7/5/2016

Ch.1 : Power Semiconductor Devices

Power Electronics I

1. Power Semiconductor Devices

2. Thyristor Fundamentals
3. Phase Controlled (AC to DC) Converters:
4. DC to DC Converters:
5. DC Drives with phase controlled converters:
6. DC drives with dc-dc converters:

Power Diode
Power Transistor
SCR (Silicon Controlled Rectifier) or Thyristor
MOSFET(Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Xtor)
IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)
DIAC
TRIAC
Light Activated SCRs (LASCRs)
Reverse Conducting Thyristor(RCT)
Asymmetrical SCR (ASCR)
Gate turn-off Thyristors (GTOs)
MOS controlled Thyristors (MCTs),
UJT (Uni Junction Transistor)
Static Induction Transistor

1. Power Semiconductor Diodes

Structure

Symbol

A Diode is a pn-junction device.

A low power diode, called signal diode
A high power diode called power diode is also a pn-

Appearance

junction but construction is difference from signal diode.

Power devices (Diodes, Transistor etc.. ) are required to
carry up to several KA of current under forward bias
condition and block up to several KV under reverse biased
condition.

Construction of Power Diode

Three layer
Heavily doped n+ layer
Lightly doped n layer
Heavily doped p+ layer
Heavily doped p+ layer is diffused
into n layer to form Anode &
n+ layer form Cathod
Function of n layer is to absorb
the depletion layer of RB p+ n Junction J1
Breakdown voltage depend on the width of n layer
Drawback of add n layer is add ohmic resistance when it is
conducting in FB
So large power dissipation in Power Diode & proper cooling is
requred

7/5/2016

Characteristic of Power Diode

Diode in forward bias
Vs = 0 to cut in (Thresold) voltage diode current zero
Beyond cutin voltage diode current rises exponentially
means diode is conduct

Silicon diode cutin voltage = 0.7

Diode forward voltage drop = 0.8 to 1 V

Power Diode Reverse Recovery Characteristic

Diode is contionues conduct after the if is zero because of
charge stored in the depletion layer & semiconductor
layer.
trr is reverse recovery time
trr is time between instannt of
if zero & reverse recovery
current decay to 25% of IRM
trr = ta + tb
During ta Charge stored in
depletion layer is removes
During tb Charge stored in semiconductor layer is
removes
Shaded area shows stored charge or reverse recovery charge

Types of power Diodes

General purpose Diode
Fast recovery Diode
Schottky Diode

General purpose Diode

High reverse recovery time about 25uS
Current rating 1A to Several thousand amperes
Voltage rating 50V to 5KV
Application : Battry charging, Electric traction,Welding
UPS etc.

Diode in reverse bias

Cathod is +ve & anode is ve
Initially small leakage current (mA or uA) flows through
diode , upto the voltage reachs at reverse breakdown
At breakdown voltage reverse current is quite high
Also large reverse breakdown voltage with large reverse
current leads excessive power loss may distroy diode.
so to avoid this diode must be operate below the peak
reverse repetitive voltage (Vrrm)
Vrrm or PIV is the largest voltage at which diode may be
subjected during working
Diode rating : Forward current 1A to several KA
Reverse voltage 50V to several KV

Softness factor (S-factor) : It is a ratio of tb/ta

It measure the voltage transient occur during time of diode
recover
S-factor = 1 ; low oscillatory reverse recovery OR soft
recovery diode
S-factor < 1 ; large oscillatory over voltage OR fastrecovery diode
IRM = ?
Assume RR charecteristic is triangle

IRM =

Fast Recovery Diode :

Reverse recovery time reduced by reducing stored charge in

neutral region.
Low recovery time about 5us or less
Current rating 1A to Several thousand Amp
Voltage rating 50V to 3KV
Used in Chopper, SMPS, Commutation circuit, induction
heating etc.

7/5/2016

Schottky Diode :

2. Power Transistor
It is a controllable(characteristic Control) device
ON when current signal is given to terminal
It is ON up to control signal is present

Metal(aluminium) to semiconductor(silicon) juction instaed

of pn junction. Silicon is n type
Forward current is due to electron only
No hole, No storage chare, No reverse recovery
Current rating : 1A to 300 A
Voltage rating : Upto 100V
Used in High frequency instrumentation, SMPS etc,..

Bipolar junction Transistor (BJT)

Three layer device
Two junction : pnp , npn
Bipolar means current flow in device due to both holes &
electron
Three terminal device :Collector (C), Emitter (E), Base (B)
Emitter indicated by arrowhead indicating the direction of
emitter current
Use of npn type Power Trasistor are widein HV & HC
application

Steady-state (I/P & O/P) Characteristic :

For characterisic common emitter arragement is
commone in switching
Input characteristic : IB v/s VBE
Output characterisic : IC v/s VCE

Types of Power Transistor

Bipolar Junction Transistor(BJT)
Metal Oxide Semiconductor FET (MOSFET)
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
Static Insulation Transistor (SIT)

Power Transistor Construction

Two curves : Curve 1 for IB = 0 , Curve 2 for IB 0

Curve 2 : Initial part low VCE, is saturation region Transistor act as a switch
Increased VCE , IC Constant Active region , Transistor
act as a amplifier
Breakdown part avoided
Load line equation

It shows line AB

7/5/2016

Relation between and

Flow of electron is proportional to IE
Relation between IC & IE
is forward current gain

Divided by IC

Relation between IB & IC

varies from 50 t0 300

Transistor as a switch : Transistor operates either in

saturation region or in cut-off region.

