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ANALOG ELECTRONICS

UNIT – 1

PN Junction theory

Introduction

 Electron / proton / conductor / insulator / semiconductor / pure semiconductor / impure s.c. / trivalent
/ pentavalent / doping
 p–type semiconductor has holes and the n–type semiconductor has free electrons as the majority
charge carriers.
 p–type and n-type materials are suitably joined together to form pn–junction.
 At the junction, the free electrons from the n–side diffuse over to the p–side and the holes from the
p–side to the n–side.
 a positive charge is build up on the n–side of the junction and negative charge on the p–side of the
junction.
 prevents further diffusion
 a barrier is set up against the movement of charge carriers across the junction. This is called Potential
Barrier (VB).
 value of VB ranges from 0.1 to 0.7 V.

Biasing of PN Junction

Biasing mean the use of DC voltage to establish some operating conditions for an electronic device

Forward Biasing Reverse Biasing

Forward Biasing

+ive of battery connected with p-type & -ive of battery connected with n-type
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Reverse Biasing

+ive of battery connected with n-type & -ive of battery connected with p-type

 From I–V characteristics it can be seen that a small current of the order of a few μA flows in the circuit
under reverse bias (reverse leakage current due to minority charge carriers)
 As the applied voltage is increased in the reverse direction a point is reached where breakdown of the
pn–junction takes place and a high amount of current starts flowing through the pn-junction and the
voltage corresponding to this point is called as breakdown voltage.

Zener Diode

 are semiconductor devices that allow current to flow in both directions but specialize in current flowing
in reverse.
 When the voltage across a Zener diode’s terminals is reversed and reaches the Zener Voltage (also
known as the knee voltage), the junction experiences a breakdown, allowing current to flow in the
opposite direction.
 This phenomenon, known as the Zener Effect, is a key characteristic of Zener diodes.
 highly doped semiconductor device specifically designed to function in the reverse direction.

How does a Zener Diode work in reverse bias?

 A Zener diode functions similarly to a regular diode when forward-biased.
 in reverse-biased mode, a small leakage current flows through the diode.
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 As the reverse voltage increases and reaches the predetermined breakdown voltage (Vz), current
begins to flow through the diode.
 This current reaches a maximum level determined by the series resistor, after which it stabilizes and
remains constant across a wide range of applied voltages.

2 types of breakdowns in a Zener Diode –

1. Avalanche Breakdown 2. Zener Breakdown

1. Avalanche Breakdown

 Occurs in both normal diodes and Zener diodes when subjected to high reverse voltage
 high reverse voltage is applied to the PN junction, free electrons gain enough energy to accelerate at
high velocities
 high-velocity electrons collide with other atoms, causing the ejection of additional electrons
(generating heat & damage)
 continuous collision process generates a large number of free electrons
 Resulting in a rapid increase in electric current through the diode
 In normal diode, this sudden surge in current could permanently damage it.
 But Zener diode is specifically designed to withstand avalanche breakdown and can handle the
sudden current spike

2. Zener Breakdown

 When the reverse bias voltage applied to a Zener diode approaches its Zener voltage,
 the electric field within the depletion region becomes strong enough (due to high doping) to attract
and remove electrons from their valence band.
 These valence electrons, energized by the intense electric field, break free from their parent atoms
 Therefore due to this sudden increase in number of electrons is avoided. As in avalanche condition
the high velocity electrons were colliding with other atoms resulting in heat.
 But bcoz of construction & material of zener diode heat generation is avoided.

*The Zener effect is predominant in voltages up to 5.6 volts, while the avalanche effect becomes more
prominent beyond that threshold

* difference in normal & zener diode mainly due to depletion region (electric field) which depends on
doping level
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V-I Characteristics of Zener Diode

Application of Zener Diode

Zener diode as a voltage regulator:

The zener diode is used as a Shunt voltage regulator for regulating voltage across small loads. The Zener
diode is connected parallel to the load to make it reverse bias, and once the Zener diode exceeds knee
voltage, the voltage across the load will become constant. The breakdown voltage of Zener diodes will
be constant for a wide range of currents.

Zener diode in over-voltage protection:

When the input voltage is higher than the Zener breakage voltage, the voltage across the resistor drops
resulting in a short circuit, this can be avoided by using the Zener diode.

Zener diode in clipping circuits:

Zener diode is used for modifying AC waveform clipping circuits by limiting the parts of either one or
both the half cycles of an AC waveform.

 The exciting part of this diode is that we can choose the Zener diode with a suitable breakdown
voltage to work as a voltage regulator in our circuit. For example, we want that the voltage
across a load in our circuit does not exceed, let’s say, 12 volts.
 Then we can select a Zener diode with a breakdown voltage of 12 volts and connect it across
the load. Then even if the input voltage exceeds that value, the voltage across the load will never
exceed 12 volts.

