Semiconductor switch and power conversion system provided with semiconductor switch

• US 8,089,780 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Mochikawa, Hiroshi, Koyama, Tateo, Kuzumaki, Atsuhiko, Tsuda, Junichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Riley, Shawn
• Application Number:
  US12/526,053
• Publication Number:
  US 20100321966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• Field of Search: 363/17, 363/56.02, 363/132
• US Class Current: 363/17
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48137 the bodies being arranged next to each other, e.g. on a common substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49111 the connectors connecting two common bonding areas, e.g. Litz or braid wires
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/13055 Insulated gate bipolar transistor [IGBT]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/13091 Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor [MOSFET]
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/08 Circuits specially adapted for the generation of control voltages for semiconductor devices incorporated in static converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/5388 with asymmetrical configuration of switches
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/567 Circuits characterised by the use of more than one type of semiconductor device, e.g. BIMOS, composite devices such as IGBT
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 17/6874 in a symmetrical configuration

Abstract

A semiconductor switch is provided with a main element having reverse conductivity and serving as a voltage-driven switching element having a high withstand voltage, an auxiliary element serving as a voltage-driven switching element having a withstand voltage lower than that of the main element, and a high-speed freewheel diode having a withstand voltage equal to that of the main element, wherein a negative pole of the main element is connected to a negative pole of the auxiliary element to define the positive pole of the main element as a positive pole terminal and the positive pole of the auxiliary element as a negative pole terminal, and the high-speed freewheel diode is parallel-connected between the positive pole terminal and the negative pole terminal so that a direction from the negative pole terminal toward the positive pole terminal constitutes a forward direction.

Claims

1. A semiconductor switch comprising:

a main element having reverse conductivity and serving as a voltage-driven switching element having a high withstand voltage;

an auxiliary element serving as a voltage-driven switching element having a withstand voltage lower than that of the main element; and

a high-speed freewheel diode having a withstand voltage equal to that of the main element;

wherein a negative pole of the main element is connected to a negative pole of the auxiliary element to define a positive pole of the main element as a positive pole terminal and a positive pole of the auxiliary element as a negative pole terminal, and the high-speed freewheel diode is parallel-connected between the positive pole terminal and the negative pole terminal so that a direction from the negative pole terminal toward the positive pole terminal constitutes a forward direction.

2. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein the main element is a MOSFET.

3. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary element is comprised of a FET.

4. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein the high-speed freewheel diode is configured by series-connecting a plurality of high-speed freewheel diodes in order to realize a withstand voltage equal to that of the main element.

5. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein the high-speed freewheel diode is a diode manufactured by using a semiconductor material with a forbidden band wider than that of silicon.

6. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein a capacitor is connected in parallel across both ends of the positive and negative poles of the auxiliary element.

7. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein a diode, in which a forward direction thereof is a direction from the negative pole toward the positive pole of the auxiliary element, is connected in parallel across the positive and negative poles of the auxiliary element.

8. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein an output side of a gate driver, to which a common gate signal is input, is connected to the gate terminals of the main element and the auxiliary element.

9. The semiconductor switch according to claim 8, wherein a voltage clamping circuit is connected in a direction from the negative pole terminal to the positive pole side of a power supply of the gate driver.

10. The semiconductor switch according to claim 1, wherein semiconductor chips of the main element, the auxiliary element and the high-speed freewheel diode are integrally formed on a single substrate.

11. A power conversion system, wherein in a bridge circuit configured by series-connecting two switching elements to a DC main power supply, at least a switching element on the positive pole side of the two switching elements is configured by applying any one of the semiconductor switches according to claims 1 to 10.

12. A power conversion system, wherein in a multiphase bridge circuit having a plurality of bridge circuits, each being configured by series-connecting two switching elements to a DC main power supply, at least a switching element on the negative pole side of the two switching elements is configured by applying any one of the semiconductor switches according to claims 1 to 10, and the gate-driving power supply of the switching element on the negative pole side is made common so that power is supplied to each phase from a single power supply through a resistor.

13. A power conversion system, wherein in a multiphase bridge circuit having a plurality of bridge circuits, each being configured by series-connecting two switching elements to a DC main power supply, at least a switching element on the negative pole side of the two switching elements is configured by applying any one of the semiconductor switches according to claims 1 to 10, and the gate-driving power supply of the switching element on the negative pole side is made common so that power is supplied to each phase from a single power supply through a switch.

14. A power conversion system, wherein in a bridge circuit having at least two bridge circuits, each being configured by series-connecting two switching elements to a DC main power supply, at least one of the bridge circuits is configured by applying any one of the semiconductor switches according to claims 1 to 10 to the two switching elements so that the switching frequency of the bridge circuit is higher than that of other bridge circuits.