CHAPTER ONE

Introduction to

Power semiconductors
 Brainstorming

• Say some thing about power electronics?

• Families of power electronics?

• In each family list down power electronics
devices

• Circuit diagrams?

• V-I characteristics?
• Switching time(“on” “of”) characteristics:
 Todays lecture outcomes
The students will be able to:
• Explain elements of semi conductor devices
• Explain operation principles of power
semiconductor devices
• Differentiate semiconductor devices based on
their application
 Definition

• Power electronics may be defined as the

subject of applications of solid state power
semiconductor devices for the control and
conversion of electric power to meet the
desired control objectives or (to control the
output voltage and output power).
 Types of power electronic converters
 AC to DC Converter known as Rectifier done by Power Diode
(uncontrolled) or by SCR (Controlled).

 DC to DC Converter Known as Chopper done by Power BJT,

MOSFET or IGBT.

 DC to AC Converter Known as Inverter done by Power BJT,

MOSFET or IGBT.

 AC to AC Converter known as Cycloconverter for frequency

variation done by Power BJT, MOSFET or IGBT and/or AC-
Voltage Controller for magnitude variation done by TRAIC.

5
Some of the features of the most common power semiconductors are listed below
 
 Some applications of power electronics
Commercial applications: heating systems ventilating, air
conditioners, central refrigeration, lighting, computers
and office equipment, uninterruptible power supplies
(ups), elevators, and emergency lamps.

Domestic applications: cooking equipment's, lighting,

heating, air conditioners, refrigerators & freezers,
personal computers, entertainment equipment, ups.

Industrial applications: pumps, compressors, blowers

and fans. machine tools, arc furnaces, induction
furnaces, lighting control circuits, industrial lasers,
induction heating, welding equipment's.
Telecommunications: battery chargers, power
supplies (dc and ups), mobile cell phone battery
chargers.

Transportation: traction control of electric vehicles,

battery chargers for electric vehicles, electric trains,
street cars, trolley buses, automobile electronics
including engine controls.

Utility systems: high voltage dc transmission (hvdc),

static var compensation (svc), alternative energy
sources (wind, photovoltaic), fuel cells, energy
storage systems, induced draft fans and boiler feed
 Power Diode
It is a two terminal device, and with terminal A known as the
anode and terminal K known as the cathode.
If terminal A experiences a higher potential compared to terminal
K, the device is said to be forward biased and a forward current
(IF ) will flow through the device in the direction as shown.

This causes a small voltage drop across the device (<1 V), which
under ideal conditions is usually ignored. By contrast, when a
diode is reverse biased, it does not conduct and the diode then
experiences a small current flowing in the reverse direction called
the leakage current.

Both forward voltage drop and leakage current are ignored in an

ideal diode. In PE applications a diode is usually considered to be
an ideal static switch.
 Some Properties of PN Junction
From the forward and reverse-biased condition
characteristics, one notices that when the diode is forward
biased, current rises rapidly as the voltage is increased.
Current in the reverse biased region is significantly small
until the breakdown voltage of the diode is reached.

Once the applied voltage is over this limit, the current will
increase rapidly to a very high value limited only by an
external resistance.
 Power transistors
Most of the power electronics applications use npn transistor because electrons move
faster than holes, and therefore, npn transistors have considerable faster commutation
times.
,
 MOSFET
• What is mosfet? Who can draw the ckt?
• How can you differentiate with BJT?
• Where it will be applied?
 POWER MOSFET
Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor ( IGFET) is :
 A Transistor whose Gate input is electrically insulated from the main current
carrying channel
 most common IGFET is Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor
(MOSFET)

 MOSFETs are three terminal devices with a Gate, Drain and Source and both P-
channel (PMOS) and N-channel (NMOS) MOSFETs are available. MOSFETs are
available in two basic forms:

 Depletion Type   –   the transistor requires the Gate-Source voltage, ( VGS ) to
switch the device “OFF”. The depletion mode MOSFET is equivalent to a
“Normally Closed” switch.

