The top circuit, in the diagram above, is a half-wave rectifier and you can see the circuit’s effects on a sinusoidal signal. What is the bottom circuit and how would it effect a sinusoidal input?

What is a P-N Junction? A p-n junction is a fundamental building block of modern electronics, formed by joining together two types of semiconductor materials: p-type (positive) and n-type (negative).

This circuit was designed to meet a medical application’s requirement to drive a laser diode with reasonable precision and a minimum of components and footprint (the device is now in clinical trials).

Find a downloadable version of this story in pdf format at the end of the story. Silicon Schottky diodes are used in power applications because of their low forward voltage drop, which allows lower ...