Hi everyone,

I have bought an oscillator which can generate a sinewave at 50MHz with Vmak=5V and Vmin= -0.5V. i would like to build a clipping circuit to clip off the negative part of my sinewave for futher use.i have tried to use a diode (1N914) but it doesn't seem to work. can anyone please advice me on how to build an effective clipping circuit to clip off the negative part of my sinewave? Is there any suitable diode which i an use for this purpose?

Thanks very much for your help. Thank you very much..

 

You can use zener diodes to clip the negative part of the sinewave. But since you only want -0.5V, a standard rectifier (1N4001) might do, but your diode should do either (clipping to aprox. -0.72V), with better results. Also, did you use series resistors in conjunction with the diodes (diodes are in parallel with the supply, after the resistors)?
I think you can find a circuit like that in Malvino's book, "Electronics Principles".

 

I suspect the problem is due to the use of ordinary diodes to clip a 50 MegaHertz signal. I think 1n914's and 1n4001's are not going to respond fast enough to be of much use at that frequency.

hgmjr