Advantages of TVS diodes compared to other electronic protection devices

Advantages of TVS diodes compared to other electronic protection devices

TVS and Zener Diodes: Compared with traditional Zener diodes, TVS diodes have a larger P/N junction area. This structural improvement enables TVS to have stronger high-voltage withstand capacity, while also reducing the voltage cutoff rate. Therefore, it has a better effect on protecting the safety of low operating voltage circuits in handheld devices.

TVS diodes and Ceramic capacitor: Many designers are willing to use surface mounted Ceramic capacitor for ESD protection, which is not only cheap but also simple in design. However, such devices are weak in withstanding high voltage. The impact of 5kV will cause about 10% of the Ceramic capacitor to fail. When it reaches 10kV, the damage rate will reach 60%, and TVS can withstand 15kV voltage. During the use of handheld devices, due to frequent contact with the human body, each port must be able to withstand at least 8kV contact shock (IEC61000-4-2 standard), indicating that the use of TVS can effectively ensure the qualification rate of the final product.

TVS diodes and MLV: Multilayer metal oxide structure devices (MLVs) can also effectively suppress instantaneous high voltage surges. These devices have a nonlinear voltage current (impedance performance) relationship, and the cutoff voltage can reach 2-3 times the initial cutoff voltage. This characteristic is suitable for protecting circuits and devices that are less sensitive to voltage, such as power circuits. The TVS diode has a better voltage cutoff factor and also has a lower capacitance, which is very important for the high-frequency ports of handheld devices, as excessive capacitance can affect data transmission, causing distortion or degradation. The various surface packaging ofTVS diodes are suitable for pipeline assembly requirements, and the chip structure is easy to integrate other functions, such as EMI and RFI filtering protection, which can effectively reduce device costs and optimize overall design.

Another feature that cannot be ignored is that transient suppression diodes can be easily integrated with other devices on one chip. There are many devices that integrate functions such as EMI filtering and RFI protection with TVS, which not only reduce the number of devices used in the design and reduce costs, but also avoid the accompanying self inductance that is easily induced when wiring on PCB boards.