First Course on

Power Electronics
Chapter 2

Reference Textbook:
First Course on Power Electronics by Ned Mohan,
www.mnpere.com

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 1

Chapter 2 Design of Switching Power-Pole
2-1 Power Transistors and Power Diodes
2-2 Selection of Power Transistors
2-3 Selection of Power Diodes
2-4 Switching Characteristics and Power Losses in Power-Poles
2-5 Justifying Switches and Diodes as Ideal
2-6 Design Considerations
2-7 The PWM Controller IC
References
Problems
Appendix 2A Diode Reverse-Recovery and Power Losses

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 2

 POWER TRANSISTORS AND POWER DIODES

Voltage Rating
Current Rating
Switching Speeds
On-State Voltage

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 3

 SELECTION OF POWER TRANSISTORS

10 8

Thyristor
Power (VA)
IGCT
10 6
IGBT
10 4

Thyristor IGCT IGBT MOSFET 10 2 MOSFET

(a)
10 1 10 2 10 3 10 4
Switching Frequency (Hz)
(b)
MOSFETs
Figure 15-1 Power semiconductor devices.
IGBTs
IGCTs
GTOs
Niche devices: BJTs, SITs, MCTs
Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 4
 MOSFETs

RDS ( on ) = 1/slope iD
iD
D iD VGS = 11V
Io
+ 9V iD
iD RDS (on ) = 1/slope
VDS D iD VGS = 11V
7V
G Io
+
+ 5V
9V
VGSG VDS VGS 7V VGS (th )
S
+ 0 5V
V 0 VGS (th ) VGS ( I o )
VGS VGS (thDS VGS
VGS S )
(a) 0 (b) VDS 0 VGS (th ) VGS ( I o )(c)
VGS
(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2-1 MOSFET: (a) symbol, (b) i-v characteristics, (c) transfer characteristic.

RDS ( on ) VDSS
2.5 to 2.7

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 5

 IGBTs

C
iC
iC
+
VGE
G VCE
+
VGE

VCE
E

(a) (b)
Figure 2-2 IGBT: (a) symbol, (b) i-v characteristics.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 6

 Power Semiconductor Price Trends

USD/A
0.7
Pricing (USD/A) 1200 V IGBTs
0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
1990 1995 2000 2005

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 7

 SELECTION OF POWER DIODES
iAK

A K
0 v AK

(a) (b)
Figure 2-3 Diode: (a) symbol, (b) i-v characteristic.

Line-frequency diodes
Fast-recovery diodes
Schottky diodes
SiC Schottky diodes

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 8

 SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS AND
POWER LOSSES IN POWER-POLES

iD iD
+
RGG vDS on
+ VGG Io

Vin

Io
off
0
Vin vDS
(a) (b)
Figure 2-4 MOSFET in a switching power-pole.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 9

 Turn-on Characteristic

vGS
iD vGS ( Io ) vGG
D
iD vGS (th )
G vDS
+ on B 0
vGG S Io t
0
Vin vDS
Vin A
iD Io
off
Io 0 vDS 0
Vin td ( on ) tri t fv t

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2-5 MOSFET turn-on.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 10

 Example 2-1 In the converter of Fig. 2-4a, the transistor is a MOSFET which carries
a current of 5 A when it is fully on. If the current through the
transistor is to be limited to 40 A during a malfunction in which case
the entire input voltage of 50 V appears across the transistor, what
should be the maximum on-state gate voltage that the gate-drive circuit
should provide? Assume the junction temperature T j of the MOSFET

to be 1750 C .

Solution The transfer characteristic of this MOSFET is shown in Fig. 2-6. It shows that

100 A
40 A
10 A
ID

1A

VGS
0.1 A
4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.010.0
7.5V
if VGS = 7.5V is used, the current through the MOSFET will be limited to 40 A.

