ST.

JOSEPH UNIVERSITY IN TANZANIA

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERINGAND TECHNOLOGY

NAME: EDGER CHAMI

REGISTRATION NO: 22171053007
DEPARTMENT: ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING
MODULE CODE: EC2103
MODULE NAME: ELECTRONICS DEVICE AND CIRCUITS
MODULE INSTRUCTOR: MR UPENDO BASANYA
ASSIGNMENT: 1
DATE OF SUBMISSION: 01-12-2023
QN 1: Explain the operation and characteristics of Zener Diode UJT, mention application.
(a)A Zener diode is a special type of semiconductor diode that operates under reverse bias
conditions. In simpler terms, it conducts electricity when the current flows in the opposite direction
of a regular diode. It is named after Clarence Melvin Zener, who first described the electrical
properties of this diode in 1934. Their unique ability to conduct under reverse bias conditions and
their stable breakdown voltage make them ideal for voltage regulation, clipping, and limiting
applications.

In this article, we will be learning about the Zener diode. Read on, to know more, its symbol, graph
and diagram. We will also study about Zener diode circuit, its working principle, and
characteristics of the Zener diode.

Zener Diode

A Zener diode can be defined as a heavily doped semiconductor device that is designed to operate
the electric circuit in the reverse direction. It is also called a breakdown diode. It is a heavily doped
semiconductor diode that is designed to operate the electric circuit in the reverse direction.

When some voltage passes through the terminals of a Zener diode then it gets reversed and the
potential of the circuit reaches the Zener Voltage or knee voltage, which is the forward voltage of
a flowing current. Then the junction breaks down and the current starts to flow in the reverse
direction. This effect in an electric circuit is known as the Zener Effect. The image below
represents the symbol of a Zener Diode.
The image below depicts a real-life Zener diode that is used in electronic devices and electric
circuits:

Working Principle of Zener Diode

The working principle is such that if the reverse bias voltage is less than the breakdown voltage,
or if it is forward biased then it acts as an ordinary diode. This means that forward bias allows
current to flow and reverse bias blocks the current from flowing. After this, the voltage surpasses
the breakdown point in reverse bias, and the diode falls in the Zener region, where it gets conducted
without getting damaged. Current in this region is known as avalanche current but for a Zener
diode, it is also known as a Zener current.

When the voltage decreases in the circuit the diode maintains its non-conducting condition and
gets back to its natural properties. This specific property of the Zener diode of being functional in
the reverse bias and with avalanche current is given by the rich doping of the semiconductor
material present in it.
Further, by controlling the amount of doping of the semiconductor material and by doing this the
thickness of the depletion region in the PN junction and the breakdown voltage can be set to any
value according to the need of the appliance.

Avalanche Breakdown

Avalanche breakdown occurs in a Zener diode when the reverse bias voltage is increased to a point
where the electric field across the depletion region becomes strong enough to knock electrons from
their valence bonds into the conduction band. These electrons then collide with other atoms,
knocking more electrons free, and the process continues in a chain reaction known as an avalanche.
This avalanche of electrons causes a sudden increase in current through the diode, and the voltage
across the diode drops to a constant value known as the breakdown voltage.

Zener Breakdown

Zener breakdown is a tunneling effect that occurs in a Zener diode with a narrow depletion region.
When the reverse bias voltage is increased to a point where the electric field across the depletion
region is strong enough, some of the valence electrons in the p-type material can tunnel through
the depletion region and into the conduction band of the n-type material. This tunneling of
electrons causes a sudden increase in current through the diode, and the voltage across the diode
drops to a constant value known as the breakdown voltage.

Also, learn more about PIN Diodes

V-I Characteristics of Zener Diode

The V-I characteristics of a Zener diode are divided into two parts which are mentioned as follows:

Forward Characteristics of Zener Diode

The first quadrant of the graph depicts the forward characteristics of a Zener diode, and from which
we can understand that it is almost similar to the forward characteristics of any other normal PN
junction diode.

