Applications of Zener-diode

Hello friends......welcome to our blog, today we are here discuss about the applications of zener-diode. In my last post we discussed about zener-diode, hope we gave our level best to explain the topic. So today we are back with some more  confidence to go forward and give much more knowledge from our side let's go through the topic..

Applications of Zener-diode:

As we know what is zener diode and how it will work our next question is ''what are the applications of zener-diode?''

The term zener is commonly used for the avalanche, or breakdown, diode even at higher voltages.

The main application of this type of diodes are voltage regulators. 

we all know that a zener diode maintains a constant output voltage in its breakdown region even though the current flowing through it is varied in its operating region.Zener diode is used to minimize the the voltage fluctuation of a dc power supply obtained by the rectifier-filter combination this is why we use zener diode in 

voltage regulator we can simply called it as zener regulator.

The term regulator itself says that regulate means to control.

If we introduce zener diode in a circuit we can understand easily.

In the above diagram it is a shunt regulator because of the regulator element is parallel to the load.

To limit the current through the zener diode series resistance R is introduced whose value can be chosen from the following equation.

R=(V1-V2)/(zener current + load current).

We have more applications in zener diode in various fields of electronics.In our further topics we will be learn more about this.In the next topic we will discuss some more topics briefly so please stay tuned....thanks for visiting us and please share to maximum extent to better people to stay in...

Zener diode

Hello friends..welcome back to this blog.  Today we are here to present a new concept in electronics. Actually in the last topic we discussed about P-N junction diode and its V-I characteristics.We hope  from the last topic gave the knowledge and  guidance to the working of P-N junction diode and its characteristics. There are some special diodes and functioning in the diodes.Today's topic is about ZENER diode. So lets go through the topic.

Zener-diode

We all know that from P-N junction as the voltage is increased in forward bias the maximum current flows and in reverse bias a small fraction of  current flows after the breakdown voltage, so in order to use the diode in reverse bias we have a special diode i.e, ZENER diode.

 Zener diode means a form of semiconductor diode in which at a critical reverse voltage large current can flow. Zener diode is operated in reverse bias only. A zener diode is heavily doped than ordinary diode.When reverse voltage reaches breakdown voltage in normal P-N junction diode, the current through the diode and the power dissipated at the junction will be high. Such operation damages the diode.With adequate power dissipation capability to operate in breakdown region a special diode is designed which is called "Zener diode".    

Symbol of zener diode:

Zener diode is always reverse connected.When forward biased its characteristics are just like normal diode.It has sharp break down voltage called breakdown voltage.

Explanation: 

It is mainly a special property of the diode rather than any special type of equipment. The person named clearance Zener invented this property of the diode so it is named as "Zener diode". The special property of the diode is that there will be a breakdown in the circuit if the voltage applied across a reversely biased circuit.

a)V-I Characteristics of zener diode

• From the V-I characteristics of Zener diode it is found that the operation of zener diode is same as P-N junction diode in forward bias.
• Under reverse bias condition its working is changed, here breakdown of junction occurs and breakdown is sharp. The break down voltages are dependent on amount of doping.

There are two types of breakdowns

1.Zener breakdown:

                                            In zener breakdown due to heavy doping, direct rupture of covalent bond takes place because of strong electric field. Hence new electron-hole pairs are created which increases the reverse current in reverse bias.

2.Avalanche breakdown:

                                            In avalanche breakdown if reverse bias voltage increases the charge carriers acquire large amount of kinetic energy and their velocity also increases. These carriers(electrons) disturb the covalent bond by colliding with immovable ions and create new electron hole pairs. 

This was all about Zener diode.From next post we will discuss about applications of zener diodes.. so stay tuned for more updates and moreover thanks for visiting us....please follow and share us for more better people to stay in....

V-I characteristics of P-N junction diode

Hello friends we are back once again with a new post. In the last post we have given an idea about 

P-N junction diode. Today we are here to discuss about the V-I characteristics of P-N junction diode.

V-I characteristics of P-N junction diode:

In earlier we  discussed about  P-N junction diode and types of biasing. In this post we will  study the V-I characteristics. For this we have to plot  a graph for applying voltage and current.

Fig-1: V-I characteristics of P-N junction diode.

In the above figure voltage is taken on X-axis and current is on Y-axis. Here Vf indicates the forward voltage and Vr indicates the reverse voltage and If indicates forward current and Ir indicates reverse current. Knee voltage is the forward voltage at which the current through the P-N junction increases rapidly and breakdown voltage is the reverse voltage at which the current through the P-N junction slowly increases due to minority carriers. 

