Abstract
Most power diodes are pin-diodes, i.e. they possess a middle region with a much lower doping concentration than the outer p- and n-layers enclosing it. Compared with unipolar devices (see Chap. 6), pin-diodes have the advantage that the on-resistance is strongly reduced by high-level injection in the base region, which is known as conductivity modulation . Hence pin-diodes can be used up to very high blocking voltages. The base region is not intrinsic, as suggested by the name. The intrinsic case – doping in the range of < 1010 cm−3 – would not only be difficult to attain by technology, extremely low doping would cause essential disadvantages in the turn-off behavior and other properties. Power diodes usually have a p+n−n+-structure, hence the so-called i-layer is actually an n−-layer. Since it is several orders of magnitude lower than the doping of the outer layers, the name pin-diode has become the usual denotation in almost every case
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Lutz, J., Schlangenotto, H., Scheuermann, U., De Doncker, R. (2010). pin-Diodes. In: Semiconductor Power Devices. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11125-9_5
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