Experiment 3 - The Ideal Diode

Now you got to know the most important features of a diode. It blocks current completely in one direction, however lets current flow unhindered in the other direction. This is the behavior of an ideal diode.

An ideal diode shows...

• an infinite resistance in the reverse direction,
• no resistance in the forward direction.

To illustrate this behavior you draw a current-voltage diagram, the so-called I-V characteristics. The I-V characteristics of an ideal diode look like this...

I-V characteristics of an ideal diode.

It is certainly clear to you that there is no such thing as an ideal diode. Therefore, in the next experiments you look into several aspects of the ideal diode and expand the model to fit a real diode.