Destruction behavior in high voltage diode with the field limiting ring termination

Abstract

The turn-off of high voltage diode under over-stress condition may lead to the diode destruction, which appears at the edge of termination or in the active region. The diode destruction behaviors related to current filament, electric field and maximum temperature are investigated by electrothermal simulation. The results show that the electric field punch-through to the termination surface is unavoidable. The disappearance of current filament at the edge of termination should be a self-stabilizing mechanism because of the extraction of carriers. The reasons for leading to the diode destruction at the edge of termination or in the active region are found. key words: dynamic avalanche, current filament, high voltage diode, reverse recovery Classification: Power devices and circuits