Electrical characteristics of present-day manufactured power semiconductor pn junctions and the I-V characteristic theory

Experimental characteristics derived from available samples at this time of silicon commercial devices, manufactured by leading companies in the field are presented. It is shown that experimental evidence for a dominant surface current component may also he in good agreement with the predictions of the current voltage characteristic theory where the junction surface leakage current is ignored. The semiconductor power devices have electrical characteristics under the influence of a surface leakage component. This is the primary reverse current component for standard recovery junctions and may be the secondary component for fast recovery junctions. The existence of a surface leakage component has impact on the performance of power devices at high junction temperature.