How Do Diodes Work? An Explanation

[esmeco]

I do not know much about diodes and I wanted to know if someone could explain me how do semi conductor diodes work and how do we determine in a circuit(dc and ac) the input voltage and the output voltage...

 

[SGT]

See a non-technical explanation at
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/diode.htm

 

[berkeman]

The wikipedia entry for diodes is pretty good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode

It's important to have the V-I plot of a diode in your head when you are working on problems that include diodes. You should learn the diode equation

$$I = I_s (e^{\frac{qV}{kT}} -1)$$

and learn about the reverse breakdown characteristic (used in Zener diodes, for example).

 

[wolram]

Was there a vacuum tube version of a zener diode?

 

[berkeman]

Was there a vacuum tube version of a zener diode?

Interesting question. So I googled +"vacuum tube" +"zener diode" and got some hits. Go to this one for example:

http://members.aol.com/sbench101/

and do a text search on Zener. That will get you down the page to one way to do it with tubes.

 

[wolram]

Interesting question. So I googled +"vacuum tube" +"zener diode" and got some hits. Go to this one for example:

http://members.aol.com/sbench101/

and do a text search on Zener. That will get you down the page to one way to do it with tubes.

Great site, Thanks berkeman.