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INTRODUCTION TO
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING I

MODULE 4

PREPARED BY
Engr. AJILORE. A.A
GEC211 – INTRODUCTION TO
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING I
 Lecturer: Engr. Ajilore. A.A

 Office Address: EIE, ground floor (G126)

 Mobile line: +2348062546075

 Mail address: adejumoke.ajilore@covenantuniversity.edu.ng

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CLASS BEHAVIOUR
Please, note the following:
 Mandatory 75% class attendance
 Noise making during lectures is prohibited.
 Active participation in all activities is a MUST
 All class assignments to be submitted as when due.
 Punctuality to classes is a MUST.
 Time for lectures is between 8 and 10 am.
 Please note that, once it is 8 am, no student will be
allowed to enter the lecture hall.

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LEARNING STRATEGIES :
The under-listed methods will be adopted to enable
students learn the content and skills inherent in
this course :
 Lecture via power point presentations,
 Class Tutorials
 Group discussions
 Assignments.

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EVALUATION TECHNIQUE
Grading:
• 15% first test
• 15% mid-term test and
• 70% final examination

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 RECOMMENDED TEXTBOOKS

• Fundamental of Electric Circuits (5th Edition) by

Charles K. Alexander and Matthew N.O. Sadiku
• Electrical Circuit Theory and Technology (Revised
2nd Edition) by John Bird

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MODULE FOUR

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 Lecture 1

INTRODUCTION TO DIODES
Outline
1. Introduction
2. Characteristics of Diodes
3. Types of Diodes
4. Diodes Models
5. Applications of Diodes

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 4.1 Introduction
• A diode is a two-terminal electronic segment that conducts current principally one-way
or asymmetric conductance. A diode is a two terminal device that has the capability to
allow the flow of current in only one direction. It can be made of Silicon (Si) as well as of
Germanium (Ge). No matter what material is used, you can think of a diode as a voltage
controlled switch.

• A diode is a semiconductor device, made from a small piece of semiconductor material,

such as silicon, in which half is doped as a p region and half is doped as an n region with
a pn junction and depletion region in between. The p region is called the anode and n
region is called the cathode. It conducts current in one direction and offers high
resistance in other direction.

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• As switch allow the current only when it is on.
Similarly, a diode only allows current when it is on
(forward bias).

• A diode is a voltage controlled switch because the

voltage across its terminals determines the on/off
states. If the voltage is positive, in the case of an ideal
diode, the diode turns on.
• Electrical Symbol Of A Diode
 • Physical Structure of Diode

Diode is like a small black cylinder. The gray line always represents the cathode terminal
 Construction of Diode
• Diodes are formed from 2 semiconductor materials – silicon
and germanium.

• A diode is considered to be forward-biased when the anode

voltage is greater than the cathode voltage, and it conducts
current readily with a minimal voltage drop. Forward Biased, (Vd
>0)

• A diode is considered to be reverse-biased when the cathode

voltage is higher than the anode voltage. Reverse Biased,
(Vd<0)

• The arrow in the symbol depicts the direction of conventional

current flow when current flows through the diode.
 4.2 Characteristics Of Diode
The main characteristics of a diode are:

