1. 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
April 7, 2014

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

3. 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]

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

5. Market Segments of Power Semiconductors

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

7. 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

8. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19. 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]

20. 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

21. 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

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

23. Theoretical Limit of IGBT Performance
（A. Nakagawa 2006）

24. Nanoscale IGBT Structure
（M. Sumitomo, 2012）

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

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

27. 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