Electrothermal modeling of IGBTs: application to short-circuit conditions

This paper discusses the possible estimation of IGBT failure phenomena by means of simulation. The studied destruction mode addresses the large surges, especially the short-circuit of IGBTs. In this case the reason of the device destruction is a thermal runaway. Thus we have developed an electrothermal model of the IGBT. The developed model may be implemented in any circuit simulator featuring a high level description language (SABER, ELDO, SMASH, PACTE etc.). The used electrical model is based on the Hefner model of the IGBT. A bidimensional finite element thermal model is considered. This model has been optimized to give a good trade-off between accuracy and simulation cost. To validate the implemented model, finite element simulations have been performed with the ATLAS two-dimensional (2-D) numerical simulator. The study is completed with the comparison between experimental and simulation results. It is shown that the proposed electrothermal model allows the prediction of the IGBT destruction phases in the case of large surges. So, users of IGBT components have the possibility to estimate, by mean of simulation, the possible failure (due to large surges) of these devices in the case of complex converters. This enables the possibility for developing protection systems for IGBTs without any destructive test.

[1]  Paul R. Strickland.  The Thermal Equivalent Circuit of a Transistor , 1959, IBM J. Res. Dev..

[2]  Allen R. Hefner,et al.  Modeling Buffer Layer IGBT's for Circuit Simulation | NIST , 1993 .

[3]  Bruno Allard,et al.  Choosing a thermal model for electrothermal simulation of power semiconductor devices , 1998 .

[4]  Allen R. Hefner,et al.  An analytical model for the steady-state and transient characteristics of the power insulated-gate bipolar transistor , 1988 .

[5]  D. M. Diebolt,et al.  An experimentally verified IGBT model implemented in the Saber circuit simulator , 1991, PESC '91 Record 22nd Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[6]  S. M. Sze,et al.  Physics of semiconductor devices , 1969 .

[7]  B. J. Baliga,et al.  Modern Power Devices , 1987 .

[8]  Jia Tzer Hsu,et al.  A rational formulation of thermal circuit models for electrothermal simulation. I. Finite element method [power electronic systems] , 1996 .

[9]  Hans Jurgen Mattausch,et al.  Modelling the self-heating of power devices , 1992, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and Ics.

[10]  A.R. Hefner.  An investigation of the drive circuit requirements for the power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) , 1990, 21st Annual IEEE Conference on Power Electronics Specialists.

[11]  W. Kiffe,et al.  Critical switching condition of a non-punch-through IGBT investigated by electrothermal circuit simulation , 1994, Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and Ics.

[12]  H. Morel,et al.  A bond graph simulator for power train simulation including semiconductor device models , 1996 .

[13]  D. Silber,et al.  Modeling of LDMOS and LIGBT structures at high temperatures , 1994, Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and Ics.

[14]  J. Yamashita,et al.  An experimental and numerical study on the forward biased SOA of IGBTs , 1996 .

[15]  B. Allard,et al.  Choosing a thermal model for electrothermal simulation of power semiconductor devices , 1998, PESC 98 Record. 29th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference (Cat. No.98CH36196).

[16]  A.R. Hefner,et al.  Analytical modeling of device-circuit interactions for the power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) , 1988, Conference Record of the 1988 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting.

[17]  O. Apeldoorn,et al.  New IGBT model for PSPICE , 2002 .

[18]  Bruno Allard,et al.  Transient temperature measurements and modeling of IGBT's under short circuit , 1998 .

[19]  J. Hauser,et al.  Electron and hole mobilities in silicon as a function of concentration and temperature , 1982, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[20]  Jean-Daniel Chatelain.  Dispositifs à semiconducteur , 1979 .

[21]  Jia Tzer Hsu,et al.  A rational formulation of thermal circuit models for electrothermal simulation-Part I: Finite element method , 1996 .

[22]  A. R. Hefner.  An improved understanding for the transient operation of the power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) , 1989, 20th Annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference.

[23]  V. Axelrad,et al.  Electrothermal simulation of an IGBT , 1992, Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and Ics.

[24]  Adolph Blicher.  Field-Effect and Bipolar Power Transistor Physics , 1981 .

[25]  K. Board,et al.  Degradation in on-state characteristics of IGBTs through self-heating , 1994 .