IGBT

• The insulated gate transistor IGT is a semiconductor switching device that combines the
power MOSFET and bipolar technology.
• It is also called insulated gate bipolar transistor, IGBT.
• It has an input characteristics of a MOSFET and an output characteristics of bipolar
transistor.
• That means it has high input impedance and low on-state conduction loss. But it has no
second break down problem like the bipolar transistor.

• The structure consists of two junctions J1 and J2.

• The external terminals are collector, emitter and gate.
• It is basically a hybrid MOS-gated turn on/off bipolar transistor which has the characteristic
of MOSFET, BJT and thyristor.

Gate
Emitter

P N
+
N P
+
J
N 1
epitaxial
drift
region
Minority
carrier
injectionJ2
P + substrate

Collector

The structure of IGBT

• In this device if the collector is negative with respect to emitter the junction J2 becomes
reverse biased and there is no current flow.

• This provides the device with its reverse blocking capability.

 • When the collector is positive with respect to the emitter, and the gate is shorted with the
emitter the junction J1 is reverse biased and the device operates in its forward blocking
mode.

COLLECTOR
EMIITER

Emitter R
shorting GATE
resistance (G)

Main Current
Path EMITTER
COLLECTOR
(E)
Equivalent Circuit of Electrical Symbol of
IGBT IGBT
• However, if a sufficient positive voltage is applied at the gate with respect to the emitter
with sufficient amplitude to invert the surface of the p-base region under the gate, the device
switches to its forward conducting state.

• This is because, current can flow from the emitter n+ region into the n-base region through
the inversion layer.

• In this forward conductive stage the junction J2 becomes forward biased and the collector
p+ region injects hole into the n-base region.
IC
VG5 > VG4 > VG3 VG2 > VG1

Active Region
Vg5
Vg4
Vg3
Vg2
BVECR Vg1
VR VCE
BVCER
Reverse characteristics Forward characteristics

V-I Characteristics of IGBT

• In this region the device operates at high current densities like a forward biased p-i-n diode.

• The forward conduction current density is much higher compared to that of MOSFET or
BJT due to its rectifier-like forward conduction characteristics.

• The forward voltage drop is of the order of 1.0V

• The input impedance of IGBT is similar to that of the MOSFET because it is designed to
obtain the gate controlled characteristics of power MOSFETs.

• This allows controlled turn-on and controlled turn-off. The gate turn-off ranges from 0.2 to
20µs.

• The reduction of turn-off time results in sacrifice of current density.

• But even if the turn-off time is reduced to 0.25µs its current density still remains
considerably higher than that of the power MOSFET.

• It is to be noted that the IGBT structure contains a parasitic p-n-p-n thyristor structure
between the collector and the emitter terminals.

• If this thyristor latches on, the current can no longer be controlled by the gate.

• But this device is designed with a low emitter shorting resistance R to suppress this thyristor
action.

• The input capacitance of an IGBT is significantly less than that of a MOSFET.

• The ratio of gate-emitter capacitance is lower and this results in improved Miller feed back
effect during dv/dt turn-on and turn-off.

• The design of IGBT is such that its turn-on and turn-off times can be controlled by the gate-
to-emitter source impedance.

• When a positive voltage is applied at the gate with respect to the cathode, the device turns
on provided the magnitude of gate-emitter voltage is greater than the threshold value
VGE(TH).

• In switching applications the applied gate-emitter voltage should be much greater than the
threshold value in order to saturate the device.

• Similar to a power MOSFET the IGBT does not show an appreciable storage time during
turn-on, but the turn-off characteristic is slightly different.

• During turn-off there is a delay time td at which the collector current reduces to 90% of the
steady state current.

• After td the fall time commences. The fall time shows two distinct time intervals, tf1 and
tf2.
 • The time tf1 designates the period during which the collector current reduces to 10% from
90% of IC and during tf2 the collector current reduces from 10% of the IC.

• The turn-off delay is caused by the discharge time constant of the effective gate-to-emitter
capacitance and gate-emitter drive circuit resistance RGE.

• The current fall time of the IGBT can be controlled by the use of external circuitry.

• The time tf1 can be directly controlled by the value of RGE.

• But the time tf2 is not controllable and is an inherent characteristics of the device.

• Since the fall time contributes significantly to the switching loss of the device it is
advantageous that tf1 is controlled by an external resistance RGE.

• This is also helpful in reducing the inductive kick for an inductive load because the
magnitude of this surge is –Ldi/dt.

