IRF3205S – What is it and what is it used for?

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Transistors are components that have been making waves in the world of electronics ever since they were invented.
What’s more, this invention has directed the tracks that mankind follows wherever we deal with electronics.
Aside from bipolar transistors, it is impossible to pass by unipolar transistors, such as the IRF3205S, which we will lean on in this article!

IRF3205S - introduction

IRF3205 is an N-HEXFET transistor.
HEXFET is a power MOSFET, which can be easily found in TO-220AB housing.
The operating voltage range of this transistor is 55V.
This transistor is mainly used in power circuits operating in a full bridge topology, as well as in dynamic power circuits where the rate of change of voltage dv/dt matters.
Some other applications, such as charge converters, solar inverters, custom applications, and speed control circuits, also use this transistor.
The chip is considered a building block for many electronic applications where fast switching is the main concern, as it belongs to the category of ultra-low resistance semiconductor devices that rely solely on advanced process technology in its semiconductor structure.

MOSFET with high thermal load capacity

IRF3205 was introduced by the International Rectifier company.
The main purpose of introducing this transistor was to generate extremely low resistance to the silicon surface.
It is a power MOSFET that is mainly based on Advance Process Technology and is therefore widely used in applications requiring fast switching.
The IRF3205 is also known as a voltage-controlled switch because it is a power MOSFET and consists of a case with three leads, viz.
gate, source and drain.
The voltage supplied to the gate can be used to control the current flow from the drain to the source.
The maximum operating temperature of the drain-source junction is 175*C, which, together with its low thermal resistance, makes it a suitable choice for power dissipation of about 50W in commercial industrial applications.

Compared to other MOSFETs, the IRF3205 differs in that it has a thick layer of silicon dioxide on the gate lead and cannot be damaged by high input voltage, while other MOSFETs can be damaged when used in circuits driving high input voltage because they have a thin oxide layer, thus affecting the overall performance of this device.
This power MOSFET can also be used to drive high-power DC motors, industrial applications, as well as hand-held power tools such as angle grinders and impact drills.

Principle of operation of the IRF3205S transistor

The drain, gate and source leads of this power MOSFET are analogous to the emitter, base and collector leads present in a bipolar junction transistor.
The source and drain of this power MOSFET are made of n-type material.
The core element of this power MOSFET is a substrate fabricated from a p-type semiconductor.
To give a metal oxide semiconductor structure, there is an additional layer of silicon oxide on the substrate layer.
The conduction process takes place along with the movement of electrons, hence the name unipolar transistor, which is also used interchangeably.
In order to isolate the gate terminal from the entire core of the instrument, an insulating layer must be placed.
The area between the source and drain is called the N channel. This N channel is controlled by the voltage level present at the gate.

Compared to the BJT transistor, the MOSFET is ahead of the game, and the reason is that no input current is needed to control a large amount of current in the drain-source channel.
If a positive voltage is applied to the MOS structure, the charge distribution in the device changes in such a way that the holes under the oxide layer have to face the force, thus causing the holes to move downward.
Note, however, that limited negative charges are always connected to acceptor atoms and are responsible for the accumulation of the depletion region.
If electrons are applied in large numbers, they will prove useful, increasing the conductivity of the entire channel, thus causing the substrate to change to an N-type material.

Technical parameters of the IRF3205S transistor

  • Maximum continuous drain current ID = 110A @VGS = 10V
  • Drain current in pulse: ID MAX = 390A
  • Power loss at 25*C: Po = 200W
  • Linear derating factor: 1.3 W/°C.
  • Gate-to-source voltage: VGS = ± 20 V.
  • Avalanche current: I AV = 62A
  • Repetitive avalanche energy: E AV = 0.02 Jdv/dt.
  • Peak diode recovery: dv/dt =i 5 V/ns.
  • Maximum soldering temperature: 300*C @ t =< 10s
  • Maximum operating temperature: 175*C.
  • Housing: TO-220AB
  • Conductivity type: N-HEXFET
  • Rise time: 110 ns
  • Drain-Source resistance minimum: RDSmin = 8mΩ
  • Drain-source breakdown voltage: VDSb = 55V

The above conditions are important in the design of electronic circuits.
If these values are exceeded, the performance and reliability of the target device may be affected.
The most preferred way to use this device is to familiarize yourself with the listed ratings before placing the IRF3205 in a circuit, and make sure that the load and operating conditions are met according to the design recommendations.

Practical applications of the IRF3205S transistor

The IRF3205 transistor is used in many applications, but some of the main applications where this chip is widely used are as follows:

  • half-bridge systems
  • full-bridge systems
  • high-frequency switching systems
  • Push-Pull power stages
  • speed control of electric drives
  • Buck-Boost converters
  • solar inverters

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Mateusz Mróz

Dreamer, fan of travels and technology news. He is eager to turn his ideas for Raspberry Pi and Arduino into reality. Stubborn autodidact - he asks for help only when the internet browser doesn’t have answers he is looking for. He thinks that everyone can achieve their goals with the right attitude.

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