Zener Diodes

PN Junction – Breakdown Region

PN junction allows very small current to flow,
under reverse biased condition. This current
is mainly due to minority carriers and
independent of applied voltage.
If reverse biased voltage is made too high
and increased beyond a certain point, the
current through the junction increases
abruptly. This voltage is called Breakdown
Voltage VBV.
Exceeding this voltage can cause irreversible
damage to the PN junction diode. As the
reverse voltage increases, the velocity of
minority carriers causing Reverse Saturation current IS increases and
they will have sufficient kinetic energy to release additional carriers.
There are two processes that can cause the breakdown of PN-junction:
Avalanche Breakdown and
Zener Breakdown.
 PN Junction – Breakdown Region
Avalanche Breakdown: As the reverse
biased voltage across the diode
increases, the velocity of the minority
carriers responsible for the reverse
saturation current increases.
Eventually, their velocity and associated
kinetic energy is sufficient to release
additional carriers through collisions with
other stable atomic structures. That is, an
ionization process (breaking of covalent
bonds), where in the valence electrons
absorb sufficient energy to leave the
parent atom. These additional carriers
further aid the ionization process to a
point to cause an avalanche effect.
Avalanche breakdown phenomenon
occurs for lightly doped PN diodes and
requires collision of minority carriers.
 PN Junction – Breakdown Region
 Avalanche region can be brought closer to
the vertical axis by increasing the doping
level of p & n regions of the diodes.
 As VBV decreases to very low levels, such
as -5V, Zener Breakdown mechanism
occurs to increase reverse current sharply.
It occurs because there is a strong electric
field which directly ruptures the covalent
bonds to generate additional charge
carriers resulting in increase of current.
 The above mechanism of breakdown,
prevalent at low levels of VBV, is called
Zener Breakdown and the region is called
Zener Region. Such diodes are called
Zener Diodes.
 Zener breakdown voltage is lower than
Avalanche Breakdown voltage.
 Zener Diodes

The Zener region shown in the figure has a
near vertical drop at a reverse-bias potential
VZ . The curve drops down and away from the
horizontal axis reveals that the current in the
Zener region has a direction opposite to that
of a forward-biased diode.

The slight slope to the curve in the Zener
region indicatels that there is a level of
resistance to be associated with the Zener
diode in the conduction mode. This region of
unique characteristics is employed in the
design of Zener diodes. Graphic symbol of
Zener Diodes is shown in the figure.

For the semiconductor diode the “on” state
supports current in the direction of the arrow
in the symbol. For the Zener diode the
direction of conduction is opposite to that of
the arrow in the symbol. Polarity of VD and VZ
are as shown.
 Zener Diode
Location of the Zener region
can be changed by varying
the doping levels. An increase
in doping that produces an
increase in the number of
added impurities, which
reduces Zener potential. Zener potential
Zener diodes are available
with Zener potentials of 1.8V
to 200 V with power ratings
from 1⁄4 W to 50 W.
Silicon is the preferred
material for manufacturing
Zener diodes due to its
excellent temperature and
current capabilities. Silicon
Zener diode can be assumed
to be ideal with a straight
vertical line at the Zener
potential.
 Zener Diode
Some applications of Zener
diodes swing between the
Zener region and the forward-
bias region. Slight slope in the
characteristic curve in Zener
region indicates small resistive
element that can be ignored Zener potential
and the reduced piecewise
equivalent model will only
have battery Vz in series.
In the Reverse-bias region
below voltage Vz , the
equivalent model of a Zener
diode has a very large resistor.

For the forward-bias region,

the piecewise equivalent is the
same as described for a
normal diode i.e a voltage
source and a small resistor.
Zener Diode Characteristics with Equivalent Model

Zener potential
 Approximate Equivalent of Zener
Analysis of networks employing
Zener diodes is similar to the
analysis of semiconductor diodes,
where in the first step is to
determine the state of the diode,
followed by a substitution of an
appropriate model and a
determination of the other unknown
quantities of the network.
Figure below provides the
approximate equivalent circuits for
each region of a Zener diode
assuming the straight-line
approximations at each break point.
Forward-bias region, reverse biased
region and zener region equivalent
models are shown.
Example:
Question: Determine the reference voltages provided by
the network of shown here, which uses a white LED (4V
drop across it) to indicate that the power is on.
(a) What is the level of current through the LED and the
power delivered by the supply?
(b) How does the power absorbed by the LED compare
to that of the 6-V Zener diode?
Solution: Examine the voltages across all the components
to check their conduction status.
Voltage across white LED: 4 V.
Voltage across VZ1 Zener: 6V.
Voltage across VZ2 : 3.3 V
Voltage across forward-biased silicon diode is 0.7 V.
Voltage across 4 diodes:4+6+3.3+0.7 = 14 V.
Total applied voltage is 40 V; which is then sufficient to
turn on all the elements and establish a proper operating
current.
Contd...
Reference voltages VO1 and VO2 are as follows:
Vo1 = VZ2 + VK = 3.3 V + 0.7 V = 4.0 V
Vo2 = Vo1 + VZ1 = 4 V + 6 V = 10 V
Voltage across white LED VLED = 4 V
Voltage across Resistor R VR = 40 – VLED - Vo2 = 26 V
Current through the network IR = ILED = VR / R
= 26 V / 1.3 k
= 20 mA
Power delivered by the supply is:
Ps = E.Is = E.IR = (40 V).(20 mA) = 800 mW
Power absorbed by the LED is:
PLED = VLED .ILED = (4 V).(20 mA) = 80 mW
Power absorbed by the 6-V Zener diode is:
PZ = VZ .IZ = (6 V)(20 mA) = 120 mW
 Zener Diode – As Voltage Limiter
Zener Diode as Voltage Limiter: Network shown below limits the
voltage to 20V during the +ve portion of the applied voltage and to 0 V for
a -ve excursion.
For Analysis, consider the effect of positive and negative half waves of
the input voltage separately.
For +ve voltages < Zener potential of 20 V, the zener diode will be in
its approximate open-circuit state, and the input signal will simply
distribute across the elements with greater proportion of voltage
appearing across the “System”.
 Zener Diode – As Voltage Limiter
As the input voltage crosses 20V, the Zener diode will turn on and the
voltage across the system will lock in at 20 V. Further increase in the
applied voltage beyond 20V will simply appear across the series resistor,
while the voltage across the system and the forward-biased diode
remaining fixed at 20 V and 0.7V.
For -ve region of the input voltage, the silicon diode is reverse biased and
will be in open circuit state. This will result in: full negative half of the
applied signal will appear across the open-circuited diode and voltage
across the system will be locked in at 0 V.
 Applications of Zener Diodes
Zener diodes are used in
Voltage stabilizers (or) shunt regulators
Surge suppression circuitry for device protection
Over voltage protection circuits.
Clipping and clamping circuits especially peak clippers .
Reference elements.
Switching applications.