CHAPTER ONE

Semi Conductor Devices

Power semiconductor devices represent the “heart” of modern
power electronics, with two major desirable characteristics guiding
their development.

1. Switching speed (turn-on and turn-off times)

2. Power-handling capabilities (voltage blocking and current carrying

capabilities)

The Need for Switching in Power Electronic Circuits

In power electronic circuits, the semiconductor devices are generally operated as

switches – either in the on-state or off-state. Typically, the interface between the
power devices and control circuit is done by a circuit known as the “drive” circuit.
The need to use semiconductor switching devices in power electronic circuits is
based on their ability to control and manipulate very large amounts of power from
the input to the output with relatively very low-power dissipation in the switching
device, resulting in a very high-efficiency power electronic system.
 Cont…
Efficiency is an important figure of merit and has significant implications on the
overall performance of the system. A low-efficiency power system means that
large amounts of power are being dissipated in the form of heat, with one or more
of the following implications:
1. The cost of energy increases due to increased consumption.
2. Additional design complications might be imposed, especially regarding the
design of device heat sinks.
3. Additional components such as heat sinks increase the cost, size, and weight of
the system, resulting in low-power density.
4. High-power dissipation forces the switch to operate at low switching
frequencies, resulting in limited bandwidth and slow response, and most
importantly, the size and weight of magnetic components (inductors and
transformers) and capacitors remain large. Therefore, it is always desirable to
operate switches at very high frequencies. But we will show later that as the
switching frequency increases, the average switching power dissipation increases.
Hence, a trade-off must be made between reduced size, weight, and cost of
components and reduced switching power dissipation, which means inexpensive
low switching frequency devices.
 Cont…
5. Component and device reliability is reduced.

Switching Characteristics

The Ideal
Switch The practical
Switch

Characteristics of ideal Switches

It is always desired to have the power switches to perform as close as possible to
the ideal case. For a semiconductor device to operate as an ideal switch, it must
possess the following features:
 Cont…
1. No limit on the amount of current (known as forward or reverse current) that
the device can carry when in the conduction state (on-state)

2. No limit on the amount of the device voltage (known as forward or reverse

blocking voltage) when the device is in the non conduction state (off-state)

3. Zero on-state voltage drop when in the conduction state

4. Infinite off-state resistance, i.e., zero leakage current when in the non
conduction state

5. No limit on the operating speed of the device when it changes state, i.e., zero rise
and fall times

Typical switching waveforms for an ideal switch are shown in Figure shown below,
where isw and vsw are the current through and the voltage across the switch,
respectively, and DTs is the on time. During the switching and conduction periods,
the power loss is zero, resulting in a 100% efficiency.
 Cont…
With no switching delays, an infinite operating frequency can be achieved. In
short, an ideal switch has infinite speed, unlimited power-handling capabilities,
and 100% efficiency.
It must be noted that it is not surprising to find semiconductor switching devices
that can almost, for all practical purposes, perform as ideal switches for a number
of applications.
 Cont…

The Practical Switch

The practical switch has the following switching and conduction characteristics:

1. Limited power-handling capabilities, i.e., limited conduction current when the

switch is in the on-state and limited blocking voltage when the switch is in the
off-state.

2. Limited switching speed that is caused by the finite turn-on and turn-off times.
This limits the maximum operating frequency of the device.

3. Finite on-state and off-state resistances, i.e., there exists forward voltage drop
when in the on-state and reverse current flow (leakage) when in the off-state.

4. Because of characteristics 2 and 3 above, the practical switch experiences power

losses in the on- and the off-states (known as conduction loss) and during
switching transitions (known as switching loss).
 Cont…
Typical switching waveforms of a practical switch are shown in Fig shown below.
The average switching power and conduction power losses can be evaluated from
these waveforms. The exact switching waveforms vary from one device to another,

For simplicity, DTs is shown to include the off-time and the on-time period of the
switch. Moreover, other issues such as temperature dependence, power gain, surge
capacity, and over voltage capacity must be considered for specific devices in
specific applications.

