Automated Measurement of Power MOSFET Device Characteristics Using USB Interfaced Power Supplies
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Paper ID #17355 Automated Measurement of Power MOSFET Device Characteristics Using USB Interfaced Power Supplies Prof. Mustafa G. Guvench, University of Southern Maine Dr. Guvench received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University. He is currently a full professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern Maine. Prior to joining U.S.M. he served on the faculties of the University of Pittsburgh and M.E.T.U., Ankara, Turkey. His research interests and publications span the field of microelectronics including I.C. design, MEMS and semiconductor technology and its application in sensor development, finite element and analytical modeling of semiconductor devices and sensors, and electronic instrumenta- tion and measurement. Mr. mao ye Mao Ye is an electrical engineering student at the University of Southern Maine, and an equipment engi- neering intern at Texas Instrument, South Portland, Maine. He also worked at Iberdrola Energy Project as a project assessment engineering intern. Prior to attending the University of Southern Maine, he served in the United States Marine Corps as communications chief. His area of interests are microelectronics, Instrumentation, software development, and automation design. c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Automated Measurement of Power MOSFET Device Characteristics Using USB Interfaced Power Supplies M.G. Guvench* and Mao Ye** * University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME 04038 **Texas Instruments, South Portland, ME 04106 Abstract This paper describes use of USB interfaced multi-source DC power supplies to measure the I-V characteristics of high current, high power devices, specifically Power MOSFETs and Power Diodes. The LabVIEW GUI program we developed enables the user to run the measurement, automatically, over the user specified current and voltage ranges while protecting the device from excessive currents and overheating via current and power limits also specified by the user. The LabVIEW runtime window indicates the progress of the measurement time with a highlighted horizontal bar graph display and plots the drain I-V characteristics of the device in real time as the data is gathered. At the conclusion of the measurement an Excel compatible file is created for further evaluation, interpretation, graphing of the data, and for SPICE parameter extraction [1]. Power MOSFET devices, to measure their I-V characteristics under a PC’s control, require a power supply with a minimum of two channels which can be controlled by a PC via a serial, or a GPIB, or a USB interface. Our experiments were conducted with a Keithley 2230-30-1 Triple Power Supply unit [8] which has a USB interface. Maximum measurement ranges of voltage and current are limited only by the power supply at hand, not by the software. Our power supply had three channels, Channels 1 and 2 rated at 0-30V, 1.5Amp maximum, and a Channel 3 rated at 0- 6V, 5.0 Amp maximum. The power diode version of the program also gives the option of semi-log plotting of the diode I-V data in real time for the user to estimate a PN-junction diode's forward ideality factor and its saturation current directly on the screen. This is the first demonstration of using USB interfaced affordable power supplies instead of expensive source-measure units (SMU's) to measure the I-V characteristics of high-power semiconductor devices. Because of its simple and inexpensive hardware requirements, the system is perfectly suitable for use in the undergraduate electronics laboratories for instruction as well as being a tool in industrial and research laboratories for the product testing and characterization of high power semiconductor devices. The system can also adapted to measure the I-V characteristics of solar cells [2] and solar panels, and high-power Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), as well. 1. Introduction This paper describes the design, operation and use of a PC controlled automated measurement system for the testing and measurement of the I-V characteristics of high-current high-power MOSFET devices by employing the new inexpensive USB interfaced triple-channel bench power supplies as opposed to a set of two expensive Source-Measure-Units (SMUs) [8, 9, 10, 11]. The paper also includes the results of such automated measurements taken on sample high- power MOSFETs and a discussion of the results. In the past decade, with the invention and production of reliable, second-breakdown-free and inexpensive HEXFET Power MOSFETs, high-power high-current Bipolar Transistors (BJTs) have been replaced by the HEXFET power MOSFETs. In addition to the advantage that power MOSFET’s, unlike BJTs, did not require a base current to turn on, they also behave like a simple resistor with an extremely low “On Resistance” for switching applications [3]. Such small on resistances delivered by these