Investigation and Classification of Short-Circuit Failure Modes Based on Three-Dimensional Safe Operating Area for High-Power IGBT Modules

Abstract

Insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) short-circuit failure modes have been under research for many years, successfully paving the way for device short-circuit ruggedness improvement. The aim of this paper is to classify and discuss recent contributions about IGBT short-circuit failure modes, in order to establish the current state of the art and trends in this area. First, the concept of 3-D safe operating area is proposed as the IGBT's operational boundary to divide the device short-circuit failure modes into short-circuit VDC/Vrated-ISC SOA limiting and short-circuit endurance time limiting groups. Then, the discussion is centered on currently reported IGBT short-circuit failure modes in terms of their relationships with the device 3-D short-circuit safe operating area (3D-SCSOA) characteristics. In addition, further investigation on the interaction of 3D-SCSOA characteristics is implemented to motivate advanced contributions in future dependence research of device short-circuit failure modes on temperature. Consequently, a comprehensive and thoughtful review of where the development of short-circuit failure mode research works of IGBT stands and is heading is provided.