MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

S.Z.A.B CAMPUS KHAIRPUR MIR’S

Department of Electronic Engineering
2nd Semester 1st Year
Subject: Basic Electronics Lab Experiment # 03

Student’s Roll No: ___________________ Score: _________________________

Date of Conduct: ____________________ Teacher’s Signature: ______________

VI CHARACTERISTICS OF DIODE
OBJECTIVES:
Upon successful completion of this experiment, the students will be able to:
➢ To know about PN junction Diode
➢ Get familiar of conduction of Diode
➢ Get familiar about biasing of Diode
➢ Analyze the VI characteristics of Diode

EQUIPMENT & COMPONENTS:

• NI Multisim software
• Personal Computer
Introduction:
A diode is a simply semiconductor a p-n-junction device. It has two layers p and n, and two
terminals named as anode and cathode. Diode can be made from silicon or germanium. The
conductivity of pure semiconductors is very low at room temperature; to increase it
significantly some impurities must be added into the crystal structure. These impurities are of
two kinds.
In first case, the impurities are atoms which can contribute an extra, free electron. A
semiconductor doped in this way is called N (negative) type, because the donor atoms provide
negative charges. Atom of this kind belongs to group V of the periodic table of elements, and
examples are phosphorus (P), arsenic (As) or antimony (Sb).
The second type of impurity consists of atoms having the capacity to capture a free electron.
The semiconductor is then called P type because the impurity atom is acceptors of negative
charges; they contribute a positive holes p.

Forward biasing of a diode: To bias a diode, you apply a dc voltage across it. Forward biasing
is the condition that allows current through the P-N junction. Figure01 below shows a dc
voltage source connected by conductive material (contacts and wire) across a diode in the
direction to produce forward bias. This external bias voltage is designated as VBIAS. The
resistor, R, limits the current to a value that will not damage the diode.

Fig.2.1: Forward biased diode

Figure 3.1 Forward biasing of diode

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 MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
S.Z.A.B CAMPUS KHAIRPUR MIR’S
Department of Electronic Engineering
2nd Semester 1st Year
Subject: Basic Electronics Lab Experiment # 03

Reveres biasing of a diode: To reverse bias a diode, you apply a dc voltage across it in such a
way that positive terminal of battery is connected to cathode and negative terminal of battery
is connected with anode as shown in figure 3.2. In this condition no current flows through
diode.

Fig.3.2: Reverse biased diode

Diode Characteristics curve:
The characteristics of an ideal and real diode are shown in figure 3.3 and 3.4 respectively. The
VI characteristics of a diode illustrate how current in that diode varies with the voltage applied
across it experimentally. This can be determined by measuring the current in the diode for
successive number of higher applied voltage and plotting a graph of current versus voltage, you
will note that very little current flows in the diode for low level of the applied voltage. Thus
below (0.7V) forward bias, a silicon diode draws little current. For forward bias voltages equal
to or higher than 0.7V, the diode is turn on and permits to current to flow. Beyond 0.7V very
slight increase in forward biasing voltages result in the increase of current in the diode
dramatically.

Fig.3.3: VI characteristics of ideal diode

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 MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
S.Z.A.B CAMPUS KHAIRPUR MIR’S
Department of Electronic Engineering
2nd Semester 1st Year
Subject: Basic Electronics Lab Experiment # 03

Fig.3.4: VI characteristics of real diode

Lab Task: Design the diode circuit and connect the multimeter at each given point, note the
values of Vd and Id from Vs=0 to Vs=1.6.
S.No Vs(in V) Vd(in V) Id(in mA)
1. 0V
2. 0.1
3. 0.2
4. 0.3
5. 0.4
6. 0.5
7. 0.6
8. 0.7
9. 0.8
10. 0.9
11. 1.0
12. 1.1
13. 1.2
14. 1.3
15. 1.4
16. 1.5
17. 1.6

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 MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
S.Z.A.B CAMPUS KHAIRPUR MIR’S
Department of Electronic Engineering
2nd Semester 1st Year
Subject: Basic Electronics Lab Experiment # 03

Sketch the VI characteristics of PN junction diode from the above taken values of current and
voltages.

VI characteristics of diode

Design task:
1. Design the diode circuit and show the output characteristics of diode with DC sweep
tool.
2. Design the diode circuit, connect it with reverse biasing and forward biasing in order
to show its biasing voltage and output currents.

Hardware Task:
Design basic diode circuit and observe the diode current and diode voltages with different
values of Vs. For this you will need:
• PN junction diode 1N4001
• 9V Battery
• Few resistors
• Few jumping wires
• Multimeter

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 MEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
S.Z.A.B CAMPUS KHAIRPUR MIR’S
Department of Electronic Engineering
2nd Semester 1st Year
Subject: Basic Electronics Lab Experiment # 03

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

Q#1: Explain PN junction diode ad how it works?

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Q#2: Enlist the different applications of PN junction diode?

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Q#3: How the PN junction diode is formed?

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Conclusion:

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References
• https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_3.html
• https://www.pveducation.org/pvcdrom/pn-junctions/formation-of-a-pn-junction
• https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/diode/diode_3.html

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