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Power Electronics Devices: Diodes, MOSFETs & IGBTs
Practical power semiconductor engineering: switching losses, MOSFETs, IGBTs, gate driving, protection and thermal design
Created byManuel Gómez
Last updated 9/2026
English
What you'll learn
- Understand the operating principles of power diodes, thyristors, IGCTs, MOSFETs, Silicon Carbide MOSFETs, and IGBTs.
- Analyze static and dynamic behavior, including conduction, blocking, switching transitions, and reverse recovery.
- Identify the key loss mechanisms in power semiconductor devices and estimate their impact on efficiency and heating.
- Understand gate driving requirements for MOSFETs, Silicon Carbide MOSFETs, IGBTs, and IGCTs.
- Explain protection concepts such as snubbers, desaturation detection, soft turn-off, and safe operating area.
- Evaluate the role of packaging, parasitics, thermal paths, cooling methods, and reliability in real converters.
- Select the right power semiconductor device for a converter application based on voltage, current, frequency, losses, cooling, and cost.
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Course content
7 sections • 32 lectures • 3h 30m total length
Requirements
- Basic knowledge of electrical circuits, including voltage, current, resistance, power, and energy.
- Basic understanding of power electronics converters is helpful, but not strictly required.
- Some familiarity with semiconductor devices such as diodes and transistors is useful.
- No advanced semiconductor physics is required; the concepts are explained from a practical engineering perspective.
Description
This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.
Power semiconductor devices are at the heart of modern power electronics. They determine how efficiently a converter switches, how much power it can process, how hot it becomes, and how reliable it will be in real operation.
In this course, you will learn how the most important power semiconductor devices work, including power diodes, thyristors, integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs), power MOSFETs, Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, and IGBTs.
The course goes beyond the ideal-switch model and focuses on the real behaviour of semiconductor devices in practical power converters.
You will study:
Conduction and switching losses
Diode reverse recovery
IGBT tail current and switching behaviour
MOSFET and SiC MOSFET characteristics
Gate driving
Snubbers and switching transients
Semiconductor protection
Packaging and parasitic inductance
Thermal design and cooling
Reliability and device selection
Power semiconductor datasheet interpretation
The objective is to connect the physical behaviour of each device with practical engineering decisions.
You will understand why MOSFETs are widely used in low-voltage, high-frequency converters, why IGBTs remain important in medium- and high-power applications, and why Silicon Carbide devices are increasingly used to improve efficiency and power density.
The course also explains why semiconductor selection cannot be based only on maximum voltage and current ratings. Switching frequency, conduction losses, switching losses, gate-driver requirements, thermal performance, cooling, protection, packaging, reliability, and cost must all be considered.
A strong emphasis is placed on understanding real device datasheets and the parameters that matter when selecting a power semiconductor for a converter.
By the end of the course, you will be able to compare different semiconductor technologies, understand their main advantages and limitations, estimate the impact of losses and thermal constraints, and select appropriate devices for real power electronics applications.
Applications discussed throughout the course include motor drives, switched-mode power supplies, battery chargers, renewable energy converters, electric vehicles, traction systems, and industrial power converters.
This course is suitable for electrical and electronic engineering students, power electronics engineers, technicians, researchers, and professionals who want a practical understanding of the devices used inside modern power converters.
If you want to understand not only what power semiconductor devices are, but also how to select, drive, protect, and cool them properly, this course is for you.
Who this course is for:
- Electrical engineering students who want to understand power semiconductor devices used in modern converters.
- Power electronics engineers who want a structured review of diodes, thyristors, MOSFETs, Silicon Carbide devices, IGBTs, and IGCTs.
- Engineers working with motor drives, renewable energy converters, power supplies, battery chargers, traction systems, or industrial converters.
- Technicians and professionals who need to understand device datasheets, losses, thermal limits, protection, and practical device selection.
- Anyone interested in learning how real power semiconductor devices behave beyond the ideal switch model.