Experimental analysis of the current-carrying capacity of discrete IGBTs in TO-247-based packages

This article quantifies the current-carrying capacity of discrete IGBTs in TO-247 and TO-247PLUS packages with and without Kelvin emitter. After a characterization of the thermal resistance as well as the switching and conduction losses, the devices are operated in a buck converter to ascertain the maximum obtainable output current. In order to understand the impact of the package and the insulator, all tests are performed using the same semiconductor technology and total chip area. Finally, the feasibility of replacing two parallel TO-247 devices with a single TO-247 PLUS package is discussed.