Avalanche Behavior of Low-Voltage Power MOSFETs

Cyril Buttay (1) , Tarek Ben Salah (1) , Dominique Bergogne (1) , Bruno Allard (1) , Hervé Morel (1) , Jean-Pierre Chante (1)

1 CEGELY - Centre de génie électrique de Lyon

This letter addresses the behavior of low voltage power MOSFETs under avalanche, with a paralleling point of view. It is shown that during avalanche, up-to-date technology MOSFET transistors exhibit a resistance far in excess of their on-state resistance ( DS ). A novel test setup is proposed to measure “avalanche” resistance. A simple model of breakdown voltage is then proposed. It becomes possible to perform fast simulations using this model to study current balance between paralleled transistors under avalanche operation. It is shown that considering avalanche resistance reduces the influence of breakdown voltage mismatches and allows for better current sharing.

Mots clés: avalanche resistance; Avalanche; electrothermal model; temperature estimation; low-voltage MOSFET

Domaines: Energie électrique; Autre

Cyril Buttay, Tarek Ben Salah, Dominique Bergogne, Bruno Allard, Hervé Morel, et al.. Avalanche Behavior of Low-Voltage Power MOSFETs. IEEE Power Electronics Letters, 2004, 2 (3), pp.104-107. ⟨10.1109/LPEL.2004.839638⟩. ⟨hal-00138863⟩