Comparison of trench gate IGBT and CIGBT devices for 3.3kV high power module applications

Trench gate MOS controlled devices are more desirable in power modules because their reduced Vce(sat) enables increased output power density. However with increased drift region thickness with voltage rating, there is significant increase in conduction loss in Trench gate IGBT (T-IGBT) due to low plasma density from inherent pnp transistor action. On the other hand a well-designed trench gate MOS-controlled thyristor such as the Trench Cluster Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (T-CIGBT) is a drop in solution, which can provide thyristor-like on-state loss without compromising ease of control, turnoff loss and SOA. The T-CIGBT device technology employs controlled thyristor to lower on-state and a unique `self-clamping´ of the cathode cell potential to control the saturation current density. The comparison of T-IGBT and T-CIGBT 3.3kV/800A module simulation results in this paper show that T-CIGBT can reduce hard switching total losses and increase the power density of existing IGBT module footprints.