Unit - 3

Electronic Elements
Diodes, Applications, BJT - characteristics,
Biasing, Applications, small signal operation and
models, Frequency response - CE amplifier,
Emitter follower, Darlington-pair, Power
amplifiers, classification and comparison.
 Diodes and Applications
1) Light Emitting Diode 8) BARITT Diode

2) Laser Diode 9) Gunn Diode

3) Photodiode 10) PN Junction Diode

4) Schottky Diode 11) Zener Diodes

5) Rectifier Diode 12) Varactor Diodes

6) Tunnel Diode 13) PIN Diodes

7) Backward Diode
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 Materials
 Any materials property is to control the flow of electric
current
 It includes
 Conductors (low resistivity)
 Low Resistance → Allows electrical current to flow
 Insulators (high resistivity)
 High Resistance → Suppresses electrical current to flow
 Semiconductors (medium resistivity)
 Can allow (or) suppress electrical current flow

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 Conductors
• Good conductors have low resistance so
electrons flow through them with ease.
• Best element conductors include:
• Copper, silver, gold, aluminum & nickel
• Good conductors can also be liquid:
• Salt water

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Insulators
 Insulators have a high resistance so current does not
flow in them.
 Good insulators include:
– Glass, ceramic, plastics, & wood
 Most insulators are compounds of several elements.
 The atoms are tightly bound to one another so
electrons are difficult to strip away for current flow.

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Semiconductors
 A material whose properties are such that it is not
quite a conductor, not quite an insulator.
 Elemental
 Carbon, Silicon and Germanium
 Compound
 GaAs - Gallium arsenide
 AlAs - Aluminum arsenide

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 Semiconductor – Material Types
 Pure Semiconductor
 Good Insulator
 Intrinsic Semiconductor

𝐃𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠
 Intrinsic Semiconductor Extrinsic Semiconductor

 Doping → Addition of Impurities

 Extrinsic Semiconductor can conduct current based on
doping concentration

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Diodes
 Used in almost all the electronic circuits
 Allows current flow in only one direction (unidirectional
device)
 The usage of semiconductor materials to build the electronic
components was started with diodes
 Before the invention of diode there were with vacuum tubes,
where the applications of both these devices are similar but the
size occupied by the vacuum tube will be much greater than the
diodes
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 PN Junction Diode
 Join the two types of semi-conductors P-type and N-type
together → P-N junction diode

 The arrow indicates the flow of current through it when the

diode is in forward biased mode, the dash (or) the block at
the tip of the arrow indicates the blockage of current from the
opposite direction.

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 Junction Formation
 When P-type and N-type are joined
 Excess electrons (from N) combines with excess holes (from P)

→ Immobile Ions
 Immobile ions resists the flow of electrons (or) holes through it

which now acts as a barrier in-between the two materials

 Barrier → Depletion Region

 Width of Depletion region depends on doping concentration

 When a heavily doped and lightly doped semiconductors are combined,

depletion region will be more in lightly doped side and less in heavily
doped side

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Forward Bias
 Battery ‘+’ terminal → P side

 Battery ‘-’ terminal → N side

 Due to forward bias, majority charge carriers in both regions get

repelled and enter into the depletion region

 Diode conducts when the barrier formed in the path is broken

 Applied voltage > 0.7 V (for silicon), 0.3 V (for germanium)

 Width of the depletion region decreases gradually

 0.7 V → Cut-in voltage; Offset voltage; Break-point voltage;

firing voltage; Threshold voltage

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 Reverse Bias
 Battery ‘-’ terminal → P side

 Battery ‘+’ terminal → N side

 Majority charge carriers in both regions get attracted towards source

→ large numbers of immobile ions

 Width of the depletion region increases gradually → difficult for the

electrons and holes to cross the junction → open circuit forms and

current flow stops

 When Vapplied increased → depletion region cannot withhold the external

force and the junction breaks down → diode permanently fails

 The reverse voltage at which the diode conducts is called as Break down

voltage 12
Diode Characteristics

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 Diode Current
➢ Current is a function of the external voltage applied to the junction.
The theoretical equation for the current

…………….[1] (or ) i =Is(e(V/ηVT)-1)

➢ IS is the reverse saturation current, v is the applied voltage,

η is the emission coefficient (or) ideality factor, and
VT = kT /q is the thermal voltage. Where k is the boltzman constant (1.38x10-23 J/K) and
q is the charge of electron (1.60217663 × 10-19 coulombs).
➢ At T = 300 K, the thermal voltage has the value VT = 0.0259V.

