A Simple Closed-Loop Active Gate Voltage Driver for Controlling diC/dt and dvCE/dt in IGBTs

The increase of the switching speed in power semiconductors leads to converters with better efficiency and high power density. On the other hand, fast switching generates some consequences like overshoots and higher switching transient, which provoke electromagnetic interference (EMI). This paper proposes a new closed-loop gate driver to improve switching trajectory in insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) at the hard switching condition. The proposed closed-loop gate driver is based on an active gate voltage control method, which deals with emitter voltage (VEe) for controlling diC/dt and gets feedback from the output voltage (vCE) in order to control dvCE/dt. The sampled voltage signals modify the profile of the applied gate voltage (vgg). As a result, the desired gate driver (GD) improves the switching transients with minimum switching loss. The operation principle and implementation of the controller in the GD are thoroughly described. It can be observed that the new GD controls both dvCE/dt and diC/dt accurately independent of the variable parameters. The new control method is verified by experimental results. As a current issue, the known trade-off between switching losses and EMI is improved by this simple and effective control method.Postprint (published version

Active gate switching control of IGBT to improve efficiency in high power density converters

Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power semiconductors are widely employed in industrial applications. This power switch capability in high voltage blocking and high current-carrying has expanded its use in power electronics. However, efficiency improvement and reducing the size of products is one of main tasks of engineers in recent years. In order to achieve high-density power converters, attentions are focused on the use of fast IGBTs. Therefore, for achieving this desire the trend is designing more effective IGBT gate drivers. In gate drive (GD) controlling, the main issue is maintaining transient behavior of the MOS-channel switch in well condition; when it switches fast to reduce losses. It is well known that fast switching has a direct effect on the efficiency improvement; meanwhile, it is the major reason of appearing electromagnetic interference (EMI) problems in switched-mode power converters. Nowadays the most expectant of an active gate driver (AGD) is actively adjusting the switching transient through simple circuit implementation. Usually its performance is compared with the conventional gate driver (CGD) with fixed driving profile. As a result a proposed AGD has the capability of increasing the switching speed while minimizing the switching stress. Different novel active gate drivers (as feed-forward and closed-loop topologies) have been designed and analysed in this study. To improve the exist trade-off between switching losses and EMI problem, all effective factors on this trade-off are evaluated and considered in proposed solutions. Theoretical developments include proposed controlling methods and simulated efficiency of IGBTs switching control. The efficiency improvement has been pursued with considering EMI study in the proposed active gate controller. Experimental tests have been conducted to verify the design and validate the results. Beside technical aspects, cost study has also considered in the closed-loop GD. The proposed gate drivers are simple enough to allow its use in real industrial applications.Los semiconductores de potencia (IGBT) se emplean ampliamente en aplicaciones industriales. La capacidad de este interruptor de bloqueo en alta tensión y conducción de alta corriente ha ampliado su uso en la electrónica de potencia. Sin embargo, la mejora de la eficiencia y la reducción del tamaño de los convertidores de potencia es una de las tareas principales de los ingenieros de diseño. Para lograr convertidores de potencia de alta densidad y eficiencia, se requiere el uso de IGBT rápidos. Por lo tanto, la tendencia es diseñar controladores de puerta para IGBT más efectivos. En el control de la unidad de puerta (GD), el problema principal es mantener el comportamiento transitorio del conmutador del canal MOS bajo control, cuando conmuta a lata frecuencia para reducir las pérdidas. Es bien sabido que la conmutación rápida tiene un efecto directo en la mejora de la eficiencia; Sin embargo, la alta frecuencia de conmutación es la razón principal de la aparición de problemas de interferencia electromagnética (EMI) en los convertidores de potencia de modo conmutado. En la actualidad, la acción más directa para un controlador de puerta activo (AGD) consiste en el ajuste activo del transitorio de conmutación a través de la implementación de un circuito simple. Para evaluar su eficiencia, su rendimiento se compara con el controlador de puerta convencional (CGD) con perfil de conducción fijo. Los resultados muestran que la propuesta de AGD tiene la capacidad de aumentar la velocidad de conmutación mientras minimiza el stress. En este estudio se han diseñado y analizado diferentes controladores de puerta activa novedosos (como topologías de control en avance y de bucle cerrado). Para mejorar el balance existente entre la reducción de pérdidas y los problemas de EMI, todos los factores que afectan a las pérdidas y la EMI se evalúan y se consideran en las soluciones propuestas. Los desarrollos teóricos incluyen el análisis y desarrollo de los métodos de control propuestos, la simulación de la operación del control de conmutación del IGBT, y la validación experimental. Además de los aspectos técnicos de eficiencia y emisiones electromagnéticas, el estudio de costes también se ha considerado en los análisis de AGD. Los resultados muestran que los controladores de puerta propuestos son lo suficientemente eficientes y económicos como para permitir su uso en aplicaciones industriales realesPostprint (published version

