APPLICATIONS

POWER SEMICONDUCTORS

Heinz Rüedi lower power range up to several hundred

watts, at lower operating voltages and at
very high clock frequencies in particular.
Intelligent interfaces between Innovative drivers protect power stages
power and control: The function of the IGBT driver is to process
the gate driver pulses generated by the

Gate drivers for IGBTs control electronics so that the power semi-
conductors are optimally driven. In bridge
circuits, which are basic to most IGBT appli-
cations, very fast surges in potential occur
at the moment of switching in the presence
of large potential differences between the
upper driver of the half-bridge and the
control electronics.

The furious pace of develop- ithin just a few years, IGBTs As a typical IGBT power stage operates on
ment in modern power
semiconductors and packag-
W (insulated gate bipolar transistors) several hundred volts or even several kilo-
have virtually ousted other switch- volts, electrical isolation is required between
ing technologies in power electronics in the the control electronics and the power stage,
ing has made IGBT modules range above 300 V and at switching fre- if only on grounds of safety. A preference is
quencies up to 20 kHz. The technical advan- emerging for designs in which built-in pro-
more compact and easier to tages of IGBTs – high dielectric strength, tective functions in the driver protect the
use than ever. Another relatively high current density, ease of driv- power semiconductors against short cir-
ing and good short-circuit protection – and cuits and other dangers.
upshot of this trend is that their steadily falling
modules are now available prices have promptly Fig. 1 IGBT power stages for 1 kVA to 500 kVA
for even higher voltages and made these power
semiconductors stan-
currents. These new power dard components for
components in conjunction every power stage
with new, LSI controller rated at 1 kW or more
(Fig. 1).
chips greatly simplify
product design. The gate Sixpacks containing all
driver, which forms the inter- the power semi-
conductors for a three-
face between the controller phase motor drive con-
and power stage, has a verter in a single
module are now avail-
major impact on the perfor- able for currents of
mance and reliability of the 100 A per phase. High-
overall system. power IGBT modules
for reverse voltages of
1700 to 3300 V and cur-
rents up to 1200 A per
module can also be sup-
plied. IGBTs are used on
a large scale for traction
motors in public trans-
portation vehicles such
as streetcars, subways,
metrotrains and trolley
buses.

Power MOSFETs pre-

dominate only in the

8 Components XXXI (1996) No. 3

 APPLICATIONS
POWER SEMICONDUCTORS

Of the various solutions conceivable, the speeds of 10 to 25 kV/ms are normal in PWM
concept of the intelligent driver is catching bridges equipped with IGBTs. The compo-
on in the market. This is an IGBT driver which nent used for electrically isolated signal
has integrated protection functions and is transmission must transmit the drive in-
connected directly to the power semicon- formation as quickly as possible, but this
ductor. Isolation between the control elec- process must not be disturbed by the high
tronics and power stage is located right in dv/dt values and high potentials.
front of the driver.
A driver must be able to recharge the gate
Preventing short circuits capacitors of the IGBT quickly. Depending
on the IGBT and the desired switching
An IGBT is turned on when a positive volt- speed, this process requires currents of
age of typically 15 V with respect to the several amperes.
emitter potential is applied to its gate. It is
turned off when the gate receives a nega- To provide the drive energy, every driver Fig. 2 IGBT driver module from CT-Concept
tive voltage, also referred to the emitter. must have a suitable power supply with a Technologie for an IGBT half-bridge module
Although an IGBT is also blocked when there floating voltage, at least for the high-side rated at several hundred amperes. It measures
50 u 50 u 19.7 mm (L u W u H )
is no potential difference between gate and switches. The drive power required for
emitter in static operation, this mode of smaller IGBTs is several hundred milliwatts,
operation is not advisable in bridge circuits, while larger IGBT modules can consume
because when one IGBT in the half-bridge several watts.
is turned on, the collector-emitter voltage at and reliably. A typical module is shown in
the second IGBT, with which the first is How an intelligent driver protects Fig. 2.
connected in series, rises suddenly. The
reverse transfer capacitance (also known as One of the basic functions of intelligent Smart driver design
the Miller capacitance) now couples part of drivers is to ensure reliable protection of the
the collector voltage to the gate. The gate power transistors against current surges The requirements described above can be
voltage then rises by a few volts before it is and short circuits. In the latter case, the met in various ways. The actual driver
discharged again by the gate resistor after short-circuit characteristic of the IGBT as electronics with protective functions may be
commutation is terminated. If the gate volt- specified by the semiconductor manufactur- of discrete or integrated design. The follow-
age is about 0 V prior to commutation, the er is used. These components can be ing three components represent the most
gate threshold voltage is reached or exceed- operated at full collector-emitter voltage common approaches to electrically isolated
ed, the IGBT is turned on and the result is a for several microseconds under short- transmission of the drive information:
temporary short circuit through the half- circuit conditions. Depending on the gate ● transformers,
bridge. At best, this short circuit leads only voltage, the collector current is then a ● optocouplers, and
to a massive increase in commutation multiple of the rated current. When the ● optical fiber waveguides.
losses. But depending on type and on the short-circuit current is attained, the IGBT is
design and operation of the power stage, desaturated. This means that the collector- The transformer solution has the following
the IGBTs can be destroyed. However, if the emitter voltage then rises to the level of advantages: extremely short transit times in
gate is biased with approximately –7 to the operating voltage and the short-circuit the nanosecond region, no aging effects and
–15 V with respect to the emitter when the current no longer increases. The current maximum expected service life. Difficulties
IGBT is turned off, the temporary increase measurement is usually based on the arise in developing a solution which is suit-
in the gate voltage cannot reach the gate collector-emitter voltage at the turned-on able on the one hand for the most disparate
threshold voltage, so the undesired tempo- transistor. After it exceeds a defined thresh- clock frequencies and any clock ratios, and
rary short circuit is safely avoided. old, the power transistor is turned off and is immune to high dv/dt values between the
remains blocked in this state for a defined input and output on the other. If these diffi-
Whereas it is relatively easy to drive an IGBT minimum period. culties are mastered, transformers can be
whose emitter is connected to ground or to used to implement drivers of the highest
the minus side of the link voltage (the low The supply voltage of each driver must reliability for the most rigorous require-
side), high-side switches are more compli- continue to be monitored, and the drive ments.
cated. The high side refers to the upper information should not be released until the
transistor in the half-bridge circuit. The main correct supply voltage is present. This pre- The optocoupler solution is attractive be-
problem in implementing drivers is found vents uncontrolled or “half-way” switching cause of its simplicity. Optocouplers can
here: the mid-point of the bridge and thus of the IGBT. handle any clock ratio. The main difficulty is
the emitter potential of the high-side switch to find a way of transferring the drive in-
jumps back and forth at a high switching This very simple protection concept allows formation quickly while ensuring adequate
speed between the positive and negative IGBT half-bridges, full bridges and three- dv/dt stability. Only a few optocouplers can
potentials of the supply voltage. Switching phase modules to be protected effectively satisfy these requirements – and carry a

