Design and verification of IGBTs rugged in forward and reverse conditions

The enormous increase of applications based on the control of electrical power, due to their low impact on environment, has increased the demand of semiconductor power devices with high reliability and efficiency. IGBTs are the most used power semiconductor devices for Middle/High power applications. In this work the design parameters which affect the ruggedness of IGBTs in forward and reverse conditions are analyzed. By means of both theoretical, simulative and experimental approaches the trade off between the on-state performances (voltage drop, turn-OFF losses and short-circuit capability) are defined and the guidelines to improve the robustness in avalanche conditions are reported. The inner physics and the terminal waveforms for large area IGBTs in avalanche conditions are investigated as well, by means of TCAD simulations and experimental characterizations.