POWER ELECTRONICS Unit-I:

Power semiconductor devices:

Introduction: Concept of Power Electronics, scope and applications, desired Characteristics of controllable switches

Power semiconductor switches and their characteristics:

Power Diode, Power BJT, Power MOSFET, IGBT, SCR, TRIAC, GTO.

What is power electronics& Its concept-

Power electronics is the branch of electrical engineering that deals with

the processing of high voltages and currents to deliver power that
supports a variety of needs.

Concept of power electronics-

Power electronics are used in industries since the industries have a huge installation of
high-power motors that are controlled by power electronic drives,

for instance, cement mills, rolling mills, compressor pumps, fans, elevators,
textile mills, blowers, elevators, rotary kilns, etc.

block diagram of typical power electronic system

SCOPE OF POWER ELECTRONICS-

Energy conservation-
By using power electronics-controlled motor drives a potential
reduction in energy consumption of 20- 30% is achievable.
motor control factory automation-
It combines the processing of high voltages and currents for power
generation and distribution together with distortion less production,
transmission and reception of data and signals.

Transportation-
power electronics convert and distribute electrical power to other
vehicle systems such as heating and ventilation, lighting, and
infotainment.
Power electronics components include inverters, DC/DC converters, and
chargers (for plug-in electric vehicles).

Electro-technical application-
These includes equipment for welding, electroplating, and induction
heating.

Utility related applications-

such as a fan regulator, air-conditioning, induction cooking, light dimmer,
emergency lights, vacuum cleaners, personal computers, UPS, battery charges,
etc., are the major applications of power electronics.
Application of power electronics-
Aerospace- power drive controls, flight control, navigation, cabin lighting, avionics,
and communications.

Commercial- advertising, heating, air conditioning, computer etc.

Industrial- power supplies, converters, inverters, battery chargers,

temperature control, variable speed motors,

Telecommunication- Telecommunication device: Power supplies (DC

and UPS device), battery chargers.

Desired Characteristics of controllable switches-

1. Small leakage current in the off state.
2. Small on-state voltage drop.
3. Short turn-on and turn-off times.
4. Large forward- and reverse-voltage-blocking capability. (Reverse-voltage-blocking capability is
not required in certain cases).
5. High on-state current rating.
6. Positive temperature coefficient of on-state resistance.
7. Small control power required to switch the device.
8. Capability to withstand rated voltage and rated current simultaneously while switching.
9. Large dv/dt and di/dt ratings.
 Power Diode
Power Diode-
Power diode is two-layer, two terminal, p-n junction semiconductor device. It has
one p-n junction.

V-I Characteristics of Power Diodes

Cut in voltage=0.7 Vs

When anode is positive with respect to cathode, the.Diode its said to be forward
bias.
With increase the souece voltage Vs from zero value. Initially diode current is zero.
At Vs=0 to cut in voltage, the Forword diode current is very small.
Cut in voltage also known as threhold voltage.
Beyond cut in voltage , the diode current rises rapidly and the diode is said to
conduct.
When Cathode is positive with respect to anode, the.Diode its said to be reverse
biased.
In the reverse Biased condition of diode , small reverse current, called leakage
current in micro or mili amperes.

The leakage current increases slowly with the reverse voltage until breakdown
voltage or avalanche voltage is reached.

At this Breakdown voltage Diode is turned on in reverse direction.

If current in the reverse direction not limited by series resistance, then it may
destroy the diode.
To Avoid Avalanche breakdown of a diode is avoided by operating the diode below
specified peak repetitive reverse voltage VRRM.

Reverse Recovery Characteristics of Power Diodes

the time between the instant forward current reaches zero and the instant the
reverse current decays to 25% of IRR.
After this time the diode is said to attain its reverse blocking capability.

From the figure above, we see that

Reverse recovery charge=

characteristics of Ideal power switching device-

Infinite forward current carrying capability.

Zero on-state voltage drop
Zero-on state resistance.
Infinite forword or reverse blocking voltage capability.
Zero off state leakage current.
Infinite off state resistance.
Completely controlled by gate or base drive.
Infinite dv/dt and di/dt capabilities
Infinite heat carrying capacity.
 POWER (BJT)- Power BJT (Power Bipolar Junction
Transistor)

Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) is a three terminal, three layer, two junction
semiconductor devices.
Emitter(E), Base(B) and Collector(C) are the three terminals of the device.
Current flows due to movement of both holes and electrons
Transistor has the following two types;
1. NPN bipolar junction transistor
2. PNP bipolar junction transistor

Input characteristics of BJT-

The input characteristics are plotted between the emitter current IE
and the emitter-base voltage VEB for the varying values of collector-
base voltage VCB.
 We can clearly observe the trend from the graph that, The Emitter
base junction is forward biased so the emitter current IE increases
with the increasing values of VEB as the collector base Voltage VCB
increases.
 Output characteristics of BJT-

The output characteristics of Common Base Configuration of a Bipolar

Junction Transistor are plotted between the output voltage VCB and
output current IC,

 Change in the emitter current IE results in the changing values of

collector current IC.
 The Emitter current IE and Emitter Base Voltage VEB are positive
because the region is forward biased.
 You can observe the active region in the graph, the phase in which
the transistor operates at its maximal potential.

