The breakdown voltage of an insulator is the minimum voltage that causes a portion of an insulator to become electrically conductive.
The breakdown voltage of a diode is the minimum reverse voltage to make the diode conduct in reverse. Some devices (such as TRIACs) also have a forward breakdown voltage.
Read more about Breakdown Voltage: Solids, Gases and Vacuum, Diodes and Other Semiconductors
Famous quotes containing the word breakdown:
“The ideal of brotherhood of man, the building of the Just City, is one that cannot be discarded without lifelong feelings of disappointment and loss. But, if we are to live in the real world, discard it we must. Its very nobility makes the results of its breakdown doubly horrifying, and it breaks down, as it always will, not by some external agency but because it cannot work.”
—Kingsley Amis (1922–1995)