PSPICE Implementation of a New Electro-Thermal Model For

High Power Diodes

F.Profumo,
*
S.Facelli,
*
B.Passerini, **S. Giordano

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica

Politecnico di Torino,
C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24,
10129, Torino, Italy.
Tel. +39-011-5647127
Fax +39-011-5647199
e-mail: profumo@polito.it

*Green Power Semiconductors
Via XX Settembre 10/5
16121 Genova, Italy
Tel: +39-011-5805124
Fax: +39-011-5083224
e-mail: info@gpsemi.it

**Dipartimento di Ingegneria
Biofisica ed Elettronica,
Universit di Genova,
Via Opera Pia 11-a,
16145 Genova, Italy
Tel: +39-010-353 2899
Fax: +39-010-353-2777
e-mail: giorda@dibe.unige.it

Abstract-- In this paper, a new PSPICE implemented electro
thermal model of high power diodes is described. The model is
based on an approximated solution of the minority carriers
diffusion equation. In the first part of the paper, the model is
briefly described pointing out the assumptions on which it is
based and describing the implementation approach. Then, the
model is validated by means of comparison with experimental
measurements and with the results obtained from other two
reference models.

I. INTRODUCTION
In the field of power electronics, electro-thermal models are
essential tools for predicting devices long term reliability,
designing the optimum cooling system and accurately
choosing the circuit protections. The rigorous approach to
the power device electro-thermal simulation requires
generally too much effort and it is not a viable choice for
circuit simulations. In fact, the complete solution of the
problem would require to account for non-linearities and 3D
effects in both the electrical and the thermal models that are
extremely demanding both in terms of computational
resources and model definition complexity.
However, it is generally possible to reduce the complexity of
the problem by taking some simplifying assumptions and by
limiting the types of studies to which the model is devoted. A
common approach consists in using a standard circuit
simulator (like SPICE, SABER, etc. ) to implement the
model of the circuit to be analysed. This generally gives a
good understanding of the global circuit functioning without
being extremely demanding in terms of computational
resources. Unfortunately, the device models that come with
these simulators are generally not adequate when the
attention of the design engineer must focus on the
component behaviour. The method that has been widely
adopted to overcome this inconvenience, has been to use the
same circuit simulator to build more sophisticated circuit
models in the form of either sub-circuit or subroutines
depending on the type of simulator. These models can then
be used within the complete circuit model in those critical
positions where the device behaviour needs to be studied.
The topic of device modelling for circuit simulation has been
addressed by many authors in a quite large number of
papers. In [1] Kraus and Mattausch make an exaustive
analysis of the status and trends of this subject. The concepts
used to implement device models in circuit simulators, from
the most accurate and time consuming, can be concisely
summarised in:
- numerical solution (direct discretisation of device
equations);
- approximated solution;
- transformation;
- lumped models;
- functional models;
The model presented in this paper belongs to the second
category of the above list. The aim of this new power diode
model implementation has been to reduce the required model
parameters. Less parameters, in fact, simplify the model
tuning for a given device and reduce the need of
experimental tests and of data which are often difficult to
obtain.
In order to compare the presented approach with other
existing ones, two diode models belonging to the third and
the fourth category have been also implemented. The two
models chosen as reference for this work have been the ones
presented by Lauritzen in [2] and [3] (lumped model) and by
Strollo in [4] and [5] (transformation). In order to compare
the three modelling approaches, the results obtained from
both the reference models and the presented model have
been compared with experimental measurements. The
comparison have been carried on for the case of surge
current transient and high di/dt reverse recovery.
II. MODELLING APPROACH
The modelling approach is based on a simplified circuital
representation of the diode equations that govern the forward
conduction, reverse recovery and reverse blocking states. In
Fig.1 a schematic representation of the PIN diode structure
during the forward conduction reverse recovery transition
is reported. As it can be noted, the intrinsic (N
-
) diode base,
is flooded by a carriers plasma which average
concentration is much higher than the base doping
concentration (high injection level). Part of the diode
0-7803-6404-X/00/$10.00 (C) 2000

injected current, due to recombination in the emitter regions,
does not reach the N
-
region (J
n1
and Jp2). Thus, the currents
that effectively contributes to the carriers plasma formation
are just Jp1 (at the P
++
- N
-
junction) and Jn2 (at the N
-
-

N
-
-
junction).
When the reverse recovery phase begins (diode current
becomes negative) the carrier concentration in the P
-
base
starts to decrease. At a certain point, the carrier
concentration at the P
++
-N
-
junction becomes zero. This is
the time instant at which the diode starts to block reverse
voltage. As the reverse recovery phase proceeds the plasma
detaches from the junction and the space charge region starts
to build up. The reverse recovery phase terminates when all
the excess carriers have been removed from the diode base.

