Methodology of an Accurate Static I–V Characterization of Power Semiconductor Devices

Abstract

Static $I$ – $V$ characterization (SIVC) is extensively used by the researchers for evaluating the ON-state performance and real-time condition monitoring of the power semiconductor devices. The implementation of the existing SIVC setups is difficult in the laboratories, due to their high cost, complex operation, and error arising in different parts of the setup. Though some of the commercial products offer good performance, their availability is limited due to the high cost. In this article, an accurate, simple and low-cost SIVC setup is suggested. The SIVC setup consists of a single-pulse test circuit (SPTC), an electrical measurement unit (EMU), and a data acquisition system (DAS). All three stages are discussed and the methods to improve measurement accuracy at each stage are discussed in this article. The key contributions of this article are simultaneous SIVC of multiple device under tests (DUTs), error analysis of EMU due to manufacturing differences in components and their temperature difference, method for selection of sample size for accurate digital acquisition of analog signal in DAS, and $dV/dI$ condition for an accurate SIVC. The presented methodology is implemented on the experimental setup of SIVC that is developed in the laboratory. EMU of the proposed setup operates at the voltage and current measurement accuracy of ±0.05% and ±0.1%, respectively, and DAS with the voltage accuracy of ±0.1%, thereby offering good performance for SIVC. Furthermore, to validate the performance of the proposed SIVC setup, its results are compared with the commercially available Keysight curve tracer (B1505A). The results for the characterization of an IGBT and a power MOSFET are included.