IA

(anode)

(cathode)

(IR =-IA)

control terminals(e.g. gate for thyristor;basis for BJT)

(also: ID , IF , IT)VAorVDorVForVT

+

-+

-

VR

p

n

A

K

A

K

I A (IF )+

-

VA

(VF )

(a) (b)

VF VA

treshold voltage

VFo

reversebreakdown

reverse leakagecurrent

forwardvoltage drop

IF

I A

forward current

VBR

(c)

anode

cathode

(1000V)

reverse blocking

(1 A)!

(1V)

conductingrange

(100A)

(a)

p

n

p

n

A

K

(b)

G

A

K

G

+

-

VA

(VD )

(VT)VA

reverse leakagecurrent

I A

VBR

reverse blockingrange

reverse (or avalanche)breakdown

IG3

>IG2 >IG1>IG

=0

conducting area

forward breakovervoltage

forward blockingrange

IH

IA

(ID)

(I T)

(c)

VGT

VGD

IGD

a

b

d

c

VG

IG

a limit the conducting rangeb of the G-K diode

c maximal value for thecontrol power (PGmax)

d recommended load lineof the control circuit

VGT , IGT : gate voltage andgate current above whichevery thyristor should start to conduct

VGD , IGD : gate voltage andgate current below which nothyristor should start to conduct

IGT

4

2

0

0 100 1000 104 toff

VDRM

(kV)

symmetrical thyristor

asymmetrical thyristor

(µs)

G

T2

T1

+

_

+

_

+I

_I

V

300v_300v _

1v1v

_iG

+iG

(b)(a)

V

IA

Vd

Anode curentAnode voltage

voltage peak

tail current

time

IGR

0

A

K

G

A

KG

or

(a)(b)

A

K

G

or

p

p p p

n +n +

n +

n +

n +n + p +p + p +

p +

n

n n -n -+ =>

(a)thyristor

diode IGCT

(b)

or

IC

VCE

saturation

parameterIB

(c)

B

E

C

IB

IC+

_

VCE

C

B

E

(a) (b)npn

E

B

C

(e)

VCE iC1<i C2<i C3

usable range

(d)IB

N

P

N

Darlington

ICmax

Pmax

VCEmax

secondbreakdown

limit

logIC

logVCE

pulse control

IDSDrain

VDS

VGS

Source

Gate+

_

+

_

(b)(a)

AlGate Source

SiO2

N+-PolysiliciumN+

N+

Drain

PN_

2

0

1

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 2 4 6 8 10

20

0

10

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 200 400 600 800 1000

IDS IDS

VDSVDS

V = 15VGS

V = 10VGS

5V

4V

10V

5V

(c)

VV

A A

IDmax

Pmax

VDSmax

pulse control

logVDS

logIDS

AlGate

SiO2

N+-PolysiliciumN+P

N_

Collector

Emitter

(a)

VGE

+

_

+

_

VCE

E

G

CICE

(b)

0

50

100

150

0 200 400 600 800 1000V

A

VCE

ICE

V = 18VCE

V = 15VCE

V = 12VCE

V = 10VCE

V = 6VCE

ICE

0

5

10

15

A

20

0 2 4 6 8 10V

VCE

V = 10VCE

9V

8V

7V

6V

5V

(d)(c)

P+

IDS

V GS

R

+VBB

V DS

IDS

V GS

R

+VBB

V DS

MOSFET IGBT

0

15V 15V

0

00

0 0

VCE

VDS

+VBB

1 s!

