ASSIGNMENT REPORT

ON
CONSTRUCTION, CHARACTERISTICS
AND APPLICATIONS OF INJECTION
ENHANCED GATE TRANSISTOR

SUBJECT-ADVANCED
POWER ELECTRONICS

SUBMITTED BY:
SAYAN
NAG (ME/EE/10034/2013)

SACHIN KUMAR
PAL (ME/EE/10035/2013)
BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
MESRA
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In regard of the following assignment, we are
greatly indebted to the subject teacher, Mr.
NIRBHAR NEOGI, for his continuous
assistance. We would also thank our mates
for their selfless help to make us better
comprehend the logic of the Injection
Enhanced Gate Transistor. Last but not the
least, we would express our sincerest
gratitude to the almighty GOD for HIS
blessings, devoid of which we would not have
completed the assignment on time.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CONSTRUCTION
SILICON NCHANNEL IEGT
GT40Q321

1
2-3
4-7

CIRCUIT SYMBOL
FEATURES
MAXIMUM RATINGS
SWITCHING
CHARACTERISTICS
PERFORMANCE
CURVES

4
4
5
6
6-7

APPLICATIONS
WORKING OF IEGT
COMPARISON
BETWEEN LTT,
GCT AND IEGT
IEGT VERSUS IGBT
CONCLUSION-THE
FUTURE TREND

8
9-10
11

12
13

INTRODUCTION
The Injection Enhanced Gate Transistor
(abbreviated as IEGT) is a low on-state
voltage, faster switching device compared to
the IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor).
The emitter of the n-type base layer has peak
carrier concentration, rendering it to
accumulate holes and enhance electron
emission during turn-on, thus resulting in
low on-resistance. The rating of the standard
IEGT device is 4.5 kV, 2100 A in a diameter of

125 mm. Another advantage of the IEGT is

that the gate drive is a voltage signal with a
simple circuit with relatively low power
requirements. Thus, IEGT is a voltagecontrolled device.

1
CONSTRUCTION

The detailed construction of an n-p-n-p IEGT

is shown above. Here the p-type collector
layer is separated from the n-type base layer
by an n-type buffer layer.

2
The buffer layer establishes conduction
between the base and collector without
having direct connection between the base
and collector, which would have resulted in a

dead short-circuit. The top of the base layer

is divided into 3 parts-1 main cell region and
2 dummy cell regions. The main cell region
participates in actual conduction process
(transfer of electrons from the emitter takes
place via the main cell region). The dummy
cell regions are formed by planting two
trenches, which in turn mount the two gate
electrodes. The gate terminals are insulated
by a thin insulating film. On the top of the
structure, the insulating film is selectively
etched (usually by photolithographic etching
process) for mounting the emitter terminal
and two trenches (for the two gate
terminals). In this regard, the IEGT differs
from the IGBT due to the fact that in an IEGT,
the gate is not insulated from conduction
(emitter-gate resistance is very low) while in
an IGBT, the gate is completely insulated
(emitter-gate resistance is quite high). This
phenomenon, boosted by enhanced electron
emission from the emitter makes the IEGT a
faster switching device compared to the
IGBT.

3
SILICON N-CHANNEL IEGT GT40Q321
CIRCUIT SYMBOL:

FEATURES:
1)
High input impedence.
2)
Low output impedence.
3)
Operates in the enhancement mode.
4)
Low collector-emitter saturation
voltage.
5)
Electrodes are isolated from casing.
6)
Fifth generation IEGT.
7)
Higher efficiency compared to IGBT
and GTO (about 98.5%).

4
MAXIMUM RATINGS:

CHARACTERIS
TICS
Collectoremitter
voltage
Gate-emitter
voltage
Continuous
collector
current (at
298K)
Pulsed
collector
current
Diode forward
current (d.c.)
Collector
power
dissipation
(at 298K)
Junction

RATINGS

UNITS

1200

-25 to +25

42

80

10

170

423

temperature

5
SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS:

PERFORMANCE CURVES:

7
APPLICATIONS
The IEGT is a versatile device used in highspeed switching, low power (input)
applications. As such, it finds vast
applications in:
1)
High power rectifier/inverter circuits.
2)
FACTS controllers, e.g. STATCOM
(STATic COMpensator).
3)
High speed rolling mills.
4)
AC motor control.
5)
Solar inverter.

6)
7)
8)

UPS inverter.
Induction heating.
Pumps, fans, etc.

8
WORKING OF IEGT
WORKING OF 8-MVA IEGT INVERTER:

The diagram above shows a 3.3 KV source

(from transformer) supplying power to a 3phase 3.3 KV a.c. motor. Each phase
comprises of four switches and two clamping
diodes. The two capacitors interfacing
between the input and the output serve as
a.c. filters. The filtered voltage is then
impressed to the output portion of the
inverter, which in turn supplies rated power
to the motor. In this construction, the
transistor switches are essentially similar.

9
As power requirements are varied, the
switches per leg are ON and OFF in a
particular sequence (top 3 switches ON, top
2 switches ON and top 1 switch ON for

(3/4)th, (1/2)th and (1/4)th power

requirements respectively). For even higher
power requirements, thyristor switches may
be used. There is heat loss in the IEGT
structure which can occur in two ways:

1)

The on-state loss which is dictated by

the product of the collector-emitter
voltage times the current. As current is
increased, the on-state losses also
increase.
2) The switching surge voltage (high
dv/dt) also causes significant power loss.
To minimize the surge voltage, R-C or L-C
snubber circuits are employed which limit
the dv/dt rise. The snubber circuits also
serve as protective devices by bypassing
the excess voltage which, if impressed on
the device, can cause permanent
damage.

10
COMPARISON BETWEEN LTT, GCT
AND IEGT
DEVICES
Ratings

LTT
8 KV and
3.5 KA
(average
current)

Diameter 150 mm
of device
Applicatio HVDC
n
transmissi
on
Converter 1.4 GW
capacity
Number
960
of devices
used
Converter 1.5 MVA
capacity
per device

GCT
6 KV and
6 KA
(maximu
m turn-off
current)
150 mm

IEGT
4.5 KV
and 4 KA
(maximu
m turn-off
current)
125 mm

STATCOM

STATCOM

80 MVA

20 MVA

72

48

1.1 MVA

0.4 MVA

LTT- Light Triggered Thyristor

GCT- Gate Commutated (Turnoff) Thyristor

11
IEGT VERSUS IGBT
1)
IEGT can supply very high power
(about 10 MVA) owing to enhanced
electron emission as against IGBT which
is suitable for a power range of 1-100
MW.
2)
IEGT has lower saturation voltage as
against higher saturation voltage of IGBT
resulting in higher conduction losses.
3)
In IEGT, there is high carrier
concentration owing to low forward
voltage, resulting in enhanced emission
of electrons at both the cathode and
anode. But in IGBT, holes move from
collector to emitter side due to low
forward voltage, resulting in low emitter
carrier (electron) concentration.

4)
IEGT has a large SOA (Safe Operating
Area) which is more or less comparable to
that of IGBT.

12
CONCLUSION-THE FUTURE TREND
In recent years, there is increased demand of
3-level VSI which requires high-speed
switching and high power. As such IEGTs are
gradually replacing their counterparts, e.g.
IGBTs, GTOs, etc. owing to high speed
switching, high power provision and overall
savings.

13