Infineon Breaks Switching and Efficiency Limits with 3rd Generation High Speed 600 V and 1200 V IGBTs

Neubiberg, Germany – May 5, 2010 – Infineon Technologies today introduced its 600V and 1200V High Speed 3 (3rd generation) IGBT product family optimized for high frequency and hard switching applications. The device family sets a new benchmark in reduced switching losses and best-in-class efficiency and is designed to address topologies switching at up to 100kHz.

In recent years, the application requirements for discrete IGBTs have made it necessary for designers to seek out IGBTs with specific characteristics to get the highest performance out of the application, for example: switching and conduction loss optimization. The new 600V and 1200V High Speed 3 family from Infineon enables designers of high-frequency applications such as electrical welders, solar inverters, switched mode and uninterruptable power supplies (SMPS and UPS), to get the best performance out of their system.

“The demand for IGBTs in applications for industrial drives, inductive heating, welding, UPS, and solar inverters has increased dramatically in the last few years. All these applications require specific optimized power switches,” said Roland Stele, Senior Marketing Manager IGBT Power Discretes at Infineon Technologies. “The latest ground breaking IGBT generation from Infineon is optimized for applications that need high-frequency, providing lowest switching losses and increased efficiency”.

The new High Speed 3 IGBT family is optimized for applications switching at up to 100kHz. Total turn-off losses have been reduced by 35% over the previous generation. This significant reduction in turn-off loss comes from the extremely short tail current time, which has been reduced by 75% and now shows MOSFET turn-off switching behavior.

Since V _ce(sat) (On-State Saturation Voltage) also plays an important role in the overall losses, a good balance between switching and conduction losses has been found. The new High Speed 3 family not only offers very low switching losses, but also low conduction losses thanks to the proven Trenchstop™ technology from Infineon with its inherent low V _ce(sat).

For IGBTs in the High Speed 3 family with a free wheeling diode, the size has been optimized for high speed switching diodes, whist maintaining high softness, which brings to the application excellent EMI behaviour.

Availability and Pricing

The new RoHS compliant High Speed 3 family is available from 20A to 50A in 600V and 15A to 40A in 1200V and is fully released for volume production. For sample quantities, pricing ranges from EUR 1.90 (600V, 20A) to EUR 5.10 (1200 40A).

Further information

Infineon presents the new 600V and 1200V High Speed 3 IGBTs at its booth (hall 12, booth 404) at the PCIM Europe 2010, May 4-6, in Nuremberg, Germany.

Additional information on the IGBT portfolio from Infineon is available at: www.infineon.com/igbt

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, mobility, and security. In the 2009 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 3.03 billion with approximately 25,650 employees worldwide. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).