devices allows the MOSFET to work as a switch to power the load with minimum a power loss and helps high power circuits to achieve very high efficiencies whether it be energy conversion like DC-to-DC or DC-to-AC power converters, or DC motor controls or, stepper motor driver circuits. The fact that the gate current is almost zero makes these devices very suitable to be driven directly from microprocessor or microcontroller output at low voltages (typically 0-5 volts TTL level) with no need for a specialized power driver amplifier. That is why we are seeing them utilized in all digital power control projects, and also in Pulse-Width-Modulated (PWM) analog power control projects, as well. To name a few, robotics control, electric vehicle drive control, heating and ventilation applications, and alternative energy projects like wind power or solar power applications [4]. Measurement of a power MOSFET’s I-V characteristics becomes important when the application and the circuit to be designed needs details of the characteristics, in particular if tight tolerances are dictated on the design, and more importantly, when a realistic SPICE model of the device is needed for an accurate simulation of the power system is to be performed prior to building and testing it under the risks of damage and high cost associated with the high power levels involved. Manufacturers provide data sheets of these devices with detail. Reference [5] gives an example of such a data sheet for a high-power high-current MOSFET. However, in most data sheets the emphasis is on the extreme values rather than the midrange operation where most applications operate the device at. This is particularly relevant when such a power MOSFET is driven at 0-5V TTL level the gate voltages provided by microprocessors in digital control applications and PWM based DC motor driver circuits, examples of which were mentioned above. That is why an in-house capability is needed to measure the I-V characteristics of these devices. Unfortunately the high cost of power semiconductor test equipment comprised of multiple units of Power SMUs [8, 9] is prohibitively high to have in a small design company, an R&D laboratory, or a university teaching/design laboratory. This paper reports perhaps the first demonstration of using USB interfaced affordable power supplies instead of expensive source-measure units (SMU's) to measure the static I-V characteristics of high-power semiconductor devices. LabVIEW [6, 7] has been chosen to design and develop a GUI control system which is not only user friendly but also flexible and transportable with an executable runtime file which can run on any PC without requiring a LabVIEW full program package to have been installed. Because of its simple and inexpensive hardware requirements, the system is perfectly suitable for use in the undergraduate electronics laboratories for instruction as well as being a tool in industrial and research laboratories for the product testing and characterization of high power semiconductor devices. The system can also be adapted to measure the I-V characteristics of solar cells [2] and solar panels, and high-power Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), as well. In the following sections of the paper a description of the system will be given followed by a description of the LabVIEW control and the GUI window which provides options and ranges to be chosen by the user, and displays the measured device characteristics as the measurement proceeds. In the later sections, samples of measurement results, data saved and the device characteristics plotted will be shown together with the interpretation and discussion of these results. 2. The Measurement System Power MOSFET devices, to measure their I-V characteristics under a PC’s control, require a power supply with a minimum of two independently variable DC source channels which can be controlled by a PC via a serial, or a GPIB, or a USB interface. Our experiments were conducted with a Keithley 2230-30-1 Triple Power Supply unit which has a USB interface, a fast, convenient and inexpensive interface. Our system’s maximum measurement ranges of voltage and current are limited only by the power supply at hand, not by the software driving it. Since our power supply had three channels, Channels 1 and 2 rated at 0-30V, 1.5Amp maximum, and a Channel 3 rated at 0-6V, 5.0 Amp maximum the Power MOSFET measurements were limited to 0-30V at 1.5 Amp maximum or 0-6V at 5 Amps maximum. With other models available from Keithley Instruments [8] and others the system’s measurement capability can be increased up to 72V and 5 Amps easily, without requiring any changes in the control software. Figure 1 gives the photo of our hardware setup comprising of a Keithley 2230-30-1 triple channel USB interfaced power supply, the device, International Rectifier’s IRF640N HEXFET NMOS Power Transistor in TO-220 package installed on a black, finned heat sink, with three soldered leads connecting the device to two of the three channels of the power supply.