 Enhancement Type   –   the transistor requires a Gate-Source

voltage, ( VGS ) to switch the device “ON”. The enhancement mode
MOSFET is equivalent to a “Normally Open” switch.
 Depletion-mode MOSFET
 The Depletion-mode MOSFET, is normally switched “ON”
(conducting) without the application of a gate bias voltage. That is
the channel conducts when VGS = 0 making it a “normally-closed”
device.
 For the n-channel depletion MOS transistor, a negative gate-source
voltage, -VGS will deplete the conductive channel of its free
electrons switching the transistor “OFF”.
 Likewise for a p-channel depletion MOS transistor a positive gate-
source voltage, +VGS will deplete the channel of its free holes
turning it “OFF”.
 In other words, for an n-channel depletion mode MOSFET: +VGS
means more electrons and more current. While a -VGS means less
electrons and less current.
 The opposite is also true for the p-channel types. Then the depletion
mode MOSFET is equivalent to a “normally-closed” switch.
n-Channel Depletion-Type MOSFET
 VGS has been set at a negative voltage such as -1 V. The negative
potential at the gate will tend to pressure electrons toward the p-
type substrate (like charges repel) and attract holes from the p-type
substrate (opposite charges attract)

 The more negative the bias, the higher the rate of recombination.
The resulting level of drain current is therefore reduced with
increasing negative bias for VGS

 For positive values of VGS, the positive gate will attract

additional electrons (free carriers) from the p-type
substrate due to the reverse leakage current and
establish new carriers through the collisions resulting
between accelerating particles.
 As the gate-to-source voltage continues to increase in the
positive direction.
p-Channel Depletion-Type MOSFET
 Enhancement-mode MOSFET
 The more common Enhancement-mode MOSFET or eMOSFET, is
the reverse of the depletion-mode type. Here the conducting
channel is lightly doped or even undoped making it non-
conductive. This results in the device being normally “OFF” (non-
conducting) when the gate bias voltage, VGS is equal to zero.

 For the n-channel enhancement MOS transistor a drain

current will only flow when a gate voltage ( VGS ) is
applied to the gate terminal greater than the threshold
voltage ( VTH ) level in which conductance takes place
making it a trans conductance device.
 The application of a positive (+ve) gate voltage to a n-type
eMOSFET attracts more electrons towards the oxide layer around
the gate thereby increasing or enhancing.
 ENHANCEMENT-TYPE MOSFET
• The source and drain terminals are again connected through metallic contacts
to n-doped regions, but note in the absence of a channel between the two n-
doped regions.
• This is the primary difference between the construction of
depletion-type and enhancement-type MOSFETs
 Basic Operation and Characteristics
If VGS is set at 0 V and a voltage applied between the drain and source of the device the
absence of an n-channel (with its generous number of free carriers) will result in a current of
effectively zero amperes—quite different from the depletion- type MOSFET and JFET where
ID = IDSS.

There are in fact two reverse-biased p-n junctions between the n-doped regions and the p-
substrate to oppose any significant flow between drain and source.
Increasing this positive gate voltage will cause the
channel resistance to decrease further causing an
increase in the drain current, ID through the channel.
In other words, for an n-channel enhancement mode
MOSFET: +VGS turns the transistor “ON”, while a zero or
-VGS turns the transistor “OFF”. Then, the
enhancement-mode MOSFET is equivalent to a
“normally-open” switch.
The reverse is true for the p-channel enhancement
MOS transistor. When VGS = 0 the device is “OFF” and
the channel is open.
 The application of a negative (-ve) gate voltage to the
p-type eMOSFET enhances the channels conductivity
turning it “ON”.
 Then for an p-channel enhancement mode MOSFET: +VGS turns
• Enhancement-mode MOSFETs make excellent
electronics switches due to their low “ON”
resistance and extremely high “OFF” resistance as
well as their infinitely high input resistance due to
their isolated gate.
• Enhancement-mode MOSFETs are used in
integrated circuits to produce CMOS type
Logic Gates and power switching circuits in the
form of as PMOS (P-channel) and NMOS (N-
channel) gates.
• CMOS actually stands for Complementary MOS
meaning that the logic device has both PMOS and
NMOS within its design
p-Channel Enhancement-Type MOSFETs
 Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor(IGBT)

• Why we need IGBT?

