Design and simulation for forward biased safe operating area of vertical insulated gate bipolar transistors with carrier lifetimes and temperatures

The forward biased safe operating area of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) is important for stable and reliable operations. A parasitic thyristor latch-up has limited the on-state operation of the devices. In this manuscript we reported the forward biased safe operating area of the vertical punch through IGBTs with various N buffer layers, carrier lifetimes, and temperatures. Increasing the thickness and doping concentration of the N buffer layer decreased the forward current and improved the forward biased safe operating area. The low forward current suppressed a parasitic thyristor latch-up. Reducing the carrier lifetime increased the forward bias safe operating area due to the enhanced recombination in the N buffer layer. At the high temperature, two conflicting mechanisms of the forward bias safe operating area were found. As the temperature rised, the forward bias safe operating area increased due to the channel scattering and forward current reduction. The forward biased safe operating area rather decreased at the high temperature because the parasitic thyristor easily triggered at the low collector voltage. Copyright © The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers.