Modeling power diode by combining the behavioral and the physical model

This paper presents an approach of implementing the dynamic multi-resolution power diode model in the virtual test bed (VTB), a platform for complex system simulation and prototyping. The new model is a combination of the behavioral model and the physical model. The behavioral model is based upon the widely used Shockley equation; its advantages are simplicity and fast simulation speed, however it is incapable of representing the forward and reverse recovery phenomena during the state switch, which is required in many applications. The physical model is based upon the lumped charge theory; it has higher fidelity than the behavioral model as well as the ability of representing the forward and reverse recovery. The physical model's drawback is its complex mathematical representation that also requires a sub-micro-second time step, which makes the simulation extremely slow. The combined model inherits the advantages of both models; the validation example shows the simulation speed can be doubled while the accuracy loss is less than three percent.