I was having a look at the circuit design of Keithley 236 SMU. You can find this part of the circuit in the Keithley 236 Service Manual.
Q47 is a BJT. Only the base and emitter are connected, which means it is used as a diode.
I also made a simulation to compare these three variations, which seems not a lot of difference. (Pink is voltage, blue is current)
My questions are:
- Is it better to use diode-connected BJT to enhance its flowing current without affecting too much the forward voltage in this circuit?
- Are there any particular reasons against using a normal diode or a diode-connected BJT in the original design?
- What are the differences among those three kinds of diodes (i.e. diode-connected BJT vs base-emitter BJT diode vs diode)? (I know there is an answer about diode-connected BJT and diode here.)
- In this design, all these three "diodes" are used. How could I determine which one to use in the design?
My initial guess is the cost and part availability but I would like to know if there is any design consideration about this.
Best Answer
I suspect, without knowing the specs, that the criteria is for this design is bandwidth of the ideal rectifier (with Op-Amp negative feedback) for the transistor characteristics selected in the Vbe(f) vs Ibe(f).
The Ideality Factor =1 for which the active diode is best for lowest Rce due to current gain in a common size is commonly used for DC current mirrors.
But it is the BW of the rectifier for which a transistor is chosen with low Cbe(low pF) in the BE junction , it will perform better in a spectral sweep , carrier rectifier than a small signal diode.
The fact is that diode capacitance increases with size and current ratings at V=0 and bulk resistance Or incremental saturation R also reduces with increased current rating.
Without knowing which diode and transistor characteristics were used, the forward voltage is irrelevant as the Op-Amp loop gain can null the input error.
So my opinion is they selected this for the frequency response of a low cost transistor, rather than a more expensive PIN diode.
This answer might be improved if then application specs were given.