Power Devices

[As of April, 2011]

Safety Precautions

	Do not touch a power device while it is on or after it has been turned off and all remaining electrical charge has not yet been discharged. Touching power element with electrical charge may cause electric shock, resulting in death or serious injury.
	When evaluating, inspecting or testing a device, be sure to connect all of the test equipment's electrodes or probes before turning the power on. When you have finished, discharge any electrical charge remaining in the device. Connecting the electrodes or probes with the power on may cause electric shock, resulting in death or serious injury.

	Do not use a device under conditions that exceed its absolute maximum ratings (such as current, voltage, safe operation range, temperature.). Using device with exceeded its absolute maximum ratings may cause the device to break down, causing such as a short-circuit current, which may in turn cause it to explode or combust, resulting in fire or injury.
	Use a unit which can detect short-circuit currents and shut off the power supply if a short-circuit current occurs. If the power supply is not shut off, a large short-circuit current will flow continuously, may cause the device to explode or combust, resulting in fire or injury.
	Design the case for enclosing your system taking into consideration the prevention of flying debris in the event the device explodes or combusts. Flying debris may cause injury.
	Design your product so that it is used with all metal areas (other than electrodes and terminals) grounded. Even with products where the device's electrodes and metal casings are insulated, electrostatic capacitance in the product may raise the electric potential of the casing. Insulation deterioration or breakdown may cause a high voltage to be applied to the casing, causing electric shock when touched, resulting in death or serious injury.
	When designing the heat radiation and safety features of a system incorporating Schottky barrier diodes and high-speed rectifiers, take into consideration the device’s forward and reverse losses. If the reverse current in these devices is greater than that in ordinary rectifiers, and if the operating environment is severe (such as high temperature, high voltage), the device's reverse loss may increase, causing a short-circuit current and subsequently explosion or combustion, resulting in fire or injury.
	Be sure to design the product so that, except when the main circuits of the device are active, the main circuits will be inactive when electricity is conducted to control circuits. Malfunction of the device may cause a serious accident or injury.
	On the evaluation, inspection or test, use protective safety tools such as device covers. The device may explode or combust due to excessive stress in the event of breakdown or arc discharge between the electrode and ground potential, resulting in fire or injury.

	On the evaluation, inspection or test, either wear protective gloves before handling or wait until the device cools down before handling. Devices become hot when operated. Even after the power supply has been turned off, residual heat may cause a burn when touched the device.

Vibration and Impact

Handle devices and packaging with care. Dropping or applying impact to devices or packaging causes device damage. Ensure that devices and packaging are not subjected to mechanical vibration or impact to the extent possible.
Some power devices use ceramic as the insulating material. High-capacity devices are heavy. If they are dropped, the impact may adversely affect insulation performance.

Design

	Do not use a device under conditions that exceed its absolute maximum ratings (such as current, voltage, safe operation range, temperature.). Using device with exceeded its absolute maximum ratings may cause the device to break down, causing such as a short-circuit current, which may in turn cause it to explode or combust, resulting in fire or injury.
	Use a unit which can detect short-circuit currents and shut off the power supply if a short-circuit current occurs. If the power supply is not shut off, a large short-circuit current will flow continuously, may cause the device to explode or combust, resulting in fire or injury.
	Design the case for enclosing your system taking into consideration the prevention of flying debris in the event the device explodes or combusts. Flying debris may cause injury.
	Design your product so that it is used with all metal areas (other than electrodes and terminals) grounded. Even with products where the device's electrodes and metal casings are insulated, electrostatic capacitance in the product may raise the electric potential of the casing. Insulation deterioration or breakdown may cause a high voltage to be applied to the casing, causing electric shock when touched, resulting in death or serious injury.
	When designing the heat radiation and safety features of a system incorporating Schottky barrier diodes and high-speed rectifiers, take into consideration the device’s forward and reverse losses. If the reverse current in these devices is greater than that in ordinary rectifiers, and if the operating environment is severe (such as high temperature, high voltage), the device's reverse loss may increase, causing a short-circuit current and subsequently explosion or combustion, resulting in fire or injury.
	Be sure to design the product so that, except when the main circuits of the device are active, the main circuits will be inactive when electricity is conducted to control circuits. Malfunction of the device may cause a serious accident or injury.

Unused Pins

If a device comprised of multiple circuits is used with its unused gates left open, the device may not only operate abnormally due to unstable inputs, but also may break down due to a sudden increase in electric current. Apply the specified reverse bias to the unused gates to ensure that they remain inactive. For details, refer to the individual technical datasheets and databooks for the device.

Latch-up

Some types of IGBTs do not have sufficient tolerance against load shorting or overcurrent, resulting in latch-up. The main characteristics of IGBTs differ significantly depending on structure. Select an IGBT according to application. Once latch-up occurs, a large current may flow resulting in explosion or combustion. Thus, keep in mind the following:

1. Observe the reverse bias safe operation range.
2. Do not allow any abnormal noises to be applied to the device.
3. Set the gate voltage at or below the specified value.
4. Be sure the gate resistance is within the specified range.
5. Cool the device to ensure that the maximum junction temperature is less than or equal to the specified value

If the above-described conditions are unclear or not stated in technical datasheets, contact Toshiba office or distributor for further information.

Inspection, Test and Evaluation

	Do not touch a power device while it is on or after it has been turned off and all remaining electrical charge has not yet been discharged. Touching power element with electrical charge may cause electric shock, resulting in death or serious injury.
	When evaluating, inspecting or testing a device, be sure to connect all of the test equipment's electrodes or probes before turning the power on. When you have finished, discharge any electrical charge remaining in the device. Connecting the electrodes or probes with the power on may cause electric shock, resulting in death or serious injury.

	On the evaluation, inspection or test, use protective safety tools such as device covers. The device may explode or combust due to excessive stress in the event of breakdown or arc discharge between the electrode and ground potential, resulting in fire or injury.
	Design your product so that it is used with all metal areas (other than electrodes and terminals) grounded. Even with products where the device’s electrodes and metal casings are insulated, electrostatic capacitance in the product may raise the electric potential of the casing. Insulation deterioration or breakdown may cause a high voltage to be applied to the casing, causing electric shock when touched, resulting in death or serious injury.

	On the evaluation, inspection or test, either wear protective gloves before handling or wait until the device cools down before handling. Devices become hot when operated. Even after the power supply has been turned off, residual heat may cause a burn when touched the device.

Inspection

1. For protection against static discharge, the gate and emitter terminals of some products with a MOS gate structure are protected with conductive tape. Do not use this tape as a gate and emitter terminal short conductor for bias proof test purposes.

Mounting

There are various types of power devices packages, such as modules, lead-insertion packages, surface-mount packages and flat-type packages. The electrodes, signal pins and method of attaching the package to a heat sink (such as screwing, soldering or pressure welding) are different for each type of package. For screwing and pressure welding attachment methods, tightening based on a recommended torque is required. In this case, do not fully tighten each screw individually one at a time (that is, tighten the screws together in stages). In addition, attention is required during soldering to ensure that thermal stress is not applied to the device. To ensure that device reliability will not be impaired, devices should be installed so that they remain within recommended torque and stress limits. For details, refer to the individual technical datasheets and databooks for the device.

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