Unit 1

ADVANCED SOLID STATE

DRIVES
 Syllabus

MOSFETs, IGBT, GTO, IGCT etc., Power

modules, intelligent power modules, gating
circuits, Thermal design, protection, Digital signal
processors used in their control.
 MOSFET
• MOSFET stands for Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. It is a
type of Field Effect Transistor and it is voltage controlled device. It is also called as
Insulated Gate Field Effect Transistor (IGFET).

• MOSFETs have three terminals, namely Drain (D), Source (S) and Gate (G) and
also one more (optional) terminal called substrate or Body (B).

• It is used for switching or amplifying electronic signals in the electronic devices.

• It is the most commonly used transistor and it can be used in both analog and
digital circuits.
• Since its operation depends upon the flow of majority carriers only, hence
MOSFET is a unipolar device.

• In these transistors, the gate terminal is electrically insulated from the current
carrying channel. Due to the insulation between gate and source terminals, the
input resistance of MOSFET may be very high.

• When voltage is applied to the gate, an electrical field is generated that changes
the width of the channel region, where the electrons flow. The wider the channel
region, the better conductivity of a device will be.
Types of MOSFET
Construction

• The metallic gate terminal in the MOSFET is

insulated from the semiconductor layer by a
SiO2 layer or dielectric layer.

• The MOSFET consists of three terminals,

they are source(S), Gate (G), Drain (D) and
the body which is called as substrate. The
substrate is connected to the source
internally.
• Both the depletion and enhancement type MOSFETs use an electrical field
produced by a gate voltage to alter the flow of charge carriers, electrons for n-
channel or holed for p-channel, through the semiconductive drain-source
channel.

• The gate electrode is placed on top of a very thin insulating later and there are
a pair of small n-type regions just under the drain and source electrodes.

• It is possible to bias the gate of a MOSFET in either polarity, positive or

negative.
Symbol for MOSFET
1. Depletion mode MOSFET

• The depletion mode MOSFET which is less

common than the enhancement mode types is
normally switched “ON” (conducting)
without the application of a gate bias voltage.
That is the channel conducts when VGS=0
making it a “normally-closed” device.

• The circuit symbol for a depletion MOS

transistor uses a solid channel line to signify
a normally closed conductive channel.
• For the n-channel depletion MOS transistor, a negative gate-source voltage, -V GS
will deplete the conductive channel of its free electrons switching the transistor
“OFF”.

• In other words, for an n-channel depletion mode MOSFET: +VGS means more
electrons and more current.

• While a –VGS means less electrons and less current.

• The opposite is also true for the p-channel types.

• Then the depletion mode MOSFET is equivalent to a “normally-closed” switch.

2. Enhancement mode MOSFET

• The more common Enhancement mode

MOSFET or eMOSFET, is the reverse of the
depletion mode type.

• Here the conducting channel is lightly doped

or even undoped making it non-conductive.

• This results in the device being normally

“OFF”(non-conducting) when the gate bias
voltage, VGS is equal to zero.
• The circuit symbol for an enhancement MOS transistor uses a broken channel line to
signify a normally open non-conducting channel.

• For the n-channel enhancement MOS transistor a drain current will only flow when a
gate voltage (VGS) is applied to the gate terminal greater than the threshold voltage

(VTH) level in which conductance takes place making it a transconductance device.

Advantages Disadvantages

• Provides higher efficiency while • Has a short life

operating at lower voltages. • Required repeated calibration for accurate

dose measurement
• Due high input impedance, MOSFET has
high switching speed. • They have very susceptible to overload
voltage, hence due to installation special
• They support high speed operation
handling is to be required
compare to JFETs.

• They have high drain resistance.

• It has low power consumption.

Applications

• MOSFETs are used in digital integrated circuits, such as microprocessors.

• Used in calculators.

• Used in memories and in logic CMOS gates.

• Used in the applications of power electronics and switch mode power supplies.

• MOSFET Amplifiers are widely used in radio frequency applications.

• Speed of DC Motors can be regulated with help of Power MOSFET.

• Due to high switching speed, it can be used in chopper circuits.

 Pinch off voltage
• It is the voltage at which the channel is pinched off,
i.e., all the free charge from the channel get removed.

• At pinch-off voltage Vp, the drain current becomes

constant.

