Effects of magnetic field on the carrier density distribution of semiconductor power device operated in pulsed power conditions

Turn-on characteristics of semiconductor power devices are evaluated under external magnetic field to study the effects of external magnetic field generated in a pulsed power circuit. Two pin diodes that have a basic structure of power devices are connected in parallel and driven by a pulsed voltage source. It was found the magnetic field applied to one diode in the perpendicular direction of current-flow changed the current balance between the diodes. Besides the on-resistance of a diode was increased under external magnetic field. The carrier-density distribution inside of the diodes was measured by using a free carrier absorption method. The data show that the carrier-density distribution changes from nearly the uniform one to the one-sided one. It can be concluded that the effects of magnetic-field have to be considered for the evaluation of switching characteristic in pulsed power operations. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 147(1): 10–16, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.10271