Characterization of commercial IGBT modules for pulsed power applications

An analysis of commercial semiconductor switches favors the IGBT for pulsed power applications, in particular for high average power, high pulse repetition rate applications, due to its availability based on its widespread use in drive applications. High power IGBT modules rated at 6.5 kV/700 A of two different technologies have been investigated in this work: the planar technology and the trench technology. Both types of semiconductor switches were tested in a special low inductance setup to characterize the IGBT for pulsed power applications. A dedicated gate drive unit enables the IGBT to generate fast rise times for the collector current and fast fall times for the collector - emitter voltage. The IGBT with planar technology [1] was characterized at a DC link voltage of 4 kV and a peak current of 2 kA. The switching time of the IGBT stays in the region of 200 ns (t_{fall time(20-80%)}) of the collector-emitter voltage, while the rise time of the collector current is 160ns (t_{rise time(10-90%)}) with peak power losses of 1.41MW. This allows to use the IGBT at higher pulse repetition rates (PRF) up to 2 kHz, at a pulse duration of 1 μs. The IGBT with trench technology [2] shows gate voltage oscillations at peak currents above 1 kA, which infers that the gate source capacitance will be slowly destroyed by overvoltage spikes. In addition, minimizing the on-state losses by using higher gate voltages is not possible due to this effect. It is thus concluded that the planar technology is preferable for pulsed power applications, in particular for hard-wired configurations to achieve higher peak currents [3] and in IVA concepts [4], eventually using solid-state switching technology.