The average power dissipation, Pave, over one switching cycle is given by:
Ts
1
P ave 
Ts i
0
sw v sw dt
Cont…
Cont…
 Semi Conductor
Devices

Power Diodes Power Transistors Power Thyristors

 Power Diodes
Classified in to three types

• Line frequency (general purpose)

ON state voltage very low (below 1V)

Large trr (about 25 μs)

Very high current (up to 5KA) and voltage 5KV rating

 Used in line frequency (50/60 Hz) application such as rectifier

• Fast Recovery
Very low trr (less than 1μs)
 Power level at several hundred volts and several hundred amps
Normally used in high frequency circuit
 Cont…
• Schottky

Very low forward voltage drop (typical 0.3 V)

Limited blocking voltage (50-100 V)

 Used in low voltage, high current application such as switched
mode power supplies.
 The pn Junction Diode
The diode is the simplest bipolar semiconductor device. It comprises p-type and n
type semiconductor materials brought together, usually after diffusion, to form a
(step or abrupt) junction as shown in figure below

(a) The junction if carriers did not (b) Equilibrium distribution of ionised
diffuse: + ionised donors,- ionised impurities and free carriers
acceptors, + holes and - electrons
 Cont…
A depletion layer, or alternatively a space charge layer (scl), is built up at the
junction as a result of diffusion caused by the large carrier concentration
gradients. The holes diffuse from the p-side into the n-side while electrons
diffuse from the n side to the p-side, as shown in figure below

Electron and hole movements: ---- diffusion flows, ─── drift flows

The n-side, losing electrons, is charged positively because of the net donor charge
left behind, while the p-side conversely becomes negatively charged.
 Cont…
The n-side, losing electrons, is charged positively because of the net donor charge
left behind, while the p-side conversely becomes negatively charged. An electric
potential barrier, ξ, builds up, creating a drift current which opposes the diffusion
flow, both of which balance at thermo dynamic equilibrium

There are no free carriers in the scl. The zero external bias, built-in, junction
potential or scl potential is given by

KT j NAND
φ  ln
q n 12
where q is the electron charge, 1.6 x 10 -19 C
k is Boltzmann’s constant, 1.38 x 10-23 J/K
Tj is the junction temperature, K.
Thus
ϕ = = kT /q j = 0.0259 eV at room temperature, 300 K
 Cont…
The pn junction under forward bias (steady-state)
If the p-region is externally positively-biased with respect to the n-region as
shown in figure below the depletion region become narrow and current flows
freely.

Forward Biased PN junction Diode

The emf positive potential supplies holes to the p-region, while the negative emf
potential provides electrons to the n-region. The carriers both combine, but are
continuously replenished from the emf source. A large emf source current flows
through the diode, which is termed forward-biased
 Cont…
The pn junction under reverse bias (steady-state)

If a bias voltage is applied across the p and n regions as shown in figure below,
With the p-terminal negative with respect to the n-terminal, then the scl widens.

This is because electrons in the n-region are attracted to the positive external emf
source while holes in the p-region are attracted to the negative emf potential. As
the scl widens, the peak electric field ξm at the junction increases.

Reverse Biased PN junction Diode

The only current that flows is the small leakage current which is due to carriers
generated in the scl or minority carriers which diffuse to the junction and are
collected. The junction is termed reverse-biased
 Cont…

I-V characteristics of pn-junction diode

 Cont…

Protection of Power Diodes

A power diode must be protected against over current, over voltage, and
transients.
When a diode is reverse-biased, it acts like an open circuit. If the reverse bias
voltage exceeds the breakdown voltage, a large current flow results. With this high
voltage and large current, power dissipation at the diode junction may exceed its
maximum value, destroying the diode.
For the diode protection, it is a usual practice to choose a diode with a peak
reverse voltage rating that is 1.2 times higher than the expected voltage during
normal operating conditions.
Current ratings for diodes are based on the maximum junction temperatures. As a
safety precaution, it is recommended that the diode current be kept below this
rated value.