• The point when ID ceases to increase regardless of

VDD increases is called the pinch off voltage (point
B). This current is called maximum drain current
(IDSS).

• Breakdown (point C) is reached when too much

voltage is applied.
 BJT
• A bipolar junction transistor is a three-terminal
semiconductor device that consists of two p-n junctions
which are able to amplify or magnify a signal.

• It is a current controlled device.

• The three terminals of the BJT are the base, the

collector, and the emitter.

• A signal of a small amplitude applied to the base is

available in the amplified form at the collector of the
transistor.
Advantages Disadvantages

• They have a better voltage gain • BJT has a low thermal stability

• They have a high current density • BJT is most effective by radiation

• They have a low forward voltage • BJT has more noise produced

• It can be operated in low to high power • BJT has a low switching frequency
application
• BJT has a very complex control
• BJT has a large gain bandwidth
• The switching time is not very fast
• BJT shows better performance at high compared to a high alternating
frequency frequency of current and voltage
Applications

• Analog and digital circuits

• High frequency application such as radio frequency analog circuits

• As digital logic gates (NOT and NOR)

• It is also used as a voltage regulator

• For switching and amplification

Difference between BJT and FET
 IGBT
• The insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a
semiconductor device with three terminals and is
used mainly as an electronic switch.

• The three terminals are Gate (G), Emitter (E) and

Collector (C).

• IGBT combines the characteristics of MOSFETs and

BJTs to attain high current and low saturation voltage
capacity respectively.
• It is a voltage controlled device.

• It is a four-layer PNPN device having three PN junctions. It has three terminals

Gate (G), Collector(C) and Emitter (E).
Construction

• An IGBT is constructed on a p+ layer substrate.

• On p+ substrate, a high resistivity n- layer is

epitaxially grown.

• As in other semi-conductor devices, the

thickness of n- layer determines the voltage
blocking capability of IGBT.

• On the other side of p+ substrate, a metal layer

is deposited to form the Collector (C) terminal.
• Now, p regions are diffused in the epitaxially grown n- layer. Further, n+ regions are
diffused in p region.

• Now, an insulating layer of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) is grown on the surface. This
insulating layer is etched in order to embed metallic Emitter and Gate terminals.

• The p+ substrate is also called injector layer because it injects holes into n- layer. The
n- layer is called drift region. The next p layer is called the body of IGBT. The n- layer
in between the p+ & p region serves to accommodate the depletion layer of pn-
junction i.e. J2.
Working

• The working principle of IGBT is based on the biasing of Gate to Emitter

terminals and Collector to Emitter terminals.

• When collector is made positive with respect to emitter, IGBT gets forward
biased.

• With no voltage between Gate and Emitter, two junctions between n- region & p
region i.e. junction J2 are reversed biased.

• Therefore, no current flows from collector to emitter.

• The working principle of IGBT is based on the biasing of Gate to Emitter terminals
and Collector to Emitter terminals.

• When collector is made positive with respect to emitter, IGBT gets forward biased.

• With no voltage between Gate and Emitter, two junctions between n- region & p region
i.e. junction J2 are reversed biased.

• Therefore, no current flows from collector to emitter.

• As IGBT is forward biased with collector positive and emitter negative, p+ collector
region injects holes into n- drift region. Thus, n- drift region is flooded with electrons
from p-body region and holes from p+ collector region.
• With this, the injection
carrier density in n-drift
region increases considerably
and subsequently,
conductivity of n- region
enhances.

• Therefore, IGBT gets turned

ON and begins to conduct
forward current IC.
Types of IGBT

1. Punch through IGBT:

• The Punch through IGBT includes N+ buffer layer due to which it is also known as an
asymmetrical IGBT.

• They have asymmetric voltage blocking capabilities i.e. their forward and reverse breakdown
voltages are different.

• Their reverse breakdown voltage is less than its forward breakdown voltage.

• It has faster-switching speed.

• Punch through IGBTs is unidirectional and cannot handle reverse voltages. Therefore, they are
used in DC circuits such as inverters and chopper circuits.
2. Non-punch through IGBT

• They are also known as symmetrical IGBT due to the absence of extra N+ buffer layer.

• The symmetry in structure provides symmetrical breakdown voltage characteristics i.e.

the forward and reverse breakdown voltages are equal.

