- A transistor is a semiconductor device made of layers of N-type and P-type materials. NPN transistors use an N-layer sandwiched between two P-layers, while PNP uses a P-layer sandwiched between two N-layers.
- The three main parts are the emitter, base, and collector. Current flows from the emitter to the collector, with the base controlling this flow. In NPN transistors, current is carried by electrons flowing from emitter to collector, while in PNP transistors current is carried by holes flowing in the opposite direction.
- MOSFETs use a metal-oxide-semiconductor structure with a gate terminal that controls current flow
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Power Transistors
- A transistor is a semiconductor device made of layers of N-type and P-type materials. NPN transistors use an N-layer sandwiched between two P-layers, while PNP uses a P-layer sandwiched between two N-layers.
- The three main parts are the emitter, base, and collector. Current flows from the emitter to the collector, with the base controlling this flow. In NPN transistors, current is carried by electrons flowing from emitter to collector, while in PNP transistors current is carried by holes flowing in the opposite direction.
- MOSFETs use a metal-oxide-semiconductor structure with a gate terminal that controls current flow
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POWER TRANSISTORS
• A transistor is a sandwich of one type of
semiconductor material between two layers of other type. • When a layer of P type material is sandwiched between two layers of N type material , it is known as N-P-N transistor. • When a N layer is sandwiched between two layers of P type, it is known as P-N-P transistor. • As NPN is cheap and easy to manufacture, widely used for high voltage and high current applications. • A transistor has the following three regions • Emitter: This is left hand section of the transistor. It’s function is to supply majority carriers to the base and so heavily doped when compared to other two regions. • Base: It is the middle section and is very lightly doped so that it may pass most of the injected charge carriers to the collector. • Collector: It is the right hand section and is moderately doped. It’s function is to collect majority charge carriers through the base. • The arrow head at the emitter is to indicate conventional direction of current flow. • In general, collector is made physically larger than emitter region as it has to dissipate greater power and hence collector and emitter are not interchangeable. • Transistor is like two diodes. • The emitter –base junction is always forward biased while collector- base junction is always reverse biased. • The forward biasing of emitter-base junction has low resistance path while collector –base junction has high resistance path. • The input is introduced in low resistance circuit and output is taken from high resistance circuit. • Operation of P-N-P transistor: • The holes of P region(emitter) are repelled by the positive terminal of the battery VEE towards the base. • As potential barrier at emitter junction is reduced due to forward biasing, holes cross the junction and penetrate into the N region. • This constitutes emitter current IE. • As N region is lightly doped, only 2 to 5% of holes recombine with free electrons of N region. • This constitutes base current Ib. • The remaining holes (95% to 98%) drift across the base and enter collector region and are swept up by the negative collector voltae Vcc. • This constitutes collector current Ic. • As each hole reaches the collector, an electron is emitted from the negative terminal of the battery and neutralizes the hole. • Then a covalent bond at emitter breaks down and the electron liberated enters the positive terminal of the battery VEE and hole moves towards the emitter junction. • This process continues. • Current conduction within P-N-P transistor is by majority charge carriers i.e holes and in the external circuit by electrons. • The collector current is slightly less than the emitter current as 2 to 5% holes are lost in recombination in the base. • The current conduction in PNP transistor is due to holes. • Operation of NPN transistor: • The electrons in the emitter region are repelled from the negative terminal of battery towards emitter junction. • As the emitter-base junction is thin, electrons cross the P type base region. • Very few electrons combine with the holes in P region and are lost as charge carriers. • The electrons in the collector region are swept up positive collector voltage Vcc. • For every electron flowing out of collector and entering positive terminal of battery Vcc , an electron from the negative emitter battery enters the emitter region. • Thus the electron conduction takes place. • In NPN transistor current conduction is carried by electrons. INPUT CHARACTERISTICS • The curve between base current IB and base emitter voltage VBE at constant collector –emitter voltage VCE is input characteristic. • The collector - emitter voltage is kept constant throughout. • The base – emitter voltage is varied and base current is noted. • The procedure is repeated for other fixed values of VCE. • For the same base emitter voltage, as VCE increases the base current is less. OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS • A graph between collector current Ic and collector-emitter voltage VCE is output characteristics. • For zero base current, as VCE is increased, small leakage current (collector) exists. • As the base current increases, the collector current also rises. • Figure shows two of the output characteristics. • 1. Curve 1 is for IB = 0 • 2. Curve 2 is for IBǂ 0. • Initial part of curve 2 with low VCE is called saturation region and transistor acts like a switch. • Next part is by increasing VCE, Ic is almost constant and transistor acts like an amplifier. • Next region is breakdown region where there is steep rise in Ic for constant VCE. This should be avoided. • When load resistance is Rc the collector current is Ic = (Vcc-VCE)/Rc • When transistor is ON, VCE =0 and Ic = Vcc/Rc and this point is shown by point A. • When transistor is OFF, Vcc appears across collector- emitter terminals and Ic=0 shown by point B. Line AB is the load line for R-load. MOSFET • Power MOSFET has three terminals: drain, source and gate. • The arrow in the symbol indicates direction of electron flow. • BJT is a current controlled device and MOSFET is voltage controlled device. • MOSFET is a uni-polar device as the operation depends on majority carriers. • Gate circuit impedance of MOSFET