Safe Operating Area of Transistor
The safe operating area (SOA or SOAR) of a power transistor specifies the safe
operating limits of collector current I c versus collector-emitter voltage V CE. For
reliable operation of the transistor, the collector current and voltage must always
lie within this area. Actually, two types of safe operating areas are specified by
the manufacturers, FBSOA and RBSOA.
The forward-base safe operating area (FBSOA) pertains to the transistor
operation when base-emitter junction is forward biased to turn-on the transistor.
For a power transistor, shows typical FBSOA for its dc as well as single-pulse
operation. The scale for Ic and VCE are logarithmic. Boundary AB is the
maximum limit for dc and continuous current for V CE less than about 80 V. For
VCE for more than 80 V, collector current has to be reduced to boundary BC so
as to limit the junction temperature to safe values. For still higher V CE, current
should further be reduced so as to avoid secondary breakdown limit. Boundary
CD defines this secondary breakdown limit. Boundary DE gives the maximum
voltage capability for this particular transistor. For pulsed operation, power
transistor can dissipate more peak power so long as average power loss is within
safe limits of junction temperature. In Fig. 5 ms, 500 μs etc. indicate pulse
widths for which transistor is on. It is seen that FBSOA increases as pulse-width
is decreased.
It should be noted that FBSOA curves, as given by the manufacturers, are for a
case temperature of 25°C and for dc and single-pulse operation. In order to take
consideration the actual working temperature and repetitive nature of the pulses,
these curves must be modified with the help of thermal impedance of the
device.
During turn-off, a transistor is subjected to high current and high voltage with
base-emitter junction reverse biased. Safe operating area for transistor during
turn-off is specified as reverse blocking safe operating area (RBSOA). This
RBSOA is a plot of collector current versus collector-emitter voltage as shown
in Fig. RBSOA specifies the limits of transistor operation at turn-off when the
base current is zero or when the base-emitter junction is reverse biased (i.e. with
base current negative). With increased reverse bias, area RBSOA decreases in
size as shown in Fig.
