Power Electronics Semiconductor Devices

This book relates the recent developments in several key electrical engineering R&D labs, concentrating on power electronics switches and their use. The first sections deal with key power electronics technologies, MOSFETs and IGBTs, including series and parallel associations. The next section examines silicon carbide and its potentiality for power electronics applications and its present limitations. Then, a dedicated section presents the capacitors, key passive components in power electronics, followed by a modeling method allowing the stray inductances computation, necessary for the precise simulation of switching waveforms. Thermal behavior associated with power switches follows, and the last part proposes some interesting prospectives associated to Power Electronics integration.

Auteur

Robert PERRET, Grenoble INP, France, is the editor of Power Electronics Semiconductor Devices, published by Wiley.

Contenu

Preface xi

Chapter 1. Power MOSFET Transistors **1
**Pierre ALOÏSI

1.1. Introduction 1

1.2. Power MOSFET technologies 5

1.2.1. Diffusion process 5

1.2.2. Physical and structural MOS parameters 7

1.2.3. Permanent sustaining current 20

1.3. Mechanism of power MOSFET operation 23

1.3.1. Basic principle 23

1.3.2. Electron injection 23

1.3.3. Static operation 25

1.3.4. Dynamic operation 30

1.4. Power MOSFET main characteristics 34

1.5. Switching cycle with an inductive load 36

1.5.1. Switch-on study 36

1.5.2. Switch-off study 38

1.6. Characteristic variations due to MOSFET temperature changes 44

1.7. Over-constrained operations 46

1.7.1. Overvoltage on the gate 46

1.7.2. Over-current 47

1.7.3. Avalanche sustaining 49

1.7.4. Use of the body diode 50

1.7.5. Safe operating areas 51

1.8. Future developments of the power MOSFET 53

1.9. References 55

Chapter 2. Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors **57
**Pierre ALOÏSI

2.1. Introduction 57

2.2. IGBT technology 58

2.2.1. IGBT structure 58

2.2.2. Voltage and current characteristics 60

2.3. Operation technique 63

2.3.1. Basic principle 63

2.3.2. Continuous operation 64

2.3.3. Dynamic operation 71

2.4. Main IGBT characteristics 74

2.5 One cycle of hard switching on the inductive load 75

2.5.1. Switch-on study 76

2.5.2. Switch-off study 78

2.6 Soft switching study 86

2.6.1. Soft switching switch-on: ZVS (Zero Voltage Switching) 86

2.6.2. Soft switching switch-off: ZCS (Zero Current Switching) 88

2.7. Temperature operation 94

2.8. Over-constraint operations 98

2.8.1. Overvoltage 98

2.8.2. Over-current 99

2.8.3. Manufacturer's specified safe operating areas 113

2.9. Future of IGBT 116

2.9.1. Silicon evolution 116

2.9.2. Saturation voltage improvements 117

2.10. IGBT and MOSFET drives and protections 119

2.10.1. Gate drive design 119

2.10.2. Gate drive circuits 122

2.10.3. MOSFET and IGBT protections 128

2.11. References 130

Chapter 3. Series and Parallel Connections of MOS and IGBT **133
**Daniel CHATROUX , Dominique LAFORE and Jean-Luc SCHANEN

3.1. Introduction 133

3.2. Kinds of associations 134

3.2.1. Increase of power 134

3.2.2. Increasing performance 135

3.3. The study of associations: operation and parameter influence on imbalances in series and parallel 135

3.3.1. Analysis and characteristics for the study of associations 135

3.3.2. Static operation 137

3.3.3. Dynamic operation: commutation 140

3.3.4. Transient operation 149

3.3.5. Technological parameters that influence imbalances 151

3.4. Solutions for design 152

3.4.1. Parallel association 152

3.4.2. Series associations 161

3.4.3. Matrix connection of components 179

3.5. References 182

Chapter 4. Silicon Carbide Applications in Power Electronics **185
**Marie-Laure LOCATELLI and Dominique PLANSON

4.1. Introduction 185

4.2. Physical properties of silicon carbide 186

4.2.1. Structural features 186

4.2.2. Chemical, mechanical and thermal features 189

4.2.3. Electronic and thermal features 188

4.2.4. Other candidates as semiconductors of power 195

4.3. State of the art technology for silicon carbide power components 296

4.3.1. Substrates and thin layers of SiC 296

4.3.2. Technological steps for achieving power components 203 4.4. Applications of silicon carbide in pow...