Power Electronics

Chapter 1
Power Electronic Devices
(Part I)
Power Electronics Outline
1.1 An introductory overview of power electronic devices
1.2 Uncontrolled device — power diode
1.3 Half-controlled device — thyristor
1.4 Typical fully-controlled devices
1.5 Other new power electronic devices
1.6 Drive circuit for power electronic devices
1.7 Protection of power electronic devices
1.8 Series and parallel connections of power electronic
devices

2
 1.1 An introductory overview of power
Power Electronics electronic devices
The concept and features

Configuration of systems using power electronic devices

Classifications

Major topics

3
Power Electronics The concept of power electronic devices
Power electronic devices:
are the electronic devices that can be directly used in the power
processing circuits to convert or control electric power.

Vacuum devices: Mercury arc

In broad sense rectifier thyratron, etc. . seldom
in use today
power electronic devices
Semiconductor devices:
major power electronic devices

Very often: Power electronic devices = Power semiconductor devices

Major material used in power semiconductor devices

—— Silicon 4
Power Electronics Features of power electronic devices
The electric power that power electronic device
deals with is usually much larger than that the
information electronic device does.

Usually working in switching states to reduce power

losses
On-state Voltage across the device is 0 p=vi=0
v=0
Off-state Current through the device is 0 p=vi=0
i=0

5
Power Electronics Features of power electronic devices
Need to be controlled by information electronic circuits.
Very often, drive circuits are necessary to interface
between information circuits and power circuits.

Dissipated power loss usually larger than information

electronic devices — special packaging and heat sink
are necessary.

6
 Power losses on power semiconductor
Power Electronics devices

v
t

p
O n -s ta te tu r n in g - O ff-s ta te t u r n in g
( c o n d u c t io n s t a t e ) o ff ( b lo c k in g s t a t e ) -o n t

Total power loss on

= conduction loss + turn-off loss + off-state loss + turn-on loss
power semiconductor
(on-state loss)

Switching loss

7
 Configuration of systems using power
Power Electronics electronic devices
Power electronic
system: Electric isolation:
optical, magnetic
Control circuit (in a broad sense)

detection
Control circuit

circuit
Power circuit
(power stage,
main circuit)
drive
circuit

Protection circuit is also very often used in power electronic

system especially for the expensive power semiconductors.
8
Power Electronics Terminals of a power electronic device
A power electronic
device usually has A power electronic device
a third terminal — must have at least two
C terminals to allow power
—control terminal
to control the circuit current flow through.
states of the device.

Drive
Circuit
E

Control signal from drive circuit must be connected between the

control terminal and a fixed power circuit terminal (therefore
called common terminal ).
9
Power Electronics A classification of power electronic devices
Uncontrolled device: diode
(Uncontrollable device)
has only two terminals and can not be controlled by control signal.
The on and off states of the device are determined by the power
circuit.

Half-controlled device: thyristor

(Half-controllable device)
is turned-on by a control signal and turned-off by the power circuit

Fully-controlled device: Power MOSFET, IGBT,GTO, IGCT

(Fully-controllable device)
The on and off states of the device are controlled by control signals.

10
Power Electronics Other classifications
Current-driven (current-controlled) devices
power electronic devices
Voltage-driven (voltage-controlled) devices
(Field-controlled devices)

Pulse-triggered devices
power electronic devices
Level-sensitive (level-triggered) devices

Unipolar devices (Majority carrier devices)

power electronic devices Bipolar devices (Minority carrier devices)

Composite devices

11
Power Electronics Major topics for each device
Appearance, structure, and symbol
Physics of operation
Static characteristics
Characteristics
Switching characteristics
Specification
Special issues
Devices of the same family

12
 Passive components in power electronic
Power Electronics circuit
Transformer, inductor, capacitor and resistor:
these are passive components in a power electronic
circuit since they can not be controlled by control signal and
their characteristics are usually constant and linear.

The requirements for these passive components by power

electronic circuits could be very different from those by
ordinary circuits.

