Caractéristiques des composants à semi-conducteur de puissance en vue de leur commande

This article describes the electrical characteristics of the main power semiconductor devices, in relationship with their drivers. The possible effects of the driving circuits on the power semiconductor devices are highlighted, covering the drivers’ impacts on conduction and switching transient performances. Three types of power devices are addressed: thyristors and triacs, bipolar junction transistors (BJT) and gate turn off thyristors (GTO), and gate-controlled field effect transistors (MOSFET, IGBT and HEMT). The state of thyristors and triacs is controlled by a reduced peak gate current, with a possibility to improve the uncontrolled turn off thanks to the gate driver. The BJT and GTO require a high gate energy, especially during the turn off transient. The FET power devices are controlled by a potential difference at their gate (capacitive input), possibly requiring high gate transient currents in the case of high switching speeds. This articles also presents the driving specificities of currently available wide bandgap power devices, such as SiC BJT, SiC MOSFET and GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors.