Optimizing the trade-off between the RDS(on) of power MOSFETs and linear mode perfomance by local modification of MOSFET gain

Abstract

Modern generations of power MOSFETs are more vulnerable to thermal runaway when operating in linear mode due to the very high MOSFET gain required for ultra-low RDS(on) With the aid of electrothermal simulation, the MOSFET gain was locally modified to improve the electrothermal behavior under linear mode operation. Based on the target application requirement, one can optimize the die design to achieve the desired trade-off between RDS(on) and linear mode performance.