Analog Circuits Practice Lab

Experiment-1: Diode Clippers

01-08-2019

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Clippers

I A wave shaping circuit which controls shape of the output

waveform by removing or clipping a portion of the applied
wave.
I Half wave rectifier is the simplest example. (It clips negative
half cycle).
I Also referred as voltage limiters/ amplitude selectors/ slicers.
I Applications:
I In radio receivers for communication circuits.
I In radars, digital computers and other electronic systems.
I Generation for different waveforms such as trapezoidal, or
square waves.
I Helps in processing the picture signals in television
transmitters.
I In television receivers for separating the synchronizing signals
from composite picture signals

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Types of clippers

I According to non-linear devices used: Diode clippers and

Transistor clippers
I According to biasing: Biased clippers and Unbiased clippers
I According to level of clipping: Positive clippers, Negative
clippers and combination clippers
I According to connection: Series clippers and Parallel clippers

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Positive Diode Clipper
Series Clipper
I During positive half cycle of the input waveform, the diode D
is reverse biased which maintains the output voltage at 0 V
I During the negative half cycle of the input, the diode is
forward biased and so the negative half cycle appears across
the output

Figure 1: Positive series clipper and positive shunt clipper

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Positive Diode Clipper

Shunt Clipper
I During the positive half cycle, the diode D is forward biased
and the diode acts as a closed switch
I This causes the voltage drop across the diode or across the
load resistance RL to be zero
I During the negative half cycles of the input signal voltage, the
diode D is reverse biased and behaves as an open switch.
I Consequently the entire input voltage appears across the diode
or across the load resistance RL if R is much smaller than RL .
I Actually the circuit behaves as a voltage divider with an
output voltage of [RL /R + RL ] Vmax = −Vmax when RL >> R

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Negative Diode Clipper

I The negative clipping circuit is almost same as the positive

clipping circuit, with only one difference. If the diodes in
Figure 1 are reconnected with reversed polarity, the circuits
will become for a negative series clipper and negative shunt
clipper, respectively.

Figure 2: Negative series clipper and negative shunt clipper

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Biased Positive Clipper
I In a biased positive clipper, when the input signal voltage is
negative, the diode D is reverse-biased. This causes it to act
as an open-switch. Thus the entire negative half cycle appears
across the load, as illustrated by output waveform
I During the positive half cycle of input signal, if the signal
voltage becomes more than the battery voltage V, then the
diode D is forward biased. The output voltage is equal to + V
and stays at + V as long as the magnitude of the input signal
voltage is greater than the magnitude of the battery voltage V

Figure 3: Biased positive clipper

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Biased Negative Clipper

I A biased clipper comes in handy when a small portion of

positive or negative half cycles of the signal voltage is to be
removed
I When a small portion of the negative half cycle is to be
removed, it is called a biased negative clipper
I Negative clipping can be performed by reversing the battery
and diode polarities in positive clipping circuits

Figure 4: Biased negative clipper

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Summary of Clipper Circuits

Figure 5: Summary of Clipper Circuits

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Summary of Clipper Circuits

Figure 6: Summary of Clipper Circuits

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Combination Clipper

I When a portion of both positive and negative of each half

cycle of the input voltage is to be clipped (or removed),
combination clipper is employed

Figure 7: Combination Clipper

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Combination Clipper

I For positive input voltage signal, when input voltage exceeds

battery voltage +V1 , diode D1 conducts heavily while diode
D2 is reversed biased. So, voltage +V1 appears across the
output
I On the other hand for the negative input voltage signal, the
diode D1 remains reverse biased and diode D2 conducts
heavily only when input voltage exceeds battery voltage V2 in
magnitude. Thus during the negative half cycle the output
stays at −V2 as long as the input signal voltage is greater
than −V2

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Drawbacks of Series and Shunt Diode Clippers

I In series clippers, when the diode is in OFF position, there

should be no transmission of input signal to output. But in
case of high frequency signals, transmission occurs through
diode capacitance which is undesirable. This is the drawback
of using diode as a series element in such clippers.
I In shunt clippers, when diode is in the OFF condition,
transmission of input signal should take place to output. But
in case of high frequency input signals, diode capacitance
affects the circuit operation adversely and the signal gets
attenuated (that is, it passes through diode capacitance to
ground).

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Applications

I Used in speech processing for communications (radio)

applications. The process of clipping raises the overall average
speech power level. It’s a crude form of audio compression.
I Used to change shape of a waveform. A clipper can be used
to convert a sine wave into a rectangular wave, square wave
etc. They can change either the negative or positive
alternation or both alternations of an A.C voltage.
I Circuit Transient protection: Transients can cause
considerable damage to many types of circuits e.g., a digital
circuit. In that case, a clipper diode can be used to prevent
block the transient to the circuit.

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Further Reading

B. Razavi, Fundamentals of Microelectronics, Wiley Student

Edition, 2010.
R. L. Boylestad and L. Nashelsky, Electronic Devices and
Circuit Theory, Pearson, 2008.

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