Vishwakarma Institutes of Technology

D.E.S.H. - Department of Engineering, Sciences and Humanities

FY (AY-20 -21) - RME – Robot Mechanics and Electronics
Notes 5.4,5.5,5.6 – Power Devices
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Classification of Active Devices

Classification of Transistors
 Bipolar Junction Transistor
A Bipolar junction transistor, shortly termed as BJT is called so as it has two PN junctions for its
function. This BJT is nothing but a normal transistor. It has got two types of
configurations NPN and PNP. Usually NPN transistor is preferred for the sake of convenience.
The following image shows how a practical BJT looks like.

BJT is a current controlled device.

A transistor is semiconductor device that can amplify electronics signals.
Transistor is fundamental building block of Modern electronic system, as it is
used in Integrated circuits.
 It can be use as amplifier and logic switches.
 BJT consists of three terminal: collector : C base : B emitter : E
 Two types of BJT : NPN & PNP.
The types of BJT are NPN and PNP transistors. The NPN transistor is made by placing
a ptype material between two n-type materials. The PNP transistor is made by placing
an ntype material between two p-type materials.
An Unbiased Transistor

Biased Transistor

Transistor Biasing
 Applying proper external voltage to a transistor is known as biasing. A
biased transistor can be operated in two modes.
 Transistor as an Amplifier.
 Transistor as an Switch.

Region of Base-Emitter Collector-Base Mode of

Biasing Junction Junction Operation

Active Forward Biased Reverse Biased Amplifier

Saturation Forward Biased Forward Biased Switch is close

Cut-OFF Reverse Biased Reverse Biased Switch is open

Configuration of BJT
 It can be configured in 3 different modes, depending upon the terminal
 1-Common Base (CB): Base is common to both i/p & o/p
 2-Common Emitter (CE): Emitter is common to both i/p & o/p
 3-Common Collector (CC): Collector is common to both i/p & o/p
The behavior of these three configurations with respect to gain is given below.
 Common Base (CB) Configuration: no current gain but voltage gain
 Common Collector (CC) Configuration: current gain but no voltage
gain
 Common Emitter (CE) Configuration: current gain and voltage gain

Configuration of BJT

Common Base(CB)
The input parameters are VEB and IE and the output parameters are VCB and IC.
The input current flowing into the emitter terminal must be higher than the base
current and collector current to operate the transistor, therefore the output
collector current is less than the input emitter current.
Current gain in common base configuration is given as
α = Output current/Input current
α = IC/IE

i/p is between E-B: VBE, IE

o/p is between C-B: VCB, Ic
Input & Output characteristics (CB)

Common Emitter (CE)

In this configuration the input parameters are VBE and IB and the output
parameters are VCE and IC.
The ratio between collector current and base current gives the current gain beta
in common emitter configuration.
Current gain (β) = IC/IB
This configuration is mostly used one among all the three configurations. It has
medium input and output impedance values. It also has the medium current
and voltage gains. But the output signal has a phase shift of 180 i.e. both the
input and output are inverse to each other.

Input & Output characteristics (CE)

Common Collector (CC)
In this configuration the input signal is applied between the base-collector
region and the output is taken from the emitter-collector region. Here the input
parameters are VBC and IB and the output parameters are VEC and IE.
Now let us calculate the current gain for this configuration.
Ai = IE/IB
This common collector configuration is a non inverting amplifier circuit. The
voltage gain for this circuit is less than unity but it has large current gain
because the load resistor in this circuit receives both the collector and base
currents

Input & Output characteristics (CC)

CB-CE-CC: Comparison

Parameter Common Common Common

Base Emitter Collector
Voltage Gain About 150 About Less than
500 Unity

I/P Resistance Very Low Low (1 High (500

(22 Ώ) KΏ) KΏ)

O/P Very High High (40 Low (50Ώ)

Resistance (1 MΏ) KΏ)

Current Gain Less than High ( 25 Very High

unity to 100)

Current Alpha= Ic Beta= Ic Gamma=

Amplification /IE /IB IE/IB
Factor
Input Voltage VEB VBE VBC
applied
Between
Output VCB VCE VCE
Voltage taken
Between
Application Pre- Amplifire Buffer, for
Amplifire, with impedance
High voltage matching
frequency and
amplifier current
gain

CURRENT AMPLIFICATION FACTOR

Current amplification factor in a BJT transistor is defined as the ratio of output
current to its input current.
Common base Common emitter Common collector
CURRENT AMPLIFICATION FACTOR

