Why consider a power BJT rather than a MOSFET? | EE Times https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?

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Why consider a power BJT rather
than a MOSFET?
Yong “Perry” Li, Ph.D., Director, Power NO RATINGS

Systems and Applications, iWatt Inc. 1 saves Bert22306 When I first read this
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10/25/2010 07:34 PM EDT
news item, and saw what was
5 comments actually involved, I did expect to get
a big "See?" reaction. But in fact,
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11/21/2017
the reaction is uncalled for. First
10:37:34 PM point. What...
The power MOSFET has been the major semiconductor switching
device in the modern power-electronics and power-management
industry, and is widely studied and used by power-system
designers. Conversely, the power bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is
generally considered an outdated device that has poor switching
performance and is unfamiliar to today’s power system engineers.

Recently, however, electronics market leaders in low-power AC/DC

off-line power-supply designs have adopted BJT control ICs in
applications such as high-volume cellular-phone chargers. This
paper explores the questions: Why consider a Power BJT rather
than a MOSFET? What are its advantages? Can BJT-based
solutions achieve high efficiency?

Low cost is key

The power BJT technology matured in the mid-1960s, while the
MOSFET did not become practical until the late 1970s.
Fundamentally, BJTs cost less than power MOSFETs because their
fabrication involves fewer layers and simpler processes than the
power MOSFET, in particular for high voltage (>700V) and low Navigate to Related Links
power (below 5 watts) applications.
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BJTs normally have less switching di/dt and dv/dt, easing
electromagnetic interference (EMI) design with no-Y capacitor, no Low-cost Lifetime Boost for Lithium Batteries
common-mode choke, and simpler transformer construction for Ireland Incurs EU's Wrath over Apple Tax Dispute
easy, low-cost manufacturing. Also, due to slow di/dt at turn off,
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some energy in the transformer leakage inductance can be
dissipated at the BJT turn-off transitions. Helix Entry Outperforms 'Zero Power' Target in Standby

Therefore, without causing voltage stress to exceed the safe

operation region, the snubber circuits can possibly be removed in Cartoon Contest
flyback power supply designs of less than 3 W. Removing the
snubbers helps reduce component count and bill-of-material (BOM)
costs and eliminates power loss associated with the snubber November 2017 Cartoon Caption
circuits. Contest: "Document shredding 2.0"

For example, a 3-watt, BJT-based, complete universal-AC input

power supply design can use only 21 components. Furthermore,
very-high-voltage (900 V and above) BJTs are economically
available, making BJT-based designs attractive in offline power
supplies for the industrial market (white goods, motor control and
smart meters), and in regions with widely-varied utility voltages.

Overcoming challenges in EMI design

1 of 5 11/22/2017 3:58 PM
Why consider a power BJT rather than a MOSFET? | EE Times https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1278361

Switching power converters are tremendous EMI sources. The

challenge is to pass EMI regulations as efficiently as possible in
terms of size and cost. EMI design necessitates filters, normally in
both differential mode (DM) and common mode (CM), at the input
or output interface of the system.

CM filters consist of so-called “CM choke” and Y capacitors. CM

chokes are bulky and expensive, and therefore unacceptable in
cost- and size-sensitive applications such as cell phone chargers. Y
capacitors can lead to leakage current from the input lines to the
loads at the output sides, so eliminating them makes it easier to
pass leakage current safety tests. Furthermore, Y capacitors hinder
cell phone communications, as they provide the path for the EMI
noises generated in the transformer primary side to flow to the "Your caption here!"
secondary side, where the phone is connected. Consequently, 1 Comment
modern cell phone charger manufacturers forbid the use of Y
capacitors, greatly challenging EMI design. ALL CARTOONS

To try to meet this requirement, MOSFET-based solutions will often

require very complicated transformers, which increase complexity
and cost, and still don’t guarantee EMI results. The switching Most Commented Most Popular
turn-on transitions greatly affect CM noise. Comparing a power
MOSFET to a BJT, the MOSFET has much faster switching speed 32 Goodbye, Digital Camera; It Was Fun, But ...
and much shorter turn-on time than the BJT, and therefore 22 Mobileye's Safety Formula Doesn't Quite Add Up
generates higher dv/dt and more CM noise. BJT-based solutions 19 Limitations of 3D NAND Scaling
directly reduce the sources of EMI noise, such as the switching 17 Zenith Trans-Oceanic: Best Radio Ever?
di/dt and, in particular, the dv/dt which is the major source of CM 16 IEEE S3S 2017 Showcases Monolithic 3D ...
noise. 14 Samsung’s Capex Seen Crushing Memory Startups
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Figure 1 compares the source of CM noise between BJT and
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MOSFET drives, which are the measured CM voltages between the
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transformer primary and secondary windings in 5W/5V/1A flyback
10 Keynoter: Noise Analysis Beats Google Now
converters. The BJT-based design has about 2.7 peak-to-peak CM
voltage, while the MOSFET-based design (with the same 5V/1A
rating) has about 3.6V peak-to-peak CM voltage. In this case, the
source of CM noise is reduced by about 25% in the BJT-based
design.

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Admittedly, there are drawbacks to the BJT. It is generally eetimes.com
considered to have high switching losses because of its slow
switching speed. Also, as a current-driven device, BJT driver Nov 14, 2017
design is more complicated.

