Experimental and Numerical Study of Low and High Frequency Oscillations in IGBTs during Short Circuit

The purpose of this work is to present a detailed experimental and numerical study on the mechanisms involved in IGBTs instability which can compromise its robustness when it is operated in short circuit in particular load and driving conditions. It is shown that the IGBTs can exhibit low and high frequency oscillations associated with different physical mechanisms. Furthermore, a new methodology that allows us to determine the stability limits of the device in relationship with the parameters of the external circuit is proposed. Experimental measurements confirm the results obtained.