I.

INTRODUCTION
A diode is an active electronic component which allows
current to flow through it only in one direction. It also
composes of an anode, which connects to the p-type
material formed by doping a pure germanium or silicon
crystal with impurity atoms having three valence electrons
and a cathode that connects to the n-type material
formed by adding a predetermined number of impurity
atoms having five valence electrons into a germanium or
silicon base. Since a diode is formed by bringing the n-type
and p-type materials together, the electrons and holes in the
region of the junction will combine, resulting in a lack of
carriers in the region near the junction. Due to the depletion
of carriers, the region of uncovered positive and negative
ions is called the depletion region. [1]
Considering that a diode is a two-terminal device, the
application of a voltage across its terminal leaves three
possibilities: no applied bias [when the voltage across the
diode is zero], forward bias or [when the voltage is greater
than zero], and reverse bias [when the voltage is less than
zero] [1]. A diode behaves differently depending upon what
condition it is in.
The whole point of this experiment is to familiarize the
current-voltage relationship for a diode by comparing the
theoretical or estimated value of

or reverse saturation
current to the actual or computed

, which is calculated by
using

or the diode current, and the measured values of V

1

and V
2
using a digital multimeter
.



II. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

One of the possible conditions that can affect the
behavior of a diode is the forward bias condition, where
the voltage across the diode is greater than zero where
the association p-type and positive potential, and n-type
and negative potential has been established.
The application of a forward-bias potential

will
make the electrons in the n-type material and holes in the
p-type material to recombine with the ions near the
boundary and reduce the width of the depletion region.
The resulting minority-carrier flow of electrons has not
change in magnitude because the conduction level is
controlled primarily by the limited number of impurities in
the material. However, the reduction in the width of the
depletion region resulted. The electron of the n-type
material now sees a reduced barrier at the junction due
to the reduced depletion region and a strong attraction for
the positive potential applied to the p-type material. As the
applied bias increases in magnitude, the depletion region
will continue to decrease in width until a flood of electrons
can pass through the junction, resulting to exponential rise
in current (as seen in Fig 1). [1]
Figure 1. Diode I-V Characteristic Curve
In Fig 1, the maximum voltage in the forward-bias region
is 1V. It is also shown in the graph how quick the current
rises beyond the knee of the curve.
General characteristics of a diode can be defined by the
following equation [Shockleys Equation] for forward-bias
and reverse-bias regions:

], (1)

Where

is the diode current,

is the reverse
saturation current (

silicon diode,

germanium
diode),

is the applied forward-bias voltage or the diode

voltage drop, is the charge of the electron,

C,
and is the Boltman constant , which is
1.3806488(13)10
23
J/K, T is the temperature in Kelwin,
and n is the ideality factor (1 < n < 2).
Note that

is termed thermal voltage and at

room temperature it about 26 mv.
Using the thermal voltage equation,

(2)
At room temperature, which is equal to 26mv, the
approximate formula for large forward bias voltage is:

(3)

For negative values of

the first term will quickly

drop off below

, resulting in:

(4)

This approximate formula is for the large reverse
biased diode voltage.
In this experiment, (1) is used to solve for

, which
will help in familiarizing the current-voltage relationship
for a diode

III. METHODOLOGY
The following materials were used for this experiment:
one (1) power supply to supply the circuit with voltage and
Diode Circuit (June 2013)
Harold Jay M. Bolingot, and Dawn Christine Corpuz, Student, ELC 102.2
Figure 1. IV Curve of a Typical PN Diode
current, one (1) digital multimeter to be used for measuring
certain values needed, one (1) 15 resistor for the circuit,
two (2) 1k resistors for creating a 1V voltage source to
supply the circuit, one (1) Bread board for building the
circuit, and a set of connector wires for circuit connection


A. Procedure

Figure 3. Diode circuit as setup in the experiment.

The circuit in Fig 3 is created in a bread board by placing
each component and sources in their right place, which is
given in the schematic diagram of the circuit. Using a
digital multimeter, the resistance of the 15k resistor
should be measured. All measurements and the ambient
temperature of the room should all be recorded. Using the
given data sheet of 1N4148, the Is at room temperature is
estimated. This estimated Reverse Current of 1N4148 at
Room Temperature should also be recorded.
Try to create a voltage source of 1V by setting the power
supply to 2V. In voltage division, the series of two 1k
resistors can create a 1V voltage source for the circuit.
Connect the 1V to the circuit in Fig 3. Note the nominal
value 1V. . Then, using DMM measure the actual voltage at
node V
1
and the voltage at node V
2
.
Set the power supply to -10 V and connect it to the
circuit, then measure the actual voltage at node V1 and the
voltage at node V2. Do the same procedure for -8, -6, -4, -2,
0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 V [measure V1 and V2 for each voltage
source].
Then computer for Compute for the diode current I
D

using the V1 and V2 measurements recorded. Plot diode
current I
D
over diode voltage V
2
. Using (3) and (4), with
n=1.752 and ambient temperature T, compute for I
s
and
record the result.
Lastly, Compute of the percent difference of Is recorded
with the Reverse Current of 1N4148 at Room Temperature.
A. Statistical Tools
In this experiment, Microsoft Excel was used to record
the data gathered for this experiment, for solving I
D
, Is, and
the percent difference of the actual Is and the estimated Is.
It is also used for plotting the graph for I
D.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

After completing the circuit as shown in the schematic
diagram in Fig. 1, the following data have been recorded
from observations on the behavior of the diode based on the
current and voltage. Figure 2 shows the current-voltage or
IV curve of the diode. The values plotted on the graph are
in conjunction with the entries in Table 1, where in addition
to the diode voltage and current V
D
and I
D
, the reverse
saturation current I
S
and the percent difference between the
measured I
S
and the standard reverse saturation current
based on the industry specifications sheet for 1N4148
(which is 10
-2

A at 25.0C) are also shown. It is also to be
noted that the actual resistance of R
1
resistor is 14.73 k,
against its nominal value for the experiment of 15.0 k.