Circuit Representation
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Varactor Diode

 Varicap, Voltcap, Voltage variable capacitance, or Tunning diode.

 diode whose internal capacitance varies with respect to the reverse voltage.
 works in reverse bias conditions and is a voltage-dependent semiconductor device.
 diode whose internal capacitance varies with the variation of the reverse voltage
 used in a place where the variable capacitance is required, and that capacitance is controlled
with the help of the voltage.
 works on the principle of variation in capacitance by changing the width of the depletion region
of P-N junction. The P-N Junction diode creates capacitor effect

Working of Varactor Diode

 reverse bias is applied to P-N junction, the width of depletion layer increases.
 For high magnitude of capacitance the width should be small.
 width will be small if we will apply low reverse voltage.
 Similarly, if we require low capacitance the width should be large and to increase the width the
reverse voltage applied should be high.
 Thus, this width can be controlled with applied reverse voltage.

Tunnel Diode
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 is a type of heavily doped pn junction semiconductor diode that has effectively “negative
resistance” due to the quantum mechanical effect called tunneling (tunnel effect)
 The tunnelling is the phenomenon of conduction in the semiconductor material in which the
charge carrier punches the barrier instead of climbing through it.
 if a semiconductor diode is heavily doped with impurities, it will exhibit negative resistance.
Negative resistance means the current across the tunnel diode decreases when the voltage
increases
 in an ordinary pn junction diode, in n-type semiconductor, the energy levels of the valence band
and conduction band are slightly lower than those in a p-type semiconductor. This discrepancy
arises from the differing energy levels of the dopant atoms (either donor or acceptor atoms)
used to create the n-type and p-type semiconductors.

 But, In tunnel diode, the valence band and conduction band energy levels in the n-type
semiconductor are lower than the valence band and conduction band energy levels in the p-
type semiconductor. Unlike the ordinary p-n junction diode, the difference in energy levels is
very high in tunnel diode. Because of this high difference in energy levels, the conduction band
of the n-type material overlaps with the valence band of the p-type material.

 Quantum mechanics says that the electrons will directly penetrate through the depletion layer
or barrier if the depletion width is very small.
 It is like a car going through the hill, instead of over it.
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PIN Diode

 diode that has three layers: P-type (positive), Intrinsic, and N-type (negative). The term "PIN" stands
for P-Intrinsic-N
 The pin diode consists of heavily doped p and n regions separated by an intrinsic (i) region.
 When reverse-biased, the pin diode acts like a nearly constant capacitance. When forward-biased,
it acts like a current-controlled variable resistance.

Application of PIN diode:

Photodetector:-

A PIN diode can be used as a photodetector due to its intrinsic layer's light-sensitive properties. When
light strikes the intrinsic layer of a reverse-biased PIN diode, it generates electron-hole pairs through
the process of optical absorption. These electron-hole pairs create a photocurrent that can be detected
and used to convert light signals into electrical signals.

LED

 a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current flows through it. When current
passes through an LED, the electrons recombine with holes emitting light in the process
 heavily doped p-n junctions
 Based on the semiconductor material used and the amount of doping, an LED will emit coloured
light
 The safe voltage ratings of LEDs will be ranges from 1V to 3 V whereas safe current ratings range
from 200 mA to 100 mA
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 the resistor which is arranged in between the voltage source and LED is known as the current limiting
resistor because this resistor restricts the flow of current otherwise the LED may destroy it

Materials & Colors

1. Red – Aluminium Galium Arsenide 2. Orange- Galium Arsenide Phosphide

3. Green – Galium(III) Phosphide 4. Blue – Zinc selenide

5. Yellow - Aluminium gallium indium phosphide

* Note – other combo of materials are also used *GA(III) – GA3+3 oxidation state.

Multi Color LED (RGB)

 contains three separate semiconductor elements, each designed to emit one of the primary colors:
red, green, and blue.
 controlling the amount of current to each of the 3,intensity of their respective colors can be adjusted
 controlled using electronic circuits that regulate the current flowing through each of the RGB
elements. These circuits can be controlled by microcontrollers, integrated circuits, or even software
interfaces

Schottky Diode

 Schottky diode is a metal-semiconductor junction diode that has less forward voltage drop than the
P-N junction diode and can be used in high-speed switching applications
 In schottky diode, metals such as aluminum or platinum replace the P-type semiconductor. The
schottky diode is named after German physicist Walter H. Schottky
 In this the junction is known as a metal-semiconductor junction or M-S junction.
 A metal-semiconductor junction formed between a metal and n-type semiconductor creates a
barrier or depletion layer known as a schottky barrier.
 A silicon diode has a voltage drop of 0.6 to 0.7 volts, while a schottky diode has a voltage drop of
0.2 to 0.3 volts.
 a small voltage loss occurs across the terminals of the schottky diode.
 So the switching speed of this diode is faster

 Applications of Diode – students assignment

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 HALF WAVE RECTIFIER

Half-wave rectifiers transform AC voltage to DC voltage. A halfwave rectifier circuit uses only one diode
for the transformation. A halfwave rectifier is defined as a type of rectifier that allows only one-half
cycle of an AC voltage waveform to pass while blocking the other half cycle.

