I'm trying to learn how Zener diodes work and I think I get the overall concept (regulating voltage to the zener voltage level), but there's one thing I don't understand. I'm looking at this diode and see that it's zener voltage is 3.3V, but it's max forward voltage is 0.9V.
Why is the forward voltage so much lower than the zener voltage? Is it because the diode is generally never placed in a forward biased direction (i.e. current should only generally travel in a reverse biased direction)?
Update
I was originally under the assumption that the max forward voltage was the maximum voltage the diode could handle in a forward biased direction. Thanks to @SomeHardwareGuy for setting me straight. The max forward voltage is the voltage required to have current flow through the diode in a forward direction.