July 2012
Beginner
576 pages
9h 46m
English
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Chapter 2
The Diode
The main characteristic of a diode is that it conducts electricity in one direction only. Historically, the first vacuum tube was a diode; it was also known as a rectifier. The modern diode is a semiconductor device. It is used in all applications where the older vacuum tube diode was used, but it has the advantages of being much smaller, easier to use, and less expensive.
A semiconductor is a crystalline material that, depending on the conditions, can act as a conductor (allowing the flow of electric current) or an insulator (preventing the flow of electric current). Techniques have been developed to customize the electrical properties of adjacent regions of semiconductor crystals, which allow the manufacture of small diodes, as well as transistors and integrated circuits.
When you complete this chapter, you can do the following:
- Specify the uses of diodes in DC circuits.
- Determine from a circuit diagram whether a diode is forward- or reverse-biased.
- Recognize the characteristic V-I curve for a diode.
- Specify the knee voltage for a silicon or a germanium diode.
- Calculate current and power dissipation in a diode.
- Define diode breakdown.
- Differentiate between zeners and other diodes.
- Determine when a diode can be considered “perfect.”
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I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
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I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.