• Due to this reason, they are used in AC circuits.

Advantages Disadvantages
• It has higher voltage and current handling capabilities.
• It has a lower switching speed than MOSFET.
• It has a very high input impedance.
• It is unidirectional it cannot conduct in
• It can switch very high currents using very low
reverse.
voltage.

• The gate drive circuitry is simple and cheap.

• It cannot block higher reverse voltage.

• It can be easily switched ON by applying positive • It is costlier than BJT and MOSFET.
voltage and OFF by applying zero or slightly negative
• It has latching problems due to the PNPN
voltage.
structure resembling thyristor.
• It has a higher power gain than both BJT and
MOSFET. • High turn off time.

• It has a higher switching speed than BJT. • Latching up problem.

Applications

• It is used in SMPS (Switched Mode Power Supply) to supply power to sensitive

medical equipment and computers.

• It is used in UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) system.

• It is used in AC and DC motor drives offering speed control.

• It is used in chopper and inverters.

• It is used in solar inverters.

 GTO
• A gate turn off thyristor (GTO) is a special type of
thyristor, which is a high power semiconductor
device.

• GTOs, as opposed to normal thyristors, are fully

controllable switches which can be turned on and
off by their third lead, the gate lead.

• GTO is 4 layer PNPN device having 3 PN

junctions and 3 terminals.
• It is a semiconductor based fully controlled unidirectional switching device (thyristor) that
has 3 terminals Gate, Cathode, and Anode.

• The gate current required to turn off the GTO is relatively high.

• A GTO rated with 4000v and 3000A need -750A gate current to switch off. So, GTOs are
used in low power applications.

• A positive current pulse at the gate switches ON the GTO while a negative current pulse at
the gate switches it OFF.

• It is unidirectional, therefore, it only allows current from anode to cathode.

Construction

• The anode is a metallic electrode attached to the

P+ heavily doped region.

• The doping is kept high to maintain high anode

efficiency. Heavy doping decreases the turn-on
time but also increases the turn-off time with
power loss.

• To avoid this problem, N+ regions are added into

the anode region known as anode shorted
structure.
• It reduces the reverse voltage blocking with better turn-off timing. Therefore, the
anode short is designed based on the required performance.

• On top of the anode region, an N-type base region is added forming PN junction
J1 where doping and width of this region determines the forward blocking voltage
capacity of the device.

• Low doping level and increased width of this layer increases the forward blocking
voltage of the GTO.
• The P-type gate region is added on top of the base N layer forming the
2nd junction j2. This region is neither heavily nor lightly doped due to the given
reasons.

• Heavy doping of the gate region causes to have better turn-off time and lightly
doping increases the emitter efficiency from the cathode region. This is why the
gate P region is moderately doped.
Working

1. Turn-on Mechanism

• GTO has the same turn-off operation as a conventional thyristor.

• It can be turned-on using two methods i.e. increasing forward voltage above break
over voltage, applying positive gate current.

• When forward voltage is applied to GTO i.e. anode voltage is positive than the
cathode, the junction j1 and j3 becomes forward biased while the junction j2
becomes reverse biased.

• The reversed biased j2 does not allow the current to flow through the device.
• If the forward is increased above the forward break over voltage, an avalanche
will occur and the J2 will become forward biased allowing the current flow. this
type of switching is destructive and should be avoided.

• The proper method of turning a GTO is by applying a positive gate current when
forward voltage is applied.

• Application of positive current at the gate injects holes into the P gate region
which makes j3 forward bias.

• Thus allowing the current flow through it.

2. Turn-off Mechanism

• To turn off the GTO, the gate terminal is applied with negative current or negative
voltage with respect to the cathode.

• The holes entering through the anode are extracted through the gate terminal.

• It makes the junction j3 reverse biased that stops the electron injection from the
cathode region.

• At this time, there is no cathode current but the anode current is still flowing
through the gate terminal which is called “tail current”.
• It reduces exponentially. and
once it goes to zero, the device
completely turn-off and blocks
the voltage at its terminals.

• The turn-off current required for

GTO is dependent on the anode
voltage and current but it is
usually one-fourth of the anode
current.
Types of GTO

1. Asymmetric GTO

• Asymmetric GTOs are the most common type of

GTOs also known as “shorted anode GTO”.

