Instructor: Res. Asst. M.

Mustafa ATANAK
TA : Res. Asst. zen YELBAI

ANADOLU UNIVERSITY

DEPT. OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS

ENGINEERING

EEM 328
ELECTRONICS LABORATORY

Experiment 2: DIODE CHARACTERISTICS

Date : 30.10.2008
Group Name: B

16169230356 Osman GLERCAN

a) Purpose
The purpose of this experiment is to study the characteristics of the diode and to implement the
rectifier circuits.

b) Background and Theoretical Discussion

Diodes
A diode is an electrical device allowing current to move through it in one direction with far
greater ease than in the other. The most common type of diode in modern circuit design is the
semiconductor diode, although other diode technologies exist. Semiconductor diodes are
symbolized in schematic diagrams as such:

Diodes are used most commonly in circuits that convert ac voltages and current into dc voltages
and currents (e.g., ac/dc power supply). Diodes are also used in voltage-multiplier circuits,
voltage-shifting circuits, voltage-limiting circuits, and voltage-regulator circuits.
There is an equation describing the exact current through a diode, given the voltage dropped
across the junction, the temperature of the junction, and several physical constants. It is
commonly known as the diode equation: ID =Is (e V D / nVT
-1).

A diodes one-way gate feature does not work all the time. That is, it takes a minimal voltage to
turn it on when it is placed in forward-biased direction. Typically for silicon diodes, an applied
voltage of 0.6 V or greater is needed; otherwise, the diode will not conduct. This feature of
requiring a specific voltage to turn the diode on may seem like a drawback, but in fact, this
feature becomes very useful in terms of acting as a voltage-sensitive switch. Germanium diodes,
unlike silicon diodes, often require a forward-biasing voltage of only 0.2 V or greater for
conduction to occur. Following figure shows how the current and voltage are related for silicon
and germanium diodes.

Rectifier Circuits
Rectification is the conversion of alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC).
Half-Wave Rectifier
In this circuit, the diode acts to convert an ac input voltage into a pulsed dc output voltage.
Whenever the voltage attempts to swing negative at the anode, the diode acts to block current
flow, thus causing the output voltage (voltage across the resistor) to go to zero. This circuit is
called a half-wave rectifier, since only half the input waveform is supplied to the output. Note
that there will be a 0,6 V drop across the diode, so the output peak voltage will be 0,6 V less than
the peak voltage of Vin. The output frequency is the same as the input frequency, and the average
dc voltage at the output is 0.318 times zero-to-peak output voltage.

(a) Half-wave rectifier. (b) Equivalent circuit of the half-wave rectifier replaced with
piecewise-linear model.
(c) Input and output waveforms, assuming that rD<<R.

Full-Wave Bridge Rectifier

This circuit (a) is called a full-wave rectifier, or bridge rectifier. Unlike the half-wave
rectifier, a fullwave rectifier does not merely block negative swings in voltage but also converts
them into positive swings at the output. To understand how the device works, just follow the
current flow through the diode one-way gates. Note that there will be a 1.2-V drop from zero-to
peak input voltage to zero-to-peak output voltage (there are two 0.6-V drops across a pair of
diodes during a half cycle).The output frequency is twice the input frequency, and the average dc
voltage at the output is 0.636 times the zero-to-peak output voltage.

The bridge rectifier circuit operates as follows: During the positive half-cycles of the input
voltage, Vs is positive, and thus current Is conducted through diode D1, resistor R and diode D2.
Meanwhile, diodes D3 and D4 will be reverse biased. Observe that there are two diodes in series
in the conduction path, and thus Va will be lower than Vs by two diode drops.
Next, consider the situation during the negative half-cycles of the mput voltage. The secondary
voltage Vs will be negative, and thus -Vs will be positive, forcing current through D3, R, and D4.
Meanwhile, diodes D1 and D2 will be reverse biased. The important point to note, though, is that
during both half-cycles, current flows through R in the same direction (from right to left), and
thus Va will always be positive.

