IGBT Research Articles

Hybrid multimodule DC–DC converters accelerated by wide bandgap devices for electric vehicle systems

In response to the growing demand for fast-charging electric vehicles (EVs), this study presents a novel hybrid multimodule DC–DC converter based on the dual-active bridge (DAB) topology. The converter comprises eight modules divided into two groups: four Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) modules and four Metal–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MESFET) modules. The former handles high power with a low switching frequency, while the latter caters to lower power with a high switching frequency. This configuration leverages the strengths of both types of semiconductors, enhancing the converter’s power efficiency and density. To investigate the converter’s performance, a small-signal model is developed, alongside a control strategy to ensure uniform power sharing among the modules. The model is evaluated through simulation using MATLAB, which confirms the uniformity of the charging current provided to EV batteries. The results show an impressive power efficiency of 99.25% and a power density of 10.99 kW/L, achieved through the utilization of fast-switching MESFETs and the DAB topology. This research suggests that the hybrid multimodule DC–DC converter is a promising solution for fast-charging EVs, providing high efficiency, power density, and switching speed. Future studies could explore the incorporation of advanced wide bandgap devices to handle even larger power fractions.

High order sliding mode observer-based fault-tolerant control scheme for DFIG in wind energy applications with model predictive controller

This research presents a novel fault-tolerant predictive power control method for a Doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) used in wind turbine control systems. Due to the proposed control mechanism, the system can continue to function effectively despite open-circuit or short-circuit faults in the insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) of the MPC controller. Depending on the type of problem and its location, the tolerant IGBT overcomes power oscillations and limits the power converter's potential switching states. By monitoring the optimal generator speed, wind turbine control systems strive to maximize power output. For wind turbines operating in the partial-load area, a fault-tolerant model predictive control strategy is recommended in order to achieve control goals despite disturbances, uncertainties, sensor, and actuator difficulties. A high order sliding mode observer (HOSMO) is used to evaluate both the actual states and sensor-faults at the same time. A high order sliding mode (HOSM) control strategy based on the MPC controller is used to regulate the speed of wind turbines in order to harness the wind's maximum power.

Using Machine Learning and Finite Element Analysis to Extract Traction-Separation Relations at Bonding Wire Interfaces of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor Modules.

For insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules using wire bonding as the interconnection method, the main failure mechanism is cracking of the bonded interface. Studying the mechanical properties of the bonded interface is crucial for assessing the reliability of IGBT modules. In this paper, first, shear tests are conducted on the bonded interface to test the bonded interface's strength. Then, finite element-cohesive zone modeling (FE-CZM) is established to describe the mechanical behavior of the bonded interface. A novel machine learning (ML) architecture integrating a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a long short-term memory (LSTM) network is used to identify the shape and parameters of the traction separation law (TSL) of the FE-CZM model accurately and efficiently. The CNN-LSTM architecture not only has excellent feature extraction and sequence-data-processing abilities but can also effectively address the long-term dependency problem. A total of 1800 sets of datasets are obtained based on numerical computations, and the CNN-LSTM architecture is trained with load-displacement (F-δ) curves as input parameters and TSL shapes and parameters as output parameters. The results show that the error rate of the model for TSL shape prediction is only 0.186%. The performance metric's mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is less than 3.5044% for all the predictions of the TSL parameters. Compared with separate CNN and LSTM architectures, the proposed CNN-LSTM-architecture approach exhibits obvious advantages in recognizing TSL shapes and parameters. A combination of the FE-CZM and ML methods in this paper provides a promising and effective solution for identifying the mechanical parameters of the bonded interfaces of IGBT modules.

Study on stress in trench structures during silicon IGBTs process-oxidation

In silicon insulated gate bipolar transistors, the trench gate structure is used to achieve smaller cell size and lower ON resistance, and thereby reduces energy loss. However, the thermal process can cause large stress near the trench and sometimes degrades device performance. This study proposed a three-dimensional model of a silicon chip with trench structures to analyze the stress distribution induced by thermal process around the trench, the scribe line, and the bottom surface of the chip. The calculated stress is in good agreement with measurement by Raman spectroscopy. The mesa top has much higher stress than the scribe line and the bottom surface. The stress depends on oxide thickness and the size scaling may reduce the stress.

