Electrical contact for semiconductor package
Granted: November 7, 2023
Patent Number:
11811180
Provided herein are semiconductor packages with improved electrical contacts (e.g. pins). In some embodiments, an assembly may include a substrate and an electrical contact coupled to the substrate, the electrical contact consisting of a first component defined by a complex 3D designed receiving pin. The electrical contact may further include a second component defined by another complex 3D designed penetrating pin, wherein the first component engages the second component to deform…
Packaged fast inverse diode component for PFC applications
Granted: June 11, 2019
Patent Number:
10319669
A novel four-terminal packaged semiconductor device is particularly useful in a 400 volt DC output PFC boost converter circuit. Within the body of the package an NFET die and a fast inverse diode die are mounted such that a bottomside drain electrode of the NFET is electrically coupled via a die attach tab to a bottomside P type anode region of the inverse diode. First terminal T1 is coupled the die attach tab. Second terminal T2 is coupled to the gate of the NFET die. Third terminal T3…
Packaged overvoltage protection circuit for triggering thyristors
Granted: May 28, 2019
Patent Number:
10304970
In a first embodiment, an ultra-fast breakover diode has a turn on time TON that is less than 0.3 microseconds, where the forward breakover voltage is greater than +400 volts and varies less than one percent per ten degrees Celsius change. In a second embodiment, a breakover diode has a reverse breakdown voltage that is greater, in absolute magnitude, than the forward breakover voltage, where the forward breakover voltage is greater than +400 volts. In a third embodiment, a string of…
Heat transfer plate having small cavities for taking up a thermal transfer material
Granted: April 30, 2019
Patent Number:
10276472
A power semiconductor device module includes, among other parts, a DMB structure. The DMB structure includes a ceramic sheet, a top metal plate that is directly bonded to the top of the ceramic, and a bottom metal plate that is directly bonded to the bottom of the ceramic. A power semiconductor device die is attached to the top metal plate. The bottom surface of the bottom metal plate has a plurality small cavities. When the bottom metal plate is attached to another metal member, a…
IGBT assembly having saturable inductor for soft landing a diode recovery current
Granted: April 2, 2019
Patent Number:
10249716
A combination switch includes an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), an anti-parallel diode, and a saturable inductor. The diode and inductor are coupled in series between a collector and an emitter of the IGBT. The inductor is fashioned so that it will come out of saturation when a forward bias current flow through the diode falls below a saturation current level. When the diode current falls (for example, due to another combination switch of a phase leg turning on), the diode…
Current correction techniques for accurate high current short channel driver
Granted: February 26, 2019
Patent Number:
10219339
A current driver integrated circuit (IC) is coupled to control current flow through a diode. In one example, the diode is a Light Emitting Diode (LED) having an anode coupled to a supply node supplied by a battery and a cathode coupled to a drive terminal of the current driver IC. During operation the current driver IC is enabled and sinks an output current from the supply node, through the LED, through the drive terminal, and onto a ground node. As current flows through the LED, the…
Power transistor with increased avalanche current and energy rating
Granted: February 26, 2019
Patent Number:
10217847
A field-effect transistor involves a drain electrode, a drift region, a body region, a source region, a gate insulator layer, and a gate electrode. The drift region is disposed above the drain electrode. The body region extends down into the drift region from a first upper semiconductor surface. The source region is ladder-shaped and extends down in the body region from a second upper semiconductor surface. The first and second upper semiconductor surfaces are substantially planar and…
Fast recovery inverse diode
Granted: January 29, 2019
Patent Number:
10193000
An inverse diode die has a high reverse breakdown voltage, a short reverse recovery time Trr, and is rugged in terms of reverse breakdown voltage stability over long term use in hard commutation applications. The die has an unusually lightly doped bottomside P type anode region and also has an N? type drift region above it. Both regions are of bulk wafer material. An N+ type contact region extends down into the drift region. A topside metal electrode is on the contact region. A P type…
Fast recovery inverse diode
Granted: December 25, 2018
Patent Number:
10164124
An inverse diode die has a high reverse breakdown voltage, a short reverse recovery time Trr, and is rugged in terms of reverse breakdown voltage stability over long term use in hard commutation applications. The die has an unusually lightly doped bottomside P type anode region and also has an N? type drift region above it. Both regions are of bulk wafer material. An N+ type contact region extends down into the drift region. A topside metal electrode is on the contact region. A P type…
Compensation for asymmetries in electrodynamics of BLDC type machines using hall sensors
Granted: December 11, 2018
Patent Number:
10153716
A microcontroller controls a BLDC motor with Hall sensors. In a calibration mode, the microcontroller operates the motor at substantially constant load and speed. A first current value across the motor is detected. A reference phase angle value is adjusted and a second current value is detected. If the second current value is less than the first current value, then the reference phase angle value is adjusted and a next current value is detected. The adjusting and detecting is repeated…
Gate driver for switching converter having body diode power loss minimization