Excess carriers concentration
P++
N++
N--
X=0 X=W
Base doping Profile
10
20
10
13
J t J p1
J n1
J n2
J p2
J t

Fig.1: Diode base during forward conduction and reverse
recovery.
The carrier diffusion and storage
within the base of the PIN diode, under
some simplifying assumptions (mono-
dimensionality, high injection levels,
quasi-neutrality) can be described by
means of the well known diffusion
equation:

c c c

2
2
a
dx
d
D
dt
d
(1)
where: c [cm
-3
] is the free carriers concentration in the base
region, [s] is the high injection levels carriers lifetime and
D
a
[cm
2
/s] is the ambipolar diffusion constant given by:

p n
p n
a
D D
D D 2
D
+

(2)

where D
n
and D
p
are the electron and holes diffusion
constants.
The boundary conditions associated with Eq. 1 are usually
given in terms of injected current J
t
[A/cm
2
] and emitters
recombination currents J
n1
and J
p2
as in Eq. 3 and 4.
1 n
0 x
a
J Jt
1 b
b
dx
d
D q +
+

c
(3)

2 p
W x
a
J Jt
1 b
1
dx
d
D q
+

c
(4)

where b is the electron and holes mobility ratio = n/p and
J
n1
, J
p2
are the emitter recombination currents. These
currents are generally expressed in terms of the carriers
concentration at the junctions by means of Eq. 5 and 6:
0 x
2
1 1 n
h J

c (5)
W x
2
2 2 p
h J

c (6)
where h
1
and h
2
[A cm
4
] are constant parameter
(10
-14
<h
1
;h
2
<5 10
-14
).
It can be shown that Eq.1, under the simplifying
assumptions already mentioned, can be circuitally
represented by means of the R-C network of Fig. 2. Voltages,
currents and the parameters R, C, G and dx have the
following meaning:
- the voltage at the nodes 1, 2, ..., N+1 is equivalent to the
excess carriers concentration in the diode base;
- the current in the resistors Ri represents dc/dx;
- dx is the space discretisation step equal to W/N where N
is the number of the circuit elementary RC cells;
- Ri*dx can be chosen equal to 1
.
dx;
- Gi*dx is given by
2
L dx where L is the ambipolar
diffusion length defined as:

a
D
;
- C*dx is dx/D
a

Fig. 2: Circuital representation of the carrier diffusion and
storage within the base of the PIN diode.
It must be pointed out that when the carrier concentration at
x=0 becomes zero (final stage of the reverse recovery) the
carries plasma detaches from the P
++
-N
-
junction (see Fig. 1).
Starting form this instant, the boundary conditions Eq.(3)
and Eq.(4) are no longer valid. Thus, the circuit of Fig.2
which intrinsecally implements these boundary conditions by
means of the current sources at both ends should be modified
in order to account for moving boundaries as the space
charge region builds up. This problem can be solved as
explained in [6] by introducing an auxiliary variable u which
has the following properties:
- u(x)=c(x)-kJ
r
(where k is a constant parameter and J
r
is
the reverse recovery current density) within the carriers
storage region;
-
0
dx
d
2
2

u
outside the carriers storage region.
The carrier concentration c outside the storage region is
forced to zero. By using this simplified approach it is
possible to maintain the same boundary conditions for the
0
G2*dx
0
C1*dx Ci*dx
1/(Da*q)*Jt*b/(b+1) ni
CN*dx
R2*dx
0
G1*dx
0
C2*dx
GN*dx
n2
0
RN+1*dx
0
Jn1*1/(Da*q)
1/(Da*q)*Jt*1/(b+1)
RN*dx nN
0
nN+1 R1*dx
Jp2*1/(Da*q)
Ri*dx
Gi*dx
0
n1
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whole reverse recovery transient and directly obtain the
position of the space charge moving boundary x
sc
.

III. PSPICE MODEL IMPLEMENTATION
The circuit of Fig. 2 can be conveniently implemented
starting from the network node potential equations (see
Eq.7) and representing them in PSPICE by means of ABM
blocks.
) (
ni
ni
1 ni 1 ni ni
V dx G
dt
dV
dx C I dx R V V
+
(7)
The obtained elementary cells have the form represented in
Fig.3, 4, 5. The first and the last cell implement Eq.7 plus
the boundary conditions (Eq.3 and 4) and the recombination
in the emitter regions (Eq. 5 and 6).
n2
10
0
{V(%IN1)/(V(%IN2)+1m)*V(%IN3)/(V(%IN3)+1)}
{1/tau}
n1
10
0
n0
Da
{dx}
n0
Jt
u0
b
2 PWR
{Da/(dx**2)}
{h1/(Da*q)}
I1
0v
1.0

Fig. 3: First elementary cell (P
++
side).
0v
1.0
ni+1
ni
{1/tau}
10
0
{Da/(dx**2)}
ni-1

Fig. 4: Middle elementary cell.

