1

Module -7

Diode and Diode Circuits

1. Introduction
2. DC and s witching characte ristics
3. Types of Power Diode
4. Diode Circuit
4.1. Series Connected Diodes
4.2. Parallel Connected Diodes
5. Diode behavior for different loads
6. Freewheeling diode
7. Summary

Learning objectives

1. To study DC and Switching Characteristics

2. To know type of Power Diodes

3. To learn series and parallel connected diodes.

4. To understand Diode Behavior for Different Loads

5. To study the need of Freewheeling Diode

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1. Introduction:
A semiconductor diode has two terminals or electrodes that act like an on-off switch. When the diode is
“on”, it acts as a short circuit and allows current to flow through it. When it is “off”, it behaves like an
open circuit and passes no current. The two terminals are different and are marked as plus and minus in
Figure 1. If the polarity of the applied voltage matches that of the diode (forward bias), then the diode
turns “on”.
When the applied voltage polarity is opposite (reverse bias), it turns “off”. Of course this is the theoretical
behavior of an ideal diode, but it can be seen as a good approximation for a real diode.
Diodes are widely used in power electronic circuits for conversion of electric power. The basic
application of diode in power electronics is as AC to DC converters commonly known as rectifiers which
provide fixed output voltage.

2. DC and S witching Characteristics of Diode

Diode act as switch to perform different functions such as switches in rectifier, freewheeling diode in
switching regulator, charge reversal of capacitor, and energy transfer between components, voltage
isolation, energy feedback from the load to the power source, and trapped energy recovery.

Practical diode differs from ideal diode. They have certain limitations. P ower diodes are similar to pn-
junction signal diodes. However power diode has larger power-, voltage- and current- handling capacities
than that of ordinary signal diodes. The frequency response is low compared to signal diode. Practically,
power semiconductor diode has p+ n– n+ structure.

2.1 DC characteristics of diode

(a) (c) i
A K

(b)
v
A p n K

Figure 1 Diode (a) Symbol, (b) structure and (c) ideal current-voltage characteristics.

A power diode is a two terminal pn-junction device. Figure 1 shows the symbol, structure and ideal
current voltage characteristics. When anode potential is positive with respect to cathode, the diode is said

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to be forward biased and the diode conducts (Figure 2). The conduction diode normally has small voltage
drop across it. This voltage drop is dependent on the junction temperature and manufacturing process.
The diode is said to be in reverse biased when the cathode potential is larger than that of anode. Under
reverse biased a small reverse current (called leakage current) flows through it, of the order of few micro
or mill-ampere. This reverse current goes on increasing with reverse voltage until avalanche or zener
voltage is reached.

i
D R D R

i i

VDC VDC
-VBR

v
Knee Voltage/
Threshold voltage
Reverse leakage
current

Figure 2 Current-Voltage characteristics of pn junction diode.

The i-v characteristics of the diode can be expressed by an equation known

as Shockley diode equation, given by: i  I s (e  1)

VD nvT

where i is current through diode,

VD is Forward biased diode voltage,

Is is leakage current of the order of 10-6 to 10-15 A,

VT is thermal voltage given by VT  kT ,

q

Where, „q‟ is electronic charge (1.6022x10-19 C), „k‟ is Boltzmann‟s constant (1.3806x10 -23 J/K), „T‟ is
absolute temperature, in Kelvin and „n‟ is empirical constant known as emission coefficient or ideality
factor, whose value varies between 1 and 2.

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Value of „n‟ depends on the material and the physical construction of the diode. For Ge diode, „n‟ is
considered as 1 and Si diode „n‟ is 2.

Forward Biased Region: In the forward biased region= V D >0. The diode current ID is very small if the
diode voltage is less than the specific value V TD (typically 0.7V for Si diode). The diode conducts fully if
VD > VTD , which is referred to as threshold voltage. For small diode voltage V D =0.1V, ID =IS e(VD/nVT) .

Reverse Biased Region: In the reverse biased region the V D <0, ID ≈ -Is.

Breakdown region: in the breakdown region the reverse voltage is high (about >1000V). After specific
reverse voltage known as V BR, the reverse current increases rapidly with small change in V BR. The
operation in the breakdown will not be destructive provided that the power dissipation is within the safe
level.

