EXPERIMENT 302

TITLE: THE ZENER DIODE EXPERIMENT

Objective
 Ability to recognize Zener diodes in various physical forms and to distinguish them from
rectifying diodes.
 Understand the constant-voltage characteristic of reverse-biased Zener diode.
 Understand the use of a Zener diode in a simple voltage regulator circuit.

Equipment Required
Qty Apparatus
1 Basic Electricity and Electronics Module 12-200-B
1 Power Supply Unit, 0 to 20 V variable dc regulated (eg, Feedback Teknikit Console 92-
300).
2 Multimeters or,
1 Voltmeter 20 V dc and
1 Ammeter, 100 mA dc and
1 Ammeter, 1 A dc

Prerequisite Assignment
Before working this assignment you should:
 Know what is meant by internal resistance and the effect it has on terminal voltage.

Safety Precautions Required

All instructions related to electrical connections must be observed and obeyed.

Fundamental Theory and Principles

Introduction
In the semiconductor Diode Assignment you found that a reverse-biased diode passes negligible
current. You also learnt that it will eventually suffer breakdown and damage if the reverse
voltage is made too high. See fig 1.

Zener diodes are specially constructed to break down at controllable voltage and to do so without
damage to the device. As we shall see, this feature can be put to good use.
Two Zener diodes are contained in the 12-200. They are 10 V and 7.5 V, and are shown in fig 2
with the standard circuit symbol.

Zener diodes look very similar to rectifier diodes and the terminal names and identification
methods are the same. The larger types, such as BZX85, have greater power and current
capacities.
The two types of diode can usually be distinguished only by their type numbers. For Zener
diodes these often, but not always, contain the letter Z.

Practical Consideration and Applications

Zener diodes are widely used as voltage stabilizers and voltage references.
They are manufactured with Zener voltage ratings of between about 2.7 volts and 200 volts,
usually in ‘preferred’ voltage steps, eg, 2.7, 3.4, 3.6, 3.9,4.3,4.7,5.1 etc, just as 1% tolerance
resistors are manufactured.
The power dissipation rating of a Zener diode is an important parameter.
Zener diodes are manufactured with power ratings between 400 mW and in excess of 100 watts.
Although Zener voltage are fairly insensitive to changes in diode current, they are however
sensitive to temperature changes. Normally the Zener voltage is specified at temperature of 25ºC,
but diode will have a temperature coefficient. Typical figures for this range from -5.0 mV/deg C
for a 2.7 –volt device to +60mV/deg C for a 75-volt device. The zero temperature coefficients is
given around 5.6 volts Zener voltage.
Zener diodes have many uses other than for providing stable or reference voltage sources (e.g
they can be used for clipping, thereby doing away with the need for a voltage source as the
clipping reference)

Zener diodes are often used for over-voltage protection, being connected across the load.
The Zener voltage is chosen such that under normal operating conditions the diode is reverse-
biased below the Zener voltage, so the device acts as an ordinary diode (i.e non-conducting).
If however the voltage rises above the Zener voltage, the diode will break down and pass a heavy
current. The excess voltage may be dropped in a resistor, as in fig 5 (a), or the fuse will blow, as
in fig 5 (b).
Practical 1
As shown in the Patching Diagram for this Practical, construct the circuit of fig 6.

Fig 302.6
The method of obtaining the voltage –current characteristic is the similar to that of the
Semiconductor Diode Assignment but notice that the Zener diode is
reverse-biased. Using the power supply variable control, set Vs to the values given in fig 7,
found in the Results Table section of this experiment.
For each value record , then calculate:
= – and = = mA

Copy the results table as shown in fig 7, found in the Results Table section of this assignment,
and enter your results.
Prepare a graph like fig 8 and plot against
NOTE: this is a graph of the reverse part of the Zener diode characteristic and would be
normally shown in the negative quadrant of the complete diode characteristic

Fig 302.8
Calculate the power dissipated in the diode for each value of V d and Id, and enter it into the last
column of your table.
 = x mW
Plot Pd against Vs on your graph.

Questions
1. Describe the Zener diode characteristic in your own words.
2. The nominal voltage of the C6V8 is 6.8. Does your graph agree with this exactly? If not,
can you suggest a reason for any difference?
3. Why is the series resistor in Fig 6 necessary?
4. The maximum allowable power dissipation of type this type of Zener diode is 400 mW.
Does your maximum value of Pd approach this limit?
Summary
In this assignment you learnt that:
1. A Zener diode in its breakdown region has an almost constant voltage regardless of diode
current.
2. This feature can be used to stabilize a varying voltage.
3. There are limits on the variations of Vs and IL in a simple stabilizer.
These are:
- The need to keep the diode in the Zener region
- The need to keep to diode power dissipation below the allowable maximum.

Result Tables
(V) (V) = = =
- (mA) x
(mW)
0
2
4
6
6.5
7.0
7.5
8.0
8.5
9.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
Fig 7