Insulated-gate bipolar transistor

An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a threeterminal power semiconductor device primarily used as
an electronic switch which, as it was developed, came to
combine high eciency and fast switching. It switches
electric power in many modern appliances: variablefrequency drives (VFDs), electric cars, trains, variable
speed refrigerators, lamp ballasts, air-conditioners and
even stereo systems with switching ampliers. Since it
is designed to turn on and o rapidly, ampliers that use
it often synthesize complex waveforms with pulse-width
modulation and low-pass lters. In switching applications
modern devices feature pulse repetition rates well into the
ultrasonic rangefrequencies which are at least ten times
the highest audio frequency handled by the device when Static characteristic of an IGBT
used as an analog audio amplier.
The IGBT combines the simple gate-drive characteristics
of MOSFETs with the high-current and low-saturationvoltage capability of bipolar transistors. The IGBT combines an isolated-gate FET for the control input and a
bipolar power transistor as a switch in a single device.
The IGBT is used in medium- to high-power applications
like switched-mode power supplies, traction motor control and induction heating. Large IGBT modules typically
consist of many devices in parallel and can have very high
current-handling capabilities in the order of hundreds of
amperes with blocking voltages of 6000 V. These IGBTs
can control loads of hundreds of kilowatts.

1 History
The IGBT is a semiconductor device with four alternating
layers (P-N-P-N) that are controlled by a metal-oxidesemiconductor (MOS) gate structure without regenerative action. This mode of operation was rst proposed by
Yamagami in his Japanese patent S47-21739, which was
led in 1968. This mode of operation was rst experimentally reported in the lateral four layer device (SCR)
by B. W. Scharf and J. D. Plummer in 1978.[3] This mode
of operation was also experimentally discovered in vertical device in 1979 by B. Jayant Baliga.[4] The device
structure was referred to as a V-groove MOSFET device with the drain region replaced by a p-type Anode
Region in this paper and subsequently as 'the insulatedgate rectier' (IGR),[5] the insulated-gate transistor
(IGT),[6] the conductivity-modulated eld-eect transistor (COMFET)[7] and bipolar-mode MOSFET.[8]

The rst-generation IGBTs of the 1980s and early 1990s

were prone to failure through eects such as latchup
(in which the device will not turn o as long as current is owing) and secondary breakdown (in which a
localized hotspot in the device goes into thermal runaway and burns the device out at high currents). Secondgeneration devices were much improved. The current
third-generation IGBTs are even better, with speed rivaling MOSFETs, and excellent ruggedness and tolerance
of overloads.[2] Extremely high pulse ratings of secondand third-generation devices also make them useful for
generating large power pulses in areas including particle
and plasma physics, where they are starting to supersede
older devices such as thyratrons and triggered spark gaps.
High pulse ratings and low prices on the surplus market
also make them attractive to the high-voltage hobbyists
for controlling large amounts of power to drive devices
such as solid-state Tesla coils and coilguns.

Plummer led a patent application for IGBT mode of

operation in the four layer device (SCR) in 1978. USP
No.4199774 was issued in 1980 and B1 Re33209[9] was
reissued in 1995 for the IGBT mode operation in the four
layer device (SCR).
Hans W. Becke and Carl F. Wheatley invented a similar
device for which they led a patent application in 1980,
and which they referred to as power MOSFET with an
anode region.[10] This patent has been called the seminal patent of the insulated gate bipolar transistor.[11] The
patent claimed no thyristor action occurs under any device operating conditions. This substantially means that
the device exhibits non-latch-up IGBT operation over the
entire device operation range.
Practical devices capable of operating over an extended
1