An Integrated IGBT Active Gate Driver with Fast Feed-Forward Variable Current

The Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) is a hybrid of bipolar and MOSFET transistors. As a consequence, IGBTs can handle higher current typical of bipolar transistors with the ease of control typical of MOSFETs. These characteristics make IGBTs desirable for high power Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS). In high power systems such as these, devices must be very reliable, as device failures may result in safety hazards such as fires in addition to the failure of the system. Conventional Gate Driver (CGD) circuits typically design for reliability in these systems by including a resistor between the gate driver and gate of the IGBT. This slows the switching waveforms, reducing stress on the IGBT while sacrificing efficiency. This solution is suboptimal, however, and as such Active Gate Drivers (AGD) have been designed to control voltage and current slopes through the IGBT by modulating the gate signal. AGD circuits found on the market today consist of a combination of an CGD with external components to implement the variable current necessary for protection. This requires a large amount of area on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), and thus can be costly. Therefore, it can be desirable to integrate the AGD functionality into an on-chip system. In this thesis, an AGD is designed, fabricated and analyzed to show that IGBT gate voltage can be controlled in a manner capable of reducing overvoltage, as well as slowed when desired using an on-chip system. The current provided by this gate driver is controlled by feedback signals indicating the switching state of the device, as well as input bits that determine total output current

High Efficiency IGBTs through Novel Three-Dimensional Modelling and New Architectures

New Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) designs are reliant on simulation tools, such as Sentaurus technology computer-aided design (TCAD) models, which allow for rapid device development that could not be achieved by manufacturing prototypes due to the cost and time associated with fabrication. These simulations are, though, computationally expensive and typically most design engineers develop these TCAD models only in two dimensions. This leads to inaccuracies in the model output since manufactured transistors are inherently three-dimensional (3D). Based upon a commercial IGBT, this thesis begins by outlining the development of a 3D TCAD model using design details provided by the manufacturer. Large variations between the experimental data from the manufactured device and the simulation model lead to the discovery of widespread birds-beaking within the IGBT – an uncontrollable processing defect that the manufacturer was unaware of. This thesis presents a new simulation technique to account for this processing error while minimising computational effort and investigates the consequence of this birds-beak on the reliability of the device. The verified 3D IGBT model was also used to determine an optimum cell design that considered critical 3D effects omitted from previous studies. An extensive literature review for the Reverse-Conducting IGBT (RC-IGBT) is provided. It is shown that despite the benefits of the RC-IGBT, the device suffers from many undesirable design trade-offs that have prevented its widespread use. The RC-IGBT designs that have currently been proposed in literature, either present a trade-off in performance, an inability to be manufactured, or a requirement for a custom gate drive. This thesis presents a new RC-IGBT concept, the ‘Dual Implant SuperJunction (SJ) RC-IGBT’ that addresses these concerns and is manufacturable using current state of the art techniques. The concept and proposed manufacturing method enables, for the first time, a full SuperJunction structure to be achieved in a 1.2kV device. In addition, an investigation into a coordinated switching scheme using both a silicon IGBT and silicon-carbide MOSFET was undertaken, which aimed to improve turn-off losses within the IGBT without sacrificing on-state losses. Thermal modelling of the power devices switching under inductive load was explored as the system was optimised to use a SiC MOSFET in excess of its nominal ratings, reducing the overall system cost.EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership scheme (grant RG75686

SiC MOSFET -päivitys tehomuuntimeen

Power semiconductor devices are at the heart of modern power electronics due to their ability to control large amounts of power with relatively low power dissipation. This feature of the semiconductor switches results in efficient power systems. Today the power semiconductor devices are dominated by silicon (Si) technology. However, Si semiconductor switches are approaching their material limitations in terms of blocking voltage, operation temperature, and conduction and switching characteristics. Wide band gap semiconductors, such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), promise to revolutionize next generation power electronics with their superior material properties. This thesis studies the effects of upgrading a power converter that is designed with Si insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) with novel SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET) and if the upgrade is achievable with minor changes on the original power converter. The upgrade is executed for the three-phase active rectifier section of the power converter that also includes power factor correction. The switching waveforms of the semiconductor switches are compared and analysed, and the effects of the upgrade on the efficiency of the power converter is examined. Also the possibility of increasing the switching frequency of the upgraded section and its effects on converter efficiency is studied. The measurements in this thesis work include reference measurements that were performed with the original power converter and comparison measurements with the upgraded power converter. Switching waveforms were measured at the rated switching frequency of 40 kHz. Efficiency measurements of the upgraded converter were performed at 40 kHz, 80 kHz, and 120 kHz switching frequencies. Efficiency of the entire power converter was measured in forward and in reverse operation modes at different loading conditions. Also the efficiency of the upgraded section of the power converter was measured separately in forward operation. The measurements in this thesis work show promising results that a power converter designed with Si IGBTs can be upgraded with SiC MOSFETs with somewhat small changes on the original design and with moderate workload. The measurements also show that the upgrade is beneficial even at higher switching frequencies. However, more testing, designing, and optimizing is required before the upgraded power converter could be ready for use. It must be considered, if the higher cost of the new switching components and the work hours needed to achieve the complete upgraded power converter are worth the gained efficiency improvements

