What is the difference between reverse saturation current and leakage current?

What is the difference between reverse saturation current and leakage current?

3 Answers. so if you apply a strong reverse bias (v≪0), then the reverse current will be very close to Is, the saturation current. In a real diode, there may be other leakage paths aside from through the PN junction itself that allow current to pass, so the leakage current may be greater than the saturation current.

What is reverse saturation current?

The reverse saturation current is the part of the reverse current in a semiconductor diode which is caused by the diffusion of minority carriers from the neutral regions to the depletion region.

Is reverse saturation current same as drift current?

The drift current which comes from the minority carriers is called reverse saturation current and it generally dominates the junction.

Why is the reverse bias current referred to as leakage current?

When a diode is reverse biased, the width of the depletion region increases. Minority carriers of each material are pushed through the depletion zone to the junction. This action causes a very small leakage current to occur. Generally, leakage current is so small that it can be considered as negligible.

What is leakage current in reverse bias?

Reverse leakage current in a semiconductor device is the current from that semiconductor device when the device is reverse biased. Hence, it is also called reverse saturation current. The term is particularly applicable to mostly semiconductor junctions, especially diodes and thyristors.

Why it is called reverse saturation current?

In a PN junction diode, the reverse saturation current is due to the diffusive flow of minority electrons from the p-side to the n-side and the minority holes from the n-side to the p-side. it is a current which is produced due to the small reverse voltage when pn junction diode is reverse biased.

Does the reverse bias current depends on voltage?

The current flows effortlessly while in forward bias, but reverse bias does not permit current to flow through the diode. The level of the current depends on the forward voltage while in forward bias, however, the amount of current is minimal or negligible in reverse bias.

What is breakdown voltage in reverse bias?

When a reverse bias is applied no conduction should take place. But due to the presence of minority charge carriers, a small reverse current flows through the diode known as leakage current. The corresponding applied reverse voltage at this point is known as Breakdown Voltage of the PN junction diode.