is very high and hence the control signal (gate current) is much smaller than that of BJT. • MOSFET is used in low – power and high frequency applications. • Out of N-channel and P-channel enhancement MOSFET, n-channel is more common due to higher mobility of electrons. • A low power MOSFET is constructed as shown: • On a P substrate , two heavily doped N+ regions are diffused. • An insulating layer of SiO2 is grown on the surface. • Drain and source terminals are embedded on this SiO2 surface such that N+ regions make contact with drain and source. • A layer of metal is deposited to form Gate between drain and source. • When gate circuit is open, P substrate and N+ region below drain is reverse biased and no current flows from drain to source. • When gate is made positive wrt to source, an electric field is established below gate terminal. • Eventually, negative charges( electrons) are formed below gate in the P layer forming an induced N layer. • This induced N layer forms a channel between two N+ regions below drain and source and thus current can flow from drain to source as indicated by arrow. • As VGS is increased, the N channel becomes more deep and more current can flow. But the disadvantage is ON state resistance is large leading to higher power dissipation. • Construction of high power MOSFET: • On N+ substrate, high resistivity N- layer is grown. • Now, two P regions are diffused in the N- layer. • Then N+ regions are diffused on P region. • A layer of SiO2 is added at the top and metallic gate and source terminals are fitted. • When gate circuit is open, P and N- junctions are reverse biased and no current flows from drain to source. • If gate is made positive wrt to source, an electric field is established below gate terminal and electrons are induced in the P regions to form N channel. • Now current start flowing from drain to source. Input and output characteristics INPUT CHARACTERISTICS • It shows variation of drain current as a function of gate – source voltage. • VGST is the threshold voltage which is the minimum positive voltage between gate and source to induce N channel. • Below threshold voltage, the device is in the OFF state. • VGST is the order of 2 to 3 volts. OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS • It is variation of drain current as a function of drain-source voltage with gate-source voltage as a parameter. • For low values of VDS, the graph is almost linear showing that ON state resistance (VDS/ID) is constant. • As VDS is increased, the characteristic is almost flat showing that drain current is constant. • Load line intersects output characteristic at A. The other end of load line is B. • A is fully ON condition and B is fully OFF condition. Thus, MOSFET is functioning as a switch. CONSTRUCTION OF IGBT • The construction is almost same as PMOSFET except that the N+ layer at the drain in PMOSFET is replaced by P+ layer substrate called Collector. • P+ injection layer • N- drift layer • P body layer • N- layer serves to accommodate depletion layer of PN- junction i.e. j2 Difference between MOSFET and IGBT • If we move vertically up from collector to emitter, we come across P+ n- P layers which is nothing but a transistor Q1. • Therefore IGBT can be thought of combination of MOSFET and Q1. • In order to derive an exact equivalent circuit, let us consider the following fig( 1 ). Fig (1) • Transistor Q1 is formed by P+ n- P layers. Here Rby is the P body resistance. • Another transistor Q2 is formed by n- P n+ layers and Rd is the drift region resistance. • The collector P of Q1 is same as base of Q2. • Similarly, base n- of Q1 is collector of Q2. • The exact equivalent circuit is shown in fig( 2 ). • Here Rby is the resistance offered to the flow of hole current Ih. Fig (2) Operation of IGBT • When gate is made positive wrt emitter by VG which is more than the threshold voltage, an n-channel is formed below gate. • The N- channel short circuits N- region with N+ emitter regions. • Electrons from N+ emitter flows to N- drift region through N channel. • As IGBT is forward biased with collector +ve and emitter –ve, P+ collector region injects holes into N- drift region. • Therefore the N- drift region is flooded with holes from P+ collector region and electrons from P body. • As a result, N- drift region conductivity enhances and IGBT is turned ON and begins to conduct forward current Ic. • The collector current Ic or emitter current IE has two components: 1. hole current due holes flowing from collector, P+N-P transistor Q1, P body resistance Rby and emitter. 2.electron current Ie due to electrons flowing from collector, injection layer P+, drift region N-, N channel resistance Rch, N+ and emitter. • Collector current Ic = emitter current IE= Ih+Ie • Main path of collector current is P+,N-,Rd and n channel resistance Rch. • The ON state voltage drop of IGBT is VCE on = Ic. Rch + Ic. Rd+Vj1 • Vj1 = across forward biased P+ N- junction j1 • The ON state voltage drop is less in IGBT compared to PMOSFET. IGBT CHARACTERISTICS
•Transfer characteristics:
•It is a plot of collector
current Ic and gate-emitter voltage VGE.
•When VGE is less than VGET ,
IGBT is in the OFF state. • Output characteristics: • It is a plot of collector current Ic and collector to emitter voltage VCE for various values of gate – emitter voltage VGE. • The characteristic shape is same as that of BJT. But, the controlling parameter is voltage as IGBT is voltage controlled device. Comparison of IGBT and BJT output characteristics • When the device is OFF, junction J2 blocks forward voltage. • If reverse voltage appears across collector and emitter , junction J1 blocks it. • VRM is the reverse breakdown voltage. Comparison of IGBT and BJT IGBT BJT
1. It is a bipolar device 1. . It is a bipolar device
2. Voltage driven device 2. Current driven device 3. Terminals are gate, drain and source 3. Terminals are gate, collector and emitter 4. Better power handling capability 4. Power handling capability is less compared to IGBT 5. Complex structure 5. Simple structure 6. Shorter delay time 6. Delay time is more compared to IGBT 7. Can be easily controlled in high voltage 7. Less capable when compared to IGBT and high current applications Comparison of MOSFET and BJT MOSFET BJT
1. Has lower switching losses. 1. Higher switching losses and lower
Conduction losses are more. conduction losses.
2. Voltage controlled device 2. Current controlled device
3. Positive temperature coefficient for 3. Negative temperature coefficient for
resistance resistance.
4. No secondary breakdown 4. Suffers from secondary breakdown.