Chapter 5

Common Electronic Components

1
Diodes

• A diode is made of silicon.

• Silicon is a semiconductor material, which means that its
properties are different from ordinary conductors such as copper.

2
Diode Characteristics

• It conducts only in one direction from the anode to the cathode.

• A diode conducts only when it is forward biased.

Forward biasing
When the anode is connected to the positive voltage of the source and the
cathode is connected to the negative voltage.

Reverse biasing
When a diode is connected in the reverse direction, with its cathode to positive
and anode to negative.

3
Diode Connection

Forward bias Reverse bias

The lamp will light up The lamp will not light up

4
 Voltage drop on diode

• The diode does not behave like a

resistor. It does not obey Ohm’s law.
• This means that the voltage across the
diode does not vary when changing the
input voltage or changing the resistor
value.
• It stays fixed at 0.7 V.
• Thus, we can conclude that a forward
biased diode has a fixed voltage drop of
about 0.7 V.

5
Example
Find the voltage V1

𝑉1 = 𝐸 − 𝑉𝑓 = 6 − 0.7 = 5.3 𝑉 𝑉1 = 𝐼 𝑅 = 0 × 220 = 0 𝑉

6
Rectifiers

• Voltage rectification is the process of converting an AC

signal into DC signal.
• One of the most important uses of diodes is their usage
as rectifiers, which based on their ability to conduct in
only one direction.

7
Half-wave rectifier

Negative half-cycles are removed

8
 Half-wave rectifier

In the half-wave rectifier:

- There is no output during negative half
cycles. Thus, half of the input power is
wasted.
- The output amplitude is less than the
input amplitude. This is because of the
forward voltage drop across the diode
(0.7 V).

9
Full-wave rectifier (Bridge)

10
 Full-wave rectifier (Bridge)
During positive half cycle
D1 and D2 are forward biased.
D3 and D4 are reverse biased

During negative half cycle

D3 and D4 are forward biased.
D1 and D2 are reverse biased

11
 Applications

Rectifiers are commonly used in

power supply units to produce DC
voltages from AC signals produced
from a transformer.

Different packages for bridges

12
 Smoothing

• The pulsed DC signal from a rectifier is

unsuitable for powering circuits until it has been
smoothed.
• This is done by connecting a large-value
capacitor across the rectified DC output.
• Repeated pulses of bridge output charge the
capacitor up to the peak voltage.
• The capacitor discharges during the downward
portion of the pulse, and it charges again during
the upward portion.
• This results in a smoothed DC signal with slight
ripples.

13
 Ripples

• Ripple amplitudes need to be

decreased as much as possible to
get more smoothed DC output.
• The capacitor usually has a
capacity of 1000 µF or more.
• The more the capacitance value,
the smaller ripples we get at
output.
• The ripples appear with a full-
wave rectifier is smaller than
ripples which result from a half-
wave rectifier.

14
Zener diode

15
Zener diode

• Zener diode is a special type of diode, also it has a different symbol.

• Zener diode is used to regulate or stabilize voltage in power supply

devices. Also, it is used to protect circuits from overvoltage.

16
Zener diode operation

• If a Zener diode is reverse biased with a small voltage,

it behaves like an ordinary diode. It does not conduct.

• If a Zener diode is reverse biased with a voltage

greater than a certain amount, called the Zener voltage
(or the reverse breakdown voltage), it will conduct and
keep the amount of voltage across it at the value of the
breakdown voltage.

• The Zener voltage of a Zener diode is fixed when the

diode is manufactured. It may range from about 2.7 V
to 20 V.

17
Zener diode operation

• Discuss the following circuit when:

- Vin < Vzener
- Vin > Vzener

18
Zener diode applications

Voltage stabilizer

19
Light Emitting Diode (LED)

• LEDs give off light when a current flows through them.

20
Light Emitting Diode (LED)

• An LED needs about 20 mA to light to full brightness.

• The forward voltage drop of an LED is about 2 V.

• When an LED is lit by a higher voltage, the LED may be burnt out if
the forward voltage across it exceeds 2 V.

• So, a current limiting resistor should be connected in series with the

LED.

