Driving and Protecting Large Die IGBT and MOS Power Devices

SummaryToday’s smart IC gate drivers from various manufacturers simplify the design tasks facing the power system engineers. The increased performance with greater reliability possible with the smart IC gate drivers cannot be ignored. For example, the almost instantaneous (within 200 ns) local shutdown available from a smart IC gate driver can easily protect high gain IGBT devices which can self destruct within 2 μs [1]. Output feedback current sensors or fuses just aren’t fast enough to protect these high gain IGBTs. The importance of proper drive and protection of large die size, high power discrete MOSFETs and IGBTs cannot be overemphasized. Modern single die discrete IGBTs can block up to 1400 V and conduct over 1800 A during a short circuit condition — over 2.5 MW of power dissipation in a little less than 6.5cm2!