Electro-thermal coupled modeling of PIN diode limiter used in high-power microwave effects simulation

Abstract

A major failure mode of positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diode limiter is the diode junction thermal burnout due to the high-power microwave (HPM) irradiation. Based on the time domain circuit approach, an electro-thermal coupled model including junction transient self-heating effects is presented via analogous between thermal dynamic and electronic circuit topology. Moreover, the proposed model takes into account feedback updating of physical parameters as device junction temperature varying. The diode junction thermal behavior is simulated and verified by the device manufacture measurements. The PIN limiter circuit numerical results of the microwave pulse width dependence on power level under HPM interference validate the well-known semi-empirical Wunsch–Bell relationship. And the turning point value of microwave pulse width obtained in simulations is very close to that specified in Wunsch–Bell formula.