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www.fairchildsemi.com
HGTP2N120CN, HGT1S2N120CN Rev. C
H
Handling Precautions for IGBTs
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors are susceptible to gate-insu-
lation damage by the electrostatic discharge of energy through
the devices. When handling these devices, care should be exer-
cised to assure that the static charge built in the handler’s body
capacitance is not discharged through the device. With proper
handling and application procedures, however, IGBTs are cur-
rently being extensively used in production by numerous equip-
ment manufacturers in military, industrial and consumer
applications, with virtually no damage problems due to electro-
static discharge. IGBTs can be handled safely if the following
basic precautions are taken:
1. Prior to assembly into a circuit, all leads should be kept
shorted together either by the use of metal shorting springs
or by the insertion into conductive material such as
“ECCOSORBD LD26” or equivalent.
2. When devices are removed by hand from their carriers, the
hand being used should be grounded by any suitable means
- for example, with a metallic wristband.
3. Tips of soldering irons should be grounded.
4. Devices should never be inserted into or removed from cir-
cuits with power on.
5.
Gate Voltage Rating
- Never exceed the gate-voltage rating
of V
GEM
. Exceeding the rated V
GE
can result in permanent
damage to the oxide layer in the gate region.
6.
Gate Termination
- The gates of these devices are essen-
tially capacitors. Circuits that leave the gate open-circuited or
floating should be avoided. These conditions can result in
turn-on of the device due to voltage buildup on the input
capacitor due to leakage currents or pickup.
7.
Gate Protection
- These devices do not have an internal
monolithic Zener diode from gate to emitter. If gate protection
is required, an external Zener is recommended.
Operating Frequency Information
Operating frequency information for a typical device (Figure 3)
is presented as a guide for estimating device performance for a
specific application. Other typical frequency vs collector current
(I
CE
) plots are possible using the information shown for a typical
unit in Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11. The operating frequency plot
(Figure 3) of a typical device shows f
MAX1
or f
MAX2
; whichever is
smaller at each point. The information is based on measure-
ments of a typical device and is bounded by the maximum rated
junction temperature.
f
MAX1
is defined by f
MAX1
= 0.05/(t
d(OFF)I
+ t
d(ON)I
). Deadtime
(the denominator) has been arbitrarily held to 10% of the on-
state time for a 50% duty factor. Other definitions are possible.
t
d(OFF)I
and t
d(ON)I
are defined in Figure 19. Device turn-off
delay can establish an additional frequency limiting condition for
an application other than T
JM
. t
d(OFF)I
is important when control-
ling output ripple under a lightly loaded condition.
f
MAX2
is defined by f
MAX2
= (P
D
- P
C
)/(E
OFF
+ E
ON2
). The allowable
dissipation (P
D
) is defined by P
D
= (T
JM
- T
C
)/R
JC
. The sum of
device switching and conduction losses must not exceed P
D
.
A 50% duty factor was used (Figure 3) and the conduction
losses (P
C
) are approximated by P
C
= (V
CE
x I
CE
)/2.
E
ON2
and E
OFF
are defined in the switching waveforms shown
in Figure 19. E
ON2
is the integral of the instantaneous power
loss (I
CE
x V
CE
) during turn-on and E
OFF
is the integral of the
instantaneous power loss (I
CE
x V
CE
) during turn-off. All tail
losses are included in the calculation for E
OFF
; i.e., the collec-
tor current equals zero (I
CE
= 0).