Application driven integrated design of a half-bridge power switch

This paper presents the assembly of a half-bridge switch taking into account the actual current commutations encountered in power converter topologies. So, rather than optimizing the connection between an active switch (e.g., IGBT) and its anti-parallel freewheeling diodes, a novel approach is proposed which favors compact interconnection of the high-side transistor with the low-side diode and vice-versa. The result is a very low-inductive, double-sided cooled power switch, suitable for advanced integration of power conversion equipment.