13
Power Electronics 1.2 Uncontrolled device Power diode
Appearance

Structure Symbol
A K
Anode Cathode Anode Cathode

14
Power Electronics PN junction
Direction of
inner electric field

- 。
。 - 。
- - + ·+ ·+ ·+
+
- 。
。 - 。
- - ·+ ·+ ·+
+
- 。
。 - 。
- - ·+ ·+ ·+
+ + +
·+ · ·
- 。
。 - 。
- -
- 。
。 - 。
- - + ·+ ·+ ·+
Space charge
region
(depletion region,
potential barrier
p region region) n region

Semiconductor (Column IV element, Si)

Electrons and holes.
Pure semiconductor (intrinsic semiconductor)
Doping, p-type semiconductor. N-type semiconductor
PN junction
Equilibrium of diffusion and drift 15
 PN junction with voltage applied in the
Power Electronics forward direction

V
+ -

- +
-
+
-
+
p - n
+

- +

Wo

16
 PN junction with voltage applied in the reverse
Power Electronics direction

Effective direction
of electronic field

- +
V
- +
- +
-
+
-
- +
+ n
p -
+
- - + +

Wo

17
Power Electronics Construction of a practical power diode
Anode
i
+
p+ 19
Na =10 cm
-3
10 μm
V
n - epi 14
Nd =10 cm
-3 Breakdown
voltage dependent

n+ substrate 19
Nd =10 cm
-3
250μm
-

Cathode

Features different from low-power (information electronic) diodes

– Larger size
– Vertically oriented structure
– n- drift region (p-i-n diode)
– Conductivity modulation
18
Power Electronics Forward-biased power diode

19
Power Electronics Reverse-biased power diode

Breakdown
– Avalanche breakdown
– Thermal breakdown

20
Power Electronics Junction capacitor
The positive and negative charge in the depletion region is
variable with the changing of external voltage.
—–Junction capacitor CJ .

Potential barrier capacitor CB

Junction capacitor CJ
Diffusion capacitor CD

Junction capacitor influences the switching characteristics of

power diode.

21
Power Electronics Static characteristics of power diode
I

IF

O UTO UF U

The I-V characteristic of power diode

22
 Switching (dynamic) characteristics of power
Power Electronics diode
Turn-off transient
IF diF
dt trr
UF td tf

t F t0 t1 t2 t
UR
diR
dt
IRP
URP
Reverse-recovery process:
Reverse-recovery time, reverse-recovery charge,
reverse-recovery peak current.
23
 Switching (dynamic) characteristics of power
Power Electronics diode
Turn-on transient
u
i
iF
UFP

uF
2V

0 tfr t

Forward recovery process:

forward-recovery time

24
Power Electronics Specifications of power diode
Average rectified forward current IF(AV)

Forward voltage UF

Peak repetitive reverse voltage URRM

Maximum junction temperature TJM

Reverse-recovery time trr

25
Power Electronics Types of power diodes
General purpose diode (rectifier diode):
standard recovery

Fast recovery diode

Reverse recovery time and charge specified. trr is usually
less than 1μs, for many less than 100 ns —— ultra-fast
recovery diode.

Schottky diode (Schottky barrier diode-SBD)

– A majority carrier device
– Essentially no recovered charge, and lower forward voltage.
– Restricted to low voltage (less than 200V)

26
Power Electronics Examples of commercial power diodes

27
Power Electronics History and applications of power diode
Applied in industries starting 1950s

Still in-use today. Usually working with controlled

devices as necessary components

In many circumstances fast recovery diodes or

schottky diodes have to be used instead of general
purpose diodes.

28
Power Electronics 1.3 Half-controlled device—Thyristor
History
Another name: SCR—silicon controlled rectifier

Thyristor Opened the power electronics era

– 1956, invention, Bell Laboratories
– 1957, development of the 1st product, GE
– 1958, 1st commercialized product, GE
– Thyristor replaced vacuum devices in almost every power
processing area.

Still in use in high power situation. Thyristor till has the

highest power-handling capability.

29
Power Electronics Appearance and symbol of thyristor
Appearance Symbol

Cathode
K
Gate
Anode
G

30
Power Electronics Structure and equivalent circuit of thyristor
• Structure • Equivalent circuit

31
Power Electronics Physics of thyristor operation
Equivalent circuit: A pnp
transistor and an npn transistor
interconnected together

Positive feedback

Trigger

Can not be turned off by control

signal

Half-controllable

32
Power Electronics Quantitative description of thyristor operation
Ic1=α1 IA + ICBO1 （1-1）
Ic2=α2 IK + ICBO2 （1-2）
IK=IA+IG （1-3）
IA=Ic1+Ic2 （1-4）
α2IG + ICBO1+ ICBO2
IA = （1-5）
1− (α1 +α2 )

When IG=0, α1+α2 is small.

When IG>0, α1+α2 will approach 1, IA will be very large.

