Novel Complementary Reverse Conducting Lateral IGBTs on Bulk Silicon with Multiple Buried Layers for a Common-Emitter Type Inverter

Through the simulation studies, we propose novel N-channel and P-channel reverse-conducting lateral IGBTs (RC-LIGBT) on bulk silicon with high current drive capability to operate a common-emitter complementary inverter using 200 V power supply instead of the conventional inverter using only N-channel MOSFETs or IGBTs with the high and low sides. The proposed N-channel and P-channel RC-LIGBTs on bulk silicon feature double and triple buried layers respectively, to confine minority carriers within the drift layers and prevent carrier outflow to adjacent circuits or backside, which has been a serious problem for lateral IGBTs on bulk silicon. Moreover, the complementary RC-LIGBTs employ a simple thyristor structure with a P-type or N-type floating base for reverse conduction, which suppresses snapback in forward conduction and reduces the area penalty even in the RC-LIGBT structure. The proposed N-channel and P-channel RC-LIGBTs are applied to a common-emitter type complementary half bridge inverter, and the simulation analysis verifies that the complementary inverter exhibits no penetration current even with a simple gate driving, compared to the conventional inverter which requires complex dead time settings between the high-side and the low-side gate drive circuits.