RIPHAH International University

Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science

EE-242 Electronic Devices Semester-III

Experiment No 1:

To Study Characteristics Of PN Junction Diode

Name of Student: _______________________________________

Roll No: _______________________________________

Group: _______________________________________

Date of Experiment: _______________________________________

Submitted on: ___________________________________________

Marks Obtained: __________________

Remarks: __________________

Instructor’s Signature__________________

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EX.NO:1 CHARACTERISTICS OF PN JUNCTION DIODE

Objective:

To study the characteristics of PN junction diode under forward bias condition and reverse bias
condition.

COMPONENTS:

 PN junction diode IN4001  Power Supply

 Resistor 1kΩ  Bread board
 Voltmeter (0-2)V, (0-30)V  Connecting wire
 Ammeter (0 – 50)MA , (0-500)µA
THEORY:

PN junction diode is a two-terminal device. The P and N junctions are referred to as anode and
cathode respectively. A PN junction diode is a one way device offering low resistance. When forward
biased and behaving as an insulator when reverse biased.

Forward bias:

When a semiconductor diode is under forward bias condition, the anode of the diode is
connected to the positive terminal of battery and the cathode of diode is connected to negative
terminal of the battery.

Reverse Bias:

Here the anode of the diode is connected to the negative terminal of battery and cathode of the
diode is connected to positive terminal of the battery.

Ohmmeter Check of Diode

 You will need a multimeter to confirm the polarity of a diode. You don’t need to report your
results here in your lab report.
 Use your oscilloscope (or a second multimeter) to determine which of the multimeter leads has
a + voltage and which is - .
 Look at your multimeter to see what special features it has. You can do a diode check with the
resistance function, on the 200 Ω scale. Even better, try the continuity or diode-check feature,

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 as shown by the symbol , if your multimeter has one. The diode-check function will
display the diode’s voltage drop across the PN junction.
 To verify if a Diode is good or failed, measure a DC forward resistance (Use 1KΏ range) and a DC
reverse Resistance. A good Diode will have a low Forward resistance and a very large DC reverse
Resistance. Ratio of the Reverse to Forward Resistances should be at least 1000:1.
 Note that for a multimeter check to work, the multimeter must apply a voltage of at least 0.5
Volt between its two leads to bring the “diode” into conduction when it is forward biased.
PROCEDURE:

1. Connections are made as shown in the circuit diagram.

2. Input voltage is varied and the corresponding readings of voltmeter and ammeter

3. For reverse bias the polarity of the diode is reverse and the millimeter is replaced by a micro
ammeter

4. For the tabulated readings the forward and reverse characteristics of the PN junction diode
are drawn with voltage X- axis and current on Y- axis.

DIODE 1k 1k

DIODE

+
10V
-
+
10V
-

Observations:

Sr Voltage Voltage Current Sr Voltage Voltage Current

# Applied (Vapp) (VD) (I) # Applied (Vapp) (VD) (I)

1. 1

2. 2

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 3 3

4 4

5 5

6 6

7 7

8 8

RESULT:

Thus the value of reverse saturation current was studied under forward and reverse bias
condition in PN junction diode.

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