Typical DC parameters of diode

Forward voltage, VF : It is the voltage drop of a diode across anode and cathode at a defined current level
when it is forward biased.

Breakdown voltage, VB R : It is the voltage drop across the diode at a defined current level when it is
beyond reverse biased level. This is popularly known as avalanche breakdown. It is also called as the
peak inverse voltage (PIV). The PIV of a diode is the maximum reverse voltage that can be connected
across a diode without breakdown. The PIV ratings of power diodes extend from a few volts to several
thousand volts.

Reverse current IR: I T is the current at a particular voltage, which is below the breakdown voltage. It is
almost constant. It has temperature dependence.

2.2 Switching characteristics of diode (Reverse Recovery Characteristics)

The current in the forward-biased junction diode is due to net effect of majority and minority charge
carriers. Once the diode is in a forward conduction mode and then its forward current is reduced to zero
(due to natural behavior of diode circuit or application of reverse voltage), the diode continues to conduct
due to minority carriers which remain stored in the pn-junction and the bulk semiconductor material. The
minority carriers require a certain time to recombine with opposite charges and to be neutralized. This
time is referred to as reverse recovery time (trr) of the diode. This is as shown in the Figure 3.

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(a) (b) (c)

D IF IF
trr trr
+ iF ta
t t
vi RL 0.25IRR 0.25IRR

-
IRR tb IRR

Figure 3 Reverse recovery characteristics showing turn off of a diode (a) circuit arrangement, (b) soft
recovery and (c) abrupt recovery.

trr is measured from the initial zero crossing of the diode current to 25% of the maximum peak current IRR.
trr consists of two components, ta and tb as shown in the Figure 3. trr= ta + tb , and IRR=ta(di/dt)

Diodes with soft recovery characteristics are used low frequency applications such as rectifiers and line
commutated converters. Diodes with abrupt recovery characteristics are used for high frequency
switching applications such as pulse width modulated (pwm) dc-dc converters and inverters.

Typical switching parameters of diode

Reverse recovery current I RR : It is the peak reverse current, when diode is switched off.

Forward recovery time, tFR : It is the time required for the diode voltage to drop to a particular value
after the forward current starts to flow.

Reverse recovery time trr: It is the time interval between the application of reverse voltage and the
reverse current dropped to a particular value as shown in Figure 3 (b).

Parameter ta is the interval between the zero crossing of the diode current and when it reaches to IRR. On
the other hand, tb is the time interval from the maximum reverse recovery current to approximately
0.25IRR.

Softness factor (SF): It is the ratio of ta and tb . SF = tb / ta.

3. Types of Power diodes

Ideal diode should have no reverse recovery time. But the manufacturing cost of such diode will increase.
So in applications where the effect of reverse recovery time is not significant, then inexpensive diodes can

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be used. Power diodes can be classified depending on the manufacturing techniques, forward voltage
drops and the reverse recovery characteristics of the diode.

Following are the categories of power diode:

 Standard/ general purpose diodes,

 Fast recovery diodes,
 Schottky diodes,
 Silicon Carbide diodes.

General purpose diodes

These types of diodes have relatively high reverse recovery time, of the order of 25µs. these diodes are
used in low speed applications, since in low speed applications, the reverse recovery time is not critical.
As an example in diode rectifiers and converters for low frequency up to 1 kHz applications and line
commutated applications these diodes can be used. These diodes have current rating less than 1A to a few
kA range with voltage rating of 50V to about 5kV. The manufacturing process of these diodes is by
diffusion technique. Alloyed types of rectifiers which are used in welding applications have voltage/
current rating up to 1.5kV/ 400A.

Fast-Recovery Diodes

These types of diodes have low reverse recovery time, less than 5µs. they have applications in dc-ac
converter circuits, dc-dc converter circuits. In these applications reverse recovery time is of critical
importance.

These diodes are made by using diffusion technique for voltage rating above 400V. The reverse recovery
time is controlled by diffusion of gold or platinum.