Basic AC-to-DC Power Supply

By using a transformer and a full-wave bridge rectifier, a simple ac-to-dc power supply can
be constructed. The transformer acts to step down the voltage, and the bridge rectifier acts to
convert the ac input into a pulsed dc output. A filter capacitor is then used to delay the discharge
time and hencesmoothout the pulses. The capacitor must be large enough to store a sufficient
amount of energy to provide a steady supply of current to the load.
If the capacitor is not large enough or is not being charged fast enough, the voltage will drop as
the load demands more current. A general rule for choosing C is to use the following relation:
Rload.C >> 1/f where f is the rectified signals frequency (100 Hz).
The ripple voltage (deviation from dc) is approximated by Vrippl e= Iload/fC

c) Procedure
Firstly, in order to plot diodes I-V characteristics curve, Vs voltage was increased step by step.
Then, the diode voltage VD and diode current ID were measured for each values of VS. By using
these values, the I-V forward characteristics curve was plotted. In addition, saturation current Is
and emission coeffient were calculated by given formulas. Also, the piecewise linear model of
the diode was drawed to compare with ideal diode model of the circuit. In the second step, the
half-wave rectifier circuit was implemented. Connected the A.C. voltage source to the circuits
input, the half wave rectefier was analysed with comparing input/output waveforms. Also, the
diode voltage and resistor current were measured. Thirdly, the full-wave rectifier circuit was
built. A.C. voltage source was connected its input, then how the output waveforms were occured
was studied. Also a filter circuit was constructed with connecting a capasitor its output.

d) Results
1-a)

Vs ID VD
0,2 0,0013 0,294
0,4 0,036 0,433
0,6 0,175 0,502
1 0,54 0,556
3 2,5 0,632
5 4,5 0,659
7 6,58 0,677
9 8,66 0,69
12 11,7 0,704
 14
Seri 1
12

10

8
Id(mA)

0
0,294 0,433 0,502 0,556 0,632 0,659 0,677 0,69 0,704
Vd(V)

1-b)
= (VD1 - VD2) / VTln(ID1/ ID2) = (0,690-0,740) / 26.10-3ln(8,66/11,7) = 1,79
ID=IS(eVd/Vt-1)
8,66= IS(e0,690/1,79.26.10^3-1)
IS=3,15A.
2) Vin=2sin(2000t)V ; Vout=1,5V DC

3)a) Vin=17sin(2000t) ; Vout=17V DC

b) Vin=17sin(2000t) ; Vout=17V DC
16169230356
Osman GLERCAN

Conclusion:

In this experiment we studied the diode characteristics and compared the relationship between
diode current and diode voltage. Also, we implemented the rectifier circuits with filtering output
signal. In the first part of experiment, we connected a simple diode, resistor and A.C. voltage
source serially. In order to obtain I-V curve, we increased the input voltage of the circuit, then
measured the diode current ID and the diode voltage VD for all the values of VS. In addition
plotting I-V curve, we also calculated the saturation current IS and emission coeffient . We
observed that the diode voltage VD was almost constant when the forward-biasing voltage was
forced to exceed. In the second part of experiment, we implemented a half-wave rectifier circuit
which are used to convert A.C. signal to D.C. We proved that the negative pulses are absorbed
and the positive pulses are passed by diodes when the forward-biasing voltage is exceeded.
Finally, we constructed a full-wave bridge rectifier which provides us to convert negative pulses
to positive pulses additinally. In this circuit, two diodes work at the same alternance, so the
voltage drop on the output is doubled(0,6x2=1,2V). In addition, connecting a capasitor at the
output, we filtered the D.C. signal and analysed how the smooth is changing for distinct
capasitor values. To sum up, we learned that how to measure and how to calculate the diodes
characteristics properties, and compared different kinds of rectification methods.