Electrical transients can cause higher-than-normal voltages across a diode. To

protect a diode from the transients, an RC series circuit may be connected across
the diode to reduce the rate of change of voltage.
 Cont…

The bipolar npn power switching transistor (BJT)

As a discrete electrical device, the high-voltage, power-switching bipolar junction
transistor, BJT, is virtually obsolete.
The BJT has one unique redeeming electrical characteristic, viz.; it can conduct
hundreds of amperes with an extremely low on state voltage of less than 100mV.
When saturated, Although superseded, its basic electrical operating
characteristics are fundamental to the operation of most other power switching
devices.
.

The first bipolar transistors were mainly pnp, and were fabricated by alloying
techniques and employed germanium semiconductor materials. Most transistors
are now npn, made of silicon, and utilise selective diffusion and oxide masking.

The n+ region which serves as the source of injected electrons is called the
emitter and forms the emitter junction with the p-base, while the n-region into
which electrons are swept by the reverse bias np junction is called the collector
and, with the p-base, forms the collector junction
 Cont…

Common emitter junction bias npn transistor and electrical symbol

The relationship between collector and emitter current is
ic
 b tγ  α
ie
The factor α is called the current transfer ratio. Since base current is necessary, is
less than 1, but close to 1, if the BJT
•has a good base transport factor, bt ≈ 1
(narrow base width and with long minority carrier lifetimes) and
• a high emitter injection efficiency, γ ≈ 1
(high emitter doping relative to the base concentration).
 Cont…
In the common emitter configuration shown above the ratio between the base
current ib and the collector current ic, is of practical importance. Since the
base current is the difference between the emitter and the collector current

ic ic α
  β
ib ie  ic 1  α

The factor β, relating the collector current to the base current, is defined as the
base-to-collector current amplification factor

If α is near unity, β is large, implying the base current is small compared with the
collector current.

BJT operating states

In power switching applications, a transistor is controlled in two states which can
be referred to as the off-state or cut-off state and the conduction on-state.
 Cont…
Ideally the transistor should appear as a short circuit when on and an open
circuit when in the off-state. Furthermore, the transition time between these two
states is ideally zero. In reality, transistors only approximate these requirements.
The typical BJT collector output characteristics are shown in figure below which
illustrates the various BJT operating regions.
The saturated on-state shown in figure below occurs when both the collector and
emitter junctions are forward biased.

Consequently, the collector emitter voltage Vce(sat) is less than the base to emitter
voltage Vbe(sat). The voltage breakdown phenomenon is of particular importance
to the high-voltage, power-switching BJT, and is due to the characteristics of the
device structure and geometry.
 Cont…

Output characteristics of a common emitter connected transistor showing

its operating regions and the voltage breakdown range
 Cont…

BJT Protection
Transistors must be protected against high currents and voltages to prevent
damage to the device. Since they are able to absorb very little energy before
breakdown, semiconductor fuses cannot protect them.

Thermal conditions are vitally important and can occur during high-frequency
switching. Some of the most common types of BJT protection are over current and
overvoltage protection. Electronic protection techniques are also frequently used
to provide needed protection for transistors.

Over current protection turns the transistor OFF when the collector–emitter
voltage and collector current reach a preset value.

When the transistor is in the ON state, an increase in collector–emitter voltage

causes an increase in the collector current and therefore an increase in junction
temperature.
 Cont…

Since the BJT has a negative temperature coefficient, the increase in temperature
causes a decrease in resistance and results in an even higher collector current.

One such method of over current protection limits the base current during an
external fault. With the base current limited, the device current will be limited at
the saturation point, with respect to the base current, and the device will hold
some value of the voltage.

