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2012 Power Devices, Hudgins PDF
2012 Power Devices, Hudgins PDF
1077-2618/12/$31.00©2012 IEEE
thyristors [except silicon-controlled thyristors (SCRs)] are
also controllable in switching from a forward conduction
back into a forward-blocking state. Some thyristors are able
to block forward and reverse voltages (symmetric blocking) p+ n– n+
when compared with others that only block voltage in for-
ward direction (asymmetric blocking). Transistor-type
devices are generally asymmetric components, though
some work on symmetric IGBTs has also been done [1]. x
n+ Layer
p+ Layer
p+ Layer (Substrate)
Collector
Collector
(a) (b)
3
Comparison of IGBT cell structure. (a) Carrier-stored trench bipolar transistor (CSTBT) and (b) conventional PT trench IGBT.
(Image courtesy of Powerex, Inc.)
IEEE INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS MAGAZINE JULY j AUGUST 2012 WWW.IEEE.ORG/IAS
concentration and is thus dominated by the low value near A modified soft PT (SPT) design, using a lightly doped
the emitter [3]. The excess stored charge, near the collector, buffer layer (similar to the FS region in a 6.5-kV IGBT),
dominates the switching behavior/losses. The introduction has allowed high-voltage devices to be fabricated with
of a buried charge storage n-region between the p-emitter reduced on-state losses while keeping the processing
and n -base regions improves the charge-carrier distribu- advantages of a planar gate [6]. At typical operating vol-
tion closer to the ideal diode distribution (curve C of Fig- tages, the space-charge region during turn off and blocking
ure 4), thereby enhancing the tradeoff between the on-state does not reach the edge of this buffer layer. Therefore,
and switching losses, resulting in lower total losses [4]. despite a very thin base region, the dynamic electrical
The high-conductivity IGBT (HiGT) is similar to the properties of the SPT-IGBT are almost comparable with
device shown in Figure 3(a), except that the HiGT has a those of a thicker NPT design. This technology has been
planar-gate structure [5]. This device has been shown to demonstrated in IGBT devices with a blocking voltage
operate favorably when compared with a conventional capability in excess of 8 kV [7].
IGBT, both rated for a 3.3-kV blocking capability. A variation of the trench-gate device with electron
injection enhancement (IE) has been developed as IEGT
[8]. The structure is similar to that shown in Figure 3(a).
However, instead of a buried n-layer, only one of every five
Emitter nþ -emitter regions is electrically connected to the contact
B C A metallization. This enhances electron injection from the
Conventional
Trench IGBT connected emitters. The lifetime of the hole is also reduced
CSTBT at the p-collector (IEGT collector) to reduce hole-injection
Ideal efficiency at the pþ -n junction. The net effect is to
Pin Diode increase charge-carrier injection from the emitter side and
reduce carrier injection from the collector side, causing the
carrier profile to more closely approach the ideal pin-diode
distribution.
Another proposed design by which the IGBT on-state
Collector charge-carrier profile is modified is by reducing the collec-
Increasing tor contact area and inserting a floating nþ region there.
4 The nþ region is electrically isolated from the IGBT p-col-
Comparison of charge-carrier profiles in various IGBT lector contact by a thin oxide layer. Electrons accumulate
20
designs with that in an ideal power diode. at the oxide interface near the p-collector, which enhances
hole injection back from the collector region. This design Typical package failures in modules occur due to crack
is the injection-efficiency-controlled (IEC) IGBT [9]. growth at the wire-bond/silicon interface caused by temper-
IGBTs rated with blocking ratings above 5 kV are typi- ature swings that create stress due to the different CTE val-
cally used in circuits with a dc-link voltage of 3 kV or in ac ues of Al and Si. The other major package-related failure in
systems at 2.3 kV. By stacking devices in series, dc systems modules is solder fatigue. Again, different CTE values of
at 5.9 kV and higher, up to 150 kV [10], [11] or ac systems Cu, Si, and solder combine to create shear stress that results
at 4.2 kV and higher can be realized. In addition, these in cracks and eventually voids that reduce the effective heat
type of devices, as do all NPT and modern SPT devices, flow area between the Si die and the baseplate, further accel-
have a positive temperature coefficient of the on-state volt- erating failure [20]. The mechanical stress associated with
age and can be configured in parallel for increased current differing thermal expansion of package materials and the Si
capability in a system. Circuits requiring hundreds to die also affects the electrical behavior of the devices through
thousands of amperes to be switched require multiple par- modification of the charge-carrier mobilities [21]. The press
allel dies to be used, as the maximum controllable current pack eliminates solder joints and wire bonds and has been
per die is limited to approximately 200 A/cm2. Switching shown to improve reliability over typical modules under
frequencies at these ultrahigh IGBT voltages and currents accelerated life tests such as vibration, shock, and thermal
are of a few hundred hertz. Higher switching frequencies cycling [22]. The failure mode of a device in a well-designed
can be realized only with IGBTs typically rated for block- press pack is a short circuit and is desirable in a large series
ing voltages below 3 kV. configuration of devices in a high-voltage application.
