Comparison of Power Semiconductor Devices

Quiz

In the previous chapters we have discussed Power Diode, Transistor family : Power - BJT, Power - MOSFET, IGBT and thyristor family : SCR, GTO and TRIAC. The following factors should be considered for the classification of power semiconductor devices −

Type of control
Number of layers of semi-conductor materials used in the device
Driver circuit
Based on the carrier's
Based on the number terminals
Based on triggering methods
Based on polarity of voltage blocking
Based on direction of current conduction

S.No	Parameter	Power Diode	Power BJT	Power MOSFET	IGBT	SCR	GTO	TRIAC
1	Type of Control	Uncontrolled	Fully	Fuly	Fully	Semi	Fully	Semi
2	Number of layers	Two layers	Three layers	Three layers	Three layers	Four layers	Four layers	Four layers
3	Driver Circuit	-	Current	Voltage	Voltage	Current	Current	Current
4	Charge Carriers	Minority carriers	Both carriers	Majority carriers	Minority carriers	Minority carriers	Minority carriers	Both carriers
5	Number of terminals	two	three	three	three	three	three	three
6	Triggering Method	-	Level	Level	Level	Pulse	Pulse	Pulse
7	Direction of current	Uni	Uni	Uni	Uni	Uni	Uni	Bi

Typical Rating of Power Semi-conductor devices

Following are the typical ratings of power semi-conductor devices −

S.No	Device Name	Voltage/ Current Rating	Maximum Operation Frequency	Switch ON time	Switch OFF time	ON state resistance
1	General / Power Diode	5V / 5kA	1 kHz	50 - 100 µs	50 - 100 µs	0.3 - 0.6 m&ohm;
2	High Speed Power Diode	3kV / 1kA	20kHz	50 - 10 µs	5 - 10 µs	1.2 - 1.96 m&ohm;
3	Power BJT	1400V / 400kA	10kHz	2 µs	9 - 30 µs	4 - 10 m&ohm;
4	Power MOSFET	1kV / 50kA	100kHz	0.1 µs	1 - 2 µs	1 - 2 m&ohm;
5	IGBT	3.3kV / 2.500A	50kHz	0.2 µs	2 - 5 µs	2 - 40 m&ohm;
6	Thyristor	10kV / 5kA	1kHz	2 - 5 µs	20 - 100 µs	0.25 - 0.75 m&ohm;
7	GTO	5kV / 3kA	2kHz	3 - 5 µs	10 - 25 µs	0.25 m&ohm;
8	TRIAC	1200V / 300A	0.5 kHz	2 - 5 µs	200 - 400 µs	3.5 m&ohm;

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