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Concept
Insulated-gate bipolar transistor
Summary
An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily forming an electronic switch. It was developed to combine high efficiency with fast switching. It consists of four alternating layers (P–N–P–N) that are controlled by a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) gate structure.
Although the structure of the IGBT is topologically similar to a thyristor with a "MOS" gate (MOS-gate thyristor), the thyristor action is completely suppressed, and only the transistor action is permitted in the entire device operation range. It is used in switching power supplies in high-power applications: variable-frequency drives (VFDs), Uninterruptible Power Supply Systems (UPS), electric cars, trains, variable-speed refrigerators, lamp ballasts, arc-welding machines, induction hobs, and air conditioners.
Since it is designed to turn on and off rapidly, the IGBT can synthesize complex waveforms with pulse-width modulation and low-pass filters, thus it is also used in switching amplifiers in sound systems and industrial control systems. In switching applications modern devices feature pulse repetition rates well into the ultrasonic-range frequencies, which are at least ten times higher than audio frequencies handled by the device when used as an analog audio amplifier. , the IGBT was the second most widely used power transistor, after the power MOSFET.
An IGBT cell is constructed similarly to an n-channel vertical-construction power MOSFET, except the n+ drain is replaced with a p+ collector layer, thus forming a vertical PNP bipolar junction transistor.
This additional p+ region creates a cascade connection of a PNP bipolar junction transistor with the surface n-channel MOSFET.
The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) was invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959. The basic IGBT mode of operation, where a pnp transistor is driven by a MOSFET, was first proposed by K. Yamagami and Y. Akagiri of Mitsubishi Electric in the Japanese patent S47-21739, which was filed in 1968.
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