An investigation of the IGBT gate driving conditions employing an equivalent circuit model of power semiconductor device

In this paper, an optimal gate driving condition between switching loss and surge voltage is investigated by circuit simulation technique. An equivalent circuit model of power semiconductor devices, such as an IGBT and a FWD, are employed. Chip level transient switching waveforms of IGBT at different gate driving condition are calculated and evaluated with measurement results. Evaluation result shows good agreement with measurements. Furthermore, module level switching performance is investigated based on the simulation model. The trade-off between switching losses and surge voltages respect to the gate resistance is analyzed and discussed.