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BY ADMIN · PUBLISHED JANUARY 1, 2013 ·
UPDATED JANUARY 1, 2018  Analog Circuit Design Basics (11)

Power Semiconductor  Cadence: Pspice (3)

Devices Classification        
 Choppers (11)
                      Semiconductor devices
having high voltage and current ratings  Electrical Drives (9)

are known as Power Semiconductor

 IGBT (4)
Devices. The Power Devices are
classified into various categories based  Interview Questions (12)
on their Turn ON and Turn OFF
 Inverters (2)
capability, Type of gate signal
required, Current Conduction Capability  Linear Power Supply Design (4)
and Voltage withstanding ability. The
 Power Electronics Basics (11)
Power semiconductor devices
classification is discussed in this post.  Power Semiconductor Devices (21)

                 When the power  SCR Tutorials (11)

semiconductor devices are forward
 Switch Mode Power Supply [SMPS] (4)
biased, except diode they wont start to
conduct the current immediately. We  Uninterruptible power supply [UPS] (5)
have to apply gate/base voltage to
make them conduct the current. Based
on this scenario, the power devices are GET UPDATES VIA EMAIL:
classified as uncontrolled devices,
partially controlled devices and fully Enter your email address:

controllable devices.

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When applying gate voltage to the Complete Power El…

devices, some of the power devices 3,213 likes

require this voltage continuously to

maintain their ON status. Whereas in
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some devices, just short duration of
gate voltage is sufficient to enable the Be the first of your friends to like this

current conduction. Once the device

starts to conduct the current, we can
remove the applying gate voltage.
Based on this scenario, the power
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semiconductor devices are classified as
pulse gate required devices and
continuous gate voltage required
devices.

                   After the device turned on,

some power devices have the nature of
conducting current in one direction only.
For example, consider a power device
has two terminals namely Terminal-1
(T1) and Terminal-2 (T2). If this device
has the capability to conduct the
current  from T1 to T2 only, then it is
known as Unidirectional current device.
 Suppose this device has the capability
of conducting the current from T1 to T2
and T2 to T1, then this device is known
as bidirectional current device.

                    In some of power
semiconductor devices, we should not
reverse the polarities while applying the
supply voltage.It means, if we apply
positive voltage to the negative
terminal and negative voltage to the
positive terminal, the device will get
damaged. ie, there is no reverse voltage
protection. On the other hand, some of
power semiconductor devices have the
capability of withstanding bipolar
voltage.

                For better understanding the

abbreviations of power semiconductor
devices are given below:
SCR - Silicon Controlled Rectifier
RCT - Reverse Conducting Thyristor
GTO -  Gate TurnOff Thyristor
BJT - Bipolar Junction Transistor
SIT - Static Induction Transistor
MOSFET - Metal Oxide Semiconductor
Field Effect Transistor
IGBT - Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor
TRIAC - TRIode for Alternating Current
MCT - MOS Controlled Thyristor

Based on Turn ON and Turn OFF

Capability:

1. Uncontrollable power
semiconductor devices
Diode: The ON and OFF state are
not depend on the control signal.
They depend  on the power source.
2. Partially controllable power
semiconductor devices
SCR, TRIAC, DIAC -- They are
turned ON by applying gate signal.
But these devices can not be turned
OFF with the help of gate signals.
They are turned off by load or by
commutation.
3. Fully controllable power
semiconductor devices
Power BJT, MOSFET, IGBT, GTO  --
These devices can be both turned
ON and turned OFF by applying
gate signals

Based on Gate signal:

 1. Pulse gate requirement
Example: SCR, GTO, SITH, MCT
To Turn ON these devices, pulse
voltage is applied as a control
signal. Once the device is turned on,
the gate pulse is not required and
thus removed.
2. Continuous gate requirement
Example: BJT, MOSFET, IGBT
For these devices, continuous gate
signal is required to maintain them
in ON state.

Based on Current Conduction

Capability: 

1. Unidirectional Current Devices

Ex:- SCR, GTO, BJT, MOSFET, IGBT
2. Bidirectional Current Devices
Ex:- TRIAC, RCT(Reverse
Conducting Thyristor)

Based on Voltage withstanding ability:

1. Unipoloar voltage withstanding

devices
Ex:- BJT, MOSFET, IGBT
2. Bipolar voltage withstanding
devices
Ex:- SCR, GTO

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17 RESPONSES

 Comments 17  Pingbacks 0

suyog vartak  August 1, 2013 at 2:57 pm

there is good discrption about every
power electronics devices which is
very easy to understand the basic
concept in PE.
thank you very much............

Reply

Shani  September 2, 2013 at 5:23 pm

v.v.good discussion about power
device

Reply

Gabriel Aguiar
 November 7, 2013 at 11:35 pm
Hi
I’m looking for those power devices
that are used in Radiofrequency
circuits, do you know?
Thanks

Reply

parth  July 26, 2014 at 9:04 am

nice

Reply

SD MOHAPATRA
 October 17, 2014 at 6:38 pm
I LOVE ALL THE
COLLECTIONS.......THANK U,

Reply

Raja Naeem Shaukat

 November 9, 2014 at 5:56 pm
I'm so much thankful to you writer.
Not only this data but all the data
provided in your this site is very
helpful and simply explained .

Reply

sandy  November 19, 2014 at 12:13 am

Thanx its very help full for me.

Reply

Swati  November 23, 2014 at 9:08 pm

I am in love with your website.

Reply

sandy
 October 4, 2017 at 6:47 am
love u to

Reply

jd-bhai  November 28, 2014 at 8:09 am

Bjt and MOSFET are unipolar devices
in differences between MOSFET and
bjt you (admin) wrote it as bipolar
please change it. And remaining
things are good .

Reply

wajahat miankhel
 April 8, 2016 at 11:06 pm
very helpful study from your website
in one night....paper clear

Reply

shibin  September 9, 2016 at 5:35 am

really helpful,, thanks a lot..

Reply

Nitesh  December 22, 2016 at 6:25 am

There is one mistake regarding BJT.
It's dipolar transistor not a Unipolar..

Reply

Gajendra Kushwah
 December 24, 2016 at 2:22 pm
Nice concept to understand

Reply

aravint a  February 8, 2017 at 6:20 am

very useful

Reply

Sree  July 4, 2017 at 4:18 pm

Thanks for giving such a clear cut
information nd it is very easy to
understand

Reply

Bhargav
 November 26, 2017 at 12:02 am
This content small for basic... You
upload scr full theory in pe

Reply
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