Power Electronics

Power Semiconductor Devices

Introduction
● In electronic components, Power Semiconductor Devices are electronic
devices that need an external power source to operate actively.
● Materials used to make semiconductor devices are neither excellent
insulators nor conductors.
● They mainly manipulate, amplify, switch, or control the flow of electric
current or voltage in a circuit.
● Power Semiconductor Devices, like diodes, transistors, thyristors, and
sensors require power to do their job.
● A circuit is an interconnection of components. These components are
capable of performing active functions like amplification, rectification, and
switching they are called Power Semiconductor Devices.
Introduction
● Power semiconductor devices are used as on/off switches in power control circuits.
● A power semiconductor device is a semiconductor device used as a switch or rectifier
in power electronics for example in a switch-mode power supply.
● Such a device is also called a power device or, when used in an integrated circuit.
● Power devices operate at lower switching speeds whereas signal devices operate at
higher switching speeds.
● The power semiconductor devices are used extensively in power electronic circuits.
● These power semiconductor devices are divided into three types:
○ Diodes
○ Thyristors
○ Transistors
Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices
● Classification of Power Semiconductor Devices based on the terminals,
basically these include two terminals, three terminals, and four terminal
devices.
Two-Terminal Power Semiconductor Devices
● Diode
● Gunn diode
● IMPATT diode
● Laser diode
● Zener diode
● Schottky diode
● PIN diode
● Tunnel diode
● Light-emitting diode (LED)
● Photo transistor
● Photocell
Three-Terminal Power Semiconductor Devices
● Bipolar transistor
● Field-effect transistor
● Darlington transistor
● Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
● Unijunction transistor
● Silicon-controlled rectifier
● Thyristor
● TRIAC
Four-Terminal Power Semiconductor Devices
● Photo coupler
● Hall effect sensor
Power Diode
● A power diode has a P-I-N structure as compared to the signal diode
having a PN junction.
● Here, the "I" in P-I-N stands for intrinsic semiconductor layer to bear the
high-level reverse voltage as compared to the signal diode, the n-drift
region layer, shown in the figure below;
Power Diode
● However, the drawback of this intrinsic layer is that it can add noticeable
resistance during forward-biased conditions, which means that the power
diode could require a proper cooling arrangement for handling large
power dissipation.
● In general, power diodes are used in numerous applications including
rectifiers, voltage clamper, voltage multipliers and etc. The power diode
symbol is the same as the signal diode as shown in the figure below;
Power Diode
● Other features that are incorporated in the power diode letting it handle higher power are:
○ Use of guard rings
○ Coating of silicon dioxide layer
● Guard rings are a p-type that prevents their depletion layer from merging with the depletion
layer of the reverse-biased p-n junction.
● The guard rings prevent the radius of the curvature of the depletion layer from becoming too
narrow, which can increase the breakdown strength.
● Another feature is to coat the SiO2 layer to help limit the electric field at the surface of the
power diode.
● If the thickness of the lightly doped "I" layer (n-layer) is greater than the depletion layer width at
the breakdown, this creates a non-punch through the power diode.
● This means the depletion layer has not punched through the lightly-doped n-layer.
● Additionally, if the thickness of the "I" layer is less than the depletion layer width at the
breakdown, this becomes the punch through the power diode.
Characteristics of a Power Diode
● The cut-in voltage is the value of the minimum voltage for VA (anode voltage) to make
the diode work in forward conducting mode.
● The cut-in voltage of the signal diode is 0.7 V, though, in the power diode it is 1 V, which
makes its typical forward conduction drop larger.
● Under forward-bias conditions, the signal diode current can increase exponentially and
then increase linearly.
● In the case of the power diode, it almost increases linearly with the applied voltage as
all the layers of P-I-N remain saturated with minority carriers under forward bias.
● This means that a high value of current can produce results in a voltage drop that
masks the exponential part of the curve.
● In reverse-bias conditions, small leakage current flows due to minority carriers until the
avalanche breakdown appears as shown in the figure above.
Characteristics of a Power Diode
Characteristics of a Power Diode
● After the forward diode reaches zero, the diode continues to conduct in the opposite
direction because of the presence of stored charges in the depletion layer and the p- or
n-layer.
● The diode current flows for a reverse-recovery time (Trr or trr).
● It is the time between the instant forward diode current becoming zero and the instant
reverse-recovery current decays to 25% of its reverse maximum value.
● Where:
○ Time ta: Charges stored in the depletion layer removed
○ Time tb: Charges from the semiconductor layer are removed
○ The shaded area in the figure below represents stored charges Q R which must be removed during
reverse-recovery time Trr.
