Power MOSFET

Power MOSFET
Two power MOSFETs in the surface-mount package D2PAK. Each of these components can sustain a blocking voltage of 120 volts and a continuous current of 30 amperes with appropriate heatsinking.
Working principle‍Semiconductor
IRLZ24N Power MOSFET in a TO-220AB through-hole package. Pins from left to right are: gate (logic-level), drain, source. The top metal tab is the drain, same as pin 2.[1]

A power MOSFET is a specific type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) designed to handle significant power levels. Compared to the other power semiconductor devices, such as an insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) or a thyristor, its main advantages are high switching speed and good efficiency at low voltages. It shares with the IGBT an isolated gate that makes it easy to drive. They can be subject to low gain, sometimes to a degree that the gate voltage needs to be higher than the voltage under control.

The design of power MOSFETs was made possible by the evolution of MOSFET and CMOS technology, used for manufacturing integrated circuits since the 1960s. The power MOSFET shares its operating principle with its low-power counterpart, the lateral MOSFET. The power MOSFET, which is commonly used in power electronics, was adapted from the standard MOSFET and commercially introduced in the 1970s.[2]

The power MOSFET is the most common power semiconductor device in the world, due to its low gate drive power, fast switching speed,[3] easy advanced paralleling capability,[3][4] wide bandwidth, ruggedness, easy drive, simple biasing, ease of application, and ease of repair.[4] In particular, it is the most widely used low-voltage (less than 200 V) switch. It can be found in a wide range of applications, such as most power supplies, DC-to-DC converters, low-voltage motor controllers, and many other applications.

  1. ^ IRLZ24N, 55V N-Channel Power MOSFET, TO-220AB package; Infineon.
  2. ^ Irwin, J. David (1997). The Industrial Electronics Handbook. CRC Press. p. 218. ISBN 9780849383434.
  3. ^ a b "Power MOSFET Basics" (PDF). Alpha & Omega Semiconductor. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Duncan, Ben (1996). High Performance Audio Power Amplifiers. Elsevier. pp. 178–81. ISBN 9780080508047.