• Unique feature?\application of IGBT?
• IGBT ckt construction?
 Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor(IGBT)
 Power MOSFETS are characterized with :
• high switching speed.
• higher on state resistance per unit area
• higher on state loss.
This is particularly true for higher voltage devices (greater than about 500 volts)
 With the discovery that power MOSFETs were not in a strong
position to displace the BJT, many researches began to look at
the possibility of combining these technologies to achieve a
hybrid device which has a high input impedance and a low
on state resistance.
 Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) have near ideal
characteristics for high voltage (> 100V) medium frequency (< 20
kHZ) applications.
 This device along with the MOSFET (at low voltage high
frequency applications) have the potential to replace the BJT
completely
 IGBTs are mainly used in power electronics applications, such as
inverters, converters and power supplies, were the demands of
the solid state switching device are not fully met by power
bipolars and power MOSFETs.

 High-current and high-voltage bipolar are available, but their

switching speeds are slow, while power MOSFETs may have
higher switching speeds, but high-voltage and high-current
devices are expensive and hard to achieve.
 The advantage gained by the insulated gate bipolar transistor
device over a BJT or MOSFET is that:
 it offers greater power gain than the standard bipolar type
transistor combined with the higher voltage operation and lower
input losses of the MOSFET.

 In effect it is an FET integrated with a bipolar transistor

in a form of Darlington type configuration as shown.
Terminals are : Collector, Emitter and Gate. Two of its
terminals (C-E) are associated with the conductance path
which passes current, while its third terminal (G) controls the
device.
 IGBT combines the low conduction loss of a BJT
with the high switching speed of a power MOSFET
an optimal solid state switch exists which is ideal
for use in power electronics applications.

Also, the IGBT has a much lower “on-state”

resistance, RON than an equivalent MOSFET. This
means that the I2R drop across the bipolar output
structure for a given switching current is much
lower.
The forward blocking operation of the IGBT
transistor is identical to a power MOSFET.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)

Circuit Symbol Simplified Sectional model of a

of SCR thyristor (SCR)

36
 Terminal Characteristics of SCR

 Four alternate layers of p & n-type (P-N-P-N)

 Three junctions (J1,J2,J3)
 Three terminals (Anode-A, Cathode-K and Gate-G)
 Like the diode, an SCR is a unidirectional device that
blocks the current flow from cathode to anode.
 Unlike the diode, a thyristor also blocks the current flow
from anode to cathode until it is triggered into
conduction by a proper gate signal between gate &
cathode terminals.
37
 Cont…
• When the anode is made positive with respect the cathode
junctions J1 & J3 are forward biased and junction J2 is
reverse biased.
• If supply voltage VS is further increased to a large value,
the reverse biased junction J2 will breakdown due to
avalanche effect resulting in a large current through the
device.
• The voltage at which this phenomenon occurs is called the
forward breakdown voltage VBO.

• Since the other junctions J1 & J3 are already forward

biased, there will be free movement of carriers across all
three junctions resulting in a large forward anode current.

38
 Working principles of SCR
I. When gate is open.
 Fig. shows the SCR circuit with gate open i.e. no voltage applied to
the gate. Under this condition, junction J2 is reverse biased while
junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased.
 Hence, the situation in the junctions J1 and J3 is just as in a npn
transistor with base open. Consequently, no current flows through
the load RL and the SCR is cut off.
 However, if the applied voltage is gradually increased, a stage is
reached when reverse biased junction J2 breaks down.
 The SCR now conducts heavily and is said to be in the ON state. The
applied voltage at which SCR conducts heavily without gate voltage
is called Breakover voltage.
 
(ii) When gate is positive w.r.t. cathode.
 The SCR can be made to conduct heavily at smaller applied voltage
by applying a small positive potential to the gate as shown in Fig
below

 Now junction J3 is forward biased and junction J2 is reverse biased.

The electrons from n-type material start moving across junction J3
towards left whereas holes from p-type towards the right.

 Consequently, the electrons from junction J3 are attracted across

junction J2 and gate current starts flowing. As soon as the gate
current flows, anode current increases.
The increased anode current in turn makes more
electrons available at junction J2. This process
continues and in an extremely small time, junction J2
breaks down and the SCR starts conducting heavily.

Once SCR starts conducting, the gate loses all control.

