Thomas Laska

1700 V-IGBT3: field stop technology with optimized trench structure

The IGBT3 technology, which combines a specific trench cell and the field stop concept, was first introduced for devices with 1200 V blocking voltage. It is now transferred to higher blocking voltage ratings. A new series of 1700 V devices is introduced, which compared with conventional NPT (= non punch through) devices has greatly reduced static and dynamic losses and preserves the well known ruggedness of NPT devices. With this new 1700 V chip generation a new product line of modules with up to 50% higher current capability in the same housing is available.

trend setting for the high power applications in industry and traction

In this paper the dynamic clamping properties and design aspects of modern IGBT devices are discussed, a detailed characterization of a dynamic clamping optimized single IGBT chip is shown as well as the way to the integration into a big high current IGBT module. The upcoming possible advantages both for the designer of an inverter as well as for the chip producer are addressed. Also hints are given concerning the topics to solved before product introduction like suitable diode design as well as all reliability aspects

Field stop IGBTs with dynamic clamping capability - a new degree of freedom for future inverter designs?

400V IGBT and freewheeling diode as well based on 40μm thin wafer technology have been developed for electric and hybrid electric vehicles with a DC link voltage of 120V to 200V. First prototype ultrathin devices worldwide showed clearly reduced overall losses since both on state and switching losses are directly dependent on the chip thickness. The new 40μm chips also exhibited a very high dI/dt during switching resulting in high voltage overshoots exceeding the maximum allowed breakdown voltage of 400V. For this reason an overall stray inductance as small as possible is required to make use of the fast switching behavior of the new devices. Optimization of the switching behavior of both IGBT and Diode could be obtained by adapting dI/dt to an overall stray inductance of 33nH but still with reduced losses at the same time. On state voltage of both IGBT and Diode could be decreased by about 200mV. Turn off energy loss could be decreased by 10%, total losses of IGBT and Diode during turn on could be reduced by about 10% in comparison to standard 650V devices

Ultrathin 400V FS IGBT for HEV applications

An overview on the history of the development of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) as one key component in today’s power electronic systems is given; the state-of-the-art device concepts are explained as well as an detailed outlook about ongoing and foreseeable development steps is shown. All these measures will result on the one hand in ongoing power density and efficiency increase as important contributors for worldwide energy saving and environmental protection efforts. On the other hand, the exciting competition of more maturing Si IGBT technology with the wide bandgap successors of GaN and SiC switches will go on.

IGBT History, State-of-the-Art, and Future Prospects

Recent activities in insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) and thyristor development focus on the integration of protection functions in order to improve the reliability of the entire electronic system. It is shown how various protection functions can be integrated into symmetric and asymmetric light-triggered thyristors with a blocking capability up to 13 kV. Furthermore, different measures to provide IGBTs with an overvoltage protection are discussed and experimental results revealing the successful implementation of such a protection function are presented.