UNIT 1: DIODES AND APPLICATIONS

Introduction
 Electron Orbits and Energy Levels
 Conductors, Semiconductors and Insulators
 Energy Bands in Different Materials
 Conduction in Solids
o Electron Motion and Hole Transfer
 Conventional Current and Electron Flow
 n-Type and p-Type Semiconductors
o Doping
 n -Type Material
 p-Type Material
 Majority and Minority Charge Carriers
 Semiconductor Conductivity
o Drift Current
o Diffusion Current

P-N Junction Diode

 P-N Junction
o Barrier Voltage
o Depletion Region
 Biased Junction
o Reverse-Biased Junction
o Forward-Biased Junction
o Junction Temperature Effects
o Junction Current and Voltages
 Shockley Equation
 P-N Junction Diode
 Characteristics and Parameters
o Forward and Reverse Characteristics
o Diode Parameters
 DC Equivalent Circuits
o Ideal Diode Model
o Simplified or Approximate Diode Model
o Piece-wise Linear Model
 Zener Diode
o V-I Characteristics of Zener diode
o Zener Break Down

 Rectifiers
 o Half-wave Rectifier
 DC or Average Output Voltage (derivation)
 Average Value of Current (derivation)
 Root Mean Square Value of Current (derivation)
 Peak Inverse Voltage
 Rectifier Efficiency (derivation)
 Ripple Factor (derivation)
o Full-wave Rectifier
 DC or Average Output Current (derivation)
 Root Mean Square Value of Current (derivation)
 Peak Inverse Voltage
 Rectifier Efficiency (derivation)
 Ripple Factor (derivation)
 Bridge Rectifier
 Capacitor Filter Circuit
 78XX Series Voltage Regulator
 INTRODUCTION

Electron Orbits and Energy Levels

• Atoms may be conveniently represented by the two-dimensional diagrams shown in Fig.
1.
• The electrons in the outer shell determine the electrical characteristics of each type of
atom. These electrons are usually referred to as valence electrons. An atom may have its
outer shell, or valence shell, completely filled or only partially filled.

Fig. 1 Two-dimensional representations of silicon (14) and germanium (32)

atoms. The outer shells have four electrons and four holes.
• It is seen that each of these atoms has four electrons in a valence shell that can contain a
maximum of eight. So, the valence shells have four electrons and four holes.
• A hole is defined as an absence of an electron in a shell.
• The closer an electron is to the nucleus, the stronger are the forces that bind it to the atom.
• Each shell has an energy level associated with it that represents the amount of energy
required to extract an electron from the atom.
• Since the electrons in the valence shell are farthest from the nucleus, they require the least
amount of energy to extract them (see Fig. 2a).
• Conversely, those electrons closest to the nucleus require the greatest energy application
to extract them from the atom.
 Fig. 2 The energy level of electrons within a solid is shown by the energy band
diagram.

• The energy levels of the orbiting electrons are measured in electron volts (eV). An
electron volt is defined as the amount of energy required to move one electron through a
voltage difference of one volt.
• When atoms are brought closer together, as in a solid, the electrons come under the
influence of forces from other atoms. Under these circumstances, the energy levels that
may be occupied by electrons merge into bands of energy levels.
• There are two distinct energy bands in which electrons may exist: the valence band and
the conduction band. Separating these two bands is an energy gap, termed the forbidden
gap, in which electrons cannot normally exist.
• The valence band, conduction band, and forbidden gap are shown diagrammatically in
Fig. 2b.
• Conduction band electrons can be easily moved by the application of relatively small
amounts of energy. Electrons in the valence band are usually in orbit around a nucleus.
• The distinction between conductors, insulators, and semiconductors is largely concerned
with the relative widths of the forbidden gap.
Conductors, Semiconductors, And Insulators

• Whether a material is a conductor, a semiconductor, or an insulator depends largely upon

what happens to the outer-shell electrons when the atoms bond themselves together to
form a solid.
• In the case of copper, the easily detached valence electrons are given up by the atoms. As
illustrated in Fig. 3, this creates a great mass of free electrons drifting about in the space
 between the copper atoms. These electrons are easily moved under the influence of an
applied voltage to create a current flow.

