Semiconductor devices in regulated rectifiers

TREMENDOUS advances have been made in semiconductor technology during the past 5 years. One of the many fields to benefit from this progress has been power rectification. The extended area, germanium junction diode is now a reality. The possibility of using silicon instead of germanium to provide greater freedom from ambient temperature limitations looks promising. These new rectifying elements have improved the size, weight, efficiency, and reliability of rectifier equipments. To keep pace with the rectifying elements, there is need for corresponding improvements in regulating circuitry. It is the author´s belief that this challenge will be met by the wider application of semiconductor devices in regulating circuits. This digest shows some uses of these devices in the feedback loop of a regulated metallic rectifier. For a more general treatment of this subject, see reference 1.