EXP NO: DATE:

MOSFET SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS

AIM:

1. To obtain the switching characteristics of MOSFET (IRFP460) in a hardware circuit with

TON=60µS, TOFF =1ms and draw the waveforms of VDS,VGS. Find the switching times tri,
tfi, td(on),td(off).
2. To study the effect of gate source resistance, RG (20 Ω and 30 Ω) on rise time and fall
time of drain current and voltage with the above load.
3. To determine (a) on state power loss and (b) switching loss of MOSFET in 1.
4. Compare the data sheet values of switching times of IRFP460 with hardware results and
write justification for the change in values.

COMPONENTS AND APPARATUS:

S No: ITEM DESCRIPTION QUANTITY

1 MOSFET IRFP460 1
2 Power Resistor (2.2Ω,12W) 1
3 Resistors (1K,27Ω,12Ω) 1 each
4 Pulse generator 1
5 Capacitance(2200µF) 1
6 Digital Storage Oscilloscope 1
7 Probe 1:1 2

THEORY:-

A Power MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) has three terminals
drain, source and gate .Circuit symbol and basic structure of MOSFET is shown in Figure 1.

SiO2
 Figure 1: Basic structure and circuit symbol of MOSFET

In the circuit symbol the arrow indicates the direction of electron flow. MOSFET is a voltage
controlled device. As its operation depends upon the majority carrier flow only, MOSFET is a
unipolar device. The control signal required for MOSFET is very low. This is because of the
fact that gate circuit impedance of the MOSFET is high. Second breakdown problem is not there
in MOSFETs. Power MOSFETs find applications in low power high frequency converters.
Power MOSFET has lower switching losses but its on-state resistance and conduction
losses are more. At high frequency applications power MOSFET is usually used.

Structure and equivalent circuit:-

The basic structure of an Enhancement type MOSFET is shown in Figure (1). If VGS is positive,
an induced voltage attracts the electrons from the p-substrate and accumulates them at the surface
beneath the oxide layer. If VGS is equal to or greater than a value known as threshold voltage VT,
a sufficient number of electrons are accumulated to form a virtual n- channel and the current flows
from the drain to source. The Polarities VDS, IDS, VGS are reversed for a p-channel enhancement-
type MOSFET. The p-n-junction forms an effective diode, called body diode in parallel with the
MOSFET channel. The symbol of MOSFET with body diode is shown in Figure (2).The body
diode becomes forward biased when VDS is negative. Several MOSFETS contain fast recovery
body diodes. The forward (MOSFET) and reverse (diode) ratings are different.

Figure 2: MOSFET with body diode

An important parameters that affect the MOSFET switching behavior are the parasitic
capacitances between the device’s three terminals, namely, gate-to-source, Cgs, gate-to-drain
Cgd and drain-to-source (Cds) capacitances as shown in Figure 3.The values of these
capacitances are nonlinear and a function of device structure, geometry, and bias voltages.
During turn on, capacitors Cgd and Cgs must be charged through the gate, hence, the design of
the gate control circuit must take into consideration the variation in these capacitances. The
largest variation occurs in the gate-to-drain capacitance as the drain to- gate voltage varies.
 Figure 3: Equivalent MOSFET representation including junction capacitors

Characteristics MOSFETS:-
1) Output Characteristics
In a MOSFET, the gate charge controls the flow of current from drain to the source The
output characteristics, drain current ID as a function of drain to source voltage VDS, with gate-to-
source voltage VGS as a parameter are shown in Figure 5 for an N-channel MOSFET. A test circuit
to determine output characteristics is shown in Figure 5. The output characteristics for p-channel
device are same but lie in the third quadrant of ID-VDS plane.

Figure 4: Output Characteristics

 Figure 5: Test circuit for getting output Characteristics

In power electronic applications the MOSFET is used as a switch to control the flow of
power. The MOSFET traverses the ID-VDS characteristics from the cutoff to the ohmic region
through the active region. The MOSFET is in the cutoff region when the gate-source voltage is
less than the threshold voltage VGS(th). A typical value for VGS(th) = 3V In a switching circuit
when the device is cutoff, it must hold off the power supply voltage applied to the circuit. The
device used must have rated drain-source breakdown voltage BVDSS larger than the circuit voltage
it has to block, to avoid breakdown and the attendant high device power dissipation.
When a large gate-source voltage drives the device, it goes into the ohmic region, where
the drain-source voltage and hence power dissipation in MOSFET is small.
In the active region, the drain current is independent of drain-source voltage and depends
on the gate-source voltage.
2) The Transfer Characteristics:-
A plot of iD versus vGS is called the transfer curve. It is shown in Figure (6). A test circuit
to determine output characteristics is shown in Figure.4. Up to vGS = VGS(th),id is parabolic but it is
very small in value. For vGS > VGS(th), the transfer curve is linear. The slope of the iD versus vGS
curve is called the transconductance gm. The drain current is given by gm (vGS-VGS(th) for
vGS>VGS(th).The reciprocal of the slope of the iD versus vGS curve is called Drain-Source On-
Resistance rDS(on). The on-state power loss of the device is estimated as I2 * rDS(on) where I is the
RMS current through the MOSFET.

