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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 ...
A subsurface Zener diode, also called a buried Zener, is a device similar to the surface Zener, but the doping and design is such that the avalanche region is located deeper in the structure, typically several micrometers below the oxide. Hot carriers then lose energy by collisions with the semiconductor lattice before reaching the oxide layer ...
The equation is called the Shockley ideal diode equation when the ideality factor equals 1, thus is sometimes omitted. The ideality factor typically varies from 1 to 2 (though can in some cases be higher), depending on the fabrication process and semiconductor material .
As recombination proceeds and more ions are created, an increasing electric field develops through the depletion zone that acts to slow and then finally stop recombination. At this point, there is a "built-in" potential across the depletion zone. A p–n junction diode in low forward bias mode. The depletion width decreases as voltage increases.
In contrast, n-channel depletion-mode devices have a conductive channel naturally existing within the transistor. Accordingly, the term threshold voltage does not readily apply to turning such devices on, but is used instead to denote the voltage level at which the channel is wide enough to allow electrons to flow easily.
The depletion layer between the n and p sides of a p–n diode serves as an insulating region that separates the two diode contacts. Thus, the diode in reverse bias exhibits a depletion-layer capacitance , sometimes more vaguely called a junction capacitance , analogous to a parallel plate capacitor with a dielectric spacer between the contacts.
The diffusion current and drift current together are described by the drift–diffusion equation. [1] It is necessary to consider the part of diffusion current when describing many semiconductor devices. For example, the current near the depletion region of a p–n junction is dominated by the diffusion current. Inside the depletion region ...
In semiconductor physics, the depletion region, also called depletion layer, depletion zone, junction region, space charge region, or space charge layer, is an insulating region within a conductive, doped semiconductor material where the mobile charge carriers have diffused away, or been forced away by an electric field. The only elements left ...