Fig. 3 In metallic bonding a mass of free electrons is drifting around in the space between
atoms.
• Semiconductor atoms normally have four outer-shell electrons and four holes, and they
are so close together.
• Each valence shell electron fills one of the holes in the valence shell of an adjacent atom.
This produces a bonding force referred to as covalent bonding.
• As shown in Fig. 3, there are no holes and no free electrons drifting about in the
semiconductor material. However, some of the electrons are so weakly attached to their
atoms that they can be made to break away to create a current flow when a voltage is
applied.

Fig. 3 Covalent bonding in semiconductors.

• In some insulating materials the atoms bond together in a similar way to semiconductor
atoms (covalent bonding). But the valence shell electrons are so strongly attached to the
atoms in an insulator that no charge carriers are available for current flow.
• In other types of insulating materials, some atoms give up outer-shell electrons, which are
accepted into the orbit of nearby atoms. Because the atoms are ionized, this is termed
ionic bonding (see Fig. 4).
• Here again, all the electrons are very strongly attached to atoms, and the possibility of
current flow is virtually zero.

Fig. 4 Ionic bonding occurs in some insulating materials.

Energy Bands in Different Materials
• The energy band diagrams in Fig. 5 show that insulators have a wide forbidden gap,
semiconductors have a narrow forbidden gap, and conductors have no forbidden gap at
all.

Fig. 5 Energy band diagrams for insulators, semiconductors, and conductors.

• In the case of insulators, there are practically no electrons in the conduction band, and the
valence band is filled. Moreover, the forbidden gap is so wide therefore, a relatively large
amounts of energy should be applied to cause an electron to cross from the valence band
to the conduction band.
• Therefore, when a voltage is applied to an insulator, conduction cannot normally take
place either by electron motion or hole transfer.
• For semiconductors at a temperature of absolute zero (-273°C), the valence band is
usually full and there may be no electrons in the conduction band.
• As shown in Fig. 5b, the forbidden gap in a semiconductor is very much narrower than
that in an insulator, and the application of small amounts of energy can raise electrons
from the valence band to the conduction band.
• In the case of a conductor (Fig. 5c) there is no forbidden gap, and the valence and
conduction energy bands overlap. For this reason, very large numbers of electrons are
available for conduction, even at extremely low temperatures.
• Typical resistance values for a one-centimeter cube sample are:
conductor - 10-6 ohm
semiconductor 10 ohm
insulator 1014 ohm.
Conduction in solids
Electron Motion and Hole Transfer
• Conduction occurs in any material when an applied voltage causes electrons in the
material to move in a particular direction. This may be due to one or both of two
processes: electron motion and hole transfer.

Fig. 6 Free electrons are easily moved by an applied voltage to create an electric
current.
• In electron motion, free electrons in the conduction band are moved under the influence
of the applied electric field, thus creating an electric current (see Fig. 1-6).
• Since electrons have a negative charge, they are repelled from the negative terminal of the
applied voltage and attracted toward the positive terminal.
• Hole transfer involves electrons which are still attached to atoms (those in the valence
band) as shown in Fig. 7. When a sufficient voltage is applied, the repulsive force from
the negative terminal causes an electron to jump from one atom to another, toward the
positive terminal.
• When electron jumps, it leaves a hole behind it, and consequently the hole has moved in a
direction opposite to that of the electron.
• Since the flow of electric current is constituted by the movement of electrons and holes,
electrons and holes are referred to as charge carriers.
• Free electrons can be moved with less application of energy than holes because they are
already disconnected from their atoms. For this reason, electrons have greater mobility
than holes.

Fig. 7 Conduction by hole transfer.

Conventional Current and Electron Flow

• In the early years of electrical experimentation, it was believed that a positive charge
represented an increased amount of electricity than the negative charge. Consequently,
current was assumed to flow from positive to negative.
• This is a convention that remains in use today even though current is due to the
movement of electrons from negative to positive (see Fig. 8).
• The operation of electronic devices is explained in terms of electron movement. However,
every graphic symbol used to represent an electronic device has an arrow head which
indicates conventional current direction.