Figure 2-6 MOSFET transfer characteristic.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008

11
 Turn-off Characteristic

vGG
vGS
iD D
vGS ( Io )
vGS (th )
vDS iD
G on
vGG C 0
t
S Io
+ 0
Vin D Vin
Io
off vDS iD
Io
0 Vin vDS 0
td ( off ) t rv t fi t

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2-7 MOSFET turn-off.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 12

PSpice Modeling: Power_pole_PSpice_Diode.sch

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 13

 Simulation Results: MOSFET Voltage and Current

50

40

30

vDS
20

iD
10

-10
0s 0.2us 0.4us 0.6us 0.8us 1.0us 1.2us 1.4us 1.6us
V(M2:d,M2:s) -I(V2)
Time

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 14

 Calculating Power Losses Within the MOSFET
(assuming an ideal diode)

Conduction Loss: Pcond = d RDS ( on ) I o2

tc , on = tri + t fv
1
Switching Losses: Psw = Vin I o (tc , on + tc , off ) f s
2 tc , off = trv + t fi
Vin Vin
vDS vDS
Io
iD iD
0
tri t fv trv t fi t
tc , on tc , off

Vin I o Vin I o
psw psw
0
tc , on tc , off t
Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 15
Figure 2-8 MOSFET switching losses.
 Gate Driver Integrated Circuits (ICs) with Built-
in Fault Protection

Vext = 12 V
VCC

vc

Figure 2-9 Gate-driver IC functional diagram.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 16

 JUSTIFYING SWITCHES AND DIODES AS
IDEAL

Very High Converter Efficiencies

Low on-state voltage drops across devices
Low switching losses

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 17

 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

Switching Frequency
Selection of Transistors and Diodes

LII kconv Vy Iy,rms
Magnetic components Ap = rms
Ap =
kwJmaxBmax kwBmax Jmax fs
Capacitor Selection

C ESL ESR

Figure 2-10 Capacitor ESR and ESL.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 18

PSpice Modeling: Capacitor_Characteristics.sch

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 19

 Simulation Results: Individual and Total Admittances

50A

40A

30A

20A

10A

0A
1.0KHz 3.0KHz 10KHz 30KHz 100KHz 300KHz 1.0MHz
I(L2) I(L1) -I(V3)
Frequency

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 20

 Thermal Design

T j = Ta + ( R jc + R cs + R sa ) Pdiss

isolation pad heat sink

Tj Tc Ts Ta
case
R jc Rcs R sa
chip
ambient

Pdiss Ta

Tj
Tc
Ts Ta
(a) (b)
Figure 2-11 Thermal design: (a) semiconductor on a heat sink, (b) electrical analog.
Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 21
 Design Tradeoffs

size

Heatsink

Magnetics and
capacitors

fS

Figure 2-12 Size of magnetic components and

heat sink as a function of frequency.

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 22

 PWM CONTROLLER IC

Vr
vc (t)
vr
0 t
dTs
Ts
q(t) 1
0 t

Figure 2-13 PWMIC waveforms.

vc ( t )
d (t ) =
Vr

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 23

 APPENDIX 2A: Diode Reverse Recovery and Power Losses

Diode Forward Loss: Pdiode , F = (1 d ) VFM I o

Diode Reverse Recovery Characteristic:

trr
ta tb
0
t

Qrr
I RRM
VFM

0
t

Vd , neg

Figure 2A-1 Diode reverse recovery characteristic.

1
Diode Switching Losses: Pdiode , sw = ( I RRM tb ) Vd , neg f s
Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 2 24
PSpice Modeling: Power_pole_MUR2020.sch

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 25

 Simulation Results: MOSFET Voltage and Current

50

40

30

20

10

-10
0s 0.2us 0.4us 0.6us 0.8us 1.0us 1.2us 1.4us 1.6us
V(M2:d,M2:s) -I(V2)
Time

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 26

Example 2A-1 In the switching power-pole of Fig. 2-4a, Vin = 40V and the output
current is I o = 5 A . The switching frequency f s = 200 kHz . The MOSFET switching
times are tri = 15 ns and t fv = 15 ns . The diode snaps-off at reverse recovery such that
trr = ta = 20 ns (such that tb = 0 ) and the peak reverse-recovery current I RRM = 2 A .
Calculate the additional power loss in the MOSFET due to the diode reverse recovery.
Vin
t fv

vDS

0 t fv t

I RRM Io

iD

0 t

psw

0 t
tri
ta = trr
Figure 2A-2 Waveforms with diode reverse-recovery current.
Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 27
Summary
Design of a Switching Power-Pole
Type of Transistors
Switching Characteristics and Losses
Justification of an Ideal Switch
Thermal Design
Selection of the Optimum Switching
Frequency

Copyright Ned Mohan 2008 28