BEEE Notes
BEEE Notes
1. PN Junction diode 2. Zener diode 3. Bipolar Junction Transistors - BJTs 4. Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors - MOSFETs 5. Insulated Gate Bi-polar Transistors - IGBTs 6. Silicon Controlled Rectifiers - SCRs, 7. Diode AC Switch DIAC 8. TRIode AC Switch - TRIAC 9. Gate Turn Off Thyristors - GTOs; 10. Switch Mode Power Supply - SMPS 11. Pulse Modulation Techniques
PN Junction Diode
In a piece of semiconductor material, if one half is doped by P-type and the other half is doped by Ntype impurity, a PN junction is formed. The plane dividing the two halves or zones is called PN junction. The N-type has high concentration of free electrons while P-type has high concentration of holes. Therefore at the junction there is a tendency for the free electrons to diffuse over to the P-side and holes to the N-side (process called diffusion). The net opposite charge in each layer prevents further diffusion into that layer. Thus a barrier is set up near the junction which prevents further movement of charge carriers. This is called as potential barrier (0.3V or germanium and 0.7 for silicon). Under forward bias condition: When positive terminal of battery is connected to the P-type and negative terminal to the N-type of the PN junction diode, the bias applied is known as forward bias. The applied positive potential repels the holes in the P-type region so that the holes move towards the junction and the applied negative potential repels the electrons in the N-type region and the electrons move towards the junction(When applied voltage VF is less than V0) and hence the forward current IF is almost zero. Eventually when the applied potential is more than the internal barrier potential the barrier will disappear and hence the holes cross the junction from P-type to N-type and the electrons crss the junction in the opposite direction resulting in relatively large current flow in the external circuit. A P N C C Forward bias Reverse bias A RL RL
IF(mA)
Under reverse bias condition: When the negative terminal of the battery is connected to the P-type and positive terminal is connected to N-type of the PN junction, the bias applied is known as reverse bias. Under this condition, holes form the majority carriers of P-side move towards the negative terminal of the battery and electrons which form the majority carriers of the N-side are attracted towards the positive terminal of the battery. Hence the width of the depletion region which is depleted of mobile carriers increases. Thus the electric filed produced by applied reverse bias is in the same direction of electric field and hence the barrier is increased. Therefore, theoretically no current should flow in the external circuit. But in practice very small reverse current in the order of microamperes flows under bias. This current is called as reverse saturation current. The magnitude of reverse saturation current mainly depends upon junction temperature because the major source of minority carriers is thermally broken covalent bonds. For large reverse bias is applied, the free electrons from the N-type moving towards the positive terminal of the battery acquire sufficient energy to move with high velocity to dislodge valence electrons from semiconductor atom in the crystal. Thus large number of free electrons are formed which is commonly called as avalanche of free electrons. This leads to the breakdown of junction leading to very large reverse current. The reverse voltage at which the junction breakdown is known as breakdown voltage.
Zener diode
When reverse voltage reaches breakdown voltage in a PN diode, the current through the junction and power dissipated at the junction will be high. Such an operation is destructive and the diode gets damaged. However, diodes can be designed with adequate power dissipation capability to operate in the breakdown region. One such diode is Zener diode which is heavily doped than the ordinary diode. The forward bias condition is same as the ordinary PN diode, but under reverse bias condition, breakdown of the junction occurs and the breakdown voltage depends upon the amount of doping. If the diode is heavily doped, depletion layer will be thin and consequently breakdown occurs at lower reverse voltage, besides the breakdown voltage being sharp. Thus the breakdown voltage can be selected with the amount of doping. When the reverse bias field across the junction is sufficiently high, it may exert a strong force on bound electrons to tear them out from a covalent bond. Thus a large number of electron hole pairs will be generated through a direct rupture of the covalent bond thereby resulting in large reverse current at the breakdown voltage. Though Zener breakdown occurs for lower breakdown voltage and avalanche breakdown occurs