A hybrid mixed‐cells DC‐DC modular multilevel converter with balanced arm energy and DC fault blocking capability for high voltage direct current systems

SummaryDC‐DC converters play a vital role in the integration of renewable energy sources. Modular multilevel converter (MMC) has emerged as a highly promising option for high‐voltage high‐power applications, for DC‐AC and DC‐DC conversion, thanks to its distinctive characteristics. An inherent limitation of using traditional MMC in DC‐DC conversion is the occurrence of arm energy drift, leading to imbalanced voltages across capacitors of submodules (SMs). Many approaches have been presented in the literature to address the energy drift issue during DC‐DC conversion process. In this paper, a novel bidirectional hybrid modular multilevel DC‐DC converter with balanced arm energy has been proposed. The proposed converter consists of one high‐voltage valve and two legs. Each leg is equipped with half‐bridge submodules (HB‐SMs) in the upper arm and full‐bridge submodules (FB‐SMs) in the lower arm. The proposed architecture enables the parallel connection between series‐connected capacitors of the upper arm and series‐connected capacitors of the lower arm during the equalization period. The parallel connectivity enables the energy transfer between the upper and lower arms in the same leg, hence preventing energy drift issues. A detailed illustration of converter operational concept, mathematical analysis, design, and efficiency estimation are presented. The presented simulation and experimental results show the bidirectional power flow ability and the promising behavior of the proposed converter during normal operating conditions with balanced arm energy. Finally, a comparison between the proposed converter and other existing topologies has been made to show the superiority of the proposed converter over the other alternatives. The proposed converter has a lower count of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) and eliminates the usage of isolating transformers when compared to the energy equalization modules approach. In addition, unlike the other alternatives, the proposed converter has a DC fault blocking capability.

A 4H-SiC p-channel insulated gate bipolar transistor with higher breakdown voltage and superior V F·C res figure of merit

A silicon carbide p-channel insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) with higher breakdown voltage (BV) and low V F·C res figure of merit (FOM) has been simulated, fabricated, and characterized successfully. The proposed IGBT adds two n-type implant regions in the junction FET (JFET) area and increases the gate oxide thickness above the JFET area to reduce the reverse transfer capacitance (C res) and gate oxide electric field (E ox). The proposed structure notably lowers E ox below 3 MV cm−1 while elevating the BV to 16.6 kV. A new FOM of V F·C res is defined to evaluate the trade-off between the on-state and the C res characteristics. The experimental results demonstrate that a lower V F·C res FOM of 0.369 V·pF is achieved from the proposed IGBT with a reduction of 66.4%, compared to the conventional current spreading layer IGBT. Meanwhile, the simulated turn-on and turn-off times of the proposed IGBT are reduced by 29.4% and 20%, respectively.

A New Thermal Management Strategy of IGBT in DFIG for Economic Benefit Maximization

Wind speed fluctuation generally shortens the lifetime of the insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) module in the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG), which leads to frequent component replacement and cost increase of wind power generation. Conventional power control strategies consider solely the wind turbine output power maximization, and existing junction temperature thermal management strategies focus on IGBT lifetime extension, both of which are not effective under turbulent wind speed conditions and ignore the trade-off between the device reliability and output power for the overall DFIG economic benefit. To bridge the gap between the IGBT reliability and the output power under turbulent wind speed conditions, we propose a novel IGBT thermal management strategy for optimal economic benefit. Specifically, we first smooth the output power through a linear power control (LPC) method with conditions on the wind speed and turbine speed to reduce the IGBT low-frequency junction temperature fluctuation, which extends IGBT lifetime. We then propose a grid encirclement and suppression search (GESS) method that maximizes the economic benefit defined by LPC-smoothed output power and IGBT lifetime. Simulation shows that our proposed LPC-GESS strategy outperforms a competing strategy at economic benefit by a large margin, up to 15.3%. Our proposed strategy can potentially be used in wind power stations for fast and reliable economic benefit-oriented IGBT thermal management.

Study of MOS and IGBT transistors at switching with variable duty cycle

In this paper, the functionality of MOS and IGBT transistors is examined under identical working conditions, both in terms of command frequency and load circuit. A variable duty cycle and variable frequency signal generator is used to control transistors. Various electronic components and Arduino-UNO modules, as well as the 16×2 LCD screen, were used to create the signal generator. The control signal is amplified by a current amplifier to adapt the output voltage to the value required to control the transistors. The operation of MOS and IGBT transistors at various operating frequencies with resistive or inductive loads is compared. Thus, the communication times of the transistor capsules were determined at various operating temperatures. The temperature was determined indirectly by connecting a thermistor to the transistor capsule.

