600 V, 7.5 A IGBT — switching loss and drive budget
The STGP3HF60HD is a 600 V, 7.5 A IGBT from STMicroelectronics in a TO-220-3 through-hole package. It targets hard-switched applications such as motor drives, power-factor correction stages, and induction heating where the collector current stays under the 7.5 A continuous ceiling and the 18 A pulsed rating covers inrush or transient loads. Gate charge is 12 nC — a modest drive requirement that a standard gate-driver IC or a discrete totem-pole can handle without excessive switching loss in the driver itself. The test condition of 400 V, 1.5 A, 100 Ω gate resistor, 15 V gate drive is representative of a typical 400 V DC-bus application.
Switching energy is 19 µJ turn-on and 12 µJ turn-off at 400 V, 1.5 A, 100 Ω gate resistor. At a 20 kHz switching frequency the total switching loss per device is roughly 0.62 W — well within the 38 W max power rating, leaving thermal headroom for conduction loss. The 11 ns turn-on delay and 60 ns turn-off delay at 25 °C are fast enough for most hard-switched topologies; the turn-off delay is the dominant term and sets the minimum dead-time budget in a half-bridge leg. Reverse recovery time of the internal diode is 85 ns. In a bridge configuration the diode's trr contributes to the turn-on loss of the complementary IGBT; 85 ns is typical for a fast-recovery diode in this voltage class and keeps the cross-conduction interval short.
Thermal and mounting — TO-220 in a real assembly
In a motor-drive enclosure with ambient at 70°C and a 1.5 A load, the junction-to-case thermal path through the TO-220 tab to a heatsink determines whether the die stays below 150°C. The 38 W max power rating is the absolute ceiling; practical dissipation is lower once the heatsink thermal resistance is factored in. Through-hole mounting in a TO-220-3 package means the device is hand-solderable and reworkable, but the tab is the primary heat path — a heatsink with thermal compound or a pad is expected for any continuous current above a few hundred milliamps. The package is ROHS3 compliant, so no lead-free reflow concerns for the solder joint.
That simplifies BOM continuity for designs already qualified with this part. For dual-sourcing planning, a parametric search on 600 V, 7.5 A IGBTs in TO-220 with similar gate charge and switching energy is the practical route — but no drop-in replacement is confirmed.