ES 321 POWER

ELECTRONICS
Chapter 02 – Power Semiconductor Diodes and Circuits
06 Lecture Diode Characteristics
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Outline
1. Introduction
2. Semiconductor Basics
3. Diode Characteristics
4. Reverse Recovery Characteristics
5. Power Diode Types
6. Silicon Carbide Diodes
7. Series Connected Diodes
8. Parallel-Connected Diodes
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1: Introduction
Learning objectives:
• Characteristics of a power diode and diode circuits.
• Reverse recovery characteristics of diode.
• Free wheeling diode.
Applications:
• Switches in rectifiers,
• Freewheeling in switching regulators,
• Charge reversal of capacitor,
• Voltage isolation,
• Energy feedback from the load to the power source,
• Trapped energy recovery.
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2: Semiconductor Basics
• Intrinsic and Extrinsic
• Extrinsic Semiconductor
• Phosphorous – Donor Impurity in Si, n-type
Semiconductor
• Boron – Acceptor Impurity in Si, p-type semiconductor
• P-n junction
• Built-in potential
• Forward and reverse biased junction
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3: Diode Characteristics (1/6)

 A power diode is two terminal pn-junction device as
shown in figure below.
 Forward bias (Diode on): if anode potential is positive
w.r.t. cathode.
 Reverse bias (Diode off): if cathode potential is positive
w.r.t. anode.

Figure2.1: pn-junction and diode symbol.

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3: Diode Characteristics (2/6)

VD= Applied Voltage

ID= Diode Current
Is= Leakage or Rev. Sat. Current
n= Ideality factor or emission coeff. (1-2)

Figure 2.2: v-i characteristics of diode.

• Diode has three regions of operation: ID=IS(eVD/nVT-1)
1. Forward-biased region. ID=IS(eVD/nVT-1) at VD=0.1V = 47.96IS
2. Reverse-biased region. ID=IS(eVD/nVT-1) at VD=-0.1V = IS
3. Breakdown region.
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3: Diode Characteristics: Forward Biased

pn Junction (3/6)
• When the diode is forward biased, it begins to conduct
with only a small voltage drop across it, which is in
order of 1 V.
• When the diode is reverse biased, only a negligible
small current flows through the device until the reverse
breakdown voltage (The magnitude of the reverse
voltage exceeds a specified voltage known as
breakdown voltage or Zener voltage) is reached.
• In normal operation, the reverse bias voltage should not
reach the breakdown rating.
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3: Diode Characteristics: Built-in Potential

(4/6)
 A power diode is two terminal
pn-junction
 Thermal equilibrium occurs
when the force produced by the
electric field and force produced
by the density gradient exactly
balance.
 The positively charged region
and negatively charged region
comprise the space charge
region, or depletion region of pn
junction.
• A potential voltage, Vbi, is developed across the junction
known as built-in potential barrier.
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3: Diode Characteristics: Forward Biased

pn Junction (5/6)
• When a -ve voltage is applied to the n region and +ve to
the p region, the Junction is said to be forward biased.
• With the zero applied voltage the built in potential barrier
prevents the majority carrier (electrons in the n-type and
holes in the p-type) from diffusing across the space
region; thus the barrier maintains equilibrium between the
carrier distributions on either side of the pn junction.
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3: Diode Characteristics: Reverse Biased

pn Junction (6/6)
• When a +ve voltage is applied to the
n region and –ve to the p region, the
Junction is said to be reverse biased.
• The +ve charge will attract the
electron of the n region while –ve will
attract the holes of the p region. Forward Biased Junction
• However, the diode continues to
conduct due to minority carriers that
remain stored in the pn junction and
the bulk semiconductor material.
• These minority carriers requires
certain time to recombine with
opposite charges and to be
neutralized. This time is called
Reverse Biased Junction
Reverse Recovery Time.
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4: Reverse Recovery Characteristics (1/5)

• At turn on, the diode can be considered an ideal switch
because it turns on rapidly compared to the transients in
the power circuit.
• At turn off, the diode current reverses for a reverse
recovery time trr as indicated in figure, before falling to
zero. The reverse recovery current (negative) required to
sweep out the excess carriers in the diode and allows it to
block a negative polarity voltage.

trr  ta  tb

Figure 2.3: Reverse recovery characteristics

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4: Reverse Recovery Characteristics (2/5)