Degradation state estimation for insulated gate bipolar transistor based on multi-scale fusion learning

Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules are widely used in power electronic systems. Estimating the degradation state of IGBT modules is especially crucial when operating under different conditions, as they are highly likely to experience aging or faults, resulting in system failure. However, a fixed time window is generally used, which is not easy to fully learn the correlation between data. To address the issues, this paper proposes a multi-scale fusion learning method for estimating the degradation state of IGBT. The method can effectively mine the short-term and long-term correlations of IGBT aging data, which helps to implement the accurate estimation based on IGBT aging data. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, the accelerated aging test data provided by the NASA Predictive Center of Excellence (PCoE) is utilized. The results show that the method can accurately estimate the degradation state of IGBTs.

Robust reverse bias safe operating area and improved electrical performance in 3300 V non-proportionally scaled insulated gate bipolar transistors

Robustness under high-temperature clamped inductive turn-off has been compared systematically among 3300 V scaled insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) with scaling factor k from 1 to 10 by technology computer-aided design simulations. Degradation of the reverse bias safe operating area (RBSOA) has been observed in proportionally scaled IGBTs, especially at a high turn-off current density. A non-proportional scaling method has been proven to be able to restore the robustness degradation with RBSOA close to the original k = 1 case. Moreover, the method for adjusting R pf (P-floating connecting resistor) adds more flexibility to device design and also improves the overall electrical performance of non-proportionally scaled IGBTs. The adjustment of R pf has been found to have a minimal effect on the RBSOA.

Digital-Twin-Driven Intelligent Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistor Production Lines.

With the rapid development of novel energy vehicles, power generation, photovoltaics, and other industries, power electronic devices have gained considerable attention. Insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) have been widely used in those fields. With the emergence of intelligent manufacturing concepts such as Germany's "Industry 4.0" and China's "Made in China 2025", conventional manufacturing which needs to be upgraded with higher efficiency and yield is rapidly pivoting toward digitalization and intelligence. The digital twin methodology has been extensively used in various industries for constructing virtual models of physical entities, facilitating real-time data interconnection to reduce costs and improve efficiency. This study proposes a modular intelligent IGBT production line based on the digital twin. Real-time data are transmitted from a physical line to a digital line for storage and analysis. The digital line is visualized, and an intelligent management platform containing multiple functions is developed. Additionally, a process simulation database is established to obtain the optimal process parameters. Numerous quality issues that can arise during each process of IGBT packaging are addressed using a problem-solving approach based on the digital twin methodology. Consequently, this digital-twin-based IGBT intelligent production line effectively enhances yield rates and efficiency. IGBT modules with various packaging forms such as ACF, ACE, and ACD are manufactured.

Improving the operational characteristics of electrical power systems of marine vessels

THE PURPOSE. Consider the experience of use and conduct a study of the electrical power systems of sea vessels to determine the possibility of improving their operational characteristics. Obtain data on noise and vibration levels of electrical power systems elements.METHODS. The article analyzes the electrical power systems of the Azipod type steering columns of the Baltika icebreaker. The issue of regulating the rotation speed of propulsion electric motors using frequency control based on a DC link and parallel-connected inverter units on IGBT transistors is considered. Motor control on the frequency converter side can be based on direct torque control, scalar and vector control. There are control modes for reducing and increasing voltage.RESULTS. Typical dependences of structure-borne noise levels of main engines and generators are given. Measurements were taken at various frequencies of engine sound power levels, exhaust gases and vibration of generator sets. Experimental oscillograms of studies of the parallel operation of diesel generator sets were obtained, on which power exchange and common-mode oscillations were recorded.CONCLUSION. It is proposed to use multiphase AC electric motors to improve performance characteristics, including reducing noise and vibration. The existing experience in using frequency converters based on a rectifier section and inverter units in electric rowing installations with Azipod propellers makes it possible to implement such a change. To do this, it is necessary to parallelize the inverters that supply each of the three phases and provide the appropriate phase shifts.

Grid-patterned trench insulated gate bipolar transistor for 1.2 kV hybrid/plug-in hybrid electric vehicle silicon power devices

This paper reports on the newly developed silicon insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) for Toyota’s fifth generation power devices. The designed IGBTs with a grid-patterned trench provide a lower on-state voltage (V ON ) while maintaining a wide mesa width. A successful 15% reduction of V ON was accomplished by enhancement of the two-dimensional hole storage effect. Furthermore, the grid-patterned trench IGBT merged with Schottky and multi-layered anode technology demonstrated a significant improvement in the trade-off curve between the reverse recovery current (I rr ) and V ON in a reverse conducting IGBT without a lifetime control process. As a result, the grid-patterned trench IGBT has contributed to reduce power loss and volume in the new power control units.

