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DIAC Construction and Functionality

DIACs are two-terminal devices that resemble transistors but have identical doping concentrations in all layers and can be constructed in three, four, or five layers, with the three-layer structure being most common. When a voltage is applied, a small leakage current flows until the breakover voltage is reached, leading to avalanche breakdown and negative resistance characteristics. DIACs are primarily used as trigger devices for triacs due to their ability to control current flow in both directions.

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27 views11 pages

DIAC Construction and Functionality

DIACs are two-terminal devices that resemble transistors but have identical doping concentrations in all layers and can be constructed in three, four, or five layers, with the three-layer structure being most common. When a voltage is applied, a small leakage current flows until the breakover voltage is reached, leading to avalanche breakdown and negative resistance characteristics. DIACs are primarily used as trigger devices for triacs due to their ability to control current flow in both directions.

Uploaded by

JAMES
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

DIAC

DIAC Construction

The construction of diac is looks like a transistor; however, there are several
differences between these two. Some of these are
• The doping concentrations in all the layers are identical, whereas the transistor
has a highly doped emitter, lightly doped collector and moderately doped base.
• Transistor is a three terminal device, whereas the diac is a two terminal device.
• The three regions in diac are equal in size.

• The diac can be fabricated into three, four or five layer structure. A three layer
structure is more commonly used than other structure. The three layer diac
can be constructed in either PNP or NPN structure. In PNP form, two terminals
are connected to the outer silicon P-regions separated by N region. This
structure is same as PNP transistor with no base connection.
Working of DIAC

 As soon as the supply voltage whether positive or negative is applied


across the terminals of a diac, only a small leakage current flows through
the device. So the device operates in either forward or reverse blocking
modes. When the applied voltage is increased to a value such that it is
equal to the breakover voltage, an avalanche breakdown occurs at the
reverse biased junction.

 Then, it starts conducting and exhibits negative resistance characteristics,


i.e., the current increases with decreasing values of applied voltage. The
voltage drop during the conduction is very less and is equal to the ON
state drop of the diac. The current flow increases quickly when it comes
into the conduction mode. Therefore, for a safe operating level of this
conduction current in either direction, a resistance is connected in series
with the diac.
V-I Characteristics of DIAC
 Since the triac requires either positive or negative gate pulse
to come into the conduction state, a diac is used in series with
the gate. Hence the diac is mainly used as a trigger device to
the triac.
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