Gate commutated thyristor with voltage independent maximum controllable current

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

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

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. 

Original languageEnglish
Article number6547666
Pages (from-to)954-956
Number of pages3
JournalIEEE Electron Device Letters
Volume34
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Gate commutated thyristor
  • maximum controllable current
  • safe operating area
  • thyristor
  • wafer modeling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

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