EXPERIMENT 1

PRE LAB QUESTIONS

1. Circuit symbol of the diode

2 .Materials used for anode are graphite, lithium and metal oxides and for cathode
materials used are lithium cobalt oxide, lithium iron phosphate and manganese.
3. Ideal diode volt Ampere characteristics

4. Cut in voltage refers to the voltage at which a device such as a diode or

transistor starts conducting electicity.
5. Static resistance is the resistance when the diode is applied to DC while the
dynamic resistance is the resistance offered by the diode when AC applied.
6. Diode works as a switch in two ways on state and off state that is in on state
when the diode is forward-biased that is the voltage across the diode allows current
to flow in the direction of the arrow in its symbol then it is in the ‘on ’ state, in this
state ,the diode acts as a closed switch allowing current to flow through it with
minimal resistance. While in off state, when the diode is reverse-biased that is
the voltage across the diode prevents current flow in the direction of the arrow then
it is in the ‘off ’ state and in this state the diode acts as an open switchblocking the
flow of current in the reverse direction.
7. Space charge is an interpretation of a collection of electric charges in which
excess electric charge is treated as a continuum of a charge distributed over a
region of space rather than distinct point-like charges.
8. Diffusion capacitance refers to the capacitance that exists due to the movement
of charge carriers (electrons and holes) during the transition from one state to
another within the device.
9. In P type material, majority carriers are holes in P-type materials as they
carry the positive charge while the minority carriers in P-type are electrons
as they carry the negative charge.
In N-type material, the majority carriers are electrons as they carry the negative
charge while the minority carriers are holes as they carry the positive charge.
That is in both P-type and N-type materials , the majority carriers are the
dominant charge carriers responsible for the bulk of the current flow ,
whereas the minority carriers play a secondary role in current conduction.
10.

11. PIV is the maximum voltage the diode can withstand in a reverse-biased
direction before breakdown.
12.The leakage current in a Germanium (Ge)diode tends to be higher due to the
intrinsic properties of the semiconductors material ,Ge has a smaller
bandgap energy compared to si which means it requires less energy to excite
an electron from the valence band to the conduction band and this results in
a higher number of charge carriers being present at a given temperature
leading to higher leakage current when the diode is reverse-biased.
13. Work function is the minimum quantity of energy which is required to remove
an electron to infinity from the surface of a given solid.
14. Current equation of the diode

EXPERIMENT 2
PRE LAB QUESTIONS

1. Circuit symbol of the zener diode

2. Zener break down is the process in which the electrons move across the
barrier from the valence band of P-type material to the conduction band of
N-type.
3. Different types of break downs are break downs caused by depression or an
anxiety disorder , a break down that causes psychotic symptoms ,or work-
related burnout.
4. Avalanche break down and zener break down they differ mainly by their
mechanism of occurrence , avalanche break down occurs because of the
collision of free electrons with atoms while zener break down occurs
because of the high electric field.
 5. In a lightly doped it is avalanche break down which occurs in it while in
heavily doped it is zener break down which occurs in it.
6. In a zener break down as we increase the temperature the energy gap
between the valance band and conduction band is reduced so the less electric
field is required to move valance electrons to the conduction band
consequently, the required breakdown voltage decreases as the temperature
increases. While in avalanche break down , the break down voltage increases
with increase in temperature, as a bunch of electrons knocks out other
electron to conduction band creating electron hole pair therefore due to
increase in temperature, vibrations of atoms increases and thus reduces the
mean free path for electrons.
7. – They are used as reference voltage sources and for current stabilization in
applications like LED lighting systems.
-They are utilized in waveform shaping , specifically converting AC signals
into pulsating DC signals ,and act as transient voltage suppressors.
-They also serve as voltage clippers and limiters , protecting against
voltage spikes and maintaining voltage within specified ranges.
8. Zener diode operates as a voltage regulator as when the zener diode is
forward biased it behaves like a normal signal diode ,but when the reverse voltage
is applied to it ,the voltage remains constant for a wide range of currents.
9. In PN junction diode the PN region is lightly doped which makes the
depletion region wider, while in zener diode the depletion region is narrower as
the PN junction is doped heavily and zener diode are mainly used for voltage
regulation purposes.
10. Regulation is an official rule or directive made and maintained by an
authority.