The Influence of IGBT Aging on the EMI of Traction Converter

Abstract The Insulated Gate Transistors (IGBT) is a kind of semiconductor that is prone to aging in power electronic equipment. After aging, the IGBT will not only degrade during its operating performance, but will also reduce the reliability of the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in its working circuits. This article summarizes and analyzes the aging mechanism of the IGBT and the impacts of the changed characteristic parameters raised by the aging on the characteristics of IGBT while working. The aging will lead to changes in the high-frequent parasitic parameters, which play an essential role in affecting the IGBT with high-frequency and high-power on the electromagnetic interference (EMI) of its working circuits. To further illustrate these issues mentioned above, a typical “AC-DC-AC” traction converter circuit is taken as an example, and adopt a simulation model of conducted interference of traction converter systems by using Saber sketch software to study the influences of the impacts of changes from aging parasitic parameters on EMI of traction converter circuits.