BJT: Properties
 BJT has been replaced by MOSFET in low-voltage (<500V) applications.
 BJT is being replaced by IGBT in applications at voltages above 500V.
 A minority-carrier device: compared with MOSFET, the BJT exhibits slower
switching, but lower on-resistance at high voltages.
 Field Effect Transistor
• The field-effect transistor (FET) is a generic term for a device that
controls current through a circuit via an applied voltage, i.e. it behaves
like a voltage-controlled resistor.
• There are two main varieties of FETs:
• junction FETs (JFETs)
• metal-oxide-semicondutor FETs (MOSFETs)
• A FET has three terminals:
• gate (G): as in the “gate” keeper of the current
• source (S): the source of the electrons
• drain (D): the destination of the electrons
vS vG vD MOSFET (NMOS)
vS vG vD
n+ p+ n+ metal

n n+ n+ oxide

p+
p
vG

• The FET operation is as follows:

• apply a voltage to the gate
• this voltage sets up an electric field in the device
• electric field inhibits/supports the flow of charge from source to
drain
• FETs can be made in n-channel or p-channel variety.
• FETs are “Unipolar” (conduct either electrons or holes, not both).

Junction Field-Effect Transistor (JFET)

• An n-channel JFET is composed of:
• n-type body
• p-type gate
• Gate is generally reverse biased to control current flow.
• Channel conducts regardless of polarity between source and drain.
• Typical output transimpedance for a JFET is a few hundred Ohms.
 • The gate and channel form depletion regions.
• A stronger reverse bias makes the depletion regions wider and closer to
each other.
• Therefore, voltage controls channel resistance.

N-channel JFET
• Depletion at gate diode.
• Reverse biased gate diode increases depletion region.

• Increasing reverse bias enlarges depletion region.

• Increasing reverse bias pinches-off the S-D channel.
(a) Discrete device cross-section
(b) schematic symbol
(c) integrated circuit device cross-section.

–––––

JFET Characteristic Curve

IV curve shows two areas of operation. At low drain-source voltages, it behaves
like a variable resistance whose value is controlled by the applied gate-source
voltage. At higher drain-source voltages, it passes a current whose value
depends on the applied gate-source voltage. In most circuits it is used in this
‘high voltage’ region and acts as a voltage controlled current source.

Advantages of JFET
• controlled by the applied gate voltage, they draw very little gate current
and hence present a very high input resistance to any signal source
• low noise at low frequency
• the reverse-biased junctions can tolerate a considerable amount of
radiation damage without any appreciable change in FET operation.
 MOSFET
FETs have a few disadvantages like high drain resistance, moderate input impedance
and slower operation. To overcome these disadvantages, the MOSFET which is an
advanced FET is invented.
MOSFET stands for Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor or Metal Oxide
Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. This is also called as IGFET meaning Insulated
Gate Field Effect Transistor. The FET is operated in both depletion and enhancement
modes of operation. The following figure shows how a practical MOSFET looks like.

Construction of a MOSFET
The construction of a MOSFET is a bit similar to the FET. An oxide layer is deposited
on the substrate to which the gate terminal is connected. This oxide layer acts as an
insulator (sio2 insulates from the substrate), and hence the MOSFET has another name
as IGFET. In the construction of MOSFET, a lightly doped substrate, is diffused with a
heavily doped region. Depending upon the substrate used, they are called as P-
type and N-type MOSFETs

The voltage at gate controls the operation of the MOSFET. In this case, both positive and
negative voltages can be applied on the gate as it is insulated from the channel. With negative
gate bias voltage, it acts as depletion MOSFET while with positive gate bias voltage it acts as
an Enhancement MOSFET.

Classification of MOSFETs
Depending upon the type of materials used in the construction, and the type of
operation, the MOSFETs are classified as in the following figure.
The N-channel MOSFETs are simply called as NMOS. The symbols for N-channel MOSFET
are as given below.

The P-channel MOSFETs are simply called as PMOS. The symbols for P-channel MOSFET
are as given below.

Now, let us go through the constructional details of an N-channel MOSFET.

Construction of N- Channel MOSFET

Let us consider an N-channel MOSFET to understand its working. A lightly doped P-
type substrate is taken into which two heavily doped N-type regions are diffused, which
act as source and drain. Between these two N+ regions, there occurs diffusion to form
an Nchannel, connecting drain and source.
A thin layer of Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is grown over the entire surface and holes are
made to draw ohmic contacts for drain and source terminals. A conducting layer
of aluminum is laid over the entire channel, upon this SiO2 layer from source to drain
which constitutes the gate. The SiO2 substrate is connected to the common or ground
terminals.
Because of its construction, the MOSFET has a very less chip area than BJT, which is
5% of the occupancy when compared to bipolar junction transistor. This device can be
operated in modes. They are depletion and enhancement modes. Let us try to get into
the details.

