Diode Circuits

Louis Wai Yip Liu

Basic property of a diode.
• Ideal diode should pass the positive voltage and stop the negative voltage.
• Diodes are are the one-way arrows of electronics. Drawn sort of like an arrow, they
allow current to flow only in the direction they're pointing.

• When you look at a diode, there will be a stripe around one end. This stripe is like the
bar that the arrow points to. Current flows towards the stripe. So, it's important to pay
attention to which way you put the diode into your breadboard.

• Normal diodes are used for rectifying signals and power supplies, and for clamping
signals to a certain range. With an op-amp, a diode can be made to calculate
logarithms. Finally, zener diodes are special diodes that can be used to establish
convenient voltage levels.
Uses of Diode
• Circuit Protection
• Rectification
current gate
half wave rectifier
full wave rectifier
Power Supplies
• Voltage Multiplier
• Frequency manipulation
• Frequency multiplier
• Mixers and more . . .
• Voltage clamp
• slight emitting diodes (LED)
• photo-diode
Diode Characteristics

• Turn on voltage marks the transition from low current to high current.
• Is is the reverse saturation current
How to solve diode circuits
Diode piecewise-linear model for simplified analysis:
Diode IV characteristic is approximated by two lines
 Class Example 1
Assumption:
Is = 1e-12 A
 Solution-1: Numerical Method
In Matlab or Octave:

syms vd;
eqn= vd+ 1e-12*1000*(exp(vd/0.025-1)) == 12;
double(solve(eqn,vd))
 Solution-2: Load Line Method
In Matlab or Octave:

R1=1000
n = 1;
Vt = 0.025;
Is = 10^-12;
VD1 = [-5:0.01:0.6];
ID = Is*(exp(VD1/(n*Vt)) - 1);
plot(VD1,ID);
hold;
VD2 = [-5:0.01:12];
ID2 = (12-VD2)/R1;
plot(VD2,ID2);

The point of intersection is also called as the Quiescent-point (Q-point) or DC operating point of the
Solution – 3: Approximation Model Method
Class Exercise 2 – Approximation using Offset Model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkEVGQ2lneI
 Class Exercise 3
In the following circuit, R1=2 ohm and R2= 5 ohm. The diode is a silicon diode
with 0.7V threshold voltage. (i.e. 0.7V if “on” and 0A if “off”). Generate a plot
of Vo versus input voltage vi. You must draw a suitable set of axes (use a range
for Vo between -2V and +2V). Label them with all salient (important) values and
features (for constant slope portions, indicate the exact slope).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC2Uvl9rNRs

•
 Class Exercise 3- Solution
• Equivalent Circuit
Class Exercise 3 – Solution (con’t)
 Video Demonstration
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkEVGQ2lneI
Application: Voltage Reference
• The voltage difference across a diode is
nearly constant, at about 0.6 Volts. Ohm's
law is simply not applicable.

• There are some applications where it's

handy to have a .6V value, but mostly it's
just important to remember that the diode
drop is there in your circuit.

• Example: Set up each of the circuits below.

Use 1N914 diodes, or similar. Simulate the
indicated voltage levels with a LTSpice --
what do you expect to get?
Application: Voltage Regulator
• The voltage across a diode does
not vary much even though its
current varies enormously. We can
take advantage of this fact to fix a
voltage. A circuit that does stabilize
the voltage is known as a voltage
regulator.
• Like the circuit on the right, the D1
and D2 should be about to turn on,
but the current should be small.
• If the diodes are on and carry a
current, the current must flow
from the anode to the cathode.
Half-wave Rectifier
• The simplest rectifier uses one diode, like this:

• This one is called a half-wave rectifier, this circuit takes an AC signal in and chops off anything that
falls below 0 Volts.

