LECTURE 2 (Ch.

2)

POWER
SEMICONDUCTOR

DIODESECE
AND
452 CKTS
Power Electronics
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 Introduction
Power semiconductor diodes play a
significant role in power electronic circuits.

A diode acts as a switch to perform various

functions, such as switches in rectifiers and
freewheeling in switching regulators.

Power diodes can be assumed as ideal

switches for most applications.

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 However, practical diodes differ from
the ideal characteristics and have
certain limitations.

Power diodes are similar to pn-junction

signal diodes, but they have larger
power, voltage, and current handling
capabilities.
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 Semiconductor Basics
A pure silicon material is known as an
intrinsic semiconductor with resistivity that
is too low to be an insulator and too high to
be a conductor.

The resistivity can be changed by doping,

which involves a single atom of the added
impurity per over a million atoms of silicon.

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 With different impurities, power devices are
produced from various structures of n-type and
p-type semiconductor layers.

n-Type: Silicon is doped with phosphorus, arsenic,

or antimony and we have a loose electron.

p-Type: Silicon is doped with boron, gallium, or

indium and we have a vacant location called
hole.

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 In a p-type material holes are majority carriers
and electrons are minority carriers.

In an n-type material electrons are majority

carries and holes are minority carriers.

An applied electric field can cause a current to

flow in an n-type or p-type material.

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 Diode Characteristics
A power diode is a two-terminal pn-
junction device.

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 When the anode potential is positive with
respect to cathode, the diode is said to be
forward biased and the diode conducts.

A conducting diode has a relatively small

forward voltage drop across it.

When the cathode voltage is positive with

respect to the anode, the diode is said to be
reverse biased.

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 Under reverse-biased conditions, a
small reverse current (leakage
current) flows.

The v-i characteristics of a diode is

shown below:

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 This characteristic can be expressed
by an equation known as Schockley
diode equation:
I D I s (e V D / nVT
1)

VT is a constant called thermal

voltage and is given by:
kT
VT
q
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 Where:
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q electron charge 1.6022 10 C
T absolute temp. in Kelvin( K 273 o C )
k Boltzmann' s constant 1.3806 1023 J / K
n emission coefficien t 1 - 2

The thermal voltage at room

temperature (25 oC) is:
VT 25.7 mV
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 At a specified temperature, the leakage
current is a constant for a given diode.

The diode characteristic of the previous

figure can be divided into three regions:

Forward-biased region: VD > 0

Reverse-biased region: VD < 0

Breakdown region: VD < -VBR

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 Forward-Biased Region
The diode current ID is very small if
the diode voltage is less than a
threshold voltage (0.7 volts).

The diode fully conducts if VD is

higher than the threshold voltage.

Then the Schockley diode equation

can be simplified with about 2% error.
I D I s (e
V D / nVT
1) I s e
V D / nVT

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 Reverse-Biased Region

If VD is negative and |VD| >> VT, the

exponential in the diode equation
becomes negligible, and the diode
current ID equation will be reduced
to:
|VD | / nVT
I D I s (e 1) I s

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 Breakdown Region

In the breakdown region, the reverse

voltage is high, and it exceeds a
specified voltage known as the
breakdown voltage VBR.

The reverse current increases rapidly

with a small change in reverse
voltage beyond VBR.
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 The operation in the breakdown region
can be destructive, if the power
dissipation is above the rating of the
diode.

The power dissipation level is specified

in the manufacturer's data sheet.

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 Reverse Recovery
Characteristic
The current in a forward-biased
junction diode is due to the net effect
of majority and minority carriers.

When the diode is in a forward

conduction mode, and its forward
current is reduced to zero due to a
voltage reversal, the diode continues to
conduct due to the minority carriers.
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 The minority carriers require a certain time
to recombine with opposite charges and to
be neutralized.

This time is called the reverse recovery time

of the diode.

The reverse recovery time, trr, is measured

from the initial zero crossing of the diode
current to 25% of the peak reverse current.

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 trr consists of two components, ta and tb:

trr ta tb
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 The ratio of tb/ta is known as the softness
factor, SF.

For practical purposes, we need to be

concerned with the total recovery time t rr
and the peak value of the reverse current.

The peak reverse current IRR can be

expressed as:
di
I RR ta
dt 20
 The reverse recovery charge Q RR is the amount
of charge carriers that flow across the diode in
the reverse direction due to changeover from
forward conduction to reverse blocking
condition.

Its value is determined from the area enclosed

by the path of the reverse recovery current.

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 Therefore:
1 1 1
QRR I RR t a I RR t b I RR t rr
2 2 2
2QRR
I RR
t rr

Equating the two IRR equations will

yield:
2QRR
trr ta
di / dt
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 If tb is negligible as compared to ta,
which is usually the case, then the
above equation will be reduced to:

2QRR
trr , tb 0
di / dt

Finally,

di
I RR 2QRR , tb 0
dt
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 It can be concluded that the reverse recovery
time trr and the peak reverse current IRR
depend on QRR and di/dt.

The peak reverse recovery current, reverse

charge, and the softness factor are all of
interest to the circuit designer.

These parameters are commonly included in

the specification sheets of diodes.

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