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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 ...
Some Zener diodes have an abrupt, heavily doped p–n junction with a low Zener voltage, in which case the reverse conduction occurs due to electron quantum tunnelling in the short distance between p and n regions − this is known as the Zener effect, after Clarence Zener.
Clarence Melvin Zener (December 1, 1905 – July 2, 1993) was the American physicist who in 1934 [1] was the first to describe the property concerning the breakdown of electrical insulators. These findings were later exploited by Bell Labs in the development of the Zener diode , which was duly named after him. [ 2 ]
Zener diodes These can be made to conduct in reverse bias (backward), and are correctly termed reverse breakdown diodes. This effect called Zener breakdown, occurs at a precisely defined voltage, allowing the diode to be used as a precision voltage reference. The term Zener diodes is colloquially applied to several types of breakdown diodes ...
The Zener effect is primarily exhibited by reverse-biased diodes and bipolar transistor base-emitter junctions that breakdown below about 7 volts. The breakdown is due to internal field emission, since the junctions are thin, and the electric field is high. Zener-type breakdown is shot noise.
The strength of the depletion zone electric field increases as the reverse-bias voltage increases. Once the electric field intensity increases beyond a critical level, the p–n junction depletion zone breaks down and current begins to flow, usually by either the Zener or the avalanche breakdown processes. Both of these breakdown processes are ...
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Zener can refer to: . Zener diode, a type of electronic diode; Zener effect, a type of electrical breakdown which is employed in a Zener diode; Zener pinning, the influence of a dispersion of fine particles on the movement of low- and high angle grain boundaries through a polycrystalline material