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In principle, avalanche breakdown only involves the passage of electrons and need not cause damage to the crystal. Avalanche diodes (commonly encountered as high voltage Zener diodes) are constructed to break down at a uniform voltage and to avoid current crowding during breakdown. These diodes can indefinitely sustain a moderate level of ...
In electronics, the Zener effect (employed most notably in the appropriately named Zener diode) is a type of electrical breakdown, discovered by Clarence Melvin Zener. It occurs in a reverse biased p-n diode when the electric field enables tunneling of electrons from the valence to the conduction band of a semiconductor , leading to numerous ...
Because the avalanche breakdown is uniform across the whole junction, the breakdown voltage is nearly constant with changing current [clarification needed] when compared to a non-avalanche diode. [1] The Zener diode exhibits an apparently similar effect in addition to Zener breakdown. Both effects are present in any such diode, but one usually ...
The Zener diode is therefore well suited for applications such as the generation of a reference voltage (e.g. for an amplifier stage), or as a voltage stabilizer for low-current applications. [2] Another mechanism that produces a similar effect is the avalanche effect as in the avalanche diode. [2]
Severely overloaded Zener diodes in reverse bias shorting. A sufficiently high voltage causes avalanche breakdown of the Zener junction; that and a large current being passed through the diode causes extreme localised heating, melting the junction and metallisation and forming a silicon-aluminium alloy that shorts the terminals.
The effect is process dependent, but it can be minimized. Diodes may also be selected for low multistate noise. [10] A commercial example of an avalanche diode noise generator is the Agilent 346C that covers 10 MHz to 26.5 GHz. [11] Electronics portal
Avalanche diodes These are diodes that conduct in the reverse direction when the reverse bias voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage. These are electrically very similar to Zener diodes (and are often mistakenly called Zener diodes), but break down by a different mechanism: the avalanche effect. This occurs when the reverse electric field ...
The strict avalanche criterion (SAC) is a formalization of the avalanche effect. It is satisfied if, whenever a single input bit is complemented, each of the output bits changes with a 50% probability. The SAC builds on the concepts of completeness and avalanche and was introduced by Webster and Tavares in 1985. [4]