Diode Circuits:

Applications

Applications Rectifier Circuits

Half-Wave Rectifier Circuits

Applications Rectifier Circuits

Battery-Charging Circuit

Half-Wave Rectifier with Smoothing Capacitor

Large
Capacitance

i=dq/dt or Q = IL T
Q = Vr C
then
C ~ (ILT) / Vr

Half-Wave Rectifier with Smoothing Capacitor

Vr Peak-to-peak
riple voltage

Large
Capacitance
Start

i=dq/dt or Q = IL T
Q = Vr C
then
C ~ (ILT) / Vr
typically :VL ~V m- (Vr /2)

Forward bias
charge cycle

Reverse bias
discharge cycle

Full-Wave rectifier Circuits

The sources are
out of phase

Wave Shaping Circuits Clipper Circuits

Batteries replaced
by Zener diodes

Review examples:
10.14
10.15
10.16
10.17
10.18

Half-Wave Limiter Circuits

+ 600
mV

flow
belo
w
600
mV

flow
Abov
e 600
mV

Voltage
divider

Current flows thru the resistor

until +600 mV is reached, then
flows thru the Diode.
The plateau is representative of
the voltage drop of the diode
while it is conducting.

- 600
mV

Linear Small Signal Equivalent

Circuits (1)
When considering electronic circuits in which dc supply
voltages are used to bias a nonlinear devices at their
operating points and a small ac signal is injected into the
circuit to find circuit response:
Split the analysis of the circuit into two parts:
(a)analyze the dc circuit to find the operating point
(b)consider the small ac signal

Linear Small Signal Equivalent

Circuits (1)
Since virtually any nonlinear ch-tic is approximately linear
(straight) if we consider a sufficiently small segment
THEN
We can find a linear small-signal equivalent circuit for the
nonlinear device to use in the ac analysis
The small signal diode circuit can be substituted by
a single equivalent resistor.

Linear Small Signal Equivalent Circuits (2)

dc supply voltage results in operation at Q
An ac signal is injected into the circuit and
swings the instantaneous point of operation
slightly above and below the Q point

For small changes

di D
iD
dv D

v D
Q

iD the small change in diode current from the Q-point

vD the small change in diode voltage from the Q-point
(diD/dvD) the slope of the diode ch-tic evaluated at the point Q

Linear Small Signal Equivalent Circuits (2)

dc supply voltage results in operation at Q
An ac signal is injected into the circuit and
swings the instantaneous point of operation
slightly above and below the Q point

For small changes

di D
iD
dv D

v D
Q

Dynamic resistance of the diode

di
rD D
dv D

v D
i D
rD

iD the small change in diode current from the Q-point

vD the small change in diode voltage from the Q-point
(diD/dvD) the slope of the diode ch-tic evaluated at the point Q

Linear Small Signal Equivalent Circuits (3)

From small signal diode analysis

vd
i D I s exp
nVT

kT
VT
q

Differentiating
the Shockley eq.

vD
di D
1

IS
exp
dv D
nVT
nVT

and following the math on p.452 we can write that dynamic

resistance of the diode is

nVT
rD
I DQ

where

I DQ

vDQ
~ I s exp
nVT

Example - Voltage-Controlled Attenuator

Find the operating point and perform the small signal analysis
to obtain the small signal voltage gain
DC control signal

1
ZC
j C

C1, C2 small or large ?

C in dc circuit open circuit
C in ac circuit short circuit

Example - Voltage-Controlled Attenuator

DC control signal

Dc circuit for Q
point (IDQ, VDQ)

nVT
rD
I DQ

Compute at the Q
point (IDQ, VDQ)

Example - Voltage-Controlled Attenuator

The dc voltage source is equivalent to a short circuit for ac signals.

Voltage gain

Rp
v0
Av

v in R p R