Figure 6: Transfer Characteristics

Transfer curve is used to determine the minimum gate-source voltage required to switch
given load across a source. For example, if the MOSFET is required to carry a load current of ID1
in the linear region, VGS should be greater than VGS1 as shown in Figure 6. With higher values of
vGS, the value of rDS (on) is lower. Usually, gate-source voltage larger than VGS1 are used to reduce
the on state voltage drop.
3) Switching Characteristics:-
The drain current increases appreciably only after gate to source voltage increases above the
threshold voltage VGS(th) Drain current is a function of gate to source voltage, the drain current can
increase only as fast as gate to source voltage increases dependant on the rate at which the gate to
source equivalent capacitance is charged by the gate drive circuit. If the gate-source resistance is
more of the MOSFET are determined essentially by the time required for the gate driver to charge
the equivalent input capacitance. Figure 7 shows the circuit setup for getting switching
characteristics and Figure 8 shows switching waveforms.

Figure 7: Circuit diagram for getting switching characteristics.

Figure 8: Switching waveforms

Four-time intervals associated with switching transitions are usually stated in the data sheet of
power MOSFET. They are to be understood in relation to the waveforms of the switching control
voltage vGS and voltage across switch vDS. Typical waveforms are shown in Figure (8).The
specified time delays are defined as follows:
td(on) turn ON delay: this is the time interval measured from the instant when the gate voltage
VGS has risen to 10% of its final value to the instant the drain voltage has fallen by
10% of its initial OFF state value.
tri rise time: this is the time interval during which VDS falls from 90% to 10% of its initial
OFF state value; during this time, the drain current rises between the corresponding
limits.
td(off) turn OFF delay: this is the time interval during turn OFF switching from the instant
VGS has fallen to 90% of its ON state value to the instant VDS has risen to 10%
of its final OFF value.
tfi fall time: this is the time during which VDS rises from 10% to 90% of its final OFF state
value; during this time, the drain current falls between the corresponding limits.

The turn ON time tON is defined as:

tON = td(on) +tri
The turn OFF time tOFF is defined as:
tOFF = td(off) + tfi
ON state Power Loss = VDS (ON) x ID(ON ) x Duty ratio
Area under ins tan tan eous power curve during t ON  t OFF
Switching Power Loss 
Switching period
OBSERVATIONS:

Set VGS signal with magnitude = 10 V and TON = 60µS, TOFF = 1ms
RG Magnitude Magnitude td(on) tri td(off) tfi
(Ω) of VDS (V) of ID (A) (µs) (µs) (µs) (µs)
20

30

Power loss calculations:

(i) On-state power loss: For RG= …………. Ω

Duty ratio of VDS = ………………

Magnitude of on-state voltage of the device = ……………..V
Magnitude of on-state current through the device = ……………..A

 On-state Power Loss = = …………W

(ii) Switching Power loss calculations: For RG= …………. Ω

Period of switching Ts (from VDS or VGS waveform) = …………ms
Using MATH function of DSO to obtain the instantaneous power waveform.
Base of the switching triangle “b”
= …………… ms
Height of the switching triangle “h” = …………….W
(measuring resistance to be considered)
1
2bh
Average switching power loss =
Ts

= ……………..W
PROCEDURE:-
Make the connections as per the circuit diagram is shown in Figure 7 and verify the
connections.
To obtain switching characteristics:
1. Observe the gate signal from the pulse generator in the DSO and make the ON time of
the pulse is very small as compared to OFF time (Set TON=60µS,TOFF =1ms).
2. Apply the gate signal between gate resistance terminal and source.
3. Observe the Drain-Source voltage (VDS) and Gate-Source voltage (VGS) in the DSO.
4. Measure the switching times (tri, tfi, td(on),td(off)).
To find power loss:
1. Observe the Drain-Source voltage (vDS) and Drain current (iD) in the DSO (With DSO’s
ac power supply isolated through an isolation transformer)
2. Multiply both signals with the MATH function key in DSO. Consider the multiplication
factors and the resistance used for current measurement for the calculation of the power
values.
3. Observe this waveform and calculate the power losses from the area under different
portions of the instantaneous power curve.

RESULT:

From Data sheet By Hardware circuit

Turn ON delay (td(on) ) *

Rise time (tri) *

Turn OFF delay (td(off) )*

Fall time (tfi) *

On state Power loss (W) NA

Switching Power loss (W)
NA
Total power loss (W)
NA

*Mention the unit for the various switching times.

INFERENCE:

Question 1: What is the result of an increase in RG on the speed of switching process observed
in your experiment?

Question 2: Why an isolation transformer is used to measure VDS and ID simultaneously?

Question 3: What are the data sheet test conditions for the switching characteristics? What are
the test conditions followed in your experiment for the same?

Question 4: Why there are large deviations in the timing values between the experiment and
the data sheet?

Components Maximum Obtained

Marks Marks

Viva 20
Conduction 10
Graph and Results 15
Inference 15
Total 60