Diode
abstract electronic component with two terminals that allows current to flow in one direction
A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts electric current primarily in one direction (asymmetric conductance). It has low (ideally zero) resistance in one direction and high (ideally infinite) resistance in the other.
A semiconductor diode, the most commonly used type today, is a crystalline piece of semiconductor material with a p–n junction connected to two electrical terminals. It has an exponential current–voltage characteristic. Semiconductor diodes were the first semiconductor electronic devices. The discovery of asymmetric electrical conduction across the contact between a crystalline mineral and a metal was made by German physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1874. Today, most diodes are made of silicon, but other semiconducting materials such as gallium arsenide and germanium are also used.
The obsolete thermionic diode is a vacuum tube with two electrodes, a heated cathode and a plate, in which electrons can flow in only one direction, from the cathode to the plate.
Among many uses, diodes are found in rectifiers to convert alternating current (AC) power to direct current (DC), demodulation in radio receivers, and can even be used for logic or as temperature sensors. A common variant of a diode is a light-emitting diode, which is used as electric lighting and status indicators on electronic devices.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11656. The Library of Congress control number is sh85038101. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1874.
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This entry incorporates text from “Diode” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.