A Review of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)

A review of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor

(IGBT)

Ajit Prajapati, E&C Department, IIT Roorkee

power MOSFET, many modifications done and

Abstract — Rapid growth and tremendous demand of fabricated. The first generation IGBTs of 1980s and
the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power 1990s were lying to failure and breakdown. In the
semiconductor devices market has been operated in the Second and third generation, IGBTs were much more
field of high power distribution and management for the improved and able to handle high pulse rating[4].
electric vehicles, renewable energy, industrial devices, Modern IGBTs have overvoltage protection of high
etc. Different modified IGBT are being used according to
need in the application as current rating and power
power, switching performance has improved for high
voltages are increasing day by day. This review paper voltage and maintained low forward voltage drop to
summarizes the past development and recent research on reduce switching losses[5].
the Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor, recent trend
focused parameters and limitations. This paper also Advancement in the IGBT devices have brought many
provides the advantage, disadvantage and future convenience and interest in industries. Other power
prospective of IGBT device. semiconductor devices replaced with power IGBT due to
the higher switching frequency and speed than others.
It has very low on-voltage drop and very much cost
Index Terms — Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), effective as size of chip can be reduced. Different
review, high power semiconductor devices, high voltage materials are used to fabricate the IGBTs according to
devices
the requirement such as Si for current power device, SiC
for future power device, Al for heat sink and bond wire
I. Introduction
material and many more [6].
T INSULATED gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a cross
between bipolar junction transistor and metal oxide DEVICE STRUCTURE
semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), which
A. Circuit & Symbol
gives nearly perfect power semiconductor switching
device. IGBT is a three terminal device which is
characterized by high efficiency, lower switching loss
and higher switching speed[1]. This makes the device
more useful in the modern applications for power
operation and distribution in the field of renewable
energy, industrial devices, electric/hybrid vehicles,
variable frequency drives, high voltage applications and
so on[2]. Solid state switches are required to hold the
high voltage and high current[3]. We reviewed the
history of IGBTs and betterment of the power
semiconductor device. Future scope and recent
technologies discussed in this paper. The Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is a
three terminal namely: collector, emitter and gate, where
K. Yamagami and Y. Akagiri of Mitsubishi Electric the minority carrier device have high bipolar current
were the first to purposed and file Japanese patent for the carrying capability and high input impedance. Small
basic IGBT mode of operation, where MOSFET was signal amplifier circuit uses the IGBT like others.
pnp transistor. With the increase in commercialization of However, solid state switch exists with low conduction
 A Review of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)

loss and high switching speed that can control the high
voltage and high current in the semiconductor
devices[7]. IGBT turn “ON” or “OFF” due to activating
and deactivating the gate terminal of the device and
collector and emitter connected for the current flow.

B. Basic Structure

This second graph shows the change in voltage

with respect to time. In the turn-ON state, when Vge =
Vge(th), collector current Ic starts to flow. Rise time is
maximum for Ic and IGBT is ON state and voltage
across is zero. Vce starts to reduce to nearly zero or Vces
saturation. In addition, time taken to fall from Vces is
IGBT has parasitic thyristor comprising four-layered
fall time.
NPNP structure. Vertical power MOSFET is nearly
same as silicon cross-section of IGBT. P+ injecting layer Ton = Tdn (delay time) + Tr (rise time)
is expectation in power MOSFET. Here, N+ layer at top
as emitter or source while P+ layer at bottom as collector In the turn-off state, Delay time takes place when Ic
or drain terminal. For the minority carrier injection and falls from Ic to 0.9Ic while Vce starts to rise. Initial fall
conductivity modulation, P+ layer (injecting layer) is time is time during 0.9Ic to 0.2Ic and Vce to 0.1 Vce as
responsible for injecting into N-drift region. The NPN same as final fall time from 0.2 Ic to 0.1Ic and 0.1Vce to
and PNP represents the regenerative feedback loop in the Vce.
circuit. Moreover, an n-channel formed in p-regions as
Toff = Tdf + Tf1 + Tf2
in power MOSFET if gate is positive with emitter and
gate-emitter voltage than that of threshold voltage of
IGBT. Punch through (PT IGBT) and Non-punch
through (NPT IGBT) are transistor IGBT types for II. IGBT FOCUSED
fabrication.
A. High Voltage Switch
IGBT has very fast switching speed and more stable
C. Characteristics than other devices. The main encounter part is to provide
supply voltage to the IGBT gate driver. Switching speed
performance increased with the series connection of
IGBT devices. This also helps to reduce the stress on
single device and short circuit. If the IGBT devices are
connected in series connection, their voltage can be
increased up to 40 KV [8],[9]. Moreover, these are also
proper for the new generation HVDC.
B. Switching loss
Switching loss can reduce the switching speed of the
device. One reason is due to opposite switch of parallel
freewheeling diode conducting until turn-on. Some of
the switching losses discussed below.
 A Review of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)

