A Si IGBT Review and Outlook in Competition to WBG Power Devices

Abstract:
This article deals with the question towards the future of power semiconductor devices, especially if there is still Si IGBT technology progress foreseeable und reasonable in the light of the wide-bandgap (WBG) switches of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), that both have become very attractive during the last decade and will become even more in the future. After a review on the innovation steps from first IGBTs 30 years ago until today’s modern IGBTs an outlook to foreseeable future IGBT innovations is given and reflected against the SiC MOSFET devices - especially in the context of the differing requirements coming from the different power application fields. As a guess there might stay application fields in which Si power devices can stay attractive in terms of cost performance optimum. However, in those use cases with very fast switching and the more power efficiency counts, wide-bandgap devices will completely take over in the future.