2
PWR
nN-1
10
0
b
nN+1
nN+1
Da
Jt
{Da/(dx**2)}
0v
1.0
{h2/(Da*q)}
{dx}
{1/tau}
nN
{V(%IN1)/(V(%IN2)+1)*1/(V(%IN3)+1)}
10
0

Fig. 5: Last elementary cell (N
++
side).

For the presented simulation results a total of eight nodes
have been used. In order to allow the potential of nodes n
i

(representing the carrier concentration) to be numerically
compatible with the PSPICE implementation, their value has
been normalised by multiplying for the electron charge q.
The circuit of Fig.2 implemented with the functional blocks
of Fig.3, 4 and 5 together with the substitution of u(x) allow
to obtain the excess carrier concentration at nodes n
1
...n
8
.
The voltage drop across the carrier storage region can be
expressed in terms of carrier concentration and current
density by means of:

+ +

W
0 b p n
t
b
N
dx
q
J
V
) (c ) (
(8)
where N
b
[cm
-3
] is the doping concentration. In Eq. 8 the
contribution of the dember voltage has been neglected. Eq. 8
can be directly used for the calculation of V
b
by substituting
the integral with the summatory of Eq. 9 or approximated by
means of an averaged function of the carriers
concentration at x=0 and x=W [5]:

+

N
1 i b i p n
t
b
N
dx 1
q
J
V
c ) (
(9)
where N is the number of nodes (eight in our case). In the
transformation of the integral (8) in the summatory (9), the
simplifying assumption of constant mobility has been made.
In order to take into account mobility degeneration due to
carrier carries scattering the series resistance R
b
[5] can be
added to the diode model.
In order to complete the calculation of the voltage across the
diode terminals, other two contribution must be considered.
The first is the junction voltage which, according to the
Boltzmann approximation can be expressed as:
)
c c
ln(
2
i
W 0
j
n q
T k
2 V

(10)
where: k [eV/K] is the Boltzman constant, T [K] is the
junction temperature, c
0
[cm
-3
] and c
W
[cm
-3
] are the carriers
concentrations calculated for x=0 and x=W respectively.
Finally, the contribution of the voltage across the space
charge region can be computed by using the abrupt depletion
layer approximation [7] by means of:
2
sc
l
1 p
b sc
x
v q
J
N
2
q
V

,
_

(11)
where [F/cm] is the absolute dielectric constant of silicon,
v
l
is the limit velocity for carriers (holes) and X
sc
[cm] is the
width of the space charge region.

IV. TRANSIENT THERMAL IMPEDANCE MODEL
The transient thermal impedance of a power semiconductor
device can be generally approximated by means of a
distributed RC network equivalent.
The network is obtained by connecting N elementary RC
cells in series. The parameters R
i
[C/W] and C
i
[J/C] are
obtained as follows:
C C V
i i thi i
[J C
-1
] (12)
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where
i
[kg m
-3
] is the specific weight, C
thi
[j C
-1
kg
-1
] is
the specific heat and V
i
[m
3
] is the volume of the element;
R
1 x
S x
i
i eff_i
x
x x
i
i

+

d
( )

[C/W] (13)
where
i
[W/C m
-1
] is the thermal conductivity, x
i
[m] is
the element thickness and S
eff_i
[m
2
] is the effective section of
the heat-path.
It is of common use to
simplify this representa_
tion by considering only
the effect of the dominant
time constants. By doing
this, the Z
th
curve can be
expressed as finite series
of exponential terms like
in Eq.(3). This allows to
reduce the model to the R-
C network of Fig.7.
In some cases R
thi
and
i
are obtainable directly
from the device data-
sheet. Thus, the Z
th

equivalent depicted in Fig.
3 it is the most convenient
to use for circuital
simulation.
In the presented model the
temperature T
j
has been
used for the calculation
of the electron and holes
mobility of Eq.(9) by
means of :
kmn
n
300
T
1350

,
_

kmp
j
p
300
T
480

,
_

(14)
where kmn and kmp >0 are the temperature exponents of the
lattice mobilities and in the Boltzman approximation of the
junctions voltage Eq.(10).

