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varactor

 
Dictionary: va·rac·tor   (və-răk'tər, vă-) pronunciation
n.
A semiconductor device in which the capacitance is sensitive to the applied voltage at the boundary of the semiconductor material and an insulator.

[VAR(IABLE) + (RE)ACT(ANCE) + -OR1.]


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Electronics Dictionary: varactor diode
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PN junction diode with a high junction capacitance when revers biased. Most often used as a voltage controlled capacitor. The varactor is also called: varicap, tuning diode and epicap.


Wikipedia: Varicap
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Varicap schematic symbol

In electronics, a varicap diode, varactor diode, variable capacitance diode, variable reactance diode or tuning diode is a type of diode which has a variable capacitance that is a function of the voltage impressed on its terminals.

Contents

Applications

Varactors are principally used as a voltage-controlled capacitor, rather than as rectifiers. They are commonly used in parametric amplifiers, parametric oscillators and voltage-controlled oscillators as part of phase-locked loops and frequency synthesizers.

Operation

Internal structure of a varicap
Operation of a varicap

Varactors are operated reverse-biased so no current flows, but since the thickness of the depletion zone varies with the applied bias voltage, the capacitance of the diode can be made to vary. Generally, the depletion region thickness is proportional to the square root of the applied voltage; and capacitance is inversely proportional to the depletion region thickness. Thus, the capacitance is inversely proportional to the square root of applied voltage.

All diodes exhibit this phenomenon to some degree, but specially made varactor diodes exploit the effect to boost the capacitance and variability range achieved - most diode fabrication attempts to achieve the opposite.

In the figure we can see an example of a crossection of a varactor with the depletion layer formed of a p-n-junction. But the the depletion layer can also be made of a MOS-diode or a Schottky diode. This is of big importance in CMOS and MMIC technology.

See also

Further reading

  • Mortenson, Kenneth E. (1974). Variable capacitance diodes: the operation and characterization of varactor, charge storage and PIN diodes for RF and microwave applications. Dedham, Mass.: Artech House.
  • Penfield, Paul and Rafuse, Robert P. (1962). Varactor applications. Cambridge, M.I.T. Press.

External links


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Electronics Dictionary. Copyright 2001 by Twysted Pair. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Varicap" Read more