Evaluation of first 10-kv optical ETO thyristor operating without any low-voltage control bias

In this paper a new single-biased all-optically triggered ETO configuration is proposed. For this purpose, an optically triggered power transistor with vertical structure is used as a power switch to help the main thyristor achieving a unity gain turn-off. In order to handle all-optical control, two different laser sources with a wavelength of 808 nm for the high power optical switch and a wavelength of 250 nm for the integrated thyristor are used to trigger them. Our simulation results show a good transition between on and off states with a rise and fall times of 26 ns and 362 ns. The total on-state voltage across the ETO is 4.4 V which is about 0.04% of the total supply voltage. The effect of parasitic inductances and the temperature on the output characteristics of the ETO is investigated separately.