Apply KVL in circuit

When Base current is less than IBS Transistor operate in

Active region
When Base current is more than IBS - Hard drive of
transistor is sustained
The ration of IB & IBS is defined as a over drive factor
(ODF)

BJT switching performance :

ODF may be 4 or 5

7/5/2016

Safe Operation Area (SOA) : It specifies the safe operation

limits of IC v/s VCE
Two type of SOA : FBSOA & RBSOA

3. Power MOSFET:
Three terminals : (1) Drain (D) (2) Source (S) (3) Gate (G)
Voltage controlled device
Unipolar device
MOSFET free from second break-down
Used in low power, High frequency converter application
Two type of MOSFET
(1) p-channel MOSFET
(2) n-channel MOSFET

n-channel MOSFET

When Gate is open

With VDD, no current flow
from D to S because
revrse bias junction.
With Gate is +ve.
Electric field established
Induced ve charge in P-substrate below SiO2 layer form
n-layer.
These negative charges form n-layer between two n+
region, and current flow from D to S
If VGs is more +ve, induced n-channel become more deep
and more current flow from D to S enhancement

7/5/2016

The main disadvantage of n-channel MOSFET is

conducting n-channel between D & S gives large on state
resistance, so high power dissipation in n-channel.
So it is use for only low power application

When Gate Voltage zero, VDD present

n- p junction Reverse biased , nocurrent from S to D

In forward bias, Electron flow from

S n+ layerinduced n-channeln-layer n+layerD
Current flow in opposite of electron
Current flow because of electron only, so MOSFET is
majority carrier device

High power MOSFET

Three Treminal
Four layer
n- layer determine volatge breaking capacity

When Gate Voltage present , VDD present

Electric field (induced n-shannel) establish between n- & n+
layer, socurrent flow from Source to Drain
Length of induced n-channel controllred , so on-state
resistance & power loss controlled

Parasitic npn BJT exits between S & D

p-Base, n+ Emmiter , n- collector
Potential Difference between Base & Emitter is zero, so
BJT always in cut-off state
Parasitic diode exits between S & D
Source anode, Drain- cathod, used in rectifier & inverter
circuit

7/5/2016

Power MOSFET Characteristics

1. Transfer Characteristics ID vs VGS
2. Output Characteristics
3. Switching Characterisics

2. Output Characteristics ID vs VDS

For low VDS graph is linear
For given VGS, if VDS increase
o/p characterisic is flat with
ID constant.
Load line intersect o/p charactat A & B
A indicate fully on condition
B indicate fully off state

Where VGTS is minimum +ve voltage between gate & source

to induced n-channel (2 to 3 V)

Switching Characteristics :
Switching characteristic of power MOSFET are extented
bcause of internal capacitance & internal impedance
of gate drive ckt.
At turn on, delay tdn- during
which i/p C is charge upto
threshold volt. VGST
During tr gate voltage
rises upto VGSP , sufficient volt.
to dive voltage

Turn-off process initiate after removal of gate voltage at t1

Power MOSFET Application

1. High frequency & High power switching application,
varying from few watt to few kWs, like electrical drives,
Induction furnace etc..
2. In SMPS (Switch mode power supply)
3. Inverters etc

Comparision of PMOSFET with BJT

tdf (turn off delay time) during which input capacitance start
discharge from V1 to VGSP

tf (fall time) C discharge from

VGSP to VGST & iD to zero

PMOSFET

BJT

1.Three terminal : Gate , Source , 1.Three terminal : Base, Emitter,

Drain

Collector

2.Voltage control device

2.Crrent control device

3. Unipolar Device

3. Bipolar Device

4.High i/p impedance

4. Low i/p impedance

5.Lower Switching losses but high 5. Higher switching losses but low
conduction loss

conduction losses

6. +ve temperature coefficient for 6. -ve temperature coefficient for

resistance

resistance

7. free from second breakdown

7. second breakdown occurs

8. Available upto 500V, 140A

8. Available upto 1200V, 800A

7/5/2016

3. Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)

Internal Structure

Combination of best qualities of both BJT & PMOSFET

High Impedance like PMOSFET
Low on state power loss like BJT
Free from second breakdown

Exact Equivalent Circuit

Circuit Symbol

No gate voltage , Vcc between C & E

No current flow from C to E bcz, Two J2 reverse bias
With VG at gate terminal & Vcc between C & E
Below Gate ve n-channel induced ,which short ckt n+&n Electron flow flow from n+ to n- through n-channel
Also p+ inject holes in n- layer
So n- layer flooded with holes & electron, so it increase
conductivity
So Ic start flow.

Ic consist of two component

1. Ih current due to hole, through path
C Q1 (p+n-p) Rby(p-layer resistance)E
2. Ie current due to electron, through path
Cp+n- (drift region)Rch(n-channel )n+E

7/5/2016

Voltage drop in on-state

IGBT Characteristic
Static Characteristic
Transfer Characteristic

IGBT Switching Characteristic

Application of IGBT
1. AC & DC motor Drives
2. Power Supply
3. UPS
4. High Frequency application upto 50 Khz)

Static Induction Transistor

7/5/2016

10