
2003 Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
FGH60N6S2 Rev. A2
F
Handling Precautions for IGBTs
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors are susceptible to 
gate-insulation damage by the electrostatic 
discharge of energy through the devices. When 
handling these devices, care should be exercised to 
assure that the static charge built in the handler
’
s 
body capacitance is not discharged through the 
device. With proper handling and application 
procedures, however, IGBTs are currently being 
extensively used in production by numerous 
equipment manufacturers in military, industrial and 
consumer applications, with virtually no damage 
problems due to electrostatic discharge. IGBTs can 
be handled safely if the following basic precautions 
are taken:
1. Prior to assembly into a circuit, all leads should be 
kept shorted together either by the use of metal 
shorting springs or by the insertion into conduc-
tive material such as 
“
ECCOSORBD
 LD26
”
 or 
equivalent.
2. When devices are removed by hand from their 
carriers, the hand being used should be 
grounded by any suitable means - for example, 
with a metallic wristband.
3. Tips of soldering irons should be grounded.
4. Devices should never be inserted into or removed 
from circuits with power on.
5.
 Gate Voltage Rating
 - Never exceed the gate-
voltage rating of V
GEM
. Exceeding the rated V
GE
can result in permanent damage to the oxide 
layer in the gate region.
6.
 Gate Termination
 - The gates of these devices 
are essentially capacitors. Circuits that leave the 
gate open-circuited or floating should be avoided. 
These conditions can result in turn-on of the 
device due to voltage buildup on the input 
capacitor due to leakage currents or pickup.
7.
 Gate Protection
 - These devices do not have an 
internal monolithic Zener diode from gate to 
emitter. If gate protection is required an external 
Zener is recommended.
Operating Frequency Information
Operating frequency information for a typical device 
(Figure 3) is presented as a guide for estimating 
device performance for a specific application. Other 
typical frequency vs collector current (I
) plots are 
possible using the information shown for a typical 
unit in Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 11. The operating 
frequency plot (Figure 3) of a typical device shows 
f
 or f
; whichever is smaller at each point. 
The information is based on measurements of a 
typical device and is bounded by the maximum rated 
junction temperature.
f
MAX1
 is defined by f
MAX1
 = 0.05/(t
d(OFF)I
+ t
d(ON)I
). 
Deadtime (the denominator) has been arbitrarily held 
to 10% of the on-state time for a 50% duty factor. 
Other definitions are possible. t
d(OFF)I
 and t
d(ON)I
 are 
defined in Figure 27. Device turn-off delay can 
establish an additional frequency limiting condition 
for an application other than T
JM
. t
d(OFF)I
 is important 
when controlling output ripple under a lightly loaded 
condition.
f
MAX2
 is defined by f
MAX2
 = (P
D
 - P
C
)/(E
OFF
 + E
ON2
). 
The allowable dissipation (P
D
) is defined by 
P
D
= (T
JM
- T
C
)/R
θ
JC
. The sum of device switching 
and conduction losses must not exceed P
. A 50% 
duty factor was used (Figure 3) and the conduction 
losses (P
C
) are approximated by P
C
= (V
CE
x I
CE
)/
2.
E
ON2
 and E
OFF
 are defined in the switching 
waveforms shown in Figure 27. E
ON2
 is the integral 
of the instantaneous power loss (I
CE
 x V
CE
) during 
turn-on and E
OFF
 is the integral of the instantaneous 
power loss (I
x V
) during turn-off. All tail losses 
are included in the calculation for E
; i.e., the 
collector current equals zero (I
CE
 = 0)