Fig. 8 Conventional current direction is from positive to negative. Electron

flow is from negative to positive.
n-type and p-type semiconductors
Doping
• Pure semiconductor material is known as intrinsic material. Before using intrinsic
material in manufacturing a device, impurity atoms must be added to improve its
conductivity. The process of adding impurity atoms is termed as doping.
• Two different types of doping are possible: donor doping and acceptor doping.
• Donor doping generates free electrons in the conduction band (that is, electrons that are
not tied to an atom).
• Acceptor doping produces valence band holes, or a shortage of valence electrons in the
material. After doping, the semiconductor material is known as extrinsic semiconductor.
n -Type Material
• In donor doping, illustrated in Fig. 9, impurity atoms that have five electrons and three
holes in their valence shells are added to the undoped material.
• The impurity atoms form covalent bonds with the silicon or germanium atoms. For each
impurity atom there is one extra valance shell electron.

Fig. 9 Donor doping

• Each additional electron enters the conduction band as a free electron, hence, the name
donor doping. Because the free electrons have negative charges, donor-doped
semiconductor is known as n-type material.
• Free electrons in the conduction band are easily moved around under the influence of an
electric field. Consequently, conduction takes place largely by electron motion in donor-
doped semiconductor material.
• Typical donor materials are antimony, phosphorus, and arsenic. Since these atoms each
have five valence electrons, they are referred to as pentavalent atoms.
p-Type Material
• The impurity atoms with three valance electrons namely boron, aluminum and gallium
that are used for acceptor doping have outer shells containing three electrons and five
holes.
• In Fig. 10, the impurity atom has only three valence electrons, so, a hole exists in its bond
with the surrounding atoms. Therefore, conduction occur by the process of hole transfer.
• Since holes can be said to have a positive charge, acceptor-doped semiconductor material
is referred to as p-type material. The term acceptor doping comes from the fact that holes
can accept a free electron.

Fig. 10 Acceptor doping

Majority and Minority Charge Carriers

• In undoped semiconductor material at room temperature, thermal energy causes some
electrons to break the bonds with their atoms and enter the conduction band. This process
creates pairs of holes and electrons which is termed hole-electron pair generation.
• The opposite effect, called recombination, occurs when an electron falls into a hole in the
valence band.
• Because there are many more electrons than holes in n-type material, electrons are
referred to as the majority charge carriers, and holes as the minority carriers in n-type
material.
• In p-type material, holes are the majority carriers and electrons are minority carriers.
Semiconductor Conductivity
Drift Current:
• The presence of the electric field does not stop the collisions and random motion, but it
does cause the electrons to drift in the direction of the positive terminal. Consequently,
current produced in this way is termed as drift current.
Diffusion Current:
• Suppose a concentration of one type of charge carriers appears at one end of a piece of
semiconductor material, as the result of a charge carrier injection from an external source.
• Because the charge carriers are either all electrons or all holes they have the same
polarity, and thus there is a force of repulsion between them.
• This produces a tendency for the electrons to move gradually, or diffuse, away from the
locality of high concentration toward one of low concentration until they are eventually
distributed throughout the material.
• The movement of charge carriers constitutes an electric current, and so this type of
current is known as a diffusion current as shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 11 Diffusion current

 UNIT - I
pn - Junction diode
pn - Junction
• Two blocks of semiconductor material are represented in Fig. 1: one block is p-type
material, and the other is n-type.
• The small circles in the p-type material represent holes, which are the majority charge
carriers. The dots in the n-type material represent the majority charge carrier free
electrons within that material.

Figure 1-19 p-type and n-type semiconductor materials.

• In Fig. 2, p-type and n-type semiconductor materials are shown side by side, representing
a pn-junction. Since holes and electrons are close together at the junction, some free
electrons from the n-side are attracted across the junction to fill adjacent holes on the p-
side. They are said to diffuse across the junction from a region of high carrier
concentration to one of low concentration.
• The free electrons crossing the junction create negative ions on the p-side and leaves
positive ions on the n-side.