21
Selecting series resistor
according to KVL, the voltage drop across the resistor is
Vs – 2.

Then, the value of the resistor will be,

𝑉 𝑉𝑠 − 2
𝑅= =
𝐼 𝐼

Example:

An LED is connected to a digital pin of an Arduino board. What is

the value of the series resistor which limits the current to 20 mA?

Solution

The output voltage from the digital pin is Vs = 5 V.

𝑉𝑠 − 2 5−2 5−2
𝑅= = = = 150 Ω
𝐼 20 mA 0.02

22
Transistors

• Transistors are used to amplify signals.

• A transistor can also be used as a switch.

23
 BJT transistor

• The terminals of a BJT

transistor are emitter, base, and
collector.
• BJT has two types of
transistors: NPN and PNP.
• The type of a transistor
determines the direction of
flowing current through the
transistor.

24
Notations
• C: Collector terminal
• B: Base terminal
• E: Emitter terminal
• VCE: Collector-Emitter voltage
• VBE: Base-Emitter voltage
• VCB: Collector-Base voltage
• IC: Collector current
• IB: Base current
• IE: Emitter current

25
NPN as a switch
• For a transistor to operate as a switch, it operates in two
modes: saturation mode (on) and cut-off mode (off).

• The collector and emitter form

the switch terminals and the
base is the switch handle.
• In other words, the small base
current can be made to
control a much larger current
between the collector and
emitter.
26
 Cut-off mode (OFF state)
• In this mode, the input voltage Vin is not
sufficient to forward bias the junction (diode)
between the base and emitter.
• The transistor appears as an open-circuit
between the collector and emitter terminals,
and no current will flow through the transistor.

In cut-off mode, the following behavior is noted:

• Vbe < 0.7V (base-emitter junction is not forward

biased)
• Ib = 0 (no base current)
• Ic = 0 (no collector current)

27
 Saturation mode (ON state)
• Here, the input voltage Vin is large enough to
forward bias the Base-Emitter junction.
• In this case, the transistor appears as a near
short-circuit between the collector and emitter
terminals, and maximum current (Ic(sat)) will
be drawn from the source Vcc to the load.
In saturation mode, the following behavior is noted:
• Vbe > 0.7V (base-emitter junction is forward biased)
• Ib > 0 𝑉𝑐𝑐 − 0.2
𝐼𝑐 = 𝐼𝑐 (𝑠𝑎𝑡) =
• Ic = Ic(sat) (Isat is the max current which can flow in the 𝑅2
circuit)
𝑉𝑖𝑛 − 0.7
𝐼𝑏 =
• Vce = Vce(sat) ≈ 0.2V 𝑅1

28
Example
• For the following circuit, determine the base and collector currents when:
a) Vin = 0.5 V
b) Vin = 5 V

Solution
a)
Ib = 0
Ic = 0

b)
𝑉𝑖𝑛 − 0.7 5 − 0.7
𝐼𝑏 = = = 0.43 mA
𝑅1 10 × 103
𝑉𝑐𝑐 −0.2 10−0.2
𝐼𝑐 = = = 9.8 mA
𝑅2 1×103

29
Applications of using transistor as a switch
a) Controlling a motor

• The motor would replace

the collector resistor (R2),
and transistor would act as
a switch.
• The switch only needs to
handle the small base
current to open or close the
circuit of the motor.

30
Applications of using transistor as a switch
b) Using LDR to control a lamp

• LDR (Light Dependent

Resistor) can be seen as a
variable resistor.
• The resistance of the LDR
is increased as the light
decreased, and vice versa.

31
Applications of using transistor as a switch
c)Tank overflow indicator

• This application provides

an alarm system to indicate
that the tank is full.

32
Relay
• A relay is an electro-mechanical
switch used to control loads that
need high voltages and current.
• As an example, you can control
most of electrical appliances
(lamp, fan, TV, washer, heater, …)
that operate on 220 V AC using a
relay that can be controlled by a 5
V source.

33
Relay

Example

• The circuit shows how a 5V

source is used to control the bulb
that is connected with a 220 V AC
source.

34
 Relay
Arduino Example
The below Arduino code switches on the bulb for 1 second and
off for 1 second.
int relay_pin = 2;
void setup()
{
pinMode(relay_pin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop()
{
digitalWrite(relay_pin, HIGH);
delay(1000);
digitalWrite(relay_pin, LOW);
delay(1000);
}

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