• They have asymmetric voltage blocking capabilities

i.e. forward blocking voltage is not equal to reverse
blocking voltage.

• The reverse blocking voltage is very less than forward

blocking voltage. They are usually used with a diode
in anti-parallel.
2. Symmetric GTO

• The symmetric GTO has symmetric voltage

blocking capabilities.

• The reverse blocking voltage is as high as

forward voltage. It does not have a
“shorted-anode” structure instead anode is
made of pure P+ region.
Advantages Disadvantages
• GTO has a turn-off feature thus eliminating the
• The gate drive loss and On-state losses
use of a commutation circuit. in turn, the size,
are higher than conventional thyristor.
weight of the circuit is substantially reduced.

• It has a low turn-off time with efficient • The gate current required to trigger a
switching. GTO is higher than conventional thyristor.
• It has better switching characteristics than a • It has a higher on-state voltage drop.
conventional thyristor.
• It cannot handle high reverse voltages.
• It has higher voltage blocking capabilities.
• It has higher latching and holding current
• It is cost-effective due to the absence of extra
commutation circuitry. magnitude.
Applications

• It is used in high-performance AC as well as DC motor drives.

• It is used in Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) with adjustable frequency.

• It is used in DC-to-AC or DC-to-DC converters.

• It is used in DC choppers.

• It is used in HVDC systems.

• It is used in induction heating.

• It is used for high-power AC/DC power supplies.

 IGCT
• IGCT is a gate-controlled turn-off switch which turns off
like a transistor but conducts like a thyristor with the lowest
conduction losses.

• Similar to GTO, it is a fully controllable power switch. i.e.,

It can be turned-On and turned-Off by applying a gate
signal.

• It withstands higher rates of voltage rises. So snubber

circuits are not required for most of the applications.
Advantages Applications

• Controlled turn-off ability. • High power drives

• Relatively high overload capacity. • Supply inverter sources for DC

• Low on-state losses. transmissions

• Working frequency of kHz. • Big frequency converters

• Series connection possibility.

• High cyclic resistance.

Types of Rectifiers
 Freewheeling diode
• Freewheeling diode or flyback diode is a diode
that is connected across an inductor to eliminate
the flyback.

• Flyback is the sudden voltage spike that occurs

across an inductive load due to interruption of
supply current or sudden reduction.

• This voltage spike will damage the switches

present in the circuits.
 Single phase half wave controlled rectifier (R load)

• A Single Phase Half Wave Controlled

Rectifier circuit consists of SCR /
thyristor, an AC voltage source and
load.

• The load may be purely

v0 = Load output voltage
resistive, inductive or a combination of
i0 = Load current
resistance and inductance. VT = Voltage across the thyristor T
• Following points must be kept in mind while discussing controlled rectifier:

1. The necessary condition for turn ON of SCR is that, it should be forward biased
and gate signal must be applied. In other words, an SCR will only get turned ON
when it is forward biased and fired or gated.

2. SCR will only turn off when current through it reaches below holding current
and reverse voltage is applied for a time period more than the SCR turn off time.

• Let us assume that thyristor T is fired at a firing angle of α. This means when wt =
α, gate signal will be applied and SCR will start conducting.
• Thyristor T is forward biased for
the positive half cycle of supply
voltage.

• The load output voltage is zero

till SCR is fired.

• Once SCR is fired at an angle of

α, SCR starts conducting.
• But as soon as the supply voltage becomes zero at ωt = π, the load current will
become zero and after ωt = π, SCR is reversed biased. Thus thyristor T will turn
off at ωt = π and will remain in OFF condition till it is fired again at ωt = (2π+α).

• Therefore, the load output voltage and current for one complete cycle of input
supply voltage may be written as

v0 = Vm Sin ωt for α ≤ ωt ≤ π

i0 = Vm Sin ωt / R for for α ≤ ωt ≤ π

Calculation of Average Load Output Voltage
• From the expression of average output voltage, it can be seen that, by changing
firing angle α, we can change the average output voltage. The average output
voltage is maximum when firing angle is zero and it is minimum when firing
angle α = π. This is the reason, it is called phase controlled rectifier.

• Average load current for Single Phase Half Wave Controlled Rectifier can easily
be calculated by dividing the average load output voltage by load resistance R.
Single phase half wave controlled rectifier (RL load)

• The load is assumed to be highly

inductive.

