Types of diode

There is a host of different types of diode that are manufactured and used in today's electronics. Each type has different properties and this makes them suitable for different applications or jobs.

• Cat's whisker: As already mentioned, this type of diode was the earliest type to gain widespread acceptance. It consisted of a small wire placed on a piece of mineral crystal. This created a small point contact diode, which although unreliable was sufficiently good to enable radio transmissions to be heard when used in a "crystal set."
  
  
• Laser diode: This type of diode is different to the ordinary light emitting diode in that it produces laser (coherent) light. They are used in many applications including CD and DVD drives. Although much cheaper than other forms of laser generators, these diodes are more expensive than ordinary LEDs.
  
  
• Light emitting diodes: The light emitting diode or LED is one of the most popular types of diode. When forward biased with current flowing through the junction, light is produced. The diodes use component semiconductors, and can produce a variety of colours, although the original colour was red.
  
  
• Photodiode: When light strikes a PN junction it can create electrons and holes, causing a current to flow. As a result it is possible to use semiconductors to detect light. These types of diodes can also be used to generate electricity. For some applications, PIN diodes work very well as photodetectors.
  
  
• PIN diode: This diode type has areas of P-type and N-type silicon, but between them there is an area of intrinsic semiconductor (i.e. no doping). This increases the size of what is termed the depletion region. This type of diode is used in a number of applications including radio frequency switches and as photodiodes.
  
  
• Point contact diode: This type of diode performs in the same way as a simple PN junction diode, but the construction is much easier. They consist of a piece of n-type semiconductor, onto which a sharp point of a specific type of metal wire (group III metal for chemists) is placed. Some of the metal migrates into the semiconductor and produces a PN junction. These diodes have a very low level of capacitance and are ideal for many radio frequency (RF) applications. They also have the advantage that they are very cheap to manufacture, although their performance is not particularly repeatable.
  
  
• PN Junction: The standard PN junction may be thought of as the normal or standard type of diode in use today. These diodes can come as small signal types for use in radio frequency, or other low current applications, or other types may be high current and high voltage ones that can be used for power applications.
  
  
• Schottky diodes: This type of diode has a lower forward voltage drop than ordinary silicon PN junction diodes. At low currents the drop may be somewhere between 0.15 and 0.4 volts as opposed to 0.6 volts for a silicon diode. To achieve this performance they are constructed in a different way to normal diodes having a metal to semiconductor contact. They are widely used as clamping diodes, and in RF applicat