What is the PIV rating or Peak Inverse Voltage rating?

A PIV rating or Peak inverse voltage rating is defined as the value at which a Semiconductor device can withstand or sustain, beyond this value voltage device damage permanently. In short, the P-N junction barrier is damaged because of the high inverse voltage or the opposite voltage. For a Silicon diode, the PIV is 0.7 Volts whereas for the Germanium (Ge) diode it is 0.6 Volts.

This PIV rating is always mentioned on the device by the manufacturer. So, users cannot decide the Peak Inverse voltage rating of a diode or any other semiconductor device.

How does the manufacturer decide the PIV rating of the diode?

A PIV rating of the diode or other devices depends on the:

• The manufacturing material is being used to make the device. For example Si (Silicon) or Ge (Germanium) inside the device.
• Quality of the silicon used as a semiconductor inside the device.
• Quantity of the material being used inside the device.
• The Heat evacuation system is being used. This can also have a big impact on the PIV rating variation of the device.

Suppose we have two devices of the same material Si. Their PIV rating may slightly differ from the manufacturer’s mentioned rating due to the inappropriate quality or the quality of the material inside.

So we can conclude that the PIV rating or the Peak Inverse Voltage of the diode or any other semiconductor device like a Thyristor, Transistor, etc. always decided by the manufacturer.

Caution: A “Peak Inverse Voltage” and “Peak Inverse Voltage rating” are different things. Here we will discuss both. A “Peak Inverse Voltage” is the voltage that is going to be applied to the device due to the circuit conditions. Whereas the “Peak Inverse Voltage rating” is the decided value by the manufacturer as discussed previously.

Is a Lower PIV good or higher?

As the PIV rating is the applied reverse voltage across the device above which the device burns, a PIV should always be lesser than the PIV rating. if the PIV of the diode exceeds the rated value, the device gets damaged permanently.

Differences between the PIV rating and PIV?

S.no	PIV rating	PIV
1	The PIV rating is defined by the manufacturer only.	PIV is the maximum reverse voltage that going to appear across the device is known as the PIV.
2	The user has no control over this.	The user has all the advantages to decide or protect the device.