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 current is caused by electron hole pairs being swept across the electric field of the depletion region when generated thermally near the edge.
The term is particularly applicable to is mostly semiconductor junctions, especially diode and thyristor.
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