Improvement on the switching characteristic of IGBT by means of the uniform and local lifetime control is studied numerically using two-dimensional simulator, MEDICI. In the case of uniform lifetime control, the on-state and switching characteristics are simulated as a function of lifetime, and compared with the experimental results reported, which allows a relationship between dose of electron irradiation and controlled lifetime. In the case of local lifetime control, simulations are carried out by varying the position, width, and lifetime of the locally controlled region, and the results are compared with the characteristics for the case of the uniform lifetime control. The turn-off time of the device with an optimized locally controlled region is found to decrease from about $4.5mus$ to 0.11$mutextrm{s}$ while the forward voltage drop increases from 1.37V to 2.61V in comparison with that for the uniform lifetime control.