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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]
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 ...
When the absorber is in the primary circuit, e.g. a Zener diode (or LED) with voltage V z connected "backwards" across the primary windings, the current waveshape is a triangle with the time t open determined by the formula I p = I peak,m - V z ×T open /L p, here I peak,m being the primary current at the time the switch opens. When the ...
Description: Schematic V-A characteristics of avalanche or Zener diode with a breakdown voltage of 17 V. (Note: with breakdown voltage over ca. 6 V, avalanche diodes are used instead of Zener diodes; also the voltage scale is different on the forward-biased positive side than the reverse-biased negative side.)
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.
Zener diodes have a low breakdown voltage. A standard value for breakdown voltage is for instance 5.6 V. This means that the voltage at the cathode cannot be more than about 5.6 V higher than the voltage at the anode (though there is a slight rise with current), because the diode breaks down, and therefore conducts, if the voltage gets any ...
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