BASE DRIVE CIRCUITS FOR BJT

In power electronic applications, the BJTs used will be capable of blocking high
voltages (up to about 600V) when OFF, and passing high currents (up to 50 to
100A) when ON.
Such high power transistors are quite sensitive to voltage and current stresses. The
high voltage devices are very sensitive to reverse biased second breakdown.
he high current devices usually have low current gain. On account of these factors,
the design of suitable drive circuits for BJTs is a demanding task.
 Cont…
Requirements of Base Drive

A good base drive circuit must satisfy the following general requirements.

• A fast rising (< 1µS) current to turn on the device fast.

• A hard drive of adequate magnitude (IB+) to reduce turn on loss.
•A steady base current of adequate magnitude (IB) to keep the device in
saturation during the on period of the switch.
•A fast falling (< 1µS) current of adequate magnitude (IB-) during the
storage time (typically 5 to 10µS) of the turn off period of the switch.
•The drive circuit must be such that the switching performance is
insensitive to the operating point of the switch.
The preferred base drive is illustrated in Figure above, The features are
A. Fast rising current for fast turn on.
B. Hard turn on drive to reduce turn on loss.
C. Adequate drive for low conduction loss.
D. Negative base drive to reduce storage time.
E. Negative base bias for good noise immunity. Base drive current is zero under
this condition.
 The metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET)
Power MOSFETs are marketed by different manufacturers with differences in
internal geometry and with different names such as MegaMOS, HEXFET,
SIPMOS, and TMOS.

They have unique features that make them potentially attractive for switching
applications.

They are essentially voltage-driven rather than current-driven devices, unlike

bipolar transistors.
The gate of a MOSFET is isolated electrically from the source by a layer of silicon oxide.
The gate draws only a minute leakage current on the order of nanoamperes. Hence, the gate
drive circuit is simple and power loss in the gate control circuit is practically negligible.

Although in steady state the gate draws virtually no current, this is not so under
transient conditions. The gate-to-source and gate-to-drain capacitances have to be
charged and discharged appropriately to obtain the desired switching speed, and
the drive circuit must have a sufficiently low output impedance to supply the
required charging and discharging currents.
 Cont…
The circuit symbol of a power MOSFET is shown in figure below.

Power MOSFET circuit symbol

Power MOSFETs are majority carrier devices, and there is no minority carrier
storage time. Hence, they have exceptionally fast rise and fall times. They are
essentially resistive devices when turned on, while bipolar transistors present a
more or less constant VCE(sat) over the normal operating range.
 Cont…
Power dissipation in MOSFETs is Id2RDS(on), and in bipolars it is ICVCE(sat). At low
currents, therefore, a power MOSFET may have a lower conduction loss than a
comparable bipolar device, but at higher currents, the conduction loss will exceed
that of bipolars. Also, the RDS(on) increases with temperature.
An important feature of a power MOSFET is the absence of a secondary
breakdown effect, which is present in a bipolar transistor, and as a result, it has an
extremely rugged switching performance.
In MOSFETs, RDS(on) increases with temperature, and thus the current is
automatically diverted away from the hot spot. The drain body junction appears
as an antiparallel diode between source and drain.
Thus, power MOSFETs will not support voltage in the reverse direction. Although
this inverse diode is relatively fast, it is slow by comparison with the MOSFET.
Recent devices have the diode recovery time as low as 100 ns. Since MOSFETs
cannot be protected by fuses, an electronic protection technique has to be used.
 GATE DRIVE CIRCUITS FOR MOSFET
MOSFETs can switch much faster than BJTs. They are becoming popular now for
low power applications.
The drive power requirement for a MOSFET is much less than that of a BJT.

Requirements of Gate Drive

The desirable features of a good drive circuit for a MOSFET are as follows.

• A fast rising ( < 0.1µS) current to turn on the device fast.

