NDSU

Diodes

ECE 321 - JSG

Diodes
Assume you have a pn junciton with a doping of 1016 donor atoms per cc.

Id

Id
p
+

+
-

Vd

Vd

Diode pn junction

Diode symbol

Diode VI Characteristics:
The current through a diode is exponential with respect to voltage:

I d = I o (e V d /V T 1)
V d = V T ln (I d /I o + 1)
where

is a constant, approximately 1 for germanium, 2 for silicon

V T = 0.026V at 300K (the volt equavelent of temperature)
I o is the reverse saturation current
For Silicon, I o 2 10 8 A .

The VI charactersistic is then:

VI characteristic of a Silicon diode

1

January 19, 2011

NDSU

Diodes

ECE 321 - JSG

Problem: Find the current and voltage across a Silicon diode:

1000

+
+5

Vd

Solution: Looking left at point AB, the VI characteristics are:

Id =

5V d
200

Looking right, the VI characteristics are that of a diode:

I = I o (e V/V T 1)
This gives two equations for two unknowns.
A graphical solution is to plot these two on the same graph. The intersection is the point (Vd, Id) which
satisfies both equations:
SciLab Code:
The diode VI characeristics:
-->Io = 2e-8;
-->Id = [0:0.1:5]' / 1000;
-->Vd = 0.052*log(Id/Io + 1);The resistor & 5V supply VI charactersitics:

The 5V source and 1k resistor VI characteristic:

-->I2 = [0:0.1:5]' / 1000;
-->V2 = 5 - 1000*I2;
-->I2 = plot(Vd,Id*1000,V2,I2*1000)
-->xlabel('Vd');
-->ylabel('Id (mA)')

January 19, 2011

NDSU

Diodes

ECE 321 - JSG

Diode VI characteristic (blue) and resistor & 5V supply VI characteristic (red). The intersection is the
solution: (0.7037V, 21.4814mA).
You can also solve this numerically with a f(x)=0 solver.
Guess Id
Solve for Vd using the diode equation
Solve for Vd using the 5V & resistor equation
The error is the difference in Vd
Itterate until the difference is zero
This gives a numerical solution of
Vd = 0.7037V
Id = 21.4814mA

MultiSim
A very useful program is a SPICE simulator, like MultiSim. This lets you draw a circuit on a PC and
simulate it's response.
For example, measure the voltage and current through a diode.
First, add the parts in MultiSim. You'll need to search through the menus to find the parts, but it's pretty
intuitive.
Click on Show Power Source to select the DC supply. Right click on it to change it to 5V.
The diode icon has diodes, etc.
Right click on a part to rotate it.
Click on the Show Measurement Family to see the volt meter and ammeter.
Once you place the parts, click on one end to add a wire to another part. When you're done, your circuit
looks like the following:

January 19, 2011

NDSU

Diodes

ECE 321 - JSG

Click F5 to start and stop the simulation, This then shows you one point on the VI curve: (0.693V,
4.307mA).
To change the resistor, right click on it, select replace, and change it to a 10k resistor

Do this over and over and you can get the VI characteristic for the diode.
You can also show this on a plot.
Replace the 5VDC source with an AC source. Right click to change it to 5V.
Add a 1 Ohm resistor in series with the diode. This lets you measure the current through the diode
by measuring the voltage across the 1 Ohm resistor.
Add an oscilloscope. Set it up to plot AB (voltage vs. current).

January 19, 2011

NDSU

Diodes

ECE 321 - JSG

On the oscilloscope
The X axis is the voltage (off by 1mV due to the 1 Ohm resistor)
The Y axis is the current (1mV = 1mA).
Note that
The diode turns on at about 0.7V.
The voltage across the diode does change with current, but not a lot.
Different types of LEDs turn on at different voltages. A red LED, for example, turns on at about
1.7V:

Since the current-voltage relationship is nonlinear, it's somewhat hard to describe this with a single
number. Typicaly, LED's are rated as the voltage you get with the current is 20mA. You're trying to
describe a curve with a single point - which isn't all that accurate. The voltage is almost constant,
however, so you can assume that the voltage is the same as long as current flows.

January 19, 2011

NDSU

Diodes

ECE 321 - JSG

January 19, 2011