For forward bias:

As forward voltage is increased, the depletion layer decreases,beyond a threshold voltage the current starts conducting and that voltage is know as "cut in voltage".

Before cut in voltage the curve is non linear. After applying voltage more than cut in voltage the current starts flowing due to depletion layer decreases and the curve after cut in voltage is linear.

For reverse bias:

In fig-1 as the reverse bias is increased the width of depletion layer increase, beyond a breakdown voltage small current flows due to minority carriers flows through the diode.If reverse voltage is further increased the kinetic energy of electrons becomes so high. The knockout of electrons from semiconductor occurs at this case breakdown of junction is occur.

This is all about the V-I characteristics of P-N junction diode.Next we will discuss a new topic in this chapter. Thanks for visiting us stay tuned for more updates  please follow and share to the maximum extent for a better people to stay in..

Biasing of P-N junction diode

Hi  friends we are back once again with a new concept in this electronics.Actually in our last post we gave introduction to electronics and P-N junction diode. Today's post is about biasing of PN-junction diode.

Biasing of P-N junction diode:

• As we discussed earlier that  P-N junction represents two blocks of semiconductor materials , one p-type and one n- type material. On the formation of P-N junction some of the holes from p-type material tend to diffuse across the boundary into n-type material and some of the free electrons similarly diffuse into p-type material.
• A P-N junction diode is connected to an external voltage source, it is called biasing P-N junction diode.
• Biasing is used to control the width of depletion layer 

There are two types of biasing:

• 1)Forward bias
• 2)Reverse bias

1)Forward bias:

In forward bias P-type is connected to positive terminal and N-type is connected to negative terminal of the battery.

When voltage is applied across a diode in such a way that the diode allows current, the diode is said to be forward-biased

• When we apply the external voltage in such a way that it cancels the potential barrier and permits the current to flow. 
• By application of small voltage it is sufficient to eliminate the barrier so the width of the diffusion layer decreases and becomes zero(0) and junction is formed and holes takes place.

2)Reverse bias:

In reverse bias P-type is connected to negative terminal and N-type is connected to positive terminal of the battery.

"When voltage is applied across a diode in such a way that the diode prohibits current, the diode is said to be reverse-biased. "

• When we apply the external voltage in such a way that it increases the potential barrier width and prohibits the current to flow through them.
• Due to minority charges small current flows in reverse bias which is know as reverse saturation current.

This is all about biasing of P-N junction diode.  In our next chapter we will discuss more deeply about characteristics and types of diodes so please stay tuned for more updates and more over thanks for visiting us please follow and share to maximum extent for better people to stay in..

P-N JUNCTION

A very warm welcome to everyone in this very cool day. In the previous session we have started the basics of electronics , in that we have stated that semiconductor devices plays a major role in electronics concepts. By considering that today we are going to discuss about the concept of P-N junction diode

Before going to the topic ,let us see some important terms regarding semi conductors.

1.Doping :
Addition of impurity atoms to intrinsic semiconductor crystal is called doping and the impurity used is called dopant.

2.Diffusion : The process of doping a semiconductor with impurities is called diffusion.

3.Donor : Any pentavalent impurity used as dopant to produce N-type semiconductor is called donor.
Arsenic,antimomy etc.,

4.Acceptor : Any trivalent impurity used as dopant to produce P-type semiconductor is called acceptor.

P-N junction :
Basically every semiconductor material has majority and minority carriers.

        a.P-type material :
             Majority carriers - holes.
             Minority carriers - electrons.

          b.N-type material :
              Majority carries - electrons.
              Minority carriers - holes.

P-N junction represents two blocks of semiconductor materials , one p-type and one n- type material. On the formation of P-N junction some of the holes from p-type material tend to diffuse across the boundary into n-type material and some of the free electrons similarly diffuse into p-type material.

This is happend because of concentration of holes is higher on p-side than that of n- side and vice-versa.This process is called diffusion.

The region around the junction is completely ionised .As there are no free electrons on N-side and there are no holes on p-side . Since the region around the junction is depleted of mobile charges it is called the depletion region , space charge region or the transition region.
The thickness of the depletion region is of the order of one micron.

Today I have provided some concept regarding P-N junction in the next post I will describe about different types of biasing and characteristics....

