“Positive Only” Gate Drive IGBTs Created by Cres Minimization

Previously, the general practice is to provide Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) with a gate characteristic that requires a negative gate drive bias to assure adequate turn-off when a high dv/dt is applied to the IGBT in a half bridge topology. However, providing the negative bias adds gate drive complexity. It also makes it difficult to use high voltage IC drivers because the ICs are designed to operate at ground reference – the same as the control circuitry. Thus it would be desirable to develop an IGBT that has high dv/dt capability when “positive only” gate drive is used. Such a device has been developed. The developed device performance is examined against an IGBT that requires negative gate drive. Successful results under high dv/dt applied conditions are reported.