Question

Which of the following statement about a Si diode is true?

(a) Cut-in voltage is always higher than the reverse breakdown voltage

(b) Reverse saturation current is in the order of mA

(c) Cut-in voltage is 1V

(d) Reverse scale current is in the order of nA

The question was posed to me by my college professor while I was bunking the class.

My question comes from Voltage-Ampere Characteristics of Diode in portion Diode Circuit of Analog Circuits

Answer 1

Correct option is (d) Reverse scale current is in the order of nA

To elaborate: Cut-in voltage of Si diode is 0.7V but reverse breakdown voltage is almost 50V for the Si diode. So clearly cut-in voltage is much less than the reverse breakdown voltage. Reverse saturation current is in the order of nano amperes. Scale current is another name of saturation current. It is named as scale current because saturation current is directly proportional to cross sectional area of a diode.