Even if gate voltage is removed, the anode current
does not decrease at all.
The only way to stop conduction (i.e. bring SCR in off
condition) is to reduce the applied voltage to zero
The following conclusions are drawn from the working of SCR :

 An SCR has two states i.e. either it does not conduct or it conducts
heavily. There is no state in between. Therefore, SCR behaves like a
switch.
 There are two ways to turn on the SCR. The first method is to keep
the gate open and make the supply voltage equal to the break over
voltage.
 The second method is to operate SCR with supply voltage less than
break over voltage and then turn it on by means of a small voltage (
typically 1.5 V, 30 mA) applied to the gate.

 Applying small positive voltage to the gate is the normal way to

close an SCR because the break over voltage is usually much
greater than supply voltage.
 Holding & Latching Currents
HOLDING CURRENT,IH
• After an SCR has been switched to the on state a certain
minimum value of anode current is required to maintain the
thyristor in this low impedance state.
• If the anode current is reduced below the critical holding current
value, the thyristor cannot maintain the current through it and
reverts to its off state usually holding current is associated with
turn off of the device.
LATCHING CURRENT,IL
 After the SCR has switched on, there is a minimum current
required to sustain conduction as soon as gate current is
removed.
 This current is called the latching current and is associated with
turn on and is usually greater than holding current.
Usually, IL = (1.5 up to 2) * IH
43
 Static V-I Characteristics of a thyristor
RL

VAA K
VGG

Fig. Circuit

Fig: V-I Characteristics 44

Cont…

Fig.: Effects on gate current on forward blocking voltage 45

Discuss the operations of each diagram?
Thyristors Triggering Circuits
And Methods
 THYRISTOR TURN ON METHODS
• Thermal Turn on: If the temperature of the thyristor is high, there will be an
increase in charge carriers which would increase the leakage current. This
would cause an increase in anode current and the thyristor may turn on. This
type of turn on may cause thermal run away and is usually avoided.

 Light: If light be allowed to fall on the junctions of a thyristor, charge carrier

concentration would increase which may turn on the SCR.
 LASCR: Light activated SCRs are turned on by allowing light to strike the silicon
wafer.
 High Voltage Triggering: This is triggering without application of gate voltage
with only application of a large voltage across the anode-cathode such that it is
greater than the forward breakdown voltage VBO.
This type of turn on is destructive and should be avoided.
 Gate Triggering: Gate triggering is the method practically employed to turn-on
the thyristor.

48
 dv
High dt Triggering:
• Under transient conditions, the capacitances of the p-n
junction will influence the characteristics of a thyristor.
• If the thyristor is in the blocking state, a rapidly rising voltage
applied across the device would cause a high current to flow
through the device resulting in turn-on.
• If ij2 is the current through the junction J2 and Cj2 is the
junction capacitance, and Vj2 is the voltage across J2 , then a
high value of charging current may damage the thyristor and
the device must be protected against high
 
dq2 d C j2 dVJ 2 dC j2
ij 2   C j Vj  V j2
dt dt 2 2
dt dt
dv
From the above equation, we see that if is large, ij2 will be large
dt
49
 GATE TRIGGERING CIRCUITS
 Gate triggering circuit consists of two main circuits
1. A pulse generator circuit it may be a 555 timer IC , 556 IC, micro-processor,
micro-controller, UJT circuit, PLC or any other circuit that can able to produce
a pulse signal.

2. The output of the pulse generator circuit is supplied to the amplifier circuit and
it should be isolated from the main power circuit for protection of the
controlling circuit. The amplifier circuit may be BJT amplifier, OPAMP,
Darlington pair and so on. While the isolator circuit may be a pulse
transformer or an opto-coupler circuits.
The different methods of gate triggering are the following

 R-triggering.

RC triggering.

UJT triggering
50
 1. RESISTANCE TRIGGERING
v O
a b
L O A D

i R 1

R 2

v S = V m s in  t
D V T

R V g

51
• The resistor R1 limits the current through the gate of the SCR.

• R2 is the variable resistance added to the circuit to achieve

control over the triggering angle of SCR.

• Resistor ‘R’ is a stabilizing resistor for gate voltage drop.

• The diode D is required to ensure that no negative voltage

reaches the gate of the SCR.