+VBB

IDS

ICE

V GSVGS

Itail

n source+

gategate

p+

p p+

n Drift layer

n 4H-SiC substrate+

source drain

dielectric

ohmic

gate AlGaN barrier

GaN buffer

Transition layer

Si substrate

III N

P+

P+ P

+P

+P

+P

+ P+

N-

N+

N

N+

GATE

DRAIN

SOURCE

PASSIVATION

LAYER

(a)

C

D

S(b)

CATHODE

GATE

ANODE

P+

P+

P+

P+P

+

P+

N+

N+

N+

N

A

KG

PASSIVATION

LAYER

POLYSILICON POLYSILICON

OXIDE OXIDE

GATE

ANODE

CATHODE

P BUFFER

(NPN BASE, ON - FET DRAIN)

N SUBSTRATE+

(OFF - FET CHANNELS)

} } }

ON - FET

CHANNEL

P - (ON - FET

SOURCE)

P - (ON - FET

SOURCE)

(ANODE)

N+

N+

N(PNP - BASE,

OFF - FET DRAIN)

P-

J1

G

A

K

P+

Thyristor(grid commutation)

GTO

IGBT(BJT)

U (kV)max

10kV

I (A)max

f (Hz)max

5kV

2,5kV

1kV

100Hz

1kHz

10kHz

100kHz

100A 1kA 10kAMOS-FET

100kHz Traction applications(IGBT and IGCT)

IGCT

Conduction modulationForward voltage dropSwitching timeSwitching frequencyControl byControl powerDriver costcost/chip area

nonehigh (exc.: Schottky)shorthighvoltagelowlowhigh

injection of charge carrierslowmedium to longlow to mediumcurrent (voltage for IGBT)high (low for IGBT)

SITh)high (low for IGBT)low (high for

Conduction

Types

majority charge carriers

Schottky-DiodeMOSFET, JFET, SIT

majority and minoritycharge carriers

Diode, thyristor, BJT,IGBT, GTO, IGCT, SITh, MCT

unipolar bipolar

a) Classification of semiconductors

b) Typical values

TypeVmax Imax toff Pmax Frequency

[V] [A] [ s]! [kVA] [kHz]

1400600

1000

300010001000

601400450060002000

30050080

10002000

20150300

30003000600

1551

0.50.50.10.10.11022

tototo

tttototototototo

25103

33

0.30.30.32554

50015040

30002000

5020

2001000010000

300

0.50.5

2

300.20.5

1

tototo

totototototototo

55

50

150150

30003000300

12

10

BJT/darlington

(with fine structure)

IGBT

MOSFET

SITGTOIGCTSITh

E G E

C

N+

P

P+

N-

C

B E

N+

N+

N-

P

SGS

D

N+

N+

N-

P

Semiconductor Darlington BJT MOSFET IGBT

Symbol

Structure

average low high

averagehigh

smalllow

minimallow

Blocking properties(upper limits)

Control circuitcomplexity& power

Switching propertiesSwitch-on time

Switching lossSwitch-off time

Conducting propertiesCurrent

Power losses

Pulse frequencylimit for 0.5 IDC

averagelonghigh

quite highlow

=4kHz

shortshortlow

lowhigh

averageaverageaverage

highrather low

=250kHz 10kHz

max

forward

voltage

[V]

max

reverse

voltage

[V]

max

forward

current

[A]

max switching

frequency

[kHz]

max power

(3-phase)

Thyristor

(Silicon Controlled

Rectifier, SCR)

Gate Turn-Off

Thyristor

(GTO)

IGCT

Bipolar transistor

(BJT of HFBT)

and

darlington

Power-Mosfet

Insulated-Gate

Bipolar Transistor

(IGBT)

properties

- low current pulse for switching-on- switch-off requires killer circuit- high overload allowed- low switching frequency

-- high- lower maximum values than SCR

low current pulse for switching-oncurrent pulse for switching-off

- improved switching compared to GTO- lower switching and conduction losses thanGTO en IGBT

- snubber circuits not required

- conduction requires continuous basis current- reverse current pulse for switching-off- high switching frequencies

- quite low pulse for switching on and off- quite high switching fequencies- rather high ON-state resistance- no reverse voltage allowed

quite low pulse for switching on and off

600-6000

800-6000

45006000

50|

1400

50|

1000

500|

3000

200(lateral)

500(vertical)

0

50

-

200

0-5000 5000

6000

30002000

500|

300

150|

20

2000|

1000

100

3000

10(500Hz forhigh power)

2

1(500 Hz

for high power)

