GOOD MORNING!!!

You can close your eyes from the things

you don’t want to see, but you can never
close your heart from the things
you don’t’ want to feel.
SEMICONDUCTOR
COMPONENTS
The solid state diodes, all types of
transistors and integrated circuits
(IC) are semiconductor
components.
 This is due to the fact that this kind of
components are made from
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS.

 Semiconductors are materials whose

resistance lies between the resistance
of the good conductor and insulator .

 The common semiconductor materials

are “silicon” and “germanium”.
Two types of Semiconductor

N-type semiconductors
P-type semiconductors
N-Type Semiconductors

 A kind of impurity that adds more

negative current carriers to the
semiconductor and making that semi
conductor highly negative.

 Examples of impurity materials that are

used to make N-type semiconductors
are antimony, arsenic and
phosphorous.
P-Type Semiconductors

 A kind of impurity that adds more

positive current carriers to the
semiconductor and making that semi
conductor highly positive.

 Examples of impurity materials that are

used to make P-type semiconductors
are indium, aluminum and gallium.
In semiconductor technology, the
positive current carriers are called
HOLES and the negative current
carriers are called ELECTRONS.
SOLID STATE DIODE

When the P-type and

N-type - - - - - - + + + + +
- + - - - - + + - + +
semiconductors are
- - - - +- + - + + +
joined together a solid - - - - - - + + + + +
state diode is formed.
 The P-type and N-type semi conductors are
separated by the junction.

 This junction has a force that prevents the

two opposing charges from combining.

 The repelling force of the junction is called

“barrier voltage” or “potential barrier” or
simply “junction” voltage.
 The repelling force of the barrier
voltage is approximately 0.3 volt
in the germanium semiconductor
and 0.6 volt in the silicon
semiconductor.
 -
-
+
-
CATHODE ANODE
JUNCTION
- - - - - - + + + + +
- + - - - - + + - + +
- - - - +- + - + + +
- - - - - - + + + + +
Perfecting Ways

 Series connection of diode

 By using capacitor (smoothing)

DIODE

Example:
Function

 Diodes allow electricity to flow in only

one direction. The arrow of the circuit
symbol shows the direction in which the
current can flow. Diodes are the
electrical version of a valve and early
diodes were actually called valves.
Elements of the diode and
current carriers
The diode has two elements. These
are the anode and the cathode which
are separated by the junction.
 The ANODE of the diode is
made up of positive current
carriers, while the CATHODE
is made up of negative
current carriers.
 -
-
+
-
CATHODE ANODE
JUNCTION
- - - - - - + + + + +
- + - - - - + + - + +
- - - - +- + - + + +
- - - - - - + + + + +
 The positive current carriers
are also called HOLES and
the negative current carriers
are called ELECTRONS.
Applying bias voltage to the
diode
There are two ways of applying the
operating voltage to the diode. One is
“forward bias” and the other is “reverse
bias”.
FORWARD BIAS

 When the battery used to apply bias

voltage is connected in such a way
that the positive terminal of the
battery is connected to the ANODE
and the CATHODE is connected to
the negative terminal of the battery,
the diode is in FORWARD BIAS.
When the diode is in the forward biased, the said diode
has a very low resistance and current flows in the diode.
The diode behaves like a CONDUCTOR.

Diode operation: (a) Current flow is permitted;

the diode is forward biased.
REVERSED BIAS

 When the connection of the battery

to the diode is made in such a way
that the positive of the battery is
connected to the cathode and the
anode of the diode to the negative
of the battery, the diode is in
REVERSED BIAS.
When the diode is in reverse biased, the said diode has a
very high resistance and current flows in the diode. The
diode behaves like an INSULATOR.

Diode operation: (b) Current flow is prohibited;

the diode is reversed biased.
Two Main Function of Diode
It is used as rectifier.
 When the diode is used in the power
supply circuits, it is used as rectifier.

 As rectifier the work or function of the

diode is to convert the AC voltage
from the main power source to DC
voltage .

 Silicon diode is the one used as

rectifier.
For example a 5V regulated supply:
Single diode rectifier
A single diode can be used as a rectifier but this produces half-wave varying
DC which has gaps when the AC is negative. It is hard to smooth this
sufficiently well to supply electronic circuits unless they require a very small
current so the smoothing capacitor does not significantly discharge during the
gaps.

Output: half-wave varying DC

Single diode rectifier
(using only half the AC wave)
It is used as detector.

 When the diode is used in the radio tuner, it is

used as detector or demodulator as detector.

 Its duty is to detect and recover the original

audio signal that comes from the radio
broadcasting station.

 In short, detector diode is used to convert

radio signal to audio signal.
Rating of the Diode
 If the resistor is rated in terms of
resistance and power, the capacitor is
in terms of capacitance and voltage,
the diode is rated in terms of
“voltage” and “current”.
 It is quite hard sometimes to meet the required voltage and current using a
single diode, so the solution is to do the following.
Identifying the anode and cathode of the
diode

 In the schematic symbol it is very easy

to identify the anode and cathode; the
ARROWHEADS stands for the anode
and the BAR stands for the cathode.

 In the actual appearance of the diode,

it is quite difficult to identify the anode
and cathode.
 The solution to this is to test the diode.
The instrument needed is the multi tester
adjusted at ohmmeter range x1 or x10.
Using this instrument, not only the
location of anode and cathode can be
determined, but we also know whether
the diode is GOOD (YES, NO) or BAD
(open or shorted).
Defects or Troubles in the Diode

 Shorted diode (YES, YES)

 It means that the junction of the
diode is punctured and damaged.

 Open diode (NO, NO)

 It means that its connecting wire
terminal inside is broken or open.
Testing the Diode

When testing the diode we must

remember the following:
 The multi tester must be adjusted to
ohmmeter @ range x1 or x10.

 The deflection of VOM pointer indicates the

presence of current.

 There is a battery inside the VOM, where its

positive terminal is connected to the BLACK
test probe and the negative terminal to the
RED test prob.
 In biasing diode, the current flows to the
diode when forward bias but not when
reverse bias.

 For every diode, a back-to-back must be

done/executed.
Example of diode Testing and
Its Results
When diode is suspended to be
defective, the instrument that we use is
the VOM, adjusted range x10 or x1.
Test results show that the diode is open
Test results show that the diode is shorted
Test results show that the diode is good.
To boost the ampacity( current
carrying capacity)
 Parallel connection of diode
To boost the voltage capacity

 Series connection of diode

THE END………

You can close your eyes from the things

you don’t want to see, but you can never
close your heart from the things
you don’t’ want to feel.
Testing Diode with 4-T

A special diode with 4-T is known as BRIDGE-D. It is

usually used as rectifier in a full wave power supply.

12-way test procedure is needed to complete the testing

for this kind of component.
The setup of the above figure is a Full-Wave Bridge rectifier
using 4 x 1N4001. Full-wave rectification is only achieved when
four diodes are combined and linked to each other like on the
figure above. A single package diode bridge is available in the
market.
THE END………

You can close your eyes from the things

you don’t want to see, but you can never
close your heart from the things
you don’t’ want to feel.