Reverse Characteristics of Zener Diode

When a reverse voltage is applied to a Zener voltage, a small reverse saturation current which
is Io flows across the whole diode. This current is present due to thermally generated minority
carriers present in the diode. As the reverse voltage starts to increase, at a certain value of reverse
voltage the reverse current also starts to increase drastically and sharply.

This is proof that the breakdown in the diode has occurred. This voltage is known as breakdown
voltage or Zener voltage and is denoted by Vz. Its range is also mentioned in the above
characteristics.
Zener Diodes Specifications

Some characteristics of Zener diodes are mentioned as follows:

I. Zener or Breakdown Voltage – The Zener or the breakdown voltage varies from 2.4 V to
200 V, sometimes it can go up to 1 kV while its maximum value for the surface-mounted
device is only 47 V.
II. Power Rating – It indicates the maximum power that a diode can disperse, which is given
by the product of the voltage of the diode and the current flowing through it.
III. Current Iz (maximum) – It is the maximum current reading at the rated Zener Voltage,
which is Vz – 200μA to 200 A
IV. Voltage Tolerance – It’s typically ±5%
V. Current Iz (minimum) – It is the minimum value of the current reading required for the
diode to break down.
VI. Temperature Stability – it has the best stability of around 5 V.
VII. Zener Resistance Rz – It is the resistance that the Zener diode shows.

Applications of Zener Diode

The uses of a Zener diode are mentioned as follows:

I. Zener Diode as Voltage Regulator

Zener diodes are employed as shunt voltage regulators to stabilize voltage across low-power loads.
They are connected in parallel with the load, subjecting them to reverse bias. Once the Zener
diode's knee voltage is surpassed, the load voltage stabilizes. Notably, the breakdown voltage of
Zener diodes remains constant across a wide range of currents.

II. Zener Diode in Over-Voltage Protection

In situations where the input voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage of the Zener diode, the voltage
across the resistor plummets, potentially leading to a short circuit. By employing a Zener diode,
this issue can be effectively circumvented.
III. Zener Diode in Clipping Circuits

Zener diodes play a crucial role in shaping AC waveforms by selectively limiting portions of one
or both half-cycles of the AC waveform. This process, known as clipping, is achieved by
employing Zener diodes in specific circuit configurations.

https://testbook.com/physics/zener-diode

(b) A Uni Junction Transistor (UJT) is a device that is formed with a single junction of p-type
and the n-type of the semiconductor material. It resembles to that of the diode with a single junction
of the P-N. It looks almost like that of the Junction Field Effect Transistor (JFET). But the
operation is completely different in comparison with it.

As the name suggesting it is a single junction transistor but it is widely used in the circuits of
timing, triggering circuits and so on… it is a device that consists of dual layers along with three
terminals present in it. It is having very different characteristics in comparison with the other
transistors. Its three terminals are named as base1, base2 and the emitter. The current at the
terminal emitter tends to increase as the input gets triggered. These are used during switching of
the devices other than amplification.

What is a Uni Junction Transistor?

A transistor that is formed because of the P-type and the N-type material so that a single junction
is formed because of them this type of transistor is defined as uni junction transistor. These
transistors are similar to that of JFET’s but their operations completely differ. Hence this transistor
doesn’t suits for amplification techniques. This can be utilized during the switching of the devices
to ON/OFF.

These transistors switching operation is completely different in comparison with the Field Effect
Transistors (FET) and the Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT). If the channel in this transistor is
formed of N-type semiconductor that is low in doping concentration the P-type is infused on it.
This p-type is of high in doping concentration.
Working Principle of UJT

The basic functionality of the UJT depends on the value of the voltage applied. If the voltage
applied in between the terminals of the emitter and the base1 are supposed to be zero this UJT
doesn’t conduct. Hence the N-Type material tends to acts as a resistor. As the applied voltage tends
to increase at the terminal of emitter the value of resistance tends to increase and the device begin
to conduct. In the whole process the conduction is completely dependent on the majority of the
charge carriers. This is the basic principle involved in UJT.

