Reliability evaluation of IGCT from accelerated testing, quality monitoring and field return analysis

The IGCT (Integrated Gate Commutated Thyristor) was launched as a new power semiconductor device 20 years ago, using design features where only few reference was available at that time. Especially the gate path that needs to take the full principal current for micro seconds was significant extension of the state of the art. In-between 20 years of field experience with IGCTs is available. In this paper test results from accelerated testing, quality monitoring results over many years, reliability date from evaluated field failure rates and analysis of devices that were in service for 15 years under well-known load are summarized and show an excellent reliability of the power semiconductor.