Study of new power semiconductor insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) characteristics and its application to automotive ignition

摘要

Assessment has been made of the problem of the on-resistance and temperature effects in the three power transistor combinations, such as Darlington-types or IGBT. The IGBT is a device in which the drain of the MOSFET feeds the bipolar base in monolithic (IC and Power on the same chip) to give it both the MOS and bipolar advantages. The high temperature operating characteristics of the device are discussed and compared to that of power bipolar transistor. Unlike the power bipolar transistor whose operating current density shows current crowding at above forward collector current of 4Amps and forward voltage drop above 0.4V, the IGBT is found to maintain its high current density above forward collector of current 1Amp (or a forward voltage drop above 1.2V). The results also indicate that these devices (IGBTs) can be interdigited (paralleled) without current hogging problems if the forward conduction occurs at forward voltage drops in excess of 1.2V, and this makes it the best candidate for automotive ignition power switches. (author). 20 refs, 10 figs, 1 tab. (Atomindex citation 26:063908)