The Past, Present, and Future of IGBT Technology John Shen Grainger Endowed Chair Professor Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, USA johnshen@ieee.org April 7, 2014

Outline Applications and market of power semiconductor devices History of IGBT Technology Very high power IGBTs Future trends of IGBT technology Summary

Application of Power Semiconductors Silicon limit 100M 10M Thyristors 1M Power [VA] Wide Bandgap Semiconductors 100k IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) 10k BJT 1k MOSFET 100 Power IC 100 1k 10k 100k 1M 10M 100M Frequency [Hz]

Worldwide Market of Power Semiconductors 2008 market data from iSupply $14.1B of discrete power devices in 2010 (Yano and IMS)

Market Segments of Power Semiconductors

Outline Applications and market of power semiconductor devices History of IGBT Technology Very high power IGBTs Future trends of IGBT technology Summary

History of IGBT Technology MCT IGBT Press-Pack Wafer scale IGBT SiC IGBT Mitsubishi’s CS-IGBT Theoretical limit of IGBT IGBT Power Module Nano-IGBT Toshiba’s IEGT (or 4500V IGBT) Everyone is on thin wafer Field-Stop IGBT 2010 Everyone is on PT-IGBT Trench IGBT 2000 Siemens’ NPT-IGBT Toshiba solved latch-up issue 1990 PT-IGBT by GE and RCA 1980

Design Trade-off of IGBT VCE(ON) Other factors（short circuit capability, EMI, dynamic breakdown, temp coefficient, etc.） EOFF IGBT turn-off IGBT turn-on

Improved Conductivity Modulation of IGBT Carrier Distribution PiN Diode N- N+ P+ Resistive Bottleneck Conventional IGBT N- P+ Enhanced IGBT N- P+

Improved Conductivity Modulation of IGBT M. Rahimo et al. 2006

Trench Gate IGBT Concept Shen & Omura, Proceedings of the IEEE, April 2007

Thin Wafer Field Stop IGBT Concept Shen & Omura, Proceedings of the IEEE, April 2007

Evolution of 1200V Thin Wafer IGBTs J. Vobeckt, ISPSD2008

IGBT Performance Trend Specific RDS(ON)=Vce(on)/Current Density 1200V IGBT @125oC Toshiba Mitsubishi RDS(ON) (mΩ-cm2) EOFF ~ 0.1mJ/A , Vcc= 600V Fuji Electric

Outline Applications and market of power semiconductor devices History of IGBT Technology Very high power IGBTs Future trends of IGBT technology Summary

Very High Power IGBTs 3300/4500/6500V，500-5000A MV voltage source inverters（replacing GTO or IGCT) New steel mill installations（TMEC 2012）

Applications of High Power IGBTs HVDC light FACTS MV drives (wind generators, PV, oil & gas pumps, etc.) （Source：ABB）

Topologies of HP-IGBT Converters Cascade H-bridge NPC-MLC IGBT series-connection

Expanding the Power Range of IGBT Silicon limit 100M 10M HP-IGBT 1M GTO Power [VA] Wide Bandgap Semiconductors 100k IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) 10k BJT 1k MOSFET 100 Power IC 100 1k 10k 100k 1M 10M 100M Frequency [Hz]

Technical Barrier of HP-IGBT IGBT chip size <2cm2，current rating <150A, much more sensitive to defects than GTO Multi-chip IGBT power modules parallel IGBT chips through bondwires with a current and thermal capability inferior to pressure pack GTO Parallel IGBT chips in power modules Wafer scale thyristors

Concept of Wafer Scale IGBTs Emitter IGBT Zone 1 Collector Laser Trimmer Gate Spring Contact Pin Gate Gate IGBT Wafer Emitter Pad Ceramic Casing Emitter 1 Defective IGBT Zone Isolation of Defective Zones with laser trimming Collector Collector Pad

Outline Applications and market of power semiconductor devices History of IGBT Technology Very high power IGBTs Future trends of IGBT technology Summary

Theoretical Limit of IGBT Performance （A. Nakagawa 2006）

Nanoscale IGBT Structure （M. Sumitomo, 2012）

Superjunction IGBT 1200V IGBT simulation （K. Oh et al 2006）

SiC IGBT 15000V，24 mΩ-cm2， 4H-SiC P-IGBT 12500V，5.3 mΩ-cm2， 4H-SiC N-IGBT （Cree 2012）

Summary IGBT is the device of choice for medium power applications We have not reached the theoretical limit of the fundamental silicon IGBT structure yet even after 30 years of amazing technology advancement! Still a lot of potential and return of investment in silicon (and BWG) power device research! Emerging opportunity to push IGBT into megawatt (1-100MW) high power applications