Turn-off switching voltage surge analysis with dependence on IGBT cell design

Surge voltage at insulated gate bipolar transistor turn-off switching was analyzed with dependence on cell design parameters. Although drift layer thinning is effective in improving trade-off characteristics between turn-off loss E off and on-state voltage V on, voltage surge is induced due to the quickly expanding depletion layer. Therefore, the surge voltage V surge has also a trade-off relationship with V on at the same E off condition. The origin of the voltage surge was analyzed using TCAD simulation, and the total amount of remaining holes in the drift layer during turn-off switching is a key factor for the V surge. A narrow mesa structure and thick buffer layer are effective for the improvement of trade-off characteristics between V surge and V on. However, the optimum buffer layer thickness depends on the voltage-class due to the speed for punch through.

Thermal and electrical evaluation of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power modules

The thermal reliability of two different high-power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules was studied under both conduction and switching regimes by experimental and numerical approaches. Indeed, the reliability of semiconductor devices is tightly linked to the junction temperatures reached in the IGBT, which is a function of the diode chips present in such devices and its operating condition. However, measurements of the semiconductor temperatures are often difficult to be done, thus requiring modeling and simulation tools to accurately evaluate the instantaneous temperature under different thermal loads. For this reason, a transient 3D heat transfer numerical model of two different IGBT power devices was proposed using the Finite Element Method, assuming that heat is dissipated on the IGBT by natural convection and radiation. These simulations were validated with experimental measurements, obtained through infrared thermography, performed for the IGBT modules either opened or enclosed, varying the heat source, the module orientation and under conduction or switching regime. For the switching regime, power losses due to the gate-closing and gate-opening transitions between conducting and non-conducting states were taken into consideration. The heat losses were modeled assuming the time-dependent heat dissipation obtained by previous electrical simulations, and it was compared with time-averaged heat source solutions. Results showed that averaging the heat source can significantly reduce the computational time, allowing quick design explorations. Overall, the numerical model led to deviations of less than 16% over the transient heating and at steady-state. Finally, the impact of a heat sink attached to the IGBT was studied, demonstrating that the proposed model can be used for accurate and quick investigations of potential failures and for the development of more efficient IGBT devices.

Novel majority carrier accumulation insulated gate bipolar transistor with Schottky junction

Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is the core of modern power semiconductor device, and has been widely used due to its excellent electrical characteristics. A novel majority carrier accumulation mode IGBT with Schottky junction contact gate semiconductor layer (AC-SCG IGBT) is proposed and investigated by TCAD simulation in this article. When the AC-SCG IGBT is in the on-state, a forward bias is applied to the gate. Due to the very low forward voltage drop (<i>V</i><sub>F</sub>) of the Schottky barrier diode, the potential of the gate semiconductor layer is almost equal to the gate potential, which can accumulate a large number of majority carrier electrons in the drift region. In addition to the electrons existing, these accumulated electrons increase the conductivity of the drift region, thus significantly reducing <i>V</i><sub>F</sub>. Therefore, the doping concentration of the drift region is not limited by <i>V</i><sub>F</sub>. The lightly doped drift region can make AC-SCG IGBT have a higher breakdown voltage (BV). Moreover, it also reduces the barrier capacitance in the turn-off process, thus the overall Miller capacitance is small, which can quickly turn off and reduce the turn-off time (<i>T</i><sub>off</sub>) and turn-off loss (<i>E</i><sub>off</sub>). The simulation results indicate that at the BV of 600 V, the <i>V</i><sub>F</sub> of 0.84 V for the proposed AC-SCG IGBT is reduced by 46.2% compared with that for the conventional IGBT (<i>V</i><sub>F</sub> of 1.56 V). The <i>E</i><sub>off</sub> of the AC-SCG IGBT (0.77 mJ/cm<sup>2</sup>) is reduced by 52.5% compared with that for the conventional IGBT (1.62 mJ/cm<sup>2</sup>), and the <i>T</i><sub>off</sub> (155.8–222.7 ns) is reduced by 30%. The contradiction between <i>V</i><sub>F</sub> and <i>E</i><sub>off</sub> is eliminated. In addition, the proposed AC-SCG IGBT has a better anti-latch-up capability and is coupled with its higher BV, so it has a larger forward biased safe operating area (FBSOA). The proposed novel structure meets the development requirements for future IGBT device performance, and has great significance for guiding the development of the power semiconductor device field.

