How can a Zener diode be destroyed?

Excessive temperature will destroy a zener diode, and because it both drops voltage and conducts current, it produces its own heat in accordance with Joule’s Law (P=IE). Therefore, one must be careful to design the regulator circuit in such a way that the diode’s power dissipation rating is not exceeded.

What is gate protection diode?

(2) Protection diode of the Gate The protection diode is formed for ESD protection use of the Gate electrode of the MOSFET. VGSS is decided by the breakdown voltage of this protection diode.

Can gate voltage be higher than drain?

Can I apply the gate voltage of a mosfet to a higher voltage than the drain voltage in order to raise the source voltage without causing problems? Yes, it’s common practice when using N -Channel MOSFETS for high-side switches.

How do you destroy a diode?

If the reverse bias voltage exceeds a maximum value, the breakdown voltage, the diode will conduct current and an excessive current flow can destroy the device. This is called avalanche breakdown. A second form of breakdown, tunneling (or Zener) breakdown, can also occur.

What happens when a Zener diode is shorted?

The zener normally fails SHORT circuited in reverse bias, but before it get short circuited, its terminal voltage goes up, that is it behaves like open circuit for few seconds and then goes to short circuit permanently. So using one zener will not protect the device always.

How does a Zener clamp work?

The Zener diode behaves just like a normal general-purpose diode consisting of a silicon PN junction and when biased in the forward direction, that is Anode positive with respect to its Cathode, it behaves just like a normal signal diode passing the rated current.

How do clamping diodes work?

A diode clamp (a simple, common type) consists of a diode, which conducts electric current in only one direction and prevents the signal exceeding the reference value; and a capacitor, which provides a DC offset from the stored charge.

Why is gate protection required for MOSFET?

MOSFETs have the following characteristics: ยท Since the MOSFET is a voltage-driven device, no DC current flows into the gate. In order to turn on a MOSFET, a voltage higher than the rated gate threshold voltage Vth must be applied to the gate.

Do MOSFETs need gate resistor?

You do not strictly need a base resistor. Not only do MOSFETs not have bases (they have gates), but the gate is (very) high impedance. Except when the MOSFET is changing states, the gate current is essentially zero.

What is the gate threshold voltage?

The gate-source threshold voltage is the voltage that is required to conduct (usually) 100 uA of current into the drain. Different MOSFETs have different definitions and some devices define the threshold voltage at up to 1 mA drain current.

What is gate voltage?

The gate-source voltage, VGS, of a FET transistor is the voltage that falls across the gate-source terminal of the transistor, as shown above. The gate-source voltage, VGS, is a very important voltage because it is the voltage which is responsible for turning off a JFET or a depletion MOSFET transistor.

Can We put a Zener diode across gate and drain instead?

In order to prevent a mosfet from damage of excessive voltage on Vgs (normally rated at +/-20V), we put a zener diode (less than 20 v) across the Gate and Source. Can this put across Gate and Drain instead? Came across such a scenario in the datasheet of LTC4100 (cds.linear.com/docs/en/datasheet/4100fc.pdf).

What is the function of Zener diode?

The Zener also acts as a regular diode, clamping Vgs at -0.7V or thereabouts, instead of allowing it to reach -10V; as it would do if OUTB stayed on for a long time, then was switched off. Show activity on this post. Here is a fragment from one of my project where I use mosfet as reverse polarity protection (for battery input):

Can a Zener power a MOSFET?

Most MOSFETs won’t be able to handle that and will burn out (or blow up), or they would if it weren’t for the Zener. The Zener will effectively clamp Vgs at 15V, which the MOSFET WILL be able to handle.

What is the purpose of a Zener in a linear circuit?

For more info, ask the Linear people. A zener can be connected between the drain and gate if you are trying to protect against a high energy transient on the drain that the zener by itself is too small to absorb (such as from a large inductive load).