Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

Applications of Diodes

Dr. Eng. Emad Zieur

In this diodes tutorial, we will see some of the common

applications of diodes. As a simplest semiconductor component,
diode has a wide variety of applications in modern electronic
systems. Various electronic and electrical circuits use this
component as an essential device to produce the required
.outcome

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Some Common Applications of Diodes
3. Diode as a Rectifier
4. Diodes in Clipping Circuits
5. Diodes in Clamping Circuits
6. Diodes in Logic Gates
7. Diodes in Voltage Multiplier Circuits
8. Diodes in Reverse Current Protection
9. Diodes in Voltage Spike Suppression
10. Diodes in Solar Panels

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 Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

Introduction

We know that a Diode allows the current flow only in one

direction and hence it acts as a one-way switch. Diode is made
of P and N type materials and has two terminals namely anode
and cathode. This device can be operated by controlling the
voltage applied to it.

When the voltage applied to the anode is positive with respect to

the cathode, the diode is forward biased. If the voltage applied
to the diode is greater than the threshold level (generally it is of
0.6V), then diode acts as a short circuit and allows the current
flow. If the polarity of the voltage is changed that means
cathode is made positive with respect to anode, then it is
reverse-biased and acts as open circuit results no current to flow.

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 Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

The application areas of diodes include communication systems

as limiters, clippers, gates;    computer systems as logic gates,
clampers; power supply systems as rectifiers and inverters;
television systems as phase detectors, limiters, clampers; radar
circuits as gain control circuits, parameter amplifiers, etc. The
following description describes the various applications of
diodes briefly.

Some Common Applications of Diodes

Before taking a look at various applications of diodes, let us

quickly take a peak at a small list of common applications of
diodes.

 Rectifiers
 Clipper Circuits
 Clamping Circuits
 Reverse Current Protection Circuits
 In Logic Gates
 Voltage Multipliers

and many more. Now let us understand each of these

applications of diodes in more detail.

Diode as a Rectifier

The most common and important application of a diode is the

rectification of AC power to DC power. Using the diodes, we
can construct different types of rectifier circuits. The basic types
of these rectifier circuits are half wave, full wave center tapped
and full bridge rectifiers. A single or combination of four diodes
is used in most of the power conversion applications. Below
figure shows diode operation in a rectifier.

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 Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

Diode as a Rectifier

 During the positive half cycle of the input supply, anode is

made positive with respect to cathode so the diode gets
forward biased. These results to flow a current to the load.
Since the load is resistive the voltage across the load
resistor will be same as the supply voltage that means the
input sinusoidal voltage will appear at the load. And the
load current flow is proportional to the voltage applied.
 During the negative half-cycle of the input sinusoidal
wave, anode is made negative with respect to cathode so the
diode gets reverse-biased. Hence, no current flows to the
load. The circuit becomes open circuit and no voltage
appears across the load.
 Both voltage and current at the load side are of one
polarity means the output voltage is pulsating DC. Very
often this rectification circuit has a capacitor that is
connected across the load to produce steady and continuous
DC currents without any ripples.

Diodes in Clipping Circuits

Clipping circuits are used in FM transmitters where noise peaks

are limited to a particular value so that excessive peaks are
removed from them. The clipper circuit is used to put off the
voltage beyond the preset value without disturbing the
remaining part of the input waveform. Based on the diode
configuration in the circuit, these clippers are divided into two
types; series and shunt clipper and again these are classified into
different types.

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 Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

The above figure shows the positive series and shunt clippers.
And using these clipper circuits, positive half cycles of the input
voltage waveform will be removed. In positive series clipper,
during the positive cycle of the input, the diode is reverse-biased
so the voltage at the output is zero. Hence the positive half-cycle
is clipped off at the output. During the negative half cycle of the
input, the diode is forward-biased and the negative half cycle
appears across the output.

In positive shunt clipper, the diode is forward-biased during the

positive half cycle so the output voltage is zero as diode acts as
a closed switch. And during negative half cycle diode is reverse-
biased and acts as open switch so the full input voltage appear
across the output. With the above two diode clippers positive
half-cycle of the input is clipped at the output.

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Diodes in Clamping Circuits

A clamper circuit is used to shift or alter either positive or

negative peak of an input signal to a desired level. This circuit is
also called as level shifter or DC restorer. These clamping
circuits can be positive or negative depends on the diode
configuration. In positive clamping circuit, negative peaks are
raised upwards so the negative peaks fall on the zero level. In
case of the negative clamping circuit, positive peaks are
clamped so that it pushes downwards such that the positive
peaks fall on the zero level.

