MPS Rectifiers

Abstract

Most applications for power devices, such as motor control, require rectifiers with blocking voltages ranging from 300 volts to 5000 volts. Silicon P-i-N rectifiers have been developed for these high voltage applications. The silicon P-i-N rectifiers that are designed to support large voltages rely upon the injection of a high concentration of minority carriers into the lightly doped drift region to allow conduction of the on-state current with a low on-state voltage drop1. The minority carriers stored within the drift region must be removed before the P-i-N rectifier is able to support a reverse bias voltage. During switching from the on-state to the reverse blocking state, a large reverse recovery current transient is observed for P-i-N rectifiers to allow the removal of the stored charge as discussed in Chapter 6. The reverse recovery transient produces significant switching power loss in the rectifier and in the transistor that is controlling the switching transient.