The Schottky diode (named after German physicist Walter H. Schottky) is a semiconductor diode with a low forward voltage drop. A typical application is discharge-protection for solar cells connected to lead-acid batteries. While standard silicon diodes have a forward voltage drop of about 0.6 volts, Schottky diodes have a drop of only about 0.2 volts.
A Schottky diode uses a metal-semiconductor junction as a Schottky barrier (instead of a semiconductor-semiconductor junction as in conventional diodes). This Schottky barrier results in both very fast switching times and low forward voltage drop.
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