Power Semiconductor Devices

Power Semiconductor Devices: Power Semiconductor Fundamentals & Power Diodes, Power MOSFETs & IGBTs, Thyristor Family: SCR, TRIAC, DIAC, GTO & IGCT, Wide-Bandgap Power Devices: SiC & GaN.

• Power Semiconductor Fundamentals & Power Diodes — What makes a device a power device. Learn voltage blocking with lightly doped drift regions, the unipolar silicon limit (R_on,sp ∝ BV^2.5) and how conductivity modulation in bipolar devices beats it, current conduction and on-state loss, switching loss, safe operating area (FBSOA, RBSOA, SCSOA), thermal limits, avalanche ruggedness, and power diodes — PiN power diodes, fast/ultrafast/soft recovery, Schottky and SiC Schottky, reverse recovery and Q_rr, snubbers and rectifier applications — with Python computing drift thickness, doping and specific on-resistance for Si, SiC and GaN at 600 V and 1200 V, the Baliga figure of merit, and reverse-recovery losses.
• Power MOSFETs & IGBTs — The two workhorse power switches. Learn power MOSFET structures (VDMOS, trench, shielded-gate, superjunction), R_DS(on) components and temperature coefficient, body diode, gate charge, avalanche and SOA, paralleling; then the IGBT: MOS-gated bipolar structure (p⁺ collector injection), conductivity modulation, V_CE(sat), punch-through and field-stop designs, tail current, latch-up of the parasitic thyristor, short-circuit withstand, co-packaged diodes, and the MOSFET-vs-IGBT decision — with Python comparing conduction loss vs current, the loss crossover point and IGBT tail loss vs frequency.
• Thyristor Family: SCR, TRIAC, DIAC, GTO & IGCT — Latching PNPN devices. Learn the four-layer structure and two-transistor model, regenerative latching (α₁ + α₂ ≥ 1), forward blocking, forward conduction and reverse blocking, gate triggering, latching and holding currents, turn-off by commutation (natural and forced), dv/dt and di/dt limits, TRIAC bidirectional operation and triggering quadrants, DIAC breakover triggering, gate turn-off thyristors (GTO) and integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCT), the UJT concept, and applications from dimmers to HVDC — with Python checking latching conditions, dv/dt-induced false triggering and phase-control power.
• Wide-Bandgap Power Devices: SiC & GaN — Silicon carbide and gallium nitride in practice. Learn why wide bandgap matters (critical field, thermal conductivity, intrinsic temperature), SiC material and polytypes (4H), SiC Schottky/MPS diodes, SiC MOSFETs (channel mobility, threshold drift, +15…+20 V/−3…−5 V gate drive, body-diode behaviour and bipolar degradation, short-circuit time, avalanche), GaN on Si lateral HEMTs (AlGaN/GaN polarisation-induced 2DEG, depletion-mode vs enhancement-mode p-GaN gate and cascode), low gate-voltage margins, zero Q_rr, dynamic R_DS(on) and current collapse, very high dv/dt, layout and package parasitics, reliability and cost — plus diamond and Ga₂O₃ outlook — with Python comparing Si IGBT and SiC MOSFET inverter losses vs frequency and GaN 2DEG sheet resistance.