Effects of Carrier Lifetime and End-Region Recombination on the Forward Current and Switching Behavior of Power Pin Diodes

Abstract

It has been shown that the on-state current-voltage characteristic of power pin diodes can be expressed in terms of base lifetime, τB; ratio of base width, W, to diffusion length, LA; and end-region recombination effects, hp and hn. The switching characteristic can be described in terms of a normalized form of these parameters, including the current density, JT, for a range of device dimensions. Independent experimental evaluation of these parameters, together with the theories, has accurately predicted the current-voltage characteristic up to 450 A cm−2 and confirmed the general behavior of the switching characteristics of a set of pin diodes with dimensions in the range 1.5 ≤ W/LA ≤ 4.