RC IGBTs vs. standard

Announcements

From sunburn to sun earn – we’ve got the power! Watch our #poweringgreen videos now.

Tip / Sign in to post questions, reply, level up, and achieve exciting badges. Know more

cross mob
User17640
Level 1
Level 1
10 questions asked 5 questions asked First question asked
Dears,
I have read in the web about reverse conducting IGBTs. Could you please explain what are the difference with respect a standard IGBT and in which application it can be used?
Thanks and best regards,
MaxP
0 Likes
1 Solution
Giuseppe_De_Fal
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
10 solutions authored 10 replies posted 10 sign-ins
Hello Max,
for many application it is mandatory that the power devices can conduct current in two directions. Standard IGBTs can intrinsically conduct the current in a single-direction only, therefore they are usually packed together with a separate diode to allow the current flow in the opposite direction. This is considered the state-of-the-art approach for most of the applications where IGBTs are used. However it has the drawback of requiring two different chips to be assembled in one package.

A reverse conducting IGBT is a special device that integrates in the same chip an IGBT and a diode. This approach allows for just a single-chip to be assembled in the package, with a saving of space, complexity and cost.
The main drawback of this approach is that is hard to optimize IGBT and diode performances separately, as the two devices share a common chip. Usually a trade-off must be found between IGBT and diode performances.

For this reason, such devices are mostly used in applications where the requirements of the diode are much less stringent compared with the ones of the IGBT.
Example of such applications are: resonant converters, phase-shift ZSV converters and, to certain extent, motor drive inverters.

If you want to know more about reverse-conducting IGBTs and some of their application, you can have a look at this application note: https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-AN2014_01_Reverse_Conducting_IGBT-ApplicationNotes-v03_00-EN.....

Hope that this helps.

Best Regards,
Giuseppe

View solution in original post

0 Likes
1 Reply
Giuseppe_De_Fal
Moderator
Moderator
Moderator
10 solutions authored 10 replies posted 10 sign-ins
Hello Max,
for many application it is mandatory that the power devices can conduct current in two directions. Standard IGBTs can intrinsically conduct the current in a single-direction only, therefore they are usually packed together with a separate diode to allow the current flow in the opposite direction. This is considered the state-of-the-art approach for most of the applications where IGBTs are used. However it has the drawback of requiring two different chips to be assembled in one package.

A reverse conducting IGBT is a special device that integrates in the same chip an IGBT and a diode. This approach allows for just a single-chip to be assembled in the package, with a saving of space, complexity and cost.
The main drawback of this approach is that is hard to optimize IGBT and diode performances separately, as the two devices share a common chip. Usually a trade-off must be found between IGBT and diode performances.

For this reason, such devices are mostly used in applications where the requirements of the diode are much less stringent compared with the ones of the IGBT.
Example of such applications are: resonant converters, phase-shift ZSV converters and, to certain extent, motor drive inverters.

If you want to know more about reverse-conducting IGBTs and some of their application, you can have a look at this application note: https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infineon-AN2014_01_Reverse_Conducting_IGBT-ApplicationNotes-v03_00-EN.....

Hope that this helps.

Best Regards,
Giuseppe
0 Likes