Power Semiconductor

Diode, SCR, Triac, GTO

 MERCURY-ARC CONVERTERS

GAS TUBE ELECTRONICS

SATURABLE CORE MAGNETIC AMPLIFIERS

POWER SIMICONDUCTOR ELECTRONICS

（MODERN ERA）

POWER CONTROL HARDWARE

SEMICONDUCTOR AND SOFTWARE
DEVICES

CONVERTER ESTIMATION AND

ANALYTICAL AND
TOPOLOGIES CONTROL TECHNIQUES
SIMULATION TECHNIQUES

Fig.1.15 EVOLUTION OF POWER ELECTRONICS

Bose
 FOUR GENERATIONS OF SOLID STATE POWER ELECTRONICS

 FIRST GENERATION (1958 ~ 1975) (Thyristor Era)

- Diode
- Thyristor
- Triac

 SECOND GENERATION (1975 ~ 1985)

- Power BJT
- Power MOSFET
- GTO
- Microprocessor
- Advanced Control
-
 THIRD GENERATION (1985 ~ 1995)
- IGBT
- Intelligent Power Modules (IPM)
- DSPs
- Advanced Control

 FOURTH GENERATION (1995 ~ )

- IGCT
- Sensorless Control
- AI Techniques – Fuzzy Logic, Neural Network, Genetic Algorithm

Bose
SOME SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF POWER ELECTRONICS AND
MOTOR DRIVES
 1891 – Ward-Leonard dc motor speed control is introduced
 1897 – Development of 3-phase diode bridge rectifier (Graetz circuit)
 1901 – Peter Cooper Hewitt demonstrates glass-bulb mercury-arc rectifier
 1906 – Kramer drive is introduced
 1907 – Scherbius drive is introduced
 1926 – Hot cathode thyratron is introduced
 1930 – New York subway installs grid-controlled mercury-arc rectifier (3 MW) for dc drive
 1931 – German railways introduce Mercury-arc cycloconverters for universal motor traction drive
 1933 – Slepian invents ignitron rectifier
 1934 – Thyratron cycloconverter - synchronous motor(400 hp) was installed in Logan power station
for ID fan drive (first variable frequency ac drive)
 1948 – Transistor is invented in Bell Lab.
 1956 – Silicon power diode is introduced
 1958 – Commercial thyristor (or SCR) was introduced in the market by GE
 1971 – Vector or field-oriented control for ac motor is introduced
 1975 – Giant power BJT is introduced in the market by Toshiba
 1980 – High power GTOs are introduced in Japan
 1981 – Multi-level inverter (diode-clamped) is introduced
 1983 – IGBT is introduced
 1983 – Space vector PWM is introduced
 1986 – DTC control is invented for induction motors
 1987 – Fuzzy logic is first applied to power electronics
 1991 – Artificial neural network is applied to dc motor drive
 1996 – Forward blockimg IGCT is introduced by ABB

Bose
Evolution of Power Semiconductor Devices
POWER DIODES
Diode i-v
characteristics
Structure of Power Semiconductor Diodes

Drift region
 Diode Switching Waveforms in Power Circuits
Q rr = I t / 2
rr rr

di / dt d i / dt
F IF R 0 .2 5 I
rr

I
rr

t
3
t
4
t
5 diF diR
• dt and dt determined
V
FP
Von t
rr by external circuit.

t • Inductances or power
t V
V
R
semiconductor devices.
2 rr
t
t 5
1 S =
t
4
Turn-off switching characteristics of Power Diode
SCR
Thyristor I-V Characteristics

• SCR triggerable from forward blocking state to

on-state by a gate current pulse.
• Thyristor latches on and gate cannot turn it
off. External circuit must force SCR off.
• Current to several kAmps for V(on) of 2-4
volts.
• Blocking voltages to 5-8 kVolts.
• VBO = breakover voltage ;
IBO = breakover current

• VH = holding voltage
IH = holding current

• Maximum junction temperature = 1250C -

limited by temperature dependence of VBO.
Thyristor (SCR) Geometry

Cross-sectional
view showing
vertical
orientation of
SCR.

SCRs with
kiloamp ratings
have diameters
of 10 cm or
greater.
 Fig.2.5 THYRISTOR FEATURES

 SMALL GATE CURRENT PULSE TRIGGERS ON THE DEVICE

 CAN NOT BE TURNED OFF BY GATE CURRENT

 SYMMETRIC OR ASYMMETRIC VOLTAGE BLOCKING

 COMMUTATION METHODS: AC LINE

LOAD
FORCE

 FORCE-COMMUTATED CONVERTERS ARE OBSOLETE

 TRIGGERING POSSIBLE BY: DV/DT, TEMPERATURE, LIGHT

 TURN-ON DI/DT PROBLEM

 CAN CARRY LARGE TRANSIENT FAULT CURRENT

 FAST FUSE PROTECTION POSSIBLE

 APPLICATIONS WITH PHASE CONTROL:

RECTIFIER DC MOTOR DRIVES

CYCLOCONVERTER AC MOTOR DRIVES
SOLID STATE INDUCTION MOTOR STARTER,
HVDC SYSTREM, ETC.
Bose
The TRIAC
SCRs are unidirectional (one-way) current devices, making them
useful for controlling DC only. If two SCRs are joined in back-to-
back parallel fashion, we have a new device known as the TRIAC:

Because individual SCRs are more flexible to use in advanced

control systems, they are more commonly seen in circuits like
motor drives, while TRIACs are usually seen in simple, low-
power applications like household dimmer switches.
 Fig.2.7 TRIAC FEATURES

 INTEGRATES A PAIR OF THYRISTORS

 TURNS ON AT EITHER ANODE VOLTAGE POLARITY BY GATE CURRENT

 POOR GATE CURRENT SENSITIVITY

 SYMMETRIC BLOCKING

 LONGER TURN-OFF TIME (USE 60-400Hz)

 PHASE CONTROL WITH RESISTIVE LOAD

 APPLICATIONS:

-LIGHT DIMMER
-HEATING CONTROL
-SOLID STATE AC SWITCH, ETC.
-APPLIANCE SPEED CONTROL BY UNIVARSAL
MOTOR, etc.

