Power semiconductors

Which correctly describes the relationship between breakdown voltage and on-resistance in silicon power MOSFETs?

  1. ABreakdown voltage and on-resistance are unrelated
  2. BRaising the breakdown voltage tends to lower the on-resistance
  3. CRaising the breakdown voltage tends to raise the on-resistance
Show answer and explanation

Answer: C. Raising the breakdown voltage tends to raise the on-resistance

To raise the breakdown voltage, the drift layer that blocks the voltage must be thicker and more lightly doped. This increases the drift-layer resistance, raising on-resistance. Superjunction structures and wide-band-gap materials such as SiC are used to improve this trade-off.

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More Power semiconductors questions

  1. What is the main role of an inverter in power electronics?
  2. In power devices, which loss mainly increases when the switching frequency is raised?
  3. Which is a characteristic of a superjunction (SJ) MOSFET?
  4. If a power device with a thermal resistance of 2 °C/W dissipates 10 W, what is the temperature rise?
  5. What is the parasitic diode that forms structurally inside a power MOSFET called?