V. MODEL VALIDATION

The electro-thermal model presented in the previous sections
has been validated comparing the simulation of a reverse
recovery and a surge current transients with measurement
performed on two sample devices. The sample devices are
both 30mm, 2500V Hockey Puk diodes but, for the surge
current test, a standard recovery diode type has been used
while, the reverse recovery test, has been performed on a fast
recovery one. In both cases the used values of
i
and R
thi
of
the thermal impedance model are the ones reported in Table
I.

TABLE I
VALUES OF R
THI
AND
I
OF THE SAMPLE DEVICE Z
TH-JC
CURVE.
R
thi
[C/W]
i
[s]
1
st
Exp. Term 0.005 0.649
2
nd
Exp. Term 0.015 0.169
3
rd
Exp. Term 0.008 0.05
4
th
Exp. Term 0.0065 0.00489

The surge current test has been performed by applying to the
Device Under Test (D.U.T.) a sinusoidal current pulse with a
duration of 10 ms and an amplitude of 7500 A. The resulting
current and voltage waveforms have been recorded and
compared with the simulated ones. As can be seen from
Fig.8 the thermal effect on the diode forward characteristic is
quite evident and characterised by the typical eight-shaped
waveform. The model parameters have been adjusted in
order to obtain the measured forward voltage drop at the
peak current. It can be noted that, for lower current, the
model tend to over-estimate the forward voltage drop. This
can be compensated by introducing the carrier-carrier
scattering effect on the mobilities.
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
0 1 2 3
Forward voltage drop [V]
F
o
r
w
a
r
d

c
u
r
r
e
n
t

[
A
]
Simulated voltage Measured Voltage

Fig.8: Forward voltage drop model validation.
The reverse recovery tests have been performed at high di/dt
(about 1000 A/s) in order to stress the diode dynamic
behaviour. The current waveform (see Fig. 9) consists of a
sinusoidal pulse of about 800 A amplitude and 4.4 s period.
The comparison between simulated and measured
waveforms evidences a discrepancy in the first part of the
forward current pulse that can be justified with a difference
in the forward recovery behaviour. The absence of oscillation
in the ending part of the reverse recovery is due to the
absence, in the simulated circuit, of the parasitic elements.
Fig. 7: Simplified paralleled RC
network.
CthN
0
RthN
Rth2
Tc
Ploss
Rth1
Cthi
Cth2
Cth1
Rthi
Tj
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-600
-400
-200
0
200
400
600
800
1000
0 2 4 6
time [us]
c
u
r
r
e
n
t

[
A
]
Measured current Simulated current

Fig.9: Reverse recovery model validation.

VI. COMPARISON WITH THE REFERENCE MODELS

A. Lumped model
Lauritzen and Ma proposed a simple power diode model,
based on an extension of the charge-control diode model,
using the lumped charge approach of Linvill [8]. This
approach yields a very simple model for reverse recovery [2]
and can be easily enriched including forward recovery and
emitter recombination [3]. Moreover, with little efforts we
have generalised the model taking into account some electro-
thermal interaction as well.
The model is globally described by the equations:

'

+
+ +

,
_

,
_

M E
S M E
V
v 2
SE E
M T 0 M M
0 M M T
M
B
T
V
v
S E
M
M E M M
M
M E
M
i i i
i R v 2 v 2 v
1 e I i
T V R q
i R T V
v
q
T K
V 1 e I q
T
q q q
dt
dq
0
T
q q
i
T
E
T
E

;



Equation 1-3L take into account the reverse recovery
behaviour and are described in [2]; the Equations 4L and 5L
describe the voltage drop in the conductivity-modulated base
region and the emitter recombination [3]. Equation 8L is the
Laplace transformation of the relationship which relates the
junction temperature to the dissipated power in the diode.
The model has the advantage of simplicity and simulation
speed; moreover all the equations reported are valid over all
the regions of operation and no conditional statements are
needed to implement the whole model.

