New Industry Products

Fairchild Announces New SMPS II IGBTs

September 20, 2001 by Jeff Shepard

Fairchild Semiconductor International (San Jose, CA) announced the next generation of IGBTs designed to replace 500V/600V MOSFETs in switch-mode power supply (SMPS), power-factor correction and other high-power applications, without redesign of the gate drive voltage circuitry.

The SMPS II IGBT gate drive voltage requirement has been reduced to 8V to 10V, similar to a MOSFET, allowing larger die size power MOSFETs or multiple MOSFETs in parallel to be replaced with a single SMPS II IGBT. The plateau voltage in the SMPS II has been reduced to ~6V making it easy to implement the IGBT as a replacement for a MOSFET.

SMPS II IGBT technology improves power density, system efficiency and reliability, and enables operation up to 150kHz without current de-rating, according to the company. Conduction losses are dramatically lower, especially at high temperatures, and gate charge is reduced by 80 percent. SMPS II IGBTs are the first in class to have full unclamped inductive switching capability similar to power MOSFETs, allowing application in all power-circuit topologies, including single-switch forward converters.

According to Tammy Kubasko, business manager for Fairchild’s Power Supply business segment, "Customers have saved 22 percent over the cost of the 600V MOSFET, reduced operating temperatures by over 25 degrees, and improved overall circuit efficiencies by one to two percent, giving the customer performance and cost benefits without compromise."

The SMPS II IGBT is available now in four die sizes, with and without anti-parallel Stealth diodes, in 14 die package combinations for power supply applications from 500W to 4,000W.

Pricing is from $1.46 to $9.28 in 10,000-piece quantities. Samples and production quantities are available now with delivery in eight weeks ARO.