If you want to be powerful, educate yourself....
Thank you.. 
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Introduction to Electronics

Welcome to everyone
From today we are going to deal with the concepts of electronics from the basic fundamentals . After the completion of these basics with appropriate study we will start the study of major concepts of our technological engineering concepts..

Firstly, talking about the word electronics and it stands for the meaning of electromechanics.

Definition: Basically it is defined as the branch of science and engineering which deals with the elctron devices and their utilization.....

Here comes a question that what is an electron device???.

Electron device: The term electron device means that in a device where the process of conduction takes place due to the movement of electrons basically with in a semiconductor.

Aim of electronics: processing or amplifying an electric signal...

The basic difference between electrical and electronics fields is...

In electrical field , they work with high voltages i.e., of 11KV,22KV,33KV.........
But the frequency used is 50 Hertz in all over the India.
Where as in electronics field they deal with very high frequencies some times upto Gigahertz...

In the above , we have stated about semiconductor..
Actually all of you are very familiar with the concept of semiconductor.
Till I am giving a brief analysis.
Semi conductors are of two types:
Intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors.

Intrinsic semiconductors are pure semicoductors.
Silicon and germanium are the examples of intrinsic semiconductors.
Semiconductors added impurities through the process called doping are known Extrinsic semiconductors.
They are again classified into two types..
1. p-type semiconductor:
  These are the semicoductors doped with trivalent impurities i.e., boron, gallium, indium etc.,
2. n-type semiconductor:
  These are the semiconductors doped with pentavalent impurities i.e.,  arsenic , antimony ,bismuth etc.,

This is the basic introduction to electronics field.
In the later sections we will discuss these topics in deep..

Stay tuned for next update... Follow and share the link to the maximum extent for better people to stay in..

Alternating sources

Hi.. Everyone , in my last post I have provided the basic information about the energy sources.Actually the energy sources we have discussed are dc sources in addition to those there are some sources where the voltage and current may vary with time sinusoidally , exponentially etc., and the sources are called the Alternating sources.

Basically the types of alternating sources depends on the type of input periodic signal we are giving to the source.

The wave forms can be represented by
                    f(t) = f(t+nT)
                          

Here n is an integer and T is the time period of the periodic wave form.

Out of the periodic functions , the sinusoidal function being the most common and being widely used.

Now let us discuss some important factors regarding the periodic sine wave.

1.Peak value:
It is defined as the maximum value of the sine wave either during positive half cycle or negative half cycle.
                         

Vm is the peak value of sinusoidal voltage wave .
Im is the peak value of sinusoidal current wave.
Generally sinusoidal periodic wave form is represented as.
                  V=Vm Sinwt.

                   I=Im Sinwt.

2.Instantaneous value:
It is the value of the periodic sine wave at any instant of the cycle. This value  will be different at different points of the wave form.
                            

3.Average value:
Generally it is the average value of the sine wave during its cycle but the average value of a sine wave during its full cycle will be zero because of positive and negative half cycles. It is calculated only for the either anyone of the half cycle.

                    Vav= 2Vm/π

                    Vav = 0.637Vm.
4.RMS Value:
As we discussed earlier ,the effect of sine wave over a complete cycle is zero. So in order to get it's effective value we are considering in terms of heating power and this is called Root Mean Square Value or RMS Value.
                        Vrms= Vm /√2.
                        Vrms= 0.707 Vm.
5.Form Factor
It is defined as the ratio of RMS value to the average value .
The basic requirement of form factor is , on some cases if the two alternating waves having same peak values and same frequency may look different . In these cases their configurations change. Form factor represents this change in configuration of periodic waveforms where the frequencies and amplitudes are same.

Form Factor (FF) = Vrms /Vav

                        FF= 0.707Vm/0.637Vm

                        FF= 1.11

Energy Sources

A warm welcome to every one . Already we have completed some interesting and simple topics but they are the basic roots for a knowledge tree to grow.
Today's post is about the energy sources.
By going through this concept you will be able to know about the types of energy sources and their classification.

Energy sources are categorized into two types . They are:
1.Independent energy source.
2.Dependent energy source.

Both of the energy sources either be a voltage source or a current source.

Independent energy sources are the energy sources where the strength of the voltage and current is not changed by any variation in the connected network .

Independent energy sources are indicated by a circle symbol .

Dependant energy sources are the sources whose magnitude of voltage or current are decided by varying the elements in the connected network.
There are four types of Dependant energy sources.They are:
1.Voltage Controlled Voltage Source.
2.Voltage Controlled Current Source.
3.Current Controlled Current Source.
4.Current Controlled voltage Source.

