diode characteristics kennethkuhn（二极管特性kennethkuhn）.pdf

Diode Characteristics by Kenneth A. Kuhn Oct. 3, 2007, rev. Sept. 3, 2009, draft –more to come Introduction This paper examines various electrical characteristics of a typical silicon junction diode. Useful mathematical relations are shown and illustrated with plots. All of the plots are based on a typical sample of a very common small signal diode, the 1N4148 using a spreadsheet, diode_plots.xls, written by the author and posted on his web site: . Because parameters vary from diode to diode, these plots should be interpreted as representative rather than absolute. Variations from diode to diode would typically be in the plus or minus several percent. To illustrate temperature effects, several of the plots are created using three temperatures: the high temperature is 100 C, the medium temperature is 25 C, and the low temperature is 0 C. Forward current versus voltage The standard equation for current through a diode is: I = IS * (exp(V/(n*k*T/q)) –1) Eq. 1 Where: I is the current through the diode IS is the reverse saturation current V is the voltage across the diode (can be positive or negative) n is a junction constant (typically around 2 for diodes, 1 for transistors) k is Boltzmann’s constant, 1.38E-23 Joules/Kelvin T is temperature in Kelvins q is the magnitude of an electron charge, 1.609E-19 coulombs Looking at Equation 1 it would appear that the current should decrease as the temperature increases. The exact opposite is what really occurs. The reverse saturation current, I , is S a strong positive function of temperature as discussed below. The increase in IS with temperature more than offsets the effect of T in the exponential above. The junction constant, n, is typically a co