• A hard drive of adequate magnitude to quickly ( < 0.5µS) charge the gate
source voltage above the threshold voltage Vgs(th). This will ensure low turn
on loss.
• A steady gate voltage of greater than Vgs(th) to keep the device on with a
low on state resistance rds(on) . Since the gate is isolated from the source, the
current required to maintain the gate source voltage constant is zero.
• A fast falling (< 0.1µS) current drive to initiate turn off. The magnitude of
the negative current must be adequate so that the gate source capacitance is
quickly (<0.5µS) discharged to zero or a negative voltage.
 Cont…
• A gate voltage of adequate negative magnitude during the off period of the
device. This gate voltage that is applied during the off period must be through a
low impedance to ensure good noise margin.
•The drive circuit must be such that the switching performance is insensitive to
the
operating point of the switch.
• Electrical isolation between the control input and the switch may be desired. This
will be necessary very often when the system has several switches at different
electrical potentials.
 GTO

The GTO is a power semiconductor switch that turns ON by a positive gate signal.
It can be turned OFF by a negative gate signal. The GTO symbol is shown in
Figure below.

(a) The GTO symbol; (b) the GTO structure

The GTO voltage and current ratings are lower than those of SCRs. The GTO
turn-off time is lower than that of SCR. The turn-on time is the same as that of an
SCR.
Advantages of the GTO include:
1. High current–voltage capability
2. Low conduction loss
3. Low cost
Disadvantages
1. Non-uniform turn-off—poor RBSOA and dV/dt snubber required
2. Non-uniform turn-on—dI/dt snubber required
3. Current control—high gating power
4. Long switching time—long storage time, minimum on-time and off-time
requirements
5. No current limitation capability (FBSOA)
 The insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
The high off-state and low on-state voltage characteristics of the bipolar junction
transistor are combined with the high input impedance properties of the MOSFET
to form the insulated gate bipolar transistor, IGBT,
The basic structure is that of a MOSFET but with a p+ substrate. This p+
collector provides reverse blocking capabilities of typically 40V.
IGBT at turn-on
Electrons from the n- drift region flowing into the p+ collector region, cause holes
to be emitted from the high efficiency p+ region into the drift region. Some of the
holes flow to the emitter p+ region as well as through the lateral mos-channel into
the n+ well. This charge enhancement causes the scl, hence collector voltage, to
collapse as the device turns on.

Electrical symbol Normal operation

equivalent circuit
 The junction field effect transistor (JFET)

The field effect for a FET may be created in two ways:

• A voltage signal controls charge indirectly using a capacitive effect as in the

MOSFET
•In a junction FET (JFET), the voltage dependant scl width of a junction is
used to control the effective cross-sectional area of a conducting channel.
If the zero bias voltage cuts off the channel then the JFET is normally off,
otherwise if a reverse bias is needed to cut-off the channel, the JFET is
termed normally on.
 Thyristors
Thyristor can only be turned on with two conditions

 The device is in forward blocking state (i.e. VAK is +ive)

 A positive gate current Ig is supplied at the gate

The name thyristor is a generic term for a bipolar semiconductor device which
comprises four semiconductor layers and operates as a switch having a latched on
state and a stable off-state.

Numerous members of the thyristor family exist. The simplest structurally is the
silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) while the most complicated is the triac.
 The silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR)

The basic SCR structure and doping profile in figure shown below depicts the
SCR as three pn junctions J1, J2, and J3 in series. The contact electrode to the
outer p-layer is called the anode and that to the outer n-layer is termed the
cathode. With a gate contact to the inner p-region, the resultant three-terminal
thyristor device is technically called the silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR).
 Cont…
The anode and cathode would both be expected to be good emitters of minority
carriers into the n2 and p1 regions respectively because of their relative high
concentrations with respect to their injected regions.
The n2 region is very wide, typically hundreds of micrometres, and low
concentration, typically less than 1014 /cc. Even though the hole lifetime may be
very long, 100µs, the base transport factor for hole minority carriers, bt-n2 is
low. The low-concentration provides high forward and reverse blocking
capability and the associated reverse-biased scl’s penetrate deeply into the n2
region.

