The Standard Module of the 21 st Century

Standard IGBT modules, above 100A sixpacks at 1200V, still use similar packaging to the Bipolar Darlington Modules, which they have progressively displaced from most applications over the last decade. A need for improved standard modules in the higher power range has been identified in order to simplify inverter construction, reduce the diversity of part numbers an inverter manufacturer needs to purchase and stock, and take full advantage of the IGBT characteristics. This paper introduces two new packages, which are expected to become the new standard in IGBT modules within the next years, the LoPak4 and LoPak5 packages These new standard modules place demanding requirements on the IGBT and diode dies, which they use. The paper introduces a new 1200V IGBT chip-set from ABB Semiconductors, which will be used in these modules. The new chipset demonstrates ruggedness, low-losses, good parallelabilty and high noise immunity. In addition the chip layout has been carefully designed to allow very efficient and simple module construction without the need for internal chip paralleling resistors.