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Basic Concepts OF Power Integrated Circuits

Basic Concepts OF Power Integrated Circuits

December 14 , 2023 0

A complete power electronics system consists of three parts: the signal acquisition/input and amplification circuit, the power processing circuit that drives the load, and the signal processing circuit that generates the control signal. A complete power electronic system circuit or part of it is integrated on a semiconductor chip to form a PIC (power integrated circuit). This paper mainly focuses on the introduction of the camera from these three aspects

Definition OF Power Integrated Circuit

PIC is the high voltage power device and its driver circuit, protection circuit, interface circuit and other peripheral circuits integrated on the same chip integrated circuit, is the system signal processing part and the executive part of the bridge. Specifically, PIC uses a certain process to connect the transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, inductors and other components and wiring required in a power circuit, and is made on a small or several small pieces of semiconductor chips or dielectric substrates, and then packaged in a tube shell to become a miniature structure with the required circuit functions.

Broadly speaking, PIC is the interface circuit between the control circuit and the power load, and its simplest circuit includes the level transfer and drive circuit, its role is to convert the logic signal level output by the microprocessor into a drive signal level sufficient to drive the load. Compared with the power circuit composed of discrete devices, PIC has a series of advantages such as low cost, high reliability, small size and low electromagnetic interference, and has been developed by leaps and bounds in recent years.

Early process development, PIC can be divided into smart power integrated circuit (SPIC) and high voltage integrated circuit (HVIC) two categories: SPIC is the input (control or function) circuit and power device integrated in the same chip, mainly used to switch on or off high power, current capacity is relatively large, often used in voltage conversion/regulator, automotive power switch and motor drive; HVIC integrates low-voltage logic and high-voltage output stage on the same chip, and the power device is generally multi-parallel, and the current processing capacity is relatively low, which is mainly used in applications requiring high-voltage capacity such as display drive and telephone communication. However, with the continuous development of PIC, its ability to process current is getting stronger and stronger, and the system integration is getting higher and higher, they are difficult to distinguish in the operating voltage and device structure, so it is customary to refer to them collectively as PIC.

There are many kinds and applications of PIC. PIC is widely used in power electronics, network communications, computer and consumer electronics, industrial and automotive electronics and many other fields. From the point of view of voltage and current levels, the application of PIC can be divided into three categories: the first type is low-voltage and high-current PIC, which is used for automotive ignition, integrated regulator, point printer and stepper motor drive; The second type is high voltage and low current PIC, which is used for flat panel display, switch, etc. The third type is high-current PIC, which is used for power supplies and household appliances.

Development History OF Power Integrated Circuit

The first stage (1970s) : PIC appeared. 1980 Cini et al. realized the PIC with overtemperature, short circuit and overload protection functions, its maximum output power is 20W, applied to automotive electronic systems. The chip adopts PN junction isolation technology, and the collector of its power device is extracted to the surface through N+ buried layer and deep phosphorus injection. Since most of the electronic systems at that time used bipolar devices, driving bipolar devices required a large current, and the drive and protection circuit is more complex, so the amplifier will be many discrete devices integrated on the same chip, reducing the number of components in the system, the number of interconnects and the number of solder joints, not only reduce the size, cost and weight of the system, And improve the stability and reliability of the system. Early PIC was affected by the characteristics of bipolar device current drive and circuit complexity, and its application was greatly limited.

The second phase (1980s and 1990s) : The emergence of new MOS power devices such as power MOSFET, insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) with MOS control gate, high input impedance, low drive power consumption, easy protection, etc., has greatly simplified the drive circuit. It quickly led to the development of PIC, and in the 1990s, the cost performance of PIC was further improved, thus entering the practical stage. China is the world's largest consumer electronics commodity market and production base, with the development of PIC, it is widely used in switching power supply, motor drive, industrial control, automotive electronics, daily lighting and household appliances.

The third stage (late 20th century to early 21st century) : PIC changed from the early improved BiCMOS V-shaped groove process to groove isolation technology. The groove isolation technology is used to isolate the power device and the low-voltage circuit, and the lateral insulated gate bipolar transistor (lateral IGBT, LIGBT) has a good dielectric isolation from the low-voltage device, which can avoid the latching effect caused by high current and improve the stability of PIC.

High cost performance, compatible with CMOS technology, built-in high voltage and high current power devices and high integration are always the focus of PIC development research.

Characteristics OF Power Integrated Circuit Technology

PIC is a special integrated circuit that integrates semiconductor power devices and integrated circuits. The continuous progress of technology not only makes PIC technology continue to develop in the direction of update, but also provides greater possibilities for the expansion of PIC application range.

The main functions of PIC are power processing, low voltage control and interface communication. In a typical PIC, usually the power input is converted to the power output by the power converter main circuit. The controller detects signals from the input/primary side and the input/secondary side and compares them to the reference signal, which controls the main power transistor.

PIC first faces compatibility issues: compatibility of high voltage and low voltage, compatibility of digital analog mixed circuits and power circuits, compatibility of manufacturing power devices and manufacturing common device processes, and compatibility at the lithographic level (try to use the same doping to achieve the process level of different devices). At the same time, in the layout design, it is also necessary to make overall arrangements for the electric heating problem, and also consider the power circuit driving current capability.

At present, the mainstream is to use BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) technology to solve PIC compatibility problems. The technology integrates Bipolar analog circuits, CMOS logic circuits and DMOS high-voltage power devices on the same silicon substrate. The devices that BCD can integrate are mainly low-voltage CMOS devices, vertical or horizontal NPN devices, vertical or horizontal PNP devices, high-voltage DMOS and various types of diodes, resistors and capacitors, and sometimes JFET and EEPROM. The BCD process combines the advantages of high transconductance and strong load driving capability of bipolar devices with high CMOS integration and low power consumption, and integrates DMOS devices (DMOS devices can operate in switching mode with low power consumption), which does not require expensive packaging and cooling systems to transfer high power to the load.

According to different application scenarios, the BCD process can be divided into four directions: high power BCD, high density BCD, silicon on insulator BCD (SOI-BCD) and high voltage BCD.