Prime Soft is based on a monolithic silicon design and typical applications for the diodes are HVDC/FACTs and medium voltage drives using voltage source converters. These applications are marked by demanding requirements on power losses.
Customers using the Prime Soft diode will benefit from a low on-state loss, enabled by the monolithic silicon design creating an active silicon area increased by more than 25 percent compared to multichip diodes.
This design improves the switching power up to 6 to 10MW at a maximum junction temperature of 140°C. Compared to a free-floating contact without solid metallurgical connection between silicon and molybdenum carrier, the thermal resistance of the new, bonded device is about 20 percent lower.
In addition to reliability and good thermal properties, Prime Soft diodes feature minimum switching losses. Its soft reverse-recovery behaviour shows no improper oscillations under all relevant operating conditions.
Further to the electric parameters, the new mechanical concept simplifies the stack construction with series stacking of press-pack IGBTs and freewheeling diodes. This reduces the time needed for stack design by about 50 percent.