The epitaxial growth technique is used to fabricate the diode which has voltage rating less than 400V.
These epitaxial diodes have faster switching speed than those of diffusion diodes. The epitaxial diodes
have a narrow base width, which provides faster reverse recovery time as low as 50ns. These fast
recovery diodes are available in various sizes.

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Schottky Diodes

The pn junction diode has charge storage problem. To minimize/ eliminate this problem Schottky diodes
are produced. It is accomplished by setting up a barrier potential with a contact between a metal and a
semiconductor. A layer of metal is deposited on a thin epitaxial layer of n-type silicon semiconductor.
The potential barrier simulates the behavior of pn junction. The rectifying action depends on the majority
charge carriers only. So there are no minority charge carriers to recombine. The recovery effect is due to
only the self capacitance of the semiconductor junction. The recovered charge of the Schottky diode is
much less compared to pn junction diode. Since the recovered charge is only due to junction capacitance,
it is largely independent of reverse rate of change of current di/dt. This diode has relatively small forward
voltage drop. The leakage current of these diodes is more than that of pn junction diode. In a Schottky
diodes smaller the conduction voltage more is the leakage current. Thus, maximum allowable voltage is
limited to 100V. The current rating varies from 1A to 100A.
Silicon Carbide Diodes (SiC diodes)

SiC (Silicon Carbide) is a compound semiconductor comprised of silicon (Si) and carbon (C). Compared
to Si, SiC has ten times the dielectric breakdown field strength, three times the band gap, and three times
the thermal conductivity. Both p-type and n-type regions can be formed in SiC. These properties make
SiC an attractive material from which to manufacture power devices that can far exceed the performance
of their Si counterparts. SiC devices can withstand higher breakdown voltage, have lower resistivity, and
can be operated at higher temperature. The larger band gap also means SiC devices can operate at higher
temperatures. The guaranteed operating temperature of current SiC devices is from 150o C – 175o C. This
is due mainly to thermal reliability of packages. When properly packaged, they can be operated at 200o C
and higher.
Device structure and characteristics

SiC SBDs (Schottky Barrier Diodes) with breakdown voltage from 600V (which far exceeds the upper
limit for silicon SBDs) and up are readily available. Compared to silicon FRDs (fast recovery diodes),
SiC SBDs have much lower reverse recovery current and recovery time, hence dramatically lower
recovery loss and noise emission. Furthermore, unlike silicon FRDs, these characteristics do not change
significantly over current and operating temperature ranges. SiC SBDs allow system designers to improve
efficiency, lower cost and size of heat sink, increase switching frequency to reduce size of magnetics and
its cost, etc. SiC-SBDs are increasingly applied to circuits such as power factor correctors (PFC) and

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secondary side bridge rectifier in switching mode power supplies. Today‟s applications are air
conditioners, solar power conditioners, EV chargers, industrial equipment and so on.
Forward characteristics of SiC-SBD

SiC-SBDs have similar threshold voltage as Si-FRDs, i.e., a little less than 1V. Threshold voltage is
determined by Schottky barrier height. Normally, a low barrier height corresponds with low threshold
voltage and high reverse leakage current.

Reverse recovery characteristics of SiC-SBD

Si fast P-N junction diodes (e.g. FRDs: fast recovery diodes) have high transient current at the moment
the junction voltage switches from the forward to the reverse direction, resulting in significant switching
loss. This is due to minority carriers stored in the drift layer during conduction phase when forward
voltage is applied. The higher the value of forward current (or temperature), the longer the recovery time
and the larger is the recovery current. In contrast, since SiC-SBDs are majority carrier (unipolar) devices
that use no minority carriers for electrical conduction, they do not store minority carriers. The reverse
recovery current in SiC SBDs is only to discharge junction capacitance. Thus the switching loss is
substantially lower compared to that in Si-FRDs. The transient current is nearly independent of
temperatures and forward currents, and thereby achieves stable fast recovery in any environment.
Type VB R VF trr
Si Schottky Barrier Diode 15 V - 200 V 0.3V-0.8 V < 10 ns
Si Rectifier Diode (General purpose) 50 V – 5kV 0.7V-1.5 V > 25 μs
Si Standard Recovery Diode 50 V- 1kV 1.0 V 1 μs-5 μs
Silicon Carbide Schottky Barrier Diode 600 V 1.5 V < 15 ns

Snubber Circuits for Diode

Snubber circuits are essential for diodes used in switching circuits. It can save a diode from overvoltage
spikes, which may arise during the reverse recovery process. A very common snubber circuit for a power
diode consists of a capacitor in series with a resistor connected in parallel with the diode as shown in
Figure 4.

