Semiconductor diode - types of semiconductor diode

There are different types of p – n junctions diodes, depending often on its physical aspect of a diode.

Normal (p–n) diodes,(usually made of doped silicon or germanium) are found in CMOS integrated circuits, which include two diodes per pin and many other internal diodes.

Here i’m going to explain some of them:

Avalanche diodes:

An avalanche diode is a diode that is designed to go through avalanche breakdown at a specified reverse bias voltage. The avalanche breakdown is due to minority carriers accelerated enough to create ionization in the crystal lattice, producing more carriers which in turn create more ionization.

Cat’s whisker or cristal diodes:

A cat's-whisker detector is an antique electronic component consisting of a thin wire that lightly touches a crystal of semiconducting mineral to make a crude point-contact rectifier.

Constant current diodes:

Constant-current diode they allow a current through them to rise to a certain value, and then level off at a specific value. These devices keep the current flowing through them unchanged when the voltage changes.

Gunn diodes:

Gunn diodes are similar to tunnel diodes (made of materials such as GaAs or InP) that exhibit a region of negative differential resistance. With appropriate biasing, dipole domains form and travel across the diode, allowing high frequency microwave oscilators to be built.

Light-emiting diodes (LEDs):

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting..

Thermal diodes:

Thermal diodes are used for conventional p–n diodes used to monitor temperature due to their varying forward voltage with temperature.

Zener diodes:

A Zener diode is a diode which allows current to flow in the forward direction in the same manner as an ideal diode, but will also permit it to flow in the reverse direction when the voltage is above a certain value known as the breakdown voltage, "zener knee voltage", "zener voltage" or "avalanche point".