Experiment 1

Objective
To study the characteristics of a silicon (Si) diode and a germanium
(Ge) diode.
Equipment
Variable DC power supply
2 Digital Multi meters (DMM)
Project board
Silicon diode (D1N4002)
Germanium diode (D1N4148)
1k Resistor
Procedure
Part A: Forward-bias Diode Characteristics
The circuit shown below is constructed as follows using a Si diode.
The diode voltage is set to VD = 0 V by varying the DC supply voltage
and the diode current ID is measured and recorded in Table 1.1.
Then the diode voltage VD = 0.1 V is also set by varying the DC
supply voltage. The corresponding diode current I D is measured and
recorded in Table 1.1.
Step 3 is repeated for the remaining settings of V D shown in Table 1.1.
Si diode is replaced by a Ge diode and Table 1.2 is completed
afterwards.
ID versus VD characteristic curves are plotted on a graph paper for
both silicon and germanium diodes.
Part B: Reverse-bias Diode Characteristics
The circuit shown below is constructed as follows using a Si diode.
The diode voltage is set to VD = 0 V by varying the DC supply voltage
and the diode current ID is measured and recorded in Table 1.3.
Then the diode voltage VD = -5 V is also set by varying the DC supply
voltage. The corresponding diode current I D is measured and recorded
in Table 1.3.
Step 3 is repeated for the remaining settings of V D shown in Table 1.3.
Si diode is replaced by a Ge diode and Table 1.4 is completed
afterwards.
ID versus VD characteristic curves are plotted on a graph paper for
both silicon and germanium diodes.