Electrical Engineering › Section P · Semiconductor theory, diodes, and transistors › Topic P.5

Peak detectors, clippers, clampers, and voltage multipliers

Pair a diode with a capacitor or a reference voltage and it stops being just a rectifier. It can hold a peak, cut off part of a wave, shift a whole wave up or down, or stack peaks into a higher dc voltage.

In this topic

  • Shaping waves with diodes
  • The peak detector
  • Worked example: smoothing a rectifier
  • Clippers
  • Biased clippers and protection
  • Worked example: a two-level clipper
  • Clampers
  • Worked example: clamp, then double
  • Voltage multipliers
  • Cockcroft-Walton ladders and practical limits
  • Common mistakes to avoid
  • Key takeaways

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