Fig. 2 pn-junction and junction barrier voltage.

Barrier Voltage
• The barrier potential is defined as the electric potential difference across the depletion
region of a pn-junction.
• When negative ions are created on the p-side, the portion of the p-side close to the
junction acquires a negative voltage.
• Similarly, the positive ions created on the n-side give a positive voltage on n-side close to
the junction.
• The negative voltage on the p-side tends to repel additional electrons crossing from the n-
side. Also, the positive voltage on the n-side tends to repel any movement of holes from
the p-side. Therefore, the barrier voltage opposes the flow of majority carriers across the
pn-junction.
• Typical barrier voltages at 25°C are 0.3 V for germanium junctions and 0.7 V for silicon.
Depletion Region
• The movement of charge carriers across the junction leaves a layer on each side that is
depleted of charge carriers. This is the depletion region shown in Fig. 3. On the n-side,
the depletion region consists of ionized donor atoms, which are positively charged. The
depletion region on the p-side consists of ionized acceptor atoms that are negatively
charged.
• If the two blocks of semiconductor material have equal doping densities, the depletion
layers on each side have equal widths Fig. 3a.
• If the p-side is heavily doped than the n-side, as shown in Fig. 3b, the depletion region
penetrates more deeply into the n-side. Conversely, when the n-side is heavily doped, the
depletion region penetrates deeper into the p-type material.

Fig. 3 Charge carrier diffusion across a pn-junction

Biased Junctions
Reverse-Biased Junction
• When an external bias voltage is applied to a pn-junction, positive to the n-side and
negative to the p-side, electrons from the n-side are attracted to the positive terminal, and
holes from the p-side are attracted to the negative terminal.
• As shown in Fig. 4, holes on the p-side and electrons on n-side are attracted away from
the junction. This widens the depletion region and increases the barrier voltage.
Therefore, there is no possibility of a majority charge carrier current flow across the
junction, and the junction is said to be reverse biased.

Fig. 4 A reverse bias applied to a pn-junction

• However, minority carriers i.e., electrons in the p-side and holes on the n-side can still
cross the junction and only a very small reverse-bias voltage is necessary to direct all
available minority carriers across the junction.
• Further increase in bias voltage do not increase the current level. This current is referred
to as a reverse saturation current.
• The reverse saturation current is normally a very small quantity, ranging from nano
amperes to micro amperes, depending on the junction area, temperature and
semiconductor material. A reverse-biased pn-junction has high resistance.
• The junction reverse characteristic i.e., reverse current (I R) versus reverse voltage (VR) is
shown in Fig. 5.
 Fig. 5 Current-versus-voltage characteristic for a reverse-biased pn-junction.
Forward-Biased Junction
• The external bias voltage applied with the polarity shown in Fig. 6, positive on the p-side
and negative on the n-side. The holes on the p-side are repelled from the positive terminal
and driven toward the junction. Similarly, the electrons on the n-side are repelled from the
negative terminal and move toward the junction.
• The result is that the width of the depletion region and the barrier potential are both
reduced. A majority carrier current flows, and the junction is said to be forward biased.

Fig. 6 Forward biasing a pn-junction

• The graph in Fig. 7 shows the forward current (IF) plotted against forward voltage (VF) for
typical germanium and silicon pn-junctions.
• It is seen that there is very little forward current until V F exceeds the junction barrier
voltage (0.3 V for germanium, 0.7 V for silicon).
• Above the knee of the characteristic, IF increases almost linearly with increase in VF.
 Fig. 7 pn-junction forward characteristics.
Junction Temperature Effects
• The reverse saturation current ( I o) at a pn-junction is due to the minority charge carriers.
• When the temperature of the semiconductor material is raised, more number of electrons
break away from their atoms. This generates additional minority charge carriers, causing
I o to increase.
• When I o is known for a given temperature (T 1), it can be calculated for another
temperature level (T 2) from the following equation:
I o(T )=I o (T ) ¿
2 1