Components XXXI (1996) No. 3 9

APPLICATIONS
POWER SEMICONDUCTORS

matching price tag. Optocouplers are also in

principle slower than transformers. Aging Vce
Input high-side switch
can still be a problem, and the mean time Timing and monitoring
control
between failures (MTBF) of optocouplers is logic Driver
Status high-side switch
shorter than that of properly designed pulse
transformers. Power supply
supervisor
Supply +15 V
Optical waveguides offer an impressive Power supply
variety of benefits: no capacitative coupling supervisor
between input and output, no dv/dt sen-
Vce
sitivity, high bandwidths (with fast fibers), Input low-side switch
Timing and monitoring

long drive lines without coupling interfer- control

logic Driver
ence, isolation of any voltages, and ease of Status low-side switch

application. Their disadvantages are aging,

jitter, longer delays and shorter MTBFs than
transformers, sensitivity to moisture, and Fig. 3 The intelligent half-bridge driver uses a transformer to transmit the gate driver information
relatively high costs. For these reasons,
optical waveguides are used wherever the
advantages outweigh the drawbacks and
costs are reasonable, i.e. at very high oper-
ating and isolation voltages, at very high ers in particular. All these IPMs feature gate venture by Siemens and Daimler-Benz.
powers and where longer lines are required driver ICs with built-in protective functions. They range from half-bridges for 600 A to
between the control and power output But most of them do not offer electrical iso- single modules for 800, 1200 and 1800 A.
stages. lation of the drive information and feedback These modules cover the 1200 and 1700 V
signals, or the voltage supply. They are not ranges. The eupec model with the highest
Fig. 3 shows the block diagram of a self-contained solutions because the user power density has limit data of 3300 V/
half-bridge driver. This industrial product is still needs numerous external components. 1200 A.
offered as a driver module (Fig. 2). The drive In addition, the designer can no longer
information is transferred via transformers. influence the switching characteristics of These new high-power IGBT modules are
The delay between the drive signals on the the modules or access the gate terminals, moving into applications which used to be
control side and at the potential of the even for measurement purposes. the uncontested domain of thyristor and
power output stage is about 100 ns. A GTO technology. But these IGBT converters
DC/DC converter is integrated to supply Dynamic gate controllers can also be run at even higher clock rates
both driver channels with full isolation. Op- for high-power IGBTs than systems based on power semiconduc-
tocouplers are used to feed back any errors tors of the preceding generation. Higher
in the power output stage to the control High-power IGBT modules have been avail- clock frequencies require fast switching of
system. able for about two years from eupec, a joint power semiconductors to achieve good

Half-bridge drivers are available in different

versions to match the various voltage and
power classes of the IGBT modules. At Fig. 4 The dynamic gate controller (DGC) guarantees complete protection of power transistors
present, CT-Concept Technologie offers under all operating conditions
what is probably the largest range of IGBT
drivers on the market. Every driver can be
supplied for the commercial temperature Short circuit detection
range from 0 to 70 °C and for the industrial Vce monitoring
range from –40 to +85 °C. The product range AC bus
is being continuously extended. Power supply dv/dt controller