• Forward biased diode

When a diode is connected in a Forward Bias
condition, a negative voltage is applied to the N-type
material and a positive voltage is applied to the P-type
material. If this external voltage becomes greater than
the value of the potential barrier, approx. 0.7 volts for
silicon and 0.3 volts for germanium, the potential
barriers opposition will be overcome and current will
start to flow.
• This is because the negative voltage pushes or
repels electrons towards the junction giving them
the energy to cross over and combine with the holes
being pushed in the opposite direction towards the
junction by the positive voltage. This results in a
characteristics curve of zero current flowing up to
this voltage point, called the “knee” on the static
curves and then a high current flow through the
diode with little increase in the external voltage as
shown below.
Forward Characteristics Curve for a Junction Diode
• The application of a forward biasing voltage on the
junction diode results in the depletion layer becoming
very thin and narrow which represents a low
impedance path through the junction thereby
allowing high currents to flow. The point at which this
sudden increase in current takes place is represented
on the static I-V characteristics curve above as the
“knee” point
Forward Biased Junction Diode showing a Reduction in the Depletion Layer
• This condition represents the low resistance path
through the PN junction allowing very large currents
to flow through the diode with only a small increase
in bias voltage. The actual potential difference across
the junction or diode is kept constant by the action of
the depletion layer at approximately 0.3v for
germanium and approximately 0.7v for silicon
junction diodes.
• Reverse biased Diode
When a diode is connected in a Reverse Bias condition, a
positive voltage is applied to the N-type material and a
negative voltage is applied to the P-type material. The positive
voltage applied to the N-type material attracts electrons
towards the positive electrode and away from the junction,
while the holes in the P-type end are also attracted away from
the junction towards the negative electrode.
The net result is that the depletion layer grows wider
due to a lack of electrons and holes and presents a high
impedance path, almost an insulator. The result is that
a high potential barrier is created thus preventing
current from flowing through the semiconductor
material.
Reverse Biased Junction Diode showing an Increase in the Depletion
• This condition represents a high resistance value to
the PN junction and practically zero current flows
through the junction diode with an increase in bias
voltage. However, a very small reverse leakage
current does flow through the junction which can
normally be measured in micro-amperes, (μA ).
• One final point, if the reverse bias voltage Vr applied to
the diode is increased to a sufficiently high enough value,
it will cause the diode’s PN junction to overheat and fail
due to the avalanche effect around the junction. This
may cause the diode to become shorted and will result in
the flow of maximum circuit current, and this shown as a
step downward slope in the reverse static characteristics
curve below.
Reverse Characteristics Curve for a Junction Diode
• Sometimes this avalanche effect has practical
applications in voltage stabilizing circuits where a
series limiting resistor is used with the diode to limit
this reverse breakdown current to a preset
maximum value thereby producing a fixed voltage
output across the diode. These types of diodes are
commonly known as Zener Diodes
• Zero biased diode

Zero Biased Junction Diode

When a diode is connected in a Zero Bias condition, no

external potential energy is applied to the PN junction.

However, if the diodes terminals are shorted together, a

few holes (majority carriers) in the P-type material with
enough energy to overcome the potential barrier will
move across the junction against this barrier potential.
This is known as the “Forward Current” and is referenced
as IF
• Likewise, holes generated in the N-type material
(minority carriers), find this situation favourable and
move across the junction in the opposite direction.
This is known as the “Reverse Current” and is
referenced as IR. This transfer of electrons and holes
back and forth across the PN junction is known as
diffusion, as shown below.
Zero Biased PN Junction Diode
• The potential barrier that now exists discourages the
diffusion of any more majority carriers across the
junction. However, the potential barrier helps
minority carriers (few free electrons in the P-region
and few holes in the N-region) to drift across the
junction.

• Then an “Equilibrium” or balance will be established

when the majority carriers are equal and both
moving in opposite directions, so that the net result
is zero current flowing in the circuit. When this
occurs the junction is said to be in a state of
“Dynamic Equilibrium “.
• The minority carriers are constantly generated due
to thermal energy so this state of equilibrium can be
broken by raising the temperature of the PN
junction causing an increase in the generation of
minority carriers, thereby resulting in an increase in
leakage current but an electric current cannot flow
since no circuit has been connected to the PN
junction.
 4.3 Types of Diodes

There are many types of diodes depending upon many

factors such as the frequency used, their working and
construction, their applications etc. Let us go through
few of them.
• Junction Diodes
The junction diodes are the normal PN junction diodes but
differ in construction. There are three types of junction
diodes, as shown in the following figure.
• Rectifier Diode
These diodes are the normal PN junction diodes, which
allow current to flow through them in only one direction
and stop in the other direction. These diodes are used in
rectifier circuits to convert alternating current into direct
current.
• In the above figure, we can see the same rectifier
diodes with a metal projection. This is added to the
diode to minimize the heat distribution which
might affect the diode sometimes. Such a metal
projection is called as Heat sink. These help in the
improvement of the diode performance and the
diodes will be able to withstand high powers,
without getting affected.

• There are circuits such as Half wave

rectifier and Full wave rectifier circuits which use
these diodes.
• Zener Diode
This is a special kind of diode which permits current
flow not only in forward direction, but also in reverse
direction. A normal diode, when operated in reverse
bias, gets damaged if the reverse current above a
certain value is passed through it. This “certain
value” is called as the Breakdown voltage.
• The breakdown voltage of a Zener diode is very low.
But this diode allows the reverse current to pass
through it, once this breakdown voltage is
exceeded. That breakdown voltage is called
as Zener Voltage. Hence there is a controlled
breakdown which does not damage the diode when
a reverse current above the Zener voltage passes
through a Zener diode.
• A Zener diode in its reverse bias, exhibits a controlled
breakdown voltage and it allows the current flow to
keep the value of voltage across that Zener diode
close to the Zener breakdown voltage value. This
value of Zener breakdown voltage makes any Zener
diode to be chosen for certain applications.

