Feasibility Study of the SuperIGBT: A Series-Connected High Voltage IGBT With A Single Gate

This paper introduces the design and characterization of the SuperIGBT - a series connected high voltage IGBT switch with only one gate. The SuperIGBT uses the same circuit configuration as the previously published Austin SuperMOS. A half-bridge 2.4kV SuperIGBT, which utilizes two 1.2kV Si IGBTs in each switch position, is developed to evaluate the performance. The static and dynamic performance of the 2.4 kV SuperIGBT is analyzed experimentally. Since the IGBT is a bipolar device, achieving good voltage balancing is substantially more challenging than the unipolar MOSFET. A new voltage balancing theory based on the IGBT device physics is developed.