Smart power products and level shifters will Vce(max) limiter

Power supply
not be dealt with in detail here. Their low supervisor IGBT status
and Gate driver
costs and lack of electrical isolation make
Input diagnostic S
them suitable for low-power applications. Fiber optic sytem (ISDS)
Return interface Gate monitoring
Intelligent power modules
di/dt controller
A host of intelligent power modules (IPMs)
are now being offered by Asian manufactur-

10 Components XXXI (1996) No. 3

 APPLICATIONS
POWER SEMICONDUCTORS

Overshoot with standard driver: 750 V ----

Overshoot with standard driver: 600 V ----

Overshoot with DGC: 320 V ---- Overshoot with DGC: 270 V ----
Vce = 800V
(200V/Div) Vce= 800 V (200V/Div)

Input signal (2 V/Div)

In 0V
t = 0.5 ms/Div t = 1ms/Div
Vce 0V Vce 0V

Fig. 5 Turn-off behavior of the FZ800R16KF1 (eupec) at 1600 A/800 V DC Fig. 6 Turn-off behavior of the FZ800R16KF1 (eupec) under short-circuit
conditions (6000 A)

system efficiency. But the line inductances DGCs will be seen from the following three characteristics, and reduced switching and
and the properties of the diodes in modules examples. conduction losses. IGBT modules will be-
with high reverse voltages significantly come even more compact and technically
limit the switching speeds possible with the Fig. 5 compares the turn-off characteristics enhanced (e.g. with load alternation stabil-
IGBTs and produce a distinct increase in of a eupec 1600 V/800 A IGBT operated at ity), have higher power densities and a
commutation losses. twice the rated current with a standard lower price. Integration will also surge ahead
driver and a DGC. It can be clearly seen that on the driver side, bringing further improve-
The dynamic gate controller (DGC) from the DGC-driven IGBT has about only half the ments in terms of volume, component
CT-Concept Technologie is an innovative delay and half the voltage overshoot when count, cost and reliability. The innovative
solution developed to drive high-power turned off. concept of the dynamic gate controller rep-
IGBTs. In this new driver concept, the turn- resents a new and unconventional approach
on and turn-off processes are regulated, Fig. 6 compares the different voltage over- to driving power conductors. h
irrespective of the type of load and operat- shoots of a 1600 V/800 A IGBT module from
ing mode of the converter. Fig. 4 shows the eupec with standard and DGC drivers when
block diagram. The DGC concept permits turned off at a short-circuit current of Check #3-96-2 (HL) on Reader Service Card
greater utilization of high-power IGBTs in about 6000 A. Even greater differences in
both the voltage and current ranges, even the voltage overshoots can be seen in this
at high clock frequencies and without case than in normal operation. The turn-off
snubber networks in the power circuit. In overshoot produced with a DGC is almost
addition to lower switching losses, electro- three times smaller than that obtained with
magnetic interference by the converter is a standard driver.
also reduced. An integrated IGBT status and
diagnostic system ensures perfect protec- Fig. 7 illustrates the differences in turn-on
tion of the power semiconductors under all behavior. The turn-on delay of the high-
operating conditions and also provides a power IGBT driven by a DGC is only half as
straightforward user interface to higher- long. The di/dt regulator was set in such a
Heinz Rüedi
level control electronics. Although these way that the current is commutated with the
functions are too complex to be described same speed as obtained with a standard worked for several years as a designer of power
in detail here, the application benefits of driver and the turn-on gate resistance inverters and uninterruptible power supplies.
specified by the manufacturer. After the In 1986 he set up CT-Concept Technologie AG.
IGBT has overcome the reverse current This Swiss company focuses on development,
manufacture and marketing of intelligent drivers
peak of the free-wheeling diode, the DGC-
for power MOSFETs and IGBTs. Mr. Rüedi (36)
Fig. 7 Turn-on behavior of the FZ800R16KF1 driven IGBT can switch more quickly. This is in charge of development and a member of the
(eupec) feature alone reduces the turn-on losses board.
Turn-on with standard driver at identical current commutating speed
by about 27% in comparison with a conven-
Ic = 200A/Div
tional driver.

Vce = 200V/Div Prospects CT-Concept Technologie AG

0V/OA
Turn-on with dynamic gate controller (DGC)
Hauptstrasse 3
Ic = 200A/Div
The evolution of IGBTs in general, and of CH-2533 Leubringen/Evilard
intelligent drivers and IPMs in particular, is Tel. (+41 32) 224236
still far from complete. IGBT chips will Fax (+41 32) 222251
Vce = 200V/Div benefit from further advances in current- e-mail: concept@bielstar.ch
0V/OA
Turn-on command t = 0,5 ms/Div carrying capacity, current density, switching

Components XXXI (1996) No. 3 11