Unipolar and mixed power semiconductors (part 2)

This second part of the study of unipolar and mixed power components is mainly devoted to the Metal Oxide Semiconductor transistor and the devices derived from it. In continuity with the for unipolar components, while for mixed components it is based on the general principles of bipolar components, as set out in article .

The emergence of power Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) transistors, followed by a whole range of more complex components combining MOS field effect and bipolar injection mechanisms, accompanied a radical change in power electronics component design in the 1980s: the "isolated" MOS control and parallel association, in the same crystal, of a high number of components or elementary "cells" (up to several million units) resolves the apparent incompatibility of conventional power technologies and purely microelectronic technologies. The devices studied here are therefore already integrated power components, the most advanced forms of which are described in the article "Power integration".