Ministry Of Higher Education

Northern Technical University

Technical College /Mosul
Department Of Medical Instruments

ZENER DIODE
APPLICATION
Medya Ahmed Hejazi
Stage 2 A

SUPERVISED BY
GHASAN AHMED AL-KHASSAB

0202 1441
 Contents

Subject Page No.

Introduction 1

History Of Zener Diodes 1

Operation 2

Constructio 4

Surface Zeners 4

Experiment 5

Aim Of Experiment 5

Apparatus required 5

Theory Of Experiment 5

Procdure 6

Claculations and observations 7

Result 8

CONCLUSION 8

REFERENCES 9
 ZENER DIODES
Introduction

A Zener diode is a special type of diode designed to reliably allow current to flow
"backwards" when a certain set reverse voltage, known as the Zener voltage, is reached.

Zener diodes are manufactured with a great variety of Zener voltages and some are
even variable. Some Zener diodes have a sharp, highly doped p–n junction with a low
Zener voltage, in which case the reverse conduction occurs due to electron quantum
tunnelling in the short space between p and n regions − this is known as the Zener effect,
after Clarence Zener. Diodes with a higher Zener voltage have a more gradual junction and
their mode of operation also involves avalanche breakdown. Both breakdown types are
present in Zener diodes with the Zener effect predominating at lower voltages and
avalanche breakdown at higher voltages.

Zener diodes are widely used in electronic equipment of all kinds and are one of
the basic building blocks of electronic circuits. They are used to generate low-power
stabilized supply rails from a higher voltage and to provide reference voltages for circuits,
especially stabilized power supplies. They are also used to protect circuits from
overvoltage, especially electrostatic discharge (ESD).

Zener Diode

History Of Zener Diodes

The device is named after American physicist Clarence Zener, who first described
the Zener effect in 1934 in his primarily theoretical studies of breakdown of electrical
insulator properties. Later, his work led to the Bell Labs implementation of the effect in
form of an electronic device, the Zener diode.
1
Operation

A conventional solid-state diode allows significant current if it is reverse-

biased above its reverse breakdown voltage. When the reverse bias breakdown voltage is
exceeded, a conventional diode is subject to high current due to avalanche breakdown.
Unless this current is limited by circuitry, the diode may be permanently damaged due to
overheating. A Zener diode exhibits almost the same properties, except the device is
specially designed so as to have a reduced breakdown voltage, the so-called Zener voltage.
By contrast with the conventional device, a reverse-biased Zener diode exhibits a
controlled breakdown and allows the current to keep the voltage across the Zener diode
close to the Zener breakdown voltage. For example, a diode with a Zener breakdown
voltage of 3.2 V exhibits a voltage drop of very nearly 3.2 V across a wide range of reverse
currents. The Zener diode is therefore ideal for applications such as the generation of
a reference voltage (e.g. for an amplifier stage), or as a voltage stabilizer for low-current
applications.

Current-voltage characteristic of a Zener diode with a breakdown voltage of

3.4 V.

2
 Temperature coefficient of Zener voltage against nominal Zener voltage.

Another mechanism that produces a similar effect is the avalanche effect as in

the avalanche diode.[2] The two types of diode are in fact constructed the same way and
both effects are present in diodes of this type. In silicon diodes up to about 5.6 volts,
the Zener effect is the predominant effect and shows a marked negative temperature
coefficient. Above 5.6 volts, the avalanche effect becomes predominant and exhibits a
positive temperature coefficient.[3]

In a 5.6 V diode, the two effects occur together, and their temperature coefficients
nearly cancel each other out, thus the 5.6 V diode is useful in temperature-critical
applications. An alternative, which is used for voltage references that need to be highly
stable over long periods of time, is to use a Zener diode with a temperature coefficient (TC)
of +2 mV/°C (breakdown voltage 6.2–6.3 V) connected in series with a forward-biased
silicon diode (or a transistor B-E junction) manufactured on the same chip.[4] The forward-
biased diode has a temperature coefficient of −2 mV/°C, causing the TCs to cancel out.

Modern manufacturing techniques have produced devices with voltages lower than
5.6 V with negligible temperature coefficients,[citation needed] but as higher-voltage devices
are encountered, the temperature coefficient rises dramatically. A 75 V diode has 10 times
the coefficient of a 12 V diode.
3
Construction

The Zener diode's operation depends on the heavy doping of its p-n junction. The
depletion region formed in the diode is very thin (<1 µm) and the electric field is
consequently very high (about 500 kV/m) even for a small reverse bias voltage of about 5
V, allowing electrons to tunnel from the valence band of the p-type material to the
conduction band of the n-type material.

At the atomic scale, this tunneling corresponds to the transport of valence band
electrons into the empty conduction band states; as a result of the reduced barrier between
these bands and high electric fields that are induced due to the high levels of doping on
both sides. The breakdown voltage can be controlled quite accurately in the doping process.
While tolerances within 0.07% are available, the most widely used tolerances are 5% and
10%. Breakdown voltage for commonly available Zener diodes can vary widely from 1.2
V to 200 V.

