Trends and opportunities in intelligent power modules (IPM)

This paper describes the trends and opportunities in IGBT intelligent power modules (IGBT-IPM) for industrial and automotive applications. After the 1^st generation IPM was released to the market in late 1980's, continuous technical challenges have pushed them higher performance as well as higher power density. The progresses in IPMs have been done with combination of: 1) Special IGBT chip development, 2) On-chip sensors and 3) Drives and protection. Up to now, in the latest generation IGBT chipset, the IPM has better performance of about one-generation when compared to the widely available standard IGBTs. There are two major direction for future challenges are ongoing in IPM development of : 1) the expanding the power range with new gate drive technologies of managing current balancing in multiple IGBTs connected in parallel. 2) Ultra-fast response challenge by implementing the digital isolators to replace opt-couplers.