correct spice modelling of zener noise

[hugocoolens@gmail.com]

I'm looking for a subcircuit for Spice which models noise produced
by a diode in its breakdown region correctly.

regards,
Hugo

 

[Doug White]

"hugocoolens@gmail.com" <hugocoolens@gmail.com> wrote in news:7e83e2a8-
e667-4412-a145-af69bde99bbc@g10g2000yqh.googlegroups.com:

I'm looking for a subcircuit for Spice which models noise produced
by a diode in its breakdown region correctly.

Good luck. Many "Zeners" are actually avalanche breakdown devices, and the
noise characteristics are quite different from true Zeners. As a result,
you would have to know the internal workings of the diode before you could
begin to come up with a good model. True Zeners will have a fairly
Gaussian noise distribution. The histogram of the noise of avalanche
diodes tends to be asymmetrical. It's been several decades since I messed
with this stuff, but my recollection is that true Zeners are onlu used up
to ~ 3 or 4 volts. Anything higher than that will usually be an avalanche
device. Technology may have changed all of that in the meantime.

Doug White