IGBT Junction Temperature Extraction via Voltage Integral over Voltage Rise Period

In this paper, a temperature sensitive electrical parameter (TSEP) method for insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) modules junction temperature estimation based on voltage integral over-voltage rise period (VIVRP) is proposed. Firstly, combined with the principles of thermodynamic physics, the movement characteristics of internal carriers and holes are discussed, and the waveform of voltage and current during the turn-off process is studied. The feasibility of using voltage integral overvoltage period instead of voltage rise loss in junction temperature measurement is discussed and proved. At the beginning of the turn-off process, the holes in the IGBT almost remain in spatial and temporal distribution (the collector current IC remains constant), which leads the VIVRP to a cheaper TSEP method for junction temperature detection, without the high-frequency current detection equipment. Finally, the junction temperature model based on VIVRP and the extraction circuit of VIVRP are proposed. In addition, it is compared with the junction temperature detection method based on the voltage rise time and voltage rise loss. The results show that the junction temperature detection method based on VIVRP proposed in this paper is detection with high precision and low cost.

Circuit simulation-based comparison of power electronics devices in a five-level converter for UAV applications

<p>In this paper, the performance of a 5-level cascaded H-bridge inverter in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications is analized to identify, at the converter design stage, the better device choice depending on different UAV operation scenarios. Considering that regardless of the specific application there are some typical operations, such as take-off, climb, land, cruise, and potential recurring climbs and descents, the results can support the choice by considering the typical working conditions of the specific application where the UAV would be used. The results have been obtained by simulating the H-bridge inverter considering the circuit models of insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs), and Si and SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) provided by manufacturers. The study has highlighted that the choice of the device depends on the UAV usage, switching frequency, and load conditions. More specifically, considering the typical devices and systems costs in the case of a selective harmonic elimination procedure operating at the fundamental switching frequency, the Si devices should be used. Moreover, the preference for using IGBTs or Si MOSFETs depends on the typical working conditions of the UAV application. In the case of phase-shift carrier modulation technique, at 4 kHz the MOSFET is the best device and the choice between Si and SiC devices depends on the UAV application's main operation scenarios. At 20 kHz the SiC MOSFET is the best device, while at higher frequencies the GaN HEMT cost should be faced to take advantage of its best performance.</p>

INSULATED GATE BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR TEMPERATURE CALCULATION USING SIMSCAPE/SIMULINK ENVIRONMENT WITH VARIOUS SWITCHING FREQUENCY

Because of developments in high-power converters, it has become crucial to investigate how effective inverter performance is. consequently, via being aware of the temperature value of the junction for the inverter switch. The rise in the switching frequency of the inverter, as well as the kind of control technique used, all have an impact on the value of junction temperature. The traditional methods for determining the junction temperature are imprecise and challenging to use. Therefore, a novel approach was used in this study to compute the junction temperature in a simple manner utilizing the MATLAB/Simulation SIMSCAPE environment. The junction temperature of the inverter's switches is easily estimated, where the heat conveyed over the layers of the IGBT can be indicated by using the simple thermal model of Foster. Because the semiconductors within the SIMSCAPE environment exhibit boosted design together with a direct thermal port. As a result, the estimation of the junction temperature is more precise and direct. This feature is only openable in the newest categories of the MATLAB program (2019-2023) This paper presents the losses formed in an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors, and thermal behavior analysis to represent IGBT's layers. The simulation included the influence of various operating switching frequencies on the temperature value of the junction. The results show that the temperature value of the junction increases as the switching frequency value increases and the Space Vector pulse width modulation technique has a value of junction temperature lower than the Sinusoidal pulse width modulation technique at the same switching frequency.

Analysis of various operating modes of the microhpp asynchronous generator using the matlab simulink program

This article analyzes changes in efficiency and power factor, as well as various operating modes in the capacitor element excitation method, which is increasingly used in asynchronous generators. In this case, the sinusoidal voltage and frequency produced by the induction generator are within the rated values and different operations are compared. The studies were carried out along with the parameters obtained using the simulation model as well as real experimental verification. The simulation model was built in the Matlab Simulink package, which consisted of a rectifier, filter circuit, IGBT transistors and included a control system. In the real experiment, an asynchronous generator with a low-power squirrel-cage rotor was chosen, and sensors for measuring current and voltage were installed on the experimental stand. As a result of the analysis of transient processes occurring in different operating modes of the generator, it was found that the values of voltage, current and frequency changed from the nominal value. The results were achieved by adjusting the speed through a variable speed drive to obtain the rated speed taking into account the speed supplied to the rotor from the hydraulic turbine. At the end of the study, it was concluded that the induction generator has a number of advantages over other types of generators, including simplicity of design, low cost, and the fact that it does not consume a direct current source.