Granted: October 2, 2018
Patent Number:
10090751
In a switching converter having an inductive load, a current may flow through the body diode of a transistor even though the gate of the transistor is being controlled to keep the transistor off. Then when the other transistor of the switch leg is turned on, a reverse recovery current flows in the reverse direction through the body diode. To reduce switching losses associated with such current flows, a gate driver integrated circuit detects when current flow through the body diode rises…
High-speed MOSFET and IGBT gate driver
Granted: September 4, 2018
Patent Number:
10069485
A gate driver integrated circuit drives an output signal onto its output terminal and onto the gate of a power transistor. In a turn-on episode, a digital input signal transitions to a digital logic high level. In response, the gate driver integrated circuit couples the output terminal to a positive supply voltage terminal, thereby driving a positive voltage onto the gate of the power transistor. In response to a high-to-low transition of the digital input signal, the driver drives a…
Reverse bipolar junction transistor integrated circuit
Granted: August 28, 2018
Patent Number:
10062686
A Reverse Bipolar Junction Transistor (RBJT) integrated circuit comprises a bipolar transistor and a parallel-connected distributed diode, where the base region is connected neither to the collector electrode nor to the emitter electrode. The bipolar transistor has unusually high emitter-to-base and emitter-to-collector reverse breakdown voltages. In the case of a PNP-type RBJT, an N base region extends into a P? epitaxial layer, and a plurality of P++ collector regions extend into the…
Power semiconductor device module having mechanical corner press-fit anchors
Granted: August 28, 2018
Patent Number:
10062621
A power semiconductor device module includes a metal baseplate and a plastic housing that together form a tray. Power electronics are disposed in the tray. A plastic cap covers the tray. Electrical press-fit terminals are disposed along the periphery of the tray. Each electrical terminal has a press-fit pin portion that sticks up through a hole in the cap. In addition, the module includes four mechanical corner press-fit anchors disposed outside the tray. One end of each anchor is…
Synchronous sensing of inductor current in a buck converter control circuit
Granted: August 14, 2018
Patent Number:
10050527
A sense resistor is placed in series with an output capacitor of a buck converter. The buck converter operates in a discontinuous mode such that there is a dead time in each switching cycle. A control circuit senses a voltage across the sense resistor and thereby generates a first signal ICS. The control circuit detects an offset voltage in ICS, where the offset voltage is the voltage of ICS during the dead time in a first switching cycle. The control circuit level shifts the entire ICS…
Low forward voltage rectifier using capacitive current splitting
Granted: July 31, 2018
Patent Number:
10038383
A Low Forward Voltage Rectifier (LFVR) circuit includes a bipolar transistor, a parallel diode, and a capacitive current splitting network. The LFVR circuit, when it is performing a rectifying function, conducts the forward current from a first node to a second node provided that the voltage from the first node to the second node is adequately positive. The capacitive current splitting network causes a portion of the forward current to be a base current of the bipolar transistor, thereby…
Power MOSFET having improved manufacturability, low on-resistance and high breakdown voltage
Granted: July 31, 2018
Patent Number:
10038088
Stripe-shaped surface transistor structures of a power MOSFET are disposed over an array of parallel-extending P type Buried Stripe-Shaped Charge Compensation Regions (BSSCCRs). The power MOSFET has two and only two epitaxial semiconductor layers, and the BSSCCRs are disposed at the interface between these layers. Looping around the area occupied by these parallel-extending BSSCCRs is a P type ring-shaped BSSCCR. At the upper semiconductor surface are disposed three P type surface rings.…
High-voltage stacked transistor circuit
Granted: July 3, 2018
Patent Number:
10014852
A High-Voltage Stacked Transistor Circuit (HVSTC) includes a stack of power transistors coupled in series between a first terminal and a second terminal. The HVSTC also has a control terminal for turning on an off the power transistors of the stack. All of the power transistors of the stack turn on together, and turn off together, so that the overall stack operates like a single transistor having a higher breakdown voltage. Each power transistor, other than the one most directly coupled…
Direct metal bonding on carbon-covered ceramic contact projections of a ceramic carrier
Granted: June 19, 2018
Patent Number:
10000423
Top and bottom metal plates of a DMB panel stack are simultaneously direct-bonded to the central ceramic sheet in a single high-temperature step. During this step, the DMB panel rests on an array of very small upwardly projecting ceramic contacts of a ceramic carrier. An amount of unoxidized carbon (e.g., a layer of graphite) is disposed on each contact projection such that an amount of carbon is disposed between the top of the contact projection and the metal oxide skin of the bottom…
Multi-stage LED driver with current proportional to rectified input voltage and low distortion
Granted: June 5, 2018
Patent Number:
9992833
A system for driving a multi-stage LED with low distortion and with current proportional to rectified input voltage is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, an apparatus includes LED groups connected in series to form an LED string having a first node, a last node, and intermediate nodes. The apparatus also includes current cells having inputs coupled to the nodes and outputs coupled to an output resistor. Each current cell selectively regulates current to flow between its respective…
