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Chapter 13
The zener Diode and the TC zener Reference
13.1 Introduction
The zener diode was the first discrete semiconductor device to be used as a basic
voltage reference. It was created in the late 1950s by its inventor Clarence Zener, a
Westinghouse researcher. Ever since it became commercially available in the early
1960s, the zener diode has been a popular workhorse in countless industrial and
commercial designs worldwide, because of its simplicity, reasonable accuracy, small
size, and low cost. Besides providing a simple means of voltage reference, the zener
diode is also used for biasing, stabilization, switching, and clamping. Before the ...