52
V S VS VS
V m s in  t

3 4 3 4 3 4
 2 t  2 t  2 t

Vg Vgt Vg Vg Vgp>Vgt
Vgp= Vgt

Vgp Vgp Vgt t t t

Vo Vo Vo

t t t
io io io

t 0 t t
270
VT VT VT

3 4
t  2 t t
 0 0
0 = 90 < 90
90

(a ) (b ) (c)

(a) No triggering of SCR (b)  = 90o (c)  < 90o

Fig.: Resistance firing of an SCR in half wave circuit with dc load 53

 OPERATION

• Case 1:
Vgp , the peak gate voltage is less then Vgt since R2 is very large.
Therefore, current ‘I’ flowing through the gate is very small.
SCR will not turn on and therefore the load voltage is zero and vscr
is equal to Vs. This is because we are using only a resistive network.
Therefore, output will be in phase with input.

• Case 2: Vgp  Vgt , optimum value.

When R2 is set to an optimum value such that Vgp  Vgt , we see that the SCR
is triggered at 900 (since Vgp reaches its peak at 900 only). The waveforms
show that the load voltage is zero till 900 and the voltage across the SCR is
the same as input voltage till it is triggered at 900.

54
• Case 3:V gp
,
 Vgt R2 small value.
The triggering value V is reached much earlier than 0. Hence the SCR
gt 90
turns on earlier than reaches its peak value. The waveforms as shown
with respect to V S .
Vs  Vm sin  t
At
 Vgt 
 t   , VS  Vgt ,Vm  Vgp  Vgt  Vgp sin   Therefore   sin 1
 
 Vgp 

Vm R
ButVgp 
R1  R2  R
Vgt  R1  R2  R  
Therefore   sin 
1

 V m R 

Since Vgt , R1 , R are constants

 R2 The firing angle is proportional to the value of R2 The firing

angle is proportional to the value of R2
55
2. RESISTANCE CAPACITANCE TRIGGERING

vO

LOAD
+
R
D 2 VT

-
v S = V m s in  t
D 1
V C C

56
• Capacitor ‘C’ in the circuit is connected to shift the phase of the gate
voltage.
• D1 is used to prevent negative voltage from reaching the gate cathode of
SCR.
• In the negative half
Vm  cycle, the capacitor charges to the peak negative voltage

of the supply through the diode D2 .

• The capacitor maintains this voltage across it, till the supply voltage crosses
zero.
• As the supply becomespositive,
Vm the capacitor charges through resistor ‘R’
from initial voltage of , to a positive value.
• When the capacitor voltage is equal to the gate trigger voltage of the SCR,
the SCR is fired and the capacitor voltage is clamped to a small positive
57
value .
 WAVE FORMS
V m s in  t V m s in  t
vs vs
V gt V gt

-/2 0 -/2 0
0 t 0 t
vc vc
vc vc
a a a a
vo   vo
Vm Vm
0
    t  t
vT vT

Vm
  0 
-V m t   t
 -V m
(2 +  )

(a ) (b )
(a) High value of R (b) Low value of R
Fig.: Waveforms for RC half-wave trigger circuit 58
 OPERATION

• Case 1: R  Large.
When the resistor ‘R’ is large, the time taken for the capacitance to charge
from Vm to Vgt is large, resulting in larger firing angle and lower load
voltage.

• Case 2: R  Small.
 When ‘R’ is set to a smaller value, the capacitor charges at a faster
rate towards Vgt resulting in early triggering of SCR and hence VL is
more.
 When the SCR triggers, the voltage drop across it falls to 1 to
1.5V. This in turn lowers, the voltage across R & C.
 Low voltage across the SCR during conduction period keeps the
capacitor discharge during the positive half cycle.

59
 DESIGN EQUATIONS

From the circuit VC  Vgt  Vd 1 .

Considering the source voltage and the gate circuit, we can write
vs  I gt R  VC
SCR fires when vs  I gt R  VC
that is vS  I g R  Vgt  Vd 1
.
vs  Vgt  Vd 1
Therefore . R
I gt
The RC time constant for zero output voltage ,that is maximum firing angle
for power frequencies is empirically given as
T 
RC  1.3  
2

60
End of chapter one

Question?