Working of N – Channel Depletion mode MOSFET

For now, we have an idea that there is no PN junction present between gate and
channel in this, unlike a FET. We can also observe that, the diffused channel N
between two N+ regions,the insulating dielectric SiO2 and the aluminum metal layer
of the gate together form a parallel plate capacitor.
If the NMOS has to be worked in depletion mode, the gate terminal should be at
negative potential while drain is at positive potential, as shown in the following figure.
When no voltage is applied between gate and source, some current flows due to the
voltage between drain and source. Let some negative voltage is applied at VGG. Then
the minority carriers i.e. holes, get attracted and settle near SiO2 layer. But the majority
carriers, i.e., electrons get repelled.
With some amount of negative potential at VGG a certain amount of drain
current ID flows through source to drain. When this negative potential is further
increased, the electrons get depleted and the current ID decreases. Hence the more
negative the applied VGG, the lesser the value of drain current ID will be.
The channel nearer to drain gets more depleted than at source like in FET and the
current flow decreases due to this effect. Hence it is called as depletion mode
MOSFET.

Working of N-Channel MOSFET Enhancement Mode

The same MOSFET can be worked in enhancement mode, if we can change the
polarities of the voltage VGG. So, let us consider the MOSFET with gate source
voltage VGG being positive as shown in the following figure.

When no voltage is applied between gate and source, some current flows due to the
voltage between drain and source. Let some positive voltage is applied at VGG. Then
the minority carriers i.e. holes, get repelled and the majority carriers i.e. electrons gets
attracted towards the SiO2 layer.
With some amount of positive potential at VGG a certain amount of drain current ID flows
through source to drain. When this positive potential is further increased, the
current ID increases due to the flow of electrons from source and these are pushed
further due to the voltage applied at VGG. Hence the more positive the applied VGG, the
more the value of drain current ID will be. The current flow gets enhanced due to the
increase in electron flow better than in depletion mode. Hence this mode is termed
as Enhanced Mode MOSFET.
P - Channel MOSFET
The construction and working of a PMOS is same as NMOS. A lightly doped n-
substrate is taken into which two heavily doped P+ regions are diffused. These two
P+ regions act as source and drain. A thin layer of SiO2 is grown over the surface.
Holes are cut through this layer to make contacts with P+ regions, as shown in the
following figure.

Working of PMOS
When the gate terminal is given a negative potential at VGG than the drain source
voltage VDD, then due to the P+ regions present, the hole current is increased through
the diffused P channel and the PMOS works in Enhancement Mode.
When the gate terminal is given a positive potential at VGG than the drain source
voltage VDD, then due to the repulsion, the depletion occurs due to which the flow of
current reduces. Thus PMOS works in Depletion Mode. Though the construction
differs, the working is similar in both the type of MOSFETs. Hence with the change in
voltage polarity both of the types can be used in both the modes.
This can be better understood by having an idea on the drain characteristics curve.

Drain Characteristics
The drain characteristics of a MOSFET are drawn between the drain current ID and the
drain source voltage VDS. The characteristic curve is as shown below for different
values of inputs.
Actually when VDS is increased, the drain current ID should increase, but due to the applied VGS,
the drain current is controlled at certain level. Hence the gate current controls the output drain
current.

Features and applications of power MOSFET

 Voltage-driven device, simple drive circuit Majority-carrier device, fast
switching speed, high operating frequency (could be hundreds of kHz)
 Majority-carrier device, better thermal stability
 On-resistance increases rapidly with rated blocking voltage
o Usually used at voltages less than 500V and power less than 10kW
o 1000V devices are available, but are useful only at low power
levels(100W)
 Part number is selected on the basis of on- resistance rather than current
rating
IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar
Junction Transistor)
IGBT stands for insulated-gate bipolar transistor. It is a bipolar transistor with an insulated gate terminal.
The IGBT combines, in a single device, a control input with a MOS structure and a bipolar power
transistor that acts as an output switch. IGBTs are suitable for high-voltage, high-current applications.

Typical Symbol of IGBT -

It is a three-terminal semiconductor switching device that can be used for fast switching with high
efficiency in many types of electronic devices. IGBT is a fusion between a BJT and MOSFET. The symbol
of the IGBT also represents the same, as you can see the input side represents a MOSFET with a Gate
terminal and the output side represents a BJT with Collector and Emitter. The Collector and the Emitter
are the conduction terminals and the gate is the control terminal with which the switching operation is
controlled.

