This Design Idea describes a versatile test circuit for zener diodes after yet another misread zener diode had infiltrated the ranks of 1N4148 diodes assembled on a pc board. As a bonus, the circuit ...

To measure a zener diode’s breakdown voltage, you need a dc voltage source whose voltage exceeds that of the zener voltage. In Figure 1, resistor R SER provides voltage drop between V IN and V ZEN. In ...

For the longest time, Zener diode regulators have been one of those circuits that have been widely shared and highly misunderstood. First timers have tried to use it to power up their experiments and ...

[Kevin] doesn’t stock zener diodes anymore. Why? Because for everything he used to use zeners, he now uses TL431 bandgap voltage references. These look like zener diodes but have an extra terminal.

There are times when you need to bias a low-current load and simply didn’t want to add another voltage regulator, or where you need a reasonable level of voltage accuracy, so a simple voltage divider ...

An unusual switching capacitive shunt regulator from Supertex can cut mains stand-by power to less that 20mW. It replaces the traditional Zener diode with a mosfet switch in a capacitively-coupled ...

Zener diodes behave differently from regular diodes by allowing current to flow in reverse at a specific voltage. This video explains how that property helps stabilize voltage in electronic circuits.