• Signal In:

• Signal Out (Half-wave):

• The half-wave rectifier is used in AM radios to rectify the signal. But for a rectifier in a power
Full-wave Rectifier
• The half-wave rectifier chopped off half our signal. A full-wave rectifier does more clever trick: it flips
the - half of the signal up into the + range. A full-wave rectifier uses a diode bridge, made of four
diodes, like this:

• At first, this may look just as confusing as the one-way streets of Boston. The thing to realize is that
the diodes work in pairs. As the voltage of the signal flips back and forth, the diodes shepard the
current to always flow in the same direction for the output.
• Here's what the circuit looks like to the signal as it alternates:

• So, if we feed our AC signal into a full wave rectifier, we'll see both halves of the wave above 0 Volts.
Since the signal passes through two diodes, the voltage out will be lower by two diode drops, or 1.2
Volts.
Full-wave Rectifier (Cont)
• If we feed our AC signal into a full wave rectifier, we'll see both halves of the wave above 0 Volts.
Since the signal passes through two diodes, the voltage out will be lower by two diode drops, or 1.2
Volts.
• AC Wave In:

• AC Wave Out (Full-Wave Rectified):

• If we're interested in using the full-wave rectifier as a DC power supply, we'll add a smoothing
capacitor to the output of the diode bridge.
Application: DC Power Supply
• Before, the output of the full-wave rectifier was bumpy. This
will cause problems with our circuits if we try to use it as a
power supply.

• So, to use the full-wave rectifier as a DC power supply, we'll

add a smoothing capacitor to the output of the diode bridge.

• Now, the output of the power supply will be much smoother.

We can reduce the size of the ripples by choosing a larger
smoothing cap.

• The shape of the ripples is determined by the AC frequency

and the RC time constant of the smoothing cap and circuit
impedance.
 Peak Inverse Voltage
• In semiconductor diodes, peak reverse voltage or peak
inverse voltage is the maximum voltage that a diode can
withstand in the reverse direction without breaking down
or avalanching.
• If this voltage is exceeded the diode may be destroyed.
• Diodes must have a peak inverse voltage rating that is higher
than the maximum voltage that will be applied to them in a
given application.
Application: Full-wave Rectifier as a
Frequency Doubler
 Class Exercise on Rectifier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQVAFcCLoKo
Class Exercise on Rectifier: Solution
Application: Up-Converter or Down-
Converter
Application: Voltage Doubler

• In the 1st positive half

cycle of Vin, D1 is off.
D2 is short-circuited.
Vout= ½ Vm
• In the 2nd negative half
cycle of Vin, D2 is off.
D1 is short-circuited.
Vout= ½ Vm
• In the 3rd positive half
cycle of Vin, D1 is off.
D2 is short-circuited.
V =2V
Application: Voltage Tripler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJXdTTM8iU
Application: DC Voltage Quadrupler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTJXdTTM8iU
 Application: Simplest Diode Logic OR
Gate
• Diode Logic uses the fact that diodes conduct
only in one direction. (they behave like
switches).
• If one or both inputs are at logic “1” (5
volts), the current will flow through one or
both diodes.
• This current passes through the resistor and
causes the appearance of a voltage across its
terminals, thereby obtaining logic “1” on Y.
• We only get logic “0” (0 volts) on the output
when both inputs are in logic “0”. In this
case, the diodes do not conduct, there is no
current through the resistor R and there is no
voltage across its terminals. As a result the
voltage at Y is the same as ground (0 volts)
 Application: Simplest Diode Logic AND
Gate
• When both inputs are at logic “1″,
the two diodes are reverse biased
and there is no current flowing to
ground. Therefore the output is
logic “1” because there is no
voltage drop across the resistor R.
• If one of the inputs is logic “0”,
the current will flow through the
corresponding diode and through
the resistor. Thus the diode anode
(the output) will be logic “0”.
Application: Diode Logic OR Gate
Application: Diode Logic NOR Gate
Application: Diode Logic AND Gate
Application: Diode Logic AND Gate
Application: Diode Logic NAND Gate
Application: Connecting Diode Logic Gates
In the case in which all inputs (A, B,
C, D) are on logical “1”, the two
resistors of the AND gates would be
in parallel, and they would be in
series with the OR gate resistor.
This would provide an output
voltage of 2.85 Volts, which is still
below logic “1”.
If we put more gates in cascade the
problem will be more serious, so
this method is only used for simple
gates.
Homework
Homework
Homework
Homework
5. Circuit below is a “voltage doubler.” Show that if vi = Vp
sin(ωt), vo = 2Vp
(Assume that capacitor C is large such that it discharge very little
per cycle and Vp ≫ VD0.)