Hi Everyone, I can any one tell me what could a diode,s minimum operating temperature be? From the dustsheets everywhere all I see is the maximum junction temperature.

Or can I assume the minimum storage temperature to be equal to the minimum operating temperature?

Thanx.

 

From the article, the lower point depends on the diode - http://www.extremetemperatureelectronics.com/tutorial3.html

The lowest point can be quite low - http://www.lakeshore.com/temp/sen/sd670_po.html

 

From the article, the lower point depends on the diode - http://www.extremetemperatureelectronics.com/tutorial3.html

The lowest point can be quite low - http://www.lakeshore.com/temp/sen/sd670_po.html

At one company I worked at, we had an environmental chamber "Shake 'n' Bake" for QC testing of some telemetry transmitters. When we brought the Shake n Bake down to about -40F, the 7400 series TTL chips would all latch on....basically they'd go into superconduction....not a good thing!

I'm not sure what the characteristics of things like Shottkey diodes are at low temperatures...it would be an interesting experiment! With Peltier wires, you can easily achieve really cold temperatures...not like our antiquated refrigerator on our Shake n Bake!

Eric

 

Sounds like my friend working on the first iteration of the Minuteman missile, trying to hand select 7400 logic IC's to clock at 40 MHz. Guess time of flight wasn't enough to chill the chips.

 

Thanks guys!

 

The Fairchild data sheet for the 1N4007 http://www.fairchildsemi.com/ds/1N/1N4001.pdf gives an operating junction temperature of -55C to +175C. I would expect other diodes to operate at similar temperatures.