©2003 Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation FGH20N6S2D / FGP20N6S2D / FGB20N6S2D Rev. A2
FGH20N6S2 / FGP20N6S2 / FGB20N6S2
Handling Precautions for IGBTs
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors are susceptible to
gate-insulation damage by the electrostatic
discharge of energy through the devices. When
handling these devices, care should be exercised 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 currently being
extensively used in production by numerous
equipment manufacturers in military, industrial and
consumer applications, with virtually no damage
problems due to electrostatic 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 conduc-
tive 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 circuits 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 essentially 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 measurements 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 21. 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 controlling 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
θJC
. 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
xI
CE
)/2.
E
ON2
and E
OFF
are defined in the switching
waveforms shown in Figure 21. 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
xV
CE
) during turn-off. All tail losses
are included in the calculation for E
OFF
; i.e., the
collector current equals zero (I
CE
= 0)
ECCOSORBD is a Trademark of Emerson and Cumming, Inc.