for higher breakdown voltage, such diodes are normally called Zener diode A V VZ RL Vo VZ VR Reverse bias region Application From the zener diode characteristics, under the reverse bias condition, the voltage across the diode remains almost constant although the current through the diode increases. Thus the voltage across the zener diode serves as a reference voltage. Hence the diode can be used as a voltage regulator. The arrangement shown is useful when it is required to provide a constant voltage across a load resistance RL where as the input voltage may be varying over a range. As shown, the zener diode is reverse biased and as long as the input voltage does not fall below Vz, the voltage across the diode will be constant and hence the load voltage will also be constant. Reverse Breakdown I (A) R voltage VF IF (mA)
Power Transistors
The transistors which are used as switching elements are operated in the saturation region resulting in a low on state voltage drop. The switching speed of modern transistors is much high. They are extensively employed in dc dc and dc ac converters with inverse parallel-connected diodes to provide bidirectional current flow. Transistors are normally used in low to medium power applications. The power transistors can be classified broadly into five categories 1. Bipolar junction transistor (BJT) 2. Metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) 3. Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) 4. Static induction transistor (SIT) 5. COOLMOS We will see the first three in brief
n
Base p
p
n
n
Emitter
p
Emitter
The transfer characteristics of a transistor is as shown There are three operating regions of a transistor: cutoff, active and saturation. Active IC RC + VCE IE VCE VCE VCC Cutoff Saturation
RB
IB + VBE
VB
IB In the cut-off region, the transistor is off or the base current is not enough to turn it on and both junctions are reverse biased In the active region, the transistor acts as an amplifier, where the base current is amplified by a gain and the collector emitter voltage decreases with base current. The CBJ is reverse biased and the BEJ is forward biased. In the saturation region, the based current is sufficiently high so that the collector emitter voltage is low, and the transistor acts as a switch. Both the junctions are forward biased. Applying Kirchhoffs law we get
i E = iC + i B
(This equation is true regardless of the bias conditions of the junctions) We define the parameter as the ratio of the collector current to the emitter current
iC iE
or
i E = iC
Value of ranges from 0.9 to 0.999. Combining the above equations we get
i B = (1 )i E
We define another parameter as the ratio of the collector current to the base current.
iC = iB 1
Value of ranges from 10 to 1000. We can also rewrite the above equation as
iC = i B
Note that since is usually very large compared to unity, the collector current is an amplified version of the base current. The input and output characteristics of transistor is as shown IB IC VCE1 VcE2 VCE2> VCE1 Saturation region Cutoff region (b) Output Characteristics Active region IBn
IB2 IB1
IBn>IB1> IB0
IB0=0 VCE
MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor or Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor)
The MOSFET is a voltage controlled device that works on the depletion capacitor concept. In this a layer of silicon dioxide is grown on the surface, which act as a dielectric media between gate and the channel. Based on the channel created between the, the MOSFET is broadly divided as shown. MOSFET Depletion type P - Channel N - Channel P - Channel Enhancement type N - Channel
It has got three terminals, Gate, Drain and source N-channel MOSFET consists of highly doped P type substrate into which two highly doped N regions are diffused. These N regions act as source and drain. A thin layer of insulating silicon dioxide (SiO2) is grown over the surface of structure and free electrons are cut into the oxide layer, allowing to move Gate between source and drain Source Drain Aluminium layer ++++++ Silicon layer ----------- -n+ n+
P - Substrate
Induced n-channel
The metal area is overlaid on the entire oxide layer and metal contacts are made to source and drain. The SiO2 layer insulates the gate from the channel due to which a negligible gate current flows even if the biasing is applied to gate. So no PN junction is existing in MOSFET and hence known as Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor. Depletion Type: The depletion type MOSFET can be operated in two different modes: enhancement mode Circuit symbol and Circuit Drain Gate Substrate Source N - Channel Gate Drain Substrate Source P - Channel VGS S SiO2 Layer G a. depletion mode b. D N P VDS
The device operates in this depletion mode, when the gate voltage is negative.