Figure 2. I
D
(in amperes) versus V
D
(in volts) for the 1N4148
diode

Table 1. Diode Voltage and Current and Reverse Saturation
Current for 1N4148 at 24.5C
V
1
Nomin
al (V)
V
1

Measur
ed (V)
V
D
=V
2

Measur
ed (V)
I
D

Compu
ted (A)
I
s
*
Compu
ted (A)
% diff
of I
s

-10 -10.05 -10.05 0 0 100.00
-8 -8.07 -8.07 0 0 100.00
-6 -6.03 -6.03 0 0 100.00
-4 -4.00 -4.00 0 0 100.00
-2 -2.12 -2.12 0 0 100.00
0 0 0 0 0 100.00
1 1.038 0.455 3.9579
1*10
-05

1.6118
2*10
-09

83.88
2 2.079 0.505 1.0685
7*10
-04

1.4328
6*10
-09

85.67
4 4.01 0.542 2.3543
8*10
-04

1.3876
3*10
-09

86.12
6 6.05 0.564 3.7243
7*10
-04

1.3464
1*10
-09

86.53
8 8.07 0.578 5.0862
2*10
-04

1.3472
1*10
-09

86.53
10 10.03 0.588 6.4100
5*10
-04

1.3596
1*10
-09

86.40
*standard I
S
for 1N4148 at 25.0C = 10
-2

A


As observed, the graph on Fig. 2 closely follows the
trend on the graph on Fig. 1. On Fig. 2, at negative values
of V
D
, the measured diode current I
D
are observed at zero
levels due to the fact that the multimeter used is limited to
0
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
0.0004
0.0005
0.0006
0.0007
-15 -10 -5 0 5
D
i
o
d
e

C
u
r
r
e
n
t

I
D

(
A
)

Diode Voltage V
d
(V)

Figure 3. Same Schematic Diagram with V1=5 V
only up to two significant figures. From Fig. 1, I
D
could
have nonzero values that are very close to zero. In this
experiment, these nonzero values were not observed due to
the limitations of the measuring instrument, the multimeter
that is used. At positive values of V
D
, the values of I
D
are
observed to rise exponentially in a very short increase of
V
D
, which the graph on Fig. shows similarly. Looking at the
values at Table 1, the diode seems to behave as a
manipulated switch. When the diode was forward biased, it
allows current to pass through, and this effect is indicated in
the positive values of V
D
and in effect, the exponential
increase of values of I
D
. Consequently, when the diode was
reverse biased, it renders an open circuit, rejecting current
flow as indicated in the negative values of V
D
and the zero
value of I
D
as a correspondence. Much like a valve, it only
opens or allows passage for any liquid moving in one
direction through a pipe. However, it is a property of valve
that allows it to block entry of liquid to the opposite
direction.

The percent difference stated in Table 1 is largely
affected by the inaccurate estimation of the standard value
of I
S
. The value of I
S
is at the recorded room temperature
was derived from the graph shown in Figure 3 below. As
noticeable, the graph does not accurately indicate the
current values for room temperature values. There are no
marks or labels present to indicate accurate current values,
which makes the estimated I
S
that is 10
-2

A very
questionable.

Figure 3. Reverse current as a function of junction
temperature

As a result, the percent difference of the values of I
S
is
high for positive values of V
D
. However, the percent
difference for negative values of I
S
show that the diode is
actually functional. This is because at negative V
D
, the
diode is an open switch and as such must not allow passage
of reverse current, which is shown in the columns for V
D
, I
D

and I
S
.

FURTHER ACTIVITY
If V
1
is set to 10 V, the resulting values are 0.5295 V for
the diode voltage V
D
and 2.98 x 10
-4
A for the diode
current. V
1
is indicated with its new value on Fig. 4.


The equation for the circuit following Kirchhoffs
voltage law for V
D
is as follows:

) (

)
where V
T
is approximately 26 mV or 0.026 V, I
S
is
approximately 10
-8
A, and V
1
is equal to 5 V. The resulting
value for V
D
is 0.6099 V, which is 15.20% different from
the previously calculated value that is 0.5295 V. This
discrepancy is largely due to the inaccurate estimation of I
S

based on the graph stated in the specifications sheet for
1N4148.

The team assisted the group of Adi in specifying for the
value of I
S
in the specifications sheet, and was also assisted
by the group of Prado by being lent with their diode as the
diode originally used was actually damaged and led to
irrelevant results in the experiments.
V. CONCLUSION
In this experiment, the Shockley diode model was
observed in laboratory conditions. The IV curve for a typical
silicon diode was also observed based on the data on the
diode current and diode voltage recorded.
It is recommended that more accurate valuation for the
standard reverse saturation currents of diodes are made
possible, as this largely affects the interpretation of the
recorded data in the experiment
VI. REFERENCES

[1] Boylestad, R. L.,& Nashelsky, L. (2002).
Electronic Devices And Circuit Theory.
Singapore: Pearson Educatio Asia Pte Ltd. 10-14.
[2] Berkeley Wireless Research Center. (2003). The
Diode: A First Glance at the Device. Retrieved
from:
http://bwrcs.eecs.berkeley.edu/IcBook/Additional
Material/diode.pdf
Figure 4. Schematic diagram with V
1
=5V.