The development of new power semiconductor models

The new generation of power semiconductor devices is occurring at the same time as several other key developments. These are: new processes and/or fabrication techniques are being used to generate new devices rather than variations on existing device structures; the availability of a new generation of analog and mixed-signal simulators that extend the available models significantly past those provided by SPICE based simulators is encouraging system-level and board-level simulations; and the availability of an analog hardware description language, such as MAST (which is fueling the ability to do board level and system-level simulation), allows for the direct inclusion of behavioral models not just by the simulator developer but also by any user. The authors look at these trends, particularly the availability of an analog hardware description language (AHDL), and examines their effects on the area of power device modeling. The IGBT and the MAST language are used as illustrative examples