Evaluation of turn-on performance of P-i-N rectifiers and IGBT´s under zero voltage switching

Author

Pendharkar, S. ; Shenai, Krishna

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI, USA

Volume

43

Issue

4

fYear

1996

fDate

4/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

647

Lastpage

654

Abstract

This paper compares the turn-on performance of two vertical power bipolar devices, viz, P-I-N diode and IGBT, under Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS). Although both the devices are “conductivity modulated” during turn-on, the IGBT carrier dynamics distinctly differ from that of a P-i-N rectifier. It is shown that, for identical drift region parameters, the conductivity modulation in the IGBT is significantly lower compared to that in a P-i-N rectifier mainly because of carrier flow constraints in the IGBT and the inherent bipolar transistor-like carrier distribution in the IGBT. 2-D mixed device and circuit simulations were performed to understand the behavior of the two devices during turn-on under ZVS. The mixed device and circuit simulator was also used to study the effects of variations in the rate of change of current (di/dt) through the device during turn-on, carrier lifetime and temperature on the turn-on behavior of the two bipolar devices under ZVS

Keywords

carrier lifetime; carrier mobility; insulated gate bipolar transistors; p-i-n diodes; power semiconductor diodes; power transistors; rectifiers; semiconductor device models; solid-state rectifiers; 2D device simulation; IGBT; P-i-N rectifiers; bipolar transistor-like carrier distribution; carrier dynamics; carrier flow constraints; carrier lifetime; conductivity modulated devices; drift region parameters; rate of change of current; turn-on performance; vertical power bipolar devices; zero voltage switching; Bipolar transistors; Charge carrier lifetime; Circuit simulation; Conductivity; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; P-i-n diodes; PIN photodiodes; Rectifiers; Temperature; Zero voltage switching;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.485548

Filename

485548