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Diode I-V diagram. Breakdown voltage is a parameter of a diode that defines the largest reverse voltage that can be applied without causing an exponential increase in the leakage current in the diode. Exceeding the breakdown voltage of a diode, per se, is not destructive; although, exceeding its current capacity will be.
A diode's high resistance to current flowing in the reverse direction suddenly drops to a low resistance when the reverse voltage across the diode reaches a value called the breakdown voltage. This effect is used to regulate voltage ( Zener diodes ) or to protect circuits from high voltage surges ( avalanche diodes ).
English: Diode I-V diagram. Includes three main areas of operation: breakdown, reverse-biased, and forward-biased. Vbr denotes the breakdown voltage, and Vd denotes the voltage that is typically considered "on" (conducting current).
For example, a diode with a Zener breakdown voltage of 3.2 V exhibits a voltage drop of very nearly 3.2 V across a wide range of reverse currents. 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]
The backward diode has the unusual property that the so-called reverse bias direction actually has more current flow than the so-called forward bias. The forward I–V characteristic is the same as that of an ordinary P–N diode. The breakdown starts when reverse voltage is applied. In the case of Zener breakdown, it starts at a particular ...
The device behaves as two diodes connected in series. A small leakage current flows. This is the reverse blocking mode. If the reverse voltage is increased, then at critical breakdown level, called the reverse breakdown voltage (V BR), an avalanche occurs at J1 and J3 and the reverse current increases rapidly. SCRs are available with reverse ...
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 ...
This occurs up to a point known as the "reverse breakdown voltage" at which point conduction begins (often accompanied by destruction of the device). In the tunnel diode, the dopant concentrations in the P and N layers are increased to a level such that the reverse breakdown voltage becomes zero and the diode conducts in the reverse direction.