EE 653

Power Electronics - 1

Instructor: Prof. Anshuman Shukla

Email: ashukla@ee.iitb.ac.in
Office: Power Electronics Lab 2, EE Main Building

Lecture 3
 Construction of a practical power diode
Anode
i It consists of a heavily
+ doped n+ type substrate
10 μm
on top of which is grown
p+ 19
Na =10 cm
-3
a lightly doped n-
V Breakdown
epitaxial layer of
n - epi 14
Nd =10 cm
-3
voltage
dependent specified thickness. The
pn junction is formed by
n+ substrate 19
Nd =10 cm
-3
250μm diffusing a heavily doped
-
p-type region that forms
Cathode the anode of the diode.

The n- layer, termed as the drift region, is the prime structural feature not
found in low power diodes. Its function is to absorb the depletion layer of
the reverse-biased p+n- junction.
The layer can be quite wide at large reverse voltages. The drift region
establishes what the reverse breakdown voltage will be.
 i-v characteristics

ID (mA) • VD = Bias Voltage

• ID = Current through
Diode. ID is Negative for
Reverse Bias and
Positive for Forward Bias
IS
• IS = Saturation Current
VBR
• VBR = Breakdown Voltage
~V VD • V = Barrier Potential
Voltage

(nA)
i-v characteristics

Switching characteristics

A power diode requires a finite time to switch from the blocking

state (reverse bias) to the on state (forward bias) and vice-versa.

Both the transition times and the shapes of the waveforms are affected by the
intrinsic properties of the diode and by the circuit in which the diode is embedded.
Switching characteristics Turn-on and Turn-off Transients

Turn-on time = t1 + t2 Turn-off time = t3 + t4 + t5

Switching characteristics
A power diode requires a
finite time to switch from the
blocking state (reverse bias)
to the on state (forward bias)
and vice-versa.
The specification sheet
usually has a specified time
rate of change, di/dt, because
the power diodes are very
often used in circuits
containing inductances that
control the rate of change of
the current, or it is used as
freewheeling diodes where
the turn-off of a solid-state
device controls di/dt.

Voltage overshoot during turn-on and the sharpness of the fall of the reverse current
during the turn-off phase are of particular interest.
The overshoot of the voltage during turn-on is not observed with signal-level diodes.
Switching characteristics Turn-on Transient

Turn-on time = t1 + t2

During t1, the depletion

layer is discharged to its
thermal equilibrium level. At
t1, the metallurgical junction
becomes forward biased and
the injection of excess
carriers across the junction
into the drift region
commences. Thus making
the start of the second phase
and the end of the first.

There will be almost no conduction until the time when the space charge layer is
discharged to its thermal equilibrium value. Therefore, almost all the building current
results in voltage drop across the drift region due to its ohmic resistance and also due
to the inductance of the silicon wafer and of the bonding wires attached to it.
Switching characteristics Turn-on Transient
At the start of t2, the
growth of the diode
voltage slows and
eventually turns over as
the drift region becomes
shorted out by the large
amount of carrier injection
into it. In addition, the
inductive contribution
ends when the diode
current stabilizes at IF.
The interval during which
the voltage falls from the
peak overshoot value to the
steady-state forward value
marks the completion of the
transient growth of the
excess charge distribution in t1≈ hundreds of nanoseconds
the drift region.
t2 ≈ microseconds
Switching characteristics Turn-off Transient

Turn-off time = t3 + t4 + t5
First the excess carriers
stored in the drift region
must be removed before
the metallurgical junctions
can become reverse biased.

Once the carriers are

removed by the negative
diode currents, the
depletion layer acquires a
substantial amount of space
charge from the reverse-
bias voltage and expands
into the drift region from
both ends (junctions).

As long as there are excess carriers at the ends of the drift region, the p+n- and n+n-
junctions must be forward biased. Thus, the diode voltage will be little changed from
its on-state value.
Switching characteristics Turn-off Transient
After the current goes
negative and carrier
sweepout has proceeded for
a sufficient time (t4), to
reduce the excess-carrier
density at one or both of the
junctions to zero, the
junction or junctions
become reverse biased.
At this point (t4), the diode
voltage goes negative and
rapidly acquires substantial
negative values as the
depletion regions from the two
junctions expand into the drift
region toward each other.
At this time the negative diode current demanded by the stray inductance of the
external circuit cannot be supported by the excess-carrier distribution because too
few carriers remain. The diode current ceases its growth in the negative direction
and quickly falls, becoming zero after a time t5. The reverse current has its maximum
reverse value, Irr at the end of t4.
Reverse Recovery
trr= t4 + t5
• Diode specification sheets give detailed
plots of trr, reverse-recovery charge Qrr
and “snappiness” factor S as functions of
the time rate of change of the reverse
current, diR/dt.
• These quantities are all interrelated to
each other and to other diode parameters
such as breakdown voltage and on-state
voltage drop across the drift region.
For a useful quantitative description,

Since
From Fig. => =>

=>
Reverse Recovery

Qrr represents the portion of the total charge

QF (the charge stored in the diode during
forward bias), which is swept out by the reverse
current and not lost in internal recombination.