B. Model based on the Laplace transform method
Strollo et al. presented different versions of a model based on
Laplace transform solution for the time-dependent ambipolar
diffusion equation [4,5]. The starting point of the model here
presented and generalised with electro-thermal interaction is
a continued-fraction expression in the Laplace domain of the
carrier distribution in the base region. By truncating the
continued-fraction expansion it is possible to derive a
lumped RC representation of the base region of the diode [4].
The equations of the model used here are the followings:
{ }( ) { }( )
( )
( )

'

+
+

,
_

,
_

+ +
+

,
_

1
m m
m 0
0
epi M
M J
E
2
0
1
0 0
0 1
KF
N
N
0
V
v
S N
i
q
dt
dq
q 1 q
V
R
R R iR v
v v v
I
1 q
i i
s 1
T
s 1
T 1
s q L s i L
I
i
1
i
q
1 e I i
T
J

mod
mod lim
//
tanh


Equation 3S represents the solution obtained by means of the
Laplace transform and it can be written also as follows [4]:

{ }( )
{ }( )
...
11
1
1
9
1 7
1
1
5
1 3
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

T
s
T
s
T
s
s q L
s i L

(9S)

In a practical circuit implementation, only a finite number of
sections are used of the RC ladder corresponding to the
previous relationship. The accuracy depends on the number
of the sections included in the model. R
epi
is the
unmodulated base region resistance while the resistor R
lim

represents the limit to the degree to which conductivity
(1L)

(2L)


(3L)


(4L)

(5L)

(6L)
(7L)
(1S)


(2S)


(3S)

(4S)

(5S)
(6S)
(7S)


(8S)
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modulation can occur; R
mod
takes into account the
conductivity modulation of the base and depend on q
0
and
q
m
. The implementation shows good convergence property
and very fast simulation time. It can be observed that if one
uses a second order approximation of the continued fraction
he obtains a lumped charge model very similar to that of
Lauritzen previously described.
In Fig.10 and 11 the reference models simulation of the
same surge current and reverse recovery transient described
before are reported.

0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Forward Voltage Drop [V]
D
i
o
d
e

C
u
r
r
e
n
t

[
A
]
Measured current
PSPICE Simulation Strollo
PSPICE Simulation Lauritzen

Fig.10: Reference models surge current simulation.

-600
-400
-200
0
200
400
600
800
1000
0 2 4 6
time [us]
c
u
r
r
e
n
t

[
A
]
current
Strollo
Lauritzen

Fig.11: Reference models reverse recovery simulation.


VIII. CONCLUSIONS

In this paper a new PIN diode model based on an
approximated solution of the minority carriers diffusion
equation has been presented. The obtained time dependent
carriers distribution has been used to implement
temperature-dependent sub-models for the diode reverse
recovery and forward voltage drop simulations
From the comparison of the presented model simulations
with experimental results and reference models simulations
the following conclusions can be drawn:
q the presented approach shows a fairly similar behaviour
to the transformation based models (slightly better
dynamic behaviour with respect to the lumped models);
q by using this modelling approach the model parameters
can be reduced, if the case, to only the ones needed for
the physical device description. For the presented
simulation results the model parameters were only:
intrinsic base width (W), active area (S), high injection
level carriers lifetime (), emitter recombination
coefficients (h), base doping concentration (N
d
),
temperature exponents of the lattice mobilities (kmn,
kmp). It must be pointed out that during the parameters
optimisation procedure, in order to fit experimental data,
the above mentioned physical parameters can loose part
of their physical meaning by assuming values that are
out of the typical range of validity. Nevertheless this
does not appear to have negative influence on the model
validity;
q the simulation time is slightly higher with respect the
reference models.

REFERENCES

[1] R. Kraus, H. J. Mattausch, Status and Trends of
Power Semiconductors Models for Circuit Simulation
IEEE Transactions On Power Electronics, vol. 13, no.
3, May 1998, pp. 452-465.
[2] P.O.Lauritzen and C.L.Ma, A simple power diode
model with reverse recovery, IEEE Transactions On
Power Electronics, vol.6, no.2, April 1991, pp.188-
191.
[3] C.L.Ma and P.O.Lauritzen, A simple power diode
model with forward and reverse recovery IEEE
Transactions On Power Electronics, vol.8, no.4,
October 1993, pp.342-346.
[4] A.G.M. Strollo, SPICE Modeling pf Power PiN Diode
Using Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation, Conf. Rec.
IEEE PESC 96, Vol. 1, pp.44-50.
[5] A.G.M. Strollo, A new SPICE subcircuit model of
powe PiN diode, IEEE Transactions On Power
Electronics, vol.9, no.6, November 1994, pp.553-559.
[6] F. Bertz, J. Pritchard, A. B. Crowley, Modelling PIN
Diode Switch-off with the Enthalpy Method, Solid
State Electronics Vol. 27 Nos. 8/9 pp. 769-774, 1984.
[7] Ph. Leturcq, M.O. Berraies, J.L. Massol,
Implementation and Validation of a New Diode
Model for Circuit Simulation, Conf. Rec. IEEE-
PESC96, vol. 1, pp. 35-43.
[8] J.G.Linvill, Lumped models of transistors and
diodes, IRE Proc., pp.1141-1151, June 1958.

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