Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
In semiconductor devices, a backward diode (also called back diode [2]) is a variation on a Zener diode or tunnel diode having a better conduction for small reverse biases (for example –0.1 to –0.6 V) than for forward bias voltages. The reverse current in such a diode is by tunneling, which is also known as the tunnel effect. [3] [4] [5]
English: Thermionic effect diode under reverse bias (retarding potential or retarding diode), useable for measuring the work function of the cold collector. Date 17 June 2013, 21:31:00
English: Band diagram of a backward diode. Energy of an electron is on the vertical axis, position in the device is on the horizontal axis. 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.
Reverse leakage current in a semiconductor device is the current when the device is reverse biased.. Under reverse bias, an ideal semiconductor device should not conduct any current, however, due to attraction of dissimilar charges, the positive side of the voltage source draws free electrons (majority carriers in the n-region) away from the P-N junction.
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.
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.
Under reverse bias, the diode equation's exponential term is near 0, so the current is near the somewhat constant reverse current value (roughly a picoampere for silicon diodes or a microampere for germanium diodes, [1] although this is obviously a function of size).
Under a high reverse-bias voltage, the p-n junction's depletion region widens which leads to a high-strength electric field across the junction. [2] Sufficiently strong electric fields enable tunneling of electrons across the depletion region of a semiconductor , leading to numerous free charge carriers .