Reverse recovery time, trr can be defined as the time interval between the instant the current passes

through
zero during the chargeover from forward conduction to reverse blocking condition and the moment the rivers
current has decayed to 25% of its peak rivers value Irr. // Reverse recovery charge is the amount of charge
carries that flows across the diode in the reverse direction due to chargeover from forward to reverse blocking
condition. // BJT: 1. Bipolar device, 2. Low input impedance (kilo ohm) 3. High switching losses but lower
conduction losses 4. Current controlled device 5. Secondary breakdown occurs 6. Available with ratings 1200
V, 800 A // MOSFET: 1. Unipolar device 2. High input impedance (Mega ohm) 3. Lower switching losses but
high on-resistance and conduction losses 4. Voltage controlled device 5. Secondary breakdown does not occur
6. Available with ratings 500 V, 140 A // SCR construction: A four-layer semiconductor device of pnpn structure
with three pn-junctions. They are operated as bistable switches, operating from non-conducting state to
conducting state. Compared to transistors, thyristors have lower on-state conduction losses and higher power
handling capability. They have typical rating of 1200V / 1500A. Inherently a slow switching device compared to
BJT or MOSFET, switching frequencies ranging from 1 kHz to 20 kHz. // SCR Triggering Methods: With anode
positive with respect to cathode, a thyristor can be turned on by any one of the following techniques: Forward
voltage triggering, Gate triggering, dv/dt triggering, Temperature triggering, Light triggering // SCR
Commutation: Process of turning OFF a conducting thyristor -Current Commutation, -Voltage Commutation. A
thyristor can be turned ON by applying a positive voltage of about a volt or a current of a few tens of milliamps
at the gate-cathode terminals. But SCR cannot be turned OFF via the gate terminal. It will turn-off only after
the anode current is negated either naturally or using forced commutation techniques. These methods of turn-
off do not refer to those cases where the anode current is gradually reduced below Holding Current level
manually or through a slow process. Once the SCR is turned ON, it remains ON even after removal of the gate
signal, as long as a minimum current, the Holding Current (IH), is maintained in the main or rectifier circuit.
Commutation can be classified as -Natural commutation, -Forced commutation //

Perfomance of IGBT vs MOSFET: IGBT: 1. Three terminals are gate, emitter and collector 2. High input
impedance 3. Voltage controlled device 4. Ratings available up to 1200V, 500A 5. Operating frequency is up to
50 kHz. MOSFET: 1. Three terminals are gate, source and drain 2. High input impedance 3. Voltage controlled
device 4. Ratings available up to 500V, 140A. 5. Operating frequency is up to 1 MHz. TRIAC Working: TRIAC is a
bidirectional five-layer device for AC power control. It features main terminal 1 (MT1) and main terminal 2
(MT2) connections. Gate trigger pulses can be of either polarity, regardless of main voltage polarity. The gate
can trigger conduction in both directions. Known as a "four-quadrant" device due to bidirectional conduction.
Used in AC environments; turns off at zero voltage in each half-cycle. Applied turn-on pulses control the
percentage of each half-cycle applied to the load. Commonly used in light dimmer controls and motor speed
controls. // IGBT construction: An IGBT is a voltage control device similar to MOSFET. IGBT combines the
advantages of BJT and mosfets. IGBT has high input impedance like mosfets and low on state conduction losses
like BJTs. Hhowever there is no second breakdown problem as with BJTs by chip design and structure the
equivalent drain to source resistance RDS is controlled to behave like that of a BJT and IGBT has lower switching
and conducting losses while sharing many of the appealing features of power mosfets such as ease of get drive
and peak current capability. // GTO: GTO can be turned on by applying a positive gate signal and can be turned
up by a negative gate signal. Compared to a conventional thyristor it has an additional n+- layer near the anode
that forms a turn off circuit between the gate and the cathode in parallel with the turn on gate.
SCR

2 transistor model SCR

IGBT

GTO