33
Power Electronics Other methods to trigger thyristor on
High voltage across anode and cathode—
avalanche breakdown

High rising rate of anode voltagte — du/dt too high

High junction temperature

Light activation

34
Power Electronics Static characteristics of thyristor
Blocking when reverse
IA forward biased, no matter if there
conducting
is gate current applied
Conducting only when
increasing IG forward biased and there
is triggering current
I G2 I G1 IG = 0 applied to the gate
U RSM U RRM I
H
Once triggered on, will be
reverse
O
forward
U DRM U bo U Ak latched on conducting
blocking blocking U DSM even when the gate
current is no longer
applied
Turning off: decreasing
current to be near zero
avalanche with the effect of external
breakdown power circuit
Gate I-V characteristics
35
Power Electronics Switching characteristics of thyristor
iA
100% Turn-on transient
90%
– Delay time td
– Rise time tr
10% – Turn-on time tgt
0 td tr t
uAK
Turn-off transient
IRM – Reverse recovery
time trr
– Forward recovery
O t
time tgr
– Turn-off time tq

trr URRM t
gr

36
Power Electronics Specifications of thyristor
Peak repetitive forward blocking voltage UDRM
Peak repetitive reverse blocking voltage URRM
Peak on-state voltage UTM
Average on-state current IT(AV)
Holding current IH
Latching up current IL
Peak forward surge current ITSM
du/dt
di/dt

37
Power Electronics The family of thyristors
Fast switching thyristor—FST I

Triode AC switch—TRIAC
(Bi-directional triode thyristor)
IG=0
T1
O U

G T2

Reverse-conducting thyristor Light-triggered (activited) thyristor

—RCT K
—LTT A
K
G
G

G
A
K
A 38
Power Electronics 1.4 Typical fully-controlled devices
1.4.1 Gate-turn-off thyristor —GTO
1.4.2 Giant transistor —GTR
1.4.3 Power metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect
transistor — Power MOSFET
1.4.4 Insulated-gate bipolar transistor —IGBT

Features
– IC fabrication technology, fully-controllable, high frequency

Applications
– Begin to be used in large amount in 1980s
– GTR is obsolete and GTO is also seldom used today.
– IGBT and power MOSFET are the two major power
semiconductor devices nowadays.
39
Power Electronics 1.4.1 Gate-turn-off thyristor—GTO
Structure Symbol

G K G K G

N2 P2 N2

N1
G
P1
A
K
a) b)

Major difference from conventional thyristor:

The gate and cathode structures are highly interdigitated, with
various types of geometric forms being used to layout the
gates and cathodes.
40
Power Electronics Physics of GTO operation
The basic operation of GTO is the
same as that of the conventional
A thyristor.
IA
PNP The principal differences lie in the
V1 modifications in the structure to
Ic2 R
achieve gate turn-off capability.
G IG Ic1
V2 – Large α2
NPN – α1+α2 is just a little larger than
S EA
IK the critical value 1.
EG
– Short distance from gate to
K cathode makes it possible to
drive current out of gate.

41
Power Electronics Characteristics of GTO
Static characteristic
– Identical to conventional thyristor in the forward direction
– Rather low reverse breakdown voltage (20-30V)

Switching characteristic
iG

O
t

iA td tr ts tf tt
IA
90%IA

10%IA
0 t0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t

42
Power Electronics Specifications of GTO
Most GTO specifications have the same meanings
as those of conventional thyristor.

Specifications different from thyristor’s

– Maximum controllable anode current IATO
– Current turn-off gain βoff
– Turn-on time ton
– Turn-off time toff

43
Power Electronics 1.4.2 Giant Transistor—GTR
GTR is actually the bipolar junction transistor that can handle
high voltage and large current.
So GTR is also called power BJT, or just BJT.

Basic structure Symbol

44
 Structures of GTR different from its
Power Electronics information-processing counterpart

Multiple-emitter structure Darlington configuration

45
Power Electronics Physics of GTR operation
Same as information BJT device

i c= β ib

holes

ib

Ec
electrons
Eb

i e =(1+ β )ib
46
Power Electronics Static characteristics of GTR

region
Amplifying (active) region

n
Saturatio
ib3
ib2

ib1
ib1<ib2<ib3
cut-off region
O
Uce

47
Power Electronics Switching characteristics of GTR
ib Ib Turn-on transient
90%Ib1 1
– Turn-on delay time td
– Rise time tr
10%Ib1 – Turn-on time ton
0 t
Ib
2 Turn-off transient
ton toff – Storage time ts
ic td tr ts tf – Falling time tf
Ics
90%Ics – Turn-off time toff

10%Ics
0 t0 t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t

48
Power Electronics Second breakdown of GTR

49
Power Electronics Safe operating area (SOA) of GTR

Ic

IcM P SB

SO A P cM

O
U ceM U ce

50
 1.4.3 Power metal-oxide-semiconductor field
Power Electronics effect transistor—Power MOSFET
A classification
Metal-onside-semiconductor FET (MOSFET) Power MOSFET
Field Effect n channel
Transistor p channel
(FET)
Junction FET (JFET) Static induction transistor (SIT)

Basic structure Symbol

D D

G G

S S

N channel P channel

51
Power Electronics Structures of power MOSFET

Also vertical
structure—VMOS
– VVMOS, VDMOS

Multiple parallel
cells
– Polygon-shaped
cells A structure of hexagon cells

52
Power Electronics Physics of MOSFET operation
Off-state

p-n- junction is
reverse-biased

off-state voltage
appears across
n- region

53
Power Electronics Physics of MOSFET operation
On-state

p-n- junction is slightly

reverse biased
positive gate voltage
induces conducting
channel
drain current flows
through n- region and
conducting channel
on resistance = total
resistances of n- region,
conducting
channel,source and drain
contacts, etc.

54
Power Electronics Static characteristics of power MOSFET

55
Power Electronics Switching characteristics of power MOSFET
+UE
up

RL
O t
iD
uGS
uGSP
Rs uT
RG uGS R O
F iD iD t
up
Ot tr td(off) tf
d(on) t

Turn-on transient Turn-off transient

– Turn-on delay time td(on) – Turn-off delay time td(off)
– Rise time tr
– Falling time tf
56
Power Electronics Specifications of power MOSFET
Drain-source breakdown voltage UDS
Continuous drain current ID
Peak pulsed drain current IDM
On (On-state) resistance RDS(on)
Inter-terminal capacitances
– Short circuit input capacitance Ciss= CGS+ CGD
– Reverse transfer capacitance Crss= CGD

– Short circuit output capacitance Coss= CDS+ CGD

SOA of power MOSFET
– No second breakdown

57
Power Electronics Examples of commercial power MOSFET

58
Power Electronics Features and applications of power MOSFET
Voltage-driven device, simple drive circuit
Majority-carrier device, fast switching speed, high
operating frequency (could be hundreds of kHz)
Majority-carrier device, better thermal stability
On-resistance increases rapidly with rated blocking
voltage
– Usually used at voltages less than 500V and power less
than 10kW
– 1000V devices are available, but are useful only at low
power levels(100W)
Part number is selected on the basis of on-
resistance rather than current rating

59
Power Electronics The body diode of power MOSFET
The body diode Equivalent circuit

60
 1.4.4 Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
Power Electronics —IGBT
Combination of MOSFET and GTR
GTR: low conduction losses (especially at larger blocking voltages),
longer switching times, current-driven IGBT
MOSFET: faster switching speed, easy to drive (voltage-driven),
larger conduction losses (especially for higher blocking voltages)

Features
• On-state losses are much smaller than those of a power
MOSFET, and are comparable with those of a GTR
• Easy to drive —similar to power MOSFET
• Faster than GTR, but slower than power MOSFET

Application
• The device of choice in 500-1700V applications, at power
levels of several kW to several MW
61
Power Electronics Structure and operation principle of IGBT

Basic structure Also multiple cell structure

Basic structure similar to
power MOSFET, except
Emitter Gate extra p region
E G On-state: minority carriers
are injected into drift region,
N + N+ N+ N +
P P leading to conductivity
J3 J N - Drift region modulation
2
N+ Buffer layer compared with power
J1 P+ Injecting layer MOSFET: slower switching
times, lower on-resistance,
C Collector useful at higher voltages
(up to 1700V)
a)

62
Power Electronics Equivalent circuit and circuit symbol of IGBT

Equivalent circuit Circuit symbol

C

IC

VJ1
+ C
ID RN
-
- +
Drift region G
resistance
+
G
IDRon
E
-

63
Power Electronics Static characteristics of IGBT

IC
Active region

Saturation region
(On region)