• Avalanche diode is another diode which has the

similar characteristics of Zener diode. The avalanche
breakdown takes place across the entire PN junction,
when the voltage drop is constant and is
independent of current. This avalanche diode is used
for photodetection.
V-I Characteristics of a Zener diode
• The V-I Characteristics of a Zener diode are common
for any diode when operated in forward bias. But
the reverse bias operation of a Zener diode makes it
very important to consider. Let us have a look at the
graph.
• The point where the bent is shown in the reverse
bias operation, is the Zener breakdown voltage,
after which the diode allows high reverse currents
through it. This Zener voltage is indicated by VZ. This
incredible quality of Zener diode made it the most
reliable one and have got many applications too.
Applications of Zener diode

This diode has many applications such as:

• It is mostly used as a Voltage Regulator.
• Provides fixed reference voltage in transistor
biasing circuits.
• For peak clipping or limiting in wave shaping
circuits.
• As a Surge protector in many circuits.
• For meter protection against damage from
accidental applications.
• Switching Diode

This is a normal single PN junction diode which is

especially designed for switching purposes. This
diode can exhibit two states of high and low
resistance clearly which can be used alternatively.
• The junction capacitance of this diode is made very
low so as to minimize other effects. The switching
speed is made quite high. When the diode has high
resistance it works as an open switch and it acts as
a closed switch during low resistance. This
transition occurs at a faster rate in switching diode,
than in any ordinary one.
Applications of switching diode

These have many applications such as:

• Used in high-speed rectifying circuits
• Used in ring modulators
• Used in radio frequency receivers
• Used as reverse polarity protectors
• Used for both General purpose and high speed
switching applications
• Special Purpose Diodes
There are few diodes which are designed to serve
some special purposes. There are many of such
kinds like Transient voltage suppression diodes,
Gold doped diodes, Super barrier diodes, Point
contact diodes, Peltier diodes etc. But other than
these, there are few prominent diodes, which have
got many applications. Let us go through them.
• Varactor Diode

A junction diode has two potentials on both sides

where the depletion region can act as a dielectric.
Hence there exists a capacitance. The Varactor diode
is a special case diode that is operated in reverse bias,
where the junction capacitance is varied.

The Varactor diode is also called as Vari Cap or Volt

Cap. The following figure shows a Varactor diode
connected in reverse bias.
Applications of Varactor diode

This diode has many applications such as:

• It is used as a Voltage variable capacitor.
• It is used in variable LC tank circuit.
• Used as Automatic frequency control.
• Used as Frequency Modulator.
• Used as RF Phase shifter.
• Used as frequency multiplier in local oscillator
circuits.
• Tunnel Diode
If the impurity concentration of a normal PN junction is
highly increased, this Tunnel diode is formed. It is also
known as Esaki diode, after its inventor.

When the impurity concentration in a diode increases, the

width of depletion region decreases, extending some extra
force to the charge carriers to cross the junction. When this
concentration is further increased, due to less width of the
depletion region and the increased energy of the charge
carriers, they penetrate through the potential barrier,
instead of climbing over it. This penetration can be
understood as Tunneling and hence the name, Tunnel diode.
• The Tunnel diodes are low power devices and
should be handled with care as they easily get
affected by heat and static electricity.
Applications of Tunnel diode

There are many applications for tunnel diode such as:

• Used as a high-Speed Switching device
• Used as a memory storage device
• Used in Microwave oscillators
• Used in relaxation oscillators
• Schottky Diode
This is a special type of diode in which a PN junction
is replaced by a metal semiconductor junction. The
P-type semiconductor in a normal PN junction
diode is replaced by a metal and N-type material is
joined to the metal. This combination has no
depletion region between them. The following
figure shows the Schottky diode and its symbol.
• The metal used in this Schottky diode may be
gold, silver, platinum or tungsten etc. As well, for
the semiconductor material other than silicon,
gallium arsenide is mostly used
Advantages of Schottky diode

There are many advantages of Schottky diode such as:

