2. Bipolar diodes

Diodes are essential to the realization of most power electronics functions. They are often regarded as the simplest of power semiconductor elements, but most of the physics, technology, characterization and implementation problems associated with power components in general also apply to them. This is particularly true of the necessary trade-offs between blocking, on-state and switching performance, through precise structural and technological choices. This arbitration results in generally narrow specifications for use and, consequently, in a wide range of power applications, with unit ratings ranging from a fraction of an ampere to several thousand amperes, and from a few tens of volts to several kilovolts. Single-pole Schottky diodes aside (cf. ), two main families of components can be distinguished: