Diodes and Transistors

Discussion of electricity, electronics, electrical components and theories of circuit operation.
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Gopi
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:58 am

Diodes and Transistors

Post by Gopi »

Hello everyone,

Please see the paper attached.

Gopi
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Diodes and Transistors in the RS.pdf
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Horace
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Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:40 pm

Re: Diodes and Transistors

Post by Horace »

Interesting perspective.

Does it explain the behavior of Drift Step Recovery Diode, in which the diode conducts briefly in reverse and then abruptly stops conducting when "something" becomes purportedly "exhausted" in the PN junction ??
Gopi
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:58 am

Re: Diodes and Transistors

Post by Gopi »

Yep, the "something" that gets exhausted is literally the supply of space-to-time or time-to-space, as the reverse bias blocks it. Pulsing the input will make it easier to see this action, but it is essentially like a recoil of a spring. The springiness occurs since the electrons and holes are changing dimensional representations.
Horace
Posts: 276
Joined: Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:40 pm

Re: Diodes and Transistors

Post by Horace »

Perhaps your new insight into this phenomena can explain why the best Drift Step Recovery Diodes are old diodes with poorly manufactured PN junctions, in which the spatial transition between the P and N regions is not sharp ...but blurred.
By "best", I mean diodes that "turn off" their pulsed reverse current very abruptly...under a nanosecond. See the Belkin_eng.pdf document in this entry and this one.
It has been observed that the best DSR Diodes have long carrier lifetimes, unfortunately this diode parameter is not given in standard data sheets. In Belkin's document it is denoted by tzh.

Also, why Schottky diodes do not exhibit such rapid step recovery while PN diodes do ?
Gopi
Posts: 153
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:58 am

Re: Diodes and Transistors

Post by Gopi »

Horace wrote:Also, why Schottky diodes do not exhibit such rapid step recovery while PN diodes do ?
In Schottky diode, there is more "elbow room" because of the large positive displacements of metals. Which means the backwash has more displacement to dissipate in, while in a smeiconductor p-n- junction, it is like a squeezed pipe, so it dries up real quick in the backwash. 2D-->1D is squuezed. 2D-->3D is easier.
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