ANALOG ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS × Diode

Zener breakdown

Posted by AJ × 23:23

Breakdown occurs with heavily doped junction regions (ie. highly doped regions are better conductors). If a reverse voltage is applied and the depletion region is too narrow for avalanche breakdown (minority carriers cannot reach high enough energies over the distance traveled ) the electric field will grow. However, electrons are pulled directly from the valence band on the P side to the conduction band on the N side. This type of breakdown is not destructive if the reverse current is limited.