• Reverse recovery time trr is defined as the time interval
between the instant the current passes through zero during
the changeover from forward conduction to reverse
conduction and the moment the reverse current has
decayed to 25% of its peak reverse value IRR. trr consists of
two components, ta and tb.
trr  ta  tb
• ta is due to charge storage in the depletion region of the
junction and represents the time between the zero crossing
and the peak reverse current, trr. tb is due to charge storage
in bulk semiconductor material. The ratio tb/ta is known as
softness factor(SF).
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4: Reverse Recovery Characteristics (3/5)

• For the practical purposes one needs to be concerned with the
total recovery time trr and the peak value of the reverse recovery
current IRR. The peak reverse current can be expressed as;
di
I RR  t a
dt
• trr is dependent on the junction temperature, rate of fall of forward
current and the forward current prior to commutation, IF .
• Reverse recovery charge QRR 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.
1 1 1
QRR  I RR ta  I RR tb  I RR trr
2 2 2
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4: Reverse Recovery Characteristics (4/5)

From previous slides,
di 1 1 1
I RR  t a  Eq.(1) and
QRR  I RR t a  I RR tb  I RR t rr
dt 2 2 2
 t rr  t a  tb
Rearrange the above equation
2QRR
I RR   Eq.(2)
2QRR t rr
t rr t a   Equating (1) & (2)
di / dt
tb<<ta so ta is approximately equal to trr
2QRR
t rr   Eq.(3)
di / dt
di
I RR  2QRR  By Substituting (3) in (2)
dt
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4: Example 2.2 (5/5)

• The reverse recovery time of a diode is trr=3µsec and the
rate of fall of the diode current is di/dt=30A/µs. Determine
(a) the storage QRR, and (b) the peak reverse current IRR.

• Solution:
• QRR=135µsec
• IRR=90A
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5: Power Diode Types (1/2)

• Ideally, a diode should have no reverse
recovery time. However, the cost of such a
diode may increase. In many applications, the
effect of reverse recovery time is not
significant, and inexpensive diodes can be
used.
• Depending upon the recovery characteristics
and the manufacturing techniques, the power
diodes can be classified into the following
three main categories:
1. Standard or general purpose diode
2. Fast recovery diode
3. Schottky diodes
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5: Power Diode Types (2/2)

1. General purpose diode:
• High reverse recovery time typically 25 micro sec.
• Used in low power application where recovery time is not critical.
• Current ratings from less than 1 A to several thousands of amperes.
• Voltage ratings from 50 V to 5 kV
2. Fast recovery diode:
• Low recovery time, normally less than 5 micro sec (1-2 micro sec)
• Current ratings from less than 1 A to hundreds of ampere.
• Voltage ratings from 50 V to around 3 kV,
• These diodes are used in dc-dc and dc-ac converter circuits, where
the speed of recovery is often of critical importance.
3. Schottky diodes:
• Relatively low forward voltage drop.
• Current ratings from 1A to 300 A.
• Voltage ratings is up to 100 V.
• Ideal for high current and low voltage applications.
• Relative to PN junction has fast recovery but more leakage
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6: Silicon Carbide Diodes

Silicon Carbide Diodes made by Infineon Technologies has:
• No reverse Recovery time
• Ultrafast switching behavior
• No temperature influence on the switching behavior

• The typical storage charge is 21nC for a 600V, 6A diode

and is 23nC for a 600V, 10A device.
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7: Series Connected Diodes (1/4)

• In order to increase the Voltage limit, the diodes are used in
series.
• When diodes of the same type are connected in series, they do
not share the same voltage due to mismatch in their reverse IV
characteristics. Voltage sharing networks are needed to
equalize the voltage sharing.
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7: Series Connected Diodes (2/4)

I S  I S1  I R1  I S 2  I R 2
VD1 VD 2
I S1   IS2 
R1 R2
VD1  VD 2  VS
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7: Example 2.3 (3/4)

VS  5kV I S1  30mA I S 2  35mA
• Find the diode voltages if R1 = R2 =R = 100 k
• Find the voltage sharing resistancesR1 and R2 for equal
diode voltages
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7: Solution of Example 2.3 (4/4)

VD1 VD 2
I S1   IS2 
R1 R2

VD1  VD 2  VS
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8: Parallel-Connected Diodes
• In order to increase the current limit, the

diodes are used in parallel.

• Resistors are used for diode matching

for equal current sharing.

• When diodes of the same type are

connected in parrallel, they do not share

the same current due to mismatch in
their forward IV characteristics. Voltage
sharing networks are needed to equalize
the voltage sharing.