Power Diodes

Power Diodes
Unit-1
Lecture -2
Basic Structure :
 Power Diode is three layer, two terminal, P-N

semiconductor device.
 It has one PN junction formed by diffusion.
 Two terminals are called anode and cathode.
 It Consists n+ heavily dopped substrate on this a lightly
dopped n- substrate is epitaxially grown.
 Now a heavily dopped p+ layer is diffused in n- layer to
form Anode.
 It similar to normal pn diode or signal diode but it has
higher power handling capacity due to doping quantity.
 Breakdown voltage needed in a power diode governs
the thinness of n- layer; greater the break down
voltage; more the n- layer thinness.
 This diode is also called p-i-n diode or PiN diode.
 From 1 Ampere to 1000’s of ampere forward current
with 50 V to 3000+ V reverse voltage ratings power
diodes are available in the market.
V-I Characteristic :
 When diode is forward biased than up to cut-in voltage forward diode current is very small.
 Beyond the cut-in voltage diode current rises rapidly and diode is in conduction mode.
 For silicon diode cut-in voltage is 0.7 volt and for Ge it 0.3 volt.
 When Diode is in reverse biased than a small reverse leakage current flows of the order of
microampere or milliamperes.
 At breakdown or avalanche voltage diode turned on in reverse direction and high current will flow in
the reverse direction.
Diode Reverse Recovery Characteristic
 After the forward current decay to zero , the diode

continues to conduct in the reverse direction because
of the presence of stored charges in the two layers.
 This reverse current flows for a time called reverse
recovery time trr.
 Diode regain it blocking capability after reverse
recovery current decay to zero.
 Trr is defied as the time between the instant forward
diode current becomes zero and the instant reverse
recovery current decays to 25% of its reverse peak
value Irm as shown in figure.
 Here trr = ta + tb
 During time ta charge stored in the depletion region is
removed.
 During time tb charge from the two semiconductor
layers is removed.
 The ratio tb/ta is called softness factor or S-factor.
 This factor is a measure of the voltage transients that occurs during the time diode
recovers.
 Its usual value is unity.
 If S is small, diode has large oscillatory over voltages.
 A diode with S factor equal to one is called soft-recovery diode.
 A diode with S-factor less than one is called snappy-recovery or fast recovery diode.
Types of Power Diodes
(i) General purpose diodes
 Having relatively high reverse recovery time of order of about 25us.
 Current ratings: 1A to several thousands of ampere
 Voltage range: 50 V to 5KV
 Used in battery charging, welding, UPS
(ii) Fast recovery diodes

 Having low reverse recovery time of order about 5 micro second or less.
 Current rating: 1A to several thousand of ampere
 Voltage rating: 50V to 3 KV
 Used in choppers, commutation circuit, SMPS, induction heating .
(iii) Schottky diodes.

 This diode uses metal to semiconductor junction for rectification purposes instead of p-n junction.
 It has very fast recovery time and low forward voltage drop.
 Current Rating: 1A to 300 A
 Reverse Voltage Rating: up to 100 V
 Used in high frequency instrumentation and switching power supplies
Freewheeling (Flyback) Diode
 Definition: Freewheeling diode is used to protect the circuit from
unusual damage caused due to abrupt reduction in the current
flowing through the circuit. It is also known as Flyback diode and
forms connection across the inductor to remove Flyback voltage
generated across it.
 Freewheeling diodes are also known as kickback diode, clamp
diodes, commutating diodes, suppression diodes, or snubber diode
etc.
• What is Flyback?
 Flyback is basically defined as an abrupt increase in voltage across

the inductive load when the current through the circuit shows a
reduction.
Working of Freewheeling (Flyback) Diode
 The presence of Flyback diode gives an alternate path to the

current, produced due to Flyback voltage at the inductor.
 Under normal operating conditions when the switch is closed,
the external potential reverse biases the freewheeling diode
present in the circuit. And so the freewheeling diode plays no
such crucial role under normal or steady-state condition.
 But in the presence of FD when the switch is opened, the
voltage across the inductor forward biases the freewheeling
diode.
 Due to small resistivity offered by FD, current in open switch
condition now flows through the part of a circuit comprising of
the freewheeling diode, R and L. This resultantly leads to the
protection of switching device present in the circuit.
 These are used for protection of switching devices. Thus
majorly finds applications in full-wave rectifiers, relay drivers
and H-bridge motor drivers etc.
Query
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Power Diodes

 Power Diode is three layer, two terminal, P-N

 After the forward current decay to zero , the diode

(ii) Fast recovery diodes

(iii) Schottky diodes.

 Flyback is basically defined as an abrupt increase in voltage across

 The presence of Flyback diode gives an alternate path to the

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