Patent 7952143 was granted and assigned to Toyota on May, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A semiconductor device in which both an IGBT element region and a diode element region exist in the same semiconductor substrate includes a low lifetime region, which is formed in at least a part of a drift layer within the diode element region and shortens the lifetime of holes. A mean value of the lifetime of holes in the drift layer that includes the low lifetime region is shorter within the IGBT element region than within the diode element region.