Impact of Cell Geometries and Electrothermal Effects on IGBT Latch-Up in 2D-Simulation

The influence of the emitter cell geometry of a n insulated gate bipolar transis-tor (IGBT) on the forward behaviour is investigated by electrothermal device simulation. For comparison isothermal device simulation is used at different temperatures. The latch-up behaviour of cellular cell and stripe designs is calculated. As a result the stripe design possesses a higher latch-up rugged-ness. However the impact of the cell geometry on IGBT latch-up is affected by electrothermal effects. The variation of the collector-emitter current with the lattice temperature distribution at latch-up is different for stripe and cell designs. The temperature dependence of the junction voltage and the hole cur-rent proportion to the total current are electrothermal effects which influence IGBT latch-up. 1