The two-transistor model of the SCR shown in figure below can be used to
represent the p2-n2-pl-nl structure and explain its characteristics. Transistor T1
is an npn BJT formed from regions n2-pl-nl while T2 is a pnp BJT formed from
SCR regions p2-n2-pl.
 Cont…

SCR turn-on
the collector current of the npn transistor provides the base current for the pnp
transistor. Also, the collector current of the pnp transistor along with any gate
current IG supplies the base drive for the npn transistor. Thus a regenerative
situation occurs when the loop gain exceeds unity. The base current of the pnp
transistor T2 with dc current gain α2 is which is supplied by the collector of the
npn transistor. The current Ico is the collector junction reverse bias leakage
current. The collector current of the npn transistor T1 with a dc current gain of
α1 is given by

Ib2  1  α 2  IA  Ico2
which is supplied by the collector of the npn transistor. The current Ico is the
collector junction reverse bias leakage current. The collector current of the npn
transistor T1 with a dc current gain of α1 is given by

I c 1   1 I k  I co 1
 Cont…

By equating Ib2 and Ic1 page 54

1  α 2  I A  I co2  α 1 I k  I co1

Since IK  IA  IG

α1I G  I co1  I co2 α1I G  I co1  I co2

IA  
1   α1  α 2  1  G1

where α1+α2 is called the loop again, G1.

 Cont…

Silicon-control rectifier static I-V characteristics

 The gate commutated thyristor (GCT)

GTO frequency limitations and the need for an external parallel connected
capacitive turn-off snubber (to limit re-applied dv/dt), have motivated its
enhancement, resulting in the gate commutated thyristor, GCT.

A number of processing and structural variations to the basic GTO result in a

more robust and versatile high power switch.

The SCR on-state regenerative mechanism is avoided at both turn-off and turn on
switching transitions thereby yielding a device more robust than the GTO.

As with the GTO, an inductive series turn-on snubber is still required to cope with
the initial high di/dt current.

The GCT switch is thermally limited, rather than frequency limited as with the
conventional GTO. Electron irradiation trades on state voltage against switching
performance.
 The light triggered thyristor (LTT)
The light triggered thyristor is series connected in HVDC applications. Five inch
wafers offer 8kV ratings with onstate voltages of 2.3V at 3000A, with surge ratings
of up to 63kA.
Turn-off time is 350µs, and turn-on requires about 40mW of light power for 10 µs,
with a half microsecond rise time.

Because of this low turn-on energy, multiple cascaded amplifying gates are
integrated to achieve modest initial current rises limited to 300A/µs. Reapplied
voltages are limited to 3500V/µs.

The triac

The triac is a thyristor device that can switch current in either direction by
applying a low-power trigger pulse of either polarity between the gate and main
terminal.

The main terminal I-V characteristics, device symbol, and four trigger modes for
the triac are shown in figure below.
 Cont…

I-V characteristics and circuit symbol

four firing modes of Triac
 MOS-Controlled Thyristor (MCT)
The MCT is a new type of power semiconductor device that combines the
capabilities of thyristor voltage and current with MOS gated turn-on and turn-off.

It is a high-power, high-frequency, low-conduction drop and a rugged device,

which is more likely to be used in the future for medium and high power
applications.

The MCT has a thyristor type structure with three junctions and pnpn layers
between the anode and cathode.

The advantage of an MCT over IGBT is its low forward voltage drop. n-type
MCTs will be expected to have a similar forward voltage drop, but with an
improved reverse bias safe operating area and switching speed. MCTs have
relatively low switching times and storage time.
The MCT is capable of high current densities and blocking voltages in both
directions. Since the power gain of an MCT is extremely high, it could be driven
directly from logic gates.
 Cont…
An MCT has high di/dt (of the order of 2500 A/µs) and high dv/dt (of the order of
20,000 V/µs) capability.

The MCT, because of its superior characteristics, shows a tremendous possibility

for applications such as motor drives, uninterrupted power supplies, static VAR
compensators, and high power active power line conditioners.