I. Peak Current/ Gate Voltage

As the peak current is directly depended on gate
voltage, somehow both are depend on threshold
voltage of IGBT. In datasheet, 15-20 V requested for
2. Emitter open operation mode
maximum gate voltage. Normally, higher the peak
current with the increase in gate voltage. It also Here, turn-off switching loss involes two gate
depends on temperature of crystal. So, it’s very hard to drive mode : simulataneous and time delay drive
maintain and lower the switching loss on IGBT[10]. modes. In simultaneous mode, MOSFET turn-off
first and leaves emitter terminal of IGBT to open
II. Turn-On Loss and Pulse length
circuit. IGBT stays on state while minority carriers
Turn-on losses are all the time similar. This are disappeared. In second time delay mode, delay
resources that rise time of current are self-regulating time between two off signals, MOSFET is turned-
than turn-on loss. Vce sat (steady state conditions) has off and Ic to zero whereas IGBT is still on state.
no effect on loss, as it is much more small than These modes brings change and switching losses in
voltage drop nearly ten times. Therefore, this is focus the IGBT[11],[12].
to maintain for the switching loss. D. Overvoltage Protection
III. Turn-On Losses for different IGBT Design IGBT can handle large amount of voltage and
current to work with and high turn-off and stray
The turn-on losses are mainly reliant on drift layer of
inductance can occur. Thus, this requires the
different IGBT designs with similar test conditions. It
is parallel with drift layer thickness in the design[10]. overvoltage protection from break down or destroy.
Turn-On losses are Fast closed loop overvoltage safeguard can be done
by the turn-off voltage overshoot of IGBT[5].
Eloss ∼ I [A] ∗ 0.01 [mJ/A] Closed loop is initiated by the Active clamping
circuit (AVC) to prevent from overvoltage performs
C. Turn-Off Switching Loss
closed loop. This technique can helps to protect the
As the Turn-On characteristics affects the switching IGBT from break down[13].
speed, turn-Off losses also affect the operation of
high switching frequency. Soft turn-Off methods can
be implemented for the loss reduction.[11]
III. LIMITATIONS
1. Hard switching operation The countless use of IGBT has some limits for the
usage, which must take in consideration for long
life implementation. Only anode to cathode flow of
hole is one limit of IGBT on state voltage with 110-
µm and drift region around 0.835 V at 100 A/cm 2
[14],[15]. SiC limit for over 2KV range has taken in
low on-resistance for the drawback of Silicon
IGBT[15]. An additional things is above 100 KHz is
taken for hard-switch of IGBT while current rating is
decreased[16]. Nevertheless, temperature is
another factor for the IGBT. Thermal limit of device
As shown in the above figure, delay time
is 150 °C in chip size of 0.14 cm2. Moreover, trade-
period, fall time and tail time interval determines
off done between chip size and thermal dissipation
the switching loss on the turn-off. Normally,
when the gate voltage goes below threshold capability.
voltage, IGBT turn-off and removes the current
from MOSFET. However, in bipolar transistor, IV. CONCLUSION
Ic falls slowly due to minority carriers. Switch Approximately 40 years of development of IGBT
current is constant while IGBT is on state. Total technology, many achievements has made and still
energy losses measured by going on for the betterment and size. This paper
 A Review of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)

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