Forward transient charge injection in psn diodes at medium to high injection levels

Author

Chudobiak, Michael J. ; Walkey, David J.

Author_Institution

Avtech Electrosystems Ltd., Ottawa, Ont., Canada

Volume

44

Issue

1

fYear

1997

fDate

1/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

190

Lastpage

194

Abstract

The forward transient in psn power diodes has been studied. A new expression, simpler than the conventional one, has been developed for the evolution of the carrier distributions in response to a current step in pin diodes. The usefulness of this expression as an approximate solution for lightly doped psn rectifiers is considered. A critical current density is derived, above which a psn diode behaves as a pin diode. This critical current density is shown to be useful for designing drift step-recovery diodes, and other similar modern power structures that require pulsed forward biasing. In particular, it allows the bias current to be chosen so as to minimize the step-recovery ramp voltage, and it allows an estimate of the maximum stored charge in a drift step-recovery diode commensurate with step-recovery action

Keywords

carrier density; charge storage diodes; current density; p-i-n diodes; power semiconductor diodes; solid-state rectifiers; transient analysis; bias current; carrier distributions; critical current density; current step response; drift step-recovery diodes; forward transient charge injection; high injection levels; lightly doped psn rectifiers; maximum stored charge; medium injection levels; pin diode behaviour; power diodes; psn diodes; pulsed forward biasing; step-recovery ramp voltage; Boundary conditions; Charge carrier lifetime; Charge carrier processes; Critical current density; Diodes; Rectifiers; Space vector pulse width modulation; Steady-state; Transient analysis; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.554810

Filename

554810