However, innovative digital-control technology has enabled EE Times @eetimes

development of new BJT-control-IC-based solutions with very high @Samsung Shows #EUV Design @ISSCC
efficiency [Reference 1]. There are some key features that | EE Times via @eetimes buff.ly/2yYnP5S
previously were not achievable: @rickbmerritt
The digital IC not only controls the on and off of the BJT, but it also
has a built-in, digitally-controlled driver that dynamically adjusts the
BJT base-current amplitude in real time based on the load change.
The digital real-time control not only works in cycle-by-cycle, it is
also even finer in resolution, since it can modify the base-drive
current in several steps over the duration of a single switching
period. This is a significant advantage that ensures the BJT always
operates in optimal switching conditions, with minimum switching
and conduction losses.
The digital IC can adjust internal parameters in response to varying
line, load and temperature conditions. It allows adaptive multi-mode
control schemes that flatten the efficiency curve from full-load to
no-load condition by switching between PWM to PFM (pulse
frequency modulation) to DPWM (deep PWM) to DPFM (deep
PFM) modes, without compromising other system performance,

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Why consider a power BJT rather than a MOSFET? | EE Times https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1278361

such as audible noises, voltage ripples or regulations. Moreover,

placing various sections of the IC in sleep mode greatly reduces
standby or no-load power consumption.

The digital IC seamlessly integrates improved quasi-resonant

switching schemes that achieve valley-mode turn-on for every
switching cycle in any PWM/PFM mode, including the fixed-
frequency PWM. This further reduces the switching losses and
EMI, without causing modification or compromise to the main
control schemes.

Conclusion
For low-power AC/DC power supplies, BJT-based solutions offer
low cost and easy EMI design. The cost savings extend to both the
power device and the total system BOM due to simple transformer
manufacturing and possible elimination of snubber circuits for
low-power designs. Moreover, innovative digital control technology
has enabled BJT solutions to achieve even greater efficiencies than
MOSFET-based solutions in the same power levels. Therefore, new
digital-BJT-control-IC-based solutions are viable and preferable in
low-power AC/DC applications.

Reference

1. Y. Li and J. Zheng, “A Low-Cost Adaptive Multi-Mode

Digital Control Solution Maximizing AC/DC Power
Supply Efficiency,” in IEEE 2010 Applied Power
Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), pp. 349
– 354.

About the author

Dr. Yong “Perry” Li is the director of power systems and
applications at Los-Gatos based iWatt Inc. Since joining iWatt in
2007, he has been the chief inventor, system architect, and IC
design team lead of several digital AC/DC controllers, including the
iW1690, iW1696, iW1697 and iW1698. These digital controllers are
designed to meet the demanding energy-efficiency regulations for
AC/DC power supplies while reducing system cost, and have been
widely adopted by portable, networking, and solid-state lighting
electronics device manufacturers. From 2002 to 2007, as a senior
design engineer at International Rectifier, Li made substantial
contributions to the development of the IRMCF300 series digital
control ICs and iMOTION Design Platform.

Dr. Li received his Ph.D. from the Center for Power Electronics
Systems (CPES) at Virginia Tech, and his MSEE and BSEE from
Tsinghua University, Beijing. He also completed the VLSI
Engineering Certificate Program at the University of California
Santa Cruz. Li has over 20 technical publications in referred
international journals and conferences, and holds 9 U.S. patents,
with several still pending.

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Comments
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re: Why consider a power BJT rather NO RATINGS

LOGIN TO RATE
than a MOSFET?
PetJh 7/16/2011 9:57:52 AM
Comparing just noise as on the picture is .. not correct. One of
USER RANK the transformers (on the left) is completely compensated - no
AUTHOR switching waveform is available. The picture on the right (even
maybe the same transformer) shows completely
uncompensated mode, maybe MOSFET capacitance. It should
be stated where on the 50 Hz the noise has been measured as
it is completely different during conduction/nonconduction of the
bridge. Both switches must be the same case, pinout etc. as
ANY small change in the collector/drain are will make big effect
over the CM noise.

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re: Why consider a power BJT rather NO RATINGS

LOGIN TO RATE
than a MOSFET?
Simon7382 11/1/2010 5:38:43 AM
Secondary break down can be dealt with with properly
USER RANK designed base drive. MOSFETs took over mostly because they
AUTHOR were much faster, enabling higher switching frequencies and
appropriately smaller DC-DC converters. However, in small
off-line DC-DC converters the switching frequency is typically
low (around 50-100 kHz) due to the conducted EMI limits,
hence the speed advantage of MOSFETs is not an advantage
but a disadvantage.

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re: Why consider a power BJT rather NO RATINGS

LOGIN TO RATE
than a MOSFET?
Neetin 10/28/2010 8:07:17 AM
One of the main reasons for BJT to MOSFET shift was the
USER RANK elusive Secondary breakdown at high voltages. Are the new
AUTHOR BJTs free from this problem?

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re: Why consider a power BJT rather NO RATINGS

LOGIN TO RATE
than a MOSFET?
Les_Slater 10/26/2010 8:53:44 PM
I like seeing a fresh look at trying to meet the latest in power
USER RANK requirements. Why not use the relatively slow switching
AUTHOR characteristics of the BJT to thermally dissipate an appreciable
amount of the pesky noise? The most impressive though is the
clever controller IC technology to keep efficiencies at
competitive, and even superior, levels while at the same time

4 of 5 11/22/2017 3:58 PM
Why consider a power BJT rather than a MOSFET? | EE Times https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1278361

reducing complexity and cost.

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