The automotive market has been and will continue to be a primary focus for International Rectifier, and this new product fits well with our strong IGBT capabilities. IR is sampling devices now, and will be production qualified in July. They already have volume commitments with one of the world's largest automotive systems suppliers, with shipments scheduled to begin in September of this year. IR claims that its new IGBTs meet or exceed the capabilities of the existing devices in the market on all of the above. IR is careful to note that they can customize device parameters for specific customer applications.
Different designers have different needs, depending on their particular circuit.
We could turn out a semi-custom part for a specific application within about 3 months. We have been setting up application and service relationships with each customer in order to ensure we understand their specific needs so that we get it right the first time. Conventionally, zener diodes were used along with standard IGBT devices to provide clamping capability. IR has introduced a new IGBT device that is optimized for ignition applications.