➢ The value of η = 1 (silicon diode) & η = 1.4 (Germanium diodes)

1° C = 273 K
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 Problem
Calculate the forward bias current of a Si diode when forward bias
voltage of 0.4V is applied, the reverse saturation current is 1.17×10-9A
and the thermal voltage is 25.2mV.

Solution
Equation for diode current
I=Is(e(V/ηVT)-1)
where Is = reverse saturation current
η = ideality factor
VT = thermal voltage
V = applied voltage
Since in this question ideality factor is not mentioned it can be taken
as one.
I0 = 1.17 x 10-9A, VT = 0.0252V, η = 1, V = 0.4V
Therefore, I= 1.17×10-9x e 0.4/0.025 -1 = 9.156mA

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 Diode models
• We usually replace a device (or) system by its equivalent circuit.
• Equivalent circuit of a diode
• Ideal diode
• Constant voltage drop model

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 Ideal diode
 The diode conducts well in the forward direction and poorly in the
reverse direction. Ideally, a diode acts like a perfect conductor (zero
resistance) when forward Biased and like a perfect insulator (infinite
resistance) when reverse biased
 An ordinary switch has zero resistance when closed and infinite
resistance when open. Therefore, an ideal diode acts like a switch that
closes when forward biased and opens when reverse biased.
 The Ideal diode model treats a forward-biased diode like a closed switch
with a voltage drop of zero volts

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 Constant Voltage drop model
➢ Figure a shows a current versus voltage for Constant voltage drop model.
➢ No current - until 0.7 V appear across the diode. When the voltage reaches
0.7 v the diode turns on, 0.7 V can appear across the diode.
➢ Figure b shows the equivalent circuit for the Constant voltage drop model of
a silicon diode. The diode act as a switch in series with a barrier potential
of 0.7 V.
➢ If the voltage across the diode is greater than 0.7 V, the switch will close.
On the other hand, if the voltage is less than 0.7 V, the switch will open. In
this case, there is no current through the diode.

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Diode models

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 Diode parameters
Maximum power rating
It is the maximum power that can be dissipated at the
junction without damaging it.
Maximum forward current
It is the highest instantaneous forward current that a pn
junction can conduct without damage to the junction.
Peak inverse voltage
It is the maximum reverse voltage that a diode can withstand
without destroying the junction.
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 Diode parameters
Knee Voltage
In the forward region, the voltage at which the current starts to
increase rapidly is called the knee voltage or Cut in voltage of the
diode. The knee voltage equals the barrier potential
Vk= 0.7 (Si)
Vk= 0.3 (Ge)
Reverse current (or) leakage current
It is the current that flows through a reverse biased diode.
This current is due to the minority carriers.

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 Problem
Use the ideal diode model to calculate the load voltage and
load current in the circuit.

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Use the ideal diode model to calculate the load voltage and load
current in the circuit.

Since the diode is forward biased, it is equivalent to a closed switch.

Vs= 10 V
With Ohm’s law, the load current is:

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 Problem
Use Constant voltage drop model (Silicon Diode) to calculate the
load voltage and load current.

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Problem
Use Constant voltage drop model to calculate the load voltage
and load current.
Solution
Since the diode is forward biased, it is equivalent to a battery of
0.7 V.
VL =10 V - 0.7 V =9.3 V
With Ohm’s law, the load current is:

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Problem
For the series diode configuration given in the Figure,
determine VD, VR, and ID.(Constant voltage drop model)

The diode is in the “on” state,

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 Problem
For the series diode configuration given in the Figure,
determine VD, VR, and ID.(Constant voltage drop model)
The diode is in the “on” state,

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