Composite power semiconductor switches for high-power applications

It is predicted that 80 % of the world’s electricity will flow through power electronic based converters by 2030, with a growing demand for renewable technolo gies and the highest levels of efficiency at every stage from generation to load. At the heart of a power electronic converter is the power semiconductor switch which is responsible for controlling and modulating the flow of power from the input to the output. The requirements for these power semiconductor switches are vast, and include: having an extremely low level of conduction and switching losses; being a low source of electromagnetic noise, and not being susceptible to external Electromagnetic Interference (EMI); and having a good level of ruggedness and reliability. These high-performance switches must also be economically viable and not have an unnecessarily large manufacturing related carbon footprint. This thesis investigates the switching performance of the two main semiconductor switches used in high-power applications — the well-established Silicon (Si)-Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) and the state-of-the-art Wide-Bandgap (WBG) Silicon-Carbide (SiC)-Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET). The SiC-MOSFET is ostensibly a better device than the Si-IGBT due to the lower level of losses, however the cost of the device is far greater and there are characteristics which can be troublesome, such as the high levels of oscillatory behaviour at the switching edges which can cause serious Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) issues. The operating mechanism of these devices, the materials which are used to make them, and their auxiliary components are critically analysed and discussed. This includes a head-to-head comparison of the two high-capacity devices in terms of their losses and switching characteristics. The design of a high-power Double-Pulse Test Rig (DPTR) and the associated high-bandwidth measurement platform is presented. This test rig is then extensively used throughout this thesis to experimentally characterise the switching performance of the aforementioned high-capacity power semiconductor devices. A hybrid switch concept — termed “The Diverter” — is investigated, with the motivation of achieving improved switching performance without the high-cost of a full SiC solution. This comprises a fully rated Si-IGBT as the main conduction device and a part-rated SiC-MOSFET which is used at the turn-off. The coordinated switching scheme for the Si/SiC-Diverter is experimentally examined to determine the required timings which yield the lowest turn-off loss and the lowest level of oscillatory behaviour and other EMI precursors. The thermal stress imposed on the part-rated SiC-MOSFET is considered in a junction temperature simulation and determined to be negligible. This concept is then analysed in a grid-tied converter simulation and compared to a fully rated SiC-MOSFET and Si-IGBT. A conduction assistance operating mode, which solely uses the part-rated SiC-MOSFET when within its rating, is also investigated. Results show that the Diverter achieves a significantly lower level of losses compared to a Si-IGBT and only marginally higher than a full SiC solution. This is achieved at a much lower cost than a full SiC solution and may also provide a better method of achieving high-current SiC switche

Single-phase T-type inverter performance benchmark using Si IGBTs, SiC MOSFETs and GaN HEMTs

In this paper, benchmark of Si IGBT, SiC MOSFET and GaN HEMT power switches at 600V class is conducted in single-phase T-type inverter. Gate driver requirements, switching performance, inverter efficiency performance, heat sink volume, output filter volume and dead-time effect for each technology is evaluated. Gate driver study shows that GaN has the lowest gate driver losses above 100kHz and below 100kHz, SiC has lowest gate losses. GaN has the best switching performance among three technologies that allows high efficiency at high frequency applications. GaN based inverter operated at 160kHz switching frequency with 97.3% efficiency at 2.5kW output power. Performance of three device technologies at different temperature, switching frequency and load conditions shows that heat sink volume of the converter can be reduced by 2.5 times by switching from Si to GaN solution at 60°C case temperature, and for SiC and GaN, heat sink volume can be reduced by 2.36 and 4.92 times respectively by increasing heat sink temperature to 100°C. Output filter volume can be reduced by 43% with 24W, 26W and 61W increase in device power loss for GaN, SiC and Si based converters respectively. WBG devices allow reduction of harmonic distortion at output current from 3.5% to 1.5% at 100kHz

Advanced 3-V semiconductor technology assessment

Components required for extensions of currently planned space communications systems are discussed for large antennas, crosslink systems, single sideband systems, Aerostat systems, and digital signal processing. Systems using advanced modulation concepts and new concepts in communications satellites are included. The current status and trends in materials technology are examined with emphasis on bulk growth of semi-insulating GaAs and InP, epitaxial growth, and ion implantation. Microwave solid state discrete active devices, multigigabit rate GaAs digital integrated circuits, microwave integrated circuits, and the exploratory development of GaInAs devices, heterojunction devices, and quasi-ballistic devices is considered. Competing technologies such as RF power generation, filter structures, and microwave circuit fabrication are discussed. The fundamental limits of semiconductor devices and problems in implementation are explored