Lecture 02

POWER SEMICONDUCTOR
SWITCHES

27-12-2018
 COURSE OUTCOMES from this section

 Estimate the conduction and switching losses

in various semiconductor switches.

 Model and simulate the power

semiconductor switches.

 Design drive circuits for power

semiconductor switches.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 2

 Power Switching Devices -
Characteristics
 In Power Electronic Systems (PES), the most
important feature is the efficiency.

 Therefore as a rule PES do not use resistance as

power circuit elements.

 The function of dropping voltages and passing

currents is therefore achieved by means of
switches
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 3
 Power Switching Devices
 Power semiconductor switches may be studied
from various view points.
 Physics viewpoint
 Circuit viewpoint
 Protection viewpoint
 Drive viewpoint
 Modeling viewpoint
 Packaging viewpoint

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 4

 Power Switching Devices
 Physics viewpoint
 Operational and functional features of the device
 Circuit viewpoint
 static and dynamic characteristics
 Protection viewpoint
 electrical and thermal stresses within the device
 Drive viewpoint
 Synthesize reliable and meaningful drive cirucits
 Modeling viewpoint
 Mathematical modeling for simulation
 Packaging viewpoint
 Mounting, heat sinks, cooling and connection issues

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 5

 Power Switching Devices -
Characteristics
 The ideal switch drops no voltage (zero resistance)
while ON and passes no current (zero conductance)
while OFF.
 When a switch is operated alternately between the
two (ON and OFF) states, it may be considered to
offer an effective resistance depending on the
switching duty ratio.
 Effectively the switch functions as a loss-less
resistance.
 In the circuit shown in Fig. 1,
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 6
 Power Switching Devices -
Characteristics

Fig. 1

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 7

 Power Switching Devices -
Characteristics
 The resistor drops excess voltage (VG - VO) or diverts excess current
(IG - IO).
 These functions are achieved at the cost of power loss in the resistor.
 The same function may be achieved by means of switches as shown
in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 8
 Power Switching Devices -
Characteristics
 It may be seen that the switch effectively drops certain
voltage or diverts certain current from reaching the load.
 However, the load voltage and current are not smooth on
account of the switching process in the control.
 In general PES will consist of switches for the control of
power flow and reactive elements (filters) to divert the
effects of switching from reaching the load.
 The power circuit elements in PES are therefore
 Switches (to control transfer of energy)
 Reactors (Inductors and Capacitors) (to smoothen the transfer
of energy)
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 9
 Ideal Switches
 There are several electronic devices, which
serve as switches.
 We may at first list out the desired features of
ideal switches.
 The practical devices may then be studied with
reference to these ideal characteristics.
 The features of ideal switches (with reference
to the schematic shown in Fig. 3.) are

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 10

 Ideal Switches

Fig. 3

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 11

 Ideal Switches
•1.   In the OFF state, the current passing through
the switch is zero and the switch is capable of
supporting any voltage across it. I off = 0;
2. In the ON state, the voltage across the switch
is zero and the switch is capable of passing
any current through it. Von = 0;
The power dissipated in the switch in the
ON and OFF states is zero.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 12

 Ideal Switches
3. The switch can be turned ON and OFF
instantaneously.
ton = 0; toff = 0;
4. The switch does not need energy to switch
ON/OFF or OFF/ON or to be maintained in
the ON/OFF states.
5. The switch characteristics are stable under all
ambient conditions.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 13

 Ideal Switches
 Features 1 and 2 lead to zero conduction and
blocking losses.
 Feature 3 leads to zero switching losses.
Feature 4 leads to zero control effort.
 Feature 5 makes the ideal switch indestructible.
 The operating points of the ideal switch on the
VI plane lie along the axis as shown in Fig. 4
 Practical devices, though not ideal, reach quite
close to the characteristics of ideal switches.
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 14
 Real Switches
 Real switches suffer from limitations on
almost all the features of the ideal switches.
1. The OFF state current is nonzero. This
current is referred to as the leakage current.
The OFF state voltage blocking capacity is
limited.
 
Ioff ≠ 0;

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 15

 Real Switches
 Real switches suffer from limitations on
almost all the features of the ideal switches.
2. The ON state voltage is nonzero. This voltage
is called the conduction drop. The ON state
current carrying capacity is limited.
 
Von ≠ 0;
There is finite power dissipation in the OFF state
(blocking loss) and ON state (conduction loss).

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 16

 Real Switches
 Real switches suffer from limitations on
almost all the features of the ideal switches.
3. Switching from one state to the other takes a
finite time. Consequently the maximum
operating frequency of the switch is limited.
ton ≠ 0; toff ≠ 0;
The consequence of finite switching time is
the associated switching losses.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 17

 Real Switches
 Real switches suffer from limitations on
almost all the features of the ideal switches.
4. The switch transitions require external energy
and so also the switch states.
Eon ≠ 0; Eon/off ≠ 0;
Eoff ≠ 0; Eoff/on ≠ 0;
Real switches need supporting circuits
(drive circuits) to provide this energy.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 18

 Real Switches
 Real switches suffer from limitations on
almost all the features of the ideal switches.
5. The switch characteristics are thermally
limited.
 The power dissipation in the device is nonzero.
 It appears as heat and raises the temperature of
the device.
 To prevent unlimited rise in temperature of the
device external aids are needed to carry away the
generated heat from the device.
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 19
 Real Switches
 Real switches suffer from a number of failure
modes associated with the OFF state voltage
and ON state current limits.
 The operating points of real switches on the VI
plane are shown in Fig.
 The steady state operating points lie close to
the axis within certain limits.
 Further there is a safe operating area (SOA) on
the VI plane for transient operation.
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 20
 Practical Power Switching Devices
 There are several power switching devices
available for use in PES. They may be
classified as
 Uncontrolled switches

 Semi-controlled switches

 Controlled switches

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 21

 Uncontrolled switches
 The state (ON/OFF) of the switch is
determined by the state of the power circuit in
which the device is connected.
 There is no control input to the device.
 Diodes are uncontrolled switches.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 22

 Semi-controlled switches
 The switch may be turned to one of its states
(OFF/ON) by suitable control input to its control
terminal.
 The other state of the switch is reachable only
through intervention from the power circuit.
 A thyristor is an example of this type of switch.
 It may be turned ON by a current injected into its
gate terminal; but turning OFF a conducting
thyristor is possible only by reducing the main
current through the device to zero.
4/12/19 NIT Calicut 23
 Controlled switches
• Both the states of the switch (ON/OFF) are
reachable through appropriate control signals
applied to the control terminal of the device.
• Bipolar junction transistor (BJT), field effect
transistor (FET), gate turn-off thyristor (GTO),
insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) fall
under this group of switches.

4/12/19 NIT Calicut 24