COMPARISON WITH POWER MOSFETS

current range were rst reported by Baliga et al. in

1982.[5] A similar paper was also submitted by J. P. Russel et al. to IEEE Electron Device Letter in 1982.[7]
The applications for the device were initially regarded
by the power electronics community to be severely restricted by its slow switching speed and latch-up of the
parasitic thyristor structure inherent within the device.
However, it was demonstrated by Baliga and also by A.
M. Goodman et al. in 1983 that the switching speed
could be adjusted over a broad range by using electron
irradiation.[6][12] This was followed by demonstration of
operation of the device at elevated temperatures by Baliga
in 1985.[13] Successful eorts to suppress the latch-up of
the parasitic thyristor and the scaling of the voltage rating
of the devices at GE allowed the introduction of commer- Cross section of a typical IGBT showing internal connection of
cial devices in 1983,[14] which could be utilized for a wide MOSFET and Bipolar Device
variety of applications.
Complete suppression of the parasitic thyristor action and
the resultant non-latch-up IGBT operation for the entire
device operation range was achieved by A. Nakagawa et
al. in 1984.[15] The non-latch-up design concept was led
for US patents.[16] To test the lack of latch-up, the prototype 1200V IGBTs were directly connected without any
loads across a 600V constant voltage source and were
switched on for 25 microseconds. The entire 600V was
dropped across the device and a large short circuit current
owed. The devices successfully withstood this severe
condition. This was the rst demonstration of so-called
short-circuit-withstanding-capability in IGBTs. Nonlatch-up IGBT operation was ensured, for the rst time,
for the entire device operation range.[17] In this sense, the
non-latch-up IGBT proposed by Hans W. Becke and Carl
F. Wheatley was realized by A. Nakagawa et al. in 1984.
Products of non-latch-up IGBTs were rst commercialized by Toshiba in 1985.

3 Comparison with power MOSFETs

Once the non-latch-up capability was achieved in IGBTs,

it was found that IGBTs exhibited very rugged and a very
large safe operating area. It was demonstrated that the
product of the operating current density and the collector
voltage exceeded the theoretical limit of bipolar transistors, 2105 W/cm2 , and reached 5105 W/cm2 .[2][17]

The additional PN junction blocks reverse current

ow. This means that unlike a MOSFET, IGBTs
cannot conduct in the reverse direction. In bridge
circuits, where reverse current ow is needed, an additional diode (called a freewheeling diode) is placed
in parallel with the IGBT to conduct current in the
opposite direction. The penalty isn't overly severe
because at higher voltages, where IGBT usage dominates, discrete diodes have a signicantly higher
performance than the body diode of a MOSFET.

The insulating material is typically made of solid polymers which have issues with degradation. There are developments that use an ion gel to improve manufacturing
and reduce the voltage required.[18]

Device structure

An IGBT cell is constructed similarly to a n-channel vertical construction power MOSFET except the n+ drain is
replaced with a p+ collector layer, thus forming a vertical
PNP bipolar junction transistor.
This additional p+ region creates a cascade connection
of a PNP bipolar junction transistor with the surface nchannel MOSFET.

An IGBT features a signicantly lower forward voltage

drop compared to a conventional MOSFET in higher
blocking voltage rated devices. As the blocking voltage
rating of both MOSFET and IGBT devices increases, the
depth of the n- drift region must increase and the doping
must decrease, resulting in roughly square relationship
decrease in forward conduction versus blocking voltage
capability of the device. By injecting minority carriers
(holes) from the collector p+ region into the n- drift region during forward conduction, the resistance of the ndrift region is considerably reduced. However, this resultant reduction in on-state forward voltage comes with
several penalties:

The reverse bias rating of the N-drift region to collector P+ diode is usually only of tens of volts, so
if the circuit application applies a reverse voltage to
the IGBT, an additional series diode must be used.
The minority carriers injected into the N-drift region take time to enter and exit or recombine at
turn-on and turn-o. This results in longer switching times, and hence higher switching loss compared
to a power MOSFET.
The on-state forward voltage drop in IGBTs behaves
very dierently from power MOSFETS. The MOS-

3
FET voltage drop can be modeled as a resistance,
with the voltage drop proportional to current. By
contrast, the IGBT has a diode-like voltage drop
(typically of the order of 2V) increasing only with
the log of the current. Additionally, MOSFET resistance is typically lower for smaller blocking voltages, so the choice between IGBTs and power MOSFETS will depend on both the blocking voltage and
current involved in a particular application.

[2] A.Nakagawa et al., Safe operating area for 1200-V nonlatch-up bipolar-mode MOSFETs, IEEE Trans. on Electron Devices, ED-34, pp. 351355(1987)

In general, high voltage, high current and low switching

frequencies favor the IGBT while low voltage, low current and high switching frequencies are the domain of the
MOSFET.