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R C

vS

Figure 4 Snubber circuit for diode.

When the reverse recovery current decreases, the capacitor by virtue of its property will try to hold the
voltage across it, which, approximately, is the voltage across the diode. The resistor on the other hand will
help to dissipate some of the energy stored in the inductor, which forms the IRR loop. The dv/dt across a
diode can be calculated as
dv 0.632VS 0.632VS
 
dt  RS CS
where VS is the voltage applied across the diode.
Usually the dv/dt rating of a diode is given in the manufacturer‟s datasheet. Knowing dv/dt and the RS ,
one can choose the value of the snubber capacitor CS . The RS can be calculated from the diode reverse
recovery current
VS
RS 
I RR
The designed dv/dt value must always be equal or lower than the dv/dt value found from the datasheet.
Series Connected Diodes

Figure 5 shows series connection of two diodes. If diodes are connected in series as shown there may be
unequal voltage sharing during reverse bias. It is due to the dissimilarities between the reverse
characteristics of diodes.

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iD

+ iD

D1 -VD1 -VD2
vD
VS
-IS
D2

Figure 5 Series connected diode (a) circuit (b) reverse bias characteristics showing unbalanced voltage
sharing.

The voltage sharing across diodes can achieved using high value resistors across each diode. Figure 6
shows the unbalanced voltage sharing network under steady state condition with reverse biased
characteristics. The current flowing through the resistors should be much greater than the leakage current
of diode to ensure the required voltage sharing.

iD
+ iD
–
R1 D1 VD1 -VD1 = -VD2
IR1 IS1 vD
+
VS -IS1
IR2 IS2 -IS2
–
R2
D2 VD2
+
–

Figure 6 Series connected diode (a) circuit with unbalanced voltage sharing network under steady state
condition (b) reverse bias characteristics.

High diode current may flow under voltage transient conditions due to finite reverse recovery time.
Snubber circuit is required across each diode to suppress the voltage transients. Figure 7 shows the diode
with voltage sharing network under steady state and snubber circuit for transient condition.

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RS CS CS RS

D1 D2

R1 R2

Figure 7 Series connected diode with voltage sharing network under steady state and snubber circuit for
transient conditions.

Parallel Connected Diodes

If diodes are connected in parallel, as shown in Figure 8, current is shared, but current sharing will not be
equal because of difference in forward characteristics of diodes.

(a) (b) i

vD D1 D2
ID1
ID2
–
v
VD1 = VD2

Figure 8 Parallel connected diodes (a) circuit (b) forward biased steady state characteristics.

The series diode with low resistance will improve the current sharing. The circuit arrangement is shown
in Figure 9. If resistor values are high, the sharing will be good, but power dissipation across resistors will
be high. It will reduce the efficiency. Thus selection of resistor is difficult.

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(a) (b) iD
+

D1 D2

vD ID1 =ID2
R1 R2

vD
VD1 VD2
–

Figure 9 Parallel connected diodes (a) circuit with static current sharing (b) forward biased steady state
characteristics.

If low value resistor is selected, dynamic current sharing as shown in Figure 10 can be used. A series
coupled reactor can be used. The series inductors, L1 and L2 are connected in out of phase. Therefore
dynamic current sharing is possible. Time required for current sharing will be dependent on the L/R time
constant.

+
D1 D2

R1 R2
vD

L1 L2

Figure 10 Parallel connected diodes with dynamic current sharing.

Behavior of diode circuits

Assumptions

The analysis of diode circuit usually begins with the study of the idealized version of the circuit. Practical
deviations from the idealized circuit can then be added whenever needed.

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The simplifying assumptions involved in the idealized circuits are as follows:

1. The voltage drop across switching devices is neglected while they are conducting, and the leakage
current is neglected while they are blocking.
2. The turn-on and turn-off times of the switching devices are negligible and hence neglected.
3. Sources exhibits zero source impedance.

Diode with series RC loads

Figure 11 shows the diode circuit for RC load. When switch S1 closed at t=0, the charging current i is

found from the following equation: Vs  vR  vc  vR  C  idt  vc t  0

1

vR  R

charging current is given by: it   Vs et RC

R

t
the capacitor voltage is given by vc t   1 idt  Vs 1  e t RC   Vs 1  e t  
 C 0
   

where τ=RC is time constant of the RC load. The rate of change of the capacitor voltage is given by:
dvc Vs t RC the initial rate of change of capacitor voltage is obtained from above equation as
 e
dt RC
dv V
( c )t 0  s .
dt RC

i
(a) VS/R (b)
+
i
SW D
+
vR 0.368 VS/R
R
- 0 t
VS vc
+ VS
C vc
- 0.632 VS
-

0 t

Figure 11 Diode with series RC load (a) circuit, (b) timing waveform

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Diode with series LR loads

Figure 12 shows the diode circuit for LR load.

When switch is closed at t=0, the current i through the inductor increases and given by the equation
di
Vs  vL  vR  L  Ri
dt

With initial condition i(t=0)=0, the solution of the equation becomes

Vs  
 tR

it   1 e L 
L  


The rate of change of this current is given by

di Vs LtR
 e
dt L

And the initial rate of rise of current (at t=0) is obtained as

 di  V
   s
 dt t 0 L

The voltage vL across the inductor is

 tR
vL t   L
di
 vs e L
dt

Where, L

, is the time constant of the R-L load.
R

vL
(a) (b)
VS
+
i
S D +
W vR 0.368 VS
R
- 0 t
VS i
+ VS/R
L vL
- 0.632 VS/R

-
0 t

Figure 12 Diode with series R-L load (a) circuit, (b) timing waveform

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Diode with series LC load

A diode with LC load is as shown in the Figure 13.

i
(a) (b)
IP
+
i
SW D
+
vL 0
R t
-
vC
VS 2VS
+
C vc
-
VS
-

0 t

Figure 13 Diode with series LC load (a) circuit, (b) timing waveform

When the switch S1 is closed at t=0, the charging current i of the capacitor is expressed as:
idt  vc t  0
di 1
dt C 
Vs  L 

With initial conditions i(t=0) = 0 and vc(t=0) = 0, it   Vs L sin t

C

 i t   I p sin t
Where,   1 and
LC
The peak current Ip is, I p  Vs
C
L
The rate of rise of current is obtained from: di  Vs cos t
dt L
t
The voltage across the capacitor can be derived as: vc t   1  idt  Vs 1  cos t 
C 0

At time t  t1   LC , the diode current falls to zero and the capacitor is charged to 2V s . Time constant

is given by   LC

The diode with series R-L-C load:

A diode with R-L-C load is as shown in the Figure 14.

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vc (b)
t
(a) vR e
 1
+
i
S D R
W
 1
vL
L

VS VS

C vc
 1
-

0 t

Figure 14 Diode with series R-L-C load (a) circuit, (b) timing waveform

If switch S1 is closed at time t=0, the equation using KVL to the circuit can be given by:

 Ri   idt  vc t  0  vs
di 1
L
dt C

With initial conditions, i(t=0) = V 0 . Differentiating above equation and rearranging the terms we get:

d 2i R di i
  0
dt 2 L dt LC

Under steady state conditions, the capacitor is charged to the source voltage V s and the steady state
current will be zero. The force component of the current will also be zero. The current is due to natural
component.

The characteristics equation in Laplace domain can be written as s 2  R s  1  0

L LC

And the roots of quadratic equation can be written as,

2
R  R  1 R 1
s1, 2            2  02 , where   and 0  .
2L  2L  LC 2L LC

The term  is a damping attenuation or damping factor and ω0 is natural or resonating frequency. The
ratio of ζ = /ω0 is called as damping ratio. It is evident that the solution for the current depends on
damping factor. Hence, there will be three cases for current as follows-

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Case 1:

ζ = 1 i.e.  = ω0 , the roots are real. Both roots are equal, s 1 = s2 . This condition is said to be critically
damped circuit. Solution of the equation is

it   A1  A2t e s1t

Case 2:

ζ > 1 i.e.  > ω0 , the roots are real. This condition is said to be over damped circuit. Solution of the
equation is

it  A1 e s1t  A2 e s2t

Case 3:

ζ < 1 i.e.  < ω0 , the roots are complex. This condition is said to be under damped circuit. The roots are
s1,2 = -   jωr, where ωr is called as ringing or damped resonant frequency and is equal to r  0 
2 2

. The solution will be damped or decaying sinusoidal given as follows.

