Electronic – Why is the diode forward voltage constant

diodesvoltage

When you have a diode with a certain barrier voltage (e.g., 0.7 V for Si) and you apply a voltage higher than this barrier potential, why does the voltage across the diode remain at 0.7V?

I understand that the output voltage across the diode will increase as a sinusoidal input is applied until it reaches the 0.7 mark, I don't seem to understand why it remains constant after that point however.

It makes sense to me that any potential greater than this barrier potential will allow current to pass, and correspondingly, the potential across the diode should be the applied voltage minus the 0.7 V.

Best Answer

The voltage across the diode does not remain at about 0.7 V. When you increase the current, the forward voltage also increases (here: 1N400x):

1N4001 forward voltage vs. forward current

And when you increase the current even further, the power dissipation becomes too large, and the diode eventually becomes a LED (light-emitting diode) and shortly afterwards a SED (smoke-emitting diode). So a larger forward voltage cannot happen in practice.