Clamping hierarchy — what each voltage means on the board
The 1.5SMCJ100CA: The reverse standoff of 100 V defines the working voltage the diode presents in normal operation — above it, the device enters conduction. At 162 V maximum clamping, the protected rail gets roughly 60% voltage headroom above the 100 V standoff — enough to absorb inductive kick and lightning-surge transients without propagating a damaging overvoltage to sensitive ICs downstream.
