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The first paper dealing with avalanche transistors was Ebers & Miller (1955).The paper describes how to use alloy-junction transistors in the avalanche breakdown region in order to overcome speed and breakdown voltage limitations which affected the first models of such kind of transistor when used in earlier computer digital circuits.
In electronics, an avalanche diode is a diode (made from silicon or other semiconductor) that is designed to experience avalanche breakdown at a specified reverse bias voltage. The junction of an avalanche diode is designed to prevent current concentration and resulting hot spots, so that the diode is undamaged by the breakdown.
Avalanche breakdown (or the avalanche effect) is a phenomenon that can occur in both insulating and semiconducting materials. It is a form of electric current multiplication that can allow very large currents within materials which are otherwise good insulators. It is a type of electron avalanche.
A unidirectional device operates as a rectifier in the forward direction like any other avalanche diode, but is made and tested to handle very large peak currents. A bidirectional transient-voltage-suppression diode can be represented by two mutually opposing avalanche diodes in series with one another and connected in parallel with the circuit ...
For a device that makes use of the secondary breakdown effect see Avalanche transistor. Secondary breakdown is a failure mode in bipolar power transistors. In a power transistor with a large junction area, under certain conditions of current and voltage, the current concentrates in a small spot of the base-emitter junction.
In field-effect transistors (FETs), depletion mode and enhancement mode are two major transistor types, corresponding to whether the transistor is in an on state or an off state at zero gate–source voltage. Enhancement-mode MOSFETs (metal–oxide–semiconductor FETs) are the common switching elements in most integrated circuits.
Snapback is a mechanism in a bipolar transistor in which avalanche breakdown or impact ionization provides a sufficient base current to turn on the transistor. It is used intentionally in the design of certain ESD protection devices integrated onto semiconductor chips.
The amount of energy exchanged is controlled by switch S1, which is typically a transistor such as a MOSFET. MOSFETs offer much higher input impedance and lower voltage drop than bipolar junction transistors , and do not require biasing resistors as MOSFET switching is controlled by differences in voltage rather than a current, as with BJTs.