Reverse leakage current

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Reverse leakage current in a semiconductor device is the current from that semiconductor device when the device is reverse biased.

When a semiconductor device is reverse biased it should not conduct any current at all, even though, as a temperature effect, it will form electron-hole pairs (see Carrier generation and recombination) at both sides of the union and therefore a very small current, which is named Reverse leakage current, and this current doubles for each increment of 10°C in temperature.

The term is particularly applicable to is mostly semiconductor junctions, especially diode and thyristor.

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