When VGS = 0, a significant current flows for a given VDS When negative voltage is applied to gate, electrons accumulate on it. If one plate of capacitor (gate) is negatively charged, induces a positive charge on the other plate. Because of this, free electrons in vicinity of positive charge area repelled away in the channel As a result of this, the channel is depleted of free electrons passing through the channel thus the conduction between source to drain is reduced. Thus as the value of VGs is increased, the value of ID decreases The device operated in enhancement mode when the gate voltage is positive When VGS > 0, the positive gate voltage increases the number of free electrons passing through the channel. The greater the gate voltage, the greater is the number of free electrons passing through the channel. This increases ie. Enhances the conduction of channel, this positive gate voltage operation of MOSFET is called enhancement mode of MOSFET Drain Characteristics of Depletion type MOSFET
Depletion mode Enhancement mode
ID(mA)
ID(mA) C VGS= 1V EnhanceVGS= 0V ment mode IDSS VGS= 1V Depletion B VGS= 2V mode VGS(OFF) VGS(V) VDS(V) A Transfer Characteristics Drain Characteristics When VDS = 0, no conduction takes place between source to drain. If VGS < 0, and VDS > 0, then drain current increases upto a point of time when the drain current reaches saturation called pinch off point. If VDS is increases above this, ID remains constant. For further increase in VDS, avalanche breakdown occurs in pinch off region and the Drain current increases rapidly When VGS > 0, the gate induces more electrons in channel side, it is added with the free electron generated by source. Again the potential applied to gate determines the channel width and maintains constant current flow in pinch off region as shown Transfer Characteristics of Depletion type MOSFET If VGS = 0, the device has a drain current equal to IDSS. Due to this fact only it is called normally ON MOSFET In depletion mode, when VGS = 0, maximum current will flow between source to drain thus ID = IDSS. When VGS is increased in negative side, after a certain extend the positive charges induced by gate completely depletes the channel thus no drain current flows(point A)
In enhancement mode when VGS is increased in positive side, more free electrons are induced in channel, thus it enhances the electron resulting in increase of ID Enhancement Type: Circuit symbol and Circuit Drain Gate Substrate Source N Channel Gate SiO2 Layer Drain Substrate Source P Channel VGS S G D N P N VDS
The device operates in this mode, when the gate voltage is positive. The enhancement type MOSFET has no depletion mode and it operates only in enhancement mode. If differs in construction from the depletion mode MOSFET in the sense that it has no physical channel. It may be noted that the P type substrate extends the silicon dioxide layer completely as shown. The MOSFET is always operated with the positive gate to source voltage. When the VGS = 0, the VDS supply tries to force free electrons from source to drain. But the presence of P region does not permit the electrons to pass through it. Thus there is no drain current for VGS = 0. Due to this fact the Enhancement type MOSFET is called Normally OFF MOSFET If some positive voltage is applied to the gate, it induces a negative charge in the P type substrate just adjacent to the silicon dioxide layer. The induced negative charge produced which would be attracting the free electrons from the source. When the gate is positive enough it can attract more number of free electrons. This forms a thin layer of electrons, which stretches form source to drain. This effect if equivalent to producing a thin layer of N type channel in the P type substrate. This layer of free electrons is called N type inversion layer. The minimum gate to source voltage which produces invertion layer is called Threshold voltage. When VGS is less than threshold voltage no current flows form drain to source. However if VGS is greater than threshold voltage, inversion layer connects the drain and source and we get significant values of current Drain characteristics of Enhancement type MOSFET ID(mA) ID(mA) VGS> Vm VGS=Vm VDS(V) Drain Characteristics ID(ON)
VGS(V)
When VDs = 0, ID = 0. The value of drain current increases with increase in gate to Drain to source voltage upto saturation value (provided VGS > threshold voltage) after which drain current remains almost constant value
Transfer characteristics of Enhancement Type MOSFET When VGS < threshold voltage, there is no drain current. However in actual practice, an extremely small value of drain current flows through MOSFET. This current flow is due to the presence of thermally generated electrons in the P type substrate. When the value of VGs is kept above VGS(th) a significant drain current flows as shown in figure. Power MOSFET find increasing applications in low-power high-frequency converters.
