University of California at Berkeley

Physics 111 Laboratory

Lab 4 Supplementary Material

• Diode IV Characteristics: A Mathcad program that determines a diodes saturation current and n parameter from experimental data.
• Convergent Iteration: An animated demonstration of a convergent equilibrium iteration analysis for a resistive load line and a linearized diode characteristic.

The iterations steps are:

1. Calculate current from voltage across resistor.
2. Find diode voltage that would have produced this current.
3. Calculate voltage across resistor by subtracting diode voltage from source voltage.

There are three graphs and one table in the iteration, as defined in this snapshot:



The The Mathcad routine that produced the animation is also available.

• Divergent Iteration: An animated demonstration of an equilibrium iteration analysis that fails to converge.

The iteration steps are:

1. Calculate voltage across diode by subtracting resistor voltage from source voltage.
2. Calculate diode current from diode voltage.
3. Calculate voltage across resistor from current.

The Mathcad routine that produced the animation is also available.

Lab 4: Diode IV Characteristic, Convergent and Non-Convergent iteration.

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