Shoot Through and Avalanche Behavior of High Speed Fet Converter

Abstract:
Extremely high availability and reliability is of prime importance for many future applications of power electronics. In the past, these requirements were demanded in high power applications, mainly. Here, semiconductors with press-pack housings combined with multiple series connection have been applied with very good results. Unfortunately, neither the press-pack housings nor the multiple series connection of semiconductors are the preferred concepts of future development in power electronics. At first glance, alternative concepts of bypassing or disconnecting failed semiconductors by means of mechanical switches or fuses may be considered. But, a closer look reveals that they are in severe conflict with improved integration, miniaturization and reliability. In this paper, basic conditions for fault tolerant converters are investigated. MOSFET devices in SMThousings have been tested, because they are most important for future low and medium power converters.