Losses in IGBT:

• The losses in IGBT in switching applications consists of

1.Conduction losses
2.off-state losses
3.switching losses
4.drive losses.
• Similar to BJT and MOSFET the switching losses in IGBT are less in low frequency or in
DC applications.

• The off-state loss can be neglected in Normal operating temperature because of its
significant value.

• But at higher operating frequencies the switching losses share a considerable portion of the
total losses.

• The switching losses can be determined by using idealized waveforms though the individual
applications may have different wave forms.

• The device current and voltage waveforms vary with different types of load.

Protection of IGBT:
• The IGBT should be protected against voltage surges by the use of snubbers.
• The snubbers should be designed for particular application.

• The snubber circuit not only restricts the voltage surges across the device, but it also
functions to reduce switching losses within the device.

• It is also reduces turn-off dv/dt of the collector-to-emitter voltage.

• The controllable collector current capability is also increased since it varies proportional to
Vce.

• That means , at low values of collector-to-emitter voltage, i.e., VCE much less than VCER,
controllable collector current is much larger than the specified maximum value.

• The use of snubber reduces the slope of the device voltage rise during the turn-off time.

• When there is no snubber the voltage rise time of IGBT is trv1, and current fall times are tf1
and tf2 during turn-off.

• The device loss is increased due to presence of tf2.

• If a polarized snubber is used the switching losses are reduced.

•
The product of Vce(t).Ic(t) during the transition is reduced and consequently the losses are
reduced.

• Another feature of IGBT characteristics needs attention.

• This is the latch “on” characteristic which occurs when the maximum controllable collector
current exceeded for a specified minimum value of RGE.

• The value of RGE is specified as a minimum value to guarantee that the device can not latch
for any rated combination of voltage and current which include resistive or inductive load.

• This is true whether there is a snubber or not and at any operating junction temperature not
exceeding the maximum limit.

• The latching mode should be avoided because at that condition the gate control is lost.

• Similar to an SCR if the IGBT latches on, it can only be turned off if the collector current
can be reduced below the holding current of the device or it is force commutated similar to
the SCR.

• But the device can be easily controlled to prevent latching.

 • It is known that the magnitude of the collector current is controlled by VGE and therefore if
the maximum value of VGE is limited and is not allowed to increase beyond that value,
excessive collector current flow will be prevented.

• However, if the load is shorted the power dissipation in the device will be very large till the
device is turned-off.

• Load short circuit may occur in practical cases and the device can be saved by turning it off
within the safe operating time.

• The device can survive full voltage and current for 5µs and device should be turned off
during this period in case of load short circuit.

• In practice this is implemented by sensing the collector current and if it exceeds a set value
the gate drive is automatically brought to zero by an auxiliary circuit.
Gate Drive:
• The input characteristics of the IGBT are similar to that of a power MOSFET.
• That means, it has an input capacitance and a gate-to-emitter threshold voltage VGE(TH).
• In order to turn-on the device, the input capacitance must be charged up to a value greater
than VGE(TH) and the collector current begins to flow.
+Vcc

RL

D RS
Q
R
D
RGE
C

Gate drive circuit of IGBT

• The collector-to-emitter saturation voltage decreases with the increase of VGE, which
means for switching applications VGE>>VGE(TH).

• In order to switch the IGBT off, the gate-emitter voltage should be reduced to zero and there
must be resistance between the gate-emitter terminals to allow the input capacitance to
discharge.

• There is a lower limit in the value of RGE.

• The maximum controllable collector current depends on the dv/dt of the gate-emitter
voltage.

• That means, the higher the gate-to-emitter turn-off dv/dt, the lower the controllable collector
current.

• The controllable collector current also depends on the types of load, which may be resistive
or inductive.

• The drive circuit which are used in the MOSFET can be used for the drive of IGBT.

• There are two typical drive circuits.

- Non isolated
- An isolated gate drive circuit.

• Resistance Rs determines the turn-on time, while RGE determines the turn-off time.

• The diode D is used in conjunction with Rs to provide fast turn-on time without affecting the
turn-off time.

• Insulated gate bipolar transistor are commercially available at present with the maximum
power handling capacity in the range of 1200V, 400A.

IC
0.9IC

0.1IC

VGE

tf1 tf2
td

Turn-off characteristics of IGBT

 RGE1 < RGE2 < RGE3
IC

tf1Variable

RGE1 RGE2 RGE3

tf2 = constant tf2 = constant

Variation of fall time with RGE