● As for the power loss across diode = vf * if , the major power loss in the diode occurs
during the period tb.
● Altogether, recovery can be abrupt or smooth as shown in the figure below.
Characteristics of a Power Diode
Reading Assignment
● Read about the Schottky Diode.
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET)
● A MOSFET is a voltage-controlled majority carrier (or unipolar)
three-terminal device.
● Its basic symbol is shown in the figure below;
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET)
● The figure below shows the symbols for the different types of MOSFETs.
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET)
● As compared to the simple lateral channel MOSFET for low-power signals,
a power MOSFET has a different structure.
● It has a vertical channel structure where the source and the drain are on
the opposite side of the silicon wafer, as shown in the figure below.
Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET)
● This opposite placement of the source and the drain increases the
capability of the power MOSFET to handle larger power.
● In all of these connections, substrates are internally connected; however,
in cases where it is connected externally, the symbol will change as shown
in the n-channel enhancement type MOSFET (in the figure below).
● N-channel enhancement type MOSFET is more common due to the high
mobility of electrons.
Basic Circuit Diagram of a Power MOSFET
Output Characteristics of Power MOSFET
● The figure below considers output characteristics of an n-channel
enhancement power MOSFET with the load connected.
Output Characteristics of Power MOSFET
● The drift region shown determines the voltage-blocking capability of the
MOSFET.
● When VGS = 0, ⇒ VDD makes it reverse biased, and no current flows from drain to
source.
● When VGS > 0, ⇒ Electrons form the current path.
● Thus, current from the drain to the source flows.
● If we increase the gate-to-source voltage, the drain current will also increase.
● For a lower value of VDS, a MOSFET works in a linear region with a constant
resistance equal to VDS / ID. For a fixed value of VGS and greater than threshold
voltage VTH, the MOSFET enters a saturation region where the value of the drain
current has a fixed value.
Output Characteristics of Power MOSFET
● If XY represents the load line, then the X-point represents the turn-off
point, and Y-point is the turn-on point where VDS = 0 (as a voltage across
the closed switch is zero).
● The direction of the turning on and turning off process is also shown in
the figure below.
Transfer Characteristics of Power MOSFET
● Here, VTH is the minimum positive voltage between the gate and the
source above which MOSFET comes in on-state from the off-state.
Power Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
● Power BJTs are used traditionally for many applications. However, IGBTs
and MOSFETs have replaced them for most of the applications but still,
but they are used in some areas due to their lower saturation voltage
over the operating temperature range.
● IGBTs and MOSFETs have higher input capacitance as compared to BJT.
● Thus, in the case of IGBTs and MOSFETs, the drive circuit must be capable
to charge and discharge the internal capacitances.
Power Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
● The BJT is a three-layer and two-junction NPN or PNP semiconductor
device as given in the figure below;
Power Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
● Although BJTs have lower input capacitance as compared to MOSFETs or
IGBTs, BJTs are considerably slower in response due to low input
impedance.
● BJTs use more silicon for the same drive performance.
● In the case of MOSFET studied earlier, power BJT is different in the
configuration as compared to simple planar BJT.
● In planar BJTs, the collector and emitter are on the same side of the wafer,
while in power BJTs it is on opposite edges as shown in the figure below.
This is done to increase the power-handling capability of BJT.
● Power n-p-n transistors are widely used in high-voltage and high-current
applications.
Power Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
Input and Output Characteristics of Planar BJT
● This considers input and output characteristics of planar BJT for
common-emitter configuration
Input and Output Characteristics of Power BJT
● Characteristic curves for power BJT are just the same except for the little
difference in its saturation region.
● It has an additional region of operation known as quasi-saturation as
shown in the figure below.
Input and Output Characteristics of Power BJT
● This region appears due to the insertion of a lightly-doped collector drift region
where the collector-base junction has a low reverse bias.
● The resistivity of this drift region is dependent on the value of the base current.
● In the quasi-saturation region, the value of ß decreases significantly.
● This is due to the increased value of the collector current with increased
temperature.
● But the base current still has control over the collector current due to the
resistance offered by the drift region.
● If the transistor enters a hard saturation region, the base current has no control
over the collector current due to the absence of the drift region and mainly
depends on the load and the value of VCC.
Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
● IGBT combines the physics of both BJTs and power MOSFETs to gain the advantages of both
worlds. It is controlled by the gate voltage.
● It has a high input impedance like a power MOSFET and has low on-state power loss as in the
case of BJT.
