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Switching Time of A Diode

The switching time of a diode is the time it takes to switch between the ON and OFF states. There are two regions in the turn-off transient: 1) the excess minority charge is removed, which occurs on the time scale of the base transit time τT, and 2) the space charge changes to build up a reverse bias voltage, which occurs on the time scale of the junction capacitance Cj and series resistance RS. Similarly, for turn-on there is a region where the space charge changes followed by a region where excess minority charge is injected. The switching times can be calculated from the exponential decay time constants.

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86 views4 pages

Switching Time of A Diode

The switching time of a diode is the time it takes to switch between the ON and OFF states. There are two regions in the turn-off transient: 1) the excess minority charge is removed, which occurs on the time scale of the base transit time τT, and 2) the space charge changes to build up a reverse bias voltage, which occurs on the time scale of the junction capacitance Cj and series resistance RS. Similarly, for turn-on there is a region where the space charge changes followed by a region where excess minority charge is injected. The switching times can be calculated from the exponential decay time constants.

Uploaded by

Anonymous utfuIcn
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Switching Time of a Diode

Switching

Time of a diode is the time it takes to switch the diode between two
states (ON and OFF states).

Assume R S is large enough that all current flows through diode in forward bias
conditions.

Switching Time of a Diode

For Forward Bias:

Current source I D is an ideal diode current source: ID = IS e VD / T 1


C j represents the space-charge ( junction capacitance ).
C d represents the excess minority carrier charge ( diffusion capacitance ).
(Note that both of these are small-signal capacitances; to be applicable largesignal analysis, average capacitance values must be used).

For Reverse bias:


o
Eliminate the current source ID and the diffusion capacitance C d.
Transient response requires finding a solution to:

Switching Time of a Diode


Transient

response:
o The exponential and the non-linear dependence of C d and
C j on V D make this difficult to do by hand.
o Consider

the simulated response:

Switching Time of a Diode


Turn-off Transient.
o The

Region 1 :

Region 2 :

turn-off transient, has two operation intervals.


Diode

is on.
I 2 removes excess minority charge .
Voltage drop is small allowing C j to be ignored
since space-charge remains ~constant.

I D

~= 0 (diode off).
Space-charge changes while building a reversebias over the diode.
Therefore, C j dominates performance.

Derivation of Turn-off Transient.


o

Region 1 : Removal of excess minority charge .


Charge-control expression:

The term

dQ D (t)
dt

represents the current due to the removal of injected

carriers from the base region and the term

QD (t)

T
Diffusion current where T is the Base transit time.

represents the normal

o Solving

this differential equation assuming that:


QD = I1 T at time t = 0 or the initial value of QD and Iin = I2
(V V )
V
Where I1 1 D is the current under forward bias and I2 = 2
RS
RS

QD (t) = T I2 + (I1 I2 )e t / T

Yields:

The turn-off time is derived by solving for the time t = t 1 (Q D evaluates to 0):

(I I )
t1 = T ln 1 2
I2
o Region 2 : Changing the Space Charge.
Diode

is off, circuit evolves toward steady state.

VD (t = ) = V2 = I2 RS
During

this time, a reverse voltage is built over the diode.


Therefore, space charge has to be provided.
3

The

change in excess minority charge can be ignored as well as the reverse bias
diode current I d.
This leaves us with a simple RC circuit (red capacitor model shown earlier).
I2 =

VD (t )

+ Cj

RS
of interest.
o

dVD
dt

Cj is the average junction capacitance over the voltage range

Assuming the value of V D at time t = t 1 is 0, the solution is the wellknown exponential:


(t t1 )

R C
VD (t) = I2 RS 1 e S j

The 90% point is reached after 2.2 time-constants of RS Cj .

t2 t1 = 2.2 RS Cj

Derivation of Turn-on Transient.


o Similar

considerations hold for the turn-on transient.


o Space Charge :

The transient waveform for the diode voltage (assume t = 0):


1

R
C
VD (t ) = RS I1 (I2 I1 )e S j

I I
t3 = RS Cj ln 1 2
I1
o Excess

Assu min g VD = 0

charge :

(t t3 )

QD (t ) = I1 T 1 e T

It takes 2.2 time constants for Q D to reach 90% of its final value.

t4 t3 = 2.2 T
4

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