Dictionary of Electrical Engineering

Commonly used terms in the Electrical industry.

varactor
a reverse biased PN or Schottky diode that uses the voltage variable depletion region as a tuning element or as a nonlinear frequency multiplier.
varactor diode
a diode designed to have a repeatable and high capacitance vs. reverse voltage characteristic. A two terminal semiconductor device in which the electrical characteristic of primary interest is the voltage dependent capacitance.
varactor tuner
a tuning circuit at the input of a television receiver that uses a varactor diode. The tuning capability comes from the characteristic of a varactor, or varicap, to function as a voltage-sensitive capacitance.