TVS standoff voltage

[cupoftea]

Hi,
In a TVS datasheet, we have the standoff voltage......this is the voltage at which the very tiny leakage current first emerges?

SMAJ TVS

https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Vishay%20Semiconductors/SMAJ5.0-SMAJ188CA.pdf

The voltages that we are interested in are the Breakdown voltage and the voltage at the maximum current......do we always assume that its linear current vs voltage between breakdown voltage , and "voltage at max current"?

 

[FvM]

do we always assume that its linear current vs voltage between breakdown voltage , and "voltage at max current"?

The breakdown characteristic of a TVS or zener diode is hardly linear rather exponential. At best you get an almost ohmic part of the characteristic at very high currents.