Construction of IGBT:

IGBT has three terminals attached to three different metal layers, the metal layer of the gate terminal is
insulated from the semiconductors by a layer of silicon dioxide (SIO2). IGBT is constructed with 4 layers
of semiconductor sandwiched together. The layer closer to the collector is the p+ substrate layer above
that is the n- layer, another p layer is kept closer to the emitter and inside the p layer, we have the n+
layers. The junction between the p+ layer and n- layer is called the junction J2 and the junction between
the n- layer and the p layer is called the junction J1. The structure of IGBT is shown in the figure below.
Working of IGBT:

Consider a voltage source VG connected positively to the Gate terminal with respect to the Emitter.
Consider other voltage source VCC connected across The Emitter and the Collector, where Collector is
kept positive with respect to the Emitter. Due to the voltage source VCC the junction J1 will be forward-
biased whereas the junction J2 will be reverse biased. Since J2 is in reverse bias there will not be any
current flow inside the IGBT (from collector to emitter).

Now if we increase the applied gate voltage, due to the capacitance effect on the SiO2 layer the
negative ions will get accumulated on the upper side of the layer and the positive ions will get
accumulated on the lower side of the SiO2 layer. This will cause the insertion of negative charge carriers
in the p region, higher the applied voltage VG greater the insertion of negatively charged carriers. This
will lead to a formation of the channel between the J2 junctions which allow the flow of current from
collector to emitter. The flow of current is represented as the current path in the picture, when the
applied Gate voltage VG increases the amount of current flow from the collector to the emitter also
increases.

Static Characteristics of IGBT :

The output characteristics of IGBT have three stages, initially, when the Gate Voltage VGE is zero the
device is in the off state, this is called the cutoff region. When VGE is increased and if it is less than the
threshold voltage then there will be a small leakage current flowing through the device, but the device
will still be in the cutoff region. When the VGE is increased beyond the threshold voltage the device goes
into the active region and the current starts flowing through the device. The flow of current will
increases with an increase in the voltage VGE as shown in the graph.

Applications of IGBT:

IGBTs are used in various applications such as AC and DC motor drives, Unregulated Power Supply (UPS),
Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS), traction motor control and induction heating, inverters,
 DIAC
The DIAC is a combination of two diodes in parallel, one in forward bias and the
other one is in reverse bias condition with respect to both sides. DIAC is a
specially constructed diode, which allows current to pass in both
directions when certain conditions are met.
One more interesting thing about the DIAC is, due to no specified direction of
current flow, it is considered as a bidirectional device. DIAC only has two
Anode pins, and no cathode pins are there. Those two anode terminals are often
referred to Main Terminal 1 (MT1) and Main Terminal 2 (MT2).

The construction of DIAC looks like a transistor but there are major differences.
They are as follows:
(i) All the three layers, p–n–p or n–p–n, are equally doped in the DIAC, whereas
in the BJT there is a gradation of doping. The emitter is highly doped, the
collector is lightly doped, and the base is moderately doped.
(ii) The DIAC is a two-terminal diode as opposed to the BJT, which is a three-
terminal device.
Silicon Controlled
Rectifier (SCR)
SCR (Thyristor) is a Semi-controlled switch having three terminals:
 Anode (A)
 Gate (G)
 Cathode (K)

SCR: Junctions

PNPN (4-layer) device:

• PNP and NPN transistor back-to-back
• With forward voltage applied a small gate current pulse turns on
device.
• Once turned on, each transistor supplies gate current for the other,
so no need for gate input.
• Only way to turn it off (Commutation) is
• Natural Commutation (Using AC supply and let the voltage
reduce to zero)
• Forced Commutation (Normally in DC circuits, Apply a
negative voltage Pulse)
SCR: Characteristics

Thyristors have three states:

Reverse blocking mode – Voltage is applied in the direction that would be

blocked by a diode (-ve to Anode and +ve to Cathode).

Forward blocking mode – Voltage is applied in the direction that would cause
a diode to conduct (+ve to Anode and -ve to Cathode), but the thyristor has not
been triggered into conduction as no gate pulse is applied or VAC has not
reached VBO.

Forward conducting mode – The thyristor has been triggered into conduction
and will remain conducting until the forward current drops below a threshold
value known as the "holding (threshold) current ".
 TRIAC (Power device for AC)
Construction Implementation & Symbol

 A TRIAC (TrIode for Alternating Current) is a 3-terminal AC

semiconductor switch.
 Composed of 2 Thyristors facing opposite directions such that it can
conduct current in either direction.
 MT1 and MT2 are current carrying terminals while the Gate terminal is
used for triggering by applying a small voltage signal.
 Once triggered, it continues to conduct current until the current falls
below a threshold value.
 It is normally used in ac phase control applications such as ac voltage
controllers.
 Available ratings: 1200 V, 300 A (RMS)
 Less dv/dt and more turn OFF time than SCR, thus not preferred for
inductive loads or high frequency circuits.

TRIAC: Symbol and Characteristics

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