POWER MOSFET

LECTURE 4

SAYAN DAS
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
LECTURE OVERVIEW

Introduction
Types of MOSFETs
Structure of n-channel planar MOSFET
Structure of high power MOSFET
Power MOSFET characteristics
Application
Features different from BJT
 INTRODUCTION
MOSFET BJT

Has three terminals Has three terminals

I. Drain I. Collector
II. Source II. Emitter
III. Gate III. Base
Voltage-controlled device. Current controlled device.
Unipolar device, because its operation depends upon It is bi-polar device.
the flow of majority carriers only.
Smaller gate current activates the device because Base current requirement is larger in respect to
gate circuit impedance is very high of the order of MOSFET.
109 ohm.
MOSFET is free from the problem of second Suffers from second breakdown voltage.
breakdown voltage.
Application – low power high frequency converters.
 TYPES

1) N-channel enhancement MOSFET Used most commonly because of

2) P-channel enhancement MOSFET higher mobility of electrons

Direction of
electron flow
STRUCTURE OF N-CHANNEL PLANAR MOSFET
LOW POWER RATING

• On p-substrate (or body), two heavily

doped n+ regions are diffused.
• Insulating layer of SiO2 is grown on
surface.
• And this layer is etched to embed
metallic source and drain terminal.
• So, n+ region make contact with source
and drain terminals.
• Gate is deposited as a layer of metal
on SiO2 layer.
STRUCTURE OF N-CHANNEL PLANAR MOSFET

• When gate circuit is open, junction between

n+ region below drain and p-substrate is
reverse biased by input voltage VDD.
• When gate circuit is open, no current flows
from drain to source and load because of
one reverse biased n+- p junction.`
STRUCTURE OF N-CHANNEL PLANAR MOSFET

• When gate made positive with

respect to source, an electric field is
established.
• Now, induced negative charges in
the p-substrate below SiO2 layer
are formed.
• And these negative charges called
electrons form n-channel and current
can flow from drain to source.
STRUCTURE OF N-CHANNEL PLANAR MOSFET

• Now, if VGS is made more positive,

n-channel becomes more deep
and therefore more current flows
from D (drain) to S (source).
• It means, drain current ID is
enhanced by the gradual increase
of gate voltage.
• This signify the name, enhancement
MOSFET.
STRUCTURE OF N-CHANNEL PLANAR MOSFET

Disadvantage:
• Conducting n-channel in between
drain and source gives large on-state
resistance.
• This leads to high power dissipation in
n-channel.
• So, planar MOSFET construction is
feasible only for low-power
MOSFETs.
STRUCTURE OF N-CHANNEL PLANAR MOSFET
 STRUCTURE OF HIGH POWER MOSFET
DIFFUSED METAL-OXIDE-SEMICONDUCTOR
• On n+ substrate, high resistive n- layer
is
• Thickness of n- layer determines the
voltage blocking capability of the
device.
• On the other side of the n+ substrate,
metal layer is deposited to form the
drain terminal.
• p- regions are diffused in the
epitaxially grown n- layer.
• Further n+ regions are diffused in p-
regions.
• SiO2, insulating layer is etched to fit
metallic source and gate terminals.
 STRUCTURE OF HIGH POWER MOSFET
DIFFUSED METAL-OXIDE-SEMICONDUCTOR

• A power MOSFET consists of parallel

connection of thousands of basic MOSFET
cells on the same single chip of silicon.
 STRUCTURE OF HIGH POWER MOSFET
DIFFUSED METAL-OXIDE-SEMICONDUCTOR
• When gate circuit voltage zero, and VDD is
present, n- - p- junctions are reverse biased
and no current flows from drain to source.
• Now, when gate terminal is made positive
with respect to source, and electric field is
established and electrons form n-channel in
the p- regions.
• Hence a current from drain to source is
established as indicated by the arrows.
• With the increased gate voltage, current ID
also increases as expected.
 STRUCTURE OF HIGH POWER MOSFET
DIFFUSED METAL-OXIDE-SEMICONDUCTOR

• Advantage
o Conduction is due to majority carriers.
o Time delay caused by removal or
recombination of minority carriers are
eliminated.
o Can work at megahertz range.
 HIGH POWER MOSFET
PARASITIC TRANSISTOR AND DIODE
 POWER MOSFET CHARACTERISTICS
TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS

• Variation in drain-current ID as a function of

gate-source voltage VGS is called transfer
characteristics.
• Below the threshold voltage VGST the device is off.
• Magnitude of VGST is of order 2 to 3V.

Transfer Characteristics of n-channel power MOSFET

 POWER MOSFET CHARACTERISTICS
OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS
• Variation in drain-current ID as a function of
drain-source voltage VDS is called output
characteristics.
• For low values of VDS , ID vs VDS graph is linear,
which indicates constant values of on-resistance,
i.e. RDS = VDS / ID .
• For a given VGS if VDS is increased then output
characteristic is relatively flat indicating that
drain current is nearly constant.
• Load line intersects at A and B.
• A indicates fully-on and B indicates fully-off
Output Characteristics of a power MOSFET
state, and operates as a switch just like a BJT.
N-CHANNEL POWER MOSFET CIRCUIT
 POWER MOSFET CHARACTERISTICS
SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS-TURN ON PROCESS

• Switching is influenced by its internal

capacitance and the internal impedance of
gate drive current.
• tdn = turn-on delay time, is the initial turn-on
delay, during which the input capacitance
charges to gate threshold voltage VGST .
• tr = rise time, during which gate voltage rises
to VGSP , a voltage sufficient to drive the
MOSFET into on state. And during this time
drain current rises from zero to full on current
ID. Switching waveforms for power MOSFET
 POWER MOSFET CHARACTERISTICS
SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS-TURN ON PROCESS

• So, the total turn-on time ton = tdn + tr . Turn on

time can be reduced by using low-impedance
gate drive source.

Switching waveforms for power MOSFET

 POWER MOSFET CHARACTERISTICS
SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS-TURN OFF PROCESS

• MOSFET is majority carrier device.

• As the gate voltage is removed at time t1, the
turn-off process is initiated.
• tdf = turn-off delay time , during which input
capacitance discharges from overdrive gate
voltage V1 to VGSP.
• tf = fall time, is the time during which input
capacitance discharges from VGSP to threshold
voltage. During this time drain current falls from
ID to zero.
• Turn-off process completes when VGS ≤ VGST. Switching waveforms for power MOSFET
 APPLICATION

• Very popular in Switched Mode Power Supplies and inverters.

• At present Available at 500 V, 140 A ratings.
 FEATURES DIFFERENT FROM BJT
POWER MOSFET BJT
Lower switching loses but on-resistance and conduction Higher switching loses but on-resistance and conduction
loses are more. loses are less.
Voltage controlled device. Current controlled device.
Has positive temperature coefficient for resistance. This Has negative temperature coefficient for resistance. So,
makes parallel operation of MOSFETs easy. current sharing resistors are necessary during parallel
If a MOSFET shares increased current initially, it heats up operation of BJTs.
faster, its resistance rises and this increased resistance
causes this current to shift to other devices in parallel.
Secondary breakdown does not occur, because it has Because of its negative temperature co-efficient,
positive temperature co-efficient. secondary breakdown occurs. With decrease in
resistance, current increases, and this increased current
over the same area results in hot spots and breakdown
of the BJT.
Available with power rating of 500 V, 140 A. Power rating up to 1200 V, 800 A.
MOSFET is obvious choice at high frequency applications. BJT is superior at lower operating frequencies (less than
about 10 to 30kHz).