Concordia University

Department of Electrical and Computer

Engineering

Power Electronics (I) ELEC-433/6411

Week 2
Overview of static power switches
(Chapter 2)
 Outline
• Introduction: Classification of switches
• Main power semiconductor switches:
– Diodes, thyristors and power control characteristics;
– Controllable switches: BJT, MOSFET, IGBT and GTO;
• Practical switching characteristics and losses
• Comparison of controllable switches
• Heat sink and gate drive circuits.

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 Classification of switches
• According to the degree of controllability:
• Uncontrolled: On and Off states controlled by the
power circuit (Diode).
• Semi-controlled: Turned On by a control signal but
turned off by the power circuit (SCR thyristors).
• Controlled switches: Can be turned On and Off by
a control signal (Transistors and GTO thyristors)

For analysis purposes power switches are usually

considered ideal: Instantaneous, lossless, and
infinite current and voltage handling capability.

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 Diodes

• 2 terminals device.
• An ideal diode turns On when forward biased and
turns Off when its forward current goes to zero.
• Conducts positive current & blocks reverse voltage4
 Diodes - Types
• Standard recovery (of blocking capabilities):
• Reverse recovery time (time to go from on to off)
not specified. Negligible for operations at grid
frequency (50/60Hz)
• Fast recovery and ultra-fast recovery:
• Reverse recovery time & recovered charge specified
• Intended for force-commutated converters
• Schottky diode:
• Essentially no recovered charge
• Intended for very high frequency applications
• Restricted to low voltage
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Diodes - Typical footprint and package

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Thyristor (Silicon Controlled Rectifier - SCR)

3 terminals
device.

3 main operating
regions.

• Latches On by a gate current pulse when forward biased

and turns Off as a diode.
• Requires low power gate drives and is very rugged.
• Blocks forward and reverse voltages. 7
Thyristors - Typical footprint and package

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 Diodes vs. Thyristors

• Main advantage of a thyristor over a diode is the capability of

power flow control.

• By varying the turn-on time, the voltage and current waveforms

vary, thus the power supplied to the load, can be controlled.

Firing of the thyristor.

Natural turn-on of the diode.

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 Controllable switches
• Used in forced-commutated converters (fsw > 60 Hz )
• Different types: BJT, MOSFET, IGBT and GTO.
• Gate requirements and performance are quite different.
• Generic switch: Current flows in the direction of the
arrow when the device in On.

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 Practical switching characteristics
• Switching losses become important for high fre-
quency operation.

The diode only

The ideal diode is turns on (starts to
“on” (a short-circ.) conduct) when
until its current forward biased:
becomes zero. VT = Vd

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 Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT)
Cannot block
reverse voltage!

IC
IB >
hfe

• Current controlled or low input (base) impedance device.

• Base control circuit requires significant power, (0.1≤ hfe ≤0.2).
• For operation as a switch, the device requires a “large” IB in
the On state (saturation) and IB = 0A in the OFF state.
• Commutation times of about a few μs.
• In the “on-state” it can be repreented by a low VCEsat.
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 BJT - Typical footprint and package

• Has been replaced by MOSFET in low-voltage (<500V)

applications;
• Is being replaced by IGBT in application at voltages above 500V

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 MOSFET
Presents a parasitic
anti-parallel body
diode! Conducts if
reverse biased!

• High input impedance (voltage controlled) device.

• Fast commutation times (tens to hundreds of ns).
• Low On state resistance (RDS_On).
• Easy paralleling
• Great for low voltage applications (< 200 V).
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 MOSFET
• Typical footprint and package

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 Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
• “Hybrid” device
• High imput impedan-
ce as a MOSFET.
• High voltage devices
have low “on state vol
tage drops” (VCEsat)
as a BJT
• Can be designed to
block negative
voltages

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IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)
• Typical footprint and package

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 Gate-Turn-Off (GTO) thyristor

• Turns On and latches as an SCR but requires a large (IAK/3)

negative gate current to turn-off (elaborate gate control
circuit).
• Blocks negative voltages but has low switching speeds
• Used in high power applications
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GTO - Typical footprint and package

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Comparison of controllable switches

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Power semiconductor switches capabilities

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Determining the basic “ratings” of a
power semiconductor device
• The basic analysis of the power electronic converters
provides: 1) the peak voltages and 2) the peak, average
and rms current across the switches.
• For picking the switch from a catalogue, one considers
safety factors by “de-rating” the switches as follows:
• Voltage de-rating (factor): 1.6;
• Current de-rating: 1.3;
• Overall power de-rating: 1.6*1.3≈2
• Others: Power losses and junction temperature. dv/dt
and di/dt are critical for thyristors.
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 Gating Requirements
I Gon

Ts =
1 it vt
fs

 Thyristor (no turn-off control, extinguished

by external circuit)
I Gon (e.g. 100mA)

ON OFF ON  GTO (turned off by negative

1
Ts =
fs
current, turn-off gain is 3 or larger)
I Goff

VGsth
t on = W
• continuously gated
1
Ts =
fs  MOSFET or IGBT (usually used
for PWM control)
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 Control gate “drivers”
• Required to amplify and adjust the signal from the MCU
or ASIC to the switch and also isolate the “high power”
and the “low power (control)” segments.
• Commercial IGBT gate driver circuit

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 Gate “drivers”
 Thyristor trigger circuit
TCA785

Pulse transformer,
allows for galvanic
high voltage isolation
between control circuit
and power circuit

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 Heatsinks – Cooling methods
 Natural cooling (just heatsinks), low power application;
 Forced air cooling (fan-ventilated heatsinks), medium power
application;
 Liquid cooling (pipes/pumps), high/ultra high power application;

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