Reverse conducting lateral insulated-gate bipolar transistors with a non-local band-to-band tunnelling junction

A new reverse conducting lateral insulated-gate bipolar transistor (LIGBT) structure with a non-local band-to-band tunnelling junction is proposed and its operating principle is demonstrated in detail for a power-switching device. By utilising the reverse bias characteristics of the tunnelling junction, the proposed LIGBT can operate successfully in the freewheeling diode mode without an external anti-parallel diode. Analysis has illustrated that the proposed LIGBT can achieve a reverse knee voltage of -1 V and a lower reverse conduction voltage drop of -1.4 V at a current density of 100 A/cm². It also shows a good temperature effect on the forward and reverse current. Moreover, it exhibits a better soft reverse recovery performance and about two times higher soft factor than the lateral P-i-N diode.