• Effects of reverse recovery are increase in switching losses, increase in voltage

rating, over-voltage (spikes) in inductive loads.

These equations summarize the trade-offs that must be made in the design of high-
voltage pn-junction diodes between low on-state losses, faster switching times
(short values of trr), and larger breakdown voltages BVBD.
Power diode Important Points
• Diode is a charge device – takes time to change states.
• Does not regain blocking immediately.
• Injected minority carriers have to be removed before turn-off can start.
• The reverse recovery (negative) current is required to sweep out the excess carriers in
the diode and allow it to block a negative polarity voltage.
• High trr limits the operation at high frequencies.
• When the diode is forward biased, it begins to conduct with only a small forward
voltage across it, which is on the order of 1 V.
• When the diode is reverse biased, only a negligible small leakage current flows
through the device until the reverse breakdown voltage is reached.
• In normal operation, the reverse-bias voltage should not reach the breakdown
voltage.
• In view of the very small leakage currents in the reverse-biased state
and the small voltage in the conducting (forward-bias) state, the i-v
characteristics of the diode can be idealized.
• The idealized characteristic can be used for analyzing the converter topology but
should not be used for the actual design, when, for example, heat sink requirements
for the device are estimated.
• In most circuits, this reverse current does not affect the converter input/output
characteristics and so the diode can be considered as ideal during t-off transient too.
Types of Power Diodes
• Line frequency (general purpose):
– On state voltage: very low (below 1V)
– Large trr (about 25us) (very slow response)
– Very high current ratings (up to 5kA)
– Very high voltage ratings (10kV)
– Used in line-frequency (50/60Hz) applications such as rectifiers
– Can be connected in series/parallel to satisfy any voltage/current requirement.

• Fast recovery
– Very low trr (<1us).
– Power levels at several hundred volts and several hundred amps
– Normally used in high frequency circuits

• Schottky
– Very low forward voltage drop (typical 0.3V)
– Limited blocking voltage (50-100V)
– No substantial reverse recovery transient
– Used in low voltage, high current application such as switched mode power supplies.
Examples of commercial power diodes
History and applications of power diode

• Applied in industries starting 1950s.

• Still in-use today. Usually working with controlled

devices as necessary components.

• In many circumstances fast recovery diodes or

schottky diodes have to be used instead of general
purpose diodes.
 Half-controlled device — Thyristor

• Another name: SCR — silicon controlled rectifier

• Thyristor Opened the power electronics era

– 1956, invention, Bell Laboratories
– 1957, development of the 1st product, GE
– 1958, 1st commercialized product, GE
– Thyristor replaced vacuum devices in almost every power processing area.

• Still in use in very high power situation. Thyristor still has the highest power-
handling capability.
Appearance and symbol of thyristor

Appearance Symbol

Cathode

Gate
Anode

The characteristics of the thyristor (particularly their large power-handling

capability) ensures that they will always have important power electronic
applications. Thus, the designer and user of power electronic devices and
circuits must have a working knowledge of these devices.
Thyristor Structure

• They have a unique four-layer construction.

• They are a latching switch that can be turned-on by the control terminal (gate) but
cannot be turned-off by the gate.
• In the off-state the thyristor can block a forward polarity voltage and not conduct.
• The thyristor can be triggered into the on-state by applying a pulse of positive gate
current for a short duration provided that the device is in its forward-blocking state.
• The forward voltage drop in the on-state is only a few volts (typically 1-3 volts)
depending on the device blocking voltage rating.
Thyristor
• Once the device begins to
conduct, it is latched on and the
gate current can be removed.

• The thyristor cannot be turned-off by Anode

the gate, and it conducts as a diode.

• Only when the anode current tries to go negative,

under the influence of the circuit in which the P
thyristor is connected, does the thyristor turn-off
and the current goes to zero. This allows the gate
to regain control in order to turn the device on at N
some controllable time after it has again entered
the forward-blocking state. Gate
P

• “Normal” conditions for thyristors to turn on:

N
– the device is in forward blocking state (i.e Vak is positive)
– a positive gate current (Ig) is applied at the gate

Cathode