Experiment No: 01
Experiment Title: I-V Characteristics of Diode.
Course : EEE 212.
Course Name : Electronic Devices and Circuits Lab.
Experiment Date : 20 – 07 – 2022.
Submission Date : 27 – 07 – 2022.
Submitted To
Name: Md. Omar Sharif
Lecturer,
Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Submitted By
Name: Umair Hossain
ID: 21225103103 INATKE: 49 SECTION: 03
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EXPERIMENT: 01
PROGRAM: I-V Characteristics of Diode.
OBJECTIVE: To plot forward and reverse I-V characteristics of given PN junction diode.
THEORY: Semiconductors, like Silicon or Germanium, are elements having resistivity that
in intermediate between a conductor and an insulator. They inherently have four electrons in
the valence band which helps them to form covalent bonds with four neighboring silicon atoms.
Hence, at absolute zero, the material behaves like an insulator. At room temperature, few of
these electrons absorb enough energy to break away from the nucleus and serve as conduction
electrons. The conduction properties can also be easily changed by changing the doping
(adding different elements to) the semiconductor. Addition of a pentavalent impurity such as
Phosphorus, N – type dopant, gives an additional electron after the four silicon bonds are
satisfied. Similarly, a trivalent impurity such as Boron, P‐type dopant, creates an absence of
electron, a hole. The entire semiconductor material is a single crystal, with one region dopes to
be P‐type, with excess holes, and the adjacent region to be N‐ type, with excess electrons. This
creates a metallurgical junction between the p and n regions. The contact to the p region is
called the anode and that of the n region is called cathode.
FORWARD BIASED P-N JUNCTION: Application of a positive voltage to the p region
and negative voltage to the n region creates an additional electric field in the space charge
region. But this time the field opposes the space – charge E‐field. This disturbs the balance
between diffusion and E‐field force. Hence majority carriers from the p region diffuse over to
the n side and electrons from n side move over to the p side of the junction. This process
continues as long as the voltage is applied. Thus, in the forward bias mode, the diode carries a
large current.
REVERSE BIASED P-N JUNCTION: A voltage source with its positive terminal connected
to the n region and negative terminal connected to the p region reverse biases the P‐N junction.
This increased electric filed holds back the holes in the p region and electrons in the n region
and hence, there is no current flow. The electric field and the width of the space‐charge region
increases. There is also a decrease in junction capacitance associated due to increase in the
width. Thus, the reverse bias region is characterized by negligible current (due to minority
carriers) even on the application of a very high voltage across the terminals, the limit being
decided by reverse breakdown voltage of the diode.
EQUIPMENTS:
S.NO NAME OF EQUIPMENT RANGE TYPE QUANTITY
01 Variable Power Supply 0 – 15V Digital 1
02 Diode (IN4007) - - 1
03 Resistor 500Ω Analog 1
04 Multimeter - Digital 1
05 Trainer Board - - 1
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CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:
(A) FORWARD BIAS.
(B) REVERSE BIAS.
(C) EXPECTED GRAPH.
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OBSERVATION:
A) FORWARD BIAS.
S.NO Applied Voltage(V) Forward Voltage Vf (V) Forward Current If (mA)
01 0.00 0.00 0.00
02 0.50 0.44 0.05
03 0.70 0.54 0.29
04 1.00 0.60 0.77
05 3.00 0.63 4.39
06 5.00 0.66 8.08
B) REVERSE BIAS.
S.NO Applied Voltage(V) Reverse Voltage Vr (V) Reverse Current Ir (mA)
01 -1.00 -0.95 -0.01
02 -2.00 -1.97 -0.01
03 -3.00 -2.98 -0.01
04 -5.00 -4.97 -0.01
I-V CHARACTERISTIC GRAPH(OBSERVED):
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PROCEDURE:
A) FORWARD BIAS.
Connection are made as per circuit diagram.
1. For forward bias, the RPS +ve is connected to the anode of the diode and RPS -ve is
connected to the cathode of the diode.
2. Switch on the power supply and increase the input voltage (supply voltage) in steps.
3. Note down the corresponding voltage and current flowing, across the diode for each and
every step of the input voltage.
4. The reading of voltage and current are tabulated.
5. Graph is plotted between voltage (Vf) on X-axis and current (If) on Y-axis.
B) REVERSE BIAS.
Connection are made as per circuit diagram.
1. For forward bias, the RPS +ve is connected to the cathode of the diode and RPS -ve is
connected to the anode of the diode.
2. Switch on the power supply and increase the input voltage (supply voltage) in steps.
3. Note down the corresponding voltage and current flowing, across the diode for each and
every step of the input voltage.
4. The reading of voltage and current are tabulated.
5. Graph is plotted between voltage (Vr) on X-axis and current (Ir) on Y-axis.
PRECAUTIONS:
1. All the connections should be correct.
2. Parallax error should be avoided while taking the readings from the analog meters.
CONCLUSION:
When the forward voltage exceeds the diodes P-N junctions internal barrier voltage, which for
silicon is about 0.7 volts, avalanche occurs and the forward current increases rapidly for a very
small increase in voltage producing a non-linear curve.
When the diode is reversed biased, cathode positive with respect to the anode, the diode blocks
current except for an extremely small leakage current, and operates in the lower left quadrant
of its I-V characteristic curves. The diode continues to block current flow through it until the
reverse voltage across the diode becomes greater than its breakdown voltage point resulting in
a sudden increase in reverse current producing a fairly straight-line downward curve as the
voltage losses control.
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