Example 1:
Determine the levels of reverse saturation current at temperatures of 35°C and 45°C for a
junction which has Io = 30 nA at 25°C.
Junction currents and Voltages
Shockely Equation
• The equation relating pn-junction current and voltage levels is called as Shockely
equation.
I D =I o [ eV D /η V T
−1 ]
• Where I D is the junction current, I o is the reverse saturation current, V D is the junction
voltage, η is a constant which is usually taken as 1 for germanium and 2 for silicon. V T is
the thermal voltage whose value depends upon temperature.
kT
V T=
q
• Where k is Boltzman’s constant (1.38×10-23 J/K), T is the absolute temperature, and q is
the electron charge (1.6×10-19 Coulomb). When T =300 K (or 270C), therefore,
V T =26 mV
• Junction voltage for a given forward current is given as
V D=ηV T ln ⁡(I D / I o)
Example 2
• A silicon pn-junction has a reverse saturation current of I o = 30 nA at a temperature of
300 K. Calculate the junction current when the applied voltage is (a) 0.7 V forward bias,
(b) 10 V reverse bias.

pn-Junction diode
• The term diode refers to a two terminal or two electrode device. A pn-junction diode is
simply a pn-junction with a connecting lead on each side shown in Fig. 8.
• A pn-junction diode can be used as a switch: on when forward-biased and off when
reverse biased.
• The arrowhead in diode circuit symbol shown in Fig. 9 indicates the conventional current
when the diode is forward biased, the p-side of the diode is always positive termed as
anode and the n-side is negative termed as cathode.

Fig. 8 A pn-junction diode with Fig. 9 Diode circuit symbol

conductors on each side.

• The pn-junction diode can be destroyed if a high level of forward current overheats the
device. It can also be destroyed if a large reverse voltage causes junction to break down.
• Fig. 10 shows the appearance of low, medium and high current diodes. The low current
diode shown in Fig. 10a is usually capable of passing maximum forward current of
approximately 100 mA and it can also survive about 75V reverse bias without break
down.
• The medium current diode in Fig. 10b pass a forward current of about 400 mA and
survive over 200 V reverse bias.
• The high current diodes or power diodes shown in Fig. 10c can pass forward currents of
many amperes and can survive several hundred volts of reverse bias.

Fig. 10a Low current diode Fig. 10b Medium current Fig. 10c Large current diode
diode
Characteristics and Parameters
Forward and reverse characteristics
• Fig. 11 and Fig. 12 show typical forward and reverse characteristics for low current
silicon and germanium diodes, respectively.
• From the silicon diode characteristics, it is seen that the forward current ( I F ) remains very
low until the diode forward-bias voltage (V F) exceeds approximately 0.7 V and for the
Germanium diode the forward current is low untilV F exceeds approximately 0.3 V.

Fig. 11 Forward and reverse characteristics for a silicon diode.

• In reverse bias, the diode current ( I R ) is independent of the reverse voltage and largely
depends on the minority charge carrier, which is termed as reverse saturation current.
• I R is quite negligible when compared to I F , and hence, a reverse biased diode is treated as
open switch.
• For a germanium diode, the reverse saturation current is at 25 0C is about 1 μA, which is
much larger than the reverse current for silicon diode that is approximately 100 nA.

Fig. 12 Forward and reverse characteristics for a germanium diode.

 Diode parameters
• The diode parameters are,
V F - forward voltage drop
V R - reverse bias voltage
Fig. 13a Forward static resistance
I F - forward current
I R - reverse saturation current
r d - dynamic resistance
R F - static forward resistance
Fig. 13b Reverse static resistance
R R - static reverse resistance
I F (max ) - maximum forward current

• Diode static forward resistance is a dc quantity can be calculated as

VF
R F=
IF
• Diode static reverse resistance is given as
VR
R R=
IR
• The dynamic resistance of the diode is the resistance offered to changing levels for
forward voltage.
• The dynamic resistance also known as the incremental resistance or ac resistance, is the
reciprocal of the slope of the forward characteristics beyond the knee.
ΔV F
rd =
Δ IF
Example 3
• Calculate the forward and reverse resistances offered by silicon diode at V F = 0.75V,
I F = 100 mA and at V R = 50 V, I R =100 nA .

