Gate commutated thyristor with voltage independent maximum controllable current

Lophitis, Neophytos; Antoniou, Marina; Udrea, Florin; Nistor, Iulian; Rahimo, {Munaf T.}; Arnold, Martin; Wikstroem, Tobias; Vobecky, Jan

Abstract

In this letter, we use a novel 3-D model, earlier calibrated with experimental results on standard gate commutated thyristors (GCTs), with the aim to explain the physics behind the high-power technology (HPT) GCT, to investigate what impact this design would have on 24 mm diameter GCTs, and to clarify the mechanisms that limit safe switching at different dc-link voltages. The 3-D simulation results show that the HPT design can increase the maximum controllable current in 24 mm diameter devices beyond the realm of GCT switching, known as the hard-drive limit. It is proposed that the maximum controllable current becomes independent of the dc-link voltage for the complete range of operating voltage. 

Citation

Lophitis, N., Antoniou, M., Udrea, F., Nistor, I., Rahimo, {. T., Arnold, M., Wikstroem, T., & Vobecky, J. (2013). Gate commutated thyristor with voltage independent maximum controllable current. IEEE Electron Device Letters, 34(8), 954--956. https://doi.org/10.1109/LED.2013.2267552

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 26, 2013
• Publication Date: 2013-08
• Deposit Date: May 5, 2020
• Journal: IEEE Electron Device Letters
• Print ISSN: 0741-3106
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 954--956
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/LED.2013.2267552
• Keywords: Gate commutated thyristor, maximum controllable current, safe operating area, thyristor, wafer modeling
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4238064
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6547666