UGE

UGE(th)
Reverse
URM blocking region
O Cut-off (forward UFM UCE
blocking) region

64
Power Electronics Switching characteristics of IGBT
UGE UGEM
IGBT turn-on is
90%UGEM similar to power
MOSFET turn-on
10%UGEM
0 t
IC ICM
The major
90% ICM td(on) tr td(off) tf difference between
IGBT turn-off and
tfi1 tfi2 power MOSFET
10% ICM current tail turn-off:
0 ton toff t – There is current
UCE UCEM tailing in the IGBT
turn-off due to the
stored charge in
tfv1 tfv2 the drift region.
UCE(on)
O t 65
Power Electronics Parasitic thyristor and latch-up in IGBT

Location of equivalent devices Complete IGBT equivalent circuit

Main current path pnp transistor and the parasitic npn transistor
compose a parasitic thyristor inside IGBT.
High emitter current tends to latch the parasitic thyristor on.
Modern IGBTs are essentially latch-up proof

66
Power Electronics Specifications of IGBT
Collector-emitter breakdown voltage UCES
Continuous collector current IC
Peak pulsed collector current ICM
Maximum power dissipation PCM

Other issues:
SOA of IGBT
– The IGBT has a rectangular SOA with similar shape to the
power MOSFET.
Usually fabricated with an anti-parallel fast diode

67
Power Electronics Examples of commercial IGBT

68
Power Electronics 1.5 Other new power electronic devices
Static induction transistor —SIT

Static induction thyristor —SITH

MOS controlled thyristor — MCT

Integrated gate-commutated thyristor —IGCT

Power integrated circuit and power module

69
Power Electronics Static induction transistor—SIT
Another name: power junction field effect
transistor—power JFET

Features
– Major-carrier device
– Fast switching, comparable to power MOSFET
– Higher power-handling capability than power MOSFET
– Higher conduction losses than power MOSFET
– Normally-on device, not convenient (could be made
normally-off, but with even higher on-state losses)

70
Power Electronics Static induction thyristor—SITH
other names
– Field controlled thyristor—FCT
– Field controlled diode

Features
– Minority-carrier device, a JFET structure with an additional
injecting layer
– Power-handling capability similar to GTO
– Faster switching speeds than GTO
– Normally-on device, not convenient (could be made
normally-off, but with even higher on-state losses)

71
Power Electronics MOS controlled thyristor—MCT
Essentially a GTO with integrated MOS-driven
gates controlling both turn-on and turn-off that
potentially will significantly simply the design of
circuits using GTO.

The difficulty is how to design a MCT that can be

turned on and turned off equally well.

Once believed as the most promising device, but

still not commercialized in a large scale. The future
remains uncertain.

72
Power Electronics Integrated gate-commutated thyristor — IGCT
The newest member of the power semiconductor
family, introduced in 1997 by ABB
Actually the close integration of GTO and the gate
drive circuit with multiple MOSFETs in parallel
providing the gate currents
Short name: GCT
Conduction drop, gate driver loss, and switching
speed are superior to GTO
Competing with IGBT and other new devices to
replace GTO

73
Power Electronics Power integrated circuit and power module
High voltage integrated circuit (HVIC)
Monolithic integration:
power integrated circuit Smart power integrated circuit(Smart
power IC, SPIC, Smart switch)
Integration of
power electronic
Ordinary power module:just power
devices devices packaged together
Packaging integration:
Intelligent power module (IPM):
power module power devices, drive circuit, protection
circuit

Integrated power electronics

Module(IPEM): power devices, drive
circuit, protection circuit, control circuit

Two major challenges

– Electrical isolation of high-voltage components from low-
voltage components
– Thermal management—power devices usually at higher
temperatures than low-voltage devices
74
Power Electronics Review of device classifications
Current-driven (current-controlled) devices:
thyristor, GTO, GTR
power electronic
devices Voltage-driven (voltage-controlled) devices
(Field-controlled devices):power MOSFET,
IGBT, SIT, SITH, MCT, IGCT
Pulse-triggered devices: thyristor, GTO
power electronic
Level-sensitive (Level-triggered) devices:
devices
GTR,power MOSFET, IGBT, SIT, SITH,
MCT, IGCT

Uni-polar devices (Majority carrier devices):

SBD, power MOSFET, SIT

power electronic Bipolar devices (Minority carrier devices):

devices ordinary power diode, thyristor, GTO, GTR,
IGCT, IGBT, SITH, MCT
Composite devices: IGBT, SITH, MCT
75
Power Electronics Comparison of the major types of devices
Power-handling capability

76
Power Electronics Comparison of the major types of devices
Maximum allowed current density as a function of
the switching frequency

77