A. Elasser et al., A STUDY OF THE INTERNAL DEVICE DYNAMICS OF PUNCH-THROUGH AND NONPUNCH-THROUGH IGBTS UNDER ZERO-CURRENT SWITCHING, IEEE transactions on power electronics, 12(1), 1997, pp. 21-35
The effective use of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBT's) requi
res a good understanding of their internal device physics, This unders
tanding is essential for the optimal interaction among the IGBT's, the
ir snubber elements, and the power circuit in which the IGBT's operate
, As switching frequencies are pushed to higher values, switching loss
reduction becomes an essential part of the design and optimization pr
ocess, Soft switching techniques such as zero-voltage (ZVS) and zero-c
urrent switching (ZCS) are widely used for this purpose. This study pr
ovides insight into the internal dynamic behavior of IGBT's under zero
-current switching, The latter is accomplished through mixed-mode simu
lation, providing the necessary insight for the improvement of circuit
and device performance, In particular, we have analyzed the behavior
of the negative current in the nonpunch-through (NPT) devices after th
e first zero-current crossing and the effect of the turn-off delay on
the tail current, We have also experimentally characterized punch-thro
ugh (PT) and NPT IGBT's to confirm the insights provided by the mixed-
mode simulation.