EE 0807312- Electronics Lab

Experiment#2

Diode Characteristics and wave shaping

1.1. Objective
1- To test given diodes whether they are defective or effective.
2- To demonstrate the function of the clippers and clampers circuit
3- To study the characteristics of the silicon diode in the forward and reverse bias.

1.2. Prelab
Answer the following questions: -

1. Sketch the I-V characteristics of an ideal rectification diode.

2. Sketch the I-V characteristics of a real diode assuming that its ON voltage is
0.7V.
3. Sketch the I-V characteristics of a real diode assuming that its ON voltage is 0.7V
and 25Ω ON resistance.
4. Define the dynamic resistance

Solve the following problems. Don't just write down the answers. Show all the
calculations clearly.

1. In the Circuits shown in figure (2-9), (2-10), and (2-11) sketch the input and
output waveform.
2. In the Circuits shown in figure (2-12), (2-13) sketch the input and output
waveform.
3. In the Circuits shown in figure (2-14) sketch the input and output
waveform.

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1.3. Background
Diode characteristics:

The diode is a device formed from a junction of n-type and p-type semiconductor
material. The lead connected to the p-type material is called the anode and the lead
connected to the n-type material is the cathode. In general, the cathode of a diode is
marked by a solid line on the diode. Figure (2-1) shows typical diode packages in same
alignment as diode symbol

Figure (2-1): Diode schematic symbols

The primary function of the diode is rectification. When it is forward biased (the higher
potential is connected to the anode lead), it will pass current. When it is reversed biased
(the higher potential is connected to the cathode lead), current flow is blocked. The
characteristic curve for a real diode is shown in figure (2-2).

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 Figure (2-2): Diode Characteristics
Diode Clippers

Diode Clippers (Limiters) are wave-shaping circuits that are used for transmission part of a
wave-form which lies above or below some reference value (clipping level).Most often, the
diodes employed are biased by a refernce voltage V BIAS which determines the portion of
signal to be transmitted. If there is no refernce voltage the clipping level will be equal to the
cut-in voltage (0.7 V).Figures (2-3),(2-4), and (2-5) shows positive bias diode clipping
circuit, negative bias diode clipping circuit, and two level biased diode clipping circuits
respectively. For positive bias diode clipping, the voltage across the series combination
must be greater than VBIAS + 0.7V before the diode becomes sufficiently forward biased to
conduct. For example, if the VBIAS level is set at 4.0 volts, then the sinusoidal voltage at the
diode’s anode terminal must be greater than 4.0 + 0.7 = 4.7 volts for it to become forward
biased. Any anode voltage levels above this bias point are clipped off. Likewise, by
reversing the diode and the battery bias voltage, when a diode conducts the negative half
cycle of the output waveform is held to a level -VBIAS - 0.7V as shown in figure (2-4). A
variable diode clipping or diode limiting level can be achieved by varying the bias voltage
of the diodes. If both the positive and the negative half cycles are to be clipped, then two
biased clipping diodes are used. But for both positive and negative diode clipping, the bias
voltage need not be the same. The positive bias voltage could be at one level, for example 4
volts, and the negative bias voltage at another, for example 6 volts as shown in figure (2-5).

Figure (2-3): Positive bias diode clipping circuits

Figure (2-4): Negative bias diode clipping circuits

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 Figure (2-5): Diode clipping of different bias circuit

Zener Diode Characterstics:

Zener Diode or “Breakdown Diode” as they are sometimes called, are basically the same as
the standard PN junction diode but are specially designed to have a low pre-determined
Reverse Breakdown Voltage that takes advantage of this high reverse voltage. The zener
diode is the simplest types of voltage regulator and the point at which a zener diode breaks
down or conducts is called the “Zener Voltage” ( Vz ). The Zener diode is like a general-
purpose signal diode consisting of a silicon PN junction. When biased in the forward
direction it behaves just like a normal signal diode passing the rated current, but as soon as
a reverse voltage applied across the Zener Diode exceeds the rated voltage of the device,
the diodes breakdown voltage is reached at which point a process called Avalanche
Breakdown occurs in the semiconductor depletion layer and a current starts to flow through
the diode to limit this increase in voltage. The current now flowing through the zener diode
increases dramatically to the maximum circuit value (which is usually limited by a series
resistor) and once achieved this reverse saturation current remains fairly constant over a
wide range of applied voltages. The voltage point at which the voltage across the zener
diode becomes stable is called the “zener voltage” for zener diodes this voltage can range
from less than one volt to hundreds of volts.The point at which the zener voltage triggers
the current to flow through the diode can be very accurately controlled (to less than 1%
tolerance) in the doping stage of the diodes semiconductor construction giving the diode a
specific zener breakdown voltage, ( Vz ) for example, 4.3V or 7.5V. This zener breakdown
voltage on the I-V curve is almost a vertical straight line (see Figure (2-6)).

