Dynamic avalanche in 3.3-kV Si power diodes

Measurements of the safe reverse recovery limit were performed for 3.3-kV Si power diodes using a novel optical experimental technique. In this experiment, influence of the junction termination is effectively eliminated by optical generation of a laterally-localized carrier plasma. The turn-off failures observed in measurements at two temperatures showed no temperature dependence and could not be reproduced in ordinary one-dimensional (1-D) or two-dimensional (2-D) device simulations. To simulate the stability of the current density toward current filamentation, two 1-D diodes with an area ratio 1:19 and a 10% difference in initial carrier plasma level, were simulated in parallel. This resulted in a strongly inhomogeneous current distribution, and a rapid reverse voltage fall resembling the measured turn-off failures. Inhomogeneous current distribution in these simulations appears as the current decay ceases due to impact ionization, in qualitative agreement with a current instability condition proposed by Wachutka [1].