● There is no even secondary breakdown and not have long switching time as in the case of BJT.
● It has better conduction characteristics as compared to MOSFET due to its bipolar nature.
● It has no body diode as in the case of MOSFET but this can be seen as an advantage of using an
external fast recovery diode for specific applications.
● They are replacing the MOSFET for most of the high voltage applications with fewer conduction
losses.
● Its physical cross-sectional structural diagram and equivalent circuit diagram are presented in
the figures below.
● It has three terminals called collector, emitter, and gate.
Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
● There is a p+ substrate that is not present in the MOSFET and responsible
for the minority carrier injection into the n-region.
● Gain of NPN terminal is reduced due to wide epitaxial base and n+ buffer
layer.
● There are two structures of IGBTs based on doping of the buffer layer:
○ Punch-through IGBT: Heavily doped n buffer layer ➔ less switching time
○ Non-Punch-through IGBT: Lightly doped n buffer layer ➔ greater carrier lifetime ➔
increased conductivity of drift region ➔ reduced on-state voltage drop
Equivalent Circuit for IGBT
Simplified Equivalent Circuit for an IGBT
Circuit Diagram for an IGBT
Forward Characteristics for IGBT
Transfer Characteristics of an IGBT
Thyristors (SCR, GTO, MCT)
● Thyristors are the family of solid-state devices extensively used in power
electronics circuitry such as SCR (silicon-controlled rectifier), DIAC (diode
on AC), TRIAC (triode on AC), GTO, MCT (MOS-controlled thyristor), RCT,
PUT, UJT, LASCR, LASCS, SIT, SITh, SIS, SBS, SUS, SBS and etc.
● SCR is the oldest member and the head of this family; and is usually
referred to with the name “thyristor”.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier
● We know that the diode allows electric current in one direction and blocks
electric current in another direction. In other words, the diode converts the AC
current in to DC current.
● This unique behavior of the diodes makes it possible to build different types of
rectifiers such as half wave, full wave and bridge rectifiers. These rectifiers
converts the Alternating Current into Direct Current.
● The half wave, full wave, and bridge rectifiers uses normal p-n junction diodes
(two layer diodes). So if the voltage applied to these diodes is high enough, then
the diodes may get destroyed. So the rectifiers cannot operate at high voltages.
● To overcome this drawback, scientists have developed a special type of rectifier
known as Silicon Controlled Rectifier. These rectifiers can withstand at high
voltages.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier
● A Silicon Controlled Rectifier is a 3 terminal and 4 layer semiconductor
current controlling device.
● It is mainly used in the devices for the control of high power.
● Silicon controlled rectifier is also sometimes referred to as SCR diode,
4-layer diode, 4-layer device, or Thyristor.
● It is made up of a silicon material which controls high power and converts
high AC current into DC current (rectification). Hence, it is named as
silicon controlled rectifier.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier
● Silicon controlled rectifier is a unidirectional current controlling device.
● Just like a normal p-n junction diode, it allows electric current in only one
direction and blocks electric current in another direction.
● A normal p-n junction diode is made of two semiconductor layers namely
P-type and N-type.
● However, a SCR diode is made of 4 semiconductor layers of alternating P
and N type materials.
Silicon Controlled Rectifier Symbol
● The schematic symbol of a silicon controlled rectifier is shown in the
below figure.
● A SCR diode consists of three terminals namely anode (A), cathode (K),
Gate (G). The diode arrow represents the direction of conventional
current.
Construction of Silicon Controlled Rectifier
● A silicon controlled rectifier is made up of 4 semiconductor layers of alternating
P and N type materials, which forms NPNP or PNPN structures.
● It has three P-N junctions namely J1, J2, J3 with three terminals attached to the
semiconductors materials namely anode (A), cathode (K), and gate (G).
● Anode is a positively charged electrode through which the conventional current
enters into an electrical device, cathode is a negatively charged electrode
through which the conventional current leaves an electrical device, gate is a
terminal that controls the flow of current between anode and cathode. The gate
terminal is also sometimes referred to as control terminal.
Construction of Silicon Controlled Rectifier
Construction of Silicon Controlled Rectifier
● The anode terminal of SCR diode is connected to the first p-type material
of a PNPN structure, cathode terminal is connected to the last n-type
material, and gate terminal is connected to the second p-type material of
a PNPN structure which is nearest to the cathode.
● In silicon controlled rectifier, silicon is used as an intrinsic semiconductor.