Example 4
 • Determine the dynamic resistance at a dynamic forward current of 60 mA for the
dynamic voltage of approximately 0.025 V.

DC equivalent circuits
• Shockley’s equation gives the exponential relationship between current and voltage,
however every time while using diode in a circuit, the characteristic of diode is
approximated by replacing the diode in the circuit with its equivalent circuit.
• An equivalent circuit is nothing but a combination of elements of the device. Three
models with increasing accuracy are listed below:
1. Ideal diode model
2. Simplified model
3. Piece-wise linear model
1. Ideal Diode Model
• An ideal diode (or perfect diode) has zero forward resistance and zero forward voltage
drop. It has infinitely high reverse resistance and zero reverse current. The dc equivalent
circuit of ideal diode is represented in Fig. 14a.
• It can be modeled as closed switch in forward bias and open switch in reverse bias. Fig.
14b shows the V-I characteristics of the ideal diode.

Fig. 14a Ideal diode dc equivalent circuit Fig. 14b Ideal diode characteristics
2. Simplified or approximate diode model
• In practical ideal diode does not exist. It can be replaced with a simplified or approximate
diode model, where the diode is replaced with a forward voltage drop ( V F) and an ideal
 diode shown in Fig. 15a. The V-I characteristics of simplified diode model is shown in
Fig. 15b.

Fig. 15a Simplified Fig. 15b Simplified characteristics of Silicon and Germanium
diode dc equivalent diodes.
circuit.

3. Piece-wise linear model

• Piece-wise linear model is more accurate which contains diode dynamic resistance ( r d ) in
series with the forward voltage drop (V F). The dc equivalent circuit and the V-I
characteristics of piece-wise linear model is shown in Fig. 16a and Fig. 16b, respectively.

Fig. 16a Piece-wise linear Fig. 16b Piece-wise linear characteristics of a

equivalent circuit. Silicon diode.

Example 6
A silicon diode is used in the circuit shown in Fig. 17.
Calculate the diode current by approximate diode model

Fig. 17 Circuit

Example 7
Construct the piecewise linear characteristic for a silicon diode which has a 0.25 Ω dynamic
resistance and a 200 mA dynamic forward current.

HW
Calculate I F for the diode circuit in Fig, assuming that the diode has V F = 0.7 V and r d = 0.
then recalculate the current taking r d = 0.25Ω

Fig. Diode circuits

Zener diode
• A Zener Diode, also known as a breakdown diode, is a heavily doped semiconductor
device.
• When the reverse bias voltage is applied across the terminals of a Zener diode and the
potential reaches the Zener Voltage, the junction breaks down and the current flows in the
reverse direction. This effect is known as the Zener Effect. Zener diode symbol is shown
in Fig. 18.
 Fig. 18 Zener diode symbol.

V-I characteristics of Zener diode

• A Zener diode operates just like a normal diode when it is forward-biased.
• However, when connected in reverse biased mode, a small leakage current flows through
the diode due to the thermally generated minority carriers.
• As the reverse voltage increases to the breakdown voltage (V z), current starts flowing
through the diode. The current increases to a maximum, which is determined by the series
resistor.

Zener break down

• When the applied reverse bias voltage reaches closer to the Zener voltage, the electric
field in the depletion region gets strong enough to pull electrons from their valence band.
• The valence electrons that gain sufficient energy from the strong electric field of the
depletion region break free from the parent atom and the reverse current increases
drastically and sharply.
• At the Zener breakdown region, a small increase in the voltage results in the rapid
increase of the electric current.
Example 9
For the Zener diode circuit shown in Fig. 20, E=20V, Vz=7.5V and R1=620Ω. Calculate the
diode current and power dissipation.
 Fig. 20 Circuit for Example 9.

Example 10
The circuit for Fig. 21 has a Zener diode corrected across the load
a. For R L = 180Ω, determine all currents and voltages.
b. Repeat part a for R L = 450Ω.
c. Find the value of R L for the Zener to draw maximum power.

