My reason for wanting to pick a Schottky diode is being lead to believe they have lower \$V_F\$ than conventional silicon or germanium ones. So I was a little taken back to look at offerings at Mouser and digi-key. Even for fairly low forward current ratings (100mA would more than suffice), the \$V_F\$ values are really no better than silicon. In fact much worse. Am I just "looking for love in all the wrong places" here?
I'm thinking now I'm missing some key parameters in my search. I may pull my post until I've been a little more thorough. Thanks though!
Here's a typical part whose forward voltage drop of 1V seems ridiculous: BAT41 datasheet
Best Answer
If you run a diode near its rated current, you don't get much advantage, but that has little to do with the process involved. Instead, the limit in such cases is the power dissipated by the package, and for the same current level that implies the forward voltage will be about the same. So the Schottky diode will be wimpier (for the same current) and will not perform much better.
Instead, look at what happens if you run at, say, 10% of rated current. Compare this 40V, 1A Schottky with a classic 50V, 1A 1N4001 but with both run at 100 mA. The Schottky will drop about 0.4 volts, the 1N4001 about 0.8 volts.