The ESBT® (Emitter-Switched Bipolar Transistor): a new monolithic power actuator technology devoted to high voltage and high frequency applications

A novel power actuator having a good switching behaviour along with a highly performing on-state conduction characteristic is presented. The device is a monolithic integration of a high voltage bipolar transistor and a low voltage MOSFET connected in cascode configuration. The sandwich structure so obtained has shown very attractive electrical performance and ruggedness. This paper also demonstrates how this new structure can be easily tailored according to the application requirements. Finally a comparison with other power actuator such as a high voltage power MOSFET and a fast IGBT proves its superiority in terms of energy losses especially at high working frequencies.