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Eee421: Power Electronics: Power Semiconductor Devices: Diode

1. Power diodes are used in applications requiring unidirectional current flow like power supplies and converters. They are based on p-n junctions but have a lightly doped drift layer to allow high blocking voltages and low resistance. 2. During turn-off, minority carriers must be removed from the junction, which occurs through reverse recovery and charging of the depletion region capacitor. This recovery time is important for switching losses. 3. Fast recovery diodes reduce recovery time and charge at the expense of higher forward voltage. Schottky diodes have negligible minority carrier effects but lower blocking voltages and higher leakage currents.

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42 views

Eee421: Power Electronics: Power Semiconductor Devices: Diode

1. Power diodes are used in applications requiring unidirectional current flow like power supplies and converters. They are based on p-n junctions but have a lightly doped drift layer to allow high blocking voltages and low resistance. 2. During turn-off, minority carriers must be removed from the junction, which occurs through reverse recovery and charging of the depletion region capacitor. This recovery time is important for switching losses. 3. Fast recovery diodes reduce recovery time and charge at the expense of higher forward voltage. Schottky diodes have negligible minority carrier effects but lower blocking voltages and higher leakage currents.

Uploaded by

Rafat Shams
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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EEE421: POWER ELECTRONICS

Lecture 2
Power Semiconductor
Devices: Diode
INTRODUCTION

Today’s power semiconductor devices are almost


exclusively based on silicon material and broadly
classified as 3 types
• 1. Power Diodes
• 2.Transistors
• 3.Thyristors
POWER DIODES

• A diode is the simplest and first type of electronic


switch developed. It is uncontrollable in that the on
and off conditions are determined by voltages and
currents in the circuit.
• they are employed in applications that require
unidirectional flow of current, such as battery
charging, AC and DC power supplies and
feedback and freewheeling functions in power
converters.
• The static operation of the power diode is similar to
that of a traditional p-n junction diode
POWER DIODES

• Power Diodes of largest power rating are required to


conduct several kilo amps of current in the forward
direction with very little power loss while blocking several
kilo volts in the reverse direction.
• Large blocking voltage requires wide depletion layer
with lower space charge density. This requirement on a
normal lightly doped p-n junction diode produce high
resistivity in forward direction consequently higher power
losses. On the other hand if forward resistance is
reduced reverse breakdown voltage will also be
reduced.
• This apparent contradiction in the requirements of a
power diode is resolved by introducing a lightly doped
“drift layer” of required thickness between two heavily
doped p and n layers
POWER DIODE
TURNOFF OF NORMAL POWER DIODES
TURNOFF OF NORMAL POWER DIODES

Initially, at time t = 0, the diode operates in the forward biased condition and is
saturated with minority charge carriers. Hence, the voltage across the diode is the
forward conduction drop. Then, the diode is switched from the on state to the off state.
However, the presence of minority charge carriers at the p-n- junction maintains the
diode in the forward biased condition and will turn off only after this charge is
completely removed.

This can be achieved by either applying a reverse voltage to the diode terminals, or
through charge recombination. Applying a negative voltage to the anode terminal
changes the direction of current flow. At time t = t1, the diode current becomes
negative. This initiates the removal of minority charge carriers from the p-n- junction. The
total charge stored in the depletion region is illustrated in the negative portion of the
diode current waveform, and is known as the recovered charge QR.

At the time interval t = t2, the minority charge carriers in the p-n- region are removed
and the diode junction becomes reverse-biased. Hence, the diode becomes capable
of blocking a negative voltage. The remainder of the recovered charge, from t2 to t3,
charges the depletion region capacitor, to the negative off-state voltage. After t3, the
diode blocks the entire applied reverse voltage. Therefore, the total time duration from
t1 to t3 is known as the reverse recovery time, TR. This is a critical parameter as it directly
influences the maximum operating frequency of power electronic applications and
determines the switching power losses in diode-based switch mode power supplies.
REVERSE RECOVERY

• Reverse recovery of a normal diode is called soft


recovery and it is typically a few tens of
microseconds. This is acceptable for line frequency
rectifiers. High frequency circuits (PWM inverters and
SMPS) demand faster diode recovery can be
achieved by reducing the recovery time and
recovery charge (by minority carrier lifetime control
that enhance the recombination process) which in
turn increase the current and voltage oscillation. It
also increases Irr which in turn can destroy the
device. So snubber circuits are required with them.
REVERSE RECOVERY FOR FASTER
CIRCUITS
Fast recovery diodes offer significant reduction in both Irr and trr
(10% - 20% of a rectifier grade diode of comparable rating). This
improvement in turn OFF performance, however, comes at the
expense of the steady state performance.

It can be shown that the forward voltage drop in a diode is


directly proportion to the width of the drift region and inversely
proportional to the carrier life time in the drift region. On the other
hand both Irr and trr increases with increase in carrier life time and
drift region width. Therefore if Irr and trr are reduced by reducing
the carrier life time, forward voltage drop increases.

On the other hand, if the drift region width is reduced the reverse
break down voltage of the diode reduces. The performance of a
fast recovery diode is therefore, a compromise between the
steady state performance and the switching performance. In high
voltage high frequency circuits switching loss is the dominant
component of the overall power loss.
SCHOTTKY DIODE

The Schottky diode is employed when a very low


forward voltage drop is desired and a high blocking
potential is not necessary. These diodes are made
with a metal–semiconductor junction. As a result,
they are majority carrier devices, where the diffusion
of minority charges is negligible.
SCHOTTKY DIODE:
for a Schottky diode, the flow of current is due to the injection of
majority charge carriers from the n-type material into the metal.
These charge carriers drift in response to the applied electric
field. As a result, the need to accumulate or remove excess
minority charges is eliminated, thereby avoiding the forward and
reverse recovery phenomena. Hence, the time constants
associated with the switching actions of the diode are limited
only by the times required to charge and discharge the
depletion region capacitor at the metal–semiconductor
interface. As a result, very fast switching speed can be
achieved.

However, one of the major drawbacks of Schottky diodes occurs


during the revere-biased condition. The diode suffers from much
larger leakage current than traditional diodes. Leakage currents
increase with temperature and can cause thermal instability. This
limits the maximum applicable reverse voltage, which is
considerably lower than the actual voltage rating.
COMPARISONS

Type Voltage Current Reverse Forward


(V) (A) Recovery voltage
Time(uS) drop(V)
General Purpose 6000 4500 10-20 0.5-1.2
Fast 6000 1100 0.1-.8
Scohotty 100 300 0.3-0.5

Type Part no. IF(dc) Blocking VFM


Voltage
(Vrms)
General Purpose
Fast CS340602 20A 600 1.5V
POWEREX
Scohotty 6TQ045 6A 45 0.51

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