• The operation of the circuit on

inductive loads changes slightly.
Now at instant t01, when the
thyristor is triggered, the load-
current will increase in a finite-time
through the inductive load.
• The supply voltage from this instant appears across the load.

• Due to inductive load, the increase in current is gradual. Energy is stored in

inductor during time t01 to t1

• At t1 the supply voltage reverses, but the thyristor is kept conducting. This is due
to the fact that current through the inductance cannot be reduced to zero.

• During negative-voltage half-cycle, current continues to flow till the energy stored
in the inductance is dissipated in the load-resistor and a part of the energy is fed-
back to the source.
• Hence, due to energy stored in inductor, current , current continuous to flow up to

instant t11 at instant t11 the load current is zero and due to negative supply voltage,

thyristor turns off.

• At instant t02 when again pulse is applied, the above cycle repeats. Hence the

effect of the inductive load is increased in the conduction period of the SCR.

• The half-wave circuit is not normally used since it produces a large output voltage
ripple and is incapable of providing continuous load-current.
Waveforms for a half wave
controlled rectifier with RL
load
• The average value of the load-voltage can be derived as:

• Here, it has been assumed that in negative half-cycles, the SCR conducts for a
period of α

• From the above equation, it is clear that the average load-voltage is reduced in
case of inductive load. This is due to the conduction of SCR in negative cycle.
 Three phase Fully Controlled
Rectifier
• The three phase fully controlled bridge converter
is widely used power electronic converter in the
medium to high power applications.

• Three phase circuits are preferable when large

power is involved.

• The controlled rectifier can provide controllable

out put dc voltage in a single unit instead of a
three phase autotransformer and a diode bridge
rectifier
• For any current to flow in the load at least one device from the top group (T1, T3,
T5) and one from the bottom group (T2, T4, T6) must conduct.

• It can be argued as in the case of an uncontrolled converter only one device from
these two groups will conduct.

• Then from symmetry consideration it can be argued that each thyristor conducts for
120° of the input cycle.

• Now the thyristors are fired in the sequence T1 → T2 → T3 → T4 → T5 → T6 →

T1 with 60° interval between each firing.
• . Therefore thyristors on the same phase leg are fired at an interval of
180° and hence can not conduct simultaneously.
• This leaves only six possible conduction mode for the converter in the
continuous conduction mode of operation. These are T1T2, T2T3,
T3T4, T4T5, T5T6, T6T1.
• Each conduction mode is of 60° duration and appears in the sequence
mentioned. The conduction table shows voltage across different
devices and the dc output voltage for each conduction interval.
Conduction table
• Each of these line voltages can be associated with the firing of a thyristor with the
help of the conduction table.

• For example the thyristor T1 is fired at the end of T5T6 conduction interval. During
this period the voltage across T1 was vac. Therefore T1 is fired α angle after the
positive going zero crossing of vac. Similar observation can be made about other
thyristors.

• If the converter firing angle is α each thyristor is fired “α” angle after the positive
going zero crossing of the line voltage with which it’s firing is associated.
• Once the conduction diagram is drawn all other voltage waveforms can be drawn
from the line voltage waveforms and from the conduction table.

• Similarly line currents can be drawn from the output current and the conduction
diagram. It is clear from the waveforms that output voltage and current waveforms
are periodic over one sixth of the input cycle.

• Therefore this converter is also called the “six pulse” converter.

• The input current on the other hand contains only odds harmonics of the input
frequency other than the triplex (3rd, 9th etc.) harmonics.
Waveform for three phase fully
controlled converter in rectifier
mode
Waveform for three phase fully
controlled converter in Inverter
mode
Analysis of the converter in the inverting mode

• When α<90º, the output dc voltage will be positive and

power will be flowing from the three phase ac side to the
dc side.

• This is the rectifier mode of operation of the converter.

However if is made larger than 90º the direction of power
flow through the converter will reverse provided there
exists a power source in the dc side of suitable polarity.

• The converter in that case is said to be operating in the

inverter mode.
Advantages

• Higher output voltage for given input voltage

• Lower amplitude ripples i.e., output voltage is smoother

• Higher frequency ripples, simplifying filtering

• Higher overall efficiency