UJT Symbol and the Construction of UJT

The symbol of UJT is designed in such a way that arrow is bent and shown that it is in the direction
towards the channel. It resembles of JFET. If the channel is made of the N-type then the terminal
called emitter is of P-type and vice-versa. But the other type is rarely used. The junction in between
the terminal of emitter and the bases are positioned in such a closer way to form a better
communication. When the arrow from the emitter is pointing towards the terminals base 1 and the
base 2 indicates that the terminal from which the arrow is coming that is emitter is positive whereas
the base is of negative nature.

Symbol of UJT
The construction of the UJT is simple as it has one junction. The construction
resembles diode. The difference in between the UJT and the diode is that it consists of three
terminals in comparison with the diode. The higher resistance value is present at the bar that is of
n-type. The maximum value for the resistance is formed in between the terminals of the base 1 and
the emitter in comparison with the resistance value of the terminals base2 and the emitter. The
reason for this is that the positioning of the emitter is nearer or closer to the base 2 rather than base
1. The above connections makes a basic circuit diagram of UJT.

This transistor is operated by making the junction of the terminal in the forward biasing mode. The
operation of this UJT is unique but it doesn’t amplify the signals but capable enough of handling
and controlling the larger vale of the power applied in terms of AC. It also exhibits the resistance
in terms of negative polarity. This makes the UJT to utilize it as an oscillator circuit.

UJT Characteristics

The characteristics of the UJT are as follows

1. It requires very low amounts of the voltage to get triggered.

2. It is capable of controlling the current pulse.
3. It consists of the negative value of the resistance.
4. The cost of this transistor is very low.
UJT Characteristics Curve

As the current in the UJT tends to increase there can be evident drop in voltage value. Hence this
transistor shows the negative characteristics of resistance. This paves the way to make the UJT to
work as a relaxation oscillator. The basic functional unit of this oscillator consists of resistor and
the capacitor with UJT as the active unit for the oscillator to perform operation.

UJT Relaxation Oscillator

UJT is a transistor with one junction. This possesses the resistance with negative characteristics.
This makes the UJT to function as an oscillator. This is an oscillator with the basic resistor and
capacitor. As it is good at switching and it takes minimum value of the nano seconds for switching
the devices.

The circuitry of the relaxation oscillator consists of the resistors and the capacitor. The resistors
act as the limiters of the current. Initially when the voltage is applied the UJT is considered to be
OFF. The capacitor tends to charge through the resistor present there that is R. This charging of
the capacitor is exponential in nature.
As the diode exceeds the minimum value the device starts conducting by making the emitter
junction to be in forward biasing mode. Hence the transistor is considered to be ON. This makes
the resistance value between the emitter and the Base 1 to decrease and the device enters in to the
region of saturation that is fully conducting. The flow of current of the terminal emitter through
the resistor that is R1 takes place.

UJT as Relaxation Oscillator

By making the capacitor to get discharged because the resistor R1 is of low ohmic value. The
discharge value of the capacitor is lesser than that of the charging value of the capacitor. Once the
voltage across the capacitor tends to decrease more than that of the time of holding the device
tends to get turned OFF. Based on the voltage applied as input dependent o it the device is
managed to be turned ON or OFF.

QN 2: Briefly explain thermal runaway in BJT circuit

We know that in a transistor , power is dissipated in the collector and hence it is made physically
larger than the emitter and base region. As the power is dissipated , there is a chance for the
collector base junction temperature to be raised. As the temperature at collector base junction
increases, the reverse leakage current ICBO increases. This is because ICBO arises due to the flow
of minority carriers which are thermally generated across reverse biased collector-base junction
(reverse biased pn junction) . As the temperature increases, thermal generation increases, ICBO
increases..

IC = αIE + ICBO

So, as ICBO increases, IC increases. Power dissipated =I2 * R.