[5] B. J. Baliga, et al., The insulated gate rectier (IGR): A

new power switching device, IEEE International Electron
Devices Meeting, Abstract 10.6, pp. 264-267, 1982.

IGBT models

Circuits with IGBTs can be developed and modeled with

various circuit simulating computer programs such as
SPICE, Saber, and other programs. To simulate an IGBT
circuit, the device (and other devices in the circuit) must
have a model which predicts or simulates the devices
response to various voltages and currents on their electrical terminals. For more precise simulations the effect of temperature on various parts of the IGBT may
be included with the simulation. Two common methods
of modeling are available: device physics-based model,
equivalent circuits or macromodels. SPICE simulates IGBTs using a macromodel that combines an ensemble of
components like FETs and BJTs in a Darlington conguration. An alternative physics-based model is the Hefner
model, introduced by Allen Hefner of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Hefners model is
fairly complex that has shown very good results. Hefners
model is described in a 1988 paper and was later extended
to a thermo-electrical model which include the IGBTs response to internal heating. This model has been added to
a version of the Saber simulation software.[19]

Usage

See also

[4] B.J. Baliga, ENHANCEMENT- AND DEPLETIONMODE VERTICAL-CHANNEL M.O.S. GATED

THYRISTORS Electronics Letters p.645(1979)

[6] B. J. Baliga, Fast-switching insulated gate transistors,

IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. EDL-4, pp. 452-454,
1983.
[7] J.P. Russel et al., The COMFETA new high conductance MOS-gated device, IEEE Electron Device Lett.,
vol. EDL-4, pp. 6365, 1983
[8] A.Nakagawa et al., High voltage bipolar-mode MOSFETs with high current capability, Ext. Abst. of SSDM,
pp. 309312(1984)
[9] B1 Re33209 is attached in the pdf le of Re 33209
[10] U. S. Patent No. 4,364,073, Power MOSFET with an Anode Region, issued December 14, 1982 to Hans W. Becke
and Carl F. Wheatley
[11] C. Frank Wheatley, Jr., BSEE. Innovation Hall of Fame
at A. James Clark School of Engineering.
[12] A. M. Goodman et al., Improved COMFETs with fast
switching speed and high-current capability, IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting Technical Digest, pp.
7982,1983
[13] B. J. Baliga, Temperature behavior of insulated gate transistor characteristics, Solid State Electronics, Vol. 28,
pp. 289297, 1985.
[14] Product of the Year Award: Insulated Gate Transistor,
General Electric Company, Electronics Products, 1983.
[15] A. Nakagawa et al., Non-latch-up 1200V 75A bipolarmode MOSFET with large ASO, IEEE International
Electron Devices Meeting Technical Digest, pp.860861,1984.
[16] A.Nakagawa, H. Ohashi, Y. Yamaguchi, K. Watanabe and
T. Thukakoshi, Conductivity modulated MOSFET US
Patent No.6025622(Feb.15, 2000), No.5086323 (Feb.4,
1992) and No.4672407(Jun.9, 1987)

FGMOS

[17] A. Nakagawa et al., Experimental and numerical study

of non-latch-up bipolar-mode MOSFET characteristics,
IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting Technical
Digest, pp. 150153, 1985

Solar inverter

[18] Ion Gel as a Gate Insulator in Field Eect Transistors.

Bootstrapping

[3] B.W. Scharf and J.D. Plummer, 1978 IEEE International

Solid-State Circuits Conference, SESSION XVI FAM
16.6 A MOS-Controlled Triac Devices

References

[1] Basic Electronics Tutorials.

[19] Hefner Jr., Allen R Jr; Diebolt, DM (1994). An experimentally veried IGBT model implemented in the Saber
circuit simulator. 9 (5). IEEE Transactions on Power
Electronics: 532542. Retrieved January 2016. Check
date values in: |access-date= (help)

Further reading
Wintrich, Arendt; Nicolai, Ulrich; Tursky, Werner;
Reimann, Tobias (2015). Application Manual
Power Semiconductors (PDF-Version) (2nd Revised
ed.). Germany: ISLE Verlag. ISBN 978-3-93884383-3.

External links
Device physics information from the University of
Glasgow
Spice model for IGBT
IGBT driver calculation

EXTERNAL LINKS

10
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