Whereas the dependant sources are indicated by a rhombus symbol.

Examples:

Voltage sources: Batteries and Generators.

Current sources: Most of the semiconductors like transistors i.e., BJT,JFET,MOSFET etc.,

In addition to these there are some other types of sources where the voltage and current may vary with time exponentially, sinusoidally those sources are called alternating sources.

Circuit Elements

In my last post I have given an introduction about this blog and some content related to network elements. And in today's post I am going to give you a brief explanation about the main circuit elements.They are
1.Resistor
2.Inductor and
3.Capacitor

1.Resistor: What is a resistor?...
Before going to know about resistor , you should know the property called RESISTANCE.
Resistance is the property of a material by virtue of which it opposes the flow of electrons through the material.
It is clearly explained by Ohm's law.

Ohm's law:
At constant temperature , the current through an conductor is directly proportional to the applied potential difference across it.
            
              R= V/I
        UNIT: OHM.
Let us suppose  electric current is flowing through the conductor, heat is generated with in the conductor due to collision of free electrons with atoms.
From this we can say that energy lost in the conductor due to resistance is in the form of heat.

2.Inductor:
To understand the concept of inductance you should know some basic electromagnetism principles.

If a wire of finite length is twisted into a coil a simple inductor is formed.

If an amount of current flows through the coil , an electromagnetic field is formed. With any change of flow of current ,electromagnetic field also changes and with the change of field emf will be induced in the coil.

Inductance is the property of a material by virtue of which if opposes any change of magnitude or direction of current passing through the conductor.
     Unit: Henry.
Inductance is denoted by L.

Capacitor:
Capacitor is a circuit element which has the capability to store electric charge with in it.
It stores the electrical energy in the form of electric field by the two polarities of charges on the two electrodes(capacitor plates).

Capacitance can be defined as the charge per unit voltage.
                 C=q/v.
Unit of capacitance is Farad F.
Important point.
Where as in resistor ,it dissipates energy in the form of heat but in an inductor and in a capacitor they store energy but never dissipate.

Introduction

Basic introduction:

                                                

Welcome to this blog. This blog provides an overview of the basics of electrical and electronics engineering that are required at undergraduate level, efforts have been taken to keep the complexity level of the subject to bare minimum so that the students of either circuit branch or non-circuited branched  can easily understand the basics. As a part of this  we have to study the fundamentals such as network theory, electromagnetism, electrical machines, measuring instruments, transformers, electronics devices and circuits,semiconductor devices, digital electronics and integrated circuits. 

Here we you go to 1st major important chapter in field of electricity i.e, network theory. 
The basic question is  "what is network "?
                  Ans:  Network means an arrangement of the various electric energy sources along with the different circuit elements.
                   Next one is different types of network elements.
In electric circuits,we can classify the circuit elements as
1)Active and passive elements :
The connection of passive and active elements by means of conductor is called an active network. If the active  sources are absent,it is called passive network.

a).Active elements: These are voltage sources and current sources and these are also energy sources.(or) The devices or components which produce energy in the form of Voltage or Current are called as Active Components

Examples:Generators,vacuum tubes,transistors etc.

b).Passive elements:A passive element is an electrical component that does not generate power, These elements either dissipates energy in the form of heat or store energy.

Examples:Resistors(R),capacitors(C),inductors(L).

2)Lumped and distributed elements:

a).Lumped elements:Physically separate elements such as resistors,capacitors and inductors are has called lumped elements.

b).Distributed elements: 

A Distributed elements is one which cannot be separated for the purpose of analysis. A transmission line distributed R,C,l along its length.

3).Bilateral and unilateral elements:These components include controlled & uncontrolled source of energy, resistors, capacitors, inductors, etc. Analysis of these circuits refers to the calculations required to end the unknown quantities like power, voltage and current connected with one or more components in the circuit. 

a)Bilateral elements:

In this the voltage current relation is the same for current flowing in either direction

Examples:Resistors(R),inductor (L),capacitor(C)

b)Unilateral elements:

A Unilateral element has different relations between voltage and current for the two possible directions of current

Examples: Vacuum tubes,silicon diodes,metal rectifiers etc.

4).Linear and non-linear elements:

An element is said to be linear, if it satisfies the linear voltage-current relationship i.e, V-I relationship should be linear, otherwise it is said to be non-linear.