The symbol and circuit of an IGBT switch is as shown. The three terminals are gate, collector and emitter instead of gate, drain and source for an MOSFET. Like MOSFET, when the gate is positive with respect to the emitter for turn on, n carriers are drawn into the p-channel near the gate region. This results in a forward bias of the base of the npn transistor, which there by turns on. An IGBT this is turned on by just applying a positive gate voltage to open the channel for n carriers and is turned off by removing the gate voltage to close the channel. Typical output characteristic and transfer characteristic are as shown VGE7 IC IC VGE6 VGE5 VGE3 VGE2 VGE1 VGE7> VGE6> VGE5
VCE
IGBT is finding increasing application in medium power applications such as DC and AC motor drives, power supplies, solid state relays and contractors
P N
Latching current
VBR
Reverse leakage
IG=1 VBO
Reverse blocking Forward blocking
IG=0 VAC
Forward leakage
Reverse conducting
1. Forward blocking mode (OFF State) When a positive Voltage is applied between anode A and cathode C of SCR, junctions J1 and J3 are forward biased and junction J2 is reverse biased. Even if forward voltage is applied between anode and cathode, there is no flow of current from anode to cathode. This is because of junction J2. However a small amount of current starts flowing from anode to cathode due to the existence of leakage carriers in the junction. As the applied voltage starts increasing, at certain stage, J2 will undergo avalanche breakdown and looses itss blocking capability, thereby behaving as a conductor. So the voltage at which junction J2 breakdown is called as forward break over voltage or threshold voltage or the critical point at the avalanche breakdown designated by the letter VBO. When forward voltage is less than VBO, SCR offers high impedance. In this mode thyristor can be treated as a open switch.
2. Forward Conducting Mode As J2 breaks down, SCR acts like closed switch; thereby current flowing from anode to cathode increases irrespective of voltage. When forward voltage becomes greater than VBO, SCR starts conducting and the anode to cathode voltage decreases quickly to point B, because under this condition the SCR offers very low resistance hence it drops very low voltage across it. The voltage drop across the SCR during ON state is of the order of 1V to 2V depending on the rating of SCR. If the value of the gate current IG is increased from zero, the SCR turns ON even at lower break over voltage. Once the SCR is switched ON then the gate losses all the control. In the ON state, the anode current is limited by an external impedance or resistance and it must be more than Latching current in order to maintain the required amount of carrier flow across the junction. Hence Latching current is the minimum amount of anode current that it must attain during turn ON process to keep the SCR in conduction even when the gate signal is removed. SCR cannot be turned OFF by varying the gate voltage. It is possible only by 1. Reducing the anode current below its holding current. Hence Holding current is the minimum amount of anode current that it must fall below the normal value to bring the SCR from conducting state to blocking state. 2. Application of reversal voltage
3. Reverse Blocking mode When switch S open, if C is make positive with reference to A, junctions J1and J3 are reverse biased and J2 is forward biased. Due to J2, no current starts flowing from C to A. However small amount of current starts flows from C to A due to the existence of leakage carriers in the junction J2. If the reverse voltage is increased, then at a critical breakdown level called Reverse breakdown voltage VBR an avalanche occurs at J1 and J3 and reverse current increases rapidly, there by acting as conductor. The voltage at which the junctions J1, J2 and J3 loose its reverse blocking capability is called a Reverse break over voltage VBR. As the inner regions are lightly doped as compared to outer layers, the thickness of
depletion layer of J2 during forward bias condition will be greater than the total thickness of two depletion layers at J2 and J3 when the device is reverse biased. Therefore VBO is greater than VBR 4. Reverse conducting mode After the break over of junctions J1 and J3, SCR acts as a closed switch in the reverse direction, thereby current flowing from cathode and anode increases irrespective of increasing in voltage. A large current associated with VBR gives rise to more losses in the SCR outcoming in the form of heat, there by creating possibility for damaging it. So, by the manufacturers warning, do not operate the SCR in reverse conduction mode. Two transistor analogy of SCR The basic operation of SCR can be described by two transistor analogy. The SCR is split into two three layer transistors As shown Q1 is PNP and Q2 is NPN device interconnected back to back, ie the collector of one transistor is connected to the base of the other transistor, thus it forms positive feedback and the collector current of one transistor become base current of other transistor Suppose the supply voltage applied across terminals A and C is such that the reverse biased junction J2 starts breaking down. Then current through the device increases. It means Ie1 begins so increase, and hence IC1 (IC = IE), Now IB2 increases since IC1 = IB2, and hence IC2 because IC = IB. As IC2 = IB1, now both IE1 and IB1 has increased which further increases IC1. Therefore there is a regenerative or positive feed back effect. This particular action is called latching action or regenerative action. Integral regeneration is not possible when the SCR is reverse biased.
Applications 1. 2. 3. 4. Used as a static switch to replace the electromechanical relay Used to control the amount of power delivered to the load Used in power conversion and regulation circuits Used for surge protection
inverters) or where reverse voltage would never occur (for example, in switching power supplies or DC traction choppers) Advantages 1. It eliminates the external circuitary for switching off the thyristor 2. High speed operation 3. The switching frequency of GTO is much better than SCR.
