INTRODUCTION.
Diodes has many wide functions in electrical circuits and their presence is ubiquitous in modern electronics, over 1 billions of diodes are produced annually.
The first set of diodes were made from vacuum tube which is made up of a cathode plate, evacuated glass tube,anode plate and a fillament.they consume much of electricity and are slow to respond in circuits,but mordern diodes don't consume electricity the maximum voltage drop in a circuit is 0.004v, they are made from semiconductors like sillicon which is abundant in nature and cheap in production.
TYPES OF DIODES.
1.shockttey diodes
2.tunnel diodes
3.varactor or varicap diodes
4.PIN diodes
5.photo diodes
6.step recovery diodes
7.BARRIT diodes
8.GUNN diodes
9.LED
10.Zener diodes
11.LASER diodes.
TYPES OF DIODE AND
APPLICATIONS.
1.Shockttey diodes
these diodes are the most common diodes in electronics boards and PCBs they are made with metal to semiconductor junction,they have a voltage drop of approximately 0.004V in circuits therefore they are much efficient.
Applications of shockttey diodes
used as rectifier
Used in circuits as rectifier.
2.Tunnel diodes.
it was invented by leo esaki in August of 1956 ,it is also known as esaki diode. Tunnel diode is a type of diode whose current reduces as current increases in circuits,it switches on and off at high speed thus it is used mostly as oscillators and amplifier.
Symbol of a tunnel diode
Tunnel application as an oscillator is shown below
3. Veractor or vericap diode.
Varactors are highly used in electronics industry because they provide a variable capacitance in a circuit by the controlled voltage,thus they are highly employed in radio frequency and radio circuits design.
Their applications includes radio frequency fillter as a demodulator and tunnel into frequencies,Frequency and phase modulator and voltage controlled oscillators.
Circuit Symbol of a veractor.
Circuit application of veractor diode.
4. PIN diode.
Circuit symbol.
5.photo diode.
When semiconductors are subjected to light they produce current in terms of millions volts,that why industries do sheild them to avoid interference.photo diodes are an exception to this ,they are made with a transparent casing inorder to recieve light waves.
Photodiode symbol
Photo diodes finds their applications in photomentry,they can also be coupled in series to make a solar cell.
6.step recovery diodes
They are also use to provide oscillation and they are used in microwave generation.
Step recovery diode symbol.
Anode cathode
7.BARRIT diodes
Also known as barrier injection Transit time diodes,they are applicable in microwaves generation.
8.GUNN diodes
Gunn diode is a PN junction diode, this sort of diode is a semiconductor device that has two terminals. Generally, it is used for producing microwave signals.
Symbol of Gunn diode.
9.LEDs.
Known as light emitting diodes,they are diodes that produce light of visible spectrum.When connected in forward bias it produce light,they are the commonest in the world.
Applications includes lightning, indicator display and so on.
They have various colors like yellow,blue,red,green, Orange.
10.zener diodes
It was invented by Dr.clarence melvin zener from southern Illinois University,they are made to conduct electricity in the reverse bias when a certain voltage reference is reached.
They are also called avanlache diodes and when they conduct backwards it is called zener break down. Applications includes as a regulator and switch.
Zener diode symbol.
And lastly............
11.LASER diodes.
They produce monochromatic beam of choherent light,it stands for light application by stimulated emission of radiation.Applications are for reading CDs in DVD players, driving away birds, communication, plastic surgery, burning,measuring, checking precision of angle 90° in constructions,laser gun e.t.c.
Note: this image below is a rectifier that consists of four shockttey diodes connected together to form a rectifier.
I hope you understand this tutorial about diodes types if you have any question feel free to ask by commenting on this post.
