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Abstract— The new generation of semiconductor switching current flowing in-between the drain and the source
devices based on silicon carbide makes higher efficiency and power terminals. A JFET is a three terminal semiconductor
density possible in photovoltaic (PV) inverters among many
applications. The new type of JFET requires new driver circuits
device in which current conduction is by one type of
and a more careful arrangement of them. The main circuit carrier i.e. electrons or holes. JFET can be divided
arrangement has to have low stray inductance to ensure low depending upon their structure into the following two
overvoltage spikes and switching losses. It is well known that categories are n-channel and p-channel JFET.
converter efficiency is an important parameter in the PV industry.
SiC devices offer a good possibility to achieve efficiency. This paper 2.1.1 n-channel JFET
approaches the topic from the application point of view. From the layered structure shown by Figure 1a,
the n-channel JFET has its major portion made of n-
Keywords— JFET; Photovoltaic Inverter type semiconductor. Thus, here, the source and the
drain terminals are of n-type while the gate is of p-
I. INTRODUCTION type. Further the circuit symbol shown by Figure 1b
As a result of recent researches and developments new has an arrow pointing towards the device at its Gate
switching devices have become available on the market. terminal which indicates the direction in which the
Among the appeared products, SiC normally on and normally current would flow, provided the pn junction is
off JFETs have favorable attributions. As for SiC transistors, forward biased.
the JFET is considered favorable because it has a relatively
simple structure.
In many countries transformerless PV systems became the
main market trend due to its higher efficiency and reduced
weight. In order to extend the PV voltage range or to ensure a
safe operating area of the PV panel, a boost converter is often
included in medium power solar inverters. Power Figure 1. n-channel JFET a) Layered Structure
semiconductors usually work in hard switching operation b) Circuit Symbol
mode in PV inverters. There are some basic requirements to In n-channel JFET, the majority charge carriers will
provide optimal operation of JFETs. Driver circuits of the be the electrons as the channel formed in-between
JFET have a crucial role to ensure proper operation during the source and the drain is of n-type. Further, the
conduction state and during turn on and turn off . The high working of these devices depends upon the voltages
frequency operation with low switching losses enables high applied at its terminals (Figure 2)
power density in converters. Basically, there are two types of
JFETs: normally off and normally on. Normally off JFETs are
in turned off state when gate-source voltage is below its
threshold voltage. While, normally on JFETs are in turned on
state when gate-source voltage is below its threshold voltage.
.
Figure 4. P-channel JFET in a Biased State
2.2 JFET Working Figure 7. JFET when channel is pinched-off.
JFET operations is like a garden hose where the flow of
water through a hose can be controlled by squeezing it to In normal operation, the electric field developed by the
reduce the cross section, similarly the flow of electric gate blocks source-drain conduction to some extent. Some
charge through a JFET is controlled by constricting the JFET devices are symmetrical with respect to the source
current-carrying channel. The current also depends on the and drain. The channel does not totally pinched-off
electric between source and drain. because if the channel is totally pinched-off then no
current flows through the channel and there will be no
voltage drop through the channel and make diode will not
be reverse bias and it forms a symmetrical shape instead of
wedge shape. Therefore a minimum ammount of current
flows through the junction which is called pinched-off
current and the region is known as saturation region.
2. The saturation of the active region: Here the drain to handle the failure, so it is difficult to design short
current is almost constant and it is not dependent on the circuit protection similar to IGBTs
drain to source voltage actually. When the drain to Cascade structure is very sensitive to parasitic
source voltage continuous to increase the channel inductance MOSFET-JFET gate loop. It can cause
resistance increases and at some point, the depletion oscillation during the switching, which increases
regions meet near the drain to pinch off the channel. switching losses. Due to the fact that the
Beyond that pinch off voltage, the drain, current attains aforementioned PCB stray capacitances are parallel
saturation. with SiC JFET, they make SiC JFET slower and
3. The breakdown voltage: Here the drain current therefore, the voltage ocan be dangerously high.
increases rapidly with a small increase of the drain to There is a possibility to drive JFET and MOSFET
source voltage. Actually for large value of drain to
separately. Before the voltage level at power supply
source voltage, a breakdown of the gate junction takes
reaches the nominal range, MOSFET and JFET are in
place which results a sharp increase of the drain
off state. When the auxiliary power supply is high
current.
enough, MOSFET is turned on continuously and only
JFET is controlled. This solution provides a better
switching behavior but requires a higher gating power
supply energy.
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper focuses on the application of a new
semiconductor class in low power PV inverters. In addition it
introduces various solutions and some key rules for circuit
design and construction. The paper points out the advantages
and disadvantages of normally on and off JFET’s.
Furthermore, it presents the measurement results of an
experimental PV inverter.
REFERENCE
[1] Balázs Farkas, Ernő Paál, Károly Veszprémi “Low
Power Photovoltaic Inverters Built up with SIC JFET’s.
Budapest : Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, 2015, Vol. 12.
[2] Kirti “Basic study of Junction Field Effect Transistor
(JFET)” Haryana : International Journal of Science and
Research (IJSR), 2014, Vol. 3.