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Rectifiers in Lighting Products
High Power in small packages
Rectifiers in Lighting Products
The most common rectifier used in lighting applications is the 1N4007 series. This 1A / 1000V
Rectifier is still the workhorse of the power semiconductor industry and it is not really a new
product. Billions of them are manufactured, mainly in China by now. Their cost has been driven so
far down that increases in raw materials such as the Cu price for the leads drives up the end price
to the customer. The silicon used in these rectifiers competes with silicon used in photovoltaic
products / solar cells and as such has been under price pressure since 2006.
It is easy to predict that by the
middle of this century billions of
the
1N4007
will
still
be
manufactured. The product cycle
time of the product will then be
100 years. In a semiconductor
world characterized by short
product cycle times and relentless
innovation this is a completely
different story. This does not
mean that no further evolution is
possible on rectifiers for lighting.
This article will propose three
new
Diotec
Semiconductor
products suitable for lighting
Rectifiers and diodes are key components in lighting circuits
systems. The way these products
came into being will help the reader get some insight in what drives the 2 billion $ plus rectifier
market – which has been growing at about the same rate as the rest of the semiconductor
industry for the last 15 years.
To cost effectively replace the
four 1N4007 rectifiers with a
surface mount equivalent has
long been an obsession of the
(lighting) industry. The 600V
MS250
from
Diotec
MS
Semiconductor is the closest the
250
industry has gotten so far. The
+
rectifier bridge fits on existing
2.5mm Rectifier Bridge standard
pad layouts in the industry. When
designing
the
bridge,
the
consumption of materials was
reduced as much as possible. The
MS250 uses 0.016g of Cu, 4x SMD bridges save space, weight and raw materials
1N4007 uses 1.18g of Cu. The
space needed on the PCB was reduced from 140mm square to 30mm square. The height of the
MS250 is 1.6mm max allowing assembly flexibility. Furthermore all four internal dice are placed at
1N4007
1N4007
1N4007
1N4007
80% less space!
=
90% less weight!
© Diotec Semiconductor AG
http://www.diotec.com/
1
Rectifiers in Lighting Products
once using a unique assembly method called “QuattroChip”. This improves alignment of the die,
improves thermal resistance and reduces failures caused by misaligned die and input current
surges.
3.3-0.1
3.1-0.1
FAV
0.25
Most ballast designs do not draw
a lot of current from the mains.
I = 2.3 A
[%]
@ T = 50°C
As such the current rating
100
requirements for the rectifiers
are not very high. The common
80
problem of lightning designs is
~
~
60
the
very
high
ambient
B250S2A
+
temperature.
The
high
ambient
I = 0.7 A
40
@ T = 125°C
temperatures cause problems
with current derating and in
20
VF<0.95V @ IF=2A
I
many cases surface mount
0
bridges are avoided in high end
0
100
150
T
50
[°C]
IFSM = 72A (<8.3ms)
Rated forward current versus ambient temperature
ballasts. Designers prefer four
Zul. Richtstrom in Abh. von der Umgebungstemp.
discrete
SMD
or
axial
components. The B250S2A series
Bridges for high temperature applications
solves this problem. This bridge
rectifier is officially rated at 2.3A and still manages 0.7A at 125°C on a standard PCB. Furthermore
it has a Vf specification of 0.95V @ 2A, which is 15-20% lower than competitors’ bridges. This
gives you a small contribution towards improved efficiency of your design. The bridge is also
manufactured using the unique “QuattroChip” die principle, where all 4 die are placed at once.
This improves the surge performance.
120
A
±0.4
7.9
5.1
10.2
-0.1
±0.4
6.4
-0.1
8.3
FAV
1.3
A
FAV
A
Several applications exist in
2.5
5
5.0
lighting applications for very high
voltage rectifiers up to 2000V.
These products are needed due
SM2000
to the high ignition voltages of
0.15
1
certain
lamp
types.
Die
0.5
0.5
passivation techniques used in
the industry make it difficult to
S1Y
manufacture these products in
Surface Mount Packages. The
“Plasma
EPOS”
of
Diotec
4.6
Semiconductor allows for wafer
VRRM max 2000V
passivation technologies up to
2000V. The die produced using
these
processes
can
be High voltage Rectifiers in SMD
assembled in MELF or flat
packages. This resulted in the SM513 to SM2000 series, established Melf types having 1A current
rating and blocking voltages of 1300 up to 2000V. Diotec recently introduced the new S1T to S1Y
series – an expansion of the industry standard S1 series up to 2000V. Further available up to
2000V are 2A and 3A versions, the S2x and respectively S3x series.
2.7
1.5
+ 0.1
2.2± 0.2
2.1± 0.1
± 0.2
± 0.2
2008-02-15
2
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