Switching speed enhancement in insulated gate transistors by electron irradiation

High-speed switching in insulated gate transistors (IGT´s) has been achieved by using electron irradiation. This technique allows excellent control over the switching speed with the ability to reduce the gate turn-off time from over 20 µs to under 200 ns. This increase in speed is accompanied by an increase in the forward voltage drop during current conduction. This necessitates performing a trade-off between switching and conduction losses. Despite the increase in the forward drop, the IGT´s exhibit superior characteristics in comparison with power MOSFET´s and bipolar transistors up to switching frequencies of 100 kHz.