Experimental demonstration of an anode voltage sensor for high voltage IGBT over-voltage protection

This paper deals with the design and fabrication of a monolithically integrated over-voltage sensor together with high voltage IGBTs. This solution will be of interest in harsh environment applications such as power modules for traction. First, the anode voltage sensor concept is introduced and an initial experimental validation on 600 V insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) devices is provided. Then, guidelines for the design of a 3.3 kV IGBT including the proposed anode voltage sensor are pointed out together with its process fabrication. Finally, experimental results on fabricated 3.3 kV IGBTs are presented and compared with simulated expected behaviour.