Role of the temperature distribution on the PN junction behaviour in the electro‐thermal simulation

Abstract

AbstractElectro‐thermal simulations of a PIN‐diode based on the finite‐element method, show a non‐uniform temperature distribution inside the device during switching transients. Hence, the implicit assumption of a uniform temperature distribution when coupling an analytical electrical model and a thermal model yields inaccurate electro‐thermal behaviour of the PIN‐diode so far. The idea of including non‐uniform temperature distribution into power semiconductor device models is not new, as accurate electro‐thermal simulations are required for designing compact power electronic systems (as IC or MCM). Instead of using a one‐dimensional finite difference or element method, the bond graphs and the hydrodynamic method are utilized to build an electro‐thermal model of the PIN‐diode. The results obtained by this original technique are compared with those obtained by a commercial finite‐element simulator. The results are similar but the computation effort of the proposed technique is a fraction of that required by finite‐element simulators. Moreover, the proposed technique may be applied easily to other power semiconductor devices. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.