Influence of dynamic switching on the robustness of power devices against cosmic radiation

Abstract

For the first time, experiments and simulations for testing the influence of dynamic switching on the robustness of power devices against cosmic radiation are presented. Irradiation experiments of switching high power modules are performed, using pulsed proton or neutron beams. Thereby, the switching frequency of the power modules is synchronized to the extraction frequency of particle beam pulses from the synchrotron. With this new experimental approach both 6.5kV IGBTs and free-wheeling diodes are studied under various switching conditions. Employing these experiments and also simulations based on semi-empirical models, we find a non-negligible contribution of these dynamic effects on the failure rate of high power devices induced by high-energy nucleon irradiation.