Study on the IGBT Short Circuit Type II Behavior Considering the Plasma Effect

The second type of short-circuit (SC II) of an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) considering the plasma is thoroughly studied in this article. The measurement and device simulation were performed for 1.2 kV IGBTs. Since the SC II is the failure during the IGBT conduction mode, the existing plasma within the IGBT plays an important role in IGBT SC II behavior. The first focus of this article is to understand the composition of the current peak at the beginning of the SC II, which is produced by the Miller-effect during the desaturation process and the sweep-out of the internal plasma. Further, the induced voltage caused by the current decay after the current peak is investigated. The interaction between current decay and the IGBT internal physical mechanism is discussed under different test conditions.