A novel gate geometry for the IGBT: The trench planar insulated gate bipolar transistor (TPIGBT)

This letter demonstrates a simple may to improve the performance of a plana r, fine lithography insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), by incorporat ing a trench gate between the cathode cells. The results of this new trench -planar IGBT (TPIGBT) clearly demonstrate a significant reduction in the vo ltage drop without degrading the breakdown voltage. The switching analysis indicates that the TPIGBT represents a good trade-off between planar and tr ench structures. By seperating the trench gate requirements away from the c athode cells, the technology development cycle and costs can be reduced. Fu rthermore, the reduced cell-width and the shallow trench presents TPIGBT as a cost-effective structure for high-voltage applications.