When pentavalent impurities are added to this intrinsic semiconductor,
an N-type semiconductor is formed. When trivalent impurities are added
to an intrinsic semiconductor, a p-type semiconductor is formed.
Construction of Silicon Controlled Rectifier
● When 4 semiconductor layers of alternating P and N type materials are
placed one over another, three junctions are formed in PNPN structure.
● In a PNPN structure, the junction J1 is formed between the first P-N layer,
the junction J2 is formed between the N-P layer and the junction J3 is
formed between the last P-N layer.
● The doping of PNPN structure depends on the application of SCR diode
Modes of Operation in SCR
There are three modes of operation for a Silicon Controlled Rectifier (SCR),
depending upon the biasing given to it. These are:

● Forward Blocking Mode (Off State)

● Forward Conducting Mode (On State)
● Reverse Blocking Mode (Off State)
Forward Blocking Mode (Off State)
● In this mode of operation, the positive voltage (+) is given to anode A (+),
negative voltage (-) is given to cathode K (-), and gate G is open circuited as
shown in the below figure.
● In this case, the junction J1 and junction J3 are forward biased whereas the
junction J2 becomes reverse biased.
● Due to the reverse bias voltage, the width of depletion region increases at
junction J2. This depletion region at junction J2 acts as a wall or obstacle
between the junction J1 and junction J3. It blocks the current flowing between
junction J1 and junction J3.
● Therefore, the majority of the current does not flow between junction J1 and
junction J3. However, a small amount of leakage current flows between junction
J1 and junction J3.
Forward Blocking Mode (Off State)
Forward Blocking Mode (Off State)
● When the voltage applied to the SCR reaches a breakdown value, the high
energy minority carriers causes avalanche breakdown.
● At this breakdown voltage, current starts flowing through the SCR. But
below this breakdown voltage, the SCR offers very high resistance to the
current and so it will be in off state.
● In this mode of operation, SCR is forward biased but still current does
flows through it. Hence, it is named as Forward Blocking Mode.
Forward Conducting Mode (On State)
● The Silicon Controlled Rectifier can be made to conduct in two ways:
○ By increasing the forward bias voltage applied between anode and cathode beyond the breakdown
voltage
○ By applying positive voltage at gate terminal.
● In the first case, the forward bias voltage applied between anode and cathode is
increased beyond the breakdown voltage, the minority carriers (free electrons in anode
and holes in cathode) gains large amount of energy and accelerated to greater
velocities.
● This high speed minority carriers collides with other atoms and generates more charge
carriers. Likewise, many collisions happens with other atoms. Due to this, millions of
charge carriers are generated.
● As a result depletion region breakdown occurs at junction J2 and current starts flowing
through the SCR. So the SCR will be in On state. The current flow in the SCR increases
rapidly after junction breakdown occurs.
Forward Conducting Mode (On State)
Forward Conducting Mode (On State)
● In the second case, a small positive voltage VG is applied to the gate terminal. As
we know that, in forward blocking mode, current does not flows through the
circuit because of the wide depletion region present at the junction J2.
● This depletion region was formed because of the reverse biased gate terminal.
So this problem can be easily solved by applying a small positive voltage at the
Gate terminal. When a small positive voltage is applied to the gate terminal, it
will become forward biased. So the depletion region width at junction J2
becomes very narrow.
● Under this condition, applying a small forward bias voltage between anode and
cathode is enough for electric current to penetrate through this narrow
depletion region. Therefore, electric current starts flowing through the SCR
circuit.
Forward Conducting Mode (On State)
● In second case, we no need to apply large voltage between anode and
cathode. A small voltage between anode and cathode, and positive
voltage to gate terminal is enough to brought SCR from blocking mode to
conducting mode.
● In this mode of operation, SCR is forward biased and current flows
through it. Hence, it is named as Forward Conducting Mode.
Reverse Blocking Mode (Off State)
● In this mode of operation, the negative voltage (-) is given to anode (+),
positive voltage (+) is given to cathode (-), and gate is open circuited as
shown in the below figure.
● In this case, the junction J1 and junction J3 are reverse biased whereas
the junction J2 becomes forward biased.
Reverse Blocking Mode (Off State)
Reverse Blocking Mode (Off State)
● As the junctions J1 and junction J3 are reverse biased, no current flows
through the SCR circuit.
● But a small leakage current flows due to drift of charge carriers in the
forward biased junction J2.
● This small leakage current is not enough to turn on the SCR. So the SCR
will be in Off state.
Reading Assignment
Read about the following:

● TRIAC
● DIAC
● GTO
● MCT