Operation and Characterization of Low-Loss Bidirectional Bipolar Junction TRANsistor (B-TRAN™)

Characterization of the recently developed B-TRAN™ as a very low-loss power semiconductor device is provided in this paper. The device structure and principles of operation for the B-TRAN™ are presented. DC characterization of B-TRAN™ was performed by probing the devices on a wafer-level setup. The breakdown voltage, on-state voltage, and current gain (
$\beta$
) were measured to be 1280 V, 0.2-0.6 V, and 3, respectively which are in good agreement with TCAD simulation results. Steady-state and transient results obtained by the Silvaco TCAD simulations are reported in this paper to describe the main performance parameters of the fabricated B-TRAN™. Results offer a very low loss in both DC and switching modes of operation showing the promise of utilizing B-TRAN™ in many power electronics applications such as solid-state circuit breakers (SSCBs), solar inverters, current source inverters, electric vehicles traction inverters, energy storage systems, matrix converters, motor drives, etc. A special 4-terminal TO-264 package with double-sided cooling capability was designed for the B-TRAN™ assembly. Furthermore, a bidirectional driver was designed and developed for controlling the B-TRAN™ device. Experimental switching characterization of the B-TRAN™ will be performed using the designed package and driver.