Majority carrier power diode
US5510641A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 31, 1993 |
| Grant date | Apr 23, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 31, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH10D62/127
Abstract
A power diode having substantially no reverse-recovery time and relatively high conductance. The power diode is a majority carrier semiconductor having a structure that is similar to that of a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), in that it includes a source, a drain, a gate, and a body. In one embodiment, to increase conductance of the power diode, a linked-cell configuration that reverses the geometry of a conventional cell-type MOSFET is employed, thereby increasing the width of a conductance channel over that of a conventional MOSFET, and compensating for a relatively low level of inversion in the channel region. Negative and positive feedback circuits are used to further improve the conductance of the power diode by dynamically setting a bias voltage applied between the gate and the source to a level just below a threshold voltage. In the positive feedback circuit, the magnitude of the bias voltage is greater than the threshold voltage if the power diode is forward biased, but substantially reduced if the power diode is reverse biased, thereby minimizing its turn-on delay without risking reverse conductance. Although separate components are used for bias…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.