Bi-Directional Operation and Active Err Reduction of 2nd Generation Back-Gate-Controlled IGBTs (BC-IGBTs)

• Published in: 2024 36th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs (ISPSD) pp. 546 - 549
• Main Authors: Saraya, T., Fukui, M., Kobayashi, Y., Itou, K., Takakura, T., Suzuki, S., Gejo, R., Sakano, T., Inokuchi, T., Matsudai, T., Takao, K., Hiramoto, T.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 02-06-2024
• Subjects: Active reduction; Back Gate; BC-IGBT; Bi-directional; Bidirectional control; Diode less; Double Gate; IGBT; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; Logic gates; Loss measurement; Pulse measurements; RC-IGBT; Reverse recovery loss; Semiconductor device measurement; Snapback free; Switches
• ISSN: 1946-0201
• DOI: 10.1109/ISPSD59661.2024.10579686

We demonstrated bi-directional operation and active reduction of reverse recovery loss (Err) in reverse conduction mode to realize freewheel diode (FWD) less switching of Back-gate-Controlled IGBT (BC-IGBT). Compared to conventional RC-IGBT, bi-directional BC-IGBT has advantages in terms of active Eoff, Err reduction, snapback free, and area efficiency. 2nd generation BC-IGBT was designed with the additional Deep P-layer (DP), which is able to reduce parasitic bipolar gain above the n-source region. DP can improve the Eoff-Vcesat tradeoff in the forward mode and also prevent latch-up failure in the reverse mode. Reverse recovery current can be dynamically suppressed by applying a front-side gate pulse just before the end of reverse conducting period. These results demonstrate that the BC-IGBT can achieve a freewheel diode (FWD)-less inverter and realize truly ideal bi-directional IGBTs.