IGBT modules have also been developed, which inte- Standard modules with wire bonds can have several failure
grate the usual IGBT device and clamp diode with a drive modes that usually end up appearing as an open circuit. An
IC that can include sensing and protection functions [12]. open-circuit condition is desirable in parallel-connected
These intelligent power modules (IPMs) are typically used device applications [23]. Of all commercial devices, only
for low-power converters, but their usage in high-power IGBTs are offered in press pack and plastic module package
converters is expected to occur in the future. configurations. All other power device types are essentially
offered only in press packs.
Reliability for Devices
Power cycles endured during the operation of power elec- Devices
tronic drives have a large effect on the lifetime and ultimate Overvoltage, particularly during turn off with an inductive
reliability of devices and their packages. For example, the load, can cause impact ionization leading to high currents
power electronic devices in a drive for an urban tram may and a corresponding excursion outside the so-called safe
experience up to 108 power cycles with an associated device operating area (SOA), which causes thermal limits to be
in applications, such as electric grid transmission systems, IGCTs, are designed to give optimum performance during
the fundamental component of current always lags the the on state with the maximum ability to block forward-
voltage; therefore, the SCRs consume reactive power. applied voltage in the off state. Having the ability to block
A controllable device that can turn off via the gate voltages in the forward and reverse directions (symmetric
electrode requires an extreme amount of gate-cathode blocking) generally limits other performance metrics.
However, a symmetric gate-commutated turn-off thyristor
(SGCT) has been developed and commercialized for many
years [32], [33]. For example, SGCT devices rated for
6.5 kV are incorporated into medium-voltage current
source drives by several companies, providing better
performance with fewer semiconductor devices (IGBT
multilevel inverter design).
The SGCT device (represented in Figure 8) has no anode
shorts, and no nþ -buffer layer between the n -base and
pþ -anode (common in GTOs), making it an NPT struc-
ture. A modified edge bevel helps to improve the blocking
capability by reducing the surface electric field. Further
performance improvements are made using two energies of
protons to irradiate the device during processing to create
two distinct low carrier-recombination lifetime regions:
one near the upper p-base/n -base junction and the second
near the n -base/pþ -anode junction. The localized lifetime
control lowers the turn-off energy losses and the associated
anode turn-off tail current, as well as providing improve-
ments in other parameters. In applications where the power
switch must withstand reverse applied voltages, a diode is
6 often used in series with a conventional asymmetric GCT.
The total forward voltage drop of the diode and GCT
6 (2.0 V plus 3.3 V, respectively) is higher than the SGCT
GTO with an integrated gate drive circuit known as an IGCT (4.4 V) for a conduction current of 400 A. Thus, to achieve
22 (ABB). symmetric blocking capability, the SGCT can reduce the
parts count, weight, and cost of a drive system compared
with GCTs with diodes. Cathode Cathode Cathode
n+ Gate n+ Gate n+
Other Thyristor Concepts
The devices described in this section are not currently p
available as commercial products but are undergoing n–
advanced development and are included to be as compre-
p+
hensive as possible in the discussion of power devices. A Anode
proposed design modification to the common anode- 8
shorted GTO structure adds an oxide layer to electrically
A cross section of SGCT cells (n-base not proportioned to
isolate the nþ -shorting region from the anode metalliza-
other layers).
tion. This is similar to the IEC IGBT device described
earlier and is known as IEC-GTO [34]. This device effec-
tively operates as a dual-anode GTO, where the oxide layer current is diverted from the cathode out the gate electrode
helps to increase the electron concentration near the anode and the p-base/nþ -emitter junction is turned off.
