An advanced bimode insulated gate transistor BIGT with low diode conduction losses under a positive gate bias

Despite the previously reported benefits of High Voltage Reverse Conducting RC-IGBT concepts such as the BIGT, the main obstacle for adopting them in mainstream applications is the dependency of the diode conduction losses on the applied gate voltage polarity. In most applications, adaptations are required at both control and gate drive levels for providing lower diode conduction losses. The paper investigates this particular issue with respect to the device design. With the aid of both simulation and experimental results, an advanced low loss BIGT, which can operate efficiently under all gate bias conditions is proposed.