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 Figure (2-6): Zener diode characteristics
The Zener Diode is used in its “reverse bias” or reverse breakdown mode, i.e. the diodes
anode connects to the negative supply. From the I-V characteristics curve shown in figure
(2-6), we can see that the zener diode has a region in its reverse bias characteristics of
almost a constant negative voltage regardless of the value of the current flowing through
the diode and remains nearly constant even with large changes in current as long as the
zener diodes current remains between the breakdown current IZ(min) and the maximum
current rating IZ(max). This ability to control itself can be used to great effect to regulate or
stabilise a voltage source against supply or load variations. The fact that the voltage across
the diode in the breakdown region is almost constant turns out to be an important
application of the zener diode as a voltage regulator.

Zener Limiting Circuits:

The use of a bias voltage means that the amount of the voltage waveform that is clipped off
can be accurately controlled. But one of the main disadvantages of using voltage biased
diode clipping circuits, is that they need an additional emf battery source which may or
may not be a problem. One easy way of creating biased diode clipping circuits without the
need for an additional emf supply is to use Zener Diodes. As we know, the zener diode is a
another type of diode that has been specially manufactured to operate in its reverse biased
breakdown region and as such can be used for voltage regulation or zener diode clipping
applications. In the forward region, the zener acts just like an ordinary silicon diode with a
forward voltage drop of 0.7V (700mV) when conducting, the same as above. However, in
the reverse bias region, the voltage is blocked until the zener diodes breakdown voltage is
reached. At this point, the reverse current through the zener increases sharply but the zener

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voltage, VZ across the device remains constant even if the zener current, IZ varies. Then we
can put this zener action to good effect by using them for clipping a waveform as shown in
figure (2-6).

Figure (2-6): Zener Diode Clipping Circuit

Figure (2-7): Zener Diode Clipping Circuit

The zener diode is acting like a biased diode clipping circuit with the bias voltage being
equal to the zener breakdown voltage. In this circuit during the positive half of the
waveform the zener diode is reverse biased so the waveform is clipped at the zener
voltage, VZD1. During the negative half cycle the zener acts like a normal diode with its
usual 0.7 V junction value. We can develop this idea further by using the zener diodes
reverse-voltage characteristics to clip both halves of a waveform using series connected
back-to-back zener diodes as shown in figure (2-7).
Diode Clampers

Diode Clampers (DC restorer) are wave-shaping circuits that used to shifts a waveform to
remove negative variations. The shape of the output waveform doesn’t change but its dc
level is altered according to the reference voltage. Figure (2-8) shows an example to
clamping circuit and a plot show the input and the output of clamping circuit. The
capacitor charges through the diode when the input voltage is negative. The capacitor
charges to the peak value of the input voltage. When the input voltage is positive, the
load voltage equals the dc voltage across the capacitor plus the input voltage. If the RC
time constant of the capacitor and the load is much greater than the period of the input
voltage, the capacitor will not have enough time to discharge through the load resistor.
Therefore, the load voltage is the input voltage shifted by enough dc to keep the entire
waveform positive.

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 Figure (2-8): Clamping circuit with the input and output waveform
1.4. Experimental Procedure

Diode Testing

Check given diodes with DMM and record the forward and reverse resistance in table (1).

Component Measured value

Diode Forward Resistance
Diode Reverse Resistance
Table (1)
Clipping circuit

1- Wire the circuit shown in figure (2-9).

Figure (2-9)

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2- Set V1 = zero volt, sketch the clipping output and input waveform at the same axis,
show the positive and negative peaks values. Repeat for V1 = 2V.

3- Reverse the diodes lead and replace the positive source (V 1) with a negative source as
shown in figure (2-10).

Figure (2-10)
4- Set V1 = 0 V, Connect CH1 of the oscilloscope to the input and CH2 to the output ,
Sketch the clipping output and input waveform at the same axis, show the positive and
negative peaks values. Repeat for V1 = 2V.
5- Wire the Two Level Clipping Circuit shown in figure (2-11)

Figure (2-11)

6- Set V1= 2V and V2= -3V, sketch the output and the input wave form at the same axis.
Show the positive and negative peaks value.

Zener Limiting Circuits

6- Connect the circuit shown in figure (2-12)

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 Figure (2-12)

7- Set Vin= 20Vp-p,f= 1kHz, Connect CH1 of the oscilloscope to the input and CH2 to the output
Sketch the clipping output and input waveform at the same axis, show the positive and negative
peaks values.

8- Connect the circuit shown in figure (2-13)

Figure (2-13)

9- Set Vin= 20 Vp-p, f= 1kHz, Connect CH1 of the oscilloscope to the input and CH2 to the output
Sketch the clipping output and input waveform at the same axis, show the positive and negative
peaks values.

Clamping circuit

10- Wire the circuit shown in figure (2-10)

Figure (2-14)

11- Set V1 = zero volt, sketch the clamping output and input waveform at the same axis.

12- Repeat step (2) for V1 = 1V.

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