during the on state. The performance enhancement pro- Asymmetric blocking ETOs rated for 1 kA and 4.5 kV
vided by the IEC-GTO does not seem to be much better have been utilized in MW voltage source inverters but
than GCT with a transparent (ultrathin) anode layer. have been shown to fail from the poor reverse-recovery
The MOS-gated turn-off (MTO) thyristor eliminates characteristics of the parasitic diode structure in the GCT
the need for a low-inductive gate turn-off power supply portion of the ETO. This failure mode was addressed by
[35]. However, ultralow stray inductance between the using an external free-wheeling diode with a lower forward
cathode and the gate is required to maintain a large SOA. voltage drop than the parasitic diode. Recent work demon-
This was first realized by integrating the MOSFETs in the strated that further reduction of the parasitic stray induct-
housing of the GCT wafer. Furthermore, using Si-Si bond- ance in the gate-cathode path, for example, by integrating
ing techniques to integrate the turn-off MOSFETs directly the MOSFETs in the housing of the GCT, also removed
on the GCT wafer have shown promising results to make this problem. This integrated ETO (IETO) has been
the MTO a viable concept. Meanwhile, the emitter turn- recently demonstrated and was tested repetitively at 2.5
off (ETO) thyristor was proposed as an alternative to over- times its nominal GCT turn-off capacity [37].
come the problems related to the high-inductive gate- A variation of the ETO is one that self-powers the gate-
cathode path. In the ETO concept, paralleled power MOS- drive and control circuitry [self-powered ETO (SPETO)]
FETs (primary emitter switch) in series with the cathode of [38]. This eliminates the need for external gate power sup-
n
J2
Gate Contact p J1
Gate-1
n Anode
ode
Anode Contact
GCT Wafer
Gate-2
QE
Gate-2
Gate-1
QG
Gate-3
Molybdenum
Disc
Direct FET C th d
Cathode Cathode
MLCC (a)
Cathode Contact
(b)
7 9
Integrated gate turn-off circuit with GCT wafer combined (a) Circuit schematic and (b) photograph of an ETO device.
23
into one package. (Photo courtesy of A. Huang.)
TABLE 1. QUALITATIVE SUMMARY COMPARISON OF COMMERCIAL DEVICES.
Switching Conduction Switching Gating Power Voltage
Devices Losses Losses Frequency Mode Failure Modes Rating Rating
(LC) filter, then processed by a small dc-dc converter to topologies. A combined understanding of device and cir-
obtain the appropriate dc bias for the gate drive. cuit design and the behavior of devices in these circuits
To further minimize conduction and switching losses, often permit major cost reductions when SOA limits are
the dual GCT concept is being explored. The idea is to well understood. In this sense, the use of soft-switching
force the current during turn off from a low-forward drop converters in medium-voltage applications offers great
GCT to a fast-switching GCT. Studies show that, in a soft- potential when the power devices are designed and speci-
switching dc-to-dc converter, while switching at 50% duty fied for this type of operation.
cycle the combined switching and conduction losses could The trend in IGBT technology of increasing power capa-
be reduced by 50% [39], [40]. bility continues to encroach on applications where thyris-
Table 1 provides a summary of attributes for the commer- tors, such as IGCTs, are now used. The advantage of a
cially available technologies and gives a relative comparison comparatively simpler gate drive subsystem in IGBTs con-
between these thyristor- and transistor-type devices. tinues to provide this impetus. Finally, more functionality
with respect to control, gate drive, current and voltage sens-
Future Trends ing, and overload limiting functions continue to be inte-
Superjunctions (SJs), also called charge-compensation grated into power device modules or onto the silicon itself as
structures, flatten the electric-field profile in the base complexity is learned to be managed and fabricated. This
region of a device, thus allowing thinner regions to achieve general trend of increased power capability for IGBTs and
the same voltage rating. A thinner base region improves more functionality should continue in the foreseeable future.
the switching frequency and conduction losses. SJ designs Maximum current and voltage ratings, new packaging
have been used in power MOSFETs and are being investi- and cooling for improved thermal performance, new function-
gated for bipolar devices, such as transistors, with further ality, and increased turn-off capability will continue to be
extension in the future to thyristors [41]. improved and require redesign of high-powered drives [44].
Other device improvements may be made through the
use of wide bandgap semiconductor materials such as SiC,
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