Characteristics and utilization of a new class of low on-resistance MOS-gated power device

A new class of MOS-gated power semiconductor dew vices Cool MOS (Cool MOS i s a trademark of Infineon Technologies, Germany) has recently been introduc ed with a supreme conducting characteristic that overcomes the high on-stat e resistance limitations of high-voltage power MOSFETs. From the applicatio n point of view, a very frequently asked question immediately arises: Does this device behave like a MOSFET or an insulated gate bipolar transistor (I GBT)? The goal of this paper is to compare and contrast the major similarit ies and differences between this device and the traditional MOSFET and IGBT . In this paper, the new device is fully characterized for its: 1) conducti on characteristics; 2) switching voltage, current, and energy characteristi cs; 3) gate drive resistance effects; 4) output capacitance; and 5) reverse -bias safe operating areas. Experimental results indicate that the conducti on characteristics of the new device are similar to the MOSFET but with muc h smaller on-resistance for the same chip and package size. The switching c haracteristics of the Cool MOS are also similar to the MOSFET in that they have fast switching speeds and do not have a current tail at turn-off. Howe ver, the effect of the gate drive resistance on the turn-off voltage rate o f rise (dv/dt) is more like an IGBT. In other words, a very large gate driv e resistance is required to have a significant change on dv/dt, resulting i n a large turn-off delay. Overall, the device was found to behave more like a power MOSFET than like an IGBT.