The 740 mV forward voltage drop at 10 A keeps conduction losses manageable in power supply secondary-side rectification, OR-ing diodes in redundant power systems, and freewheeling diodes in motor-drive and DC-DC converter stages. The D²PAK (TO-263) surface-mount package with exposed tab handles the thermal dissipation for these continuous-current levels when the PCB copper area is sized appropriately.
Common-cathode pair — footprint and thermal considerations
The D²PAK (TO-263-3) footprint with two leads and a tab — the tab is the common cathode.
