Current-Driven Active Gate Control for Reduction in Switching Losses in Si RC-IGBT

Abstract

Si reverse-conducting insulated gate bipolar transistors (RC-IGBTs) are important devices for downsizing and cost reduction in automotive inverters. However, because RC-IGBTs integrate IGBTs and free-wheeling diodes (FWDs), the temperature rise during inverter operation becomes significant because both the IGBT and FWD generate losses in a single chip, particularly at higher switching frequencies. Therefore, minimizing the switching losses is essential for enhancing the performance of the RC-IGBTs. This study focuses on Si RC-IGBTs for automotive applications and analyzes active gate control profiles aimed at reducing switching losses by improving the balance between the loss and the surge voltage. This study demonstrated the impact of an enhanced two-level gate current drive profile on the trade-off between switching loss and surge voltage. The results indicated that the proposed profile effectively reduced both the losses and junction temperature in an Si RC-IGBT module during inverter operation, marking a notable improvement in the output performance for the first time.