March 2014
Intermediate to advanced
624 pages
26h 33m
English
We have found that a p-n junction biased in the reverse direction exhibits a small, essentially voltage-independent saturation current. This is true until a critical reverse bias is reached, for which reverse breakdown occurs (Fig. 5–19). At this critical voltage (V br) the reverse current through the diode increases sharply, and relatively large currents can flow with little further increase in voltage. The existence of a critical breakdown voltage introduces almost a right-angle appearance to the reverse characteristic of most diodes.
There is nothing inherently destructive about reverse breakdown. If the current is limited to a reasonable value by the external circuit, the p-n junction can be operated in reverse ...