Look at the below diagram for understanding the diode

application in clamping circuits. During the positive half-cycle
of the input, diode is reverse-biased so the output voltage is
equal to the sum of input voltage and capacitor voltage
(considering the capacitor is initially charged). During the
negative half-cycle of the input, diode is forward-biased and
behaves as a closed switch so the capacitor charges to a peak
value of the input signal.

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Diodes in Logic Gates

Diodes can also perform digital logic operations. Low and high
impedance states of logic switch are analogous to the forward
and reverse-biased conditions of the diode respectively. Thus,
the diode can perform logic operations such as AND, OR, etc.
Although diode logic is an earlier method with some limitations,
these are used in some applications. The below figure shows the
OR gate logic implemented using a pair of diodes and a resistor.

In the above circuit input voltage is applied at V and by

controlling the switches we get the OR logic at the output. Here
logic 1 means high voltage and logic 0 means zero voltage.
When both switches are in open state, both the diodes are in
reverse-biased condition and hence the voltage at the output Y is
zero. When any one of the switch is closed, the diode becomes
forward-bias and as a result the output is high.

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Diodes in Voltage Multiplier Circuits

Voltage multiplier consist of two or more diode rectifier circuits

which are cascaded to produce a DC output voltage equal to the
multiplier of the applied input voltage. These multiplier circuits
are of different types like voltage doubler, tripler, quadrupler,
etc. By the usage of diodes combination with capacitors, we get
the odd or even multiple of the input peak voltage at the output.

Half-wave Voltage Doubler

Above figure shows a half-wave voltage doubler circuit whose

DC output voltage is twice that of peak input AC voltage.
During the positive half-cycle of the AC input, diode D1 is
forward-biased and D2 is reverse-biased. So the capacitor C1
charges up to peak voltage Vm of the input through the diode
D1. During the negative half-cycle of the AC input, D1 is
reverse-biased and D2 is forward-biased. So, capacitor C2 starts
charging thorough D2 and C1. Thus, the total voltage across the
C2 is equal to the 2Vm.

During next positive half-cycle, the diode D2 is reverse-biased

so the capacitor C2 will discharge through the load. Likewise by
cascading the rectifier circuits we will get the multiple values of
input voltage at the output.

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Diodes in Reverse Current Protection

The reverse polarity or current protection is necessary to avoid

the damage that occurs due to connecting the battery in a wrong
way or reversing the polarities of the DC supply. This accidental
connection of supply causes to flow a large amount current,
thorough the circuit components results to explode them.
Therefore, a protective or blocking diode is connected in series
with the positive side of the input to avoid the reverse
connection problem.

Diode in Reverse Current Protection

Above figure shows the reverse current protection circuit where
diode is connected in series with the load at the positive side of
the battery supply. In case of the correct polarity connection,
diode gets forward-biased and load current flows through it.
But, in case of wrong connection, the diode is reverse-biased
and that doesn’t allow any current to flow to the load. Hence,
the load is protected against the reverse current.

Diodes in Voltage Spike Suppression

In case of an inductor or inductive loads, sudden removal of

supply source produces a higher voltage due to its stored
magnetic field energy. These unexpected spikes in the voltage
can cause the considerable damage to the circuit components.
Hence, a diode is connected across the inductor or inductive
loads to limit the large voltage spikes. These diodes are also
called by different names in different circuits such as snubber
diode, flyback diode, suppression diode, and freewheeling diode
and so on.

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 Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

Diodes in Voltage Spike Suppression

In the above figure the freewheeling diode is connected across

the inductive load for suppressing of voltage spikes in an
inductor. When the switch is suddenly opened, the voltage spike
is created in the inductor. Therefore, the freewheeling diode
makes the safe path to flow the current to discharge the voltage
offered by the spike.

Diodes in Solar Panels

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 Chapter 4 Electronic Engineering

Diodes in Solar Panels

The diodes which are used for protection of solar panels are
called as bypass diodes. If the solar panel is faulty or damaged
or shaded by fallen leaves, snow and other obstructions, the
overall output power decreases and arise hot spot damage
because the current of the rest of the cells must flow through this
faulty or shaded cell causes a overheating. The main function of
the bypass diode is to protect the solar cells against this hot spot
heating problem.

The above figure shows the connection of bypass diodes in solar

cells. These diodes are connected in parallel with the solar cells.
Thereby limits the voltage across the bad solar cell and allows
the current from good solar cells to the external circuit. Thus,
reduces the overheating problem by limiting the current flow
through the bad solar cell.

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