Question

The major drawback of the first generation IGBTs was that, they had

(a) latch-up problems

(b) noise & secondary breakdown problems

(c) sluggish operation

(d) latch-up & secondary breakdown problems

The question was posed to me during a job interview.

Enquiry is from IGBTs-1 in portion Power Electronics Devices of Power Electronics

Answer 1

The correct choice is (d) latch-up & secondary breakdown problems

To explain: The earlier IGBT’s had latch-up problems (device cannot turn off even after the gate signal is removed), and secondary breakdown problems (in which a localized hotspot in the device goes into thermal runaway and burns the device out at high currents).