# IGBT shortage?



## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

maxvtol said:


> If there is a shortage, why is there one and when is it likely to get better?


Yes, there is a shortage. http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solar-projects-stalled-by-inverter-shortage/



maxvtol said:


> Are IGBT’s the way to go for controllers of electric cars in the future (for all types of controllers)?


Yes. Except for switching power supplies operating at very high frequencies and/or very low voltages, IGBTs are much more rugged for a given die area than either MOSFETs or bipolars. The only device more rugged is the thyristor (SCR) but it is such a pain to turn off there's no chance you'll see them return to use in controllers.



maxvtol said:


> Are there any companies likely to benefit from the shortage (not only sellers or manufacturers of IGBT’s, but any companies that make equipment that makes IGBT’s)?


I can't see how... Similar to what was reported in the above article, I was told by our module manufacturer that the company that makes the dice sold off part of their production equipment to a Chinese company so they've not only reduced their ability to make product, they also sold the means to make product to a future competitor. Sheer stupidity, IMO.


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