Solution of the equation is

it  e t  A1 cos r t  A2 sin r t 

The waveforms of the capacitor voltage are as shown in above Figure 14 (b).

Freewheeling diodes:

The diode behavior with load is discussed in previous section. Refer Figure 15. Practically, circuit will
produce high voltage transient when circuit is turned off before inductor current reaches to zero. Abrupt
change in inductor current while turning off a diode produces the high negative voltage transient. If the
transient voltage exceeds breakdown voltage of diode D 1 , diode may damage. To avoid such situation
additional diode is used as shown in Figure 15 (a). This diode D m is called as freewheeling diode. This
diode Dm is also described as commutating / flywheel / bypass diode. The main function of this diode is to
commutate or transfer load current away whenever load voltage reverses.
Figure 15 (a) shows the diode circuit connected to load with additional freewheeling diode D m. If the
switch S1 of the diode circuit for R-L load is closed for time t1 , a current is established through the load;
and then if the switch is opened, a path must be provided for the current in the inductive load. This is
normally done by connecting the diode D m as shown in the Figure 15 (a), which is referred to as
freewheeling diode. The circuit operation is divided in two modes as described below.

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(a) i1

i +
SW D1 i1
i2
R
(d)
VS Dm v0 I1
t1
L
0 t
-
i2

(b) i1
I1
i + t2
SW D1
R t
0
VS v0
i
L
- I1

(c)
t
i + 0
i2
R v0
Dm v0
Vs
L
- t
0

Figure 15 Diode connected to series load with freewheeling diode (a) circuit, (b) equivalent circuit during
mode 1, (c) equivalent circuit during mode 2 and (d) timing waveforms.

Mode 1: During this mode, Switch is closed at time t = 0. Assume the initial current at t = 0 is zero. The
switch is closed till time t = t1 . The equivalent electrical circuit during this mode is shown in Figure 15 (b)
and the various currents flowing through D 1 , Dm and load and load voltage is shown using timing
diagram in Figure 15 (d).
The current i1 , during this mode can be determined and is given by

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Vs 
1  e L 
tR
i1 t  
R  
When the switch is opened at time t=t1 (at the end of this mode), the current at that time becomes:
Vs   t1R

I 1  i1 t  t1   1  e L  .
R 
If the time t1 is sufficiently long, the current reaches to steady state value and a steady state current of
I s  Vs R flows through the load.

Mode 2: When switch is opened at time t = t1, the load current starts to flow through the freewheeling
diode Dm as shown in the timing waveform. The initial condition of current i2 is i2 t  t1   I1 . Using
KVL, we can write
di2
0L  Ri2
dt
 tR
The solution gives the freewheeling current i2 t   I1e L
. This current decays exponentially to zero at t
= t2 provided that t2 >> L/R.
Summary
The characteristics of practical diodes differ from ideal diodes. The reverse recovery time plays a
significant role at high switching applications. Diodes can be classified into three basic types: general
purpose diodes, fast recovery diodes and Schottky diodes. Schottky diode behaves as a normal pn
junction diode, but it has no physical junction, hence Schottky diode is a majority carrier device. On the
other hand the pn diode is both majority and minority carrier device. If diodes are connected in series to
increase the blocking capability, voltage sharing networks under steady state and transient conditions are
required. When diodes are connected in parallel to increase the current carrying capability, current sharing
elements are also necessary. In this chapter we have seen the applications of power diodes in voltage
reversal of a capacitor, charging a capacitor more than the dc input voltage, freewheeling action, and
energy recovery from inductive load.

Power Electronics
Electronic Science
7. Diode and Diode Circuits