Degradation of Series Diodes Under High Voltage

In this paper, the degradation characteristics of the series diodes under DC high voltage operation are investigated. Five series connected diodes are operated at a reverse bias voltage of 1500V. The influence of the DC high voltage on the diode parameters is analyzed after the I-V characteristic test. Finally, an annealing experiment is performed on a diode that stressed under DC high voltage. The results show that the high voltage will introduce defects into the diodes, which leads to the increases of the recombination current and the ideality factor. The degradation degree of five diodes is basically the same. For the annealing experiment, the recoverability of defects can be observed.