Disadvantages 1. Larger gate current is required to turn on 2. GTO suffers from long switch off time.
Applications The main applications are in variable speed motor drives, high power, inverters and traction
MT1
N
MT1
IF
P N P
N
MT2
VBO
MT2
Operation When a positive or negative voltage is applied the main terminals of a DIAC, only a small leakage current IBO will glow through the device. If the applied voltage is increased, the leakage current will continue to flow until the voltage reaches the break over voltage VBO. At this point, avalanche breakdown occurs at the reverse biased junction it may be J1 or J2, depending upon the supply connected between MT1 and MT2 and the device then drops to break back voltage Vw as shown. V- I Characteristics of DIAC If the applied voltage (positive) is less than VBO a small leakage current IBO flows through the device. Under this condition, the DIAC blocks the flow of current and effectively behaves as an open circuit. The voltage VBO is the breakover voltage and usually has a range of 30 to 50 volts. When the (positive or negative) voltage applied to DIAC is equal to or greater than the break over voltage then DIAC begins to conduct, due to avalanche breakdown of the reverse biased junction and the voltage drop across it becomes a few volt, result in which the DIAC current increases sharply and the volt across the DIAC decreases. Thus the DIAC offers a negative resistance Applications of DIAC 1. Light dimmer circuits 2. Heat control circuits 3. Universal motor speed control
N4
P1
Holding current
Latching current
N1
N3
G
N2
P2
IG=1 VBo A2 A1
Reverse leakage Reverse blocking Forward blocking
A1
Forward leakage
G A1 Operation. When positive voltage is applied to A2, with respect to A1 path of current flow in P1N1P2N2. The two junction P1 N1 and P2 N2 are forward biased whereas N1 P2 junction is blocked. The gate can be given either positive or negative voltage to turn ON the TRIAC i) Positive gate: The positive gate forward biases the P2 N2 junction and breakdown occurs as in normal SCR Negative gate: A negative gate forward biases the P2 N3 junction and current carriers are injected into P2 to turn on the TRIAC
Reverse conductiing
ii)
When positive voltage is applied to anode A1, path of current flow is P2 N1 P1 N4. The two junctions P2 N1 and P1 N4 are forward biased whereas junction N1 P1 is blocked. Conduction can be achieved by applying either positive or negative voltage to G.
i)
Positive gate: The positive gate injects current carriers by forward biasing the P2 N2 junction and thus initializes the conduction Negative gate: A negative gate injects current carriers by forward biasing P2 N3 junction there by triggering conduction, thus there are four TRIAC triggering modes, two for each of the anodes.
ii)
V- I characteristics As seen in SCR, TRIAC exhibits same forward blocking and forward conducting characteristics like SCR but for either polarity of voltage applied to terminal (A1 or A2). TRIAC has latch current in either direction hence the switching ON is effected by raising the applied voltage to breakover voltage. The TRIAC can be made to conduct in either direction. No matter what bias polarity, characteristic of TRIAC are those of forward biased SCR. If the applied voltage of one of the main terminal is increased above zero, a very small current flows through the device, under this condition the TRIAC is OFF, it will be continued until the applied voltage reaches the forward breakover voltage If the anode to cathode voltage exceeds the breakover voltage, the SCR turns ON and anode to cathode voltage decreases quickly to point B, because under this condition the SCR offers very low resistance hence it drops very low voltage across it. At this stage the SCR allows more current to flow through it, the amplitude of the current is depending upon the supply voltage and load resistance connected in the circuit The same procedure is repeated for forward blocking state with the polarity of main terminals interchanged.
Applications TRIAC is a bidirectional device hence it is used in many industrial applications such as i) phase control ii) heater control iii) light dimmer control iv) speed control of motors. It is also used to control ac power to a load by switching ON and OFF during positive and negative half cycle of input ac power.
Voltage reference
Err AMP
Sampling network
The main feature of SMPS is the elimination of physically massive power transformers and other power line magnetic. The net result is a smaller, lighter package and reduced manufacturing cost, resulting primarily from the elimination of the 50Hz components
Pulse Carrier
PWM Wave