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A semiconductor diode, the most commonly used type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material with a p–n junction connected to two electrical terminals. [5] It has an exponential current–voltage characteristic. Semiconductor diodes were the first semiconductor electronic devices.
Absorption is the active process in photodiodes, solar cells and other semiconductor photodetectors, while stimulated emission is the principle of operation in laser diodes. Besides light excitation, carriers in semiconductors can also be generated by an external electric field, for example in light-emitting diodes and transistors.
Avalanche diodes (commonly encountered as high voltage Zener diodes) are constructed to break down at a uniform voltage and to avoid current crowding during breakdown. These diodes can indefinitely sustain a moderate level of current during breakdown. The voltage at which the breakdown occurs is called the breakdown voltage.
A p–n diode is a type of semiconductor diode based upon the p–n junction. The diode conducts current in only one direction, and it is made by joining a p-type semiconducting layer to an n-type semiconducting layer. Semiconductor diodes have multiple uses including rectification of alternating current to direct current, in the detection of ...
Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) produce light (or infrared radiation) by the recombination of electrons and electron holes in a semiconductor, a process called "electroluminescence". The wavelength of the light produced depends on the energy band gap of the semiconductors used.
The DO-41 (also known as DO-204-AL or SOD66) is a common semiconductor package used to encapsulate rectifier diodes (i.e., diodes meant to handle larger currents and voltages than signal diodes). [ 11 ] [ 14 ] The name is derived from the JEDEC descriptor "Diode Outline, Case Style 41". [ 2 ]
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 I-V curve for a diode showing avalanche and Zener breakdown.. 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.