A new MOS-gated power thyristor structure with turn-off achieved by controlling the base resistance

Author

Nandakumar, M. ; Baliga, B.J. ; Shekar, M.S. ; Tandon, S. ; Reisman, Arnold

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA

Volume

12

Issue

5

fYear

1991

fDate

5/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

227

Lastpage

229

Abstract

A new MOS-gated power thyristor structure, called the base-resistance-controlled thyristor (BRT), is described. In this structure, the turn-off of a thyristor with an N-drift region is achieved by reducing the resistance of the P-base region under MOS-gate control. In contrast with previous devices, a P-channel MOSFET integrated in the N-drift region is used for this purpose. It has been shown, by two-dimensional numerical simulations and experimental measurements on devices fabricated using a seven-mask process, that devices with 600-V forward blocking capabilities can be achieved with a forward drop close to that for a thyristor. The ability to turn off the thyristor current flow has been verified over a broad range of current densities.<>

Keywords

insulated gate field effect transistors; power electronics; thyristors; 600 V; BRT; MOS-gate control; MOS-gated power thyristor structure; N-drift region; P-channel MOSFET; base-resistance-controlled thyristor; forward blocking capabilities; forward drop; seven-mask process; turn-off; two-dimensional numerical simulations; Cathodes; Computer simulation; Fabrication; Helium; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; Low voltage; MOSFET circuits; Microelectronics; Testing; Thyristors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.79565

Filename

79565