Analysis of Low- and High-Frequency Oscillations in IGBTs During Turn-ON Short Circuit

The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed experimental and numerical study on the mechanisms involved in Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) instability during turn-ON short circuit that can compromise its robustness in particular load and driving conditions. It is shown that the IGBT may exhibit oscillations at both low and high frequencies depending on different physical mechanisms. Furthermore, a new methodology that allows determining the stability limits of the device in relation with the parameters of the external circuit is proposed. The experimental measurements confirm the obtained results.