Bose
 Gate Turn-Off Thyristor GTO

GTO circuit symbol

• GTO is a 3 terminal 4 layer device

• Can be turned ‘on’ with a small +ve gate pulse, similar to
SCRs.
• Can be turned ‘off’ by a –ve gate voltage
• SCR structure is modified to obtain gate turn-off
capability.
• Has small or no reverse voltage blocking capability
GTO (Gate Turn-off Thyristor) Construction
 Unique features of the GTO.
• Highly interdigitated gate-cathode
structure (faster switching)
• Etched cathode islands (simplify
electrical contacts)
• Anode shorts (speed up turn-off)
• GTO has no reverse blocking capability
because of anode shorts
• i-v characteristic otherwise same as for
standard SCR
 GTO Features
 TURNS ON BY + ig AND TURNS OFF BY - ig
 TURN-OFF CURRENT GAIN 4 ~ 5
 SYMMETRIC OR ASYMMETRIC BLOCKING
 LOW dv/dtRATING
 TURN-OFF TAIL CURRENT
 LARGE SNUBBER LOSS
(CAN USE REGENERATIVE SNUBBER)
 LOW SWITCHING FREQUENCY
(TYPICALLY 400 ~ 1000 Hz)
 APPLICATION IN HIGH POWER:
CHOPPER DC MOTOR DRIVES
INVERTER AC MOTOR DRIVES
STATIC VAR COMPENSATORS, etc.
MAGLEV LINEAR SYNCHRONOUS MOTOR DRIVES
 GTO Step-down Converter
• GTO used in medium-to-high power
applications where electrical stresses
I
are large and where other solid state D
f o
devices used with GTOs are slow e.g.
free-wheeling diode DF. +

• GTO almost always used with turn-on

and turn-off snubbers.
1. Turn-on snubber to limit V
d R
overcurrent from DF reverse s

recovery. D
L s
2. Turn-off snubber to limit rate-of-rise - 
of voltage to avoid retriggering the
GTO into the on-state. C
s
• Hence should describe transient
behavior of GTO in circuit with
snubbers.
Integrated gated control
thyristor (IGCT) - ABB
Fig. 2.22 IGCT WITH INTEGRATED PACKAGING OF GATE DRIVER

Bose
 Fig.2.23 IGCT FEATURES

 BASICALLY HARD-DRIVEN GTO

(TURN-OFF CURRENT GAIN ~ 1)

 BUILT-IN MONOLITHIC ANTI-PARALLEL DIODE

 GATE DRIVER IS BUILT IN THE MODULE

 ASYMMETRIC OR SYMMETRIC VOLTAGE BLOCKING

 CONDUCTION DROP –LOWER THAN IGBT

 SWITCHING FREQUENCY – TYPICALLY 1.0 kHz

(COMPARABLE TO IGBT)

 SQUARE SOA

 SNUBBER OR SNUBBERLESS OPERATION

 APPLICATIONS IN HIGH POWER:

INVERTER MOTOR DRIVES

DC-LINK HVDC SYSTEM
STATIC VAR COMPENSATOR
SHIP PROPULSION, etc.

Bose
Thank you
Comparison between IGCT and
IGBT
• IGBTs have higher switching frequency
than IGCTs
• IGCTs are made like disk devices – high
electromagnetic emission, cooling
problems
• IGBTs are built like modular devices -
lifetime of the device 10 x IGCT
• IGCTs have a lower ON-state voltage
drop- losses 2x lower
Schottky Diode
Schottky diodes are constructed of a metal-to-N junction rather than a P-N
semiconductor junction. Also known as hot-carrier diodes, Schottky diodes are
characterized by fast switching times (low reverse-recovery time trr), low
forward voltage drop (typically 0.25 to 0.4 volts), and low junction capacitance.

This makes them well suited for high-frequency and low power applications. In
a 1 V supply the 0.7 V drop is a substantial portion of the output. One solution is
to use a schottky power diode which has a lower forward drop. Schottky diode
technology finds broad application in high-speed computer circuits, where the
fast switching time equates to high speed capability, and the low forward
voltage drop equates to less power dissipation when conducting.

Switching regulator power supplies operating at 100's of kHz cannot use

conventional silicon diodes as rectifiers because of their slow switching speed .
When the signal applied to a diode changes from forward to reverse bias,
conduction continues for a short time, while carriers are being swept out of the
depletion region. Conduction only ceases after this trr reverse recovery time has
expired. Schottky diodes have a shorter reverse recovery time.
 GTO
When a GTO thyristor is in the on-state, the central base regions are filled with holes
supplied from the anode and electrons supplied from the cathode. If reverse bias is
applied to make the gate negative in respect to the cathode, part of holes in the p-base
layer are extracted through the gate, suppressing the injection of electrons from the
cathode. In response to this suppression, more hole current is extracted through the
gate, further suppressing the electron injection. In the course of this process, the
cathode emitter junction (J3) is put into a reverse-bias state entirely, GTO thyristor is
turned off.
Comparison between Thyristor & GTO Characteristics

Characteristic Description Thyristor(1600 V,350 A) GTO(1600 V,350 A)

VT ON On state voltage drop 1.5 V 3.4 V

ton,Igon Turn on time,Gate 2 micro secs,200 mA 8 micro secs,20 A
current
toff Turn off time 15 micro secs 150 micro secs