Switching characteristics of BJT-

When a base current is applied, transistor can’t be turned on Because

of presence of internal Capacitances

Delay Time- td
The time taken by the collector current to reach from its initial value to
10% of its final value.

Rise Time-: tr
After this delay time, collector current rises to steady state value Ics in
time tr is called rise time.
This is BJT turn on time.

Storage time-

When the base -emitter voltage VBE is removed at time ts, the collector
current does not change for a time ts, called storage time.

Fall time (t ) –
f
The time taken for the collector current to reach from 90% of its maximum
value to 10% of its initial value is called as the Fall Time.

POWER MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor)-

it is a unipolar device and its operation depends on the flow of the
majority carries.
It is voltage-controlled device and it acts as a fast-acting switch.
It has very high input impedance and has a positive temperature
coefficient of resistance.

Structure:

It is a four-terminal device with Source (S), Drain (D), Gate (G), and body (B) terminals

MOSFET is classified as follows:

 P-Channel Depletion MOSFET

 P-Channel Enhancement MOSFET
 N-Channel Depletion MOSFET
 N-Channel Enhancement MOSFET
In Depletion-mode MOSFET channel is pre-built in MOSFET. In this
type of MOSFET, we applies a gate-source voltage ( Vgs ) to turn OFF
the MOSFET. The depletion mode MOSFET is nearly equal to
“normally closed” switch. This MOSFET is always in ON condition
when we applies voltages difference between drain and source
current will start flowing through the MOSFET.

 P-Channel Depletion MOSFET-

In p channel depletion MOSFET channel is already created between drain

and source.
Generally, Sio2 used as this metal oxide layer.
Now we apply the negative voltage at the gate terminal.
Due to the capacitive effects electrons are repealed each other and shifted
to the p channel.
In this way here depletion occurs so it named depletion MOSFET.
These is the basic working of p channel depletion MOSFET.

N channel depletion mode MOSFET

In N channel depletion mode MOSFET here we applied positive voltage to the
gate voltage.
As we know, depletion mode type MOSFET is in ON condition without applying
gate voltages. So when we apply the potential difference between drain and
source current start flowing through MOSFET. After applying the voltage to the
gate there will be depletion occur in n channel.
Positive voltage is applied to the gate and voltage Vds is applied between
drain and source. Here source is commonly grounded terminal.
IGBT
The IGBT or Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor is the combination of BJT and MOSFET.

“Insulated Gate” refers to the input part of MOSFET having very high input impedance.
“Bipolar” refers to the output part of the BJT having bipolar nature where the current flow is due to
both types of charge carriers.
TRIAC
The TRIAC is a three terminal semiconductor device for controlling current.
The TRIAC is a component that is effectively based on the thyristor. It provides AC switching
for electrical systems. Like the thyristor, the TRIACs are used in many electrical switching
applications

Operation
 With switch S open, there will be no gate current and the triac is cut off. Even with no
current the triac can be turned on provided the supply voltage becomes equal to the breakover
voltage.

When switch S is closed, the gate current starts flowing in the gate circuit. Breakover voltage of
triac can be varied by making proper currnt flow. Triac starts to conduct wheather MT2 is
positive or negative w.r.t MT1.

Figure 5.16 TRIAC operation under biasing

If terminal MT2 is positive w.r.t MT1 the TRIAC is on and the conventional current will
flow from MT2 to MT1. If terminal MT2 is negative w.r.t MT1 the TR IAC is again turned on
and the conventional current will flow from MT1 to MT2.

Characteristics

Figure 5. 16 The V-I Characteristics curve for TRI AC

Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR)-
it is used in industries because it can handle high values of current and voltage.
Three terminals

· Anode - P-layer
· Cathode - N-layer (opposite end)
· Gate - P-layer near the cathode
Three junctions - four layers

Construction

When a pn-junction is added to a junction transistor the resulting three pn junction device
is called a SCR. ordinary rectifier (pn) and a junction transistor (npn) combined in one unit to
form pnpn device.
Working-
The SCR behaves like two diodes connected in series with only a small leakage current flowing.

If the reverse voltage increases to a critical level, the reverse breakdown voltage (VBR), an avalanche
occurs, and the reverse current quickly rises in the reverse avalanche region.
IL = latching current
IH = holding current
VBO=breakover voltage

GTO
GTO (Gate Turn Off) is a semiconductor based fully controlled unidirectional switching device
(thyristor) that has 3 terminals Gate, Cathode, and Anode.

It can be switched ON/OFF using the gate terminal.

V-I Characteristics of GTO

 It is observed that the characteristics is in the forward direction is the same to that
of conventional SCR.
 In the reverse direction, GTO breaks down at a very low voltage. The reveres
breakdown voltage is of the order of 20 to 30 V only.
 The latching current for large power GTO is in some amperes as compared to 100-
500 mA for conventional thyristor same ratings.
 If the gate current is not able to turn ON the GTO it behaves like a high voltage low
gain transistor with significant anode current.