BJT allows it to control the flow of charge
carriers between emitter and collector.
• The base-collector junction shows high resistance because this
junction is reversed bias.
Construction
• Bipolar junction transistor is formed by the combination of two back-to-back(sandwich)
doped semiconductor materials.
• Two PN junctions’ diodes are sandwiched together to form a three-terminal device knows
as BJT transistor.
• BJT is a three-terminal device having two junctions.
PNP Construction
• In PNP bipolar transistor, the N-type semiconductor is sandwiched between two P-
type semiconductors.
• PNP transistors can be formed by connecting cathodes of two diodes.
• The cathodes of the diodes are connected together at a common point known
as base.
• While the anodes of the diodes that are on the opposite sides are known as
the collector and the emitter.
• The emitter-base junction is forward bias while collector-base junction is reverse
bias.
• So, in PNP type current flows from emitter to collector.
NPN Construction
• In either NPN or PNP, the emitter E is heavily doped, base B is lightly
doped and collector C is moderately doped. The outer layers are wide
as compared to the central layer.
• The ratio of the total size of a transistor to the base is 150:1. The
doping of the central layer is also less as compared to the outer layers
by a 10:1 ratio.
Transistor operation
• For a properly working transistor, a transistor should be connected to
dc voltages at all three terminals such that both of the PN junctions are
correctly biased.
• The base-emitter junction should be forward biased and the base-
collector junction should be reversed biased.
Working of pnp transistor
• For the pnp-transistor, the forward bias of emitter-base junction causes the flow of holes in the p-
type emitter region towards the n-type base and constitutes the emitter current.
• As these holes cross into the n-type base region, they tend to combine with the electrons. Since the
base is lightly doped and very thin, hence only a small number of holes (less than 5%) combine
with the electrons.
• The remaining (more than 95%) cross the base and reach into the collector region to constitute the
collector.
• In this manner, the entire emitter current flows into the collector circuit. It may be noted that the
current conduction inside the pnp-transistor is due to the movement of holes.
• However, in the external connecting wires, the current is still due to the flow of electrons.
• Again, the emitter current is the sum of collector current and base current.
Applying KVL to the transistor
IE=IB+IC
IC =Icmajority + Icminority
Working of NPN Transistor
• With the forward-biased emitter-base junction and reverse-biased collector-base
junction, it can be seen that the forward bias causes the flow of electrons from the n-
type emitter into the p-type base.
• This constitutes the emitter current (IE). As these electrons flow through the p-type
base, they tend to combine with the holes.
• Since the base is lightly doped and very thin, hence, only a small number electrons (less
than 5%) combine with the holes to constitute the base current (IB).
• The remaining (more than 95%) electrons cross over the base region and reach to the
collector region to constitute the collector current (IC). In this manner, the entire emitter
current flows in the collector circuit.
Transfer characteristics
• To understand complete electrical behavior of a transistor it is necessary to study the interrelation
of the various currents and voltages.
• These relationships can be plotted graphically which are commonly known as the characteristics
of transistor.
 Input characteristics
-i/p current Vs i/p voltage, keeping o/p voltage constant
 Output characteristics
-o/p current Vs o/p voltage, keeping i/p current constant
 Transfer characteristics
-o/p current Vs i/p current, keeping o/p voltage constant
Configuration types
• Common Base
• Common Emitter
• Common Collector
Common base configuration
• In this configuration, i/p is applied b/w emitter and base & o/p is taken b/w collector and
base.
• Base is the common point.
Input characteristics

Ri=ΔVEB / Δ IE
output characteristics

R0=ΔVCB / Δ IC
Common emitter configuration
Input characteristics
output characteristics