For diodes that are lightly doped the breakdown is dominated by the avalanche
effect rather than the Zener effect. Consequently, the breakdown voltage is higher (over
5.6 V) for these devices.

Surface Zeners

The emitter-base junction of a bipolar NPN transistor behaves as a Zener diode, with
breakdown voltage at about 6.8 V for common bipolar processes and about 10 V for lightly
doped base regions in BiCMOS processes. Older processes with poor control of doping
characteristics had the variation of Zener voltage up to ±1 V, newer processes using ion
implantation can achieve no more than ±0.25 V. The NPN transistor structure can be
employed as a surface Zener diode, with collector and emitter connected together as its
cathode and base region as anode. In this approach the base doping profile usually narrows
towards the surface, creating a region with intensified electric field where the avalanche
breakdown occurs. The hot carriers produced by acceleration in the intense field sometime
shoot into the oxide layer above the junction and become trapped there. The accumulation
of trapped charges can then cause 'Zener walkout', a corresponding change of the Zener
voltage of the junction. The same effect can be achieved by radiation damage.
4
The emitter-base Zener diodes can handle only smaller currents as the energy is dissipated
in the base depletion region which is very small. Higher amount of dissipated energy
(higher current for longer time, or a short very high current spike) causes thermal damage
to the junction and/or its contacts. Partial damage of the junction can shift its Zener voltage.
Total destruction of the Zener junction by overheating it and causing migration of
metallization across the junction ("spiking") can be used intentionally as a 'Zener
zap' antifuse.

Experiment

1- Aim of experiment

In this experiment, we try to observe the relation between the voltage and corressponding
current generated. We will then plot it to get the dependence.

2- Apparatus required

a) A Zener diode

b) A DC voltage supplier

c) Bread board

d) 100Q resistor

e) 2 multimeter for measuring current and voltage

f) Connecting wires

3- Theory of experiment

A Zener Diode is constructed for operation in the reverse breakdown re- gion.The relation
between I-V is almost linear in this case Vz = Vz0 + Izrz , where rz is the dynamic resistance
of the zener at the operating point. Vz0 is the voltage at which the straight-line
approximation of the I-V characteristic intersects the horizontal axis. After reaching a
certain voltage, called the breakdown voltage, the current increases widely even for a small
change in voltage. However, there is no appreciable change in voltage. So, when we plot
the graph, we should get a curve very near to x-axis and almost parallel to it for quite
sometime. After the Zener potential Vz there will be a sudden change and the graph will
become exponential
5
4- Procedure

We first construct the circuit as shown in the figure with the 100Q resistance and
a variable DC input voltage.

Now, we start increasing the voltage till there is some reading in the multimeter for current.
Then, we note that reading. Now, we start increasing the input voltage and take the
corressponding current readings. We get a set of values and construct a V vs I graph. This

6
graph gives us the I-V characteristics. The slope of the curve at any point gives the dynamic
resistance at that voltage.

5- Claculations and observations

Measurement of V and I in reverse bias
S.No Voltage( V) Current(mA)
1 1.62 0
2 1.79 0.001
3 1.96 0.001
4 2.8 0.002
5 3.2 0.002
6 3.6 0.003
7 4 0.003
8 4.4 0.003
9 4.8 0.004
10 5 0.004
11 5.2 0.005
12 5.45 0.006
S.No Voltage( V) Current(mA)
13 5.6 0.008
14 5.75 0.011
15 5.86 0.014
16 5.96 0.017
17 6.01 0.023
18 6.03 0.024
19 6.06 0.028
20 6.07 0.029
21 6.08 0.031
22 6.09 0.033
23 6.11 0.035
24 6.15 0.046
25 6.21 0.077
26 6.23 0.095
27 6.26 0.148
28 6.28 0.243
29 6.30 0.58
30 6.31 1.931
31 6.32 4.2
32 6.33 7
33 6.34 12.9
34 6.35 14.7
35 6.36 19.7
36 6.367 20.7

On plotting V vs I graph, we get the following:

7
6- Result

The breakdown potential, also called the zener potential i.e Vz w 6.30V.

7- Conclusion

The precautions are quite similar to that taken in a normal diode i.e

 Excessive flow of current may damage the diode

 Current for sufficiently long time may change the characteristics
 Zener diodes are used in voltage regulation in circuits because even when, a large
current flows through, their voltage does not change appreciably.

8
References

[1]- Saxon, Wolfgang (July 6, 1993). "Clarence M. Zener, 87, Physicist And Professor
at Carnegie Mellon". The New York Times.

[2]- Jump up to:a b Millman, Jacob (1979). Microelectronics. McGraw Hill. pp. 45–
48. ISBN 978-0071005968.

[3]- Jump up to:a b Dorf, Richard C., ed. (1993). The Electrical Engineering
Handbook. Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 457. ISBN 0-8493-0185-8.

[4]- https://electronicsgyan.online/

[5]- https://www.electrical4u.com/

[6]- https://www.electronics-notes.com/