Diode emission coefficient and saturation current simulations

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yaseer

Joined Aug 13, 2016
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HI there,

I have created a Zener diode model in LTSpice, and now I am trying to simulate it with different values of the saturation current (IS), emission coefficient (N) and breakdown voltage (BV) using Spice.
These terms are not entirely clear to me, so analyzing the results of my simulations would be problematic. This is my simple understanding of the above:

Saturation current - This is the maximum reverse current caused by the combination of the minority particles in the p and n junctions, beyond which the zener diode enters breakdown voltage and this current exceeds rapidly, likely to damage the diode.

Emission coefficient - This concept is not clear to me. From what I read online, it is a value between 1 and 2. Closer to 1 means greater forward bias. But how do I apply this to my Zener diode simulations?

Breakdown voltage - The voltage which is greater than the barrier potential, beyond which the reverse current is not longer negligible and increases greatly.

I would highly appreciate if the accuracy of my understanding of the terms could be confirmed. Also, how do I put all this together to analyze and conclude my results of varying IS, BV and N i.e what results would I expect when changing these values?

Many thanks!
 

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