• It is a unipolar device and hence no reverse currents
are formed.
• Its forward resistance is low.
• Voltage drops are very low.
• Rectification is fast and easy with the Schottky diode.
• There is no depletion region present and hence, no
junction capacitance. So, the diode gets to OFF
position quickly.
Applications of Schottky diode
There are many applications of Schottky diode such as :
• Used as a detector diode
• Used as a Power rectifier
• Used in RF mixer circuits
• Used in power circuits
• Used as clamping diodes
• Optoelectronic Diodes
These are the diodes which are operated on light.
The word “Opto” means Light. There are types that
conduction depending upon the light intensity and
other types whose conduction delivers some light.
• Photo Diode
Photo diode, as the name implies, is a PN junction
which works on light. The intensity of light affects
the level of conduction in this diode. The photo
diode has a P type material and an N-type material
with an intrinsic material or a depletion region in
between.
This diode is generally operated in reverse
bias condition. The light when focused on the
depletion region, electron-hole pairs are formed
and flow of electron occurs. This conduction of
electrons depends upon the intensity of light
focused. The figure below shows a practical Photo
diode.
The figure below indicates the symbol for a photodiode.
• When the diode is connected in reverse bias, a small
reverse saturation current flows due to thermally
generated electron hole pairs. As the current in
reverse bias flows due to minority carriers, the
output voltage depends upon this reverse current.
As the light intensity focused on the junction
increases, the current flow due to minority carriers
increase. The following figure shows the basic
biasing arrangement of a photo diode.
• Solar Cell
The light dependent diodes include Solar cell, which is
a normal PN junction diode but has its conduction by
the rush of photons which are converted into the flow
of electrons. This is similar to a photo diode but it has
another objective of converting maximum incident
light into energy and storing it.
The figure below represents the symbol of a solar cell.
• A solar cell has its name and symbol indicating
storing of energy though it is a diode. The feature
of extracting more energy and storing of it is
concentrated in the solar cell.
• LED Light Emitting Diodes
This one is the most popular diodes used in our daily life.
This is also a normal PN junction diode except that instead
of silicon and germanium, the materials like gallium
arsenide, gallium arsenide phosphide are used in its
construction.
The figure below shows the symbol of a Light emitting
diode.
• Like a normal PN junction diode, this is connected
in forward bias condition so that the diode
conducts. The conduction takes place in a LED
when the free electrons in the conduction band
combine with the holes in the valence band. This
process of recombination emits light. This process
is called as Electroluminescence. The color of the
light emitted depends upon the gap between the
energy bands.
• The materials used also effect the colors like,
gallium arsenide phosphide emits either red or
yellow, gallium phosphide emits either red or green
and gallium nitrate emits blue light. Whereas
gallium arsenide emits infrared light. The LEDs for
non-visible Infrared light are used mostly in remote
controls.
• The following figure shows a how the practical LEDs
of different colors looks like.
Practical LEDS of Different Colors
• Laser Diode
Laser Diode is another popular diode for its kind. This is an optical diode which
emits light but with stimulated process. The
name LASER implies Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.
4.4 Diode Models.
• Ideal Diode Model
When the diode is forward-biased, it ideally acts like a closed (on) switch, as
shown in Figure 7. When the diode is reverse-biased, it ideally acts like an
open (off) switch, as shown in part (b). The barrier potential, the forward
dynamic resistance, and the reverse current are all neglected. In Figure 7c, the
ideal V-I characteristic curve graphically depicts the ideal diode operation.
• When a reverse bias voltage is applied the current
through the diode is zero. When the current
becomes greater than zero the voltage drop
across the diode is zero.
• Practical Diode Model
The practical model includes the barrier potential. The characteristic curve for the
practical diode model is shown in Figure 8c. Since the barrier potential is included
and the dynamic resistance is neglected, the diode is assumed to have a voltage
across it when forward-biased, as indicated by the curve to the right of the origin.
The practical model is useful in lower-voltage circuits and in designing basic diode
circuits.
• The Complete Diode Model
The complete model of a diode includes the barrier potential, the small forward
dynamic resistance (𝑟 ́ ) and the large internal reverse resistance (𝑟 ́ ). The reverse
resistance is taken into account because it provides a path for the reverse current,
which is included in this diode model.
4.5 Applications of the Diode
• Diodes as a rectifier

• The Half wave Rectifier

• The Full Wave Bridge Rectifier
• Diodes as voltage Regulator
• Diodes in the clipping circuits
• Diodes in clamping circuits
• Diodes in logical gates
• Diodes in Reverse current protection
 ASSIGNMENT
1. What is a diode?
2. Mention three characteristics of diodes
3. Mention at least five types of diodes
Any question?

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