Study on reverse recovery characteristics of reverse-blocking IGBT applied in matrix converter

In the last few decades, there has been considerable interest in AC to AC direct power conversion circuit known as matrix converter in the power electronics circle, but the commercial adoption of matrix converter is limited for the lack of suitable single power switches which is capable of blocking the voltages and conducting currents in both directions. Very recently, a new type of IGBT with reverse blocking capability is made available commercially. This RB-IGBT is similar to NPT-IGBT in geometry except for the modification mainly at the edges to enable continuous p⁺ n^- blocking junction and proper termination. This paper presents experimental data on reverse recovery characteristics of the RB-IGBT under a wide variety of operation conditions. The results and analyses can be very useful to those who intend to use RB-IGBT in matrix converter and also in other converter topologies