Ads
related to: zener diode current flow direction
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A Zener diode is a special type of diode designed to reliably allow current to flow "backwards" (inverted polarity) when a certain set reverse voltage, known as the Zener voltage, is reached. Zener diodes are manufactured with a great variety of Zener voltages and some are even variable.
On the far right is a Zener diode. In most diodes, a white or black painted band identifies the cathode into which electrons will flow when the diode is conducting. Electron flow is the reverse of conventional current flow. [2] [3] [4] A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts current primarily in one direction (asymmetric ...
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 ...
Reverse bias is in the direction of little or no current flow; Negative charge carriers (electrons) can easily flow through the junction from n to p but not from p to n, and the reverse is true for positive charge carriers (Electron hole). When the p–n junction is forward-biased, charge carriers flow freely due to the reduction in energy ...
Forward-biased diodes have low impedance approximating a short circuit with a small voltage drop, while reverse-biased diodes have a very high impedance approximating an open circuit. The diode symbol's arrow shows the forward-biased direction of conventional current flow.
The Shockley diode equation relates the diode current of a p-n junction diode to the diode voltage .This relationship is the diode I-V characteristic: = (), where is the saturation current or scale current of the diode (the magnitude of the current that flows for negative in excess of a few , typically 10 −12 A).
The fundamental characteristic of a diode is that current can flow only one way through it, which is defined as the forward direction. A diode bridge uses diodes as series components to allow current to pass in the forward direction during the positive part of the AC cycle and as shunt components to redirect current flowing in the reverse ...
A Zener diode, when reverse biased (as shown in the circuit) has a constant voltage drop across it irrespective of the current flowing through it. Thus, as long as the Zener current (I Z) is above a certain level (called holding current), the voltage across the Zener diode (V Z) will be constant.