Status and trends of power semiconductor device models for circuit simulation

The current status of research in the field of power semiconductor device models is reviewed. For this purpose, the basic modeling problems and research issues, which have to be overcome in this field, are discussed. Recently, some new and quite promising modeling concepts have been proposed, which are compared with more traditional ways of achieving an efficient tradeoff between the necessary accuracy, required simulation speed, and feasibility of parameter determination. From this comparison, a prediction of the future evolution of circuit simulation models for power semiconductor devices naturally emerges. Many of the different concepts are expected to survive only in an application niche, where their specific points of strength are important. However, three modeling concepts have already been proven to be successfully applicable to the complete spectrum of power semiconductor devices and have their strength for different grades of complexity of the power circuit. A revolutionary development from anticipated or long-due breakthroughs is on the other hand not expected in the foreseeable future.