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Measured zener voltages

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paulossant:
I bought a pack of zener diodes from ebay a while back. Since it came from ebay, I didn't had any datasheet for those.
Now I just tested a bunch of zener diodes voltages vs current, and got a really spread of expected values. I expected the rated value around 1mA, but some of those are really far from that.
Are those really bad zeners, or this is expected?
The only one that behaved very well was the 5V1 zener, as expected since around 5V they are usually very well behaved.


All pictures and the .xls file are attached

madires:
Look for datasheets of Zener diodes with the same wattage or package to get an idea about the specs. For example, in case of 500mW low voltage Zeners the Zener voltage is often stated for a current of 5mA.

paulossant:
That's ok, but what surprised me, is that the IV curve hardly resembles a "knee" shape, as stated all over electronic books.

markce:
The standard low voltage zener diodes are arround 400mW max, so mind the test current.
Different types of zener diodes have quite a different temp coefficient.
The internal resistance also influences the clamp voltage.

tszaboo:
Low voltage zeners are terrible. They always have been.

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