0.4 20 MW

10 MW

10 MW

800 kW(now replaced

by IGBT)

40 kW(5-10kW economical

limit, for higherrather IGBT)

2000 kW

t

UB

IB

f0 2 6kHz

0

5

10W

f0 200100 kHz

0

5

10W

f0 4020 kHz

00,2

0,6

W

f0 2010 kHz

00,2

0,6

W 10

20W

f0 21 kHz0

40

20

W

f0 105 kHz0

80

t

UGUG

IGIG

t

UGUG

IGIG

t

UGUG

IGIG

BJT SIT MOSFET IGBT GTO SITh

800 V100 A

600 V20 A

500 V20 A

3000 V1000 A

4 kV2 kA

4 kV2 kA

220kW 100 kW 5 kW(10 kW) 10 MW 20 MW 1 MW

1 10 50 200 20 100 5 20 0.05 2 1 5

39 52 21 60 2.7 3.9 1.8 2.0 60 90 63 195

0.1 0.13 0.35 1.0 0.05 0.08 0.007 0.008 0.03 0.05 0.035 0.1

average - high average minimal high average - high

fp kHz

Ps W

PST/PSR %

complexity of thecontrol circuit

total controlpower

specificcontrolpower

required powerfor the control

typical gate signals

typical converter power(three-phase)

typical (maximum) valuesfor voltage and current

10

W

f0 31 kHz

0

20

30 60

0.02 0.04

minimal(integrated)

1 3

20 MW

1500 V600 A

IGCT

2

VR reverse blocking voltage

also VRRM

RRSM

VRNM

repetitive

peak (surge)

non-repetitive

maximal reverseblocking voltage

VD forward blocking voltage

also VDRM

VDSM

VDNM

repetitive

peak (surge)

non-repetitive

maximal direct (forward)blocking voltage

VT on-state voltage forward voltage drop

dvdt max

trr reverse recovery time

toff of tq turn-off time

= ts (carrier storage time) + tf (fall time)

toff of tgq gate controlled turn-off time

=tgs (carrier storage time) + tgf (fall time)

VG gate voltage

VGT minimum gate triggered voltage

VGD maximum gate non-triggered voltage

IR reverse leakage current

also IRRM repetitive maximal reverse leakage current

IRRMS (M) effective maximal reverse leakage current

ID forward leakage current

also IDRM repetitive maximal direct leakage current

I RMS (M)D effective maximal direct leakage current

IL latching current

IH holding current

IT direct current(ITAV (M); ITRMS (M); ITSM; ITCM; ...)

didt max

ton = tgt gate controlled turn-on time

= tgd (delay time + tr (rise time)

ton = tgt gate controlled turn-on time

= tgd (delay time + tr (rise time)

IG gate current

IGT minimum gate triggered current

IGD maximum gate non-triggered current

PG control (gate) power

(for GTOs)

(for thyristors)

(also for diodes)

PT conduction loss

(for diodes: T F)!

(also for diodes)

(for thyristors)

Collector-emittor break-over voltage V(BR)CES

Eoff1

-55 to+150

min. typ. max.

1000 - -

0.7

ºC

V

mWs

Collector current IC 25 A TC=25ºC

VGE=0

IC=0.25mA

Tj=125ºC

VCC=600V

VGE=15V

IC=15A

Rg(on)=3.3!

Rg(off)=3.3!

VGE(th) 4.0 5.0 6 V VGE=VCE, IC=1mAGate voltage (min)

VCE(sat) - 3.5 5 V VGE=15V, IC=15ACollector-emitor saturation voltage

Inductive load

td(off ) 200 nsTurn-off time (recovery)

tf 200 nsFall time

Switching-off power loss

Eoff 2 1(Eoff=Eoff1+Eoff 2

Operating temperature limits

Quantity Symbol Value Unity Conditions

" 0.63 ºK/WThermal resistance chip-package RthjC

Tstg

TJ

5 A TJmax =150ºCAvalanche current, periodical IAR

200 W TC=25ºCPower loss Ptot

- -

-

-

- -

-

-

-

-

)