Half wave rectifier circuit

it requires only one diode for the construction of a halfwave rectifier circuit.
A halfwave rectifier circuit consists of three main components as follows:
 A diode
 A transformer
 A resistive load

Working of Half Wave Rectifier

1. A high AC voltage is applied to the primary side of the step-down transformer. The obtained
secondary low voltage is applied to the diode.
2. The diode is forward biased during the positive half cycle of the AC voltage and reverse biased
during the negative half cycle.
3. The final output voltage waveform is as shown in the figure below

Waveform

 FULL WAVE RECTIFIER

A full wave rectifier is defined as a rectifier that converts the complete cycle of alternating current
into pulsating DC

Full wave rectifier circuit

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2 diodes // 1 transformer (centre tapped) // 1 Resistor (for load)

Circuit – Centre tapped

Working
 The anode of the centre tapped diodes is connected to the transformer’s secondary winding and
connected to the load resistor.
 During the positive half cycle of the alternating current, the top half of the secondary winding becomes
positive while the second half of the secondary winding becomes negative
 During the positive half cycle, diode D1 is forward biased as it is connected to the top of the secondary
winding while diode D2 is reverse biased as it is connected to the bottom of the secondary winding.
 Due to this, diode D1 will conduct acting as a short circuit and D2 will not conduct acting as an open
circuit
 During the negative half cycle, the diode D1 is reverse biased and the diode D2 is forward biased
because the top half of the secondary circuit becomes negative and the bottom half of the circuit
becomes positive.
 So in a full wave rectifiers, DC voltage is obtained for both positive and negative half cycle.

Peak Inverse Voltage

Peak inverse voltage is the maximum voltage a diode can withstand in the reverse-biased direction
before breakdown. The peak inverse voltage of the full-wave rectifier is double that of a half-wave
rectifier. The PIV across D1 and D2 is 2Vmax.

DC Output Voltage
The following formula gives the average value of the DC output voltage:

Rectification Efficiency
The rectification efficiency of the full-wave rectifier can be obtained using the following formula:

The efficiency of the full wave rectifiers is 81.2%.

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Advantages of Full Wave Rectifier

 The rectification efficiency of full wave rectifiers is double that of half wave rectifiers. The efficiency
of half wave rectifiers is 40.6% while the rectification efficiency of full wave rectifiers is 81.2%.
 The ripple factor in full wave rectifiers is low hence a simple filter is required. The value of ripple
factor in full wave rectifier is 0.482 while in half wave rectifier it is about 1.21.
 The output voltage and the output power obtained in full wave rectifiers are higher than that
obtained using half wave rectifiers.

 VOLTAGE MULTIPLIER CIRCUIT

 An electronic circuit consisting of diodes and capacitors and converts an AC electrical signal from a
lower voltage value to a higher DC voltage value is referred to as a voltage multiplier.
 used to multiply or rise the voltage level of an AC signal
 voltage multiplier circuit performs both rectification and multiplication of voltage. Here, the
rectification operation is performed by diodes and the increase in voltage is achieved by the capacitors.

Voltage Doubler Circuit

 Voltage Doubler is a voltage multiplier circuit which has a voltage multiplication factor of two. The
circuit consists of only two diodes, two capacitors and an oscillating AC input voltage
 In other words, double the peak voltage value because the diodes and the capacitors work together to
effectively double the voltage.

Working
 During the negative half cycle of the sinusoidal input waveform, diode D1 is forward biased and
conducts charging up the pump capacitor, C1 to the peak value of the input voltage, (Vp).
 Because there is no return path for capacitor C1 to discharge into, it remains fully charged acting as a
storage device in series with the voltage supply. At the same time, diode D2 conducts via D1 charging
up capacitor, C2.
 During the positive half cycle, diode D1 is reverse biased blocking the discharging of C1 while
diode D2 is forward biased charging up capacitor C2. But because there is a voltage across
capacitor C1 already equal to the peak input voltage, capacitor C2 charges to twice the peak voltage
value of the input signal.
 Vout = 2Vp
 Application - SPDT (single pole double throw) switch to select either 120 V or 240 V power supply
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Voltage Tripler Circuit

 3 stage voltage multiplier

 Voltage tripler uses three capacitors and three diodes

Applications:- CRT color TVs, photo copier machines, laser printers, electroshock weapons, etc

 In actual practice, the output DC voltage of a voltage tripler circuit is always below the three
times of the maximum input voltage because of their high impedance and voltage loses in
different stages due to partial discharges.