Semiconductor Devices
2.8 DATASHEET INFORMATION
Successful design of power converters depends strongly on the information provided by the power semiconductor manufacturer within the datasheet. Each power device or class of devices is characterized with a peculiar technical document called “data-sheet.” Let us see here how the information from a device datasheet has been gath-ered and what does it mean.
The first section of a datasheet includes a brief description of the device and a drawing of the device. In most cases, the application field is also suggested herein.
Even if presented in other random order, a first important section contains infor-mation about the absolute maximum electrical ratings of the device. If the opera-tion of the power semiconductor device exceeds these ratings even on transients—it voids the manufacturer’s guarantee regardless of the duration or the conditions of the stress. Usually manufacturers use a test tolerance for these ratings when test-ing to establish the highest absolute-maximum rattest-ing. However, the circuit designer should never count on this tolerance band as it may vary from manufacturer to manu-facturer. Alternatively, protective components can be used to completely alleviate operation beyond the absolute maximum ratings.
Any datasheet also provides three absolute maximum temperature ratings:
• Operating temperature is the maximum temperature over which you can operate the power device, even if there is no guarantee implied that electri-cal performance will be maintained over the entire operating temperature range.
• Junction temperature is the maximum temperature that the internal semi-conductor die can reach under any environmental or operation condition.
• Storage temperature is the maximum temperature that the device may reach under a storage condition. This also voids the warranty offered by manufac-turer for the device.
There is also another environmental warning regarding the ESD protection.
The most challenging information for a converter designer comes from the elec-trical characteristics tables. Each performance characteristics is reported along with test conditions for measurement, and it is provided with three fields: MIN (minimum), TYP (typical), and MAX (maximum). The manufacturer is trying to select the most significant test points. However, the circuit designer should exercise care in under-standing the differences between the circuit under design and what the manufacturer
is offering as test data. After initial assessment of their own power semiconductor devices, the manufacturer applies statistics to the data to obtain the mean value for each parameter. The following production batches are tested by statistical sampling for this datasheet information. The statistics yield the variance and sigma for the results distribution. The maximum and minimum values for each characteristics are selected at six times the value of sigma. These six sigma points become the minimum and maximum values for that parameter, and the mean is usually taken as the typical specification. Modern Design for Reliability concerns require the circuit designers to consider both the MAX and MIN values in order to cover all possible mishaps during operation rather than reducing the design to the use of TYP values.
Alternatively, the designer may use its own statistical process of evaluation for the in-circuit tests of the new design.
A section of the datasheet contains graphs and table data for parameters that may vary with different operation points.
This applications related section often includes parameter measurement infor-mation, or unusual measurement circuits. The application section covers load-driving capability, layout and heat-sink suggestions, safe-operating area curves, special stabilization techniques for control circuits if included, or Spice models.
All this information is provided by application engineer with experience in product and with a desire to present the product at its best. Such examples are eye-catching and not necessarily the best solutions for very large volume production. This is why the modern Design for Reliability concerns should be applied in all phases of design.
PROBLEMS
P2.1 Try to explain the variation of the gate-drain and gate-source capacitances?
P2.2 The on-resistance of a power MOSFET equals 120 mOhms at a junction temperature of 25°C and increases linearly with temperature up to 200 mOhms at 100°C. Calculate the conduction loss in function of the opera-tion temperature if the load resistance is 10 Ohms and the supply voltage is 150 V for a chopper operation.
P2.3 Imagine a hybrid power switch made up of a bipolar transistor and a power MOSFET connected in parallel. What would be the benefits of such a device?
P2.4 Qualitatively sketch the collector current versus time during turn-off for a short lifetime IGBT and for a long lifetime IGBT and explain the differences.
P2.5 Qualitatively sketch the collector current change during the turn-on of an IGBT device controlled through different gate resistors.
P2.6 Qualitatively sketch the collector current change during the turn-off of an IGBT device controlled through different gate resistors.
P2.7 Write a computer program for power loss estimation based on the equa-tions shown in this chapter and run this program for a simple case of a single IGBT switching a load resistor of 20 Ohms, at 20 kHz, from a
DC bus of 400 Vdc. Consider a real IGBT device along with the manu-facturer datasheet and compare results with those given in datasheet.
P2.8 Consider a MOSFET and an IGBT with the same breakdown voltage and the same current rating. How would you compare the gate-drain and gate-source capacitances of these two devices?
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