In electronics, a diode is a two-terminal electronic component. A semiconductor diode, the most common type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material connected to two electrical terminals. A vacuum tube diode (now little used except in some high-power technologies) is a vacuum tube with two electrodes: a plate and a cathode.
The most common function of a diode is to allow an electric current to pass in one direction (called the diode's forward direction), while blocking current in the opposite direction (the reverse direction). Thus, the diode can be thought of as an electronic version of a check valve. This unidirectional behavior is called rectification, and is used to convert alternating current to direct current, and to extract modulation from radio signals in radio receivers.continue..
A diode is an electrical device allowing current to move through it in one direction with far greater ease than in the other. The most common kind of diode in modern circuit design is the semiconductor diode, although other diode technologies exist. Semiconductor diodes are symbolized in schematic diagrams such as Figure below. The term “diode” is customarily reserved for small signal devices, I ≤ 1 A. The term rectifier is used for power devices, I > 1 A. continue..
A diode is the simplest possible semiconductor device, and is therefore an excellent beginning point if you want to understand how semiconductors work. In this article, you'll learn what a semiconductor is, how doping works and how a diode can be created using semiconductors. But first, let's take a close look at silicon. Silicon is a very common element -- for example, it is the main element in sand and quartz. If you look "silicon" up in the periodic table, you will find that it sits next to aluminum, below carbon and above germanium. continue..
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting. Introduced as a practical electronic component in 1962,early LEDs emitted low-intensity red light, but modern versions are available across the visible, ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.
When a light-emitting diode is forward biased (switched on), electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy gap of the semiconductor. An LED is often small in area (less than 1 mm2), and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern continue..
Germanium diodes find some use since Ge has a much smaller bandgap energy than Si, producing lower forward voltages. However, this smaller bandgap also makes Ge less useful at higher temperatures due to a higher leakage current. Ge diodes have been largely replaced by Si Schottky diodes for applications below 200V, and GaAs Schottky diodes above 200V. continue..
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 when a reverse voltage is applied to it the reverse saturation current remains fairly constant over a wide range of voltages. The reverse voltage increases until the diodes breakdown voltage VB is reached at which point a process called Avalanche Breakdown occurs in the depletion layer and the current flowing through the zener diode increases dramatically to the maximum circuit value (which is usually limited by a series resistor). This breakdown voltage point is called the "zener voltage" for zener diodes. continue..
Comments
Post a Comment