So, as collector current increases, power dissipated increases which in turn increases the collector
base junction temperature. So the process is cumulative leading eventually to the destruction of
the transistor.

Thermal runaway can be prevented by using a heat sink.

QN.3 Explain and analysis the operation of Class A amplifiers

Common emitter amplifiers are the most commonly used type of amplifier as they can have a very
large voltage gain

The common emitter class-A amplifier is designed to produce a large output voltage swing from a
relatively small input signal voltage of only a few millivolt’s and are used mainly as “small signal
amplifiers” as we saw in the previous tutorials.

However, sometimes an amplifier is required to drive large resistive loads such as a loudspeaker
or to drive a motor in a robot and for these types of applications where high switching currents are
needed Power Amplifiers are required.

The main function of the power amplifier, which are also known as a “large signal amplifier” is to
deliver power, which is the product of voltage and current to the load. Basically a power amplifier
is also a voltage amplifier the difference being that the load resistance connected to the output is
relatively low, for example a loudspeaker of 4Ω or 8Ω resulting in high currents flowing through
the collector of the transistor.
Because of these high load currents the output transistor(s) used for power amplifier output stages
such as the 2N3055 need to have higher voltage and power ratings than the general ones used for
small signal amplifiers such as the BC107.

Since we are interested in delivering maximum AC power to the load, while consuming the
minimum DC power possible from the supply we are mostly concerned with the “conversion
efficiency” of the amplifier.

However, one of the main disadvantage of power amplifiers and especially the Class A amplifier
is that their overall conversion efficiency is very low as large currents mean that a considerable
amount of power is lost in the form of heat. Percentage efficiency in amplifiers is defined as the
r.m.s. output power dissipated in the load divided by the total DC power taken from the supply
source as shown below.

Power Amplifier Efficiency

• Where:

• η% – is the efficiency of the amplifier.

• Pout – is the amplifiers output power delivered to the load.

• Pdc – is the DC power taken from the supply.

For a power amplifier it is very important that the amplifiers power supply is well designed to
provide the maximum available continuous power to the output sign

Working of a Class A Amplifier

The power efficiency and distortion in the signal is determined by the class of an amplifier circuit.
The figure below shows the waveforms in case of a class A amplifier. The first wave shown below
is the input which actually drives the base of the transistor while the second wave is that of collector
current I(c) which flows as a result of input.
The Y-axis or the horizontal axis line represents the conduction angle in the above figure. It is
clearly evident from the above figure that collector current I(c) flows for 360 degree of the input
signal. Thus the amplifier is always in ON state as a result of which efficiency of a class A amplifier
is very poor, about 25 to 30 percent. However, the gain of such an amplifier is high because of this
reason. Class A Amplifier serves as a linear amplifier as the output is a copy (amplified copy to be
more precise) of input signal. However, it should be noted that the transistor working should never
be pushed towards saturation or cut-off due to input signal. If this happens for some reason you
would get output waveform with flat peaks.

The circuit shown in the above figure is that of a Common-Emitter class A amplifier.

Characteristics of Class A Amplifier

It’s a low distortion type amplifier having very low efficiency but high gain. When there’s a cut-
off in the transistor, the Collector-Emitter region behaves as open while in case of saturation the
same Collector-Emitter region behaves as short.
Calculations in a Class A Amplifier

The biasing base current is given by the formula

I(B) = (DC Input Voltage – V(BE))/R(b)

I(C) = I(B) × DC current gain

V(CE) = DC Input Voltage – ( I(C) × R(c) )

Voltage gain = V(out)/V(in)

Applications of Class A Amplifier in Real World

1. Voltage amplifier.

2. Current amplifier.

3. Power amplifier.

REFERENCES:

I. https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/amplifier/amp_5.html
II. https://www.electronicsforu.com/resources/class-a-amplifier-working
III. https://www.watelectronics.com/uni-junction-transistor-working-types/