Fig. 21
Rectifiers
• A rectifier is an electronic device that converts alternating current (ac) to pulsating direct
current (dc). The process of converting ac to pulsating dc is called rectification.
• Types of rectifiers
• Half wave rectifier
• Full wave rectifier
• Bridge rectifier

Fig. 22 Half wave rectifier.

Half wave rectifier

• Half wave rectifier is shown in Fig. 22. Ac input is normally the ac main supply. Since
the voltage is 230V, and such a high voltage cannot be applied to the semiconductor
diode, therefore, step down transformer should be used. Output voltage is taken across the
load resistor RL.

Average value of current

Root mean square (rms) value of current

Peak Inverse Voltage
• For each rectifier circuit there is a maximum reverse voltage the diode is subjected to reverse
bias is called Peak Inverse Voltage (PIV). It occurs during that part of the cycle when the
diode is nonconducting. PIV = v m
Rectifier efficiency
The efficiency of the rectifier is defined as the ratio of the dc output power to the ac input power.
Ripple factor
• Although it is the purpose of a rectifier to convert alternating into direct current, the
simple circuit considered above does not achieve this.
• What is accomplished is the conversion from an alternating current into a unidirectional
current, periodically fluctuating components remains in the output wave.
• Therefore, filters are frequently used to decrease these ac components.
• A measure of the fluctuating components is given by the ripple factor r, which is defined
as
rms value of alternating components of wave
r=
average value of wave
' '
I rms V rms
r= =
I dc V dc
• Where I 'rms and V 'rms represent the rms value of the ac components of current and voltage,
respectively.

• This result indicates that the rms ripple voltage exceeds the dc output voltage and shows
that the half-wave rectifier is a relatively poor circuit for converting alternating into direct
current.
Full wave rectifier
• The full wave rectifier circuit comprise two half-wave circuits which are so connected
such that conduction takes place through one diode during one half of the cycle and
 through the other diode during the second half of the cycle. The current through the load
which is the sum of these two currents.

Fig. 23 Full wave rectifier circuit.

DC or average output current

Root mean square (rms) value of current
Peak Inverse Voltage
• When the transformer secondary voltage to midpoint is at its peak value V m, diode D1 is
conducting and D2 is nonconducting. If we apply KVL around the outside loop and
neglect the small voltage drop across D 1, we obtain 2Vm for the peak inverse voltage
across D2.
Rectifier efficiency

-
Ripple factor

Bridge rectifier
• The bridge rectifier circuit is shown in Fig. 24. During the positive half cycle, D 1 and D2
are forward biased. D3 and D4 are open. So current will flow through D 1 first and then
through RL and then through D2 back to the ground.
• During the negative half cycle D 4 and D3 are forward biased and they conduct. The
current flows from D3 through RL to D4. Hence the direction of current is the same. So, we
get full wave rectified output.

Fig. 24 Bridge rectifier circuit.

Capacitor filter circuit
• Here Xc should be smaller than RL. Because, current should pass through the capacitor
and it should get charged. If C value is very small, Xc will be large and hence current
flows through RL only as shown in Fig. 25 and no filtering action takes place.
• During positive half cycle, C gets charged when the diode is conducting and gets
discharged through RL when diode is non conducting. When the input voltage v i=v m sin α
is greater than the capacitor voltage, C gets charged.
• When the input voltage is less than that of the capacitor voltage, charge in C will
discharge through RL.
• The waveforms are as shown in Fig. 25. Capacitor opposes sudden fluctuations in voltage
across it. So the ripple voltage is minimized.
Fig. 25 HWR with capacitor filter. Fig. 26 Output voltage waveform at capacitor.

78XX series voltage regulator

• For many years the 7800 series linear voltage regulators, including the more popular
versions of this series like the 7805, 7812, etc, were the most popular voltage regulator
chips available and they were used in many electronic circuits, large and small.
• The 7800 series voltage regulators were very easy to use, they were cheap to buy, and
they provided excellent performance.
• The main package for the 7800 series regulators: everything from the 7805 and 7808 to
the 7812 and 7812, etc is the TO220 package. The pinout is very simple - there are three
connections, namely: input, output and common. The metal on the package is connected
to common.