Power semiconductor terminology without the fog.
A searchable foundation for engineers, students, researchers and technology teams.
BV / VDS
Breakdown or maximum drain-source blocking capability under specified test conditions.
RDS(on)
Drain-source on-resistance. A primary contributor to conduction loss, strongly dependent on temperature and operating conditions.
Qg
Total gate charge. Useful for estimating gate-drive energy and switching behavior, but not a complete switching-loss metric.
Qoss
Output charge associated with the device's nonlinear output capacitance. Important in hard-switching and resonant transitions.
Qrr
Reverse-recovery charge of a diode/body-diode path. It can strongly affect bridge switching losses and EMI.
FOM
Figure of merit. A compact comparison metric such as RDS(on) × Qg; useful for screening, insufficient for final design decisions.
Charge balance
The approximate equality of integrated positive and negative charge in SJ pillars required for effective field shaping.
Drift region
The voltage-supporting semiconductor region between the active channel structure and the high-voltage terminal.
Dynamic RON
Effective on-resistance under dynamic switching conditions, especially important in wide-bandgap devices affected by trapping and field history.